New Shun 1730

Of course, people's correct thoughts don't fall from the sky. At least on the issues of what currency is, whether currency should be precious metalized, and whether in-kind tax should be re-levied, these enlightenment scholars in the late Ming Dynasty came up with an idea that conforms to intuitive logic through social practice and historical experience.

The prosperous times actively opened the door to communicate, and the ideas and logic of being forced to communicate when the door was knocked on by others when they were already backward are really completely different.

People in later generations think that some things are correct, but people at this time don't think they are correct. Because... because the other side doesn't seem to be that strong, it's just like that at this time, why is everything on the other side right?

This is ultimately similar to the question of "Is Confucianism universally applicable?"

A very simple example can show the difference.

For example, Dashun opened up exchanges with Europe, Liu Yu wanted to develop the navy, and astronomy was the prerequisite technology for navigation, so Dashun made up for the latest developments in astronomy.

This led to a problem, such as some knowledge in astronomy, such as the concepts of red pole and yellow pole.

And the great scholars must solve the problem of "Westerners know it, but we don't". This is basic pride.

So, it is said that since the Han Dynasty, the ancients did not know that there was a yellow pole. When the Westerners came to China, they began to say that there was a yellow pole outside the equatorial pole, which was the pivot of the seven political stars rotating to the right. They were surprised that it was not mentioned in "Book of Songs", "Book of History", "Rites", "Music", "Book of Changes" and "Spring and Autumn Annals". Then a great scholar said: The red pole mentioned by the Westerners is the true north pole of "Zhou Bi", and the yellow pole is the north pole Xuan Ji of "Zhou Bi". "Yu Shu" said: It is in Xuan Ji Yu Heng to align the seven political stars. It is probably that Xuan Ji was set up to simulate the yellow pole. The yellow pole is in the southeast of Zhushi Star, between Shangbi and Shaobi, and it has never changed with the precession of the equinoxes. The red pole is in the middle, and the yellow pole surrounds it. "Zhou Bi" has already said this, and it was not started by Westerners.

That is to say, knowledge such as astronomy is science.

Yes is yes, no is no.

Some people are surprised that there is no record in the six major classics.

And the proud people need to prove that it is not that there is no record, but that you do not understand what the ancient sages are talking about. For example, the phrase "Xuan Ji Yu Heng" actually refers to the ecliptic pole, which is a metaphor. It has been said in "Zhou Bi", but you do not understand its profoundness and understand it blindly.

Is this a good thing?

Of course it is a good thing, because the current Dashun is not the time when people are beaten to tears and feel that the enemy is invincible.

How fragile and groundless a civilization is, when being surpassed by others, it is scared to think that it needs to reflect comprehensively, and think that it is not good at this or that. As for the racial issue, even the biggest fantasy is to think that it can be a second-class person, at least higher than the black people.

This kind of textual research-style catch-up is of course a good thing. It can catch up and learn seamlessly on scientific issues, especially mathematics, astronomy, algebra, etc., and greatly offset the resistance.

But things outside the scope of "science and engineering" such as mathematics and astronomy are different.

Let alone, modernization is a set of things that the whole world has come up with by jointly destroying the remnants of the old era and taking its essence.

Just talking about governance, government, economics, taxation system, colonization, industry and commerce, political science, these are different from mathematics and astronomy. Why do the proud literati at this time think that these things are correct and right?

Moreover, the other side is actually just like that at this time, and there is no overly brilliant theory. Even many existing theories at this time cannot solve the dilemma faced by Dashun at all. For example, the so-called free trade theory, even in the original history, Adam Smith also used a tricky way to give a special explanation on the issue of trade with China. Moreover, now that Liu Yu has begun to cooperate with Dutch compradors, smuggling everywhere.

The ship is strong and the gun is powerful. Before the Crimean War, the gap brought by the so-called industrialization was just like that. Catch up with the flintlock, adjust the tax system, and solve the artillery skills. With the size, it is no problem to be a steamroller.

Therefore, there was a huge disagreement between Liu Yu and Lin Min on the reform of the salt administration, or a huge disagreement between Liu Yu and most of the Dashun bureaucrats and literati on some issues.

The mainstream thought of Dashun originated from the reflection on the evil dragon of the previous dynasty, and the shadow of the previous dynasty still looms over Dashun.

This shadow is similar to the lesson that the Song Dynasty tried its best to avoid the chaos of the military in the late Tang Dynasty, and created a Song Dynasty.

Why did the Ming Dynasty fall?

When the Ming Dynasty fell, the literati conducted a collective reflection.

One result of the reflection was that the heresy of the School of Mind was opposed, which eventually led to a collapse of the reflection on the School of Principle.

And the reflection on the governance of the country, the reflection on the economic system, the reflection on the tax system... These reflections are not reflections out of thin air, but reflections on the various chaos in the late Ming Dynasty.

The country lasted for nearly three hundred years, even in later generations, three hundred years of time is enough to obliterate many things.

What's more, at this time.

The reflection at the end of the Ming Dynasty was more about the various chaos in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

It can be attributed to the Single Whip System.

It can be attributed to the extortionate taxation.

It can be attributed to the monetization of silver.

It can be attributed to the taxation system.

Of course, it also includes the salt administration system, the currency system, who collects taxes, the development of industry and commerce, etc.

But it should be noted that Adam Smith lived in Britain, so he wrote The Wealth of Nations in Britain where handicrafts had already developed; and the French group lived in France, so after the French Revolution, the Jacobin land reform was carried out.

The various ideas of the literati in the late Ming Dynasty did not fall from the sky, but were condensed from social practice, historical evolution, and the deep-rooted and ubiquitous benevolence and morality that melted into the body.

Liu Yu said that his ideas were right, how could he prove it?

If he was left behind in the future and a huge gap was opened, he could prove it by "opening his eyes to see the world".

So, what about now? How can his ideas be proved to be right now?

The ancient and modern times at this time do not include the future, so there is no way to prove that he is right.

On the issue of salt administration reform, he was able to obtain the support of the emperor and eventually obtained the compromise and a certain degree of support from the reformists. It should be said that it was still due to the reflection of the mainstream literati on the previous dynasty.

But this reflection is destined to be a short-term fellow traveler with Liu Yu.

Because, including Wang Fuzhi, who was highly praised by later generations, many of their reflections on the previous dynasty were of the mentality of "grieving for their misfortune and being angry at their lack of struggle", a mentality that the emperor did not know how to govern the country at all, which led to the complete failure, and that it would be very stable if he governed according to his own ideas.

It is still from the perspective of "the king can serve the people of the world", "it is the system of heaven to support the gentlemen with villains", and "the people are beasts, not human beings".

Huang Zongxi was not against the monarchy, but the monarchy. Instead, he replaced it with "the dictatorship republic of the gentry class over the rest of the class, plus the Confucian parish system", and engaged in a semi-feudal system, with schools as the highest legislative and supervisory bodies.

So-called: what the emperor thinks is right may not be right, and what the emperor thinks is wrong may not be wrong. The emperor dare not think that he thinks right or wrong, but publicly declares his wrongness in the school.

How to choose people in the school?

County and prefecture school officials are not allowed to choose and remove them by themselves. County and prefecture public discussion, please ask famous Confucian scholars to lead it.

What about moral norms?

Good and bad things in the folk are all in accordance with Zhu Xi's "Family Rites". Common people may not be familiar with them. The system of mourning clothes, the size of wooden tablets, the style of clothes and hats, and the system of palaces are determined by the school officials in the market. In the settlements away from the city, teachers are invited to observe the rituals to change customs.

There are sacrifices that violate the etiquette, there are illegal clothes, useless things hanging in the market, and the funerals that are left in the ground are not covered. The ears are full of songs and vulgar words are full of the streets. Then the school officials are not doing their job.

What about heretical thoughts?

Contemporary literary collections, ancient articles that are not based on teachers, quotations that are not based on experience, memorials that are not useful for practical use, and prefaces that are not useful for history are not allowed to be circulated. The contemporary articles, novels, lyrics, and social writings that have been printed will be burned.

If you must say that this is people-oriented or representative system, it is not wrong.

But it does feel like someone has stamped their thoughts on them, and then they first determine what is right, and then turn it back and make up stories.

If it is true that there is no chance for them to enter modernization spontaneously, and they finally have a self-comforting fantasy, it is okay to find a few words from these ideas to seek answers.

Or, if they are already behind, they can also take out theories that seem to be the same as those on the other side from the words of the sages.

However, can the Dashun at this time really complete the transformation with this set of things?

Reflecting on the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, we get a mainstream reflection idea to avoid the chaos in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, just like the Five Dynasties in the late Tang Dynasty after the Song Dynasty, but can we complete the mission of destroying the old era?

Is the opposite of the mistakes made by the previous dynasty necessarily correct?

Many ideas born under the shadow of the evil dragon are not necessarily bad things, but if we follow this routine completely, we will definitely not even try, and it will definitely not work.

For example, Wang Fuzhi's view on taxation believes that asset tax should not be collected, nor should land be classified into upper, middle and lower levels for tax collection. Instead, the whole country should be unified, and all "one acre is divided into two people", and all are collected according to the head tax.

For example, his view on labor service believes that the two-tax system and Zhang Juzheng's one-whip system are both bad policies. We should return to the rent-labor system, and the tax should be light and the labor service should be heavy.

Light taxes show that the emperor does not think that food and wealth are good things, which are all garbage.

Heavy labor service shows that the emperor thinks that the people's strength is the good thing, which reflects the emperor's attention to the people and the people-oriented.

And it is concluded that if taxes are light and labor service is heavy, then there will be no lazy people in the world. Because whether you farm or not, everyone has to perform labor service, so why don't people farm?

And if the land rating system is abolished, the tax rate is unified, or it is collected according to the head. Then, everyone's tax is the same, you are poor because you are lazy, you will work hard to farm, and work hard to turn bad land into good land.

For example, in response to the outrageous collection of land taxes by local governments in the late Ming Dynasty and the idea of ​​equal distribution of land by the peasant army, it was proposed that there was no need for equal distribution of land or land restrictions, as long as taxes were reduced, land would not be annexed.

This may be considered enlightenment thought, which is definitely correct.

But does it conform to national conditions? It should be said that it is also in line with them.

At least it is a kind of overcorrection reflection in line with the special circumstances of the late Ming Dynasty.

After all, ideas are not generated out of thin air, but are based on reality and history, and the conclusions drawn may be phased - if a tree does not bloom or bear fruit for 5,000 years, and blooms and bears fruit every year after 5,000 years, then it is correct for humans to judge that this tree does not bloom or bear fruit.

Given the level of magic in the late Ming Dynasty, the heavy taxation, the revelry of grassroots officials, and the state of taxes all being placed on the land, this seemingly unrealistic reflection is actually not wrong.

At that time, it was too dark in front of my eyes, and I was blinded by the blindfold that was too dark at that time, thinking that light was just pure white. It's normal.

It's just that reflection at a specific time may not really be feasible.