Although Gao Dang is still there, Gao Dang's power cannot be maintained only by overthrowing Ling Yunyi.
The reason why Gao Pragmatic persisted in pursuing Ling Yunyi this time and insisted on beating up the lost dog despite the disapproval of Guo Pu and Zhang Siwei was because he knew that Zhu Yijun was in the rebellious period of youth and had a bit of a temper, so he only In addition to the factor of being able to take advantage of the situation, the main reason is that after Gao Dang lost Gao Gong, the real core figure, he showed too little vitality in the past year or so.
When Gao Gong was here, reform measures were carried out in an orderly manner, stably and resolutely, and the results were quite gratifying. Gao Pragmatic was very pleased with the changes at that time.
But as soon as Gao Gong died, the situation began to change. At the beginning, Guo Pu was quite motivated. After all, when he took over, the overall situation of the court could be said to be good. Of course, he also wanted to add to the cake and make the country more powerful. He went up a floor, but it didn't take long for him to realize that something was wrong.
First, signs of lack of unity began to appear within the Gao Gong Party. This can be divided into two parts: First, Gao Gong’s former direct lineage generated centrifugal force, that is, the group with Gao Gong’s disciples as the core began to have their own plans. , although it seems that Guo Pu can take the lead at ordinary times, but sometimes there will be some procrastination or even subversion, which leads to some "inoperability" of Guo Pu's orders. With ten efforts, there will be at most seven When the division is implemented, sometimes only three parts of the force are left to achieve the effect.
Second, the Shanxi Party, with Zhang Siwei as its new leader, has become its own faction within the Gao Party. At the same time, many officials from Shaanxi are swaying around. There is a feeling that Shanxi and Shaanxi may form an alliance at any time and establish their own party. Ma Ziqiang was a former member of the Shaanxi Party. After his death, the Shaanxi Party did not have a leader with enough reputation, and the Ma Ziqiang family had always been on good terms with the Zhang Siwei family, so it was reasonable for the Shaanxi Party members to prefer Zhang Siwei.
This resulted in the formation of an actual dual system within the Gao Party. Guo Pu had a "status" and inherited Gao Gong's legacy and even his position as an old friend, so the direct backbone of the Gao Party still respected him in name. However, the loyalty of these direct descendants to him obviously has reservations; Zhang Siwei is not bad either, his direct descendants Jin Party is as stable as Mount Tai, and there is also Shaanxi Party as an ally, and they are also the recognized successors of Gao Gong, many of whom Senior party officials believed that people like themselves would respect Zhang Siwei sooner or later, so it would be better to vote early than to vote late, so as to become a hero.
In addition to the lack of unity within Gao Gong's party, Guo Pu also faced external difficulties. The external difficulties were also divided into two aspects: First, although the emperor's attitude towards him was very respectful, it could still be seen that this respect was not as good as that towards Gao Gong. It's so real. This may not seem like a big problem, but Guo Pu knows that once the critical moment comes, this will be a fatal flaw - the late emperor only said "Whenever something is unresolved, just ask Mr. Gao", but there was no such thing. Tell me about Mr. Guo!
Of course Xiao Gui, Cao Sui, Xiao He and Cao Shen are all famous ministers of the same generation, but who in the world really thinks that Cao Shen can be evenly matched with Xiao He?
Today's situation is similar. Gao Gong is like Xiao He, and Guo Pu is like Cao Shen. Their achievements are obvious, not to mention their honor after death, they are all "Wen Zheng"! If others have any doubts, they can only swallow it. He kept it in his stomach, otherwise he would be going against the world's civil servants - Li Dongyang had never done a single wrong thing in his life? But after he became Li Wenzhenggong, who in the world would dare to say anything wrong with him?
It is a taboo for the dead, and it is a taboo for the venerable. Since he is the deceased, he is even more venerable - he is respected to the extreme of a civil servant, so naturally it is good even if it is not good, so what else is there to say?
The trouble for Guo Pu is that if he wants to win the same respect as Gao Gong, his achievements will be even greater than Gao Gong's, but this is impossible - not to mention his ability, at least the people under his command are far behind. Not as obedient as the Gao Gong era!
If Guo Pu were 20 years younger, he might still have the energy to compete, but he is actually older than Gao Gong. It will be time to become an official in two or three years. Can he still compete?
So Guo Pu could only settle for the next best thing. As long as the emperor could still have the superficial respect he had now, that's all. Don't force anything else.
Apart from the emperor, the rest is the relationship with the Xinxue lineage.
There is a view in later academic circles that Practical Studies and Xinxue are different schools in Chinese Confucian culture. The spiritual core of Practical Studies is to advocate reality over virtuality, seek truth from facts, and apply the world in practice; The academic school that regards the nature of mind as the origin of all things in the universe. The more common and universal view in academic circles is that there is both integration and divergence between practical learning and mind learning.
There is even a question that many scholars often discuss, that is, whether the study of mind should also be regarded as a kind of practical study. Because the original intention of Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming to create the study of mind was actually to advocate reality and despise imaginary, and promote the moral practice of society.
But in fact, this statement is too theoretical and ignores the actual development direction of Xinxue - because in the development process of Xinxue, things quickly backfired, that is, the descendants of Xinxue fell into empty talk about human nature and rationality. The pragmatic and effective "virtual and mysterious" way.
Huang Zongxi later pointed out: "The learning of Confucians has spread across the world, but later generations took "Quotations" as the ultimate conclusion, and only attached one or two questions and answers to Yiluo's disciples, so they were listed as Confucians and used their name to deceive the world.
Those who manage wealth and wealth have an eye for gathering; those who open houses and defend borders, have an eye for rough materials; those who read and write, have an eye for playthings and lose their mind; those who pay attention to political affairs, have an eye for secular officials.
Only by living the people to establish the pole, the heaven and the earth establish the heart, and bring peace to the world forever. Once there are worries about the officials, when it is time to serve the country, the mouth will be blank and open, as if sitting in the clouds and mist. The world is so poor and rotten, so that The commentators believe that making meritorious deeds is a special method, not something reserved for Confucians."
And Wang Euzhi put it even more straightforwardly: "Wang's disciples... abandoned practical learning, worshiped empty space, despised rules, and acted wildly. They used their hearts and minds to the fullest purpose without good or evil, and tended to enter the realm of no scruples." This is really what it is like to have a mind that has gone astray.
The battle between practical learning and spiritual learning did not only occur in the era of Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi. What Guo Pu is facing now is actually a battle between practical learning and spiritual learning, and this scene must at least start with Gao Gong and Xu Jie Counting starts from the first fight!
Although Xu Jie has long since retired, Xu Jie's disciples are still there, and the supporters of Xinxue are still there! After being suppressed by Gao Gong with the power of imperial power for so long, how can he still think about it after finally beating Gao Gong to death? How to save the situation?
Therefore, after Gao Gong's death, many places began to slack off on the New Deal. Some officials were resisting openly or covertly, and some even expressed their opposition outright and clearly!
A lot of Guo Pu's energy was tied up in these waves of opposition. To a certain extent, he had already worked hard to stabilize the overall situation of the Gao Party during this year!