Gao Pragmatic is eight years old this year, but he has been enlightened for nearly five years, how rare it is! How could he not let Gao Gong have confidence in him?

What are those "three hundred thousand" [Note: three-character scripture, hundred family names, thousand-character text. ], "Urgent Chapter", "Tong Mengxun" and other famous enlightenment books that have come out, he has already memorized them backwards - it is not surprising at all, when he was young in his previous life, his grandfather was a rural teacher, and he read a private school in his early years, so the "old concept" is very heavy, and all the above enlightenment books have been memorized by Gao Pragmatic, and even there is a lack of Gao Pragmatic's two favorite books "Dragon Wen Whip Shadow" and "Zengguang Xianwen", these two books have not yet been published, and Gao Pragmatic has even been hesitating to write out silently to benefit the public.

Of course, although he does have a little bit of the mentality of benefiting the public, the most fundamental reason is that he hopes to use these two books to "raise hope". It's just that after thinking about it carefully, I feel that "Longwen Whip Shadow" can be used if there is a chance, but "Zengguang Xianwen" is not good - no matter how you look at this book, it is a work that can only be written after seeing through the "old rivers and lakes" of the world, and the words and words follow Xunzi's sexual evil theory, with his Mr. Xiaogao's background, age, and experience, writing it will only be regarded as inviting someone to catch a knife and invite fame, but it is not beautiful.

Gao Shishi's current reading book is "University", and when he reads "University" in the Ming Dynasty, he must also read the "University Chapters and Sentences" that "match" it, after all, the Ming Dynasty respected Zhu Xi as Zhu Zi, and if Zhu Zi's views are not familiar with and proficient, the scientific examination will inevitably have no good results. In fact, the book about "University" that he really liked and often studied seriously was Qiu Jun's "University Yanyi Supplement".

Gao Pragmatism has always felt that most of the contents, whether it is the Four Books or the Five Classics, are too "metaphysical", or in his inner words, it is simply "high talk".

However, reading "University Yanyi Supplement" is not only a matter of learning, but also a matter of governing the concept - the practical learning of the Ming Dynasty comes from this.

"Real" is originally a meaning word, and the real word is explained in the "Shuowen": "Real, rich also, from 宀 (Note: read 'cotton'. ), through. "Kan means goods. Therefore, the paragraph notes: "It is true that the goods are filled under the house." It can be seen that reality means truth and fulfillment, and extending to practical learning, it can be understood as actual learning, which refers to real learning, or even practical learning, and even learning for the purpose of enriching the country and strengthening the people.

Shixue was first seen in the Tang and Song dynasties, but its origin should be traced back to at least the Han Dynasty. Han Confucianism took the six classics "Poems", "Books", "Yi", "Rites", "Music" and "Spring and Autumn" taught by Confucius in the pre-Qin Dynasty as the scriptures, but because one of them was lost later, only five of them remained, so they were called the Five Classics. In the Han Dynasty, Confucianism gradually became more and more important, and since Dong Zhongshu wrote to Emperor Wu and put forward the proposition that "all those who are not in the 'six arts' and the art of Confucius are all in their own way, and do not make them go hand in hand", Confucianism has been supported and promoted by the government, and has gradually become an official school. At that time, all the scholars studied the scriptures, and those who could read one of the classics were Confucians, and those who could read both the five classics and the comprehensive sayings were generalists, and they were regarded as practical learners.

Some people may wonder why Confucianism is clearly a doctrine that "only talks about great truths" in the eyes of later generations, and few people will link Confucianism with practicality.

Mr. Lu Simian, a well-known historian, said: "The prosperity of Confucianism is due to the practical government, so it is quite practical to learn from it. He also said: "At that time, the rulers of the scriptures paid attention to the facts rather than the simple policy, so their learning was useful but not complicated." What Mr. Lu means is that when Confucianism arose in the form of classics in the Han Dynasty, it paid attention to practical government and practical matters, which can be called practical learning. Subsequently, due to the contention between modern and ancient scriptures within the scriptures and the theological teleology of Dong Zhongshu's induction, the trend of superstition was promoted, which made Confucian scriptures increasingly cumbersome, mysterious, and vain, and gradually moved towards the opposite of early Confucianism.

And what is the reason why Qiu Jun's "University Yanyi Supplement" is regarded by Gao Pragmatism as the beginning of practical learning in the Ming Dynasty? The reading of "University" by Guy Mingren, just like the "University Yanyi" written by Zhen Dexiu of the Song Dynasty, only focuses on understanding the principles of Gewu, righteousness, self-cultivation, and Qi family, and has nothing to do with governing the country and leveling the world. Therefore, the "University Yanyi Supplement" mainly focuses on governing the country and leveling the world, and it is expounded on political concepts, economic concepts, national concepts, etc.

Its political thoughts, such as the role of the monarch and the relationship between the monarch and the people, have a clearer and clearer discussion than their predecessors, but in general, it is still a derivation under the category of the people, nobles and gentlemen, and there is no need to elaborate. However, his views on economic theory were quite advanced at that time, for example, he said: "The department stores that cover the world are all funded by money to circulate, and the most important ones cannot be lifted, and non-money cannot go far; Those who are stranded cannot get through, and they cannot be used for both money and money; The big one cannot be divided, the money must not be used for the small, the goods are heavy and the money is light, the things are sluggish and the money is all the same. This is the realization that "money" is what later generations call "general equivalents."

Speaking of the disadvantages of the treasure banknotes of the Ming Dynasty, he not only expounded the problem, but also put forward the solution: "If you use silver and money to power each other, each silver penny is easy to money ten wen, the new banknote is easy to money ten wen, the four corners are completely not folded in the money five wen per run, the folded one is three, and the faint and has a consistent word one article, the edict of the world is customized and strictly established the crime of adding and subtracting without authorization, although the thing is rich and apologetic, the goods are straight and expensive, and the number of silver and money transactions is certain and never easy, the line is a hundred generations, and the ten thousand squares." ”

Here, "the number of silver and money transactions is certain and never easy, and it will be possible for a hundred years and all directions." "In fact, it should be established to issue banknotes based on silver to avoid currency depreciation caused by the indiscriminate issuance of banknotes. At that time, there may be some problems with the silver standard financial system looking at the world, but Qiu Jun's era, the Western voyage was still just beginning, and if the silver standard financial system was implemented within the Ming Dynasty, Gao Pragmatic felt that it should still be a very advanced monetary thought. Even now, seventy or eighty years have passed since Qiu Jun's time, and the silver standard is not out of the question—at least better than the current chaos.

Others, such as putting forward the labor theory of value, opposing the state monopoly system and advocating non-governmental free trade, advocating the establishment of an "ancient plan" by the imperial court, similar to the National Bureau of Statistics in later generations, and even proposing that all localities report grain prices every year and the imperial court set the amount of taxes according to them, and so on, are even similar guidelines to be implemented step by step in the highly pragmatic "saving the Ming" plan.

One of the reasons why Gao Pragmatic read the "University Derivation and Supplement" deeply is to find some basis for future reform from the writings and remarks of these predecessors. It must be known that in Chinese history, especially in the era when Confucianism prevailed after Dong Zhongshu, reform was not something that could be carried out by the people in power casually, and it was simply impossible without a certain theoretical basis and a certain basis for public opinion.

At this time, he was seeing that "the river Cao regards the cost of land transportation as saving tithes as three or four, and the sea transportation costs as saving seven or eight tithes, although the river Cao is exempt from land travel and people save the same, although the sea transport has the trouble of drowning and saves the labor, compared with its benefits, the cover is also considerable." Today, the Cao River is profitable, the years are full of luck, and there is no capital in shipping, but those who are good at planning the country are always worried about accidents before they happen, and they would rather worry about it than regret it. He secretly said in his heart: "Qiu Jun wants to use sea transportation instead of Cao Yun, this matter is determined to be sabotage by people interested in Cao Yun, if I want to reform this law in the future, I must think of the way out of the legendary 'Cao Gang' people, otherwise it will definitely be half the effort, or even simply unable to do it." ”

He was thinking about it, when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps outside, and his heart moved, and he heard the voice of the second daughter of the moon outside: "The slave has seen the master." ”

Then there was a high-arched voice from far and near: "You young master is here?" ”