"What do you think about this?" Su Che looked at the old man opposite, asked with a smile, and at the same time handed over the music in his hand.

The old man sitting opposite Su Che, with dark skin and gray hair, lowered his head and stretched out his hand at this moment, and respectfully accepted the book.

His hands were as rough as old pine bark, cracked one after another, and several thick calluses were worn out on the palms of his hands, which looked like a pair of authentic old farmer's palms.

But such a person is the new nobleman of the Ming Dynasty, the noble Wenxuan Gong Kong Xilu.

Since he was named the Duke of Wenxuan, Kong Xilu arranged everything at home, and came to Yingtianfu to thank His Majesty the Emperor for his heavenly grace.

When Su Che saw Kong Xilu, he thought that this was an ordinary old man.

Unexpectedly, after a conversation, Su Che was surprised to find that this old man still had something!

His thoughts and theories are completely different from the so-called Confucius now, and are closer to the original Confucius learning-the journey of the Great Road, the world is for the public.

More ideal, more pure.

Since China experienced five dynasties and ten kingdoms, the Song and Yuan dynasties, Confucian culture has been constantly distorted and distorted, and finally became the appearance of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

During the Han and Tang dynasties, Confucian culture was popular, but the social atmosphere was extremely open and free.

On the contrary, in modern times, the so-called feudal etiquette can be said to have emerged in an endless stream, and gradually turned into an old society that cannibalism.

Confucianism in this period has become a mixture of patriarchal authority, bureaucratic habits, local folk customs, and the dross of Song and Ming theory, and then put on the skin of a sage book, and distort it into the teachings of sages, but it is just a distorted freak.

This distorted Confucianism has completely deviated from the original path, they have taken advantage of all the advantages of etiquette, and then shamelessly draped the four words "benevolence, righteousness and morality" on their own body, as their invincible weapon.

This kind of Confucianism smashed the pure ideal world of the pre-Qin period, and gradually made Confucius an old existence that everyone hated.

This situation began to appear as early as the Song Dynasty, and Cheng Zhu Lixue was the beginning of the entire poison, and later strengthened this poison.

Even the sage Wang Mingyang's mind did not set things right.

What exactly is the so-called Cheng Zhu Lixue?

This is the Neo-Confucianism founded by Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Ercheng and others, carried forward by Zhu Xi, and inherited from Zisi and Mencius.

Ercheng attaches more importance to reason, and their doctrine lays the foundation of Taoism with the "mystery of the heart", and takes "reason" as the highest category, so it is also called science.

Its core point of view is - "save the principles of heaven and remove human desires", which was later inherited and developed by Zhu Xi, so later generations called it the Cheng-Zhu School.

This school of thought is a very complete theoretical system, which has directly influenced the development of China.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, Cheng Zhu has been established as the official ideology by successive emperors.

Because this set of neo-Confucianism perfectly adapted to the transformation of centralized power in feudal society, it gradually moved towards political philosophization.

Cheng Zhu's repeated emphasis on the "Three Principles and Five Constants" and "Loyalty to the Monarch and Patriotism" provided fine theoretical guidance for the emperor's autocratic rule and became the spiritual pillar of the dynasty's rule!

To put it bluntly, Cheng Zhu is the ideological tool used by the emperor to paralyze the people in the world.

Loyal to the monarch and patriotic, three outlines and five constants, preserving heavenly principles and destroying people's desires......

Although Cheng Zhu's importance to the stability of the country is self-evident, its restraint and imprisonment on the minds of the people are also obvious.

This set of theories has stifled the people's thinking and made the people of the world insensitive.

Su Che naturally didn't like such a set of theories, so he abolished the North Kong and canonized the South Kong, just to find a breakthrough.

The old Zhu in history was more direct than Su Che.

In the second year of Hongwu, he issued an edict that "the Confucian Temple will be released in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it will stop in Qufu, and the world does not need to be worshipped."

To put it bluntly, people in the world don't have to sacrifice to Confucius, they only need to sacrifice in Qufu.

However.

As soon as these edicts came out, the government and the opposition were in an uproar, everyone was crying and crying, making trouble, one by one, just like holding a funeral at home, and for a time the entire court was directly suspended.

Under pressure, Lao Zhu could only take back his life.

Then he looked at Mencius.

What was Mencius's theory?

Confucius said in the Analects: "The king makes the ministers courteous, and the ministers are loyal."

The courtiers should be loyal to the monarch, and the monarch should treat the courtiers with courtesy.

But he didn't say that if the king's envoys were not polite, what should the courtiers do?

Mencius explained it for him:

The king regards the minister as a sibling, and the minister regards the king as the heart; The monarch regards the minister as a dog and a horse, and the minister regards the monarch as a countryman; The king regards the minister as a mustard, and the minister regards the king as an enemy!

The original intention of these words was from the perspective of the people, he did not advocate that the people of the world should be loyal to one surname, and if the emperor could not protect the people, then everyone in the world could be punished.

This is the core idea of Mencius.

After that, Lao Zhu even organized people to revise "Mencius", deleting content such as "the people are precious, the society is secondary, and the monarch is light".

Why Zhu Yuanzhang opposed Mencius so much, in fact, the reason is also very simple.

It's not for the so-called selfish desires, for the stability of one's own country.

Rather, he saw through the essence of these words and recognized the real reality.

The people are precious, the community is secondary, and the monarch is light.

It sounds like nothing wrong with that, it's just great.

But the problem is that this can only be said by ordinary people!

Once someone else says it, it's different.

For example, those civil bureaucracy said this.

Why do civil officials speak on behalf of the people, and what are their real intentions?

But here comes the problem again...... Do ordinary people have the right to speak? Apparently not.

In addition, from the standpoint of the civil service group, there is even more question - is your civil service yourself expensive or light?

The essence of this society is that it is not composed of the people, the society, and the monarch, but the people, the society, the bureaucracy, and the monarch.

After Mencius omitted the bureaucracy, there was room for this sentence to be distorted and exploited.

This sentence puts the civil official clique in the position of the final referee, allows the civil official clique to grasp the right to speak for the "people", and opposes the relationship between the monarch and the people.

That is to say, those who keep saying that "the people are precious and the monarch is light", once the imperial power is clamped, it will naturally become "the people are light, and the officials are noble".

The Song Dynasty is one such example.

The emperor and the scholars shared the world - the civil officials embezzled and corrupted uncontrollably, lost power and humiliated the country, expropriated and extorted, and used the most cruel torture to suppress the rebellion of the common people.

The final result was that the people, the community, and the monarch all suffered.

And the Yuan Dynasty is also a good example.

The system of the Yuan Dynasty was essentially a state with the Confucian idea of "the people are noble and the monarch is light".

The Yuan Dynasty's tax system, as long as money and no interference in local governance, such a high degree of autonomy can be said to be a system that many people dream of.

In addition, the Yuan Dynasty was an era of extremely liberal and open Confucianism.

In addition to appointing Confucian masters to very important positions, Kublai Khan himself also gladly accepted the title of "Confucian Great Honored Teacher" and sincerely accepted the Confucian "Three Principles and Five Constants" and "Righteousness and Sincerity" taught to him by the Great Confucianism the principles of governing the country and leveling the world.

Cheng Zhu Lixue was directly elevated to the official ideology of the Yuan Dynasty.

But the final result was a peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, as a peasant emperor who really came out of the bottom, naturally saw the essence of Confucianism's words and skills of "the people are noble and the monarch is light" very clearly.

Zhu Yuanzhang's dead family, in the eyes of those who keep saying "the people are noble and the king is light", is it considered "the people"?

Apparently not.

What kind of "people" are the people who can't speak out?

The so-called people's hearts in the mouths of Confucian literati have always referred to those who have the right to speak.

Many people think that Zhu Yuanzhang's deletion of Mencius's "the people are noble and the king is light" is a brutal ruler and a complete dictator.

However, some things are not so simple.

Because there are lessons and summaries of the previous two dynasties.

Faced with many problems in this regard, Zhu Yuanzhang has been trying to change.

It's a pity that even Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't know a way to crack it if he wants to break his scalp.

Such are the limitations of the times.

Zhu Yuanzhang tried to struggle, but what he could do was very limited.

And Su Che is also trying to do his own.

I just don't know, will these attempts succeed?

He looked at Kong Xilu, the Duke of Wenxuan, in this old man's body, Su Che saw a little shadow of pre-Qin Confucianism, he was not a Confucian of "Cheng Zhu Lixue", this is good news.

Kong Xilu looked down for a long time, then raised his head and said: "The heart of compassion, the end of benevolence; The heart of shame is also the end of righteousness; The heart of resignation, the end of courtesy; The heart of right and wrong, the end of wisdom. His Majesty's founding nobles can have compassion and do good deeds because of sacrifices, and they can be called benevolent ministers, which is a great act of goodness. ”

This evaluation is not high, Su Che nodded, and continued: "I held a sacrifice, not to enlighten them, but to do other things, which can be regarded as unintentional planting willows and willows. ”

After a pause, Su Che said again: "After Song Confucianism, Confucianism is divided into two families, one Cheng Zhu and one Lu Jiuyuan. Cheng Zhu's shortcomings are being detained, and Lu Jiuyuan's shortcomings are swinging. ”

"Nowadays, in the field of Confucianism, there is still a dispute between Cheng Zhu and Lu Jiuyuan, what does Mr. think?"

Kong Xilu's eyes drooped slightly, he thought for a moment, and said: "Since the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Cheng Zhu Lixue has become popular, making women completely lose their status and become vassals, and gradually become a folk custom of preference for sons. ”

"But even so, the status of most men has not been promoted, and their property belongs to the clan, so that both men and women are part of the oppression."

"The so-called preservation of heavenly principles and the destruction of people's desires, the minister thinks that this is too idealistic, too unrealistic, and there is no way to suppress people's desires."

"The more suppressed desires, the more intense, distorted, and cruel their desires become."

"Its essence...... It's no different from the Flood Beast. ”

"As for Lu Zhixue, the minister believes that there is a fault of being close to Zen, which is not a positive vein, and belongs to a partial vein."

Although Kong Xilu's tone of voice was slow and leisurely, his tone was very loud.

In his opinion, Zhu Cheng's science is a beast of flood, while Lu Jiuyuan's mind science has gone astray.

These are all Confucian sages, and their status is not ordinary.

The so-called psychology later had a master named Wang Yangming, and his thoughts were a result of Zhu Luzhi's discernment.

Yangming Psychology is not only the inheritance and development of Lu Jiuyuan's Psychology, but also a synthesis of Zhu Lu's Theory.

The founder of the science of mind, Lu Jiuyuan, believes that 'heart' is the origin of all things in the universe.

He put forward the proposition that 'heart' is 'reason', emphasizing that 'the universe is my heart, and my heart is the truth', believing that everything in heaven and earth is in the heart.

That's why his doctrine is called 'Mind'.

Lu Jiuyuan believes that poor reasoning does not need to be explored outwardly, and only needs to reflect on the heart to obtain heavenly principles.

Lu Jiuyuan and Zhu Xi had many debates, and the scope of the debates involved all the core issues of science, and the influence of the debates also involved many schools of thought at that time.

The debate between Zhu and Lu, as well as the similarities and differences between Zhu and Lu that began in later studies, lasted for thousands of years.

But the factions of these two people, in the eyes of Kong Xilu, the 56th generation of Confucius, are all infidels!

When Su Che heard this, he suddenly showed a malicious smile, and he hurriedly said, "Please also ask Mr. to teach me!" ”

Kong Xilu didn't dare to say anything, and then lowered his head and began to explain what he understood as "Confucianism".

Kong Xilu is a retro school of Confucianism, his Confucianism is more traditional, and it is something that Su Che has long understood, but even so, Su Che still listens very carefully.

After a while, when Kong Xilu finished speaking, Su Che got up respectfully, and then made a serious gesture, and his posture was very sufficient.

This made Kong Xilu feel that his life and pursuit had reached the peak, and the ultimate goal of the ancient literati was not the "imperial teacher"?

Kong Xilu's black face was slightly red, and he hurriedly returned the salute deeply.

Su Che smiled and said: "Mr. said that we all agree with what he said, today's Confucianism has embarked on a crooked path, and it should be set right." ”

"But...... In our opinion, there are some other things that should be added. ”

Kong Xilu hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please speak." ”

Su Che thought for a while and said: "In the pre-Qin period, Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi put forward a series of views on the Yixia issue on the basis of the early Yixia concept based on the situation at that time, that is, on the one hand, emphasizing the distinction of Yixia, strictly defending Yixia, and stressing respect for the king. ”

On the other hand, he advocated changing Xia into Yi and dividing Huayi with "rites", yearning for the unification of Huayi and the unification of the world. ”

Su Che said something about the situation of "Yixia's Distinction", this is all a cliché, Kong Xilu on the side was stunned for a moment, and after listening to it for a long time, he didn't understand what His Majesty wanted to say.

After a while, Su Che expressed his opinion, this is the poor dagger.

Su Che said: "From the pre-Qin period to the present, countless years have passed, and we think that this statement has to change, no longer to divide Huayi with "rites", but should not be limited to regions, ethnic groups and officials and people, as long as there are 'same myths', 'shared history', 'common culture', they are all Chinese ethnic groups." ”

"As long as we have a common past, we are the same people."

Kong Xilu listened to Su Che's words, obviously not realizing the key, and nodded subconsciously: "Your Majesty has a point. ”

Su Che smiled slightly, and said to himself: "Yes, that's what I plan to do..."

Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang once said: "The Mongols are also my people." ”

He intermarried the captive Mongol women with the Han Chinese and treated them equally.

But Su Che intends to go further than Zhu Yuanzhang.

He wants to thoroughly strengthen the concept of "nation"!

In ancient times, there were some differences between the concepts of Yixia and Huhan and the modern concept of nationhood.

This is generally called proto-nationalism, which has something in common with nationalism, but has not developed into a full-fledged nationalism.

What Su Che is going to do is to completely manifest the concept of "nation"!

(End of chapter)