The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 173 The blue jade sword is not old yet

After seeing Fang Xiaoru off, Chen Jingke and Zhu Xiongying returned to the palace.

Zhu Xiongying said little along the way and looked thoughtful.

After returning to his residence, he asked: "Jing Ke, what is the meaning of human rights and exploitation?"

Chen Jingke did not give him a direct answer, but said:

"You need to find the answer to this question yourself."

"Look more, think more, and one day you will find the answer."

Zhu Xiongying was very dissatisfied with this answer, but he also knew that since Chen Jingke said so, he would definitely not answer again.

I can only ask another question:

"You said before that because the Song Dynasty is dark and weak, it is unfavorable for foreign wars."

"In order to relieve the worries and anger in their hearts, scholars can only choose to numb themselves, so Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue came into being."

"Why did you just attribute the weakness of the Song Dynasty to the cowardice of Confucianism?"

"Isn't it the national policy of Song Taizong to suppress military strategists?"

Chen Jingke didn't expect that he would ask such a question. He thought for a moment and then said:

"Everything has two sides...Song Confucianism and Song Dynasty can be regarded as complementing each other."

"The Song Dynasty was weak and feared that the generals would rebel and chose to suppress them."

"And Confucianism, as the ruling school, chose to have an affair with the Song Dynasty."

Zhu Xiongying was even more confused: "Isn't the school supposed to serve the emperor? What's wrong with them doing this?"

Chen Jingke shook his head and said, "Wrong, very wrong."

"The establishment of the school was not to serve the emperor, but to resolve social conflicts and establish a new social order."

"Serving the emperor is just incidental."

Zhu Xiongying obviously disagreed with this answer.

After learning martial arts, he was sold to the emperor's family. The monarch is supreme, why does it seem so unimportant to you?

Chen Jingke sighed heavily and said:

"I know you don't like to hear this, but you have to admit that human power is limited, and there is no omniscient and omnipotent person in the world."

"Must kings be able to understand what's wrong with the world? Does their understanding of the world have to be correct?"

"Are his ideas really suitable for the social situation at that time?"

Zhu Xiongying looked thoughtful.

Chen Jingke continued: "The monarch's ability is also limited, and it is impossible to understand everything."

"What does Mingjun look like?"

"If you can do this and leave professional matters to the right people, you are a wise man."

"The Emperor of the Han Dynasty did not need to know how to use troops better than Han Xin, it was enough for him to know that Han Xin knew how to use troops."

"Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not need to know how to fight. He only needed to know that Wei Qing and Huo Qubing knew how to fight, so that he could reverse the situation between Han and Hungary."

"By the same token, a monarch does not necessarily need to understand where the contradictions in society lie, nor does he necessarily know how to solve them."

“As long as he can determine whose analysis is correct and whose ideas can solve the problem, that’s it.”

Just like him and Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not discover many contradictions. It was Chen Jingke who helped him analyze and tell him where the contradictions were.

Then tell him how to solve it.

What Zhu Yuanzhang needs to do is to judge whether what Chen Jingke said is true or false.

"All the promising kings in the past dynasties have done this."

"So, the true sages will not obey the monarch."

"Really excellent knowledge is not created to cater to emperors."

“Only those who can solve the social contradictions at that time and enrich the country and strengthen the people can be called outstanding.”

"Take the hundreds of schools of thought as an example. None of them was created to cater to the emperor's wishes."

"All schools of thought are the methods of rebuilding social order that the sages came up with after observing the social situation at that time, summarizing it."

"The sages of various schools of thought used their own theories to lobby the monarchs of other countries."

"This monarch doesn't want to believe in my doctrine, so I'll go find the next one to persuade him."

"No king is willing to adopt it, so I will spread my knowledge among the people."

"No sage would modify his thoughts in order to submit to the king."

"Including Han Confucians, they also improved themselves in response to the situation of the Han Dynasty."

"It just happened that their ideas met the needs of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty."

"That's why I was chosen to complete the hegemony of exclusively concentrating on Confucianism."

"At this point, it can be said that Song Confucianism has lost all the integrity of the sages."

"They are not proposing strategies to enrich the country and strengthen the people from a social perspective that can change the weak status quo."

"Instead, they choose to submit to the king and modify their thoughts to suit the king's needs."

"In order to cater to the monarch, many ideas were created that were harmful to the country and the people."

"It's not that there are no real great scholars. Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi are the best among them."

"They discovered that the problems in the Song Dynasty came from the system and tried to reform."

"However, they were eventually defeated by the Confucians themselves."

"After that, Song Confucians no longer dared to solve problems institutionally."

"Instead, they attributed the problem to the bad people's hearts and started to engage in involution, trying to solve the problem from the hearts of the people."

"But they have ignored the biggest problem. People who have enough food and clothing know the etiquette. People who have enough food and clothing know the honor and disgrace."

"The flaws in the system have caused the country to become poor and weak, and the people have no means of livelihood."

"People can't live anymore, so how can they be in that mood and do some inner construction?"

"Isn't this just asking for fish by chance?"

This is a bit rebellious.

If it had been when he first entered the palace, Chen Jingke would never have dared to say it.

Now it's just because it has some importance and is familiar with Zhu Yuanzhang that I dare to say it.

But I only dare to say it briefly.

Even if Lao Zhu knew about it, he would be unhappy at most and would not do anything to him.

In fact, what he wants to say more is that the world will still exist without everyone.

Xia, Shang and Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang... Thousands of years of history, hundreds of monarchs.

These monarchs once thought that the world could not survive without them.

But in fact? All turned into a pile of loess.

Therefore, a truly outstanding school of thought is not to serve the monarch, but to serve the country, the country, and the Chinese civilization.

But he knew very well that if he dared to say this, he would probably die suddenly.

So these words can only rot in the stomach.

Zhu Xiongying fell into deep thought and said after a long time: "So the most important thing for a monarch is not the ability to do things, but the ability to employ people."

Chen Jingke nodded and said: "Yes, doing everything yourself will not necessarily solve the problem. On the contrary, it will make people fall into greater difficulties."

“There is also a saying that ‘the king will not compete with his ministers for merit’.”

"Not everyone becomes an official just for glory and wealth."

"There are people with lofty ideals who come into office with the dream of enriching the country and strengthening the people."

"There are also people who want to express their ambitions and realize the value of life."

"So the monarch must give them space to display their talents."

"Otherwise, people with lofty ideals will stay behind closed doors or even switch to others."

"Tang Taizong's ability to use troops is not bad, but after he ascended the throne, except for the expedition to Goguryeo in his later years, he never led an army again."

"Why?"

"Because he has a group of generals who are good at fighting. If he leads the troops himself, he will take away the space for these generals to display their talents."

"Those generals won't say anything, but they will definitely feel uncomfortable in their hearts."

"So, he no longer leads the troops in battle, and rarely even interferes with the decisions of the generals at the front."

"But this did not damage Tang Taizong's wisdom, but made him admired by more people."

"The greatest power of a monarch is not that he knows more than others, but that he has the right to decide."    "He can decide who will lead the expedition, and he can also decide who will hold which position."

"The same is true in academia. The final choice of which school to use depends entirely on the monarch's choice."

"Whoever the monarch chooses will shine."

"But as a good monarch, he will not choose based on his own temperament."

"But choose the one that best suits the current national conditions and can make the country stronger."

"The Song Dynasty is just the opposite. They did not choose the most suitable one, but chose the one that best suits their own needs."

"The result is that those who are really capable are suppressed, and the rest just follow the tricks of rotten Confucians."

"So, Song Confucianism and Song Dynasty can be regarded as complementing each other."

These words can be regarded as making up for the previous words.

The importance of monarch selection is emphasized.

But it is not entirely wrong. It was indeed the choice of the Song Dynasty that led to the rise of Neo-Confucianism and Psychology.

In the end, the world is either a disciple of Neo-Confucianism or a disciple of Xinxue.

In the Ming Dynasty, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was copied and stipulated that only Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism could be tested in the imperial examination.

The position of Neo-Confucianism became more stable.

Although Wang Yangming appeared in the middle and late period, the status of Xinxue was infinitely elevated.

However, his mental studies only lasted for fifty or sixty years before they were disgraced by later generations.

Li Zhi, a master of mind science, has turned white beard and hair, and still hangs out in the Qin Tower and Chu Pavilion.

To put it beautifully, my heart is the universe, and we, the disciples of mind science, must act as we please.

Oh, Xinxue has become an excuse to indulge oneself.

If the country has a problem, ask them what to do.

Let me put it bluntly: when people's hearts are broken, everything they do is in vain.

Another question is, whether the world is chaotic or not has its own laws, we should not interfere.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xinxue had become notorious.

All I can say is that the system is rotten and it is sheer nonsense to try to change the world by changing people's hearts.

Zhu Xiongying nodded slightly and said: "I understand, it is really difficult to govern a country."

After all, he was young, and because of his trust in Chen Jingke, even though he felt that these words were a bit contrary to common sense, he still chose to believe them.

Chen Jingke was still very pleased. After teaching him by words and deeds for so long, Zhu Xiongying's outlook on life was much more normal than that of Lao Zhu.

What does Zhu Yuanzhang say... In many cases, Zhu Chongba and Zhu Yuanzhang can be regarded as two people.

Originally, he was a little worried that if these words reached Zhu Yuanzhang's ears, he would be angry.

As a result, everything was calm and Zhu Yuanzhang said nothing.

This put him at ease.

We also roughly figured out Zhu Yuanzhang’s bottom line.

Imperial power and clan.

These two points can be regarded as Zhu Yuanzhang's reverse scale.

While he is alive, he must not be touched.

You can try to change it elsewhere.

Including academic thinking.

This made Chen Jingke feel more relieved, and he could relax a little bit in the future.

As for the imperial power, he has no intention of tampering with it in his life.

The clan system can be changed after Lao Zhu leaves.

The situation of cultivating Zhu in the world must never happen again.
-

The final draft of "A Brief History of China" is not a big deal.

It has attracted the attention of many people.

Everyone is also curious about how this book is compiled.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did not pay special attention to "A Brief History of China" at the beginning.

As long as the book is completed, who dares to object that Ming Dynasty is the orthodoxy of the world?

The Sage Temple project proposed by Chen Jingke a few days ago made him change his view on this book.

It must be promoted and vigorously promoted.

Therefore, he announced to the emperor that this book should be published all over the world and all scholars must learn from it.

In future imperial examinations, you may choose topics from this book.

If he said that corresponding test questions would be added to the provincial examination and the general examination, some people would definitely object.

However, the palace examination was originally an additional examination held by the emperor. It only determined the ranking and did not change the candidates.

The choice of questions all depends on the emperor's wishes.

So it was hard for the ministers to say anything.

But the content related to the Imperial Examination is enough to motivate scholars to study.

When a book becomes a required subject for the imperial examination, its promotion efficiency simply surpasses the times.

In a very short period of time, this book spread throughout the thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, this book was not only circulated in the country, but also in the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the Fanman tribes within it.

The vassal states naturally recognized the identity of the Chinese branch.

This is an honor for them.

From now on, they can be upright and call themselves descendants of China.

If anyone calls them barbarians again, they can use this book to refute.

Therefore, this book spread quickly among the vassal countries.

Especially the aristocratic group, almost everyone has a copy.

And because of the spread of this book, it became popular among the dignitaries of the vassal states to imitate the clothes of the Han people and give themselves Han Chinese names.

This is also a surprise.

The enclosed Fanman's attention to this book is related to his personal interests.

Many tribes were annexed in name only, but in fact the court did not regard them as human beings at all.

No household registration is given, no land is divided, and no entry into the city is allowed...

It can be said that there are many restrictions.

They hope that after the book appears, the court will pay attention to this issue.

It would be best to resolve the issue of their identity.

But now the court has no time to care about this issue. Reform is in full swing and there is no time to be distracted.

Chen Jingke, who is most likely to be concerned about this issue, does not know about it at all because he does not understand the specific situation.

However, the scholar group is still a little resistant to "A Brief History of China".

It is an insult to us to compare us with Fanman.

But there wasn’t much of that resistance, just a little bit.

Especially when I learned that the imperial examination would require relevant content, this resistance quickly disappeared.

Chen Jingke was not surprised by this.

Morality is very important to some people.

But for most people, immediate interests are not as important.

Seeing that all plans were progressing relatively smoothly, he finally decided to rebuild the arithmetic circle.

This time his excuse was to study morphology (geometry).

But before he could take action, another thing happened.

Zhu Yuanzhang found him that day and said:

"Jing Ke, Lan Yu's two concubines are found to be pregnant."

Chen Jingke couldn't help but gasped: "Two? Marquis Yongchang's sword is still young."

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help laughing and said: "Lanyu sent a letter to the palace, asking you to go to his house to check the two concubines."

(End of this chapter)