New Shun 1730

Officials who came from the imperial examination system in Dashun had seen many things, such as changing the system by using the past to satirize the present, and forging ancient books from the pre-Qin period.

Especially in the context of the collapse of Zhu Xi's school of thought, the rise of utilitarianism, and the emergence of new semi-saints, there were many cases of using the past to express one's aspirations and forging ancient books from the pre-Qin period.

When Liu Yu brought back some Japanese Sinology books from Nagasaki, "The Seven Classics and Mencius" caused a small sensation, and the ancient book "Chanyu·Jingjilu" forged by Dazai Shundai was also observed by the literati of Dashun for a while because of its extremely high level of forgery and its pre-Qin literary style.

But after observing it, they went around to verify it, and finally came to a conclusion: the words in it were very useful, and the words and sentences in "Historical Records" were accidentally used, and the forgery was not done well. Even if this book was not completely forged, it was at least not earlier than the Han Dynasty, and it was not a pre-Qin ancient book at all.

Matsudaira Terusada said that he was a madman, and it was not wrong for him. The famous Ako Incident more than 30 years ago led to the rise of the ancient school, proving that Zhu Xi's philosophy, which was born in the context of great unification, was not suitable for the feudal system of Japan. Dazai Shundai made some shocking remarks in the great debate of this incident.

In short, the shogunate wanted to welcome the emperor, and chose Asano Naganori, the lord of the Ako domain, to receive him. Asano Naganori was a rustic lord who did not understand the complicated etiquette at all, so he asked Kira Yoshio, who knew etiquette, for help.

I don't know if it was because he was nervous or what, but the etiquette was not in place and it was very embarrassing. Asano Naganori felt that Kira Yoshio was deliberately making trouble for him and making him embarrassed, so he drew his sword and chopped Kira Yoshio.

The shogunate had the "Regulations on Punishment for Quarrels and Fights", which meant that if samurai quarreled, as long as both of them used knives, they would each be punished with fifty strokes of the cane and dealt with according to the fight, and both of them would lose their fiefdoms.

Twenty years ago, the shogunate elder, Horita Masatoshi, was assassinated. He knew that the shogun wanted to kill them, the real power faction, and find people from the Confucian side to take power. After being assassinated, he held on until others arrived. The first thing he did was to take out his knife and shout: You testify, I didn't draw my knife, I didn't fight. Then he died.

Kira Yoshio also learned from Horita Masatoshi and didn't fight back after being slashed. This does not apply to the "Regulations on Punishment for Quarrels and Fights". In addition, this was to entertain the emperor, which was considered "disrespectful in front of the emperor". The shogunate ordered Asano Naganori to commit suicide and appeased Kira Yoshio.

After the suicide, the major crime was withdrawn. The Ako domain was so poor that it had long issued paper money instead of gold and silver in the domain. The samurai were feudal personal dependents. Without the head of the family, it was equivalent to unemployment. In order to seek leniency, Kaesong handed over the territory in exchange for the shogunate to exchange gold and silver for the Ako domain samurai's domain banknotes at a high price of 1:0.6.

But the samurai who were dependent on others had no way to make a living. They changed from the salary class to the working class. They were more and more angry. So a year later, 47 retainers conspired to assassinate Kira Yoshio.

It was just a small matter, but it directly triggered a huge dispute between the ancient school and Zhu Xi's school.

Zhu Xi's school was born under the background of great unification, and it was not compatible with the multi-level system of the shogunate.

At that time, the masters of Zhu Xi's school, Lin Fenggang and Murojimo, said: In the past, the two sons of Guzhu refused to listen to King Wu's attack and personally resisted the soldiers in front of the horse. Now the sons of Ako refused to listen to the court's pardon of Yoshio, and all of them took revenge in the capital. The two sons sought benevolence and got benevolence, and the scholars sacrificed their lives for righteousness. Although the size of the matter is different, the reason why they value the righteousness between the monarch and the minister is the same.

The behavior of the 47 samurai of Ako is analogous to the two sons of Guzhu State, that is, Boyi and Shuqi. However, the allusion is not starving to death, but another allusion of Boyi and Shuqi holding a sword to block eight hundred princes.

Therefore, those who seek revenge are considered righteous men.

Under the background of great unification, there can only be one monarch.

But under the feudal system, the vassal of my vassal is not my vassal, and the vassal of my retainer is not my retainer. The concept of "monarch" is too much. It is very contradictory to use Zhu Xi's philosophy of "one monarch" to explain "feudal multiple monarchs" in Japan.

Is etiquette greater than law? Or is law greater than etiquette?

In the etiquette between monarch and minister, under the feudal system, the orders of the court and the lord are contradictory. Do the samurai under the lord listen to the lord? Or listen to the court?

Ogyū Sorai of the ancient school believes that Asano Naganori was incompetent and did not kill Kira Yoshio at the time, and he killed people for no reason at all. This is unjust in itself.

Their retainers, seeking small righteousness to avenge their lords, are actually the continuation of the great injustice of their lords. Those who use small righteousness to plot great injustice cannot be called righteous men.

Ogyū Sorai said that he was a member of the ancient Confucian school, but in this case, it is clear that he mostly believes in the Legalist school of criminal law.

But no matter what, the two opinions of Zhu Xi's school and the ancient school are considered mainstream.

And Dazai Shundai denounced them as worthless.

He believed that these 47 samurai, judging from their actions, were not doing it for righteousness at all.

It was because after the withdrawal of the feudal system, they had no food or clothing, and they went from living on salary to working, and they suppressed many dissatisfactions in their hearts, which was an economic problem in itself.

It was obviously for profit, but they insisted on saying that they were seeking righteousness.

What is true righteousness?

If you really think that it was the shogunate that dealt with it unfairly, not Kira Yoshio, you only dare to pick on the weak.

The gates of Ako Castle should not have been opened in the first place. The shogunate took over and refused to give it to them. They went to war directly, fought to the death, and lived and died with the city. This is righteousness. This is the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period. Look at Wu Qi's plan before his death, and how did the Mohists defend the city for Yangcheng Jun? That is called righteousness. The monarch's order to open the city gates is not effective.

Or he could directly raise an army, and 300 retainers would raid Edo, kill Kira Yoshio in the street, and then commit suicide. This can be called seeking benevolence and getting benevolence, and it can also be called righteousness.

As a result, you were so obedient when you opened the gates and surrendered the city, but later you lived in poverty, became dissatisfied, held your breath, and went to assassinate again.

After the killing, you did not run away, nor did you commit suicide, waiting for the shogunate to catch you.

Didn’t you think that you had seized the commanding heights of public opinion and morality, and sought attention after the incident, thinking that the shogunate would forgive you, so that you could vent your anger and gain fame?

This is completely under the guise of righteousness, seeking profit, and pursuing fame and fortune. How can you be called a righteous man?

Moreover, this is completely influenced by Yamaga Sokyo’s "pseudo-Confucianism", which contains too many power struggles and calculations. The shogunate was also poor at the beginning. If it had given those retainers tens of thousands of taels of silver, this would not have happened.

At the beginning, I just wanted to request "restoration of the feudal domain" and "rehabilitation", and I used my connections to find people everywhere, but I didn’t have enough money, so this matter didn’t end up being accomplished, so many of the original retainers had the idea of ​​assassination.

In Dazai Shundai's opinion, the leader Oishi Kuransuke was too pretentious and "not a straightforward person, not a hero".

Before deciding to assassinate, when he said goodbye to Asano Naganori's widow, he acted like a play, with too much performance.

First, he said "I'm going to be an official somewhere else, please don't worry, madam", which made Asano Naganori's widow angry and told him to get out, because Yaoquanyuan took out all his dowry and gave salaries to his retainers, and almost all of it was spent. At this time, Oishi Kuransuke said he was going to be an official somewhere else, and anyone would have told him to get out.

Then Oishi Kuransuke knelt in the yard again and gave his last words, saying that he didn't want others to know about this plan... Dazai Shundai believed that this was definitely because he was thinking about becoming famous in the future, and when people explored the story behind it, they felt it was more artistic and suitable for being moved to the stage.

Look at Nie Zheng's assassination. He didn't do this with his sister, nor was he afraid that his sister wouldn't recognize him after the murder, which would ruin his reputation. Oishi Kuransuke was slow in his work and was not a straightforward person.

In short, Dazai Shundai's core idea is one sentence: Dare to attack Yoshira but not the shogunate, bully the weak and fear the strong, cowardly; don't die quickly after the assassination, create public opinion, wait and hope for the shogunate's forgiveness, hypocritical; slow in his work and too much performance, is seeking fame; don't want revenge at first, and think about revenge again after the withdrawal of the feudal domain, which is seeking profit.

This has nothing to do with the word "righteousness", and it is completely in line with the definition of "unrighteous righteousness" mentioned by Mencius.

After evaluating the Ako incident, Dazai Shundai took the opportunity to make some comments and put forward several ideas.

First, the essence of this incident is an economic issue. If the shogunate does not solve the problem of personal dependence of the samurai in each feudal domain and the problem of the way out for the samurai after the feudal lord is withdrawn, similar things will happen again in the future.

Secondly, the teacher Ogyū Sorai, under the banner of ancient Confucianism, actually did not promote Confucian righteousness, but rather promoted both great righteousness and small righteousness. This was a fake Confucianism that promoted the study of the legalism, Mohism, and other disciplines under the banner of Confucianism!

Thirdly, Confucianism and Bushido must be wary of the influence of Christianity. Too many missionaries died for their faith in Japan before, one after another, dying without changing their expressions, enduring the pain of the cross and burning at the stake without crying out in pain. This made many people feel that it was worthy of admiration, and then they felt that "dying for faith" was beautiful and commendable. However, as the saying goes, "the wise are above and the foolish are below", in the future, the laity will only see "death" but not the word "martyrdom". In the future, they will not be able to talk about Confucianism and Bushido, and will have to move towards the path of "dying for death", "death is beauty", and "not dying is not beauty", without considering "righteousness" at all. In the future, the trend of "dying for death" will surely become a big problem.

Fourth, the shogunate encouraged Zhu Xi's philosophy while ignoring the reality of Japan's feudal system; it wanted to emphasize Zhu Xi's etiquette, but did not want Zhu Xi's loyalty to the emperor. It's really ridiculous.

Fifth, how many people can understand the profound principles of Confucianism? It is enough to open many temples and learn the most basic things of Confucianism, such as filial piety, loyalty and other basic morals. If you talk about more profound things with the public, it will be like playing the lute to a cow. Teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and those who can understand the principles should continue to study more advanced Confucianism and understand the principles. As for ordinary people, after learning the basic morals such as filial piety and loyalty, it is better to learn some skills and techniques. It is useless to learn Confucian principles.

The Ako group of people took risks and used their self-righteous "righteousness" to do such a thing because they could not understand the principles of Confucianism, and they had no skills and techniques. They were unemployed and could not support themselves.

Not to mention that the shogunate also issued a severance pay, and they had to be able to do business, be a craftsman, or even be a farmer. As for being so miserable and unable to survive, the last group of people became more and more angry. Should they go this way?

Once these ideas came out, the entire Japanese Confucian community was in an uproar.

The disciples of Yamaga Sogyo hurriedly published a book to explain the true meaning of the way of the samurai, which absolutely did not contain any power or calculation.

Lin Fenggang, Murojitsu and other Zhu Xi scholars hurriedly refuted the thinking of the ancient school, which was simply a laughing stock, not knowing the etiquette and etiquette, and etiquette came before law.

Ogyū Sorai of the ancient school was also annoyed, but he loved his talent, so he had to say "chicken ribs, chicken ribs, tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away", but he did not expel him from the school after all.

In addition to the Ako incident, Dazai Shundai also confronted the shogunate.

They said that the shogunate should just call itself the king. Confucius said that if the name is not right, then the words will not flow. When communicating with North Korea, they made things awkward. It is really "no courage to claim the king, no limit to the return of power".

They also said that the Muromachi shogunate, the Kamakura shogunate, and the Tokugawa shogunate were basically three dynasties. China can change dynasties without affecting orthodoxy, so what is Japan afraid of changing dynasties?

Of course, the biggest disagreement between him and his teacher was their views on economic issues.

Ogyū Sorai, under the banner of retro Confucianism, put forward such a view.

[The difference between the upper and the lower is not to determine that the upper is noble and the lower is humble. It is just because the output between heaven and earth is limited. There are few good things and many bad things. This requires artificial distinction between high and low, and the use of etiquette to restrain people of different levels to use what. This is just for social stability, because social production is limited. ]

[This thing can be money or etiquette. Using money and etiquette to restrain, and using etiquette and money to restrain and divide into levels, there is actually not much difference in distribution. It’s just that using money as a measure will make people morally corrupt; while using etiquette can maintain social stability. ]

[Since social production is limited, everyone wants good and doesn’t want bad. And using money to measure, morality is corrupt, so it is naturally better to use etiquette. ]

This view is not right or wrong for the time being.

The purpose of putting forward the viewpoint is to use it to guide the operation of society, especially Ogyū Sorai who is in a high position.

The result of this viewpoint is that we should be frugal.

Solve the social crisis through the reasonable distribution of the monarch; require everyone to be frugal, so as to ensure that limited production can satisfy more people.

Continue to push down with this viewpoint.

The most reasonable policy is to let the samurai return to their fiefdoms, not squat in the castle town, make Japan completely self-sufficient, restore the real feudal system, and restore the well field.

Because as long as squatting in the castle town and urbanization, a commodity economy will be generated, resulting in money replacing etiquette to measure who should get what level of things.

Dazai Shundai is just the opposite. He denies the [theory of limited social production] and believes that society is constantly developing. It can be clearly felt that more food, more cloth, and more various goods are produced.

Social production is not limited, but can continue to develop.

Luxury is because of money, and luxury is human nature, it is [heavenly law], and this heavenly law should be preserved, rather than [human desire].

The manifestation of luxury is spending a lot of money. The essence of spending a lot of money is earning a lot of money. As long as you earn a lot of money and spend a lot of money, it is reasonable and should not be criticized.

Moreover, he believes that the benevolence and harmony of Confucianism should be separated. The essence of benevolence is to make the people rich, the so-called national wealth.

He believes that the implementation of "benevolent government" by each feudal domain and the shogunate is to reduce tribute, which is putting the cart before the horse. The real benevolent government should encourage farmers to get rich. The so-called [the rich get rich through hard work, and the poor get poor through laziness] is the real benevolent government.

He also said through the Ako incident that [since ancient times, the monarch and his subjects have been nothing more than a market for buying and selling. The monarch uses the territory and salary to send his subjects, and the subjects earn salary through intelligence and force. The monarch buys his subjects and the subjects sell to the monarch, so buying and selling is good, not bad].

[The Ako incident was caused by the bad policies of the shogunate. Samurai in various places can only be sold to one family in the local area, and cannot resell their intelligence and force to others. Since the Ako was withdrawn, I cannot sell it to the king. I have no place to live. Isn't it resentful? ]

He also criticized the attitude of the samurai who looked down on the merchants, saying [The samurai laughed at the merchants, but didn't you do business? Every year in the Edo rice market, the most sold rice was from the daimyo of various countries. You are in the business, but you laugh at the merchants. The real name and the line are contradictory. ]

We should promote extensive trade in each domain, samurai business, or learn some skills. He laughed at his teacher Ogyū Sorai's idea of ​​"letting the samurai go back to their hometowns", thinking that it was "against the times" and [the ancient learning was to break the Cheng-Zhu disaster, but the teacher really wanted to go back to the pre-Qin period].

There are so many weird ideas that when Matsudaira Terusada introduced that this was Dazai Shundai, although Liu Yu felt that he was an outsider, he also had a lot of curiosity. In recent years, he has been collecting intelligence from Japan. He has heard of Dazai Shundai and read some of his radical books. He has also introduced many of Dazai Shundai's books against Zhu Xi's school and demonic madness.

I thought such a radical person would be a young man in his twenties or thirties, but I didn't expect to meet him here. He was actually a sixty-year-old man...

For Liu Yu, the first time he heard of Dazai Shundai in Nagasaki was when he said, "Shintoism is not native at all, but also came from the Tang Dynasty. Since it is foreign like Confucianism, why believe in Shintoism? Just Confucianize it completely."

At that time, I felt quite curious, so I collected some of his books.

PS: Some views on mercantilism are not the thoughts of Dazai Shundai, but the ideas of Dazai Shundai's nephew. It is convenient for the times and can be understood as the butterfly effect feedback of Nagasaki trade under Liu Yu's policy of "the number of letters remains unchanged and the size of the ship increases", and the Dashun abandoned Zhu Xi's school and the utilitarianism that had not yet been fully established. It is probably just like what Tokugawa Yoshimune said about Liu Yu. He wanted to lock Japan into Zhu Xi's Taoism, but he also supported the opening of ports for luxury consumption. Liu Yu was going in the opposite direction. Zhu Xi's Taoism, after this war, could no longer be established in Japan. Maybe Japan will take a path that it had never imagined.