A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 395 Controversy over Etiquette and Law
Luoyang, the capital of gods, is the academy.

Since the opening of the Academy, many schools have studied academics in the Academy. If any school wants to develop itself, it must compete for the position of Doctor of Classics.

Only those who have a doctorate in Confucian classics can become an official scholar, receive official promotion, and then be able to serve as officials in various places.

Therefore, those schools that did not obtain doctorates in classics were not willing to accept it and reformed their own doctrines one after another.

In fact, if we look at it seriously, at this period, apart from the central ideas of various schools of thought, all other theories were copied by others, or they were changed in another way.

Among them, the most plagiarized one is of course Legalism. Legalism has a relatively complete framework since Zijue built the tripod and enacted legislation. After years of development, Legalism has become the most prominent school in the world.

However, there are many inhumane or shortcomings in the Legalist theory. For example, what should a son do if his father violates the law? Can merit and sin be offset? The court needs to act in accordance with the law. Does the emperor also need to abide by the law?If the emperor takes the lead in breaking the law, how will the law be enforced?

How to deal with this series of problems? These have always been problems, and the royal family is also aware of them.

The late emperor Ke Nai was a benevolent monarch. He paid great attention to these issues during his decades in power and generally would not go beyond the laws of the country to deal with ministers and nobles.But it's different when it comes to Wang Jing. Wang Jing often orders exile. In fact, if you take it seriously, this is already an excessive punishment.

But intimidated by the emperor's majesty, no one dared to say anything.

So some Confucian schools began to look for the basis for the emperor to do this from Zhou Rites.But another problem also arises. Filial piety in Zhou rites is also very important.

Legalists advocate that fathers break the law and sons cannot protect them. Some radical schools advocate extermination of relatives for justice, and some schools advocate that fathers break laws and sons avoid it.

But from the perspective of Confucianism, these Legalist practices are wrong. Confucius advocates hiding relatives from each other, that is, the father, and as a son, you should hide it.

Mencius cited the ancient sage king Shun. Shun's father broke the law. Shun could not use his power as the emperor to ask for justice, but he could not ignore his father's family affection and watch his father be punished. The correct way to deal with it was to give up his position as emperor and live in seclusion with his father until Remote place.

So from the king's point of view, among these choices, the king is more willing to choose Confucius's method of hiding from each other.

Because of the existence of Zijue and the protection of the family's fortune black bird, the royal family has a normal personality and IQ, and has a complete education system, so this situation has never happened.But that doesn't mean this won't happen in the future.

This allowed Confucians to see an opportunity. Of course, in addition to this factor, there was another reason that was the issue of Zhou Li.

The debate between the Hua and the Yi in the Xia is called Hua by the beauty of the rules and regulations, and Xia by the great etiquette.Zhou etiquette is a very important issue here.

Da Qian also recognized the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, and etiquette was also necessary.Legalism is weak in terms of etiquette. Basically, few Legalists study Zhou etiquette, and Confucianism is the one who studies etiquette most profoundly.

There has always been a serious dispute between Confucianism and Legalism over etiquette and law.And the current His Majesty, because of the strength of Legalism, has also begun to support Confucianism and etiquette, and advocate loyalty and filial piety.

So with the support of Wang Jing, Confucians quickly compiled a "Book of Rites", which recorded the ritual systems of the Pre-Qin and Warring States, Spring and Autumn Period, and Zhou Dynasty, as well as some of the political systems.

Many of these etiquettes are in conflict with the Legalists. The Legalists want to abolish this "Book of Rites", but this etiquette is the difference between the Xia and the barbarians.If etiquette is abolished, big problems will definitely arise.

Therefore, after the "Book of Rites" was written, it has always been a pain in the throat for Legalists.

At the same time, Legalism often requires etiquette, such as husband and wife. Those who complete the relationship according to etiquette are considered husband and wife, and the rest are concubines. But if there is no etiquette, how to determine the status of the head wife?

Confucianism started with etiquette and successfully defeated Legalism. At the same time, etiquette also gave Wang Jing a political basis for exploring the Western Regions.

Not everyone in the court supported Wang Jing's expansion of the Western Regions. In fact, a large number of officials, nobles, and powerful men opposed the expansion of the Western Regions.

In their view, opening up the Western Regions is a waste of money. With this money, it is better to form a caravan and earn more wealth from the Western Regions trade routes. Moreover, opening up the Xia will require a large number of people to migrate.

This is unacceptable to Wang Jing. He has always suppressed these people and implemented the policy of opening up the Western Regions.The Book of Rites found a political support for it, which was actually the theory of revenge of the Supporting School.

The Western Regions used to be the territory of the Xiongnu, and they strongly supported the Western Regions.After defeating the Huns, it is natural to occupy this place and at the same time continue to suppress the Huns.

Wang Jing often relied on etiquette to suppress the Legalists, but many times he also felt that etiquette was too cumbersome. He was one of those people who considered etiquette good if it was useful to him, but not if it was not useful to him. Therefore, after the "Book of Rites" was written, he Then began to delete the "Book of Rites".Dai Sheng, a great Confucian scholar, sent the compiled "Book of Rites" to Wang Jing for review.

After Wang Jing read the "Book of Rites", he felt that some of the etiquette were too cumbersome.For example, when offering sacrifices to heaven, the Book of Rites requires fasting and bathing three months in advance. This is simply nonsense.

There are so many affairs in the court, and if we fast for three months, it is simply unrealistic to cancel all celebrations or banquets during these three months.But if you don’t fast, it will appear that you don’t take it seriously.

Especially the object of sacrifice is King Haotianwen, the ancestor of his family.Wang Jing thought for a moment and realized that his ancestor was also impatient with the cumbersome etiquette, so he ordered that the three-month fast be changed to seven days.All of a sudden, the time was reduced by more than [-]%.

Then he ordered other red tape to be modified or procedures simplified.After all, if everything in the "Book of Rites" is followed, the court will waste all its time on these etiquettes for a year, and what will happen to the official business?

At the same time, the funeral should be kept as simple as possible.Since the Zhou Dynasty, all Xia have had a strict etiquette for funerals, and they believe that death should be the same as before death.

That is to say, how we lived before death should be the same after death. Coupled with the admiration of filial piety, after Daqian unified the world, the world was at peace. Since the rule of God's Blessing, the people have become rich, and the trend of generous burials has arisen among the people.

If an elder passes away, it is considered unfilial if the descendants do not give him a dignified burial.The people have been under great pressure for a long time, and even a wealthy family will become destitute after a funeral.

Since the ancestor Zijue, the royal family has been practicing thin burials. The only burial objects are a piece of beautiful jade and a bamboo slip or bronze vessel on which the merits and demerits of a life are written.Therefore, they attach great importance to the funeral style.

This time Wang Jing will promote simple burials in the way of the Book of Rites.Even if future emperors violate simple burial, ministers or clan members can object according to the Book of Rites.

According to Zhou rites, when princes, kings or emperors pass away, there must be small auspicious ceremonies, large auspicious ceremonies and finally a release ceremony.

Xiaoxiang is the first anniversary of his parents' death, which is No. 13 months, and Daxiang is the second anniversary of his parents' death, No. 20 and five months, which adds up to three years.

These three years are the period of mourning. During this period, there are different regulations on all food, clothing, housing and transportation. For example, you cannot wear fancy clothes, eat spicy or meaty foods, drink alcohol, hold banquets, sing and dance, etc.

In real history, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao spent three years in mourning and lived in a cottage near his parents' graves for three years before he was called a model for the world.

If we follow what is recorded in the "Book of Rites", will the emperor also have to mourn for three years?When the emperor dies, do ministers also have to mourn for three years?
Such a long mourning period was simply heartbreaking and tortured to the people of the world. Wang Jing directly changed the funeral ceremony to use days instead of months, and also simplified the funeral ceremony to 30 days.

In this way, if the emperor dies, the world will only have to mourn for one month.The emperor's funeral lasted only a month, how dare you take the people's funeral for more than a month?To exceed is to overstep.

In addition, there are strict restrictions on the emperor's imperial mausoleum. No elaborate burials are allowed. At most, some terracotta warriors and horses are allowed to be burned for burial. The emperor is not allowed to build an imperial mausoleum during his lifetime, lest the emperor build a 'pyramid' for himself because of his great achievements.

After the emperor dies, he will be buried in a year at most. No matter how much construction takes one year, the size of the imperial mausoleum will not be too large.

Wang Jing was even more disgusted with the "Nei Ze Pian". The records in it were too complicated, including many issues such as food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Basically, everything that a person has to do in a day from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night is recorded. What Wang Jing saw was that his scalp was numb.

Wang Jing asked himself, he couldn't do this.If you can't do it yourself, why should you ask others to do it?

Therefore, Wang Jing made a lot of modifications and annotations to the "Nei Ze Pian". For example, women need to cover their faces when going out, which in his opinion is unnecessary.In the pre-Qin period, it was said not to eat offal, but in order to save food, people always ate offal.

If it is forbidden, let the people do what they want.In addition, there are all kinds of troubles, such as filial piety. According to the Book of Rites, all parents in the world have bad parents.Parents make the right decisions.

But many things cannot be viewed this way. If parents ask for divorce, does the son also have to do so?
The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has been a difficult problem since ancient times.

There are also some people, what if their parents let them commit crimes?Do you also listen to your parents?

This is not alarmist. What if parents want to eat bamboo shoots in winter?Could it be that if you really go to a bamboo forest and cry, bamboo shoots will grow on the ground?Do you think you are the heir of Prince Haotianwen?

Wang Jing made a lot of comments, annotations, and even directly deleted and revised the Book of Rites.At the same time, the "Book of Rites" will not be included in the assessment scope, only knowledge and reading are required.

(End of this chapter)