Soon after Lin Fengxiang left, Zuo Zongtang arrived. Since the West Hall presided over Tianjing, the main government affairs of the Kingdom of Heaven have been pressed on Zuo Zongtang's shoulders, although there are six Shangshu and 36 directors to share its affairs, but Zuo Zongtang is still a little powerless.

After Zuo Zongtang saluted Xiao Yungui, Xiao Yungui asked him to sit down and said, "Zuo Xiang, what's the matter?" ”

Zuo Zongtang said unhurriedly: "Your Highness, the materials required for the Northern Jiangsu Corps to send troops have been drafted, and they can be mobilized after asking Your Highness for approval." ”

Xiao Yungui snorted after hearing this, took the charter handed over by Zuo Zongtang and looked at it, then waved it and approved it, and then handed it to the thin book in the West Hall who was working on the side for sealing, and said strangely: "Zuo Xiang, it's just that the material mobilization charter is approved, you can send someone to send it, why bother to go there in person?" Could there be anything else? ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled: "Exactly." Speaking of this, he looked at a few thin books in the study, and then took a sip of tea, but did not speak.

Xiao Yungui looked at the way he wanted to speak and stopped, knowing that the matter was confidential, and immediately waved away a few thin books and said, "Say it." ”

Zuo Zongtang hesitated for a while before he said: "Your Highness, my subordinates heard that His Highness has a correspondence with a dignitary in the north?" ”

Xiao Yungui's face changed slightly, and then he smiled faintly: "Where did Zuo Xiang hear it?" ”

Zuo Zongtang said calmly: "Your Royal Highness, back then, my subordinates were just a cloth cloth, and they tried and failed, and they were in the countryside. His subordinates repay His Highness with loyalty and righteousness, and hope that His Highness will treat him with sincerity. Although I don't know who His Highness writes to and from the north, it is a matter of family and country. I hope that His Highness can tell the truth, although his subordinates are not talented, they can also plan for His Highness. Instead of speculating now. ”

Xiao Yungui laughed dryly and said: "This king does have a correspondence with a beautiful woman in the north, but this person is just the old face of this king, and he only talks about some old things in the letters, and has nothing to do with state affairs. ”

Zuo Zongtang's face was pale, and he said lightly: "Your Highness is not going to deceive, Your Highness has always been decisive in killing, and Bai Zetang has a traitor like Li Ding." He should have already done the Fa-rectification, just because he sent letters to the people in the north, and he is still at large. Your Highness is not a person who disregards the law of the country for the sake of fame. This is a joke. ”

Xiao Yungui frowned and said, "How did you know about Bai Zetang?" ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly and did not speak, Xiao Yungui patted his head, and then remembered that Zuo Zongtang also had the right to report the news of the Intelligence Department and Bai Zetang, and after sending Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er, the information on both sides would still be circulated to Zuo Zongtang.

Although Xiao Yungui gave a gag order for Li Ding to send the letter. However, the rudder of Bai Zetang in the capital was destroyed. Such a major event was still circulated to Zuo Zongtang. After Zuo Zongtang knew about the rudder division in the capital, he accidentally asked Tong Qiangsheng whether the traitor was cleared, Tong Qiangsheng was just a supporter, and finally asked tightly, Tong Qiangsheng said that the traitor Li Ding had another task to send a letter, and he would not clear it for the time being. What a character Zuo Zongtang is, as soon as he saw Tong Qiangsheng's embarrassed appearance, he guessed that only the king of the West could make him keep his mouth shut. After a little speculation, I guessed one or two.

Xiao Yungui pondered for a moment and said, "Zuo Xiang, this person is really the old red face of this king. Xi Wang Niang also knows that this matter does not involve family and country affairs, so there is no need to sue the left minister. Although Zuo Zongtang guessed some things, Song Qingyun is now Cixi, and Xiao Yungui didn't know how to explain this matter to Zuo Zongtang at all, so it was better not to say it.

Zuo Zongtang pondered for a moment and said: "Since His Highness refuses to say, his subordinates will not force it, but if His Highness feels that things are undecided, he can discuss with his subordinates." ”

Xiao Yungui breathed a sigh of relief, and after a sigh, he changed the topic as much as he could: "How are the preparations for the imperial examination?" ”

Zuo Zongtang said: "The Ministry of Rites has almost prepared, and tomorrow we can send a few test papers for this exam to His Highness for review." ”

Xiao Yungui hummed and said: "This imperial examination is divided into three compulsory subjects: current politics, policy theory, and morality and art, and there is also an optional subject, candidates can choose a miscellaneous reference, miscellaneous studies involve agriculture, industry and commerce, government affairs, teaching, criminal names, astronomy, geography, etc., it is the first reform of the imperial examination in my heavenly kingdom and even thousands of years, and it must be done well." ”

Zuo Zongtang nodded heavily, he participated in the Manchu imperial examination several times, although he was full of talent, but he always landed, and hated the Manchu imperial examination of the eight shares, so he was very supportive of the reform of the new imperial examination. Under the rule of the Kingdom of Heaven, since the West Temple trumpeted the revival of Han Confucianism, it is gradually abandoning Confucianism after the castration of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and restoring Confucianism before the end of the Ming Dynasty. The middle school proposed by Hong Yuner is the body and Western learning is used, which is quite consistent with the theory that Confucianism is applied to the world, and it is the shadow of Confucianism advocated by the West Temple at this time.

Xiao Yungui took a sip of tea and said: "I think my Han family has dominated the East for thousands of years, and has long stood on the top of the world, but now it has begun to decline, and it has fallen into the situation of being bullied by foreign people. I have talked to several Western missionaries about this matter these days, and asked how the Western scientific civilization rose. ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness knows that I don't believe in religion. ”

Xiao Yungui waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's not about doctrine, those missionaries told me about an important period of civilization change in Western countries, which they called the Renaissance period. ”

Zuo Zongtang sighed and said, "I want to hear it in detail." ”

Xiao Yungui said: "The Taixi countries all believe in Christianity, Catholicism and other divine doctrines, and since ancient times, they have been supreme with theocracy. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ottoman Empire in the west sent troops to attack the Eastern Roman Empire, and a large number of Eastern Roman civilians fled to the Apennine Peninsula, bringing a large number of ancient Greek and Roman documents and writings to the Taixi countries. With the prosperity of commerce and trade, a number of new commercial aristocrats emerged, and some of them helped to study the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome, and promoted the humanistic spirit through literary and artistic creation. ”

Speaking of this, Zuo Zongtang asked: "What is the humanistic spirit?" ”

Xiao Yungui said: "The humanistic spirit is to be human-centered rather than God-centered, affirming the value and dignity of human beings. He advocates that the purpose of life is to pursue happiness in real life, advocates the emancipation of individuality, opposes ignorant and superstitious theological thoughts, and believes that man is the creator and master of real life. ”

Zuo Zongtang bowed his head slightly when he heard this: "This is quite similar to the Taizhou branch of the left school of psychology, except that the Taixi countries have broken the divine power, and the Taizhou school has broken the science. Speaking of this, Zuo Zongtang paused, and said thoughtfully: "Back then, Xi Wangniang proposed to revive Han Confucianism, although it was so, but in practice, it was biased towards the doctrine of the world, could it be that Xi Wangniang's intention was also to rise a renaissance in China?" ”

Xiao Yungui hummed and said: "Back then, Xuanjiao proposed to restore Confucianism before the end of the Ming Dynasty and vigorously support the Xinxue branch, which is actually what it meant. Although Confucianism before the Manchu Qing Dynasty also had Confucianism and other old disciplines, it did not suppress the development of other schools, the Ming Dynasty had Wang Yangming's mind school, and then there were various branches of the Wang school that developed from the Xianxue, even if the Taizhou school was regarded as extreme by traditional Confucianism, there were many figures who entered the court as officials, which can be described as a period when a hundred schools of thought sang together and a hundred flowers bloomed. It's a pity that after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the literary prison was greatly revived and the mind was imprisoned, and now it has been more than 200 years, what is the development of Confucianism in the Manchu Dynasty? Therefore, at that time, Xuanjiao was ready to set out to revive Han Confucianism. ”

Zuo Zongtang nodded and said: "If today, the country has opened up its voices, newly established schools, newspapers, and folk books have been published, the trend of thought has opened brilliantly, and all disciplines have developed, and there is indeed a new atmosphere." But Your Highness, if this mind is let go, will there be a risk of turmoil in the court? ”

Xiao Yungui knew that Zuo Zongtang still couldn't get out of the Manchu Confucian policy of fooling the people for a while, and said at the moment: "Zuo Xiangxiang knows the country of Prussia." Zuo Zongtang bowed slightly, and Xiao Yungui continued: "This Prussian country was only ranked tenth among the Taixi countries in the Qianlong period, but this country united Britain with several powerful countries at that time such as Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and other countries during the Qianlong period to fight for seven years. At that time, Prussia had a population of only more than 5 million, an army of only more than 100,000, and a coalition of hundreds of thousands. Moreover, Prussia is a small country and fights on multiple fronts, but in the end, Prussia did not lose the country, and won the war, what does the left minister think? ”

Zuo Zongtang didn't know much about this history, and after being silent for a while, he said: "Is it related to the humanistic spirit and open-mindedness?" ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "There are many reasons why Prussia can win, but the most important point that this king thinks is that Prussia has established education, gathered domestic elites, and recast the national spirit. Decades before the start of the Seven Years' War, there was a king named Friedrich. William I, the king, promulgated a "Compulsory Education Regulation", which stipulated that all minors, male and female, high and low, must be educated. Prussia abandoned the old ideas of the time, let the people receive education, literacy and reason, and spent decades to establish education, and finally the literacy rate of the people in the country was much higher than that of the Tessie countries. The Prussian people received education, read and read, and accepted all kinds of ideas, but after being literate, they understood more that they were the citizens of the country, and they had more national consciousness, rather than being like our dynasties, the whole world, the people were suffering, the people were suffering, the people did not know the country, and the country did not know the people. ”

"Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom takes the rejuvenation of the Han Dynasty as its own responsibility, I want to establish a permanent Han kingdom, which will not perish because of the change of kings, nor will it decline because of the change of dynasties. If we not only want to build such a country, but also make this country strong and prosperous, and restore the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties, then we need to have our own Renaissance and our own emancipation ideas so that the people are not just insensitive foolish spectators, they are also the founders and maintainers of this country, and this is the real responsibility of the rise and fall of the world! (To be continued......)