'Benevolence' is a quality that Confucius highly praised, and his disciples asked him for advice a lot, and Confucius's answers were often more specific, but if you can't hear and know ten, draw inferences from one another, it will be difficult to appreciate its rich connotation.

Zheng Xuan explained, 'People are benevolent'. Benevolence is the way people get along with each other. Lao Tzu said, 'The way of heaven is to make up for the deficiency when there is more loss, and the way of man is not enough to give more than enough'.

It is often the case in the world that the rich have a land of hope, and the poor have no place to stand. If this goes on for a long time, it will naturally be full of anger and cause a great disaster. Confucius said, 'Do not suffer from widowhood but suffer from inequality, do not suffer from poverty but suffer from anxiety'. Therefore, Confucianism's proposition is to emphasize agriculture and suppress business, curb the strong and powerful, revitalize poverty, and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. This is called benevolent governance.

Mencius was more confident that the implementation of benevolent government could be invincible in the world, but unfortunately Confucius and Meng traveled around the world, and no one could adopt their ideas, which makes people wonder, why the kings of the countries could not adopt such a good effect, is there no one who is wise?

Mencius emphasized the debate of righteousness and benefit, and said at every turn, 'Why should the king say that there is also benevolence and righteousness'. Song Confucianism thought that he had inherited the Taoist system of Confucius and Mencius, and he also liked to distinguish the difference between kings and tyrants, righteousness and benefit.

In fact, righteousness and profit are not two completely irreconcilable things, but one is the public interest and long-term interests of the world, and the other is personal self-interest and immediate interests. If 'righteousness' is completely unprofitable, who wants to do it?

It's just that 'benevolence and righteousness' is public interest and long-term benefit, which will naturally be opposed by some people who only talk about self-interest and short-term benefit, and the reason why the ideal of goodness in the world cannot be realized is often because some despicable people do everything possible to obstruct it in order to safeguard the selfish interests of individuals or groups.

Benevolence, righteousness and benefit are in the world, but they are incompatible with the king's personal desires and pleasures, except for the legendary Yao and Shun, there don't seem to be many monarchs who have such good sentiments and can wholeheartedly work for the well-being of the people. Zhuge Liang ruled Shu, and he was calm and admonished Ming with the essence of 'benevolent government', but it was difficult to escape the fate of people's demise.

Later Confucianism distinguishes between the royal way and the domineering, and thinks that the royal way uses etiquette and domineering punishment, and Zhuge Liang's severe criminal policy is inevitably ridiculed by the law.

In fact, ritual and law are both narrow and broad senses. Rites in the narrow sense refer to red tape, and law in the narrow sense refers to criminal laws and regulations. Etiquette in a broad sense refers to the system of rules and regulations, and law in a broad sense refers to the discipline and law.

Xun Qing was a pre-Qin Confucian and was proficient in etiquette, but his two students, Han Fei and Li Si. They are all Legalist figures.

With the increase of births, the political organization is gradually tightened, and simple etiquette is not enough to enforce restraint, and in the late Spring and Autumn Period, various countries have formulated criminal books and criminal dings, and it is inevitable to use criminal laws to make up for the lack of etiquette and customs.

This is also the reason why Mencius said that King Wen eventually became the co-ruler of the world with seventy li of benevolence, which did not work in the Warring States. During the time of King Wen, the political organization was relatively loose, and the people had the freedom to move, so King Wen's benevolent government could naturally attract many people. Like Jiang Taigong, Boyi, and Shuqi all heard that King Wen was good at supporting the elderly and went to defect.

In the Warring States Period, the competition for cities and land was very fierce, where would the people be allowed to move freely, and a small country like Teng was powerless even if it wanted to make a difference.

The laws of the fairy world are divided into civil and criminal, civil can be said to be the category of etiquette, and criminal is the scope of criminal law. It can be seen that both rites and punishments have a certain scope of application.

Although Confucius said, 'Guiding the government and punishing the people, the people are free and shameless.' Guide it to virtue, all to courtesy, shameful and qualified'. Taishi Gong also said, 'Before the prohibition of rituals has been done, the law has been administered; What the Dharma does is easy to see for those who use it, but it is difficult for those who forbid it to do.'

However, etiquette is mainly an edifying effect, and when the social situation becomes more and more corrupt, the role of etiquette will become weaker and weaker. There is a saying that 'troubled times use heavy codes', which is really a very insightful saying.

However, the scourge of society does not happen overnight, and except for a few sensitive thinkers and politicians, the vast majority of people do not understand the real situation of the whole society. It's really a big mess in the world, and it's like waking up from a dream to use the heavy ceremony, but it's too late.

Spring, summer, autumn, and winter are the four seasons. The development of spring and the suppression of autumn are natural phenomena, so how can they forcibly distinguish between good and evil? Former Confucianism attributed etiquette and religion to the royal way and criminal law to hegemony. The Song Dynasty was poor and weak, and promoted the southeast poorly, but did not dare to say the word 'profit', the country was broken and the land was cut, and finally the land of Shenzhou sank, becoming an unprecedented tragedy, is this the effect that Wang Daoren's government should have?

Mencius said, 'The people are precious, the community is secondary, and the monarch is light'. Protecting the people is the fundamental concept of Confucianism, which is by no means the same as the rich country of Guan Zhong and the honorable monarch of Shang Ying. It is because Zhuge Liang does not damage his benevolence, because he is 'calm and admonishing Ming', although the criminal government is harsh, the people have no complaints.

As for the use of rituals and punishments, it depends on the situation, and in troubled times, insisting on the royal way and benevolent government may inevitably run into walls everywhere like Mencius.

Sun Tzu said, 'Generals, wisdom, faith, benevolence, courage, and strictness'. Soldiers also need the quality of benevolence, which shows that 'benevolence' is not to tie one's hands and feet and blindly calm things. The criminal law is used to punish evil, and if the royal road does not use punishment, it is lenient to the evil, how can it protect the people?

In ancient times, when a new emperor ascended the throne or a major celebration, a general amnesty was often implemented to gain a reputation of leniency. Even Tang Taizong, who knew a lot about politics, was not exempt from this. According to legend, he pardoned the criminals and agreed on a time limit to let these people come back to the law, but the criminals all obeyed the agreement, and Taizong Longyan was happy and pardoned them all.

Wei Zheng's "Book of Ten Thoughts of Emperor Taizong" once said, 'If you add grace, you will not be rewarded because of joy, and if you punish you, you will not be angry and punish indiscriminately'. Taizong's move really left Wei Zheng's advice behind.

The act of amnesty is undoubtedly a contempt against the law and has no merit in the slightest. To forgive the wicked is to murder the good, and how can the people of the world rejoice and rejoice with the king?

Sun Tzu said, 'A soldier who surrenders without a fight is also a good man'. Therefore, those who are good at fighting have no outstanding merits, and they can also be regarded as 'benevolence'. On the contrary, if a general succeeds in ten thousand bones, it can only be regarded as a magic general rather than a benevolent general.

In the midst of war, there is aggression and self-defense. Aggression is aimed at plundering and killing, while self-defense is aimed at protecting the people.

The battle must be won, and the means of victory do not matter whether it is good or evil.

Sun Tzu's "Use of the Chapter" said, 'Xing Shi 100,000, stay together for several years, in order to win one day, and love Jue Lu 100 gold, do not know the enemy's feelings, unkind'.

From this point of view, Song Xianggong not only does not understand military affairs, but also does not know the foundation of benevolent government, which can really be said to be too broad. (To be continued.) )