New Shun 1730

Meng Songlu saw it more clearly than Quan Zheshen and was more shocked, because he understood that the worries of some great scholars in the late Ming Dynasty and early Shun Dynasty had really come true.

Beginning with the theory of authenticity of ancient texts, and then going back to Neo-Confucianism, it seems that what the great Confucianists predicted and worried about "will eventually target Zhou Kong" is really not unfounded.

Because this context has already been staged once in the late Ming Dynasty.

The rise of the Donglin Party was, to a certain extent, a reaction against Yangming’s Xinxue and the extreme Taizhou School.

According to his opinion, what is the source of the world's peril? It stems from moral corruption. As long as the morals are corrected, it will be fine.

And why is morality corrupted?

The Donglin Party could not understand that the economic base determines the superstructure, and the old morality could not adapt to the reality of the development of the commodity economy in the late Ming Dynasty. The founding of Xinxue, the Taizhou School, and the extremes taken by Li Zhi and others were all the results of trying to adapt to the changes in the new era.

This result eventually led to the Donglin Party's reaction against these morally corrupt schools. Even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the great rise of Zhu Xixue was neither promoted by the imperial court nor recognized by anyone. It was purely due to the reaction that everything must be reversed.

There is a resurgence of conservative moralism in the academic world and a resurgence of conservative moralism in the political spectrum. There are not many shocking things, they are normal things.

In fact, do many big bosses in the Donglin Party know about Zhu Zixue's problems? Of course I do.

But there is no way. Morality is corrupt and the world is about to perish. What is the problem? If we can’t find what the problem is, we naturally have to look for it in the old ways, which involves the supremacy of morality.

As long as morality is purified, the accumulated evils can be eliminated and the world can be at peace.

It’s not like the Donglin Party has never proposed the idea of ​​“dividing a small family into an equal share”.

But the reality is that it can’t be implemented at all. Why can’t it be implemented?

According to the most acceptable understanding, it must be that the world is morally corrupt, and only through moral purification can we take the next step.

Ideals are beautiful.

The reality is cruel.

They found that this road was really difficult to walk.

So in the later period, Mei Zhihuan, Zou Yuanbiao and others began to lament: If Zhang Juzheng was still here, concentrating power in his hands and suppressing all living beings, would the world be like this?

In terms of academic thinking alone, there is no need to praise, and there is no need to trample on something that will never turn over.

It is very normal for "conservatives" to react against radical ideas and moral corruption during the transition period; it is just a return of traditional moralism.

It is an inevitable situation at all times and in all countries.

Continuing to Dashun, the path is still the same.

Donglin's morality and Zhu Xi's revival were a reaction against the radicals of Xinxue in the late Ming Dynasty.

In Dashun, Yan Li and others reacted against the revival of Zhu Xi's studies.

If everything is normal and there are no changes in the material basis of Liu Yu's more than 20 years, the context is actually very clear and easy to deduce.

From the radical school of Xinxue in the late Ming Dynasty, the reaction was back to Song Confucianism, and then from Song Confucianism, the reaction was back to Han Confucianism.

After waiting for the reactionary people to return to the study of Han classics, there are only two possibilities.

The first type is still unable to guide social development through in-depth exchanges with the West and integration into the world economic system. The development of industry and commerce led to the decline of old morals.

Then Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism finally counterattacked and followed the path of the late Ming Dynasty. At the end of the dynasty, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism once again became orthodox and tried to follow the path of Donglin Party's moral salvation.

The second type, textual criticism and classics research, summarized the methods, but the results were less and less. Because there are not many Confucian classics that have caught up with Han Jingxue, it is difficult to produce results.

It is still social development and cannot guide reality; coupled with the spread of Western technology.

It will inevitably lead to these textual scholars, either in order to gain fame or to follow the path of "complementing Confucianism with scholars", and they will start to turn to the various schools of thought that are more likely to produce results.

The textual research and dissemination of books such as "Guanzi", "Mozi", "Zhuangzi" and "Yanzi", reorganizing and translating the articles of various scholars into the contemporary style of writing that is easy to spread, etc.

Although the learning of Yang Zhu and Mo Zhai has always been a heresy that Confucians hate, after the great reflection on Song Confucianism in the late Ming Dynasty, the "heretical degree" of Yang and Mo Zhai basically fell behind Buddhism and Buddhism. Since the late Ming Dynasty, it has been generally believed that "Buddhist Buddhism is more harmful than Yang Mo".

In short, either, Cheng-Zhu moral learning was revived in the late period, but moral salvation did not work, and there was another wave of reflection.

Or, textual criticism promotes the study of pre-Qin classics, introduces various schools of thought to supplement Confucianism, creates a Renaissance, and restructures the system based on ancient times.

At this time in Dashun, the first road was actually basically cut off.

Because Liu Yu's reforms of more than 20 years have reshaped Jiangnan's economic foundation.

Through the bloody suppression of about 200,000 to 300,000 water workers, salt workers, and river workers, the forced relocation of about 1.5 million people in Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, and the Canal Zone, as well as a series of actions such as external expansion and the commercialization of the Northeast's planting industry. , resulting in a situation that neologists least want to see.

There is a problem with textual criticism. Someone has made an analogy, saying that "textual criticism in the early stage is like silkworms eating mulberry leaves, but they only eat the mulberry leaves and don't spin silk."

This is the metaphor Dai Zhen made for the "carriage bearer" and the "adult".

I ate a bunch of mulberry leaves and absorbed a lot of ancient nutrients, but I couldn't spit out any of them; in other words, who is more important, the adults or the bearers? Obviously, adults are important, but as a result, all new knowledge is devoted to "bearers" such as astronomy, mathematics, history, geography, and hydraulics, but the principles that shape social morality can never be established.

But in addition, there is another point that is quite fearful of Neo-Confucianists.

For example, Zeng Zhitou commented that this kind of learning is the most hateful.

They only attack others and specifically contradict the ancients. Or they take a few words from the books of Confucius and Mencius, change the old teachings, and create a new meaning.

In history, the direction that Zeng Guofan was most worried about was exactly the direction that the new generation of Confucian scholars in Dashun were taking at that time.

Deconstructing the Confucian system, taking a few words, Confucius and Mencius' words, pre-Qin classics, creating new principles, and changing the old teachings to cater to the needs of social development and the actual situation, and achieve the effect of being followed by the masses and being unchangeable.

And doing so is actually a certain degree of [raising the arrows against Zhou and Confucius].

Because from Dong Zhongshu to the Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty, Confucianism was finally integrated into a complete system. From the morality of the people to the ideas of governing the country, and the universal tradition, this system is complete, so the learning of Zhou and Confucius can last for a long time.

At the beginning, this group of people engaged in textual research seemed to be "clarifying the ancient Confucian scholars and making the intentions of the sages clear to the world and future generations", but in fact they were constantly disintegrating the existing system.

Without the annotations, systems, orthodoxy, and compilation of later generations, the teachings of Zhou and Confucius are dry and cannot be used as a complete system of morality for the people and the orthodoxy of the universe.

This is exactly what Mao Qiling, Li Zhen and others were worried about at the time. That's why they were extremely alert at the time and thought that this might "raise the arrows against Zhou and Confucius".

The pure teachings of Zhou and Confucius cannot stand. Even in the Warring States Period, it could not stand. In the end, it was integrated with various schools of thought and self-corrected before it could stand.

Textual research will reveal that many things are not the true teachings of Zhou and Confucius, and many systems in later generations are based on those things. If we continue to research, there will be more and more problems. The Book of History has already had problems. As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, He Xiu suspected that the Book of Zhou Rites was not written by Zhou Gong at all, but was purely a "book of conspiracy of the six kingdoms". In the later period, he even suspected that it was purely compiled by Wang Mang himself when he reformed the system. The Book of Zhou Rites is simply a "third-rate book that is not worthy of being a classic" - in fact, many people understand that the entire feudal era cannot be supported by only basic classics.

Then, Wang Anshi, who reformed the law according to the Book of Zhou Rites, which was "a book of conspiracy of the six kingdoms and the teachings of Han Shen"; Lu and Wang, who founded the school by attaching importance to the sixteen-character formula of Yu Ting; Cheng Zhu, who changed the original intention of the sages and mixed Buddhist thoughts... Should these people be expelled from the Confucian class?

Or, everything they did was "necessary for the times", and they still adhered to the Confucian ideal of governing the country and pacifying the world?

If it is necessary for the times, then the times are changing, should Confucianism change?

All the past is gone, and the current situation and reality are what Wang, Cheng, Zhu, Lu, Ye, Chen, etc. cannot solve.

In this case, can we create a new "righteousness" that is needed by the times through the "fragments" and "quoting out of context" of Confucius and Mencius?

Quoting out of context is the method used by the saints. When the saints talked about poetry, didn't they also take the meaning out of context?

So, how to take this meaning?

Just like the appearance and popularity of these foods, there are some rules and reasons.

So, can we summarize such similar rules from history, geography, reality, prosperity and decline, astronomy, and nature?

To put it more closely, can the prosperity of Jiangsu be summarized into the rules and reasons, and be applied to the whole country?

So that the people of the world can express their emotions and desires, get rich first and then educate, and the kingly way is complete?

This idea is very attractive to Quan Zheshen, who came to seek a way to save the nation.

But for Meng Songlu, he must be very conflicted. His teacher and some people in his school made the attempt of the village covenant and village community a complete failure.

So much so that Meng Songlu was actually shaken in his heart, thinking that the things his school had done seemed to be really unworkable.

He had taken the wrong path.

But he was also a gentleman, and he still had morals. He did not deny the benefits brought by the reforms in recent years, otherwise he would not have recommended this ambitious booklet to Quan Zheshen.

However, Quan Zheshen had a good chat with Meng Songlu on the way to Nantong and was greatly shocked.

But after arriving in Nantong, Quan Zheshen gradually realized some things that Meng Songlu could not realize at all.

When they arrived in Nantong, the canal from Funing to Nantong had just been opened to navigation, and a large number of ships were piled up in Tiansheng Port.

Meng Songlu said this casually with pride.

"Since the reform, Nantong, which used to be unknown, has become more prosperous than Yangzhou and Huai. Farming was originally the main occupation and weaving was a secondary occupation. Now many families have weaving as the main occupation and farming as a secondary occupation. What they weave in a month can be worn by dozens of people."

"Brother Zhao, have you seen these ships? They are all transporting cloth to Nantong. Cloth is exchanged for grain and rice, and the people benefit a lot."

Quan Zheshen looked at the ships that were loading cloth, and could not feel the unconscious pride in Meng Songlu's heart. Instead, he sighed bitterly: "These cloths are sold to our country, and our weavers are all unemployed and unable to make a living. The tax on military cloth has to be paid by the good people. The rice grown with hard work has all gone to the mouths of the people in the upper country. The farmers in our country cannot even eat rice, but the method of growing sweet potatoes from the upper country is used throughout the country. One acre of land, half an acre is used for rice and rice cloth, and half an acre of sweet potatoes is used for food."

"My teacher said: The difficulties of our country began when Xing Gong conquered Japan and opened the port."