In all fairness, Zhu Su said those words, but he didn't have any way to come up with what kind of doctrine to replace "science", and how to brew his own "new wine" suitable for the new Ming Dynasty.

Even if there were, in the face of Liu Bowen, he didn't dare to be honest with him directly at this stage.

Liu Bowen is different from Nahachu, Guantong, and even Yao Guangxiao. Even if he knew the history in advance, Zhu Su didn't dare to say that he could see through this person.

You must know that although Liu Bowen has not done anything to damage the Ming Dynasty and turn his back on Lao Zhu in history. But after actually coming to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Su found that he was always afraid of this historical figure who should have been a template for famous ministers and virtuous ministers.

Although there is a saying in later generations that "Zhuge Liang is divided into three parts of the world, and Liu Bowen is unified in the country", Liu Bowen has been praised to the highest echelon of famous ministers and ministers in the past dynasties, but in fact, in the Hongwu period, Liu Bowen's status in the Ming court is not high.

Liu Bowen participated in the Yuan Court examination in the past and was a Jinshi of the Great Yuan Dynasty. He once served as the capital of Gao'an County and the Marshal of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, responsible for killing all kinds of rebels, and was once loyal to Dayuan.

Later, due to the corruption of the Yuan Court, Liu Bowen resigned in a fit of anger and stayed at home. When Lao Zhu heard of his reputation, he sent someone to invite him out of the mountain. However, at the beginning, Liu Bowen was not optimistic about Lao Zhu, and postponed the invitation several times, and finally reluctantly went out of the mountain.

are also the founding heroes, Li Shanchang, Xu Da and others were awarded the title of Duke of the country, but Liu Bowen was only crowned an uncle. Because of the above factors, after Liu Bowen founded the Ming Dynasty, he knew that he had always been jealous of many Huaixi courtiers, acting tremblingly, walking on thin ice, and not speaking lightly, and he was not as proud as other founding heroes.

It is a lot worse than the forced style of "unifying the country" of the people in later generations.

Moreover, this time, Lao Liu completely stepped on the thunder point of the primary target that Lao Zhu is now dealing with: that is, the former ministers of the Yuan Court or the Confucian family. The most important thing is that he was also the leader of the Huaixi faction led by Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang.

He guessed that Lao Zhu was going to use a knife against Confucianism, would he have guessed that the ultimate goal of the imperial court was actually pointing a sword at the old Yuan to surrender to the ministers?

If he knew the details, would he report to the ministers of the late Yuan, and even give advice?

In the face of such Liu Bowen, Zhu Su did not dare to be careless. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to continue to test it: "Sir's words are bluffing. ”

"This king is not weak in the crown, why talk about transforming the people of the world? It's just that there are some doubts about academics, so let's think about it and gain a little. ”

"Your Highness doesn't trust the minister anymore." Liu Bowen did not pull with Zhu Su in words, on the contrary, he did not shy away from directly highlighting Zhu Su's concerns, which made Zhu Su shocked. I only heard Liu Bowen sigh: "In his early years, the minister obeyed the tyrannical yuan and served him. ”

"Now Your Majesty wants to rectify the old officials of the Yuan Court, and the ministers are also among them. It is also common for His Royal Highness to be ordered by His Majesty to be jealous of his ministers. ”

Sure enough, he guessed!

Zhu Su's heart was beating wildly. He hadn't even started to use the knife against Confucianism, and even Lao Zhu just wanted to dig into the corners of Confucianism first, so that he could cultivate a new type of literati who could be used, and then knock those old Yuan court ministers in the court into the dust.

It can be said that there is not even a beginning of this matter, Liu Bowen has already guessed Lao Zhu's final plan!

Zhu Su's eyes were cloudy, and he didn't know how to deal with it. After a while, he gave up the general paralysis on the chair: "Mr. figuring out the intention is a taboo for people and ministers." Aren't you afraid of your father's thunder and wrath? ”

"His Highness Lao is worried." Seeing that Zhu Su finally began to be open and honest, Liu Bowen was also overjoyed, and said, "Your Majesty is the lord of the world, so naturally he will not offend innocent people." ”

Although the old minister is slightly disdainful, he also knows that the atmosphere in the world has been decaying for a long time. At this time, it is at the time of my Chinese revolution, if Your Majesty does not do this, it will be difficult for the king of the future to do it. ”

"Therefore, Your Majesty and His Royal Highness have discussed this, and the old minister is happy to see it come to fruition." Liu Bowen dissected his heart.

"I see." Zhu Su nodded. Saying that Lao Zhu will not offend innocent people is definitely nonsense.

But after thinking about it, Zhu Su decided to believe Liu Bowen. After all, Liu Bowen in history was honest and self-controlled, which was different from most of the old officials of the Yuan Court after all.

Moreover, taking the initiative to participate in it may also be a means of self-preservation that Liu Bowen thought of.

The most important thing is that in history, when Lao Zhu raised the empty seal case and the Guo Huan case, it did not affect the Liu family.

"In this dark room, every word that the gentleman says, this king will truthfully play his father. It doesn't hurt, right? Zhu Su said tentatively.

"It's the way it should be." Liu Bowen nodded. "The minister asked His Highness to find a dark room, just to prevent the minister's advice from circulating among the princes of the court and the scholars. It should be presented to His Majesty. ”

"It's just that if the book is broken, I am afraid that it will be leaked by others, and His Royal Highness is willing to present it on behalf of the minister, which is the best."

Zhu Su nodded, what he said was reasonable. After all, what we want to talk about is digging the corners of Confucianism and cutting off the power and wealth of hundreds of officials. If the matter is leaked, even Lao Zhu will face great resistance, not to mention Liu Bowen.

Therefore, we can only use the method of boiling frogs in warm water, starting with the Guozijian, step by step, first mixing sand among the literati, then dealing with the civil officials, and finally promoting the new literati who are in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty to fill the loopholes among the civil officials.

Thinking about it, just because Fang Xiaoru said a different point of view, and then he, the "teacher of Fang Xiaoru", was about to join the Guozijian, he could make Yang Xunwen and others above the court would rather take risks to frame him, a meritorious prince who was in the limelight, and prevent him from meddling in the Guozijian.

Not to mention what kind of uproar they would have caused if they knew that the emperor wanted to dig into the corner of Confucianism.

"In that case, this king will make it clear to the gentleman." Zhu Su said. "To be honest, this king is a shallow learner, and he has no talent to draw up a new Confucian program that can stand up to scrutiny."

"Your Highness is too humble." Liu Bowen said solemnly. "Your Highness's 'science' is subtle and profound, telling the mysteries of the world. Why bother looking for the near and far? ”

"The way of science, piles and piles, tightly seamless. The application of its principles can be proved by examples in this world. Even if someone can talk about lotus flowers, it is irrefutable. ”

"Sir, do you want this king to preach science?" Zhu Su frowned.

"But science is practical learning......

What Lao Zhu wanted was to control the minds of the literati. Divert their pursuit from "ruling the world with the emperor" to other places that are beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

In order to do this, science alone cannot be used to make it practical for the world, and it is necessary to have an ideological program to match it.

(End of chapter)