Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 316 Two Different Paths
The first people to discover the emperor's actions were not others, but the "Confucian scholars" and "political science" disciples in the court. Of course, students from other schools also felt something.

The emperor was carrying out drastic reforms in many areas.

This reform even affected the foundations of the Chen and Kong families, especially the Kong family.

After all, the current head of the Chen family still occupies a high position and controls the government. Even if part of the foundation of political science is lost, it will not affect the Chen family too much.

But the Kong family is different.

The Kong family of Qufu quickly launched a series of "counterattacks" against the emperor's actions. Or it cannot be called a counterattack, it can only be said that they wanted to make the emperor "repent and return to the right path."

But because the Kong family's actions were too small and their strength was too weak, even if they fought back, the court and the emperor would not have noticed it.

This made the Kong family even more angry.

An Wangfu
Chen Qiu looked increasingly older, and because he had been dealing with government affairs for many years, his mental state was not very good.

Because of this reason, few people have actually disturbed Chen Qiu in the past two years, especially with some inexplicable reasons.

But today, even Chen Qulu was unable to stop the visitors.

Because the person who visited was called Wei Qing.

Wei Qing looked a little guilty. He sat in front of Chen Qiu with his head lowered, not daring to speak.

In fact, there are few powerful people in the Han Dynasty today who are not afraid of Chen Qiu. In the early years, Chen Qiu's reputation was not as great as his uncle Chen Tuo, but in the past two years, people suddenly discovered a problem.

All those who had offended the Chen family or Chen Qiu politically seemed to have disappeared inexplicably from the Han political arena.

"Cough cough."

Chen Qiu came back to his senses and realized that when people get old, they tend to indulge in memories.

"Master Kong, you came to visit me at this time, I guess you didn't just want to see if I'm dead, right?"

As he grew older, Chen Qiu became more and more impolite in his speech.

After all, how many people in the entire Han political arena can make him polite? Some of the old seniority could indeed make Chen Qiu polite.

Now Chen Qiu has lived to this age where he is still old but not dead.

Kong Chui had a complicated expression. He looked at Chen Qiu and said, "King An, you should have also felt the emperor's recent actions, right?"

There was a hint of anger in his eyes.

"The emperor promoted those lowly craftsmen to be officials, even on par with us!"

"Isn't this a provocation to us?"

Kong Chui said softly, "You should also be aware that the actions of those people will gradually erode the status of our two families."

"Did you just watch all this happen?"

Chen Qiu looked even more confused: "What does Mr. Kong mean? I don't understand."

Kong Chui looked at him in astonishment: "King An didn't stop your majesty?"

Chen Qiu was speechless, while Chen Pi, who was sitting next to him, laughed and said, "Mr. Kong, do you know that among the craftsmen who were rewarded, there was one with the surname Chen? Do you know what his name was?"

Kong Chui turned his head suddenly: "Is that your son?"

Chen Qiu didn't want to waste time talking to Kong Chui anymore. He saw Kong Chui's intention and said directly, "Yes, he is my son."

"Moreover, not only my son, but also many people in the Chen family are descendants of the Mohist School, some are disciples of Gongshujia, and some are craftsmen. These people are all members of the Chen family."

Chen Qiu picked up the teacup, and a hint of depth flashed across his eyes.

"Kong Chui, what the emperor did was also approved by me. If you have any objections to this, you don't have to say it."

Chen Qiu's next words made Kong Chui feel cold all over, and he was completely frozen by that look.

Kong Chui was silent.

He looked at Chen Qiu with a solemn expression, didn't say anything, just stood up and walked out.

After Kong Chui left, Wei Qing sighed, looked at Chen Qiu and said, "King An, I am sorry for being so presumptuous this time."

Chen Qiu's expression did not change, he just smiled and said, "Nothing, this is probably not what Da Sima meant, right?"

"If I am not mistaken, this should be what Your Majesty meant?"

Wei Qing paused for a moment, but didn't say anything. He just drank his tea silently.

Chen Qiu shook his head and said, "Go back and tell His Majesty that since I said I support His Majesty, I will not regret it."

Wei Qing became even more silent.

The affairs between the emperor and the Chen family were not something that he, the Grand Marshal, could interfere in.

Things continued to happen in the Prince An's Palace, but Wei Qing stayed and chatted with Chen Wushi and others. At this time, in the Weiyang Palace, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty was meeting with two people.

One: Chen Wushi.

The second one: Dong Zhongshu.

Liu Che sat there, and in the past two years, his imperial power had become more and more cautious.

"I summoned you today just to discuss your knowledge."

There was a gentle smile on his face, and at this moment he looked less like an emperor and more like the elder of these two people.

But neither Dong Zhongshu nor Chen Wushi would really regard this person as their elder, especially Dong Zhongshu.

He kept suppressing his inner tension. Today he wanted to represent the Confucian school, or rather, not just the Confucian school. Three years ago, he and Chen Wushi became good friends, and the two had completely identical views on politics and scholarship.

They all believed that the emperor would gradually become unable to tolerate the unbridled Hundred Schools of Thought and would begin to rein them in.

In order to consolidate his rule, Emperor Qin Shi Huang took the ideological measure of standardizing the writing system and the wheel gauge. Later, he wanted to bring all the books in the private sector into the palace.

Although the current emperor has not been on the throne for long, he has already begun to show the aura of an emperor.

Would such an emperor tolerate the current trend in the world?
The descendants of various schools of thought gathered under the princes and discussed state affairs without any scruples, and even criticized some of the court's policies.

Although the princes do not have the courage to rebel, can the emperor tolerate such ideological behavior?
Although the thoughts of the various schools of thought cannot be said to be entirely essential, they do contain many directions that benefit the country and the people.

Dong Zhongshu and Chen Wushi met under such circumstances. They had common but completely opposite goals.

Chen Wushi did it for his own knowledge; Dong Zhongshu did it for Confucianism.

Gradually, the two people sought common ground while reserving differences and walked out of two completely different paths, and today's emperor's summons is the best way to test these two paths.

Dong Zhongshu wanted to prove himself.

So he spoke first before Chen Wushi did. He took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, here are all my words. Please read them."

Liu Che raised his eyebrows and looked at Dong Zhongshu who was sitting there. He really didn't expect that Dong Zhongshu would speak first and even take out the "Strategy Theory" directly from his sleeve.

Is Dong Zhongshu confident that he can defeat Chen Wushi?
He glanced at Chen Wu Shi, and his curiosity grew even stronger.

Liu Che took the policy paper from Dong Zhongshu's hand. The handwriting on it was clean and neat, and the font used was a modified small seal script.

This is also the official terminology of the Han Dynasty today.

As soon as he took Dong Zhongshu's memorial, Liu Che saw the words written on the cover: "Eliminate all schools of thought and respect only Confucianism."

This is the name of this policy paper.

What is written in the policy essay is based on the principles that Dong Zhongshu has realized in the past two years.

As Dong Zhongshu said in his essay, the situation in the world has gradually stabilized, and the side effects of the various schools of thought that were very helpful in the troubled times have begun to emerge.

The followers of the various schools of thought were unrestrained, especially some of the knights-errant. They spread their political ideas everywhere, just like in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. They wanted to support different kings and make those kings use them.

Dong Zhongshu emphasized what consequences would result from such long-term behavior, and strengthened the "consequences" that were analyzed.

What is the solution to this problem?

only one.

Dong Zhongshu called it "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting only political Confucianism."

Yes.

Because of the influence of history and the butterfly, Dong Zhongshu added political science when he submitted the memorial, and placed it before Confucianism, because he knew that if he dared to say something like "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", then not only the emperor, but even the head of the Chen family, the current King An, would not be able to protect him.

As for whether King An will protect him, that is another matter.

In this memorial, some simple suggestions were made on how to give priority to both politics and Confucianism, but there was no strong explanation.

In this memorial, Dong Zhongshu emphasized eight other words as the core.

"The king's power is granted by God, and heaven and man are in harmony"

The first four words are very simple, meaning that the emperor's power is granted by God, so if you rebel against His Majesty or the emperor, you will incur the wrath of God.

This is a very simple but very effective tactic, especially in this feudal era.

Because people are more feudal and superstitious.

Binding the monarch's power with the majesty of gods and heaven will greatly enhance the sacredness of imperial power and the emperor.

Of course, every advantage has its disadvantages.

The consequence of overly binding God and the emperor is that if God is really "angry", that is, sends down a natural disaster, then regardless of whether the emperor is wrong or not, he will be the one who is wrong.

The "Edict of Confession of Sins" was also born under such circumstances.

And "the resonance between heaven and man" is even simpler.

"I would like to note that during the Spring and Autumn Period, I looked at the things that have been done in the past life and watched the heavens and humans interact with each other. It is very scary."

"When a country is about to lose its way and fall, Heaven first sends disasters to warn it. If it does not reflect on itself, Heaven will send strange phenomena to frighten it. If it still does not change, it will suffer and fall. This shows that Heaven is kind to the ruler and wants to stop the chaos."

"In later times, the country was decadent and decadent, unable to govern the people, and the princes rebelled against them. They oppressed and killed the good people in a fight for land, and abandoned moral teachings and used punishment instead."

"If punishment is not appropriate, evil spirits will arise; evil spirits will accumulate below, and resentment and evil will accumulate above. If there is no harmony between the upper and lower levels, then yin and yang will be out of balance and evil spirits will be born. This is the cause of disasters and anomalies."

Dong Zhongshu listed all the changes of heaven and earth and the stars in the universe in his doctrine. This was also a way to turn theology into his own "purpose". From Liu Che's eyes, it can be seen that the emperor was very satisfied with Dong Zhongshu's strategy.

After all, Dong Zhongshu's policy proposal really touched the emperor's heart.

Although he was a little dissatisfied with the later statement that "natural disasters" were the emperor's fault, Liu Che was also very clear that this was also an indispensable part of maintaining the "sacredness" of the emperor.

Yin and Yang transform and complement and restrain each other.

After putting down the policy paper, Liu Che looked at Dong Zhongshu with admiration on his face, and even his expression and attitude towards Dong Zhongshu changed.

He laughed and said, "Dong Qing's words really touch my heart."

Liu Che turned his head and looked at Chen Wu Shi with a smile on his lips. He also wanted to know what kind of strategy Chen Wu Shi could come up with to achieve this "victory" after such a brilliant speech of "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone".

Why is it called a victory?

Because Dong Zhongshu represents Confucianism, even if political science is the only Confucianism, it is still the same with political science coming first and Confucianism coming second.

As long as the emperor announced the adoption of Dong Zhongshu's doctrine, the momentum of Confucianism would instantly soar to the same level as Chen's, or even surpass Chen's.

Because "the king's power is granted by God and there is interaction between Heaven and man" was proposed by Dong Zhongshu.

After handing the policy paper to Chen Wu Shi, Liu Che had been observing Chen Wu Shi's expression. He wanted to see worry or nervousness in Chen Wu Shi's eyes. In short, Liu Che had some evil taste in wanting to see the changes in Chen Wu Shi's expression.

Chen Wushi's expression did not change at all, as if he did not realize how excellent Dong Zhongshu's policy paper was.

He silently took out a policy paper from his sleeve and then respectfully handed it to Liu Che.

How could someone from the Chen family not have confidence in themselves?
It was under such circumstances and with Chen Wushi's confidence that Liu Che accepted Chen Wushi's policy proposal.

Similar to Dong Zhongshu's policy essay, the title of Chen Wushi's policy essay also consists of eight characters.

Even these eight words seem to be similar.

"Melting all schools of thought and respecting all schools of thought"

When Liu Che saw these eight words, his curiosity was completely aroused. What does it mean to integrate all schools of thought and respect all schools of thought?
What kind of shared respect is this?
He looked down.

Chen Wushi's policy paper is not much different from Dong Zhongshu's. At the beginning, he also briefly explained the various turbulent situations in the world today, the complexity of the various schools of thought, and various classes, and then naturally led to his own point of view.

Of course, there is nothing to say about this.

This is what policy discussion is all about.

As Liu Che watched, a look of astonishment flashed across his eyes, because with the same reasons, the same analysis, and even similar current situations, Dong Zhongshu and Chen Wushi went in two completely different directions.

Dong Zhongshu intended to eliminate all schools of thought and only keep political science and Confucianism, which were beneficial to the court. As for the rest, there was no need to keep the "shell" but only to integrate the "flesh" into Confucianism.

Chen Wushi chose
Melt all the schools of thought! Remove all the shells and fill them into the huge shell of "official learning".

The similar contents of hundreds of classics were listed as one subject, and many subjects such as mathematics, craftsmanship, etc. were all included in official studies!

This is

Melting a hundred schools!

Chen Wu Shi sat there, his eyes were sharp at this moment, as if they were completely different from before.

This is his way!

(End of this chapter)