Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Don't make any noise!"

Ju Ming glanced at the students, then looked at Lu Wei, and asked: "If the nature of water is compared to human nature, what is the nature of water?"

Lu Wei said: "The nature of water is bad."

"Water flows to lower places, is it really watery?" Ju Ming asked, "After boiling, water vapor evaporates and rises, so why doesn't it go to lower places?"

Lu Wei said: "The rise of water vapor is caused by heat. It is like scooping water and pouring it upward. The force is upward, but it will eventually fall. When the water vapor is cold, it will also fall."

Ju Ming asked again: "Mercury also flows to lower places, and molten iron also flows to lower places. Since water is used to compare human nature, why can't mercury and molten iron be compared to humans?"

Lu Wei said: "Mercury and molten iron also have the word "water". You can think of it. The fact that they flow to lower places is also caused by their water nature."

"What about oil?" Ju Ming asked, "Oil is incompatible with water, wouldn't it also be watery?"

"Um……"

Lu Wei was at a loss for words and didn't know how to respond.

Ju Ming chased and beat him: "Oil will go down, why can't oily nature be compared to human nature?"

Lu Wei began to think seriously.

Ju Ming added: "This paragraph of "Mencius" is contradictory to the next paragraph. Mencius said that white feathers and white snow are both white, and white dogs and white cows are also white. But the nature of white dogs cannot be said to be white. The nature of a cow. The nature of a white cow cannot be said to be the nature of a white man. What Mencius said is that we cannot regard commonality as individuality. If this is the case, why did Mencius compare the nature of water to human nature?"

Not only Lu Wei felt confused, but the students in the classroom were also confused.

Because of the context of Mencius, he is slapping himself in the face. This is difficult to spot and is a common tactic used in debates to introduce the topic into one's own preset position.

Ju Ming smiled: "White dogs, white cows, and white people are all white. This is what they have in common. But dogs eat shit, cows eat grass, and people eat grain. Of course they are different. Mencius said that the goodness of human nature is like water flowing down. But human nature It’s human nature, water is water, how can we use it as an analogy?”

"Mencius' original intention was to refute Gaozi. Because Gaozi compared the nature of water to human nature, Mencius refuted it like that."

"If Gaozi did not use water as an example but used oil as an example. When Mencius refuted it, he would definitely say that the goodness of human nature is like oil."

"When you are reading, you should not focus on just a few words. You should understand why Mencius said that. Instead of applying Mencius's words to be universally applicable. It is right here, but it is wrong to apply it everywhere."

Lu Wei no longer dared to say anything casually, but asked: "Do you agree with Gao Zi's words?"

"Why do I agree with Gaozi? What Gaozi said is full of loopholes, so Mencius found it difficult to refute it," Zhu Ming said with a smile, "Gaozi said that food and color are the nature of food. Is food and color really its nature? Food and color are like The whiteness of a white dog or a white horse is just an appearance.”

"People are good at eating to fill their stomachs. If you don't eat, you will be hungry. People are good at eating to reproduce. How can you have descendants if you don't want to be horny?"

"Feeding and reproduction are sex. Food and sex are just emotions."

"Xingtaiji, emotions are yin and yang. Fullness and reproduction are just like Taichi, which does not differentiate between yin and yang, good or bad. Eating, drinking, marrying and having children are human nature and natural principles. Every meal must be big fish and meat, extravagant and wasteful, see A beautiful woman insists on marrying her home, and even covets other people’s wives and concubines. This is evil and human desire.”

Lu Wei thought hard and didn't know how to answer the question, because Mencius himself didn't explain it clearly.

Zhu Ming said to the students: "Confucius only said that human nature is similar and habits are far apart. He did not talk about the good and evil of human nature. Xunzi said that human nature is evil, and Mencius said that human nature is good. In fact, they are the same. Xunzi's original intention is to eliminate evil, and Mencius' original intention is to be good. Different paths lead to the same destination. That's it. A few years ago, I wrote about the beginning of Mongolian people. They are inherently good, similar in nature, and far apart in habits. This is to guide children to be kind, but if you really want to study, it is difficult to explain human nature clearly. "

Lu Wei was still reciting the entire "Mencius Gaozi" silently, trying to find definite evidence for the theory of good nature.

But Zhu Ming stood up: "Today I'm going to talk about why the nature of water is low. Has anyone read "Tao Yongce·Physics"? Please raise your hand."

In an instant, more than ten people raised their hands.

"Very good," Zhu Ming nodded approvingly, "The water is not the nature of water, and everything is like this. Even birds will fall when they don't flap their wings. The earth is like a magnet, attracting everything. We might as well call it gravity. Therefore, the water is not the nature of water. The nature of water is the commonality manifested by all things. If one day, the earth no longer attracts all things, then the commonness will be gone."

"Water, oil, mercury, molten iron, molten gold... let's call these flowing objects liquids. They flow downwards because of gravity. Their commonality is not that they go down, but that they can flow."

"Water is heated and evaporates into water vapor, and water is cooled and condenses into solid ice. We can make a bold guess as to whether all things will have three states? Ice is solid, water is liquid, and water vapor is gas."

"Bold speculation, but careful verification. Iron is solid. It can be turned into liquid molten iron when heated. Will it evaporate into iron vapor when heated again? Unfortunately, the existing smelting furnace does not have such a high temperature. And mercury will boil when heated. , will also turn into mercury vapor. So if the mercury is cooled enough, can it turn into solid mercury?"

"In any case, we can know that water has three states. Iron already has solid and liquid states, while mercury has liquid and gaseous states..."

Lu Wei was already confused. Wasn't he discussing the good and evil nature? Why are you talking about this stuff?

Ju Ming continued his lecture: "After talking a lot, we can conclude that the water that flows down is not water-based. It is not even water-based, and it is impossible to compare it to human nature. Water flowing downwards is a common feature of all kinds of liquids. . What is the nature of water? It can be condensed into ice or transpired into water vapor. My father made a thermometer, and the temperature at which water condenses into ice is called the condensation point, and the temperature at which water boils into water vapor is called the boiling point..."

Lu Wei couldn't bear it anymore and interrupted: "What's the point of talking about this in the school?"

Ju Ming said: "People's daily use is the way. Isn't this the principle of steaming steamed buns? Everyone knows how to steam steamed buns, but they know it but don't know why. Do we, the scholars, have to be ignorant and not discover and analyze it? What’s the truth? Besides, when water turns into ice, are there still few battles in ancient times where water was poured to build ice walls? If a frontline general brought a thermometer to the battlefield and knew the freezing point of water, he would know when to water to build a city!"

Lu Wei wanted to say something else, but he didn't know where to start.

Ju Ming said: "I have lent you a few books. If you want to debate, you should first read my book before talking. If there is something wrong in my writing, feel free to point it out!"

Lu Wei is not very gregarious and prefers to be a practical person. He usually does not even have a communication friend and knows very little about what is happening in the capital.

The content of the Di newspaper is very brief. If you don't know more about it, you won't be able to understand it even after reading it.

For example, when Ju Ming was in charge of Guizhou, he would only write like this: Cheng Wu Lang, Zhi Hanyuan County Secretary Ju Ming, was removed from his post and put in charge of Guizhou. Because of the arrogant discussion of government affairs.

What happened, and how did local officials know?

Lu Wei was recommended as the envoy of Changping, Guangxi. He was from his hometown and had some relatives. He only reminded Lu Wei that when he came to Guizhou, he should keep an eye on Ju Ming to prevent him from causing trouble, but he did not explain the matter clearly at all.

Zhu Ming took out "Tao Yong Ce", "A Brief Meaning of Chapters and Sentences of the Great Learning" and "A Brief Meaning of Doctrine and Sentences of the Doctrine of the Mean". Lu Wei knew about the first two books, and they were clearly banned in Di Bao.

He could immediately report to the court that Ju Ming was spreading banned books in Guizhou.

But Lu Wei became more and more curious. What was written in the book?

Let the entourage leave with the book in hand, and Lu Wei reads "The University" while walking. He soon discovered that this book was well annotated, but it only "misinterpreted" the meaning of the scriptures in a few places, so it should not be banned.

It took me a few days to read two of them, and also read some of "Tao Yongce".

Although he disagreed with some of the contents, he admired Ju Ming more and more. At the same time, he sent someone to find out what Ju Ming had done.

"Public Security" and "Song of Righteousness" were quickly obtained, and Lu Wei was silent after reading them.

Wang Fu's evil deeds are mainly seen in the capital and southeast, and have not yet become a nationwide evil. Even for Guangdong and Guangxi, Wang Fu was considered a good prime minister, and he abolished many of Cai Jing's bad policies.

So, Ju Ming listed Wang Fu as one of the six thieves. Is the accusation in the memorial true? Lu Wei felt a little confused.

In any case, he did not write a letter to the court to report, and went to listen to Ju Ming's lectures whenever he had time.

By the way, the impeachment of Cai Yi, Shang Yongzhi and others was just a meal, and they spent the whole day traveling around and not doing serious business.

In the Guizhou officialdom where everyone was flat, Lu Wei was quickly isolated by his colleagues. Instead, he had the most contact with Ju Ming.

Late spring.

Bai Sheng came from Yangzhou with a few letters from home.

The content of Zhu Guoxiang's letter, in addition to introducing the three major bases, also briefly talked about the situation in Yangzhou and Jinzhou. Since the Fangla Uprising, the imperial court has increased taxes on various roads in the Sichuan Gorge, making the people of Yangzhou and Jinzhou more and more miserable.

Although the newly arrived Jinzhou magistrates and Tongpan were not as crazy about making money as Li Daochong, they also levied exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes for political achievements, and collected money to please the officials on Jingxi Road.

In the entire Hanzhong area, landlords and farmers were the most unlucky, and agricultural miscellaneous taxes became more and more severe.

Corn has been officially listed as one of the in-kind taxes, and large quantities of corn and rice have been shipped to Tokyo and Luoyang to suppress the skyrocketing grain prices in the two capitals.

Also, since Zhu Ming was reorganized, the new state and county officials were not so polite to Zhu Guoxiang.

Fortunately, Zhu Guoxiang himself still had an official status, and the local prestige was extremely high, otherwise the three villages would have been taxed by Fangtian. Even so, the taxes in the three villages have also increased, and the annual payment for food and grain has increased by 40%.

The letters written by Zhang Jinping and Zheng Yuanyi tell about the current situation and remind Ju Ming to pay attention to his health.

Zhang Jinping was pregnant and found out on the way. The road to Shu was too rough and tiring, so I didn't take it to heart when I missed my menstrual period. When I walked to Lizhou City, I suddenly fainted and asked a doctor to diagnose me, only to discover my pulse. After that, I stayed in Lizhou City for two months to nurse my fetus until my health improved before I continued traveling, and most of the time I took advantage of sliding poles and boats.

Ju Ming replied to the letters one by one and asked his father to send someone to Tokyo to keep an eye on the court's information.