The task given to Kong Yinzheng by Zhu Cihong is not difficult, but it is not simple.

What he wanted was a copy of the ABC of Confucianism, preferably as simple as he could read and understand Braille. So don't use literary language - Zhu Cihong's own ancient writing is very good, he is a scholar in two lifetimes, can it be bad? And now most of the civil officials' recitals are in literary language, Emperor Zhu reads it every day, can the level of literary language be low?

But he also knew that learning Chinese was a painful thing. First, it is not used in daily life, and the language that is not used is easy to forget; The second is that there are many ambiguities in the literary language, in order to save words! At that time, the Chinese language was engraved on bamboo slips and wooden boards, and it was necessary to save words. But now that there is so much paper, why can't you write more braille and make things clear?

Those Confucian things, to be honest, are easy to understand when written in the vernacular. It is nothing more than self-cultivation, family harmony, governing the country, leveling the world, and adding a heavenly principle of the unity of heaven and man - it is the God of Confucianism!

If this set of things is refined and then written in the vernacular, you will be able to understand it roughly after finishing elementary school, and you will definitely be able to speak the Tao after reading middle school. But if you want to go to the whole story, it will be difficult! Just reading through it takes a lot of effort to get through the old nose.

Of course, there is no end to the profound study of Confucianism, and the study of Confucianism in a profound way is to "learn from things", that is, to explore the principles of heaven, or to find God! But this is not something that the vast majority of Confucian scholars need to pursue, but the research direction of the great Confucians, and has nothing to do with the spread of Confucianism.

And if Emperor Zhu wanted to expand Confucianism and make it the double main line of the civilization circle of the Celestial Empire together with Buddhism, of course, he needed an easy-to-understand "Confucian Classic".

"Yan Shenggong, you said that Your Majesty wants to compile an easy-to-understand "Confucian Classic"?"

"Exactly, the Son of Heaven is really my Confucian great sage! He wants to make Confucianism flourish, and let everyone in the world learn Confucianism and become holy. Kong really admires the five-body throwing ......"

"Can you become holy after reading a vernacular "Confucian Classic"? Where is sanctification so easy? Even if we are all called great Confucians, who dares to speak of sanctification? ”

"If you can't be sanctified, don't practice Confucianism? Is the teachings of the saints only for those who can be sanctified? ”

In Wuhan Taixue in Wuchang City (the current Taixue has Yingtian Taixue, Wuhan Taixue, and is also preparing to open a Tianjin Taixue), Kong Yinzheng, who came from Donghu Palace, was discussing the compilation of the "Confucian Classics" with Huang Zongxi, Wang Fuzhi, and Zhang Guozhong, the sacrificial wine of Wuhan Taixue.

Kong Yin was touching his beard like a steel needle, with an expression of admiration and admiration: "The first sage said that there should be no class, the so-called classless, of course, includes stupid and reckless people. Wenyan is actually an ancient saying, which is obscure for today's people, and just reading it is a university question. Foolish and reckless people don't know how long they have to learn just a literary language, where do they have the extra energy and financial resources to learn the teachings of the saints?

Is the teachings of the saints for those who are gifted and intelligent and can afford to study hard for many years? For those of us who teach and educate people, is it important to spread the teachings of the saints, or is it important to teach people to learn the Chinese language? Delaying the spread of the Holy Word because of the difficulty of learning the Chinese language, isn't it a waste of the basics?

Fortunately, there is a saint who compiles the "Confucian Classic" to educate the world, otherwise we and other people who call it great Confucianism can only watch the holy way difficult to transmit, what a shame! ”

Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi listened to Kong Yinzheng's "sycophants", and they both showed some disdain. This Yan Shenggong is very good in learning and martial arts, and he has also contributed to the great road of Confucianism, and it is also worthy of his name to be called Great Confucianism. It's just that I like to pat myself too much...... It seems that there is no chance of sanctification in this life.

"What Yan Shenggong said is reasonable, and now it is indeed difficult to pass on the holy way!" It was Zhang Guozhong, the tallest foot of Hebei Confucian Sun Qifeng, who spoke.

His teacher Sun Qifeng is a great Confucian in Hebei, a famous prodigy in Baoding Mansion when he was young, and he was raised at the age of seventeen, when he was still in the Wanli period, which can be described as an early success. At the age of twenty-two, when he entered Beijing to take the Ministry of Etiquette Examination, he heard that his father had passed away, and he went home to keep filial piety, and after keeping his father's filial piety, he was just about to go to the exam again, and his mother passed away again, and then continued to keep filial piety, another three years. From the year of Wanli to the year of the Apocalypse. Then he ran into Wei Zhongxian's control of the government, and he got too close to the Donglin Party, ran to rescue Zuo Guangdou and others, and wrote to Sun Chengzong, the governor of Liaodong at that time, asking him to enter the court to clean up Wei Zhongxian...... With such a fuss, he naturally wanted to be a jinshi in Wei Zhongxian's hands. So he could only be obsessed with learning and become a great Confucian.

Later, Chongzhen came to power, Sun Chengzong and Fan Jingwen wanted to recommend him to be a leader, but he couldn't refuse, and he wrote books and said in the township with peace of mind, taught and educated talents, cultivated a large number of famous Confucians in Hebei, and formed a Xia Feng school (Xia Feng is Sun Qifeng's number).

Later, he encountered a series of drastic changes such as the Jiashen Change, the Son of Heaven Nanxing, and the entry of Dongyu into the customs, and Sun Qifeng, who originally planned to do a lifetime of learning, could not stay in the countryside, so he had to take his disciples to Gao Hongtu and Zuo Maodi to defend Kong Lin together.

As a result, Kong Lin still asked someone to pour the fight...... also poured out a "Zi On Gewu Chapter", so Sun Qifeng was no longer an official, and took the disciples of the disciples to run a Xia Feng Academy in Dengzhou, Shandong, specializing in the study of "Zi On Gewu", and also researched some results, his student Zhang Guozhong also entered Taixue, first as a professor, and then as the right business of Wuhan Taixue.

However, Sun Qifeng and Xia Fengxue have made some achievements, and they can't change the status quo that Confucianism is difficult to spread in the north!

Zhang Guozhong sighed: "Although there are many great Confucians now, the small Confucians are not as good as those in the Chongzhen period...... The descendants of the Hebei countryside are not very accustomed to Confucianism, and even if they learn some, they are still rude. ”

Huang Zongxi said: "That's because there is no imperial examination!" After all, Taixue is not an imperial examination, and the examination for officials cannot be compared with the imperial examination, and there are more people to take, and the threshold is of course low. Moreover, the small officials are doing things, and martial arts and arithmetic are more practical than Confucianism, so the following official examinations only require rough Confucianism. ”

Wang Fuzhi also said: "Brother Taichong is reasonable, but the Confucian scholars in the past did spend too much energy studying the text and mislearned the actual learning. There was no "Zi Treatise on Gewu" before, and there was not so much knowledge to delve into, so I could learn more literary language...... Now that there is so much knowledge in the "Treatise on Things", where is the time to study the literary language? So now it is not only the countryside of Hebei that few people practice Confucianism, but also the place where the southeast is at the peak of humanities, and they don't study the Four Books and the Five Classics very much. In recent years, many students have not even been able to write Bagu articles well, and many newly promoted civil officials have even begun to write documents in the vernacular, just like military attachés. ”

Kong Yinzheng said: "The vernacular is good, you can understand it at a glance, there is less ambiguity, and you don't delay things...... That's why the Holy One asked us to compile the "Confucian Classics" in the vernacular. In this way, it will be easier to learn Confucianism, and the younger students will be able to spend more time on practical learning. ”

Zhang Guozhong nodded: "Then make it up!" He thought for a while, "I'll start with a brick throw, the "Confucian Classic" should highlight two points, one is morality; The second is the principle of heaven. It is necessary to clarify the relationship between morality and heavenly principles...... Let the people of the world respect heaven and be moral. ”

"Yes, yes, that's right!" Kong Yinzheng said with a smile, "Morality should highlight loyalty and filial piety, loyalty and patriotism for the subjects, and filial piety to parents for the children...... This is the principle of Cuntian! Those who are unfaithful and unfilial are all evil desires that must be eliminated. And those who have the principles of heaven to destroy evil desires can be born virtuous and die holy! ”

"Born to be virtuous, to die to be holy?" Zhang Guozhong clapped his hands, "This is good, this is good...... This is a bit like the Christian heaven! Yan Shenggong, are those who sacrificed their lives for the country and entered the Martyrs' Shrine considered saints? ”

"Of course it's holy!" Kong Yinzheng had a straight face, "This is the sage of the country!" ”

"Sages still have to be ranked?" Wang Fuzhi asked.

"It seems that it is going to be graded," Huang Zongxi thought for a while, and said with a smile, "The sages of Confucianism, the sages of the country, and the sages of the township...... There should also be a virtuous shrine to worship the sages of Confucianism and the sages of the township. ”