Xuande

Chapter 721 Return to the Wenjing Rule
The power of inertia is really strong.

Even in this state, even in the state where the Jinwen School has been defeated by Liu Bei both mentally and physically, it is still extremely difficult to destroy his spirit.

It is a long way to go to reshape the Han Empire ideologically, so it is a good choice to pay a little attention to the trend of folk thought.

Therefore, during the letter screening process, Liu Bei handed it over to Ruan Yu, the person in charge of public opinion warfare, and asked him to take on multiple roles and eat two fish for one.

When understanding public opinion, you can also guard against the spread of some bad ideas, so that Ruan Yu can find out as soon as possible and formulate corresponding strategies as soon as possible.

The war of public opinion must be fought at any time. The more superior a person is, the more he must pay attention to the influence of public opinion.

Ruan Yu was very happy about this, and devoted himself to this job with great interest. After a while, he brought the letters he selected that he considered the most valuable and representative to meet Liu Bei, and divided them into categories. The letter was handed over to Liu Bei.

"The ones that are missing are all moaning and other things, which are meaningless, but if you need them, I will pick out some that look pleasing to the eye for you, which are somewhat worthwhile."

"Most of this part is the letters you need to make suggestions to show your talents. Some of them are quite interesting. I read them and think that some of them are really talented people."

Ruan Yu said with a smile: "Your method is good. Not only can some people vent their emotions and improve their opinions on you, but you can also use it to understand some trends in folk thought. You are the best at killing two birds with one stone."

Liu Bei smiled.

"It's good if it works. If it works, it means that folk scholars still have confidence and ideas in us. If they don't even have serious letters, and they are all moaning without illness, that's not good. It means that folk scholars still have confidence and ideas in us. Something big is going to happen.”

"You said so."

"So, after you read it, how do you feel about the movement of the people during this period of time?"

"Generally speaking, there is no very strange trend. It's just that after we destroyed the Modern Literature School, some scholars in the folk seem to have no great confidence in the ancient Chinese classics. It’s the art of Huang Lao.”

Ruan Yu said slowly: "It seems that such people are not rare at present. One of the five or six letters mentioned Taoism and Huang Lao's art. In their opinion, ancient Chinese classics and modern Chinese classics are not the same. There is no essential difference.

The modern classics have failed, and the ancient classics may also fail. They all have some doubts about Confucianism, thinking that the difficulties since ZTE were caused by Confucianism, and they should turn back to the correct path and try to regain Return to the era of the rule of Wenjing. "

"I want to use Huang Lao's technique to return to the rule of Wenjing. This is not an easy thing."

Liu Bei nodded slowly, picked up a letter casually, unfolded it and looked at it for a while.

"What a coincidence, this is an article advocating Huang Lao's art, and the writing is quite interesting."

"Ok?"

"This is not only criticizing some of the errors and disasters caused by Confucianism, but also advocates the use of Huang Lao's techniques for targeted improvement, and also puts forward related methods, and strives to complete the reform within three years, so that the great Han Return to the era of Wenjing rule, completely abandon Confucianism, and depose all the elites."

"Oh!"

Ruan Yu smiled and said: "Remember, this letter was written by a student named Chen Mu. He is very courageous and his words are very sharp, especially since you are also the master of the sect. This letter can be described as earth-shattering."

"Well, it's interesting."

Liu Bei said with a smile: "Not only are we dissatisfied with modern classics, but also feel that ancient Chinese classics are the same. The way for the big man to really get out of the decadent situation is to return to the rule of tranquility and inaction.

He believes that civil wars have occurred everywhere in the past 20 years. The main reason is that the court officials acted aggressively and recklessly. The art of legalism.

The same is true of the imperial court itself. On the surface, it says to be benevolent and righteous, but in fact it is tyrannical and violent. There is no benevolence, only strictness. If there is no real change, even the ancient literature school will go back to the old way, so Confucianism should be completely abandoned. "

"Don't really say it, although some places are a little immature, but what I said makes sense."

Ruan Yu said with a smile: "Many of the chaos I have seen in these years were persecuted by corrupt officials, and the taxation of the court became more and more serious. , it makes a big difference."

Liu Bei nodded.

"So, he expressed strong dissatisfaction with this, thinking that if I want to change the status quo, what I should do after eliminating the Modern Literature School is not to support the Ancient Literature School, but to return to the rule of Wenjing, implement strict reforms, and adopt Huang-Lao's techniques to rule the country.

He wants me to change the current state of being very promising, lighten the tax, take a rest with the people, try not to disturb the people, and let the people recover on their own. He also wants me to reduce the number of officials, reduce the number of officials, and restrain the power and behavior of officials. .

It would be better to change the three-level system of states, counties, and counties into a two-level system of states and counties, and remove the county level, so as to save money... Oh, this kid even settled the account for me, let me see, find him In this way, the removal of the first-level system can reduce at least [-] officials and four or five times the number of officials. "

Liu Bei looked up at Ruan Yu and smiled.

"He is talking about being quiet and inaction, but all of them are more promising than me. He cut down 16 officials and [-] officials, and the big man has a total of [-] officials. The officialdom of the big man has been cut off by a third, how can this be quiet and inactive, it is fatal."

"I was also shocked by it, and brought this letter to you."

Ruan Yu laughed and said: "Compared with this article, the others all seem a bit petty, they are all playing around and talking about boring things, only this one is really talking about things.

Although it seems a bit arrogant, it can also represent the dissatisfaction of a considerable number of people with the policies pursued by the current court and the misconduct of court officials. "

"Yeah, I'm really dissatisfied. Why didn't I hate corrupt officials to death?"

Liu Bei put down the letter, and said with a smile: "However, what he said was too violent, and he said it was ten thousand officials. He can have such an idea, which shows that he doesn't have a deep understanding of Taoist classics.

He should just be dissatisfied with the reality, and then read some Taoist classics a little, but didn't study or understand it systematically, so he combined Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism together to create a three-dimensional image. "

Ruan Yu didn't know much about Taoist classics, so he asked curiously, "Aren't you specialized in "Zuoshi Chunqiu" and "Guwen Shangshu"? You also dabble in Taoist classics?"

"After coming to Luoyang, I took a lot of time to read a lot of books, including Taoist classics, and even some documents and records from the Wenjing era. I also read them all."

Liu Bei said slowly: "The Taoist technique is said to be quiet and inaction, but in fact, the real essence lies in following the rules."

"follow?"

Liu Bei nodded.

"Well, Tai Shigong's father, Sima Tan, knows a lot about Taoist art. He once said that his art is based on emptiness and follows the rules. Tranquility and inaction are the pursuit and ideal of Taoist art. The most important thing is to follow this ideal.

Sima Tan believes that there are no fixed rules for the Taoist art, and the most important thing is the principle of nature, adapting to the situation, making the best use of the situation, seemingly doing nothing, but in fact it is very promising, and this kind of promising can be done like a spring night. Silence, this is the highest ideal pursued by Taoism, I can't match it. "

"In this way, there is some truth to what Chen Mu said?"

Ruan Yu asked: "Should I bring him in and have an in-depth talk with him? This person has a slight reputation in the Imperial Academy, his grades are quite good, and he often gives some public speeches in the Imperial Academy. There are not a few students who have been influenced by him. .”

"No need, he is still too immature, and we are doing what he said, and doing better."

???

Ruan Yu looked at Liu Bei with a question mark on his head.

"what do you mean?"

"Am I not clear enough?"

Liu Bei looked at Ruan Yu with a smile: "Yuan Yu, the Taoist technique lies in emptiness, but more in conformity. He saw nothingness, but did not see conformity. Of course, it is not his fault. He does not have enough experience, so he cannot see conformity." of the essence."

"The essence of etiquette?"

Ruan Yu was puzzled and said: "This subordinate has little talent and learning, so I would like to ask you to give me advice."

Liu Bei nodded and said slowly: "If you don't know how to follow the rules, you can't be quiet and inaction. If you don't know how to follow the rules, you can't be quiet and inaction blindly. It's not as good as me. Using military force to force reforms, at least I can really do it." It can be done, and he can't do it at all.

It is of course a good thing to abolish the first-level system and cut [-] officials. It can save the court a lot of money, and it can also prevent the corrupt officials from continuing to act recklessly. It is also good for the common people, but does he think that the cut down Will [-] officials be arrested without a fight?
How do I deal with them?Use soldiers to make them unable to fight me directly, so that they can succeed. And what about him?In a word, more than 16 officials across the country will be cut by [-], how to cut them?Who is to be judged and who is not?
Moreover, before the [-] reduction quotas are actually implemented, more than [-] people will worry. They will all worry that they will be cut down, lose power, status and interests. trouble.

In order not to be cut down for themselves, these officials will firmly stand on the opposite side of our opponents even if they are afraid. Believe it or not, if I do this, the power of Zheng Tai and Jia Xi's group will instantly expand ten thousand times. Directly become my life and death enemy. "

(End of this chapter)