warring states careerist

Chapter 524 Heaven's Will and Destiny

The words were too serious, Zhao Hou didn't dare to accept them, he could only bow shamelessly: "If it wasn't for your words, I would destroy the foundation of my ancestors!"

"As you said, I choose a strategy. The top has its own benefits, and the bottom has its own benefits. The benefits are not the same. And the top and the bottom exchange deals, so that the bottom can benefit from the desire of the top."

"The desire of the widow is to stand among the nations, and if it is strong, it will annex the world. This is what the people don't care about, so I need to use the government of benevolence and righteousness to benefit the people and let them support the desire of the widow."

Gong Zhonglian laughed and said: "Your Majesty, I can die in peace. But, Your Majesty, you should read more Mohist books. Although there are some immoral words, the analysis of interests in it is indeed true. There is merit."

"You want to take over the world and join the world. So, do princes such as Gong Zichao, Que Yujun, etc. also have such desires?"

Zhaohou Naran shook his head and said: "Impossible. The grandsons of the Zhao family who were granted fiefdoms only want the fiefdom to be stable, and it is of no benefit to them to strive for world hegemony. Besides, after widows do not want to annex the world, they can only make them unable to Handan."

Gong Zhonglian smiled and said: "Yes. Therefore, Ying Shicha hired Wu Qi to enter Qin, and the nobles of Qin complained; Xiong Yi used the Mohism to rule Yanying, but Qu Yijiu defected. This is a conflict of interest."

"If you want to annex the world, you must centralize power. Centralized government will damage the nobles. So, is there any difference between the people giving the tax to you?

Zhao Hou seemed to understand, and said, "There is no difference."

Gong Zhonglian said: "For example, Que and Yu, that is the land of Zhao. But you are the Marquis of Zhao, and government orders cannot be enforced in Que and Yu. Then Que and Yu belong to Zhao, and whether they do not belong to Zhao, there is no difference between Que and Jun. But it makes a big difference to you."

"If you want to annex the world, you need to be the Marquis of Zhao's people, not the Marquis of the Zhao Clan. If you can't understand the difference, then I advise you to just keep the foundation of the Zhao Clan and don't try to annex world."

"Although Sishang's policy is immoral, it may not be completely wrong. You are a Marquis of Zhao, not a Confucian scholar. Confucianism and Mohist enemies cannot be reconciled, but you can use Confucianism and ink. Don't you want to order both?" Is it from the Son of Heaven?"

Zhao Hou couldn't help laughing. Nowadays, the patriarchal etiquette system of "all orders come from the emperor" has become bullshit. Even the Confucian scholars did not go to Luoyang to serve the emperor, but they all served in various countries.

He already understood what Gong Zhonglian meant.

The king of the Zhao family wanted to safeguard the interests of the clan, and the reason for safeguarding was because the power of the clan could maintain military strength, thus standing in troubled times.

The king of the people of Zhao, that is to properly give some benefits to the people. The reason for maintaining it is because since the appearance of iron, gunpowder, and stirrups, the power of the people has been able to defeat the clan and nobles, thus pulling up an army composed of common people, thus Invincible.

is it possible?Is it a fantasy?
No, this has already been practiced now, and it is something recognized by the mainstream soldiers in the world.

Wu Qi's military pawns in Xihe, the common people, equipped with bronze cannons and muskets, can hang and beat those nobles who are good at chariot warfare.

In the battle of Lushui, the Mohist volley bombarded not only the warriors who were challenged by the Yue people, but also announced that gunpowder had destroyed the military foundation for the existence of nobles.However, in the Battle of Lishui, the Chinese army of the Yue people's gentlemen rushed to the Mohist volunteers, but was blocked by the Chinese army composed of common people. By the way, the Mohist soldiers who were born as common people captured the king of Yue. This is not just a legendary story, but also the military system of the world. The clarion call for change.

In the final analysis, Gong Zhonglian’s top and bottom strategies, and Zhao Hou’s choice of middle strategy are actually the Mohism’s difference of “loving people is not for employing people, loving horses is not using horses, and wanting to use horses is not loving horses”.

I love you, so I want you to be happy.

I want to use you, so I treat you better, but the ultimate goal is to use you.

The difference is the essence of the word "love" mentioned by Mohists, and it is also the difference between "up" and "middle" mentioned by Gong Zhonglian.

Gong Zhonglian's intention is to let Zhao Hou use the people, but pretend to love the people. Anyway, it is difficult for the people to distinguish the difference between love and use. If it weren't for the Mohists talking about the difference between love and use all day long, I am afraid that the people in Handan are still the same as they were in Jin Dynasty. Yang is the same.

Since deeds don't care about heart, so whether it is love or use, few people can perceive these subtle differences.

Gong Zhonglian, as the "scholar faction" among the courtiers of Zhao Guo, had conflicts with the "clan aristocratic faction".

If the monarch wants to centralize power, he needs to use the scholars to fight against the clan and nobles.

The Scholars faction is capable and talented, but lacks a fiefdom foundation and private soldiers, so it needs to draw the power of the people as a military force to fight against the clan and nobles.

Scholars administer administration and common people join the army. This is Gong Zhonglian's plan to annex the world planned by Zhaohou.

Of course, if scholars can not only administer administration, but also have a strong grassroots force in the future, it will be another matter. It is equivalent to a new kind of nobleman, and then other forces will need to be pulled to fight against them. It's still early.

After Zhao Hou was silent for a long time, he thought of Gong Zhonglian's words and his own ambitions, and suddenly asked, "You are getting old. Zhong Ni said, you know your destiny at fifty."

"Since it is said to annex the world and make the world one...can you talk about the destiny?"

"How did King Wu win the world? Why did King Zhou lose the world? Why did Jiang Qi's sacrifices stop? What is the source of the rise and fall of the Jin Dynasty?"

"I have the heart to annex the world, and I can't ignore the destiny."

"Nowadays, the Mohist school is not destiny, but there is also the theory of will. Then, how to distinguish between destiny and will? Please explain to me."

When he asked these words, Gong Zhonglian understood that it was because he was old and time was running out, and it was impossible for Marquis Zhao to rely on him for many specific matters, so he wanted to know the most "important" things. And the most "mysterious" thing.

Perhaps this will be the last words I will say to Zhao Hou, as Gong Zhonglian, who presided over the reforms in the era of Liehou, wants to say a lot.

King Wu defeated Zhou, Shang Tang destroyed Xia, and even the rise and fall of the princes of the world. What is the origin of it?
Every monarch wants to find the law, and every scholar who wants to serve the monarch hopes to solve this ultimate problem so that it can be done once and for all.

Can the Zhao family win the world?

Will the Zhao family be reduced to such a tragic situation as the Jin family?

If the world is not for the Zhao family, who should it be for?
Is there a destiny?

Is it five virtues?

Are there ghosts?

Do you have a will?

Is it doomed?
Can it be changed?
Is it reasonable to follow?

Is there necessity and chance?
All this, after Zhao Hou talked about his ambition to annex the world, he naturally asked the old Gong Zhonglian, hoping to get some answers.

Gong Zhonglian thought for a long time, and said slowly: "I may be able to answer this doubt."

Zhao Hou's eyes lit up, but Gong Zhonglian's subsequent words made Zhao Hou speechless again.

"Your Majesty, I have read the Mohist's "Tianzhi" book, and I have also read the Mohist's "Fate". If I say something casually, you will know the difference between Tianming and Tianzhi."

"Mai Zhishi traveled to Surabaya with the Confucian scholar Gong Mencius. It was the ninth month, which was in the third autumn, and the waves were curling under the leaves."

"Weeping willows by the river, the leaves fall into the si. A child was fishing by the river, and saw the willow leaves falling into the water, and the leaves were all on the back. So he asked Mr. Mencius why these autumn leaves fell into the water with the back facing up. Face down?"

"Gong Mencius said: This is the destiny. Every autumn leaf must fall downward."

"There is righteousness in this. When a leaf grows on a tree, it respects the sky, so it faces upward. When it falls, it respects the earth, so it faces downward. This is the destiny, and then it is used to educate the people of the world: respect the heaven and the earth."

"Children thought Gong Mengduo heard about it and wanted to praise it, but Kai Zhishi laughed and said: It's like children asking you why the sky is blue? Your answer is that the sky is blue, and blue is so beautiful. It’s also like children asking you why people eat, and you said that people have to eat, you can’t use chopsticks unless it’s vegetables, and you need to use a fork to eat meat... You didn’t answer the question at all.”

"Bai Zhizhi said: Just like the experiment on crop growth in Sishang 20 years ago, because the growth of leaves needs sunlight, the sunlight makes the leaves have nutrients, and the nutrients are heavy. When the leaves fall in autumn, they will turn upwards The place where there is more nutrition, the side facing down has less nutrition, so the side that is more nutrient heavy will face down."

Zhao Hou was quite novel, with a smile on his mouth, but Gong Zhonglian was very serious, and said: "The words of Gong Mencius are the destiny of heaven. The words that are suitable for the door are the will of heaven."

"How did King Wu win the world? In the theory of destiny, the destiny should be for King Wu to win the world, so it is in accordance with the destiny that King Wu won the world."

"How did King Wu win the world? According to Tianzhi, at that time Shang Zhou wanted to centralize power, and the nobles of Shang were dissatisfied; merchants used slaves and Zhou Renxing to divide them; King Zhou conquered Dongyi and Chaoge was weak...Among a series of reasons, this The reason for everything is this: what is not done is weak, and what is done is strong..."

"Please understand the difference carefully. If you can't distinguish between Tianzhi and Tianming, then the Zhao family is also in danger. If there is only the Zhao family in the world, then there is no distinction between Tianzhi and Tianming, and there is a thousand-year career of Yin and Shang; There are Qin, Wei, Han, Zhao, Qi, Chu, Mo and many heroes, if you don't distinguish them, then once someone can distinguish clearly, the Zhao family will be in danger."

"The Mohists have the theory of "Unfate" and "The Will of Heaven". I have already told you the difference between the will of heaven and the will of heaven. So, what exactly is "Will of Heaven"?"

Zhao Hou thought this was the summary of the essence, and Gong Zhonglian said: ""Record of Heaven" means: people will starve to death if they don't eat, and they will die if they don't shit. This is the will of heaven. Therefore, the will of heaven is ruthless, and people have to use it The will of heaven can also go against the will of heaven."

"If you want to live, then eat and shit. If you don't want to live, you can also use the will of heaven, don't eat and shit. If you want to kill, you can know that you will die if you stab the heart. If you want to save people, you can know that in the chest Make iron armor before."

"How to use "The Will of Heaven" comes from "righteousness". No matter who owns "righteousness" or "benefit", no matter how they change, the will of heaven will not change. It depends on how you use it. Mohism, what you want to explore is the The change of people is the infinite universe, and the rise and fall of the clan and the rise and fall of the world may only be part of the content of "Record of Heaven."

"Fate, the most important thing is fate. Tianzhi, the most important thing is heaven."

"Those who have corpses in the world say: Heaven and earth are called the universe, and the past and present are called the universe. The emperor of heaven mentioned by Mohists is the universe. Fate is only a part of the universe; human beings are only a part of the universe; the world is only a part of the universe. The sword can kill as well as save, Mohism's "Tianzhi" casts the sword, and "Symbolism" casts the person who holds the sword."

"Once upon a time Zeng Zi said: When a bird is about to die, its song is mournful; when a man is about to die, his words are good. Now that I am about to die, I must praise the words of the Mohists."

"As a subject, I have received the kindness of Marquis Lie, but I have to tell you that if the emperor wants to take over the world, he must know "Tianzhi", but he must guard against "Synonyms."

"Mo's home is on Sishang, and Zhao people are in the north, but they are separated from Wei and Han."

"When will the lips be dead and the teeth will be cold? When will the distant friends be close to the attack? This is a choice that you must constantly change in the next few decades of your ruling. If you choose the wrong one, the Zhao family's foundation will be in jeopardy."

"If only the lips are dead and the teeth are cold, then the Jinyang shrine will be enshrined to the Wei family. If only distant friends and close friends are selected, then the Zhao clan is no different from the ordinary people."

Zhao Hou returned the courtesy and said, "I will keep it in my heart."

Gong Zhonglian heaved a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "If that's the case, then let's not talk about it. When the king came today, he was very angry, holding a letter. What did the people of Handan ask for to make you so angry?"

(End of this chapter)