My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 733 Chen Ping: Don’t be so hypocritical
Fu Sheng said, "Let me put it this way. If a person is extremely talented but lacks moral character, and yet is in a high position, the harm he brings to the world is far more terrible than if an ordinary person were to rule the country."

"This point is vividly reflected in the treacherous ministers of all dynasties. Although treacherous ministers do evil things, they are also extremely intelligent."

"As your majesty said, even if they are proficient in the law and use it flexibly when enforcing it, if from the beginning, they go to the grassroots to serve as law enforcement officials just to get a job, that is, to get a generous salary."

"Once these Qin officials are sent abroad, without strong external constraints, they will naturally become more prone to slacking off."

"At the beginning, they were quite motivated. But as time went on, they immediately distinguished themselves from the powerless common people by virtue of their status and the legal provisions they knew."

"By then, even if he doesn't want to be lazy and negligent in his administration, it will be beyond his control."

Many doctors were not optimistic about Qin Li.

The first thing a Confucian scholar should do is to make himself a good person, cultivate himself, make himself able to be calm when encountering things, and have a character that can blend in with the world.

In the past, when a hundred schools of thought contended with each other, countless schools of thought emerged on the land of China. Confucianism became a prominent school of thought, not only because of its large number of Confucian scholars and their relatively high quality, but also because they studied worldly knowledge and did important things to stabilize the country.

Therefore, other sects also know in their hearts that they cannot compare with Confucianism at all.

Most of these Confucian scholars have been influenced by the six arts of a gentleman. Just like everyone looks like a stone of similar size, but the Confucian scholars have gone through such a long process of "polishing" and have profound connotations.

As for these PhDs, you think they are only a few years older than you in their fifties or sixties, but now they look like people half buried in the ground and you simply ignore them.

In fact, in addition to reading dozens of carts of books, they have been to more than ten places and met the Four Gentlemen of the Warring States Period. The famous Xunzi was just their uncle.

They have witnessed the collapse of countries, the ups and downs in the lives of treacherous and loyal ministers, the chaos in the Central Plains, have been to the battlefield, and have sat at the same table with the King of Wei, the King of Chu, and the King of Zhao.

They had been immersed in a cultured country for half their lives and were suddenly recruited to Qin. The first thing they were dissatisfied with was the customs of Qin.

Especially the tradition of cruel officials in the Qin Dynasty.

That is to say, even though they were used to all kinds of messes in the world and their mentality had become peaceful, they still felt uncomfortable watching Qin Li handling legal affairs.

This has a lot to do with Qin Shihuang.

Because once upon a time, the boss of the grassroots officials of the Qin Dynasty was a stubborn and bad-tempered person who would take advantage of anyone he disliked.

When a leader has a bad temper, the officials below, as the recipients of his emotions and holding power, will easily pass on his anger.

Therefore, many Qin officials, especially those who left Xianyang City, basically had this problem - they were very violent.

However, we cannot blame Qin Shi Huang and the Qin official group for their violent temper. At the end of the war and the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, after experiencing such a long period of war and chaos and people's livelihood was in dire straits, the trust between people was completely trampled upon.

The entire nation may be filled with some violent spirit. Not to mention Qin Shihuang, even Fusu may have some violent spirit.

It's really that kind of inexplicable anger, and I don't know where to vent it. Some people choose to break down and cry to vent, but many people choose to discharge this anger and pain, just like discharging dirty water.

One person stood up and discharged dirty water outside, polluting the environment for everyone, and it was not corrected in time; then, the second and third people stood up, and everyone was discharging dirty water outside. Gradually, everyone was in this environment, and naturally everyone was prone to become irritable and violent.

When encountering certain things, he will get furious.

However, these doctors of the Five Classics were now doctors of the Qin State, receiving salaries from the Qin Emperor and wearing official robes provided by the Qin Emperor. It was not easy for them to directly say that the class oppression in Qin was too severe or that the morals in Qin were bad.

Chunyu Yue pointed out, "Now there are mainly two groups of Qin officials in our Qin State.

"The first is to be a law-abiding official, that is, an official who abides by the law and follows reason. He does not boast of his achievements and abilities, and the people do not praise him, nor does he do anything wrong."

"An official who abides by the law and reason and has neither merit nor fault can be considered a superior official."

"The other group of people are cruel officials. Cruel officials refer to those who are responsible to the monarch and enforce the law harshly."

"I once asked the former Prime Minister about this question. The former Prime Minister Li Si believed that the people are very cunning and can manipulate the law and be treacherous, and good people cannot change them."

"People are becoming more and more cunning and treacherous, wandering on the edge of the law, destroying morality, and causing many negative impacts on society. Even charity cannot influence them."

"In such cases, cruel officials are needed to solve such thorny problems. And cruel officials can often play a decisive role and solve such problems with direct means."

"Your Majesty is now in power and is determined to implement benevolent policies and carry out educational reforms, so I would like to make suggestions to Your Majesty and tell you what I have seen and learned in the past twenty years in Qin."

In fact, Chunyu Yue was not pedantic, he just truly understood what Confucius said. But the people at that time could not keep up with him at all, there was a gap in knowledge and culture, people's lives were difficult, and there was no opportunity for people like him to show their skills.

And Prince Fusu lacked the courage and determination. Many people may have misunderstood Qin Shihuang, thinking that Qin Shihuang was against implementing benevolent policies, so he was worried about Fusu. In fact, it was because Fusu lacked the courage and determination, and was not ruthless enough.

Because the more a king wants to implement benevolent policies and plunder the superiors to help the subordinates, the more courage and means he must have. Relying on virtue to influence his subjects is pure nonsense.

Chunyu Yue held a very high status in the Qin Empire.

Because he is the teacher of the current Emperor of Qin.

So even though Fusu was somewhat disgusted with Chunyu Yue, he still had to listen patiently.

He knew that Chunyu Yue was very talkative and that he would definitely give a long speech next, but he did so in order to give face to these doctors and to set an example for his subjects.

For this, Fusu had to temporarily sacrifice his ears.

Chen Ping also frowned slightly, and had an ominous premonition as he listened to Chunyu Yue's words.

The other doctors were also different from the young men like Fusu. They all leaned sideways and listened attentively.

Their expressions were extremely joyful and peaceful, just like music lovers who had met a skilled musician, and everyone stretched their necks waiting for him to play some wonderful music.

Chunyu Yue sat upright and said slowly, "Master once said that if we use political laws to guide the people and use punishments to restrain the people, the people can avoid committing crimes, but they will have no sense of shame."

"If people are guided by morality and restrained by etiquette, they will feel ashamed and correct their mistakes and walk on the right path."

In fact, in a sense, the law can only be used as a guiding governance tool, because the law is external discipline and social public supervision.

Once an individual encounters a situation where others are not present, the test comes. If one does not have firm beliefs, such as peeking at other people's secrets, sleeping with other people's wives, etc., big mistakes will be made.

There are often people with weak beliefs who denounce that moral shackles are too heavy and that people still want freedom. When they end up in jail or get cheated on, they will inevitably curse the world.

Ah——Why is this world so rotten!
That was the case in the pre-Qin era.

Many young people pursued freedom and hated Qin law. They wanted to be like wild horses that broke free from their reins, without any constraints, and do whatever they wanted, but Qin Shihuang forced them to put this yoke on their heads, so they hated Qin Shihuang.

Fusu understood this fact, so he would not relax legal supervision. If he did, illegal and criminal incidents would increase exponentially.

Chunyu Yue was talking about his own affairs, while Fusu was reminiscing about the time when he was the crown prince. At that time, he did not have to consider so many things. All the difficult and complicated problems were handled by his father. Although he handled it very attentively, the results were very poor. At least the burden was on someone else at that time, so Fusu would not feel so tired.

When he took on this burden himself, Fusu began to understand how difficult it was for his father.

Chunyu Yuezi said a lot.

Chen Ping, a researcher of "Tao Te Ching", couldn't help but stand up and argue with him.

"Ping dares to ask. Chunyu Pushe said that we should use morality to guide the people. Morality, what exactly is morality? It is true that Confucius once wrote the Book of Changes, but this morality has never been clearly explained."

"The topic we are discussing today is how to make Qinli more conscious and fulfill their duties as Qinli, so as to make up for the fact that Qinli always did superficial work in law enforcement and handled cases, and always perfunctorily explained the legal provisions."

"According to what you said, your method of education is to use etiquette to educate, to use allusions to influence, to teach a set of proper behavioral norms."

"But I'm afraid that doing so will cause great trouble."

To be honest, Chen Ping felt that these old doctors had been treated too favorably by the kings in the past and had no experience of worldly affairs at all. They did not understand how the common people at the bottom of society lived in the world.

"Openly talking about morality itself is not helpful, and promoting morality is teaching people how to be hypocritical and whitewash themselves."

If Chunyu Yue had not been old, he would have jumped up and fought with Chen Ping long ago.

I saw that his eyes were slightly closed and his lips were trembling.

Other Confucian masters also looked displeased.

Kong Yu chose to smile and observe silently.

Kong Yu didn't think what Chen Ping said made sense, but he just wanted to see the situation first. He wanted to be a modest gentleman and not be tainted by these mundane affairs.

It is extremely impolite for Chen Ping to quarrel with others, and he would never do that.

The great scholars were not very angry. After all, they always had to do something to prove that they were indeed profound and had high morals.

Chen Ping said, "Laozi once said: "People with high morals do not show virtue in form, so they have virtue; people with low morals stick to formal virtue, so they have no real virtue."

"Some people look well-dressed and polite in their dealings with others, but they commit adultery, steal, and spread rumors behind their backs. However, they think they are moral people, and outsiders are often deceived by their superficial politeness." "They will even invent more complete etiquette to cover up their dirty hearts and mean-spirited behavior. They deliberately show off and boast about how high their moral character is."

"In fact, he is a bully and flatters the weak. Deep down, he looks down on the poor."

"Some people seem to swear at every turn and even yell at their parents, but their parents never lack for food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and often show concern for them."

"But they speak vulgarly, behave violently, beat and insult others. But when the country is in trouble, they will be the first to rush out; even if they have no money, they will donate generously when they see a disaster in a certain place."

Chen Ping's words were like a loud bell, slapping these Five Classics doctors in the face.

Chunyu Yue listened to Chen Ping's words, and at that moment he understood why the young emperor liked this handsome young man.

Fusu just looked at Chen Ping quietly.

Many times, Fusu could see his former self in Chen Ping.

He knows very well what it feels like to be of humble status, to have no chance of being recognized for one's talent, and to have failed in exams many times.

The injustice that Chen Ping saw was also what he had seen in the past.

The world is not black and white, but there are always people who want to make distinctions between black and white when they first start out.

If you are obsessed with white, then you will have conflicts with black and fall into a confrontational situation.

Only the wisdom passed down by Lao Tzu can help people better deal with this matter.

Sima Wuyi originally had many misunderstandings about Chen Ping. Now, he was quietly watching this talented man who was born in a remote place. He felt that there was some kind of light emanating from Chen Ping.

In a debate like today, as a Shangshu Ling, it stands to reason that Chen Ping would not dare to speak, but he still spoke out.

Because of his impulsiveness, Chen Ping hated those Confucianists the most who talked about benevolence, righteousness, and morality.

Because they simply don't understand the hunger and cold of the lower-class people, and the fickleness of human nature.

Just like Qin Shihuang, he was emperor for too long and forgot how common people lived.

Qin Shihuang was the same as these great scholars and many high-ranking officials.

Although they have good intentions, their long-term affluent life has made them out of touch with reality and detached from the grassroots people. What they say and do sounds ridiculous.

After Chen Ping finished speaking, the whole room fell silent.

Now these doctors are speechless.

Chunyu Yue stood up and said, "Only when people have enough food and clothing can they know honor and disgrace. To solve this problem, I think we still have to make the people rich, and then educate them about what is right and wrong, honor and disgrace, and let them understand the difference between good and evil."

When Chen Ping heard this, he even wanted to cry.

After reading more than a dozen carts of books, they actually think that the people at the bottom of society are like animals without thoughts? Right and wrong, good and evil, these are the most basic moral concepts that everyone has, and they have them since birth.

How come in their mouths, these morals need to be taught by humans?

"In this world, those with corrupt morals need to be governed, and trust between people needs to be rebuilt. This is what His Majesty said himself."

"What's the point of going back to the issue of making the people rich? Was the Shang Dynasty not rich enough? Was the material civilization of the Zhou Dynasty not advanced enough? But in the end, those who enjoy the fruits are the superiors."

"What's more, the great way is natural. Why should we force distinctions between honor and disgrace, between virtue and non-virtue?"

"Lao Tzu once said, 'The opposite is the movement of the Tao, and the weak is the use of the Tao.'"

"The stricter the laws, the more thieves there are."

Lao Tzu's definition of morality is the most popular. However, these words can easily offend some doctors.

For example, Zhou Qingchen felt that Chen Ping was deliberately pointing fingers at him today and making indirect accusations.

But he raised his head and sat upright, as if nothing had happened. The great scholars were still sitting there. They looked at Chen Ping as if they were looking at their past selves, or as if they were looking at their descendants.

Zhou Qingchen could only swallow his anger and lower his head.

The great scholars today are all true masters who were selected after Fusu personally went to the Jixia Academy to hold debates and integrated official and academic studies.

Everyone could fully understand Chen Ping's feelings, because there were many great scholars present who had the same experience as Chen Ping in the past.

Shusun Tong greatly appreciated Chen Ping's words. "Every word the Shangshu Ling said is a pearl. It is called morality, but it is not. Many people use the guise of morality to destroy the connotation of morality. This is indeed what happens in the world today."

"So what do you think we should do?"

Shusun Tong actually didn't care about the rules and regulations of Confucianism. He thought he was just wearing Confucian clothes. As a person, you should still do things and do your job properly.

The purpose of studying Confucian classics is to apply them to the world and to do things that benefit the world. It is not to make oneself a scholar or a superior person, to put oneself in a high position and make everyone else seem humble and only oneself noble.

In fact, Shusun Tong felt that his teacher Kong Yu was often too stubborn and restricted himself.

Shusun Tong felt that Confucians could also use Taoist ideas, such as the definition of morality. Since Lao Tzu said it so well and Lao Tzu and Confucius had a connection in the past, why not make up for this?

Didn't His Majesty the Emperor fill in some theoretical gaps in Confucianism with some of the content of Mohism? At the Jixia Academy Forum, all schools of thought exchanged ideas with each other and benefited greatly.

As long as it is right and beneficial to the people, there is no harm in listening to it.

Shusun Tong sought advice sincerely, and the other great Confucian scholars did not show any anger, because they were upright and were not afraid of Chen Ping telling the truth.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Chen Ping wondered if he had just said too much, or if he had been angry at the wrong place.

"The Qin decree is a political tool, not the source of managing political purity or turbidity."

"In the past, the law was very strict, but lewd and deceitful things happened. When the situation became the most serious, officials and people even deceived each other, and the country was in ruins."

"At this time, the management of government affairs by officials is like adding fuel to a fire or adding more water to stop a boiling pot. If strong and powerful people and strict laws are not used, how can they be competent and happy? If people who advocate morality are allowed to do these things, they will definitely fail in their duties."

Chun Yuyue's face was as black as charcoal. "But today's topic is that His Majesty wants us to come up with a solution on how to make the Qin Li team more fair in handling criminal cases and truly popularize the law."

"The Master said: When I hear a lawsuit, I am just like everyone else. I must make sure there are no lawsuits."

"Confucius thought he was just like everyone else in hearing lawsuits. The difference was that he was determined to eliminate the lawsuits completely!"

"The key is not how to handle civil lawsuits, but to eliminate all these things. This is what Confucius believes is the reason for implementing benevolent government. Solving the problem from the root means not letting the problem happen."

Chen Ping remained silent after hearing this.

He realized that he seemed to have some misunderstanding about Confucius.

It is said that Confucius actually said such an awesome thing. The important thing is not to handle the case clearly, but to make the lawsuit disappear.

It's really domineering.

Chun Yuyue continued, "I understand what you mean. You are worried that if you talk about morality and promote morality, and forcefully distinguish between good and evil, many people will pretend to be moral, which will make the situation worse."

"But we are not nerds who can only recite Confucius's words. We will give your Majesty a satisfactory explanation on how to carry it out."

"Laws were not only made during the Qin Dynasty. Every time a dynasty changed, people just changed objects from square to round, but the wood was still the same wood."

"I understand what you want to say."

"No matter how the laws are changed, whether they are detailed or loose, it is certain that the beauty of a country's politics lies in whether the king can be lenient, not in the severity of the laws."

Chen Ping was finally convinced.

The root cause lies with people!
No matter what system we change and whether we put gentlemen in power, politics in the world will naturally become clear and bright. It is that simple.

After listening to the speech, Fusu only criticized Chunyu Yue.

"If a king is generous, his subjects will be cunning."

“So, the beauty of a country’s politics lies in whether the government can be impartial.”

"Today's discussion was very interesting. I think Confucianism and Taoism may continue to learn from each other in the future."

"Just listening to what you doctors said and did today, I can rest assured that I will also entrust the moral education of Qin officials to you doctors."

(End of this chapter)