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

Chapter 317 The Giant of the Han Dynasty

Melting the various schools of thought into one can maximize the differentiation of the rights of the hundreds of schools of thought, while dividing them into different subjects is like throwing bait to these "hundreds of schools of thought", or it would be more appropriate to describe them as carrots.

Liu Che was indeed a natural emperor. He immediately understood the essence of the matter and what it contained.

He continued to read.

Chen Wushi's essays not only contain content about integrating hundreds of schools of thought and classifying them into different subjects, but also some of the content overlaps with Dong Zhongshu's thoughts. However, the difference is that he attributed these things to "natural laws."

This is the most fundamental difference between the two.

Although Chen Wushi still emphasized the sacredness of the imperial power, there were still some unique "Chen" background colors in his policy essays, which constituted Chen Wushi's policy essays.

After reading Chen Wushi's strategies and theories, Liu Che fell into silence for a long time.

Whose ideas should we choose?

Who should be chosen as the tone of the Han Dynasty?

Was it Dong Zhongshu's approach of dismissing all schools of thought and respecting only Confucianism, or was it Chen Wushi's approach of integrating all schools of thought?

Compared with Chen Wushi's thoughts, Liu Che actually liked Dong Zhongshu's thoughts more. After all, Dong Zhongshu's thoughts contained the connotation of "the supremacy of imperial power", which was a great attraction for an emperor.

Who could say no to that?
No one can refuse.

but.
Liu Che sighed deeply, and finally said: "Mr.'s thoughts are indeed brilliant."

He looked at Chen Wushi calmly, with a hint of regret in his voice: "Although I like Mr. Dong's articles more, to be fair, what the Han Dynasty needs more is Mr. Dong's articles."

Liu Che did not lie to Chen Wu Shi, such as saying that he liked Chen Wu Shi's articles more.

He just silently said that although he liked Dong Zhongshu's articles more, he would adopt Chen Wushi's articles because the Han Dynasty needed Chen Wushi's articles more.

This was actually a test by Liu Che. He knew very well that after Chen Wushi finished reading Dong Zhongshu's article, he would immediately find out why he liked Dong Zhongshu's article, or which part he liked.

He wanted to test Chen Wu Shi. Is it possible that Chen Wu Shi could integrate the two aspects of "the resonance between heaven and man" and "the divine right of kings" into the words of the "Hundred Schools"?

Chen Wushi's reaction was very normal. He seemed not to understand Liu Che's words. He just said calmly: "Zhongshu's article is indeed more in line with your majesty's mood, but for the Han Dynasty, it will completely imprison people's thoughts."

"This is different from your Majesty's previous behavior of rewarding craftsmen and various schools of thought."

“It’s a paradox.”

This is indeed a paradox, because power is like a cake that cannot be changed.

If someone has more, then he must have taken some from others.

This is not going to change.

Liu Che fell silent again. After a long while, he sighed and said, "Sir, you are right."

In fact, this is exactly the case.

In the original trajectory, after Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, promoted Confucianism as the only official ideology, it did stimulate the ideological and cultural development of the Han Dynasty to some extent, but it then caused a series of consequences.

The brilliant thoughts of the various schools of thought could never appear on the land of China again, and people's thoughts became increasingly imprisoned.

In fact, what is the difference between the "idea" of abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone and "burning books and burying scholars"?

There is no difference between them, except that Liu Che learned the lesson from the First Emperor, so he made such extremely violent things as burning books and burying scholars "softer", just like his "Enfeoffment Order".

Hide the needle in the cotton.

In this way, people cannot see the superficial malice, but in fact there is just as much malice.

Is the confinement of thought a good thing for the Han Dynasty and for China?

of course not.

Is this a good thing for the emperor?

That depends on what kind of empire the emperor wants.

Different emperors have different pursuits, so this question has different answers for different emperors.

For emperors like the Qin Shi Huang, Han Wudi, and Tang Mingzu, it was natural for them to want a powerful empire, where the power of this empire did not even have to be too much in their hands - of course, this too much was in terms of percentage of power.

Because for this kind of emperor, even if they disperse power, they still have the final say.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Qin Shihuang, his words were more effective than imperial edicts.

For some emperors, they don’t care how powerful their country is or whether it lags far behind the world. They can watch this huge country become empty inside and only maintain its superficial glory. They can also watch this country gradually being surpassed by all the countries in the world.

But they cannot tolerate having less power in their hands, and they cannot tolerate the country becoming stronger.

Because they know very well in their hearts that if this country becomes strong, then "villains" like them will not be able to control the entire country.

This is also the reason why some emperors would sell out their country.

For example, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou.

Didn’t Zhao Gou know that killing Yue Fei was tantamount to betraying the Chinese nation and the Song Dynasty?

Of course he knew.

But Zhao Gou didn't mind, because he just wanted to occupy the largest percentage of power and control everything in his own pure land.

Was it really Qin Hui who killed Yue Fei?
of course.

But was it really Qin Hui who was the only one who killed Yue Fei? In other words, who was the mastermind behind Yue Fei's murder?

Later, historical books, literati, and even emperors of all dynasties said in unison that it was Qin Hui, but in fact it was not, because the mastermind behind Yue Fei's murder was the person sitting on the throne.

Therefore, one must avoid mentioning the names of respected people.

So, Qin Hui was pulled out and made to bear this big and black pot.

After figuring out everything, Liu Che stood up, looked at Dong Zhongshu and said, "Mr. Dong's thoughts can be passed down as the orthodox thoughts of Confucianism."

Liu Che smiled and said, "Of course, the thoughts of Confucianism such as Meng Ru, Xun Ru, Chen Ru and others should also be passed down. After all, they are the inheritance of the sages. As descendants, we naturally cannot easily discard them."

After saying all this, he sighed deeply. After Chen Wushi left, Dong Zhongshu, who had left the palace with Chen Wushi, turned around and returned to this magnificent palace.

The previous expression on Liu Che's face completely disappeared.

He looked at Dong Zhongshu and said: "I like your ideas very much, but I cannot use them for the time being."

"I appoint you as the Thirteenth Doctor of Classics in the Doctoral Palace. I allow you to spread your ideas, recruit disciples, and pass on your ideas. I allow you to become the orthodox Confucian school."

"Do you know the reason for all this?"

Dong Zhongshu knelt on the ground, his expression firm and solemn: "I understand."

Liu Che leaned forward and waved his hand, saying, "Since you understand, just do it."

After Dong Zhongshu left, Liu Che's face flashed with a hint of helplessness and fatigue: "It's really not easy to be an emperor. No wonder my father and grandfather were so exhausted back then."

There was a hint of sarcasm on his lips, and he continued, "No matter what you do, there are constraints. No matter what you want to do, you can't really do it."

There was a hint of silence in Liu Che's voice.

"Chen——"

"I hope I have found a good solution for Juer."

The Chen family is too powerful. What happened during the reign of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty was to wake up the Liu family and the emperor. But what use would it be even if they woke up?
Can they fight against Chen?
Fortunately, Chen "did not claim to be king", which was something that kings of all dynasties had tried to do.

As long as they don't claim to be king and don't have the idea of ​​"taking over", the king can tolerate Chen's existence. After all.
After all, even without the Chen family, there will still be the Wang family, the Zhang family, and so on. This will not change.

The kings could be sure that the Chen family would not claim to be king, but could they be sure that others would not claim to be king either?
They can't.

This is why Chen is safe.

Peach Blossom Spring
A slight breeze blew, and Chen Ye slowly woke up from his deep sleep.

He came to the peach tree where he had watched the things in the mundane world, and then cast his gaze towards the mundane world.

"It seems that I woke up a few years later than I planned."

In just a moment, Chen Ye discovered something wrong. He found that Liu Che had ascended the throne and even became emperor. He also discovered the existence of Dong Zhongshu and the two men who were named "Marquis of Guanjun" and "Duke of Changyang".

"Wei Huo?"

Chen Ye's face was full of interest, and his cheeks were filled with excitement.

Although he had met many celebrities in Chinese history over the past few hundred years, who would not be interested in Wei Huo as long as he was a person or a man?

He is the creator of the highest achievement in military history!
He was also the founder of the Han Dynasty's strength and Liu Che's great achievements!
In just a few breaths, Chen Ye understood what kind of situation the big man was in. He couldn't help but feel a little emotional and worried.

"It seems that the trajectory of fate has no power to change this huge carriage. The merger of the Chen and Liu families symbolizes a huge change. From now on, Chen and Liu will merge, and perhaps the son of the Chen family will become the new emperor."

Chen Ye sighed. He didn’t know whether this change was good or bad, but he understood that this change was the result of his initial struggle.

"Since the time of Duke Xiao, the Chen family has been quietly and slowly changing history. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the Chen family's struggle against fate and the trajectory of history had its first result."

"The Qin Dynasty did not end with a second emperor, and the emergence of Emperor Wulie of Qin also brought a perfect end to the Qin Dynasty."

"At this time, the land of China was not devastated, and the Xiongnu, who posed the greatest threat to China, were driven to the vicinity of the Wolf Mountain, so the Han Dynasty could continue to develop slowly."

“And then, the change in fate was even greater.”

Chen Ye's expression was solemn. He looked at the endless river of fate, and then sighed softly.

The long river above his head was flowing back like the Milky Way, and even the paradise around him was affected.

"Emperor Xiaoren, Emperor Xiaowen, Emperor Xiaojing, and now Emperor Xiaowu, the Han Dynasty has finally begun to deviate."

He stared at the bottom in silence: "Dong Zhongshu's idea of ​​dismissing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone did not appear. Instead, the unsubstantial idea of ​​"melting all schools of thought" appeared ahead of time. This is actually a kind of ideological progress."

In Chen Ye's opinion, the so-called melting of hundreds of schools of thought and listing of various subjects is more like the "school" of later generations.

Can you tell me what specific subject is taught in schools in later generations?
Actually not.

Chinese encompasses all kinds of thoughts, and mathematics is about counting, which also appeared in the Han Dynasty. Although other subjects such as chemistry and physics did not appear, aren’t they actually about hands-on learning and the many principles of things?
Many schools of thought, such as Yin-Yang School, Taoism, and Five Elements School, actually dabble in this area.

It’s just not as clear and understandable as in later generations.

"What kind of impact will such a change bring?"

Chen Ye looked at Fan Su with interest. He really wanted to know whether such a huge change would cause a conflict of fate. He also wanted to know whether there would be any irreconcilable misunderstandings between Emperor Wu of Han and Liu Ju with Chen's help.

After all, Liu Ju’s wife was a daughter of the Chen family!
Without this change, who would be the next emperor of the Han Dynasty?

If it is highly likely, or 100% certain, that it was Liu Ju, then Liu Fuling would be completely lost in the long river of history, and the disappearance of Liu Fuling would mean that the Han Dynasty officially entered another orbit.

Chen Ye withdrew his gaze, and then sat under the largest peach tree in Taohuayuan, slowly looking at all the mundane things.

In the seventh year of Yuanshou, the emperor issued an edict to change the era name to Taichu, which was the first year of Taichu.

The first year of Taichu was a day of great change, and even in later historical books this year was emphasized.

This year is regarded in history as the most important and initial year of Emperor Wu of Han's great unification.

In the first year of Taichu, the emperor issued an edict to re-coin the Wuzhu coin and stamp it with the four words "Taichu Nianbao" to symbolize the coin and the emperor's authority.

And the emperor began to implement a huge change.

That is to promote Chen Wushi's theory in the Imperial College and many local official schools, and enforce it.

At the beginning, the various schools of thought resisted desperately and even wanted to fight Chen Wu Shi to the death, but gradually, they discovered a problem. Although Chen Wu Shi's thoughts would make their "thoughts" disappear in name, in fact, more people were learning their thoughts!
For a moment, these people didn't know what to do.

Are you against or in support?
Oppose?

You don't want so many disciples anymore? Do you want to go back to the old days when only one person passed down the teachings?
support?

Do you really want to abandon the name of your own genre?

Is appearance important or reality important?
Chen Wu Shi and the Emperor of the Han Dynasty seemed to be standing in front of them, asking them this soul-searching question.

(End of this chapter)