I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 95: The Confucian scholar is shameless, but it is effective

When Li Shimin saw that Ying Zheng lost his temper, he was not angry, but still looked indifferent.

Compared with the First Emperor, having descendants like Li Longji is actually nothing. After all, the First Emperor's kingdom was about to perish, so there was no need to worry about those things!

Li Shimin spread his hands and said:

"Didn't you want to hear advice just now? I just took out the Han Dynasty after your Qin Dynasty and told you how they did it and how they kept the world running. What's the problem with that?"

"And if you want to learn from this, you can ask Liu Che next to you. He was the one who made this thing. Asking him would be the most appropriate thing to do."

"Both schools of thought are to be abandoned and one school of thought respected. Why do you only read the Legalists and resist the Confucians so much?"

Ying Zheng frowned, very unhappy:
"I have said it many times, the Qin Empire was founded on the rule of law. The Qin Empire became strong only after Shang Yang's reforms. Moreover, the Qin Empire has annexed the six kingdoms and is growing larger. If it is not restrained by strict laws, the knights and nobles of the six kingdoms will surely become even more rampant than they are now. Under such harsh laws, I have been assassinated countless times over the years. If the foundation of the country is changed, won't it be even worse?"

Of course he knew that harsh laws were no longer applicable to the Qin Dynasty, which had swallowed up the six kingdoms, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The credibility of the Qin Dynasty lies in the law, and the cohesion of the Qin Dynasty comes from the military merit system. The most important reform of Shang Yang was to update the military merit system. Changing the legalism used by the Qin Dynasty to Confucianism means the destruction of the military merit system. In this way, it will not affect the interests of just one or two people, but will shake the foundation of the country.

But Li Shimin shook his head, not knowing how to tell Ying Zheng.

He looked at Song Shen on the podium.

Song Shen thought for a moment and pointed at Liu Che:

"Emperor Wu of Han was criticized for many things in his life, but you should have seen that the First Emperor was definitely a heroic ruler. Since he accepted Dong Zhongshu's advice to 'promote Confucius and suppress all other schools of thought', it means there must be some good in it."

"At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, disliked Confucianism very much. He hated it so much that he peed in the hats of Confucian scholars. He disliked it even more than you did. Therefore, he adopted the Huang-Lao school of thought, emphasizing the rule of inaction and light taxes. It was not until the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing that Confucianism began to re-emerge."

"At that time, all the schools of thought that were almost destroyed in the Qin Dynasty also emerged like Confucianism, but why did Dong Zhongshu win? Because he flattered the emperor!"

"He believed that the unification of the Spring and Autumn Period was the eternal principle of heaven and earth, and the common friendship of ancient and modern times. Today, teachers have different teachings, people have different opinions, and the tenets of the various schools of thought are different, which has led to inconsistent ruling ideologies, changes in the legal system, and the various schools of thought being at a loss as to what to do."

"All that is not in the six arts or the teachings of Confucius should be cut off from the path and not allowed to advance - this was his advice."

"Student Ying Zheng, think about it yourself, isn't this just the right kind of flattery?"

Everyone present, even those from the dynasties before Emperor Wu of Han, such as Ying Zheng, Meng Tian, ​​Zhang Liang and others, were neither fools nor illiterate. At the very least, they were qualified politicians, so they had no problem hearing the twists and turns here.

The various schools of thought have their own advantages and disadvantages, but there is no doubt that using the so-called Confucianists like Dong Zhongshu to govern the country is the most beneficial for the emperor.

Even Qin Shi Huang, who used the Legalists, knew that his Great Qin needed a unified ideology to govern, otherwise it would become a mess. And according to the course of history, Qin used the Legalists, and the early Han Dynasty used Taoism. Why couldn't Emperor Wu of Han try Confucianism?

Ying Zheng's brows never relaxed.

It can be seen from the expressions of others that they all agree with the use of Confucianism.

As the first emperor of China, Ying Zheng considered himself to be a master of political politics. But for the emperors of later generations, no matter what was used to govern the country, as long as the power was in their hands and as long as this thing could make the country run smoothly, it was a good thing - obviously, Confucianism has achieved this.

"If this thing can be used in the Han Dynasty, I think it can also be used in the Qin Dynasty. I don't deny it."

Ying Zheng paused before continuing:

"But sir, I want to ask, is there a better way to govern the country in the future? If so, can you tell me about it?"

Song Shen was stunned.

He did not answer immediately, but asked the system a question in his mind.

"System, when I'm not teaching, what are these students doing? They always think they have entered an immortal fantasy world. So after I, the so-called immortal, finish my get out of class, is their time frozen?"

[Answer host, after you finish class, all students in the tutoring class will enter the simulation world. They will think they have returned to the time when they entered. They will think they are still emperors and generals, and continue their unfinished ambitions in the simulation.]

now it's right.

Song Shen's doubts were finally resolved.

No wonder, no wonder these people seemed to want to get advice from me so much, wanted to improve the national strength so much, and even had such a great interest in overseas colonization and industrial revolution. After all this time, they still thought they were really continuing to be emperors!

In that case, let's talk about this matter carefully.

Song Shen thought about it carefully before saying:

"During the Han Dynasty, there appeared a man named Wang Mang."

"He rebelled against the Han Dynasty, usurped the throne and established a dynasty called the Xin Dynasty, but the Xin Dynasty only existed for a short fifteen years before it was overthrown."

"Logically, there is nothing to say about such a short-lived dynasty. However, there is one interesting point. In later generations' jokes, many people talked about Wang Mang and the Xin Dynasty, saying that he might be a time traveler who went to the Han Dynasty from 2,000 years later."

"He implemented the Wangtian system, which limited private ownership of land. Any land exceeding the limit would be owned by the court. For those who did not have land, the court would distribute land to them, with one man owning 100 acres. He prohibited households from buying and selling slaves. He implemented the Five Equalities and Six Controls, which meant that salt, iron, wine, coinage, credit, etc. were all operated by the state in order to increase tax revenue and monopolize all important industries in the hands of the state."

"There are many interesting places, so I won't go into details here."

"You may not understand why he is nicknamed a time traveler for doing these things, but I can tell you——"

"Many of these decrees carry the shadow of two thousand years later."

"In China two thousand years later, these policies can be promoted and even very suitable, allowing the people to live a good life. However, in the Han Dynasty and the Xin Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the throne for only fifteen years before the country was destroyed. Dear students, why do you think this is the case?"

No one said a word. From Ying Zheng to Liu Che, from Li Shimin to Zhu Yuanzhang, everyone was lost in thought.

Even Liu Che, who heard that his own Han Dynasty was being usurped and rebelled against, had no time to think about why his descendants would be so stupid. His mind was full of what he had just heard about, what Wang Mang had done.

It is a little hard for everyone to imagine that an emperor would dare to do such a thing.

The royal land system sounds good. Land annexation is a problem that every dynasty will face in the middle and late stages, so they naturally thought about how to solve it.

For example, the Enfeoffment Order proposed by Emperor Liu Che, which was known as "the greatest conspiracy of all time", looked very powerful and solved the huge hidden dangers brought about by the county-state system of the Western Han Dynasty, but in fact it only treated the symptoms and not the root cause of land annexation.

Nationalizing the land... sounds good, but almost no one dares to do it, because even the emperor can hardly withstand the anger and rebellion of all the big landowners united.

You see, Wang Mang is talking nonsense.

Song Shen looked at their different expressions and smiled:

"It seems that everyone understands that he took too big a step and hurt his balls."

"What I want to tell you is that in the five thousand years of Chinese history, the dynasties that have been able to maintain their rule in every era have made decisions that are advanced at the moment."

“Even if the systems that later generations would find bad and have many flaws in them, such as the Qin Dynasty’s farming and warfare system, the talent selection system from recommendation to the Nine-Rank System and then to the imperial examination system, or the Enfeoffment Order, the county system, the county-state system, etc., are all considered backward in later generations, but this does not mean that they are not applicable to the present.”

"If the Qin Dynasty had not carried out Shang Yang's reforms and had not adopted the military merit system and the farming and warfare system, then it might not have been the Qin Dynasty that unified the world."

"And what I want to point out is that please note that the laws of our ancestors are not immutable!"

“A step ahead is a genius, a step ahead is a madman.”

"As long as we use a system that is one or two hundred years more advanced than the current one, we will be able to maintain our rule. On the contrary, if you want to know what will happen two thousand years from now, as classmate Ying Zheng asked me just now, I can only say that with that system, the Qin Dynasty will die faster than in history."

"The social system must match the productivity. What the future generations can do, you may not be able to do. The Qin Dynasty has not even mass-produced iron tools to equip the left and right armies. So don't think about other things. Now, first improve your productivity, free the people from endless hard labor, make more food, and make the people richer. Then you will find that many things will naturally emerge."

"Adapt to the times, and then follow the times. With your ability, as long as you break out of the framework of the ancestral laws that cannot be violated, I think it is difficult to stabilize the Qin Empire, but it is not impossible."

"Okay, everyone should have a lot to say, now, let's discuss it freely."

After saying that, Song Shen stopped lecturing and instead took a sip from his thermos cup.

Now these people must be thinking about how to improve their existing policies. In this classroom, the person with the worst brain, apart from Zhu Qizhen, is probably himself.

Song Shen is not that arrogant. He can now teach this group of the brightest stars in the long river of Chinese history only because he stands on the shoulders of giants and can judge history with the eyes of future generations. But as long as these people can be enlightened, maybe just one or two words, then he, as a teacher, will not be able to teach anything else.

As he just said, all systems that can be successfully maintained are advanced at the moment. He cannot give any suggestions that will definitely succeed, so it is enough to just teach them the principles and there is no need to think about how to transform these people who are at the top of the food chain in the feudal era.

…………

Under the podium.

Ying Zheng was silent for a long time, and finally, he turned and looked at Liu Che.

"Emperor Wu of Han, why did you abolish all schools of thought and only promote Confucianism? Isn't Legalism good?"

"I want to know what made you choose Confucianism at that time."

His tone was gentle, no longer as confrontational as before.

Liu Che also entered the discussion mode and thought seriously for a while before saying:
"Actually, this is not quite right. I do not exclusively promote Confucianism. To be precise, the Confucianism I use is different from the Confucianism of the pre-Qin period."

"Dong Zhongshu proposed the concept of the interaction between heaven and man based on the Doctrine of the Mean. You may not understand this very well. You can ask a doctor or someone like that later. I believe they can give you a satisfactory answer."

“In short, what he meant was that the sage acts according to the way of heaven, celebrating rewards and punishing punishments, which is the virtue of a king.”

"Emperor Shi Huang, Dong Zhongshu did not ask me to follow the Confucian rules. He just used the Confucian skin to mix yin and yang and the five elements, and strung the gods, monarchs, fathers, and husbands together to echo each other."

"As long as this kind of Confucianism is promoted, and I later make use of Confucian scholars who have studied this kind of Confucianism, it will naturally benefit the emperor over time, and this is true for any emperor."

If it were in the real world, Liu Che certainly could not and would not say such words to anyone.

But this is a tutoring class, a system space, and there are a bunch of emperors in front of you. Who doesn’t know who?

Being thick-skinned and cunning is a perfect advantage here. As long as you can make the world submit, no matter your conspiracy or tricks are roundabout, a cat is a good cat whether it is black or white as long as it catches a mouse!
So Liu Che stopped pretending and said whatever he thought.

"First Emperor, the Qin Dynasty was able to conquer the world, but because it had no previous experience to refer to, it did not know how to defend and rule the world. I am not scolding you, I am just stating the facts. You do not know the principle of conquering by force and defending by force. The six kingdoms were pacified, and you alone could intimidate them, but once a new emperor was appointed, the country would quickly fall apart, because the Qin Dynasty had a vast territory but the people were always divided."

"You can use the law when you annex the six kingdoms, but after the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the territory has expanded by more than several times. You can't make the remaining people of the six kingdoms obey the Qin law, so you can only use ethical education to make them return to their hearts, and use the clan law to restrain every family in the country."

"The Huang-Lao philosophy of non-intervention and governance was tried at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, but it was not feasible, so I used Confucian scholars who were willing to open their eyes and talk nonsense for me. They were shameless enough, so they were suitable to educate the people for me."

"Based on the results I have achieved, most dynasties in later generations also used this method. If you don't believe me, ask Li Shimin and Zhu Yuanzhang."

Ying Zheng looked in the direction Liu Che pointed.

Li Shimin and Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slowly:
“It’s shameless, but it’s also effective.”

(End of this chapter)