Chapter 1044: Three parts practice, seven parts eating, and the remaining ninety parts depend on sleeping

The fundamental purpose of Zhu Yijun's reprinting this "Examination of Jinshi Families" in the Court Gazette and publishing it to the world was to puncture a lie: the lie that wealth and nobility cultivate virtue.

In the Great Harmony world constructed by Confucianism, it is that the official order, nobility, and lowliness all get their due, and the order of respect and seniority is that as long as the order of respect and seniority is followed, Great Harmony can be achieved.

The fundamental cornerstone of this theoretical framework is that the wealthy and noble are often more cultivated and moral, so the wealthy and noble families are naturally the rulers of people.

There are many similar expressions, such as "If a gentleman is wealthy, he is good at practicing his virtue; if a petty person is wealthy, he adapts to his strength," and "If you are wealthy and noble, act according to wealth and nobility; if you are poor and humble, act according to poverty and humility," etc.

This interpretation is completely wrong. Zhu Yijun studied well, and he knew that this was a deliberate distortion.

Because in Confucianism, a gentleman has two meanings: one is a person with great virtue; the other is a ruler of people.

But when most Confucian scholars interpreted it, they deliberately confused these two meanings, interpreting it as: those who rule people are naturally virtuous.

Xunzi once said when discussing that human nature is evil: "Although the descendants of kings, dukes, and scholar-officials cannot belong to ritual and righteousness, they return to the common people; although the descendants of common people accumulate literature, rectify their bodies and actions, and can belong to ritual and righteousness, they return to the rank of ministers and scholar-officials."

If the descendants of kings, nobles, and scholar-officials cannot understand ritual and righteousness, they are commoners; if the descendants of commoners accumulate enough knowledge, act uprightly, and understand the importance of ritual and righteousness, they should be kings, nobles, and scholar-officials.

Whether a person is noble or not, the value of this person does not depend on his family background, but on his virtue. Even if his family background is good, if he has no virtue, he is a waste. If this person's family background is not good, but his virtue is extremely good, he is a gentleman.

This is the original Confucian concept.

This kind of thought emphasizes personal virtue rather than hereditary status to determine a person's value, which appeared as early as the pre-Qin period.

Because of these views of Xunzi, he was expelled from the sequence of the Most Holy Teacher of Confucianism. Great Ming scholar-officials speak of Confucius and Mencius, but rarely talk about Xunzi.

And this writer went further to puncture the lie of "wealthy and virtuous, wealthy and polite, wealthy and frugal." Obviously, 96% of Jinshi families cannot pass down for three generations. Wealth and nobility have no causal relationship with virtue, ritual, righteousness, and frugality. Even wealth and nobility will catalyze the evil of the human heart. Without this family property, it wouldn't be so fierce.

For the article reprinted by the Emperor, the Great Ming did not have a very intense reaction, because the more intense the reaction, the easier it is to cause discussion, eventually making this matter widely known. The best response is to pretend not to see it, which is a kind of silent resistance.

There is nothing worth refuting. Who let this writer spend five years examining so many Jinshi families and reaching a conclusion that is seeking truth from facts? It is too difficult to overthrow his concept.

The Great Ming also gradually discovered one thing: the Great Ming Dynasty can still survive without Confucianism.

Confucianism, as the most important ruling tool of all dynasties, has always been the most important means to maintain the stability of imperial power under the county imperial system and the imperial power system.

The Emperor lifted the Kong family mansion in Yanzhou, causing huge panic, panic like the end of the world spreading, but soon, from the Emperor to the common people, everyone found that it would not destroy the world. On the contrary, the Great Ming's order still exists.

In the pre-Qin period, there were so many Most Holy Teachers, not just Confucius and Mencius. Xunzi, Legalism, Daoism, etc., all had merits.

As time went on, everyone found that the Hundred Schools of Thought had always existed, but everyone put on a layer of Confucian skin. Now that this layer of skin has been lifted, they live more transparently.

For example, Xu Zhenming, for example, Ke Yanchang, the Grand Minister of Agriculture and Junior Minister of Agriculture appointed by the Emperor's imperial brush, generously admitted their identity as Agriculturalists and went further and further on this road. Before, they looked like Confucian scholars, but in their bones, they were agricultural scholars.

The Emperor punctured some myths of Confucianism again, representing that the sanctity of Confucianism was further destroyed. For the Great Ming, this is not such an unacceptable thing.

All the wind and public opinion of the Great Ming were concentrated on Hou Yuzhao's "Deep Plowing." The theme of the previous book "Turning Over" was still a bit vague, but the theme of this "Deep Plowing" was very obvious.

Both "Turning Over" and "Deep Plowing" emphasize one thing: fairness, justice, and righteousness will never fall from the sky. Do not expect the blue-sky old master to be kind and rain down sweet dew. That is a fantasy of a wise monarch and holy master. True fairness, justice, and righteousness are obtained in the struggle.

Without struggle, one cannot obtain justice.

Looking at the experience and lessons of returning land in Zhejiang, this sentence is completely correct. The change of production relations and the ownership of means of production will never fall from the sky, but are gradually formed in the complex struggle between farmers, tenant farmers, landlords, gentry, and officials.

And after this theme was dissected and interpreted, it naturally led to an inference: doesn't this mean encouraging struggle?

What kind of direction this encouragement will lead the Great Ming to, and whether it will make the stable Great Ming no longer stable, are all questions that need to be thought about.

Besides the issue of struggle, there is also the change in Zhejiang, which caught people off guard.

His Majesty the Emperor pushed the land return order in Zhejiang as a punishment, a retaliation for the fire in Renhe County, but the Emperor's retaliation and rage seemed to only bring short-term suffering to Zhejiang, and then ushered in a development that can be called brilliant.

Zhejiang has the most workshops in the Great Ming, the largest population of craftsmen, silver pouring in like a river, and roads becoming developed and hardened. It is the best in the Great Ming. Zhejiang can produce all the goods of the Great Ming, even including fur.

After the Zhedong Yunhe was opened, the Zhedong Yunhe, which was originally thought not to have many ships, was covered with grain transport ships from head to tail, covering the entire Zhejiang.

This led to another natural reflection: whether to sacrifice a small part, that is, the interests of the powerful families and gentry whose land was returned, in exchange for overall development.

There is a difficult problem here: today you can sacrifice this small part of people, tomorrow you can sacrifice another part of people, and the day after tomorrow it will be your turn.

The Great Ming's wind and public opinion were arguing endlessly about this, everyone said they were reasonable, and no one could convince anyone.

"The world is troubled by annexation. Returning land has never been a sacrifice of gentry, but paying back debts! The blood debts in the hands of these gentry and powerful families, the court did not pursue their crimes on behalf of the people, which is for the sake of the world's stability!"

"If I were to say, don't execute any land return, don't discuss when to return land, but equalize land! Directly confiscate the occupied land and return it to the farmers!" The famous Great Ming liberal leader Li Zhi stood at the Taibai Building, his face flushed, raising his hand and saying forcefully.

Li Zhi feels that the means of returning land is still too gentle.

However, considering that His Majesty succeeded to the throne, the means of equalizing land is indeed not very appropriate.

Li Zhi and another Jiangnan Confucian scholar Gao Panlong were debating in the wind and public opinion field, and the two of them can be said to be needle-to-needle and wheat-to-wheat.

Especially after Gao Panlong's contradiction theory and class theory, it was completely different from Jiangnan. He spoke of contradictions, and unlike most opinion leaders, Gao Panlong liked class theory very much and admired class theory very much.

Gao Panlong believed that the three volumes of the Class Theory—Class, Distribution, and Struggle—were the ultimate method for resolving any contradiction and the guiding principle for governing the state. He felt that every scholar-official should be proficient in the theory of contradictions, and every official should be proficient in the three volumes of the Class Theory.

Because "Deep Plowing" and "Turning Over" triggered a round of conflict in wind and public opinion, the views of Li Zhi and Gao Panlong formed a distinction again.

"There is no pie falling from the sky. Returning land is already the best method brought out by the court. Don't create greater social turmoil to change the gap between classes. I don't agree with the equalizing land you mentioned."

"Moreover, returning land requires a certain economic foundation, that is, the initial formation of a commodity economy. Discussing returning land or equalizing land away from this foundation has no benefit, especially for the common people." Gao Panlong sat on the chair. He was not excited, and his tone was calm.

Regarding whether to use a small part of people, that is, the landlord class headed by gentry, as the price in exchange for further development, the two believe it is necessary.

There are two biggest points of contention between Gao Panlong and Li Zhi. The first is that Li Zhi believes that land should be equalized rather than returned, and he believes that the whole world should be pushed to return land immediately, rather than doing it prefecture by prefecture like now;

Gao Panlong advocates that matters should be rounded when they are slow, believing that land should be returned, and it should be done slowly. Pushing inappropriate political decrees in inappropriate places is harming the people;

"Why don't you go to Guizhou to equalize land?" Gao Panlong looked at Li Zhi, whose face was flushed, thought for a while, and put forward his own point of view.

Li Zhi's mouth twitched. Gao Panlong is indeed not easy to deal with in debate. Li Zhi had to say: "There are many Tusi in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Qian, which are not suitable for implementing land policies based on returning land! There is not even a land system there."

"What about Gansu?" Gao Panlong continued to ask.

"Gansu doesn't even have a landlord." Li Zhi was silent for a while and answered this question directly.

Only then did Gao Panlong stand up and say to all the Confucian scholars in the Taibai Building: "The Great Ming is very large, the territory is vast, and the north, south, east, and west are all different. Because natural endowments are different, it is completely normal for development to be unbalanced. Therefore, we must adapt to local conditions, rather than rushing to push it to all parts of the world because of Zhejiang's success."

"I oppose the blindly optimistic view that Zhejiang's success will be successful in the entire Great Ming."

Gao Panlong paused here, looked at Li Zhi, and waited for Li Zhi's answer.

"You are right, but I still support returning land to the whole world." Li Zhi raised his head. He first recognized Gao Panlong's point of view before continuing: "You can naturally consider it from the perspective of the court and the overall situation. I have really been a farmer. I know that farmers have reached their limit. They need to stick their heads out to catch their breath."

"The anger buried in their hearts has accumulated to a certain extent, and even this anger has begun to burn on the land of the Great Ming. If it is not extinguished in time, it will have the potential to start a prairie fire. By that time, it will be too late to extinguish it."

"They can't wait anymore."

Gao Panlong is talking about principles, and Li Zhi is talking about the will of the people. They argued for a few more sentences, and neither could convince the other.

Zhu Yijun sat in the "Heaven" grade private room, looked at the two arguing endlessly, and asked: "Sir, who do you think is right?"

Zhang Juzheng has a lot of free time now. When the Emperor wants to go out to play, he pulls him along to listen to these gatherings.

"Li Zhi's statement." Zhang Juzheng pondered and said: "The truth is actually not complicated. Everyone can tell a story, but Li Zhi's statement is based on the consideration of the current situation."

"Of course, Gao Panlong is not wrong either. Some places are indeed not suitable for returning land. Gansu, Suiyuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and other places are indeed lacking conditions."

From the experience of returning land in Zhejiang, any political decree will have a period of pain. Places with a better economic foundation will pass through it after holding on, and places that are not good really cannot hold on.

"Just a gathering." Zhu Yijun leaned on the back of the chair. He did not intend to refer to Li Zhi or Gao Panlong's opinions to formulate national policies.

To be precise, since the Wanli Reform, the Great Ming's national politics have not been kidnapped by wind and public opinion, because behind most wind and public opinion, they are all artificially and deliberately manufactured.

Returning land is like this, the Dinghai Academic System is like this, and the five-room large tile house is also like this.

Believing in these wind and public opinions is not as good as reading "Contradiction Theory" and "Class Theory." At least contradictions will not lie.

Gao Panlong frowned. He knew that today's gathering was another unhappy breakup.

Li Zhi is a favorite in front of the Holy One, a 5th-rank Classics Doctor. Gao Panlong is nothing. He actually intended to get along well with Li Zhi, but Li Zhi's statement made Gao Panlong shake his head repeatedly and say: "Less tossing the common people is better than anything."

Gao Panlong's words are also correct.

The Great Ming court at this moment is not dim. The ministers in the court are not just human dregs who only know about factional strife. In fact, the Great Ming's land return political decree has been continuously pushed forward.

From Zhejiang to the five prefectures of the Southern Capital, then from the five prefectures to the seven prefectures, and Henan, Shandong, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, and other places generally use the collective production camp-manor method.

It looks slow, but the pace is exceptionally firm, and there is no plan to give up halfway. Li Zhi's point of view is a bit too eager for quick success.

There is a saying in martial arts: three parts practice, seven parts eating, and the remaining ninety parts depend on sleeping.

Practice is naturally important, but without enough meat support, martial arts is just wasting physical strength. "Poor literature and rich martial arts" is talking about this truth. The remaining ninety parts depend on sleeping. If you don't rest well, everything is in vain.

When it comes to governing the country, this sentence also applies.

Political decrees are naturally important. The tilt of the court's political decrees can really change the development of local areas. For example, Xuzhou Prefecture took the express train of returning land. This is the political decree rewarded by the Emperor to Liu Tang Shunzhi for protecting the people's livelihood. Including the Xuzhou Machinery Factory, they are all gifts.

Political decrees are supported by the court, but without the support of an economic foundation, the Xuzhou Machinery Factory and the land return order cannot be executed in place. Then the political decree is just wasting the people's strength, not only having no effect but also causing great harm.

The problem in Xuzhou Prefecture was that the previous four prefects had not acted properly, focusing solely on catering to the will of their superiors rather than safeguarding the people's livelihood. After Liu Tang Shunzhi corrected these errors, Xuzhou Prefecture itself had the potential to become a northern industrial hub, possessing coal, iron, canals, and official post roads, and now, it even had imperial highways.

Besides political decrees and economic foundations, the remaining ninety parts depend on resting and recuperating with the people.

Gao Panlong's sentence, "Less tossing the common people is better than anything," is talking about resting and recuperating with the people.

Li Zhi flicked his sleeves and was too lazy to argue with Gao Panlong again. The two main speakers of the gathering stopped arguing, but the scholar-officials who held different opinions began to take the stage to express their opinions.

This gathering quickly went out of shape, from discussing returning land to discussing ritual and law.

Once order is broken, it cannot go back. It is the most terrible time when the old Confucian ethics are broken and no new ethical order is established.

As of the 22nd year of Wanli, looking at the world, the Confucian system is still advanced, perfect, and has extremely high feasibility.

Not politely speaking: its integrity, universality, and executability exceed any religion, any trend of thought, and any governance system created by any culture known.

The contribution of that set of theological theories in the West to society and the governance of society is like a baby who has just learned to walk in front of Confucianism.

The Confucian theoretical system has arranged roles for everyone and endowed every role with responsibilities and obligations. Those who destroy these responsibilities and obligations are violating ritual and education, and are abandoned by both humans and gods, even the Emperor is no exception. Punishing the wayless is the correction of the Emperor's loss of virtue.

Now the theoretical system established by Confucianism is gradually changing with the demise of Confucianism's sanctity.

For example, a scholar-official stated: For thousands of years, what we have lived for is four words: family, country, and world.

Family is the soft underbelly and the concern, the driving force of struggle; country is the social responsibility to be shouldered, using the weapons in hand to drive away any invading enemy; and the world is poetry and distance, lofty ideals and ambitions;

Cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world contain people's whole lives.

Now, with the prosperity of liberal theory, everything is being broken. First of all, it is the problem of responsibility. Some powerful families have stopped forming families.

When Zhu Yijun heard this, he sat up straight and listened carefully.

"Xing Yanqiu, the young owner of the Mingyi Shoe Store, is now twenty-four years old and is the father of seven children, but he has no wife or concubine. He doesn't even give a name to those women who gave birth to offspring." This scholar-official talked eloquently.

"I asked him why he refused to marry, and he asked back: Why get married? I live my life comfortably. My father asked me to inherit the family line, and I did it. When the children grow up, whoever is strong will inherit the family. As for whether this child hates me or whether he will dig up my grave after I die, why bother?"

"I continued to pursue why he didn't care, and he told me: Death is death, a handful of yellow earth, why bother?"

Zhu Yijun naturally knows Xing Yanqiu. The shoes under his feet now are made by the Mingyi Shoe Store, and the price is not cheap. Zhu Yijun didn't know that this kid hadn't married yet!

Even Zhang Juzheng, who was a bit lazy, was full of energy, looking at His Majesty the Emperor with intense anxiety and worry.

Any country has a basic foundation. This basic foundation is the cornerstone of the country's survival. Even the Great Bright Sect recently found a batch of its own solid foundation.

Even Felipe has his own Mesta Association, composed of shepherds. These shepherds became the navy of the Invincible Armada, built the Invincible Armada, and became a member of the Great Phalanx.

Similarly, this basic foundation is also the crowd that is most convenient, easiest, and simplest to be oppressed and exploited. Whenever the dynasty reincarnates, it represents that the Emperor, the court, the government offices, the powerful gentry, and other meat-eaters have already knocked the bones and sucked the marrow of the basic foundation, and the basic foundation is extremely withered.

From a very early time, Zhu Yijun knew that a solid basic foundation and supporters do not even need 1% of the total population to stably maintain the existence of the regime.

Now, liberal theory seems to be deconstructing the Great Ming's basic foundation and denying the responsibilities that social identity should shoulder.

After that, Zhu Yijun had no heart to continue listening. Zhang Juzheng was full of interest. Not in his position, not seeking his government. He had already retired. Let the Emperor have a headache for these things.

On the contrary, these scholar-officials came from all over the world and talked about the customs and conditions of all parties, which made Zhang Juzheng very interested.

After returning to the Tonghe Palace, Zhu Yijun issued an edict to Songjiang Prefecture, asking whether Xing Yanqiu not marrying is a common phenomenon in Songjiang Prefecture.

Seven days later, Hu Junde, the Prefect of Songjiang, gave His Majesty the Emperor a piece of good news and a piece of bad news.

The good news is that this phenomenon is not common. There are only three sons of powerful families and wealthy merchants of marriageable age who are unmarried in the entire Songjiang Prefecture, and one of them has just lost his spouse and does not intend to remarry;

The bad news is that the phenomenon of keeping concubines outside is very common in families with family assets of over 10,000 silver, and divorce is no longer pointed at, and is even regarded as normal.

This represents that what His Majesty is worried about is happening. The Great Ming's solid family ethical relationship and system are being impacted.

Under the magical power of gold and silver as currency and the impact of liberal theory, the old family ethical relationship has suffered an extremely serious impact.

And the answer given by the local officials of Songjiang Prefecture is: Do not pay attention.

Everyone has a scale in their heart. Whether their efforts are worth it or not will be put on the scale to weigh. If they feel it is worth it, they will do it; if they feel it is not worth it, they don't have to do it. If they interfere excessively, it will make the court look like it is meddling in other people's business.

Administrative power has never been omnipotent. Excessive obstruction will only make the road crooked. The most the court can do is guide. The Great Ming's administrative power is limited. Specifically regarding this matter of the liberal faction, the court's main energy should be used to guard against extreme liberals, not limited liberals.

"Then let's see." Zhu Yijun approved the memorial of Songjiang Prefecture. This big ship of the Great Ming is turning, going further and further on the road of opening the sea. Songjiang Prefecture, as the bridgehead of the Great Ming's opening of the sea and reform, will naturally be impacted by various trends of thought.

It is like a big melting pot. Various trends of thought and theories must pass through this melting pot.

They are all bumps that must be experienced on the road of reform.

"I actually feel that Confucianism will eventually win." Li Yougong runs around outside all year round. He has even been to the Jin Shan Kingdom once. Having seen more places and seen more things, he feels that Confucianism still has vigorous vitality and will win a great victory in the Wanli Great Debate.

It's just that the Confucianism at that time will not be the Confucianism that the restorationist Confucian scholars want.

Li Yougong even believes that the conservative faction will still firmly occupy the ruling position around Confucianism, and Confucianism will still be the mainstream trend of thought in society.

Li Yougong continued: "The biggest problem with Confucianism is actually the same as the Great Ming's previous problems."

Li Yougong continued, "The biggest problem with Confucianism is actually the same as the Great Ming's previous problems."

"Being invincible for too long, it will slowly walk into a rotten dead end. Once Confucian scholars feel that their status is threatened, they will seek change."

Confucianism has never been immutable. This set of theories will also constantly change to adapt to the current society, and after absorbing the strengths of others and removing the dross, it will obtain the final victory.

In fact, Confucianism is changing. Even the common origin of Shang and Zhou is content that can be discussed.

What Li Yougong said is actually what the local officials of Songjiang Prefecture wanted to say but didn't say.

The suggestion given by the Songjiang Prefecture ground is not to pay attention. What they really want to say is: this collision of thoughts will not hurt the imperial power. Wanting to hurt the imperial power, I am afraid it will take hundreds of years to finish walking.

Confucianism is a time-tested feudal ritual and education. Although the Emperor lifted the Kong family mansion and broke the sanctity of Confucianism, it does not mean that Confucianism has failed. On the contrary, Confucianism has failed more than once in history, but it can make a comeback every time.

This strong vitality of Confucianism is entirely because its executability is very strong. Now the most important task of Confucianism is to adapt to the improvement of productivity and the change of production relations.

Zhu Yijun pondered and nodded. Confucianism is changing. New interpretations of scholar, farmer, artisan, and merchant, the common origin of Shang and Zhou, and actively embracing contradiction theory and absorbing the methodology of contradiction theory are the changes of Confucian scholars and the changes of Confucianism.

Of course, class theory, which is somewhat diametrically opposed to Confucianism, does not have such treatment.

"Your Majesty, Minister Wang's body may not be doing well." Seeing that His Majesty had handled today's memorials, Li Yougong told His Majesty a piece of not-so-good news. The Great Ming's financial minister Wang Guoguang, who is proficient in numbers, checks the land of the world, rebuilds garrisons to pay military salaries in kind, is already dying.

Li Yougong whispered: "Your Majesty, Minister Wang is eighty-three this year. It is a happy funeral."

As the Emperor's companion and sparring partner, Li Yougong knows the Emperor very well. The Emperor has never been a thin-cool and ungrateful person. He is full of emotion. At Wang Guoguang's age, it is a happy funeral since ancient times, but the Emperor will still be emotional and sad.

Zhu Yijun was silent for a long time, and after a long time, he said: "Prepare the carriage, let's go and see."

When he saw Wang Guoguang, Wang Guoguang was lying under a willow tree, blankly watching the willow tree spitting out new buds. When he heard that His Majesty had arrived, he struggled to stand up, but finally failed. He shook his head and smiled and said: "I have seen Your Majesty. Please forgive me for being rude, I really cannot stand up to salute."

"Why be so polite? Sit, sit, just cultivate well." Zhu Yijun took two quick steps and sat down in front of Wang Guoguang.

"Your Majesty is here, I should go too." Wang Guoguang looked at the Emperor's appearance and smiled and said: "The Great Ming is really very good now. I hate that I can't see it a few more times."

Zhu Yijun doesn't like parting, but he, this human emperor, cannot keep the traces of time on people.

On the contrary, Wang Guoguang seems much more open-minded about life and death than Zhu Yijun. ===== CHAPTER 1045 =====

On the contrary, Wang Guoguang seemed much more open-minded about matters of life and death than Zhu Yijun.