Retracting his gaze from the dark night, Wang Zeng asked Wang Yi: "Is there anything else?"

Wang Yi held a wooden box in both hands and said respectfully: "Yan Neihan asked someone to bring this wooden box back from Jingxi Road and asked me to present it to the adults with my own hands. According to the visitor, this was written by Xu Longtu, the subordinates of Ducao, Jingxi Road, and was called "Plan for Prosperity and Security of the People". This policy analyzes the new policy of Jingxi Road last year in detail for the emperor to consider."

"Oh, come and see." Wang Zeng turned around, took out reading glasses from a small box on the table and brought them up.

Wang Yi stepped forward, put the wooden box on the table, and whispered: "It's late at night, so I'll take a break soon. It's not too late to see it tomorrow."

Wang Zeng said, "It's okay, I have a sense of responsibility. You can go back first, don't have to be with me here."

Wang Yi Yingnuo bowed and left the study room.

Wang Yi was the son of Wang Zeng's younger brother, not his biological son, because Wang Zeng had a son late, so he adopted Wang Yi and was always with him. Wang Zeng first married the daughter of the servant Cai Guangji, but died early without a son. In that year, the first year, he married the daughter of Prime Minister Li Feng before the palace examination, and then the former king Zeng left. He married the wife of the ex-wife's sister, and gave birth to four boys and three girls.

In this era, it is very common for a wife to marry her sister-in-law after she dies for some reason. In addition to Wang Zeng, there is also Ouyang Xiu, who is what Wang Gongchen jokingly calls "the uncle-in-law is the uncle-in-law" in history.

My son left the study room and closed the door.

Wang Zeng opened the wooden box under the light, took out the "Plan for Richness and Security of the People" inside, and watched it carefully under the light.

This is not one of the handwritten copies organized by Xu Ping on West Jing Road, but Yan Shu copied it himself in private. The handwriting was very neat, but it was not as detailed as the real handwritten copy, and there were many leaks. Yan Shu was always a little guilty when doing this with Xu Ping on his back, and it was difficult to blatantly borrow it all and copy it one by one. Some of them were written by him based on his memory.

Did Xu Ping know that someone would copy it privately? That must have been guessed, otherwise he would not have looked at the manuscript so closely. Such things are to guard against gentlemen and villains. How could so many people participate, so how could people not know? As long as the real manuscript has not been leaked, the manuscript can be corrected at any time, and the manuscript can be ignored if it is spread, and there is an initiative to be good or bad.

Wang Zeng has never forgotten all the philosophers and schools of thought. He is proficient in even the Buddhist scriptures. Unlike Fan Zhongyan and others who have a vicious mind, they are even more incomparable to Ouyang Xiu, who regards Buddhist scriptures as enemies.

"Strategy for Rich the Country and Safeguarding the People" was not yet truly released. One is that Xu Ping must have practice, and practice can convince others. The other is that he must combine it with Confucian classics. There are many Confucian schools and many principles have many statements. There must be choices and foundations in this. It must be able to make up for one's own arguments and not to deviate from the fundamental purpose of Confucianism.

This is the value of Li Wei. On the most fundamental theoretical basis, "The Strategy for Rich the Country and Safeguarding the People" deeply embodies the thoughts of Li Wei. Li Wei is a banner figure in anti-Meng. Before he knew Xu Ping, he would be a confidant who said that Mencius was not good. Only by seeing Mencius clearly was useless, in Li Wei's opinion, he could read the books of sages. There was no way. If you talk about financial management and national use, you had to play it out from Xunzi. Among the early Confucian masters, only Xunzi was not bound by justice and profit, and who would not use his name?

But Li Wei did not respect Xun. He just opposed Meng Meng and then became another family. Xunzi's thoughts changed and became a Legalist. Before Mencius was established, Confucianism and Legalism, Confucianism and Taoism, Legalism and Taoism became increasingly unified, which was not without reason. Later, Wang Anshi reformed the law, respecting Meng while managing finances, and Li Wei first established the foundation.

Wang Zeng had no prejudice against the various schools of Confucianism, and he had no feelings about the previous content. As long as he did not leave the fundamental benevolence-centered and people-oriented, he could justify himself, it was successful in Wang Zeng's opinion. What attracted Wang Zeng's attention was that the book officially divided profit into self-interest and public interest. Self-interest is not necessarily evil, and public interest is not necessarily just. Public interest and private interest should be coordinated, complemented, and expounded each other. Finally, I would like to say that public interest is the great righteousness of the world.

"The Strategy for Rich the Country and the People" talks about how to seek public benefits, and do not harm personal gain when seeking public benefits. It promotes mutually with private interests and develops together, and brings prosperity to the entire society. Li Li believes that "ritual" is improved, and "ritual" is the goal. Let everyone get more and more wealth and satisfy more and more. This is the final problem that "The Strategy for Rich the Country and the People" needs to be solved. How to coordinate the middle, how to determine the system, and how to adjust the interests of individuals and the whole are what Li Yue believes to "ritual", and "ritual" is the foundation of the world.

The "ritual" in the Confucian concept includes almost everything, including all social norms such as law and morality. The principles followed by this norm are divided into many schools. Mencius said that nature is good, and that etiquette and benevolence and righteousness are from the inside out. It is a natural nature that human beings have. As long as they discover her, cultivate her, guide her, focus on self-cultivation and enlightenment, and cultivate my noble spirit. Xunzi said that nature is evil, and human nature is selfish, so "ritual" must be compulsory, and only by destroying human desires can "ritual". The nature of selfishness and evil in people will inevitably lead to struggles between people and wars between countries. If you want to prevent all this and achieve an ideal harmonious society, you must eliminate human ** and forcibly stipulate the principles of dealing with people.

It is obvious that as long as Xunzi's Confucian philosophy of Datong society is abolished and replaced by changing it to satisfy the rulers such as kings and limit the rulers' precepts, and all the thoughts and behaviors of the rulers must serve the rulers, it is the Legalist.

Mencius said that focusing on cultivating oneself, being sage inside and king outside, moved closer to Taoism and Mohism.

There was a Song Dynasty, and the main debate during the Northern Song Dynasty was whether to respect Meng or Xun. What was completely different from Xu Ping's impression in his previous life was that the people respect Meng were reformists, represented by Wang Anshi, including Fan Zhongyan before him. And the people respected Xun were conservatives, represented by Sima Guang. Among them were the largest centrists, some of who neither respected Meng nor Xun, and some who respected Meng but could not be said to be the same as Wang Anshi. The impression that Xu Ping learned in his previous life was that Wang Anshi talked about financial management, which was quite consistent with the Legalists, and was actually completely opposite to the ideas of this era.

During the Jingkang Incident, because the New Party was in charge at that time, Wang Anshi's new learning was fatal blow, and the Zunxun and Zunmen began to merge, and the contradiction was no longer so sharp. Mencius's official status rose, but Xunzi's thoughts were deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and Mengpi Xun's bones began to show clues. At this time, the mainstream of ideological debates gradually turned to the School of Mechanism and Neo-Confucianism. With the demise of the Song Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism, which talked about self-restraint and etiquette, preserved the principles of heaven and destroyed human desires, and opposed the principles of heaven and human desires, finally won. Only when human desires were destroyed can human desires be preserved, so human desires are of course evil, and human desires are naturally in the hearts of human hearts. We must first cultivate ourselves and keep Mencius' skin. Of course, this idea had already appeared when Han Yu proposed that different temperaments were different, so Ouyang Xiu, who later held up Han Yu's banner, believed that "a gentleman should cultivate oneself and govern people, and the good and evil of nature do not need to be investigated." He was ridiculed by later generations.

Whether it is the reform and reform school that talked about the "three no fears" in the Northern Song Dynasty, or the Zhejiang East School of Shigong, represented by Ye Shi and Chen Liang, which continued Wang Anshi's "use of the world and the country", the important source of thought comes from Li Yue.

Li Xu advocated that human nature has no good or evil, that human desires are united with the laws of nature, and there is no oppositional relationship. From this point of view, we will re-interpret the core "ritual" of Confucianism, so that financial management, merit, etc. are all natural meanings, with a strong realistic color.

After clarifying the source of this thought, we will understand the importance of Li Lu's theoretical foundation for Xu Ping's reform and cultivation. Without Li Lu's human desires are united with the laws of nature, labor creates wealth without ideological foundation, and reform loses its legitimacy. If human desires bring evil consequences, then the wealth that satisfies people's ** is evil, and the more it is more useless to the world.

"Public interests are based on personal interests, and are used for all people, so it is said that seeking public interests is the great righteousness of the world."

Wang Zeng drew a line under this sentence, raised his head, took off his reading glasses, and rubbed his forehead.

The distinction between justice and profit is a hurdle that cannot be overcome. If you cannot overcome this step, reform will cause countless disputes, and if you are not careful, you will die halfway. The significance of this sentence to Xu Ping's new policy is just like the sentence "poverty is not socialism" in his previous life. When it is widely accepted, reform will be justified. But such a simple sentence is not a simple matter. It may be able to blurt out ten thousand people in his previous life, but how this sentence is combined with the original system and entangled with various theories in all aspects of the theoretical system, not one of the ten thousand people can explain it clearly. When everyone can say this sentence for granted, countless people behind it have put their efforts in it, and reform is unstoppable.

Wang Zeng and Lu Yijian's generation grew up in a political atmosphere of advocating tranquility and inaction. For example, Wang Zeng's father-in-law was called Li Yan, who was called the "Saint Prime Minister", so he said that the prime minister's rule was the most important thing to not change the laws of his ancestors. Wang Zeng's career was the same as his father-in-law, with no ups and downs, but he almost achieved the best in every position. However, Li Yan, the prime minister who was ordinary in this life, commented on his "righteousness and openness", and Wang Dan called him a saint, and Emperor Zhenzong of Song believed that he was loyal, pure, and consistent, and a true elder. Wang Zeng had the style of his father-in-law, but now he knew that the world had to change.

Even Ouyang Xiu, who was still flying at this time, knew that "All things are extreme and unchanged, and if they change, they will be invincible. If they change, they will be invariably changed and they will be intact. This is the natural law of heaven." How could Wang Zeng not understand this principle?

Change is about changing, and the key is how to change. If you do things like a headless fly and do something random, it is better to be honest and stay true than to change. Xu Ping was able to explain that "pursuing public interests is the great righteousness of the world" and jump out of the distinction between justice and profit. In Wang Zeng's eyes, he was already qualified to talk about change.

Turning on the lamp on the table, Wang Zeng continued to read the "Strategy for Prospering the Country and Safeguarding the People" on the table. Wang Zeng, as the prime minister, naturally knew about the new policy on Jingxi Road last year, and even he could know most of the terms. But Wang Zeng was not sure why such reform measures were taken and what considerations were behind it. He believed that Xu Ping must have systematic considerations for such a national event. It was impossible to think of one thing like a naughty boy.

Now that I read "The Strategy for Rich the Country and Safeguarding the People" carefully, it corresponds to the reform measures of Jingxi Road in my impression. Wang Zeng slowly began to clarify the context. Why do a large number of changes revolve around cotton? It turned out that it was because cotton can be planted on a large scale, cotton can be produced in factories, and cloth is a necessary for the people in food, clothing, housing and transportation.

If you don’t eat, you will starve to death, so food cannot be used as commodities. It is the natural responsibility of the regime to ensure that the necessary materials of the people are the government. Because you have to use them, it is impossible for me to make money with this. Doing this is the way to destroy the country. Everyone regards the sale of salt as taxes, rather than making profits as commodities. It cannot be compared with ordinary commercial transactions.

In a sense, cotton cloth is not a necessity for survival, but textiles are indispensable to everyone. It has a huge scale and can earn huge profits. This is why Xu Ping chose this industry. The purpose of using the cotton cloth industry to impact the old production relations was not hidden, and he said bluntly that because cloth is an important part of the imperial taxation, and even some monetary functions are partly monetary, because it is important, it needs to be changed.

The so-called wealth is the most tangible and intangible materials and various products that satisfy people's lives, including cultural products, which can be created with people's hands. And the ability of people to create wealth, with the improvement of production tools, the improvement of organizational level, and the deepening of division of labor and cooperation, can continue to grow. Products can only be produced when they reach the required places in exchange and distribution, and can only become useful things, and useful things are wealth. In this process, profits can be formed, and the words of this era are interest. One of the profits can be invested in life. In addition to maintaining production, production can also be expanded.

Such a chain is established, the entire society will be organized and operated in order to obtain more wealth. To obtain more wealth, under the principle that public welfare is the most important thing in the world, it will be integrated into the original ideology.

After reading these, Wang Zeng thoroughly clarified Xu Ping's new policy on Jingxi Road and removed the fog that was covered with it.

After reading all the books in the box, Wang Zeng raised his head and saw that the sky outside was white. Today, he did not need to go to court. Wang Zeng could temporarily put down the trivial matters of court affairs and think about this set of "Strategy for the Rich Country and Safeguarding the People".

After putting the book back in the box, Wang Zeng said softly: "The Emperor Taizu of Han has always had the world. He used Huang Lao's art to make the world quiet and indifferent for decades, and had the rule of Wen and Jing. Emperor Wu rose up and became powerful in the sea, and the four barbarians were obeyed. Is Emperor Wu's ambition to the two emperors Wen and Jing? This is a foolish man's argument. This time, there is a time, and at the time, it has to change. Although he wanted to be quiet and inactive for decades ago, he was always unavailable, but today he has to change. Xu Pingyuan was better than Sang Hongyang, and he was able to make up his own opinions on the Tao. With this strategy, it is enough to be at peace in the world!"
Chapter completed!