Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The donkey cart stopped outside Donghua Gate, where there were already many vehicles.

After Li Qingzhao got off the bus, he met many elders and friends, and it was very lively to exchange greetings with each other.

The guards checked the official badges one by one, and everyone filed in, and soon took the carriage in the imperial city to the Mingtang.

Today, everyone is very excited.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the first Sutra Banquet Conference was held in Mingtang.

With Li Qingzhao's rank, she was not eligible to participate, but she had the status of being granted imperial edict. "Give Fei" means that it is not enough to wear a Fei robe, but it will give you the treatment of wearing a Fei robe.

Arriving at Mingtang, which was designed and built under the supervision of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, Li Qingzhao shamelessly touched the middle position. There were too many people coming to the conference today, and she was afraid that she would not be able to hear clearly if she sat too far back.

Zhang Gen sat in the front, closed his eyes and rested, wandering around the world.

He thought that his concession would bring the matter to an end, but he did not expect that the emperor had just begun.

Regarding Deyun, Zhang Gen also tried to communicate with Zhu Guoxiang, but his several letters were all in vain. Then he was summoned by Zhu Guoxiang. The emperor and his ministers had a question and answer session, but it was obvious that they could not reach an agreement.

Today's sutra banquet is held, and it is obvious that Zhu Guoxiang is paving the way for "Ming Dynasty official learning".

The official learning during the Huizong period of the Song Dynasty was "New Learning". After years of textbook training, New Learning is definitely the mainstream now. However, due to the foolhardy king and treacherous ministers, a large number of non-mainstream theories opposed to Wang Anshi emerged. Even the imperial students liked to secretly read banned books.

Ju Ming prefers Luo School, but wants to cater to the new school, but the integration is not complete at present.

Moreover, within Luo School, different schools began to separate.

Without his son, his thoughts were in confusion, and Zhu Guoxiang decided to put things into perspective. Because he realized that even the cabinet "each has its own learning."

Zhang Gen: Double major in Luo School and New School.

Zhai Ruwen: Double major in Luo Studies and Su Studies.

Li Bangyan: New Learning.

The way of cultivating teachers: Guan Xue. Although Guan Xue has been integrated into Luo Xue, the specific academic thoughts are also different.

Huang Shang: New learning. Despite Huang Shang's harmless appearance, his network of in-laws and friends included the descendants of Cai Jing, Cai Bian, Zeng Bu, Zhang Dun, Lu Huiqing and Wang Anshi.

Xiao Chu: Double major in Luo School and New School.

Liu Yao: New learning.

The clues can be seen from their schools of thought. Among the four in the cabinet who voted in favor, three were disciples of the New School, and one was a fusion of Luo School and New School.

"The emperor has arrived!"

Everyone stood up and bowed to greet each other. There were hundreds of people participating in the sutra feast today.

"Everyone with a flat body will be given a seat." Zhu Guoxiang said.

The band was also there, playing music related to the Sutra Feast, and the ceremony official announced the start of the Sutra Feast.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I am not familiar with the various schools of thought. Today, you gentlemen, please speak freely. You don't have to distinguish between right and wrong. You just need to explain your views to me. Xiao Qing will summarize it."

Xiao Chu immediately stood up and said loudly: "The schools in modern times are nothing more than Luo Xue, Xin Xue and Su Xue. Luo Xue is good at sex theory, Xin Xue is good at names and numbers, and Su Xue is good at economics. Do you think so?"

Some people nodded, while others frowned.

Names, etiquette, and systems are indeed what Wang Anshi is good at.

Economy is originally meant to manage the world and benefit the people, but the literal meaning here is very close to the "economy" of later generations.

Are Sansu and his disciples economists?

In fact, the reform ideas of the mature Su Xue were more radical than those of Wang Anshi.

To use an inappropriate metaphor, Wang Anshi’s new law is similar to the combination of state capitalism and small-scale peasant economy. The state dominates industry, agriculture and commerce and suppresses mergers, both land mergers and commercial mergers.

However, Sansu and his disciples advocated a free market economy, and advocated that workers, farmers, and merchants should all benefit, and that the court should not interfere too much. They represented the emerging citizen class, craftsmen and merchant groups.

Between a big government and a small government, it would be strange not to fight.

Xiao Chu, an old fellow from Luo School, has studied all three schools. He has the same idea as Ju Ming: "Why can't the three schools be unified? Use Luo learning to understand nature, use new learning to debate names, and use Luo learning to understand names. Su Xue is good at economics, and the teachings of Confucius and Mencius are enough, so why worry about the world not being able to prosper?"

Huan Guo couldn't help complaining: "I have all three, but I don't know the root and the bottom, and I don't know the authenticity. When I commentate on the scriptures, which one should I take and which one should I leave out?"

This is true. When the three factions merge, there must be choices.

And where there are trade-offs, it happens to be where the theories of the three schools are very different. No one obeys anyone!

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Since we want to distinguish between the root and the bottom and make clear choices, we should start from the fundamentals. Let's talk about the Dao of the Universe first. Although Guan Xue has been integrated into Luo Xue, Zhong Qing studied Guan Xue passed down from his family, so he started from Zhong Qing Let’s start talking.”

This is to explore different sects of cosmology.

Zhongshidao stood up and said: "Heaven, earth, and the universe are one, which is Taihe, which is the way of heaven. Laozi said that existence comes from nothingness, which is wrong..."

Zhang Zai's Guanxue cosmology can be summarized as "monism".

That is to say, the universe is composed of a mysterious force, let's call it "qi".

When the Qi gathers, it is too empty, which is heaven, that is, nothing; when the Qi disperses, it is all things, which is Tao, that is, there is.

Heaven is the foundation and Tao is the function.

Being and non-being are essentially one, and there is no such thing as Laozi saying that being comes from nothing.

In addition, there are theories about the nature of mind and ghosts and gods, all of which are explained from a materialistic perspective.

This is a kind of simple materialism, which regards Qi as the basic substance of the universe.

And there is a sense of the immortality of the material cycle. Even if people die and all things are destroyed, the basic substances (qi) that make up people and all things are still there, and can be recombined into new things through the movement of heaven.

"No!"

Luo Xue, the representative of Huan Kingdom, stood up and said: "Every day is new, Gou is new..."

The cosmology of Luo School is completely different from that of Guan School.

The way of heaven in Luo School is the principle of heaven. Matter (qi) is born and destroyed, and it is constantly developing and renewing.

He also believes that the "Taixu" of Guan Xue is not a Tao, but a tool. Only abstract things such as rituals, laws, and morals are Tao, while the rest are tools and uses.

Then, Huang Shang expressed his views on behalf of Xinxue.

Wang Anshi's new worldview is derived from the original meaning of the Tao Te Ching.

He believed that yin and yang were the origin of the universe, and that the universe was composed of qi.

The vitality remains motionless and is the Tao body. The qi moves between heaven and earth to form all things, which is the function of Tao.

There was no representative figure in Su Xue, so Zhu Guoxiang asked Zhai Ruwen to explain it on his behalf.

As far as the cosmology is concerned, Su Xue has nothing of his own, and is similar to Luo Xue's explanation.

After Zhu Guoxiang listened, he felt that these were all similar.

As for Zhang Zai's Guan Xue, his statement that material circulation is immortal is somewhat interesting.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Guoxiang asked each faction about their world view and outlook on life.

The explanations of Guan Xue, Luo Xue and Su Xue did not arouse Zhu Guoxiang's interest.

Zhu Guoxiang's eyes lit up when he heard the new learning.

The general idea of ​​Wang Anshi's new learning is: the laws of nature (the way of heaven) are not subject to human subjective will, so humans should not interfere. But human affairs outside of the way of heaven must be done by humans.

This is a clear distinction between heaven and man.

God says, don't worry about it, we can't care about it either, just do your business seriously!

Zhu Guoxiang suddenly clapped his hands and exclaimed: "It's so good that it's natural, how could it be predicted? It's so good that it only involves shapes and utensils, so it has to wait for what people say and what they do. I couldn't tell the difference before. The way of heaven and man is revealed by Wang Linchuan in one word!"

About 30% of the officials' expressions changed drastically, about 50% of the officials showed joy, and the remaining 20% ​​were indifferent.

Zhu Guoxiang added: "I don't completely agree with the new learning, but regarding the way of heaven and man, I feel that what Wang Linchuan said is very true. In the future, the relationship between heaven and man should still be based on this. The way of heaven is the way of heaven, and you can be in awe; the way of humanity To return to humanity, you must do your best.”

"Your Majesty..." Huan Guo wanted to argue.

Zhu Guoxiang interrupted: "No need to say more. I have just listened to Luo Xue's thoughts and views, and I think the new theory is more reasonable."

Xiao Chu smiled and said nothing.

Huan Guo was frustrated by the emperor, but when he saw Xiao Chu gloating about his misfortune, he immediately rolled his eyes at this senior brother.

You traitor to the Luo School, even though the emperor is in favor of the new school, you are still there to eat melon!

Prime Minister Zhang Gen doesn't care about this. Anyway, he is a double major in Luo School and New School, but he is more inclined to Luo School.

Vice Minister Zhai Ruwen is hopeful. In terms of economic policy, he supports Su Shi's free market economy. Since the emperor supported the new view of heaven and man, would he also support the Soviet view of economics?

With the accumulation of experience as a local official, Su Shi already agreed with some of Wang Anshi's new laws in his later years.

Therefore, Su Shi's idea of ​​governing the country is for the state to actively intervene in agriculture, but not to interfere too much in industry and commerce.

Immediately, Zhai Ruwen stood up and said: "What Sansu said about the economy..."

After Zhu Guoxiang heard this, he said: "Let's not talk about Su's economic skills for now. We will follow the established strategy."

The established strategy was to count the population and land, split up the large migratory families in key state capitals, and distribute the land occupied by the old Song Dynasty to landless peasants. In terms of industry and commerce, the imperial court no longer did business in person, but it had to control important resources such as minerals, salt, and tea, and this control was overall weaker than in the old Song Dynasty.

To be honest, it is very close to Su Xue's philosophy of governing the country.

The future official schools of the Ming Dynasty and the New Dynasty will most likely be a hodgepodge of Luo, Xin, and Su schools.

Forcibly stitching together will inevitably lead to theoretical loopholes, and even lead to contradictions in different places when annotating the classics.

However, as long as Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming set the tone and ensure that the main idea remains unchanged, the details will be corrected and filled in by the great Confucians.

Zhu Guoxiang stood up with a smile and asked the eunuch to bring a blackboard: "There is an astronomical telescope in the Astronomical Academy. Huang Aiqing (Huang Shang) has already seen it. Huang Aiqing, what did you see?"

Huang Shang stood up and replied: "I saw that the moon is a big sphere with holes on the surface."

There were hundreds of officials at the scene, and some of them had quietly watched.

But this was the first time for most people to hear about this, and they couldn't believe it.

Zhu Guoxiang drew a star map of the solar system on the blackboard, and marked the name of each planet with text, and said: "I began to study astronomy in the old Song Dynasty, and these are some rudimentary achievements. The telescope of the Astronomical Academy, in the past two months, It is open to the public, and anyone who is interested can go and look at the moon. Today’s sutra feast meeting ends here.”

Hundreds of officials looked at each other and watched the emperor leave.