Chapter 825: Great Ming Has Only Ever Had to Defeat Itself

Li Zhi was a madman. As a Confucian scholar, he actually dared to question Confucius, which was simply rebellious. But Li Zhi knew very clearly that to prevent Confucianism from becoming a shackle for reform, one must start with the "Most Holy Teacher" of Confucianism, Confucius.

Because Confucius was the classic and idol of old Confucianism, even though the Master himself repeatedly opposed becoming a classic and idol during his lifetime, he eventually became the "Most Holy Teacher."

To correct a wrong, one must go to the extreme. His sharp criticism of Confucius would inevitably make him controversial, but so what?

As long as people start thinking about whether Confucius's words are still suitable for the current era, that is enough.

When the era of a sage of a civilization ends, what he leaves to the civilization is inevitably shackles and chains. Even if Confucius were truly a sage, he could only know five hundred years ahead; his theories and his thoughts would have already begun to lag behind in the five hundred and first year.

Confucius himself clearly saw this day. He repeatedly emphasized to his students: "It is man who can broaden the Way, not the Way that broadens man."

In the relationship between man and the Way, man is alive, and the Way is alive. Man can continuously spread, promote, and develop the Way through his own efforts, learning, practice, and thinking. The Way will not spontaneously become great or noble.

If man is dead, the Way is dead. When Confucian scholars began to "narrate but not create," man died, and the Way died.

Confucius said: "Do I possess knowledge? No, I do not. If a simple man asks me, I am empty, but I knock on both ends and exhaust them."

Do I really know everything? If one thinks this way, it is ignorance. No one can know everything; that is delusional. If a simple man comes to ask me, even if I know nothing about the question he asks, I must seek from both positive and negative aspects until the problem is solved clearly.

Thinking one knows everything is actually knowing nothing; one must humbly seek advice in areas where one is not proficient.

Even the Shang King, who served ghosts and gods, felt that his ancestors were not omnipotent and would modify the results of divination himself.

Confucius never wanted to shape himself into an omniscient and omnipotent sage because he knew such a person did not exist. He opposed knowing everything and opposed deifying a person. He knew that man is not a sage, and his thoughts and theories had their own era limitations.

Therefore, Confucius said: "As for being a sage and benevolent, how dare I? But to do it without weariness and teach others without fatigue, that is all I can say."

When his disciples called Confucius a sage, Confucius explicitly denied this statement because he did not want to become a shackle and chain for the progress of civilization. But unfortunately, Confucius has indeed become a shackle and chain now.

Theories from thousands of years ago are treated as golden rules by those who follow the old ways; their correctness cannot be questioned, and even interpreting his words is seen as disrespect to the sage. He has been placed on an altar, becoming the

idol he least wanted to become.

How is this not a betrayal of the Master by Confucian scholars?

What Li Zhi sought was a world where the Confucian Master could be supported or questioned, studied or teased. He just wanted to bring the Master down from the altar and return him to his original appearance as a teacher. Therefore, he ran around lecturing, and as long as one person agreed with him, he would not fail his years of hard work.

This may be the eternal dilemma in the history of ideological development. When an ideology is institutionally co-opted as authority, its original critical nature can no longer be maintained. This may be the historical reality of the phrase "to correct a wrong, one must go to the extreme."

The history of ideological development is always full of various "flipping pancakes"—completely negating and opposing the past, recognizing the past in the long river of time, and finally reaching another consensus. This law of negation of negation is called "flipping pancakes."

Similarly, Li Zhi's lectures and gatherings were also full of reflections on today's world.

Liu Ji said with a complex expression: "The divergence between value and price will slowly form a chasm. This divergence is the process of exploitation—exploiting others' labor, exploiting others' time, exploiting others' lives."

"In the past, Minister Wang said that silver is all the blood and sweat money of the people, and this is indeed true. A person's lifelong labor, practice, and the meaning of life are all concentrated in silver coins. Whoever possesses them possesses all of this."

"This is the root of profit's terrible power. The development of a commodity economy accelerates all of this."

Liu Ji highly approved of Li Zhi's view because he had seen bloody examples.

The blood-stained gold of the West African Gold Coast, the silver lifted from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and the cocoa nurtured in the piles of skeletons in Peruvian plantations were all true footnotes to Li Zhi's "profit is exploitation, exploitation is profit."

"The divergence between value and price is also an eternal contradiction." Wang Qian also highly agreed with Li Zhi's remarks. He was in charge of Yanxing Tower, where the divergence between value and price was even more distorted.

Some rotten tickets, such as three-masted galleons whose service life had expired, also had people setting traps inside. It was just that some people believed that Great Ming craftsmen could be ingenious or use copper-sheathed wood to extend the ship's life, rushing in to chase the rise, only to be completely trapped at the peak.

There were too many fools, and the scammers were simply not enough. This was the basic situation of the Yanxing Tower Exchange.

Li Zhi had his own limitations. Just as he used Confucius to oppose Confucius, he fiercely attacked the alienated Confucianism but did not propose a systematic alternative. His secular advocacy that "clothing and eating are the principles of human relations" was not enough to build a new theoretical framework.

What Li Zhi did had always been very clear: he was a critic, and he was more engaged in destructive enlightenment rather than constructive reform.

Liu Ji, Wang Qian, Ye Xianggao, Xiong Tingbi, Yao Guangming, and others seemed to be at a loss for this divergence and had no good solution. Wang Qian thought about it over and over and

found that this divergence seemed to be something that could only be compensated for by maintaining sufficient growth. Once growth could not be maintained, the sky would collapse and the earth would crack immediately.

"That's why the Dinghai School System is important." Ye Xianggao suddenly said to everyone present: "Education, cultivating more talent—this is the only solution."

"Eh? That's right." Wang Qian raised his eyebrows. He found that Ye Xianggao had some substance; he saw things even more clearly than Wang Qian.

Wang Qian knew about the "Sunset Plan" and "New Sun Canal" proposed by his father. Wang Chonggu believed that the construction of the New Sun Canal represented Great Ming becoming the new "Empire on which the sun never sets."

But after Ye Xianggao said this, Wang Qian thought that if the Dinghai School System could be realized, it would be the true "New Sun."

The Dinghai School System was a complete set of school systems aimed at popularizing education. The entire design was very complex, and the investment was measured in centuries. The ultimate goal was to let everyone have an education. This was a huge investment and also the core of Zhang Juzheng's narrative of imperial power and holy grace.

And Ye Xianggao suddenly realized that the divergence between value and price would expand over time. The only way to narrow this divergence was to possess enough growth. This was obvious; only by maintaining enough growth would the divergence between value and price not tear the entire Great Ming apart.

And the way to maintain growth was, on one hand, overseas expansion, and on the other, improving productivity. Overseas expansion was in full swing, so improving productivity would eventually fall on talent in science and engineering.

The Imperial Academy of Investigation of Things, Science and Engineering Schools, Kowloon University, Artisan Industry Schools, Translation Institutes, and Maritime Academies—these were higher education. Provincial Normal Colleges, Normal Schools at all levels, Elementary Schools, Primary Schools, Ordinary Middle Schools, and Advanced Middle Schools were basic education.

Once the Dinghai School System could succeed, even if overseas expansion capacity was insufficient, it could still provide another solution: improving productivity.

Li Zhi was just a critic; he was only responsible for destructive enlightenment. But the Great Ming court, led by His Majesty, was conducting systematic construction to solve problems.

The Dinghai School System could cultivate new-style bureaucrats, maintain the authority of the Great Ming court, support the needs of industrialization, reserve talent for long-term planning, maintain Great Ming's cultural sovereignty, and integrate the strengths of all schools of thought. Wang Qian suddenly felt that the importance of the Dinghai School System exceeded that of the New Sun Canal; this was the true "New Sun."

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Liu Ji returned to the Huitong Hostel. The social engagement at Taibai Tower today corrected a view he had. He previously felt that Great Ming was not as vibrant as the West. This was a fallacy. In fact, Great Ming was being reborn from the ashes, and after nirvana, its vitality would far exceed that of the West.

As long as Great Ming persisted on the path of cultivating science and engineering talent, Great Ming could always maintain this terrifying vitality.

Early the next morning, Liu Ji waited at the Left Shun Gate, waiting to meet the Emperor. After a pair of young eunuchs conveyed the Emperor's

heavenly words, Liu Ji stepped onto the moon terrace step by step and walked into the Zhao Wenhua Hall.

Liu Ji performed five kowtows and three bows, and said with his head bowed: "Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live for ten thousand years."

"Your subject, by imperial order, traveled across the ocean. This year, your subject brought back 6.32 million taels of silver, 110,000 taels of gold, 1.4 million catties of saltpeter, 3 million catties of cocoa, 20,000 barrels of palm oil, 12 million catties of granulated sugar, 1.3 million catties of fish oil, 1,800 bottles of quinine, and some chickens."

As soon as this was said, the ministers in the Zhao Wenhua Hall whispered to each other, mainly discussing the chickens Liu Ji mentioned.

Li Yashi's argument was valid: if Great Ming developed like this for fifty years, it was feared that the whole world would only be able to farm, herd, and mine to support the people of Great Ming. And the price of all this was that the global commodities produced by Great Ming and the world were in a miserable state. The key was that even farming could not beat the people of Great Ming!

"Let the barbarians suffer a bit, and let His Majesty bear the infamy"—this was becoming a reality.

"Exempt from ceremony." Zhu Yijun said in surprise: "What's going on with these chickens?"

Liu Ji bowed and said: "This is a type of fighting chicken used by the English royal family. Your subject bought dozens and raised them on the ship for fun. I found that they eat little, grow fast, and are especially good at laying eggs, so I brought them back to offer to Your Majesty."

Liu Ji didn't know if they were useful, but His Majesty was very concerned about the dodo, so he began to pay attention to bringing back some poultry and sending them to the Agricultural Academy for breeding.

"Not bad. Next time you see them, catch some more. Whether they are useful or not, raise them first. The Grand Minister of Agriculture will naturally find their use." Zhu Yijun nodded very firmly.

Whether they were useful or not could be discussed later; bringing them back first—this line of thinking was very correct.

Zhu Yijun was also hearing for the first time that the English royal family liked fighting chickens.

Zhu Yijun didn't know much about how to breed meat chickens and egg chickens, but it didn't matter. The agricultural doctors at the Agricultural Academy were very familiar with breeding. For every additional type of chicken, there was an additional layer of diversity.

For example, before, Antonio brought a type of Italian white chicken called the Leghorn chicken. This chicken came from the city of Leghorn in the Tuscany region of Italy.

This white egg-laying chicken could lay more than eighty eggs a year. The most excellent breed cultivated by the Agricultural Academy could reach 112 eggs when nutrition was sufficient. If a family raised four or five such white egg-laying chickens, the eggs used by the family could basically be guaranteed.

This was not the limit of the Leghorn chicken. Continuously selecting and breeding excellent Leghorn chickens would further increase egg production. And Great Ming had also cultivated its own series of egg-laying chickens, such as the Jinghong chicken, Jiangxi chicken, and so on.

Liu Ji told a bunch of stories from overseas, and the ministers were quite surprised, but the Great Ming Emperor's mood was very stable. This was simply too normal. By comparison, Great Ming's plantation economy appeared extremely gentle.

"Your Majesty, your subject traveled the four directions and traded across the great ocean, and discovered one thing: that the broken spine is difficult to reconnect. From Luzon to Mexico, the Inca Empire, and the Gold Coast of West Africa, it is all like this." Liu Ji said with a pained expression: "In these conquered places, the citizens even actively defend the crimes of the colonists."

"Your subject cannot understand, but your subject believes that once knocked down, one can never stand up again."

Liu Ji's words made the Zhao Wenhua Hall very quiet. Actually, these words were a bit rebellious. The Southern Song Dynasty lost the world to the Hu barbarians, and Zhu Yuanzhang started from a broken bowl and rebuilt China, indeed standing up again.

But could this myth of destiny returning and standing up again really happen once more? Could the broken spine really straighten up again?

Was Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance a historical necessity or a lucky coincidence? Clearly, Liu Ji even believed that this was a lucky coincidence.

After all, Rome in the West really didn't have a lightning-fast return.

"The victor will certainly not be judged, and will not even be morally condemned." Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment and concluded.

"Your Majesty, your subject believes that we should strictly limit the outflow of production technologies such as coal mining, coke, steel, shipbuilding, steam engines, breeding chickens, and bacterial strains." Zhang Juzheng listened for a long time, stepped out, and bowed: "If possible, the 32 volumes of the *Yongle Dadian* summary should also not be allowed to be translated and published overseas."

Zhang Juzheng had long been the leader of the extreme conservative faction.

He had opposed the Great Ming Emperor's overly radical decrees more than once, and quite effectively. He was neither open nor inclusive, and even xenophobic. He believed that all barbarians should forever be maintained at the stage of not having completed the construction of a nation-state, which best served the interests of Great Ming.

In this way, Great Ming could forever plunder from overseas and bear the price of Great Ming's reform.

"The previous ban only limited iron horses; now it needs to be expanded?" Wang Chonggu said with a hesitant expression: "The iron horse is still easy to control, but this shipbuilding matter—Great Ming wants to sell ships to the outside world. The red-haired barbarians of the West, after getting the ships, can also imitate them. Even if they don't imitate them well, they can fill in the gaps little by little."

Wang Chonggu felt that such a blockade was actually useless because the West could learn to manufacture Great Ming's goods through reverse engineering.

Zhang Juzheng immediately said: "Dragging it out for one day is one day."

Shen Li sat up straight, looked left and right, and then said: "I think the Grand Secretary's proposal is excellent. Why not? Teaching the apprentice and starving the master—it should be so. Having restrictions is better than having no restrictions."

"I agree." Zhang Xueyan, as a new cabinet minister, expressed his opinion. The Great Ming official factories were the main component of Great Ming's national income. Leading in technology for one day meant earning a bit more monopoly profit.

The Minister of Works, Wang Daokun, expressed his view. He smiled and said: "Actually,

the matter that Junior Grand Secretary Wang worries about generally won't happen, because the West bought Great Ming's five-masted ocean-crossing ships, and to this day, they have been unable to imitate them, still needing to purchase them from Great Ming at a high price."

"As long as Great Ming has the consciousness to keep secrets, wanting to learn everything would take a hundred years."

"For example, silk. The West took Great Ming's raw silk, and the silk they wove was truly hard to describe. After Great Ming's raw silk ban and silk export ban, all the silk workshops in the West and North and South America closed down."

Wang Daokun was responsible for this matter. He felt that Wang Chonggu's worry was not wrong, but the time span was calculated in centuries.

Zhu Yijun thought for a while and said: "I have heard what all the ministers have said. If Great Ming deliberately keeps secrets, the West's pursuit will be calculated in centuries. If Great Ming stands still for these hundred years, or even regresses, it can only mean that there is a huge problem within our Great Ming."

"Great Ming has only ever had to defeat itself. Others are not up to me; it is also persistent in vain."

"It is decided. Starting from the Ministry of Works and the Northern Town Guard, do it according to the five levels of secrecy. Light cases will result in confiscation of property, and heavy cases will result in the extermination of the whole family."

Great Ming was the deserved Celestial Empire of the present day, and Zhu Yijun was the supreme Great Ming Emperor. Even so, all he could do was do his own job well. How others lived was not entirely up to his will.

Zhu Yijun was neither open nor inclusive. He was just a Great Ming Emperor with no interest in being a prophet of human civilization, King of Kings, Heavenly Khan, or the Great Monarch of the Four Seas. As a Great Ming Emperor, he naturally prioritized Great Ming.

Xu Zhenming, as the Grand Minister of Agriculture, cultivated a type of sweet potato that was as thick as two fingers and a *zha* (span) long. This sweet potato had a firm texture, not so much fiber, and tasted excellent. Zhu Yijun said it was good after eating it!

If it weren't for the imperial physician fearing the Emperor's stomach acid and stopping him from eating so much, Zhu Yijun could have eaten the whole large plate that was steamed clean.

This was cultivated by Great Ming's agricultural doctors who were down-to-earth, braving the wind and rain, and working hard. How could Zhu Yijun easily reward the seedlings? Good things are not for outsiders to eat; it's enough for the people of Great Ming to eat them themselves.

"Ma Liang, the Great Patriarch of the Great Light Sect, occupied the port of Le Havre. This port is located at the mouth of the Seine River, and the capital of Falanxi, Paris, is also on the Seine River." Liu Ji spoke of the actions of Ma Liang of the Great Light Sect.

Ma Liang had just returned to the West when, the next day, he directly summoned the believers, followers, and knights of the Free Knights Order, announcing the order to attack Le Havre. Three months later, the Great Light Sect broke through the port of Le Havre and stably occupied it.

The Seine River was like Great Ming's Yangtze River. If Paris was equivalent to Nanjing, then Le Havre was Great Ming's Songjiang Prefecture.

"Is the Free Knights Order so brave in battle?" Zhu Yijun said with great surprise. If Songjiang Prefecture were to fall, Zhu Yijun would immediately

prepare to personally lead an expedition. Letting thieves occupy it for a day would be a disgrace to Great Ming.

Liu Ji shook his head and said: "It was an inside job. Ma Liang's father, the Duke of Montmorency, persuaded the local lords, and there was not much resistance. And the Falanxi royal family did not make any further response; it seems no one cares that Le Havre has fallen into the hands of the Great Light Sect."

The current Falanxi royal family was in absolute chaos. No matter how capable the Queen Mother Catherine was, in a situation where the royal family had no heirs and no one to succeed, Catherine was also a clever woman who could not cook without rice.

She could only persist in touring and lobbying in various parts of Falanxi, trying to win the people's support for the King, but the effect was minimal because the King had truly gone too far.

And the current King of Falanxi, the "Dessert King" Henry III, favored male favorites. These beauties competing for favor had made the entire Paris a mess.

"She is moving toward her goal. I can only wish her success. Of course, it looks like the hope is slim." Zhu Yijun did not attach much importance to this matter and gave his blessing as usual.

Liu Ji bowed and said: "The Great Light Sect hopes that Great Ming can distribute some goods to the port of Le Havre. In this way, Le Havre will have the advantage of a cargo distribution center, which can give everyone an explanation, and the Great Light Sect will provide convenience for the Ming Halls established by Great Ming overseas."

Liu Ji explained this exchange in detail. It was neither asking Great Ming to lower the prices of goods nor asking Great Ming for unconditional aid, merely asking Great Ming to support some goods. Falanxi was a traditional land-power kingdom and did not attach importance to maritime trade. The scale of maritime trade was far inferior to that of England, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

This looked like opening the door to invite thieves, and Great Ming didn't even need strong ships and cannons to open Falanxi's national gate and dump goods into Falanxi. But for Falanxi, with fewer middlemen, these goods would instead inject new vitality into Falanxi.

For Great Ming, besides harvesting a large market, it could also gain the Great Light Sect's support for the Ming Halls.

The establishment of Ming Halls was extremely smooth in some places, while in others, it had to be done sneakily. Liu Ji had introduced this very clearly when reporting to the Emperor.

Zhu Yijun thought for a long time before nodding and saying: "Nothing is impossible. The Great Ming global merchant fleet can head to Le Havre for distribution, but Ma Liang must ensure the safety of Great Ming's merchant ships."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Liu Ji bowed and accepted the order. Great Ming's merchant ships were trading with swords in hand. The safety of Great Ming's merchant ships had always been protected by their own swords from beginning to end, even in Lisbon. One could not count on these barbarians of the West at all.

Philip claimed to be the Lord of the Empire on which the sun never sets and possessed the Invincible Armada, yet he couldn't even solve the pirates in the Strait of Gibraltar at his own doorstep.

But Liu Ji did not correct the Emperor's idea. This provided a rationality for doing things. Sometimes, some things are reasons for interference. The business that the Ming Halls of Great Ming wanted to do was a small business of replacing others from the very beginning.

Liu Ji finished what he had to say and participated in a court meeting again, which made Liu Ji terrified. He only then realized that the Great Ming wise ministers argued so fiercely.

For example, regarding the matter of clearing out redundant personnel, the wise ministers almost tore the roof off the Zhao Wenhua Hall.

Regarding the matter of clearing out redundant personnel, the wise ministers of Great Ming were very supportive, but there were very serious differences regarding the specific methods. According to Zhou Liangyin's practical experience in Shanxi, clearing out the nepotism of the Jin Party first was the fastest way.

This time, Wang Chonggu did not sell out the Jin Party directly, but argued with a red face.

The Jin Party had already been killed several times and had already fallen apart. If they continued to kill like this, it was feared that it would chill the hearts of the loyal ministers. The Jin Party was not entirely composed of rebels; there were also loyal ministers. Wang Jiaping didn't do badly either. At least those disciples of Ge Shouli never thought about usurping the power of the sovereign.

Based on this situation, Wang Chonggu's meaning was: whichever department they cleared out, they should clear out all of them, leaving none behind.

Wang Chonggu said loudly: "Zhou Liangyin is still young!"

"This department needs to clear out twenty people. Even if they are accurately cleared out, Zhou Liangyin gets twenty enemies who hate him to the bone. The remaining eighty people won't work together either. After all, ruining others' good deeds is easier than doing one's own well, and it's very easy to stir up factional strife in local government offices."

"These eighty people, because they fear being cleared out, will only trip each other up, resulting in low efficiency."

"It's better to do this: whichever department is cleared out, all one hundred people should be dismissed, leaving none behind. Then recruit fifty new people, and then select ten people from the previous one hundred to lead these fifty new people to work. These old people gain higher status, and these fifty new people have work to do. Everyone benefits greatly from the clearing out."

"Eh?!" Zhang Juzheng calmed down and suddenly found that Wang Chonggu's method seemed faster than Zhou Liangyin's, and more efficient. He immediately said: "Junior Grand Secretary Wang, great insight! Let's do it this way."

Liu Ji shrank his body. The brains of these scholars were truly amazing. After arguing for a few sentences, they immediately came up with a method that looked feasible and, in actual execution, as long as it was done vigorously, seemed like it could succeed.

He no longer said that Great Ming lacked vitality. Great Ming never lacked methods.

"Stop, stop, stop. Let's not discuss this matter for now." Zhu Yijun reached out and interrupted the dispute between the Grand Secretary and the Junior Grand Secretary, saying: "Master, Junior Grand Secretary, don't be impatient. Impatience can't eat hot tofu. If we clear them out in a hurry now, won't the local government offices still be those same people after changing back and forth? Has it changed?"

"Wait until the Dinghai School System and the Official Selection Law have some effect, then discuss it. It's not urgent. Let Zhou Liangyin work in Shanxi first and accumulate more experience."

Too impatient

?? More impatient than him, the Emperor!

Wang Chonggu's method was very good, but it was not suitable at the moment. After a big fuss, it was still the same old soup in a new bottle, old wine in a new bottle. The gradual implementation of the Official Selection Law and the Dinghai School System would provide the basis for universal clearing out. ===== CHAPTER 826 =====

Wang Chonggu's method is excellent, but it is not suitable at the moment; after a great deal of fuss, it would still be the same old soup in a new bottle. Only through the gradual implementation of the official recommendation system and the Dinghai academic system can a foundation for universal screening be established.