Great Han Empire

Chapter 1001 Chapter [-]
Prime Minister Li Wei was assassinated, shaking Chang'an.

The eldest princess ordered five hundred Southern Army guards to protect Li Wei's mansion and family members, and asked He Lin, the school captain of the city gate, to be responsible for Li Wei's safety in person.

This assassination made Li Wei the target of the imperial court's full protection, and at the same time let the court and the public know the determination of the imperial court to reform.Now even if Li Wei is killed, the eldest princess will continue to reform and will never give up halfway.

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On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, under the persuasion and coercion of the eldest princess, the ministers agreed to revise the national policy.

Prime Minister Li Wei immediately put forward three principles of system reform, namely, emphasizing the law in a grand manner, emphasizing the root and suppressing the end, and harmony and stability. The revision of the national policy should be carried out on the basis of these three principles.

The ministers had no objection and agreed unanimously.

Taifu Yang Biao, Taifuqing Cui Yan, Shaofu Qing Xu Jing and others also drew up a restructuring plan based on Li Wei's restructuring strategy, but this plan was rejected by Prime Minister Li Wei and other ministers because the revision was too small. lash out.

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On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, the eldest princess issued an order to order Prime Minister Li Wei to immediately revise the restructuring plan, so that the next day, she could discuss the restructuring strategy with a hundred wealthy people, bureaucrats and scholars.

That night, Li Wei came up with a second restructuring strategy.

At this moment, there are only four hours left before the next day's court meeting, Tai Fu Yang Biao and others have no time to discuss it, so they can only reluctantly accept it.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month, the Qilin Palace deliberation is a direct competition for the interests of the "state" and "people". For the interests of the court, the ministers must be consistent with the emperor and the eldest princess. This is the most basic principle.

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On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Weiyang Palace, Qilin Hall.

The eldest princess presided over the discussion in person.

Prime Minister Li Wei, Grand Sima Xu Rong, Tai Fu Yang Biao, Tai Wei Zhang Yan, Royal Shifu Xun You and other [-] ministers and ministers attended the discussion.

Zheng Xuan, Wang Jian, Xu Shao, Hu Zhao, Chunyu Jia, Liu He, Yang Qi, Sima Fang, Zhao Wen, Zhang Xi and other [-] distinguished Confucian scholars, great Confucian scholars, veteran ministers and celebrities attended the discussion.

Xu Ling, Qu Zhong, Wei Gu, Cui Lin, Wang Chen, Han Ming, Xun Zheng and other [-] "officials, businessmen and scholars" integrated big family, big merchants, and heads of big families attended the meeting.

About 50 other representatives, such as relatives of the emperor, officials of prefectures and counties, noble families and rich people from all over the country, ordinary merchants, and scholars with military merits, attended the discussion.

More than 100 people gathered in the Qilin Hall to discuss the ZTE plan.

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Grand Sima Xu Rong explained in detail the current situation in the world and the various difficulties encountered by the court, expressed the urgency and necessity of the reform, and expounded the three principles of the court's reform. A national policy to promote the development of ZTE.

Then Prime Minister Li Wei carefully explained the imperial court's restructuring strategy, covering everything from academics, political affairs, civil affairs, military affairs, etc., and talked eloquently all afternoon, but in the final analysis, the key points were the official salt and iron camps and the restriction of land fines. .

Just after Li Wei finished speaking, King Jian of the Jinyang University Hall immediately stood up and denounced the imperial government's policy of official salt and iron camps. The central argument was to take advantage of the people, and believed that the official salt and iron camps violated the ancient sages The creed of "virtue is valued over profit, and justice is valued over wealth" has corrupted the simple social atmosphere and lured the people to the road of betraying righteousness and seeking profit.

Li Wei's tit-for-tat confrontation, the release of salt and iron, led to an empty treasury and insufficient military resources. The army was unable to defend the border or counter the rebellion. When will the world be stable?Only by implementing the official operation of salt and iron, the monopoly of wine and wine, and the leveling of equalization, can the revenue of the treasury be increased and the world be quickly pacified.The benefits of salt and iron are the lifeblood of the country's wealth and must not be completely released.

The debate started here, and the two sides fought each other with each other.

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"Righteousness" or "profit", who is more important?

Aristocratic Confucians believe that Yantie official camp is to compete with the people for profit, resulting in a series of disadvantages such as "base" loss and "end" prosperity, arrogance and greed, and poverty of the people. In education, "righteousness" is more important than "benefit".

The imperial court believes that the national treasury is in short supply, the world is divided, and the country and the people are struggling with life and death. What is the point of talking about such "righteousness" without "benefits"?Is it possible to quell rebellion and stabilize the frontier with "righteousness"?Can the people be fed and clothed?

What should be the relationship between society and wealth?
Aristocratic Confucians believe that the wealth of the country is not as good as the wealth of the people.If the imperial government runs the Yantie iron government, it will inevitably "accumulate profits and accrue complaints". The imperial court should adopt a laissez-faire policy to make the Yantie iron operation operate well and obtain the maximum benefit, so that all social classes can benefit from it.

The imperial court emphasized the supremacy of the interests of the country, and believed that the court should occupy the largest wealth of the country.If the people are richer than the country, then the people are strong and the country is weak, which is not conducive to the stability of the country, but if the country is rich and the country is strong, it will be able to prestige the world, and everyone in the world will submit.The salt and iron official camp can allow the imperial court to control the lifeline of the country and ensure the stability of the country.

How to locate "this" and "end"?
Farming is the foundation, and industry and commerce are the end. The imperial government implemented the official operation of salt and iron, which in essence worshiped the end and suppressed the root, hindering the development of agriculture.

The imperial court believes that the relationship between the beginning and the end is interdependent, and the "health care tools" that people need in their lives are all "waiting for business, waiting for work", and "there is no profit at the end, so the industry has nothing to do." Therefore, only agricultural and commercial transactions can "benefit at the root and at the end".The official operation of salt and iron did not hinder the national policy of paying equal attention to agriculture and commerce.

Is the serious imbalance between production and consumption the main reason for the poverty of the people?
The famous Confucianism compared the ancient and modern life, and believed that the ancients were simple and frugal, with enough food and clothing, but the extravagant consumption (especially funeral) in this dynasty was very serious, and the consumption of life far exceeded the consumption of production. As a result, the national treasury was short of money and the people were poor. Unbearable, seriously affected and hindered the development of ZTE's great cause.

The imperial court believed that thrift could accumulate wealth, but at the same time it would lose momentum for development.Wealth cannot be transformed into consumption, so who has the motivation to create wealth?Consumption can promote production. As for how much people consume, it should be determined according to their own wealth and poverty. The poverty of the people cannot be simply attributed to excessive consumption.

Does the government do business at the expense of the basics?

Since the Warring States Period, the Legalists have held the theory of emphasizing the basics and suppressing the end, believing that industry and commerce are not "the main task of governing the country", and advocated "advancing the basics and retreating the end to benefit agriculture".The government's operation of industry and commerce is actually "competing with merchants for market profits."

The imperial court believed that the theory of "emphasizing the root and suppressing the end" put forward by the famous Confucianists was to suppress government-run industry and commerce and compete for the interests of private industry and commerce.

The imperial court insisted that the government should control industry and commerce, and develop government-run industry and commerce. This would not only increase wealth and income, but also weaken the strength of wealthy merchants and tycoons, and restrain them from annexing land and plundering the wealth of the people. At the end", it is conducive to "building the foundation and suppressing the end".

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Is the poorness of farmers related to salt and iron?Will the rise in grain prices lead to double exploitation of farmers by the imperial court?
Aristocratic Confucians believe that the poor farmers are caused by the government's suppression of grain prices, and have nothing to do with salt and iron.At present, the prices of salt, iron and farm animals are already very low, especially in the situation of frequent wars and great demand for salt, iron and livestock, the current prices of salt, iron and farm animals in various places are fully taken into account that the price of grain is too low damage to farmers.If there are no farmers to plow the land, there will be no food to eat. If there is no food to eat, who needs salt and iron?Who doesn't understand this truth?The imperial court used the low price of grain as an excuse to carry out reforms. The purpose was to seize the wealth of salt and iron merchants, not to improve the poverty of farmers.

The powerful Confucianists also believe that the imperial court controls the price of grain, sets the price of grain very low, cruelly exploits the farmers, and makes the farmers pay a huge price. Now the imperial court still thinks that the wealth is not enough. camp, to implement the second and more brutal exploitation of the peasants.

Farmers have limited fields, limited output, and heavy land rent, taxes and corvee. Even if the price of grain doubles, their income will not increase much.The main consumption of farmers is food and clothing, which is the most basic living consumption. When grain prices rise, so will salt, iron, farm animals, and clothing. The price increase of these things is far greater than the increase in grain prices. Farmers will poorer.Farmers cannot rely on the fields to support themselves, so they have to find another way of life and abandon the fields. The grain output will drop, the price of grain will rise even higher, and other things will follow suit. Such a vicious circle has unimaginable consequences.

The most serious disadvantage of the official operation of salt and iron, besides leading to official corruption, is the other one is the price increase of salt and iron. This is a historical lesson.According to the intention of the imperial court, salt and iron should be run by the government first, and grain prices should rise later. The wealth was deprived even more quickly, and they were about to be double exploited by the court.

The double exploitation of the imperial court will drive the farmers to a dead end.

The imperial court believed that the words of the powerful Confucianists were threatening the imperial court, and they wanted to hold the imperial court hostage with the salt, iron and grain they had hoarded.Now that the imperial court has officially operated salt and iron, can't it control the price?Taking a step back, the imperial court does not raise the price of food, but only lowers the price of salt and iron, is that okay?Taking a step back, the imperial court subsidizes the farmers with the wealth obtained from the salt and iron official camp, okay?

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The discussions in the Qilin Palace lasted for a long time, from the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to the beginning of February, and there was no result yet, but signs of compromise between the two sides were gradually emerging.

The mining rights of salt and iron are basically controlled by the imperial court, big businessmen, and big merchants. Many ordinary merchants and rich people do not even have the right to operate them. Therefore, what these people care about is the amount of limited land, commercial taxes, and millet worship.

Li Wei has been in frequent contact with them recently, and has made many promises, such as selling salt and iron management rights, expanding the amount of restricted land, appropriately raising commercial taxes, lowering the "threshold" for entering millet and worshiping nobles as appropriate, and maximizing protection and satisfaction. their interests.

The group of these people is very large, especially the borrowed merchants. Compared with the past, their status and treatment today are completely different.What they are most afraid of is the repetition of policies. They think that Emperor Xiaowu's warning order destroyed tens of thousands of merchants and families, and their wives and children were separated. Dong Zhuo's butcher knife is still vivid in his mind.They are different from the big merchants. The big merchants have no leverage, great power, and strong ability to deal with sudden changes, but they are not good. As long as the court wants to deal with them, it will be swept away, so they support the court unconditionally.As for ordinary wealthy people, there are only advantages and no disadvantages in this restructuring. Of course, they will not risk their heads to wave their flags behind the big businessmen and big businessmen, so they also support the court.

With the support of these people, the imperial court is full of confidence and can deal with big businessmen and big businessmen freely.If it really doesn't work, find an excuse to carry out a bloodbath, which can just hit dissidents, confiscate household items, enrich the treasury, appease the farmers, and train a group of new big merchants to help him implement the new system.

The great powers and big businessmen saw the crisis, they no longer insisted, and tried to make concessions, but behind them there was a huge military class to support them, and their concessions were only symbolic, with too few concessions and too many conditions Harsh, unable to meet the requirements of the court.

They asked for help from the great generals far away in Xiliang, and from the generals who were related to them by marriage.

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The general received letters from Li Wei as early as the end of last year, and at the beginning of the year, he also received letters from the eldest princess, Xu Rong, and Zhang Yan, expressing their understanding and support for the imperial court's request for restructuring.

In response to Li Wei's plea, the general wrote a letter to the generals in charge of the various regions and the governors of the states, explaining in detail the restructuring of the imperial court, and asked them to support the imperial court unconditionally.

As for the fine rent of the restricted land, the general also gave a special explanation.Marquis-level civil and military officials all have fiefs, and they are not included in the restriction of land and fined rent, which will not affect their private interests.The Qing and Jue ranks, including the nine ranks from Da Shuzhang to Zuo Shuzhang, among which the most senior Da Shuzhang has received the most land has not reached 150 hectares after previous awards, and the amount of land restricted by the imperial court this time is [-] hectares, that is, It is said that all members of the military class are not included in the restricted land rent.The current plan proposed by the imperial court is the first proposal, not the final "Field Limitation Law", so you don't need to worry, just support it in the above table.

In February, the generals in Beijing, the generals of the various regions, the governors of various prefectures, some prefects, and the prime ministers of the state wrote letters in support of the imperial court's reform. The purpose of the general is obviously not to raise military funds to fight the war, he is for the future of the big man, and for the little emperor to govern.If everyone continues to confront the imperial court and insists on not making concessions, the consequences will be unpredictable.

On February [-]th, in the anticipation of everyone, the letter from the general arrived.

The general's letter advised everyone to put the country as the most important thing, the great man as the most important thing, and the emperor as the most important thing.If the big man can't rejuvenate, if he goes to the abyss of overturning again, who can keep his homeland, his fields, and his wealth?Under today's situation, only the princes can work together to ensure the revitalization of the great man.

He wrote another letter to Xu Ling, Qu Zhong, and Wei Gu.You have made great contributions to the rise of Northern Xinjiang and the great man to this day, but I believe you know better than me how much money you have made and how much profit you have gained from it over the past ten years.We put aside the relationship between friends and colleagues, and from the perspective of interests, for more than ten years, because of our joint efforts, the court has benefited, the people have benefited, you have benefited, and everyone has benefited , everyone gets along very well.What now?Now you are still benefiting, and you have even snatched the profits of the court and the people into your own pockets. The court and the people are no longer benefiting, and everyone is no longer getting along well. What?If the people can't live, and the imperial court has no money to relieve and help them, then they will fight with their lives, and the result is that they will die together.

Go back and look at the Yellow Turban Rebellion before the 21st and the Xijiang Rebellion, and look back at the Dong Zhuo Rebellion in the 16th year.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion destroyed most of Jizhou, Yingchuan and Nanyang, and Qingyan Prefectures. Excuse me, how many noble families are there in these places?The chaos in western Xinjiang has destroyed the entire Liangzhou. Excuse me, how many wealthy families are there in Liangzhou?Dong Zhuo's rebellion destroyed Luoyang and Guanzhong. Although Guanluo's aristocratic families and rich merchants fled in all directions, barely saving their lives, how many prominent families are left now?Is the Yang family in Kansai richer than you?Does the Ma family in Guanzhong still have the luxury of the past?
Think about it, how did you get your wealth?Since the imperial court can give you opportunities to accumulate wealth, protect and help you earn wealth, it can also make you lose everything overnight.Since the people can endure your exploitation, your bullying and oppression, they can also chop off your heads in a fit of anger.

Since ancient times, there have been a lot of big families and merchants who are as rich as the enemy, but now you look around and see if you can find their descendants?It is an exaggeration to say that being rich for three generations is too exaggerated, but if a person forgets his duty to be a human being because of power and money, then he will not be far from the day of failure.

If you figure it out and are willing to continue to maintain the harmonious relationship with the court and the people in the past, you can still benefit, but the accumulation of wealth will be slower and it will be harder to make money.The imperial court and the people have benefited, and life is easier. I believe that the wealth you earn will not be less than in the past, but compared to your total wealth, the growth rate of wealth is not fast enough.

In short, it is too short-sighted to exhaust the resources, and it is not advisable to intensify conflicts. You should take a long-term view, and don't always focus on money and lose your mind.There are many ways to earn money. The premise is that harmony generates wealth. You have abandoned the court that protects you, and the people that you depend on for survival. Do you still have a way to survive?

Xu Ling, Qu Zhong, and Wei Gu saw blood in this letter.The general is still the leopard in the past, he made him anxious, he wanted to eat people.

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On February [-]th, Xu Ling, Qu Zhong, and Wei Gu put forward a form, willing to hand over their salt and iron mining rights, but requested to retain the salt and iron management rights. The land of the limited amount of land is levied twice the land rent.

Li Wei was very happy, and immediately made a concession. Half of the salt and iron management rights can be surrendered, but the amount of limited land can only be increased to [-] hectares.

With the handing over of the salt and iron mining rights and part of the management rights by the great powers and big merchants, the discussions in the Qilin Temple immediately entered a climax, and all forces bargained with the imperial court for their own interests, and the debate reached another climax.

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At the beginning of March, Li Wei came up with his third plan. In this plan, Li Wei withdrew the motion to raise the grain price.

The words of the great Confucians are justified. The current low grain price set by the imperial court has seriously exploited and hurt the farmers. If the grain price is raised blindly, and the imperial court cannot absolutely control the price of salt and iron, then it is very likely that all kinds of prices will be synchronized. Ascension, and then caused the second level of exploitation and damage to the farmer.

Poor farmers suffered double exploitation, and their situation will be even more miserable, which completely deviates from the original intention of the imperial court's restructuring.

The third plan still could not satisfy the big businessmen and merchants, and the two sides could not settle down, and a protracted stalemate began.The policy of restructuring requires the concerted efforts of the government and the public to be well promoted and implemented. Especially in the early stage of ZTE, it is even more necessary to unite all forces without the slightest carelessness.Such a stalemate is very unfavorable to the imperial court, and the longer the time, the more unfavorable it will be. Li Wei is very worried about this.

Those great Confucians and famous scholars were not in a hurry, they went to Taixue, debated scriptures with doctors and students, discussed current affairs, talked about poetry and prose, and played piano, chess, calligraphy and painting in their spare time, very leisurely.

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In mid-March, Hussar General Xian Yufu reported to the imperial court, the war in Liaodong resumed, and the direction of Shanggu County was also densely covered with battle clouds.Fu Luohan heard that the Han army had achieved great victories in the western borders, and was worried that the Han army would conquer the desert. He formed an alliance with Nengchendi and Xiuwulu from Wuwan, and planned to attack Dai and Shanggu counties, so as to force the Han emperor to recognize his great Xianbei. King status.

If Fuluo Han is insane and sends troops to attack the border county, there will be a big war in northern Xinjiang. The court needs to recruit more troops, food, grass and military equipment, and the raising of money and food is likely to become a weapon for the powerful and big merchants to threaten the court. For this reason, the court It is necessary to complete the discussion and formulation of the restructuring policy as soon as possible, and issue an imperial edict for promulgation and implementation.

Grand Sima Xu Rong and Taiwei Zhang Yan were in a hurry and urged Li Wei repeatedly.Li Wei was so anxious that he turned around and fell ill.

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On March 24, Zhu Mu and Ding Li visited Li Wei in the mansion, and they talked about Taixue in the chat.

During this period of time, almost all the contemporary Hongru, Tongru, great Confucianism, and many famous scholars were in Chang'an. Look at the demeanor of the great Confucian scholars, second, I want to listen to the lectures of the great Confucian scholars, and third, if I have the opportunity, I will be able to "fly into the sky" immediately after getting a comment from them. Entered the government of the public minister.

The Taixue was overcrowded, and every lecture and discussion was full of people. Especially when discussing the scriptures, many Confucian scholars tried their best to ask some sharp and novel questions in order to attract the attention of the great Confucians.

"Yesterday, a Confucian scholar from Yingchuan, who came all the way from Yingchuan, suddenly accused Master Zheng Xuan of not sticking to the teachings of one teacher and respecting the words of the family when annotating scriptures, which violated the laws of the teacher and the family, which caused an uproar." Zhu Mu said, "Master Zheng Xuan first learned "Jing Shi Yi" and "Gong Yang Chun Qiu" from Master Wu Yuanxian, which belonged to the Jin Wen Jing School. Later, he learned "Zhou Guan" and "Zuo Shi" from Master Zhang Gongzu. The Spring and Autumn Annals and Ancient Texts Shangshu have been taught by Master Ma Rong for many years, and they belong to the School of Classical Classics. When he annotated the scriptures, he did not exclusively use the interpretations of ancient scriptures scholars, but also adopted the interpretations of many modern scriptures scholars. That is to say, he mainly focuses on ancient prose, but also adopts modern prose, and chooses the good to follow. From this, it can be seen that he does not stick to the teachings of one teacher, respects the teachings of the family, and does not abide by the rules of the teacher and the family..."

"I see, I have a solution..." Li Wei jumped up suddenly, and shouted at Zhu Mu and Ding Li, "Quickly, go and invite the two adults, Xi Ji and Zhao Song, quickly... ..."

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There are very few books in this dynasty, and scholars are rare, and the reading of exegetical sentences depends on oral instruction, so the general doctor's lectures emphasize the relationship between teaching and learning, thus forming the teacher's law and family law.

During the time of Emperor Xiaowu, there were five classics ("Yi", "Book", "Poetry", "Li", "Spring and Autumn") in official studies.Postdoctoral fellows gradually increased. The "Book of Changes" is divided into four schools, the "Book of Songs" is divided into three schools, the "Book of Songs" is divided into three schools, "Yili" is divided into two schools, and "Gongyang Chunqiu" is divided into two schools, making a total of fourteen schools. He is a doctor of the Five Classics and Fourteenth.

If a master of a certain scripture, like Dong Zhongshu, can transform the scriptures into yin and yang and five elements, and get the respect and trust of the imperial court to become a doctor, the master's scriptures will become authoritative. .The disciples teach the scriptures according to the teacher's method, and they don't talk about the chapters and sentences (chapter by chapter, sentence by sentence, and word for word), and they form a family law. Different students of the same scripture teacher are their own families. In this way, they teach the family law under the teacher's method.Of course, it can only become a family statement under the premise of following the teacher's law.

The imperial court stipulated that the doctor of Taixue can only be taught according to the teacher's method and family law, and those who violate the teacher's method and family law will be dismissed.

The teacher's method should be traced back to the origin, and the family's law is the extension and development of the teacher's theory. In this way, "sparse but not broken notes", the bed and the house are stacked, so that there are several schools of thought in one classic, and several theories in one family. The set of Confucian classics is full of fallacies, making later scholars at a loss as to what to do, so the cumbersome, fragmented, and dogmatic study of Confucian classics has become a prominent drawback.
For hundreds of years, the study of Confucian classics in this dynasty has flourished, with as many as more than a thousand masters, and the explanations of some scriptures have increased to more than one million words.The variety of chapters and sentences made Confucian classics embark on a cumbersome road.For example, Qin Yanjun, the master of "Book of Books", used more than 40 characters to explain the two characters in "Yao Dian", and used 30 characters to explain the four characters "Yue Ruo Ji Gu".Huan Rong, a master of Confucian classics in the Guangwu Emperor's dynasty, wrote [-] words of "Shangshu Zhangju", and Zhu Pu's interpretation was [-] words.

A scholar starts to learn the classics from an early age, and often only learns to speak the scriptures when he is in vain.A doctoral student named Guo Lu died violently by a candle because of his hard thinking day and night.Ph.D.'s tedious rhetoric in chapters and sentences is regarded as knowledge, and it seems to kill them to simplify their rhetoric.Wang Mang once ordered the doctor to delete the chapters and sentences of the five classics, each with 20 words, but the resistance was too great, so he had to give in to the doctor.Emperor Guangwu once ordered Confucian officials to discuss the reduction of chapters and sentences in the Five Classics, but no results were reached.

Such bitter and difficult Confucian classics, but there are often thousands of students gathered in Taixue, willing to suffer and suffer to learn from the master, why?Because scholars seek profit and fortune, only Confucian classics is the main path, and the indestructibility of chapters is also because it is closely integrated with official career.

After Chenwei became famous and popular, Confucian scholars, under the influence of Chenwei, gradually seldom adhered to the theory of one family and one school. Most of them also governed the present and studied ancient Chinese classics. Special purpose and far-fetched connotation, making the scriptures more difficult to understand, and causing the development of Confucianism to be seriously hindered.

After Master Zheng Xuan’s New Classics became an official school, one of the teaching methods and the family law were gradually abandoned, and the other chapters and sentences were greatly shortened, which was conducive to the teaching of classics and the development of Confucianism. The two schools of modern and ancient Chinese classics are not willing to withdraw from the official school, and they are always trying to defeat the new classics.

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Xi Xi and Zhao Song arrived in a hurry.

"Now there is an opportunity to consolidate the position of the New Classics, completely defeat the modern and ancient classics, and let Confucianism develop rapidly." Li Wei said with a smile, "Are the two adults willing to seize this opportunity?"

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