Tang Shouqian said with a smile: "Hearing Baixi mention the use of persuasion meetings, sports meetings, exchange meetings, exhibitions, etc. to unite people's hearts, the old man remembered another meeting that has been in a uproar recently, and they also called for 'maintaining national fortunes and saving people's hearts', and set up branches all over the country, attracting tens of thousands of literati and gentry, and many people are crazy about it. ”

Sun Yuanqi immediately reacted: "What is the Confucian Church talking about?" ”

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed Confucianism, although the improved Confucianism did not occupy the position of the state religion, it has put its own mark on all aspects of the country and society, such as ideology, law, selection, and system, and then gradually integrated into one, and the way of Confucius and Mencius also enjoys the supreme and respected status in the country. However, the institutional changes that have occurred with the modernization process have caused Confucianism, which was originally integrated with the traditional system, to gradually lose its original institutional support. In particular, the abolition of the imperial examination system in the 31st year of Guangxu (1905) cut off the communication channels of Confucianism and the relationship between Confucianism and power, resulting in the situation of Confucianism "not possessed by the soul".

After the fall of the Qing government, Confucianism was like a lonely ghost with nowhere to settle. At a time when Confucianism was facing such a predicament, the literati and gentry, who had been influenced by Confucian classics since childhood, and who were highly in line with the way of Confucius and Mencius, saw that democracy and republicism were in vogue, while the traditional Chinese politics and religion of 5,000 years had fallen into the dust and swept away. Moreover, they felt that Confucianism still played an irreplaceable role in maintaining China's current social order and cultural identity, so they borrowed from the separation of church and state after the Western Enlightenment. He wanted to ecclesiastize Confucianism and seek a kind of "Confucianism" that transcended real power and had a substantial effect on social order and national morality for Confucianism, which had lost its institutional support.

After the Xinhai Revolution. Confucian societies such as "Confucian Society", "Confucian Society", "Confucian Society", and "Confucian Shenghui" have appeared all over the country to advocate Confucian reading and reading, but these are all spontaneous and not large-scale. At this time, Kang Youwei, who had been founding the Confucian Church, instructed his student Chen Huanzhang to imitate the Christian system and contact Shen Zengzhi, Zhu Zumou, Liang Dingfen and others to establish the Confucian Church in Shanghai on Confucius's birthday in 1912 (that is, October 7).

The reason why the Confucian Church had a huge impact as soon as it was established and quickly surpassed the Confucian Society, the Confucian Dao Maintenance Association, the Confucian Dao Society, and the Zongsheng Society was not only because Shen, Zhu, Liang and others were all high-ranking officials at the deputy ministerial level in the former Qing Dynasty (for example, Shen Zengzhi was the political envoy of Anhui, and Liang Dingfen was the political envoy of Hubei. Zhu Zumou is the waiter of the Ministry of Rites), and these people are all well-known university scholars and great poets (such as Shen Zengzhishuo, who learned Confucianism and Zhenhua at home and abroad, and is known as "Chinese Confucianism"; Zhu Zumou was one of the four great lyricists of the late Qing Dynasty, and compiled the famous "Three Hundred Song Songs"), even Chen Huanzhang, who was nearly in his early thirties, was also well-known inside and outside.

Chen Huanzhang entered Guangzhou Wanmu Thatched Cottage at the age of 15 to study under Kang Youwei, at the age of 23, he won the township examination, and at the age of 24, Lianjie Jiachen Enke (1904) Jinshi. At the age of 25, he went to the United States to study, and after two years of language study, he entered the Department of Economics of Columbia University, and obtained a doctorate in economics at the age of 31. His book "Confucius Financial Management" was published by Fu Zi, a book included in the "Studies in History, Economics and Public Law" series of Columbia University, and was successively commented and affirmed by Keynes, the originator of macroeconomics, Weber, the grandmaster of sociology, and other big names, so he became famous. Then he returned to China and formed the Confucian Church.

Another reason for the success of the Confucian Church was that Chen Huanzhang actively adopted some of the methods used in the West to form associations, not only sending his book "On Confucianism" to the personnel of the Ministry of Education in order to seek the support of the Ministry of Education, but also setting up an office as an organ of the National Confucian Association, and founding and publishing the "Confucian Church Magazine" in Shanghai. The influence of the Confucian Church grew with the publication of the magazine. until all over the country.

With the growing influence of the Confucian Church in the north, a movement to make Confucianism the state religion was in full swing. It was the time of Congress. Chen Huanzhang then moved several members of Congress and asked them to put forward a bill in the Senate and the House of Representatives to make Confucianism the state religion. When the news broke, letters and telegrams were exchanged between the north and the south, and various social forces petitioned or opposed the stipulation of Confucianism as the state religion in the constitution, and in particular, the representatives of the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur border regions reacted particularly fiercely. Although Yuan Shikai agreed with the proposal in his heart, he was faced with tremendous pressure from the Southern Revolutionary Party at that time, and fearing that the representative of the Mongolian and Tibetan Uighurs would vote against him in the presidential election, so he had to use the word "delay" and put it off until the end.

Columbia University is not only rich in gay wives, but it is also known for its economics. As a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University, Chen Huanzhang absolutely understands the relationship between input and output, so it is natural that he will not be satisfied with only promoting the Tao of Confucius and Mencius when he founded the Confucian Church. With the same thoughts as him is the president of the National Confucian Church, the sage of the South China Sea, who has the reputation of "Martin Ruth of Confucianism" (Liang Qichao's evaluation) and "Confucian Giant" (Chen Huanzhang's evaluation).

Kang Youwei has been advocating Confucianism for so many years and is widely known to the Chinese people, but why did he advocate Confucianism and make himself the leader? In his letter to Chen Huanzhang, he clearly outlined the curved road to save the country that he envisioned, and he was full of confidence in it:

First of all, the Confucian Church was established and actively propagated, striving to spread all levels throughout the country;

secondly, infiltrate the Congress, which is all gentry over thirty or forty years old, and have a certain favorable impression of the way of Confucius and Mencius.

After taking control of the parliament again, he launched a general attack on the formation of a cabinet and fought for the establishment of a Confucian cabinet;

In the end, it is to control the Diet and the cabinet to save the country and level the world. At this point, it is considered to be completed, and Kang Youwei couldn't help but write with pride: To save the country with it, I have full power, and who will compete with me?

In the final analysis, Kang Youwei wanted to go public through a backdoor listing, that is, to make a great political achievement in the name of the Confucian Church, in order to realize the great cause that could not be realized during the reform and reform of the law. When Sun Yuanqi first learned about Kang Youwei's grand ambition through the intelligence system, he dipped his finger in tea and didn't know how many "fools" were written on the desk!

Tang Shouqian replied at this time: "It's the Confucian Church!" At the end of the Edo Shogunate, with the invasion of European and American powers, the prestige of the shogunate continued to decline, and the domestic situation was precarious. In terms of practical results, National Shinto has indeed played an important role in enhancing the centripetal force and cohesion of the Japanese nation over the years! ”

Sun Yuanqi frowned slightly and said, "Could it be that the Confucian Church is also in favor of the Confucian Church?" ”

Tang Shouqian was noncommittal: "It doesn't matter whether the old man approves or not, the key is to see whether the Confucian Church can play a role in uniting the hearts of our people and enhancing the morale of our people!" ”

Yang Du laughed and said, "It's wrong. What is the Confucian Church? It is not only a Confucian group that preaches the concept of 'Confucianism in Changming, Relief Society', but also a private party of Kang Changsu (Kang Youwei) to realize his personal ambitions, and its intention is nothing more than to praise the saints of the South China Sea and restore the monarchy. If we hadn't founded the New China Party, we could still have gone in and mixed it up. Now that we are the largest party in Congress, can we afford to go far and near to support the stinky feet of that arrogant person? ”

Tang Shouqian's face was slightly red, and he still said to himself: "A few days ago, when the old man was in Shanghai, Chen Chongyuan (Chen Huanzhang), the director general of the Confucian Church, visited his door, and talked about the words in Mencius, 'There will be a king in five hundred years'. He thought that it had been exactly 500 years since Wang Yangming (Wang Shouren), and there was Master Nanhai in the study of the nature and reason of the world, and Premier Baixi in the study of knowledge of things. Baixi was born a sage, if he has a favor, a little dabbling, he can send a foreigner who has not been sent for a hundred years. For the detailed material particles, the giant is the desolate universe, all of which are deep and far-reaching, so that Eastern and Western scholars are thrown into the ground. At present, many schools across the country only hang two portraits, one is the Holy Teacher of Dacheng, and the other is Prime Minister Baixi.

"And Kang Nanhai has had the ambition of clarifying the world since he was a child, and when he grows up, he has a far-sighted vision, a sharp thought, and a magnificent spirit, and can be thousands of years later with the spirit of a saint who has fallen for a long time, and put a great light on my Chinese Confucianism, and also lives up to the name of 'saint'. The two of them are one south and one north, one inside and one diplomatically, just like the sun and moon in the dome and the rivers in China, which can be described as a perfect combination! If the two of them go hand in hand, they will surely be able to unite the people's hearts and rejuvenate the country at an early date.

Although Chen Chongyuan has whitewashed his teacher Kang Nanhai, there are indeed unsatisfactory places in China's current education, among which mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other subjects have been revised by Baixi himself, which is naturally perfect. On the one hand, it deliberately draws on various Western concepts, but due to the adoption of Christian doctrines, it is difficult to draw God with skin and bones; On the other hand, he disdains the way of Confucius and Mencius, which has been inherited for thousands of years in his country, and is eager to kill them all. In the end, it was like a toddler in Handan, and he couldn't even walk! ”

Yang Duqi said: "What does that mean?" ”

Tang Shouqian said: "What the old man means is that of course science in school must be studied in college, otherwise how can we revitalize industry and industry and achieve national prosperity?" However, in terms of national education, the way of Confucius should be taken as the foundation of self-cultivation, and if possible, Confucianism should be designated as the state religion as much as possible, and then the state should vigorously expound Confucianism, integrate hundreds of schools, emphasize practicality, and consolidate the national foundation. Baixi, what do you think? ”