Chapter 109: If You Wish to Be Honored Before Others, You Must Render Merit

In Li Ruyu's original thinking, Chen Kedao did not have such boldness. As long as he himself spoke boldly, he could surely leave Chen Kedao unable to answer. As long as he could make him unable to answer his question, then this man would be finished.

But now the problem was—how should he refute him?

Could he say, no, that's not it, it's because the Mandate of Heaven lies with His Majesty, the Mandate of Heaven lies with the Grand Progenitor Emperor, and that is why the Grand Progenitor Emperor was able to unify the realm?

Did that argument hold water?

The key issue was not whether it could hold water, but what His Majesty thought.

If His Majesty accepted Chen Kedao's view, then it meant the Son of Heaven had merit toward the realm, and so Heaven above bestowed the Mandate of Heaven upon the Son of Heaven to govern all the people.

That didn't seem like such a big deal either—after all, anyone could make that argument work. And there was a benefit to it: it could prevent many people from rebelling, prevent them from borrowing the Mandate of Heaven to stir up trouble.

You must first render great service, and only then can you gain the recognition of the Mandate of Heaven. Such great service must be pacifying wars and upheavals, and establishing the dynasty.

But where is there such merit for you to earn right now?

The Great Ming has not yet fallen into chaos, has not yet reached the time when beacons of war blaze across every region. You would have no opportunity to render such merit even if you wanted to.

So the Mandate of Heaven does not lie with you—it lies with His Majesty. Go die!

As for the matter of hindering ministers from rendering merit, the same reasoning applies.

Unless you can render the merit of establishing the dynasty, nothing else matters. The only ones who could receive support from this theory would be Cao Cao's family.

Cao Cao held the Son of Heaven hostage to command the lords, and his family established the dynasty, so they were the ones to whom the Mandate of Heaven belonged.

But when was that?

That was an age of chaos. In a so-called age of chaos, what matters is whose fist is bigger—even without the Mandate of Heaven, so what? Didn't Cao Cao's family still seize the Han dynasty's realm?

When the realm descends into great chaos, what difference does this theory of the Mandate of Heaven make?

Chen Kedao did not give Li Ruyu a chance to speak, and continued: "His Majesty holds the Mandate of Heaven and governs all the people. Those with merit toward the state—His Majesty assesses their merit according to the Mandate of Heaven, and this is how the various Dukes came to be. The nobles of the court are not noble by birth; they are noble because they rendered merit for the state. Everyone has the opportunity to render such merit for the state—and thus, all people are equal."

"Those who serve as generals expand the realm's territory for the state; those who serve as soldiers cut down enemy generals and seize their banners. The Son of Heaven naturally assesses their merit, and so they may have their wives ennobled and their sons sheltered, their grace extending for a hundred generations. Even now, for those who render merit for the state, His Majesty naturally assesses their merit in full. The height of one's status corresponds to the height of one's merit toward the state—not to noble birth."

"Gentlemen, if you wish to be honored before others, you must render merit. If you render merit, His Majesty will naturally reward you."

The moment Chen Kedao uttered these words, Li Ruyu's expression turned even uglier.

Meanwhile, Luo Sigong, the Regional Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard below the stage, wore a somewhat strange expression.

Luo Sigong finally understood—Chen Kedao must have persuaded His Majesty.

This man was truly capable.

Heaven rewards His Majesty, and His Majesty rewards the people—that did hold together.

The reason nobles stood above others was not that they were noble by birth, but that they had rendered merit for the state. If you also wanted to stand above others, then go render merit for the state.

With this kind of reasoning, the nobles would actually feel at ease.

We nobles enjoy this treatment of standing above others because we rendered merit for the state; you are ordinary commoners because you did not render merit for the state. So I stand a bit higher than you—what do you have to be unhappy about? If you're unhappy, then go render merit for the state too.

Those Dukes who shared the state's fate to the end would surely love this reasoning. Because they had no rivals—in this era, to be enfeoffed as a Duke, and one who shared the state's fate to the end, was basically impossible.

This theory would also gain the support of the military. We are not much lower than the civil officials, and we are not uncouth brutes—it's just that we studied warfare while you studied governance through books; we simply have different divisions of labor. But we and you have both rendered merit for the state and served the state, so there is no distinction of high and low, noble and base, between us.

A theory of merit toward the state would inevitably gain the support of nobles, imperial relatives, and the military. Even if they would not openly stand up to support it, they would absolutely not cause trouble for Chen Kedao, and would even go out of their way to back him.

Such a theory would also gain the support of merchants, because it raised their status. Although merchants did not have low status even now—they were basically already bound together with the literati class.

There was a premise here: the literati and merchants often did business together. But merchants were not necessarily literati—they were merely suppressed by the literati-merchant bloc, so they could not be seen rising to prominence.

If this theory of merit toward the state were confirmed, or rather put into use, the status of merchants would naturally rise with the tide.

At this moment, everyone's gaze toward Chen Kedao changed.

Originally everyone thought Chen Kedao was merely a fame-seeking opportunist who had fooled the Emperor with twisted arguments and heretical talk. Now it was clear that was not the case at all—Chen Kedao's theory truly would overturn the current system.

Once this theory was propagated, things would become terrible.

The key issue now was that Chen Kedao had resolved the problem of imperial power being divinely ordained, and at the same time resolved the problem of nobles and imperial relatives standing above others, and could also unite merchants, ordinary commoners, and artisans.

Once this theory was propagated, the only ones standing in opposition would be the literati—or rather, only a portion of the literati.

Because everyone else had taken a step forward; only the scholar-officials had been dragged down.

One must understand that the hierarchy of scholar, farmer, artisan, merchant was originally devised by the scholar-officials themselves. Ordinary commoners had no ability to resist—they did not even have the right to speak. Military men were crude and understood nothing, so it should be that the scholar-officials decided everything, and the other classes merely had to obey.

If all people were truly equal, then what would happen to those who were noble by birth?

Distinguishing high and low, noble and base, by merit, and using it to differentiate the height of status—this was a claim that people would easily accept. Especially generals and the military, and even nobles and imperial relatives, because they were precisely people who had rendered merit.

The literati could hardly say that studying books counted as rendering merit for the state—that would be a joke of a statement.

The scene fell into dead silence.

Luo Sigong, the Regional Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard standing at the side of the stage, suddenly thought of something—that this theory might also gain the support of the eunuchs in the palace.

In officialdom, power was one thing, and status was another.

Eunuchs themselves were of low status, looked down upon by others.

But if everyone was equal, then naturally eunuchs were equal too.

If noble and base were distinguished by merit, it was not as if eunuchs could not render merit. How could such a theory fail to gain the support of eunuchs?

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was the same—no need to stand a head lower than others. We are people who have rendered merit for the Great Ming; naturally we should stand above others.

"Nonsense! This is heresy—you have abandoned the way of the sages!" Li Ruyu shouted with a flushed face, his expression extremely agitated.

Many people below the stage began to shout.

Everyone realized what this meant, and so they were afraid.

After fear came fury.