The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 482 The Duality of Human Rights

After the publication of "What is Great Harmony", it aroused widespread doubts and criticisms.

But everyone still has some expectations in their hearts, wanting to see how he plans to build a world of great harmony.

After all, Chen Jingke is not an ordinary person, but the real policy maker of the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone has witnessed how much change his overall vision and policies have brought about.

What does the perfect world inside such a person look like?
It's hard not to be curious.

After reading "Ideal World", everyone finally knows what his so-called world of great harmony really looks like.

The sensation it caused was unparalleled.

Li Shanchang looked at the book in his hand and was a little absent-minded for a moment.

Is it really possible to achieve a world where both material and spiritual satisfaction are achieved?
Li Qi sighed and said, "I finally understand why he doesn't like the Legalists."

Li Shanchang came back to his senses, looking somewhat depressed, and said:
"Legalism cannot exist independently anymore."

Once Chen Jingke's world of great harmony was accepted by the world, the Legalists, who lacked warmth, would no longer be able to become an independent and prominent school of thought.

This does not mean that legalism will disappear, but that its ideas can only exist as an auxiliary.

Although Chen Jingke did not like the Legalists, many of their excellent ideas could still be used.

The world of great harmony that he built was not imagined out of thin air.

Instead, it was built by referring to the ideas of previous lives and absorbing the strengths of various schools of thought.

Legalism is a prominent school among the Hundred Schools of Thought, and its inheritance is very complete. It is also an important source of reference for Chen Jingke.

This point will be mentioned in subsequent chapters.

Li Shanchang had not seen the relevant content yet, so he felt disappointed.

Li Qi rarely saw his father so depressed, and he couldn't help feeling a little worried.

I'm old now, I don't want to get sick from the shock of this matter, so I changed the subject:
"I don't know how Marquis Anping specifically constructed the world of great harmony. Dad, please turn the page quickly."

Li Shanchang's attention was indeed diverted and he turned to the next article.
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Yang Shiqi was naturally also paying attention to this book. It can even be said that he was one of the people in the Ming Dynasty who paid the most attention to this book.

Previously, he relied on his own abilities and determination to complete several leaps and successfully entered the Zhanshi Mansion to take up a position.

However, just when he thought that he could demonstrate his abilities in front of the prince and be valued.

Reality hit him hard.

Only when he got close to the center of power did he realize that talented people were so plentiful.

A large group of young people surrounded the Crown Prince and Chen Jingke.

They are all outstanding talents selected from all over the country and from all walks of life.

These people did not hold high positions, they were all minor officials of the eighth or ninth rank, and they were all engaged in clerical and miscellaneous work.

But I can receive guidance from the big guys from time to time.

The Crown Prince, Chen Jingke and others often gave them lessons.

Teach them many truths through words and deeds.

You can imagine how powerful these people are.

To put it bluntly, it is somewhat similar to the Langguan system during the Han and Tang dynasties.

Select a group of young talents and place them in the center for training.

After they are mature, they can be sent out for training.

These people are often the emperor's confidants and can help the emperor understand the details of the world.

Chen Jingke had no choice but to get such a group of people together.

Without enough talent, we can only try every possible way to cultivate it.

In short, in front of this group of peers, the abilities that Yang Shiqi was proud of became not very impressive.

Especially with regard to the new policies, he didn't even have a superficial understanding of them.

However, he did not lose heart. He came from a humble background and had no famous teachers to teach him. What allowed him to get to where he is today was his adaptability and perseverance.

If you don’t understand, just lower your attitude and learn and study.

Soon he gained a foothold in the small circle and had a group of friends with whom he could talk.

With the help of these friends, he quickly made up for his shortcomings.

I have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the changes in the imperial court.

However, he was still not in a hurry to show himself, but instead studied more deeply.

Now he only knew what the court was going to do, but he didn't understand why they were going to do it.

And as he learned more about the new policy, many questions arose in his mind.

For example, what ideas did Chen Jingke base these policies on?

For example, why did the royal family trust him so much?

New policies will bring uncertainty, which is the biggest taboo in all dynasties.

Why are they all against change?
It is for stability and to eliminate uncertainty.

The ruling style of Emperor Taisheng before him was notoriously conservative.

Craftsmen are registered as craftsmen, and military personnel are registered as soldiers...but they are not allowed to be changed between them.

If one person is registered as a craftsman, his ancestors for generations can only be craftsmen.

The purpose of doing this is to maintain stability and maintain "unchangedness".

However, Chen Jingke's reforms were unprecedentedly drastic, and many of his policies are still incomprehensible even now.

So, how did he convince the Holy Emperor?

Marriage? Not taking power? Smart? Good at speaking?
Yang Shiqi directly denied these answers.

These things are indeed important, but they are not critical.

If anyone thinks that he can convince the Grand Saint Emperor and gain his trust with these things, that person will surely die a miserable death.

After thinking carefully, he had an idea.

Chen Jingke's thoughts.

The Holy Emperor must have understood Chen Jingke's thoughts, knew why he did this, and saw the significance of his changes.

He even made the Holy Emperor see the harm of not changing.

Only in this way can the self-willed Holy Emperor choose to support him.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his guess was correct.

So, what exactly are Chen Jingke’s thoughts?

He began collecting privately.

However, there is little to nothing like it.

When Chen Jingke gave lectures, he basically only talked about the new policy itself and how to implement it.

Never explain why it has changed.

To put it more bluntly, he never told others what the legal and ritual basis of his reforms was.

So after searching for a long time, Yang Shiqi still gained little.

However, this did not disappoint him. Instead, it made him more certain that Chen Jingke was hiding something.

Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for a person to be so secretive.

Then he changed his target.

Chen Jingke was hiding on purpose, it was impossible for the people around him to be as secretive as he was.

For example, the emperor (Zhu Biao) and the prince (Zhu Xiongying).

So he began to collect the words of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying.

It is not taboo for a minister to collect the words of the monarch.

The real taboo is to inquire about the royal privacy.

Almost every clerk had a box of relevant quotations.

Because he was popular among the clerks, he was able to borrow some easily.

He spent months sorting and categorizing these quotations.

By putting the similar parts together, I really got a glimpse of the surface.

Even the fur shocked him.

He was more eager to understand the full picture of Chen Jingke's thoughts.

But he was afraid of being discovered, so he didn't dare to show it and could only collect it privately.

This time he expanded the scope of his collection.

Fang Xiaoru was guided by Chen Jingke and realized the idea of ​​materialism.

Li Shanchang was also influenced by Chen Jingke and put forward legal ideas.

Then they must know something.

He collected all the works of these people and sorted and analyzed them.

Achieve a lot.

Just through self-study, he gained a deeper understanding of the New Deal.

However, what frustrates him is that as the scope of his research expands, he finds himself getting further and further away from Chen Jingke.

Because he began to lose track of which were Chen Jingke's thoughts and which were the speaker's own thoughts.

Just when he didn't know what to do, "Great Harmony World" was released.

He immediately bought a copy to study.

The ideas of the first two articles were indeed grand, but he felt very indifferent.

For a pragmatic man like him, any grand idea is empty.

And he didn't believe at all that there was really anyone who could be so selfless.

What he wanted to see more was the foundation on which Chen Jingke constructed these ideas.

That is what the basis of law and etiquette is.

This is the most crucial point in understanding Chen Jingke and the new policy.

So after reading the first two articles, he turned to the third one without hesitation.

The name is very concise, just two words: human rights.

Yang Shiqi's eyes lit up. He had a hunch that the answer he wanted might be here.

He immediately lowered his head and began to read.

This article, as the title suggests, is about human rights.

In short, it means to talk about the most basic rights that people should enjoy as human beings.

Who granted these powers?
As usual, Chen Jingke started by talking about history.

It points out that the ancients had a very superficial understanding of human rights. They believed that life was given by blood and human rights were also given by blood.

The power of those who are connected to you by blood determines your power.

The son of a slave is a slave, and the son of a noble is a noble.

In the first thirty years, you should respect your father and your son, and in the next thirty years, you should respect your son and your father.

These are all manifestations of human rights granted by blood.

On the basis of this legal system, the patriarchal system was born, in which the clan and parents have absolute leadership over their children.

But this theory ignores the existence of "heaven".

Heaven and earth are the foundation for all things, and it is also heaven and earth that give birth to all things.

Humans are also spirits nurtured by heaven and earth.

Since humans were created by heaven and earth, heaven would naturally give them the most basic rights.

That is, 'natural human rights'.

So what powers has Heaven given to humans?
First of all, the right to life always comes first.

Secondly, as a human being, you enjoy the most basic personality.

Everyone must respect human personality because it is a power given by God.

……

Then, Chen Jingke used a large amount of space to prove the concept of natural human rights.

Seeing this, Yang Shiqi excitedly clapped his hands on the table. He found it, he finally found it.

Human rights are endowed by nature.

If we think carefully about Chen Jingke's policies, most of them were aimed at loosening the constraints on the people and giving them more power.

The most obvious manifestations of this were the Abolition of Slavery Act and the Hire Act.

In fact, from the perspective of the court, these two bills are dispensable.

No, to be more precise, these two bills have hindered the country's development to a certain extent.

Apart from anything else, if slaves are allowed.

Then the Ming Dynasty could reclaim more wasteland and produce more food.

Workshops can reduce costs and produce more goods.

With Chen Jingke's intelligence, it is impossible for him not to see this.

But he still proposed these two bills a long time ago.

Now I finally found the reason.

It is the 'natural human rights'.

Because he believed that God had endowed humans with the most basic rights, and freeing the people was executing the will of Heaven.

The legal and ritual foundation for his construction of a world of great harmony, that is, the underlying logic, is also the natural human rights.

However, after reading this, he still had many doubts that had not been answered. He suppressed his excitement and continued reading.

Later, Chen Jingke brought the topic back and brought up the Confucian ethics again.

Believe that Confucian ethics have practical significance.

Because life is indeed conceived and raised by parents, the status of parents directly affects the status of their children.

These are undeniable facts.

To a certain extent, parents can decide many things for their children.

The reverse is also true.

When the children grow up and become independent, and the parents gradually age, the children become the ones who actually control the family.

Therefore, it is not wrong to say that a large part of human rights is conferred by bloodline.

At this point, he finally put forward his final point of view.

Human rights have a dual nature.

That is, natural human rights and rights granted by bloodline.

However, the right of heaven is higher than the right of blood, and even parents cannot deprive their children of their lives at will.

Seeing this, Yang Shiqi couldn't help but admire Chen Jingke's wisdom.

He had a question before. Since rights have been granted by bloodline for thousands of years, how come you suddenly have natural human rights?

Then what about the moral principles that have been upheld for thousands of years?
Your world of great harmony wants to be separated from traditional culture, right?

Based on this point alone, it is impossible for the world of great harmony to be accepted by the general public.

Now, Chen Jingke solved this problem by using a duality.

God grants us basic human rights, and bloodline grants us additional rights.

The two complement each other and constitute the most basic rights that people should enjoy as human beings.

In this way, the ideas passed down for thousands of years can be seamlessly connected with the world of great harmony.

It also removes the obstacles in people's minds, making it easier for everyone to accept it.

In Yang Shiqi's opinion, this move was really brilliant.

In fact, Chen Jingke thought much more deeply.

The reason why he proposed duality was, on the one hand, to strengthen continuity with traditional culture and reduce the backlash of traditional forces.

On the other hand, we are also well aware of the disastrous consequences that the underlying logic of unipolarity will bring.

The concept of natural human rights was created in the previous life, and it developed very well in the beginning.

Based on this underlying logic, the most outstanding ideological system developed is that of Marx and Engels.

But later, the natural human rights began to be demonized.

'Why did my parents give birth to me without my permission?'
"My parents are incapable, so why did they give birth to me?"

"If you can't earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, why should you have children?"

In the past, people thought, I have to work hard to give my family a good life.

Many people are wondering, why wasn’t I born into a wealthy family? Why am I not a second-generation rich or a second-generation official?

Hard work has become a derogatory word and struggle is seen as servility.

The West is even more exaggerated, having come up with hundreds of genders.

The underlying logic behind the emergence of these ideas is 'natural human rights'.

I pursue freedom because it is the power given to me by God.

I pursue absolute freedom, which is also the power given to me by God.

If you can't let me live a rich and free life, then you are guilty.

Everything I have is given by God, why should I be grateful to you? Why should I follow your rules?
Then you will have the right to hate your parents, your family, and everything.

In fact, their logic is very easy to break down.

Since God made you born in an ordinary family, why are you dissatisfied?
what?
Do you have any opinion about heaven?

You actually have a problem with the God who gave you human rights?

Haha.

However, those who keep saying that human rights are granted by nature pretended not to see it at this time.

In general, the underlying logic of polarization can easily lead to problems.

Therefore, when constructing the underlying logic, Chen Jingke adopted duality.

On the one hand, we use the innate human rights to emphasize the most basic rights that people possess and that cannot be violated by anyone.

On the other hand, bloodline is used to empower people and emphasize the connection between people.

I hope that in the future there will be fewer people pursuing "absolute freedom" and more people will pay attention to family, friendship and love.

He didn't know if this would work, but he had to try it anyway.

And he is full of confidence in Chinese civilization.

Our civilization has been diverse since its inception.

This is the only case in human history of completely absorbing a huge foreign civilization (Buddhism).

This is what diversity empowers us.

The duality is more in line with the diverse characteristics of Chinese civilization.

Even our underlying logic is diverse.

I believe that our people can develop this set of ideas even more brilliantly.

He didn't tell anyone these thoughts, and he had no way of telling anyone else.

Unless he wants to make his identity as a time traveler public.

But he had decided to take this secret to his grave.

Why add unnecessary troubles to everyone?

But even so, the shock caused by this article is unprecedented.

Even surpassing the world of Datong itself.

You have to know that no matter how people changed before, the underlying logic has not changed.

This article by Chen Jingke directly modified the underlying logic.

This means that all the ideological systems that have developed since the Chinese civilization have to change accordingly.

After reading this article, most scholars began to re-examine this book.

(End of this chapter)