Chapter 142 Following the ancestors will may not necessarily follow the ancestors law
The sentence "Although Zhou was an old state, its destiny was renewed" is not a pragmatic "original", it is a quote here. This sentence comes from "The Book of Songs Daya King Wen", which is a set of poems praising King Wen of Zhou. The opening chapter It goes: "King Wen is above, and he is in the sky. Although Zhou is an old state, its destiny is renewed."
The general meaning of this statement is: King Wen of Zhou’s spirit is in the sky, and the light shines brightly. Although Zhou is an old country, its mission lies in the “new”. The “new” here can be used as a verb to mean “innovation”; An adjective indicating that it remains in a "new" state.
As we all know, the Zhou Kingdom has a long history, so it is called the "old state" here. In the late Shang Dynasty, Zhou became a powerful country under the Shang Dynasty and submitted to the Shang Dynasty. However, the Shang Dynasty was not at ease with it and once imprisoned King Wen. Yu Youli. It is said that "King Wen was restrained and performed the Book of Changes", which happened at this time.
After King Wen returned to the Zhou Kingdom, he developed production on the one hand, and expanded the territory on the other. Over time, the national power increased greatly. By the time of his son King Wu, he had become so powerful that "two-thirds of the world was under heaven", and finally destroyed the Shang Dynasty and established the Zhou Dynasty. towards.
It can be said that King Wen of Zhou was a key figure in the demise of Shang and the rise of Zhou. "Although Zhou was an old state, its destiny was restored" refers to King Wen of Zhou's historical achievements in leading Zhou, an "old state", to rise and establish a new dynasty. Later, "Although Zhou was an old state, its destiny was restored" People have given new meaning to "a country whose mission is to reform", which describes that although China is an ancient country, its mission is to reform, and it should and has always been rejuvenated with new vitality through reform.
The Book of Songs is an ancient book highly respected by Confucius, so its "official status" is also very high. Gao Pragmatic quoted this sentence as one of the basis for his reforms, which is difficult to refute at least from a "theoretical" perspective.
In fact, it is not impossible to find support from other aspects. For example, the most pragmatic classic is "Yi", and "Yi Jing Xici Xia" says: "If you are poor, you will change, if you change, you will be general, and if you are general, you will be long-term." ", the core here is "change".
Why change? Because you have to adapt. Everything in the world is developing, and all aspects of the situation are always changing. If you don't change, you will probably not be able to adapt, and you will have trouble.
Can you still wear the clothes you wore when you were three years old when you are thirty?
What if the Book of Songs, despite its high status, is not "orthodox" enough?
It doesn't matter. It is also recorded in "Book of Rites·University" that King Tang of Shang engraved the inscription "Gou Rixin, Dayi Xin, Dayi Xin" on the bathtub to remind himself to reflect in time and constantly innovate.
Since Zhu Xi compiled "The Great Learning" with "The Doctrine of the Mean", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" and called it the "Four Books", "The Great Learning" has long been one of the main classics of Confucianism and is also a "required subject" in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty. Although some scholars in the Ming Dynasty opposed Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, at least no one jumped out to oppose the Four Books itself, so Gao Pragmatic was not worried about not being able to find a basis for his own reforms.
As for the other sentence he just mentioned, "If there is no way to govern the country, the country will not follow the ancient law", it comes from "Shang Jun Shu·Geng Fa". This sentence is more straightforward and direct, meaning that the way to govern a country has always been It is not static. As long as it is beneficial to the country, it does not have to be rigidly adhered to ancient laws and old systems.
"Gengfa" is the first chapter in "Shang Jun Shu", which mainly reflects Shang Yang's reform ideas of opposing the ancient Yili, promoting new laws, and implementing new policies. Gao Jingshi quoted this with profound meaning, and he was sure that the two colleagues in front of him were
I'm sure I can understand it - they all came from a distinguished background as Jinshi, so it's impossible that they haven't even read "The Book of Shang Jun".
Specific to the article "Gengfa", it is in the form of a dialogue, recording a debate in the court between Shang Yang, Qianlong and Du Zhi on the eve of the Qin State's reform on the issue of "whether to reform the law."
At that time, Qin Xiaogong first raised the issue: "I want to change the law to govern and teach the people more etiquette."
Qianlong was the first to express his position, saying that "a sage does not change the people and teaches, and a wise man governs without changing the law." Du Zhi also said that "the law has no faults in ancient times, and following etiquette has no evil."
Shang Yang was of course opposed to Qianlong and Du Zhi's argument, so he asked them: "In the past life, there were different religions, so how can we follow ancient laws? If emperors do not follow each other, how can we follow the rules of etiquette? Fuxi and Shennong taught but did not punish; Huangdi, Yao,
Shun punished without getting angry; as for Wen and Wu, they each legislated according to the time, and made rituals according to the situation. The rituals and laws were determined according to the time, the orders were made according to their own suitability, and the weapons, armor and equipment were all used according to their purpose.
The minister said: If there is no way to govern the world, the country does not need to follow the ancients. Tang, the king of Wu, prospered without cultivating the ancients; Yin and Xia were destroyed, and they died without following the etiquette. However, those who oppose the ancients are not necessarily wrong, and those who follow the etiquette are not enough.
Most of them are. You have no doubt."
This is Shang Yang's conclusion that "there is no way to govern the world, and the country is not in accordance with the past." It expresses the spirit of innovation that persists in change, opposes conservatism, and has the courage to forge ahead.
By summarizing historical experience and lessons, Shang Yang pointed out that the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties had different ritual systems, but they all ruled the world; the reason why Qi Huan, Jin Wen, etc. dominated the princes was also because their laws were different - if the laws of all countries are the same, why
Are they the ones who dominate? Therefore, Shang Yang concluded: There is no fixed method for governing a country. As long as it is beneficial to the country, it can be boldly reformed, and there is no need to imitate any ancient system.
Why did Gao Pragmatic suddenly throw out these two sentences? Because these two sentences are the "political program" he found for the Practical School - what is the Practical School? Xinxue also claims to be the "Moral Practical School". How should we
Differentiate from them?
This is the difference.
Our Practical School is a practical school that manages the world and applies it. What we pay attention to is doing practical things and seeking practical results. Whether we do it well or not does not depend on whether the slogan is loud or not, or whether it sounds noble or noble. We want to see the true meaning.
What is a true chapter?
Gao Pangshi paused for a moment and said: "As the Practical School has come to this day, some goals must be clearer. We are not trying to compete with anyone for power or profit. Our goal is to at least make the court more peaceful on the basis of peace in the world.
Strong financial resources should be used to maintain the strength of the military and protect the interests of the people of the Ming Dynasty from infringement; to allow the court to have spare capacity to build water conservancy projects and provide relief to the victims; to make the private economy increasingly dynamic, so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment, without starving or freezing;
Businessmen can operate legally on the basis of paying certain taxes, and are not subject to malicious exploitation or malicious bullying; we even need to allow more people to learn the teachings of saints, understand etiquette, justice, integrity, and know how to be self-reliant and self-reliant."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Cheng Wen can also understand Gao Pragmatic's intention of making these claims. Although Hu Zhili is also happy with his statement and agrees with it, he can't help but doubt that he mentioned these in front of him.
intention of.
Forcing himself to put aside the highly inflammatory ideals in Gao Jingshi's words, Hu Zhili noticed that Gao Jingshi also mentioned "businessman" here.
Gao pragmatically said before that he wanted to crack down on profiteers, but here he said that he wanted to protect businessmen "from malicious exploitation and malicious bullying." Which statement is true and which statement is false?
However, Gao Pragmatism seemed to have learned the Buddhist "other mind", Feng Qingyun continued calmly: "Mr. Yazhai is a little hesitant, why am I talking about cracking down on profiteers and protecting businessmen at the same time?"
Hu Zhili was indeed suspicious, but since Gao Pingshi asked, he couldn't speak directly, so he had to answer: "Situ must think that there are good people in businessmen?"
If these words were said in later generations, they would definitely attract a lot of criticism: What do you mean, there must be good people among businessmen? Are all businessmen bad guys?
That's right, future generations will not think that all businessmen are bad guys. Businessmen who do business legally must account for the vast majority. This is the fact and the mainstream view.
However, this view was not "mainstream" in the Ming Dynasty. The mainstream view was that "there is no businessman without treachery, and there is no treachery without businessman" - "treacherous" means treacherous, which is obviously not a complimentary term.
If only the people held this view, it would be easy to handle. The key is that the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, was also an extremely hater of businessmen. This resulted in the official level having to follow this "tradition" and criticize businessmen for a long time.
In this period, many officials have the shadow of big businessmen behind them, but at least officially they still have to express their disdain for businessmen from time to time.
It is not a strange phenomenon to say no with your mouth but be honest with your body.
However, when Gao Pragmatic wanted to change the status of businessmen, Zhu Yuanzhang's extreme hatred of businessmen was an unavoidable obstacle.
Although "focusing on agriculture and suppressing business" was the basic national policy of most dynasties in Chinese history, the Ming Dynasty founded by Zhu Yuanzhang was the one that hit businessmen the most.
So, why did Zhu Yuanzhang hate businessmen from the bottom of his heart compared to other founding emperors? Gao Pragmatic believes that there are two main reasons.
The first reason: Zhu Yuanzhang was born poor, and even after he became emperor, his memory of his early years was still very profound.
Lao Zhu was the poorest of the poor, not to mention that he could not afford to go to school. In his early years, he herded cattle and worked as a monk. However, when the famine broke out, he could not even become a monk and had to beg on the streets.
The hatred of the rich in that era was deeply ingrained in the hearts of almost every poor people. For Zhu Yuanzhang, who had no food to eat and could only beg along the road, he was very puzzled and couldn't figure out why those rich people and businessmen were more hungry during the famine.
, the more they raise the price of food, the more they would rather throw it away and feed it to their chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs than give it to the poor.
Hey, this plot seems very familiar: capitalists dump milk, drown livestock, set cotton on fire... The Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal, this is a required course in high school history.
It’s so graphic. Isn’t this the same play?
However, is the conclusion of this argument really that "capitalists are the source of all evil"? I'm afraid not necessarily. This is caused by the laws of market economy. It is the same no matter ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang had neither heard of the market economic theory nor agreed with it. He had always regarded himself as a representative of the poor. In the eyes of the poor, the root of the problem was very simple: the root was these hateful businessmen.
No sympathy at all, only money in eyes!
What should we do? The poor can only choose to rebel, so after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he was also a "peasant emperor" who defended farmers at every turn, tried every means to suppress and even exploited businessmen.
It's completely understandable to think of singing as a former serf.
As for the second reason, it is that his main opponents Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen were both businessmen.
Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen were both salt traders. Zhang Shicheng called himself the King of Wu in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Because of his generosity and righteousness, he had high prestige among the local people. Even though Zhu Yuanzhang later defeated Chen Youliang and greatly increased his strength, Jiangnan
People in coastal areas still prefer Zhang Shicheng, but they disdain Zhu Yuanzhang, a "local old hat".
And to make matters worse, Zhang Shicheng also came and refused to surrender. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang tried hard to persuade Zhang Shicheng, but Zhang Shicheng refused to agree. In desperation, he actually chose to hang himself, saying that he could not be killed and not humiliated. It can be imagined that he was determined at that time.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who hoped to win the support of the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, was so angry that he became so angry.
As for Fang Guozhen, just look at Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation of him and you will know: "Fang Guozhen is a fish and salt seller. He lives in secret. He waits and watches and obeys the rules. He is aspiring to lead the rat." - This person is sometimes downgrading the Yuan Dynasty, sometimes turning against the Yuan Dynasty, and sometimes downgrading Zhu.
He turned against Zhu for a while and was very dishonest.
By extension, Zhu Yuanzhang's conclusion is obvious: all businessmen are not good people, they are all bastards who are hopeless.
It is well known that Zhu Yuanzhang is a person who likes to express his anger. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was even very angry with Jiangsu and Zhejiang as a whole, which were "rich in businessmen". So after the founding of the People's Republic of China, other areas were enjoying light corvee and low taxes.
People in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were taxed heavily.
It's just that he confused a concept in this matter, which led to some very funny mistakes: he did not recognize the identity of a merchant at the time, which led to him not recognizing "merchant status". Since business status was not recognized by the imperial court,
Then the business tax will naturally be uncollectable.
As a result, this heavy tax not only did not "harm" the original merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but forced many farmers in that area who were not merchants to "change careers" and simply went into business without stopping.
This is why the original saying "If it is cooked in Suhu and Hu, the world is sufficient" has become "If it is cooked in Huguang, the world is sufficient" - growing food is not cost-effective. How good would it be for me to grow mulberry and raise silkworms? Otherwise, just follow other people's "
"Japanese pirates", forget about doing that business without capital!
"Poverty leads to change, change leads to prosperity." Even if the people in Jiangnan have never read a book, everyone obviously understands this truth.
The root cause of the problem has been found, but how to change it? Gao is pragmatic and does not know how to summon spirits. It is impossible to invite Zhu Yuanzhang out of Xiaoling and explain these truths to him.
Then there is only a two-pronged approach, one is to use Confucian classics to find theoretical basis for one's own actions, and the other is to follow Zhu Yuanzhang's ideas and distort the classics.
He has just briefly explained the former, and both Cheng Wen and Hu Zhili must understand it. In fact, he has quite a bit of experience in the latter - he has done it before in "private military industry" and in "Yi Yi Lu Shu".
In a nutshell: I want to follow the original intention of my ancestors, but I may not follow the old ways of my ancestors.
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