Gao pragmatic is eight years old this year, but he has been enlightened for nearly five years. This is so rare! How can Gao Gong not be confident in him?
It is not surprising that he has already memorized famous enlightenment books such as "Three Hundred Thousand" [Note: Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, Thousand Character Classic.], "Ji Jiu Zhang", "Tong Meng Xun" and so on.
, when he was young in his previous life, his grandfather was a teacher in the countryside. He went to a private school in his early years, so the "old ideas" were very heavy. Gao Pragmatic had to memorize all the above elementary books, and even two of Gao Pragmatic's favorites were missing.
The two books "Long Wen Whip Shadow" and "Zeng Guang Xian Wen" have not yet been published, and Gao Pragmatic has even been hesitating whether to write them down for the benefit of the public.
Of course, although he does have a little bit of the mentality of benefiting the public, the most fundamental reason is that he hopes to use these two books to "raise his hopes." But after thinking about it carefully, he felt that "Long Wen Whip Shadow"
If you have the chance, you can take it out and use it, but "Zengguang Xianwen" cannot - no matter how you look at this book, it is a work that can be written by an "old Jianghu" who has seen through the turbulent world, and it follows the words inside and outside.
All of them are Xunzi's theories on human nature and evil. Given Mr. Xiao Gao's background, age, and experience, writing them will only be regarded as asking for fame and fortune, which is not beautiful.
The book Gao pragmatic is reading right now is "The Great Learning". When reading "The Great Learning" in the Ming Dynasty, one must also read the "matching" "Great Learning Chapters" at the same time. After all, the Ming Dynasty respected Zhu Xi as Zhu Zi. If you are not familiar with Zhu Zi's views,
If you are proficient in reading, you will definitely not get good results in the scientific examination. In fact, the book about "The Great Learning" that he really likes and often studies seriously is Qiu Jun's "The Explanation of the Great Learning".
Gao Pragmatic has always felt that most of the contents of the Four Books and the Five Classics are too "metaphysical", or to use his inner words, they are simply: high-spirited talks.
But reading "The Supplement to the Explanations of the Great Learning" is not only a matter of learning, but also a matter of governance philosophy - the practical learning of the Ming Dynasty originated from this.
"Shi" is originally a knowing word. "Shuowen" explains the word "Shi": "Shi, rich, Congwu (note: pronounced 'mian'.), Guan." Guan means goods. So the paragraph notes: "With
"Putting goods under the roof is real." It can be seen that realness means truth and enrichment, and extending to practical learning can be understood as practical knowledge, which refers to real knowledge, practical learning, or even practical learning, and even to the prosperity of the country and the people.
Knowledge for purpose.
The theory of practical learning first appeared in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but its origins should be traced back to at least the Han Dynasty. Han Confucianism taught students the six classics "Poetry", "Book", "Yi", and "Li" by Confucius in the pre-Qin Dynasty.
"Yue" and "Chunqiu" are the classics, but because one of them was lost later, only five of them remained, so they were called the Five Classics. Confucianism became more and more important in the Han Dynasty. Dong Zhongshu wrote to Emperor Wu, proposing that "all subjects that are not in the 'Six Arts' are the skills of Confucius."
After advocating that "all should avoid their own ways and do not advance simultaneously", Confucianism received more official support and promotion, and gradually became an official school. At that time, all scholars studied the classics, and those who could master one classic were considered Confucian scholars, and those who could master the five classics and be comprehensive
The speakers are knowledgeable and are regarded as having practical knowledge.
Some people may be wondering, in the eyes of later generations, Confucianism is obviously a doctrine that "just talks about big principles", and few people would associate Confucianism with practicality. What's going on?
The famous historian Mr. Lu Simian said: "The rise of Confucianism was not only due to practical politics, so its learning was very practical." He also said: "Those who were practicing Confucianism at that time paid attention to facts rather than simple policies. , so its learning is useful but not complicated." Mr. Lu means that when Confucianism first emerged in the form of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty, it focused on practical politics and practical affairs, which can be called practical learning. Later, due to the modern and ancient scriptures within Confucian classics The disputes and Dong Zhongshu’s theological teleology proposed by heaven and man encouraged the superstitious trend of prophecies and made Confucian classics increasingly complicated, secretive, and false, and gradually turned into the opposite of early Confucianism.
What is the reason why Qiu Jun's "The Supplement to the Meanings of the Great Learning" is regarded by Gao Pragmatic as the beginning of practical learning in the Ming Dynasty? This is because people in the Ming Dynasty read "The Great Learning", just like the "The Meanings of the Great Learning" written by Zhen Dexiu of the Song Dynasty, which only focused on It understands the principles of studying things, upright mind, self-cultivation, and regulating the family, but it has nothing to say about governing the country and bringing peace to the world. Therefore, "The Great Learning" mainly focuses on governing the country and bringing peace to the world, regardless of politics. Concepts, economic concepts, national concepts, etc. are all elucidated.
His political thoughts, such as the role of the monarch, the relationship between the monarch and the people, etc., are discussed more clearly than the predecessors, but in general, they are still derived from the category of "the people value the monarch and despise the monarch", so there is no need to go into detail. However, His views on economic theory were quite advanced at the time. For example, he said: "Every department store in the world relies on money to circulate. The heavy ones can't be lifted. They can't go far without money. It is not possible to use both; the big cannot be divided; what is not money cannot be used for small purposes; goods are heavy and money is light; things are stagnant and money is all available." This is the realization that "money" is what later generations call "general equivalents" ” principle.
Speaking of the shortcomings of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, he not only elaborated on the problem, but also proposed a solution: "It is better to use silver and money banknotes in equal measure. Each silver cent can be exchanged for ten coins, and a newly made banknote can be exchanged for ten coins. Wen, if the four corners are not broken at all, there are five wen for each Guan Yiqian, for those who are broken, three wen, and for those who are faint and have consistent characters, one wen. The whole world is considered to be custom-made and the crime of unauthorized addition and subtraction is strictly enforced. Although things are rich and poor, Goods are always high or low, but the amount of silver and money transactions is fixed and never easy. It has been practiced for hundreds of generations and can be used in all directions."
Here, "the amount of silver and banknote transactions is certain but never easy, it has been practiced for hundreds of years, and it can be used in all directions." In fact, it should be to establish a banknote issuance system based on silver to avoid currency depreciation caused by the excessive issuance of banknotes. At that time, the silver-standard fiscal system may have some problems when looking at the world, but Qiu Jun was in an era when the Western voyages had just begun. If the Ming Dynasty implemented a silver-standard fiscal system, Gao Pragmatic felt that it should still be a very advanced currency. Thoughts. Even if seven or eighty years have passed since the Qiu Jun era, it is not impossible for the silver standard to be implemented within the Ming Dynasty - at least it is better than the current chaos.
Others such as proposing the labor theory of value, opposing the state monopoly system and advocating free trade among the people, advocating that the court establish an "ancient policy minister" - similar to the later National Bureau of Statistics - and even proposing that each locality report grain prices every year and the court stipulates tax amounts accordingly, etc. etc., many of which are similar policies to be implemented step by step in the highly pragmatic "saving the Ming Dynasty" plan.
One of the reasons why Gao Pragmatic read the "Supplement to the Meanings of the University" in depth is to find some basis for future reforms from the writings and remarks of these predecessors. It should be noted that in Chinese history, especially in the era of Confucianism after Dong Zhongshu, reforms It cannot be implemented casually by those in power. Without a certain theoretical basis and a certain basis of public opinion, it is simply impossible.
At this time, he was seeing that "the cost of land transportation for river and canal transportation can be saved by 30% or 40%, and the cost of land transportation for sea transportation can be saved by 78%. The labor of speed is comparable to the benefits and disadvantages. Nowadays, the Cao River is well-connected and the fortunes are abundant every year. There is no capital for sea transportation. However, those who are good at planning the country always worry about unexpected things before they happen. They would rather worry about everything than not. Regret at the last moment." He thought to himself: "Qiu Jun wanted to use sea transportation instead of water transportation. This matter was determined to be sabotaged by people related to the water transportation interests. If I want to reform this law in the future, I must think about the legendary 'Cao Gang' people. We have to find a way out, otherwise we will definitely get twice the result with half the effort, or even not be able to continue at all.”
As he was thinking, he suddenly heard footsteps outside. His heart moved, and he heard the voices of two girls who were admiring the moon and listening to the piano outside: "I have seen the master."
Then a high-pitched voice came from far and near: "Is your young master here?"