Established a thousand-year family from the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 560 Huang Zongxi ([-])
one year later
Autumn of the eighth year of Yan State 350 (568)
After ten years, Huang Zongxi finally completed "The King and His Subjects", in which he expounded his understanding of the relationship between monarchy, ministerial power, and civil power.

And he used his experience over the past few decades as an example to describe the destructiveness brought about by autocratic monarchy and absolute authority.

By the way, I expressed dissatisfaction with the nobles who wavered in the civil war.

They are the masters of the country and enjoy the benefits given by the country, but when the country needs them most, they are like the aristocratic families in the Central Plains, sitting and watching the changes in the situation, wanting to rely on investment to grow themselves amidst the turmoil.

Enjoying the privileges granted by the country, but when the country needs them to fulfill their obligations, they choose to sit on the sidelines, euphemistically calling them hermits, and not getting involved in the chaos of the world.

The previous Hou Jing rebellion was originally just a small rebellion. With the strength of Yan State, it could be quickly put down, but the nobles waited and watched, which led to the deterioration of the situation, so that the entire Yan was destroyed by Hou Jing's rebels.

In the book, Huang Zongxi believes that subjects are not the servants of the monarch, but the servants/workers of the monarch.

Just like the relationship between textile workshops and hired workers, I manage the country for you, produce food for you, and you provide me with a salary to support my family, provide me with security protection, and protect me from external aggression and plunder.

"If the king cannot protect his subjects from the plunder of the enemy, then the subjects should not be loyal to his king!"

"The courtiers manage the country for the monarch, and it should be a fair relationship, with one hand holding the salary and the other hand governing the local area."

"The monarch gave me money/salary, so I use my knowledge to manage local affairs well, it's as simple as that, don't continue to be a monarch, minister, minister, father and son to restrain the subjects!"

"If the monarch is tyrannical, deducts the salary of the courtiers, or even kills the courtiers, the courtiers should be disloyal!"

"The people produce food for the monarch and conquer the world for the monarch. The monarch must ensure that the people can live and work in peace and contentment. This is fair."

"If the monarch cannot let the people live and work in peace, then the people should not pay taxes to the monarch."

"Everyone's rights and obligations should be equal, and the greater the rights enjoyed, the greater the obligations should be assumed."

"But now, the superiors enjoy the rights, but they don't have to bear the obligations, and the subordinates assume various obligations, but they can't enjoy the corresponding rights. This is unreasonable."

"The people have assumed the obligation to produce food, but it is difficult to realize basic rights such as living and working in peace and contentment."

"Nobles enjoy the right to a luxurious life, but when the country is in crisis, they refuse to take on the responsibility of defending the country. Instead, they sit on the sidelines, saying that they should not go with the world and be a hermit who is indifferent to fame and wealth."

"This reminds me of the aristocratic families at the end of the Han Dynasty. When the world was in chaos, they enjoyed all kinds of privileges, but they thought they were high-spirited and clean, and they chose to sit on the sidelines in the face of troubled times. They refused to save The common people contribute their strength."

Huang Zongxi is not opposed to luxury life. He also believes that it is human nature to like luxury and enjoyment, just like men who are lustful. Men should not be forbidden to be lustful just because of the negative effects brought about by lust. Everyone eats.

This kind of Neo-Confucian asceticism is not advocated by him. He is not against desire itself, but against some people who only enjoy rights to satisfy their desires, but do not assume their own responsibilities.

Everyone can satisfy their own desires, but while satisfying their own desires, they should bear corresponding responsibilities and obligations.

A monarch can enjoy extravagance and beauties like a cloud, but he cannot delay his obligation to govern the country for the sake of luxury and beauties, or even destroy the rights of others and impose his own obligations on others in order to satisfy these human desires .

Faced with the fact that the extravagant enjoyment of the monarchs of the past dynasties harmed the people, the answer given by Confucianism is to prohibit the extravagant enjoyment of the monarchs as much as possible, and persuade the monarchs to be diligent in government, love the people, and practice frugality.

However, Huang Zongxi, who was in the era of the renaissance of the schools of thought, did not object to the monarch's extravagant enjoyment, but only opposed the damage of the rights of the subjects for the sake of extravagant enjoyment.

His thinking was similar to Lin Zhi's, or he was influenced by Lin Zhi's thoughts.

"The monarch can build a beautiful palace, but the premise is that the construction of the palace will not cause relatively great damage to the people's livelihood and economy."

"A man can be lustful and licentious, but the premise is that his lustful behavior will not destroy other people's families, nor will it destroy the relationship with his wife."

"Women can be promiscuous, but the premise is that their promiscuousness will not arouse the resentment of their husbands, nor will it destroy other people's families."

"I am not opposed to desire, because it is human nature, and suppressing nature will only bring about greater oppression."

"I just hope that everyone can satisfy their own human desires within the appropriate range."

Such a few simple words seem to be nothing now, but I just hope that everyone's behavior can be within a reasonable range, and don't cross the line, let alone harm others.

But in this era, it naturally aroused the resentment of many old groups. They have experienced the kind of sinking since the end of the Jin Dynasty in the Central Plains, and they know what kind of disaster will happen if human desires get out of control.

The aristocratic families in the Central Plains regard young girls as food and kill common people as a show off. This kind of insane depravity of human nature is really terrible.

Therefore, the old school of Confucian scholars in Yan State felt that human desires and nature should be suppressed, because human desires are like devils, once released, they will be as terrifying as those in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Their intentions may be good, but they don't want Yan to completely sink into desires like the Central Plains at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, but the method is wrong, because they have been suppressing people's desire nature, can it really be suppressed?
Gun used blockage to control the water. Although the flood was temporarily solved at the beginning, it caused a greater flood soon after.

Dayu used dredging to control the water, and the flood was calmed down.

"Mr. Lin's words are very good. People's desires are like floods. They cannot be blocked. If they are blocked by force, one day they will burst and bring greater disasters."

"Instead of blocking nature, it is better to actively open a channel that allows natural desires to flow on a reasonable path."

"The real difficulty lies in how to establish a reasonable natural release channel, and what kind of natural release channel is reasonable."

Huang Zongxi has discussed a lot, but he is not a god beyond the age after all, and he doesn't know what kind of channel is reasonable, let alone how to establish a reasonable channel.

However, he believes that only by establishing a channel for the release of rational nature will it be truly useful. If we blindly suppress human nature like those old Confucian scholars in Yan State did before, and prevent the excessive natural desire from causing the whole society to sink like the end of the Western Jin Dynasty , that's actually not a very good way.

Reasonable human freedom is the freedom he wants, and deformed human freedom like the end of the Western Jin Dynasty is not the freedom he wants.

There is still a difference between living and working freely and killing people and setting fire freely!
In the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, it was like free murder and arson, which was too deformed.

However, the old Confucian scholars in Yan State blindly suppressed human nature, as if they wanted to prevent the free sinking of deformed thoughts in this way, but in fact it belongs to [one size fits all], which is also bad.

(End of this chapter)