How could such a high-level matter as studying things to achieve knowledge and analyzing them become a study of cannons and gunpowder in Zhu Youjian's case?
After listening to Zhu Youjian's words, the important ministers of the Ming Dynasty were a little... refreshing! Of course Zhu Youjian was right, he was investigating things! Cannon is a thing, and gunpowder is even more a thing. Why can't we check it properly? If the cannons and gunpowder are really understood to the point of being unreasonable, it would make a lot of sense!
Zhu Youjian sighed and said: "It is such a pity that such a good thing as "The Posthumous Chapters of Confucius" has been covered in dust and has not seen the light of day for 2000 years! The changes in China's past dynasties were misunderstood by the foolish kings and traitorous ministers, and the method of investigating things is not the same. It was also published. If "Confucius' Posthumous Chapter" had been published earlier, the strong Han Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty might have continued to this day!"
The minister below said to himself: If the prosperous Tang Dynasty of the strong Han Dynasty continued to this day, what should you do? Your surname is neither Liu nor Li, so I'm afraid you're not qualified to be a Long Live Lord, right?
Zhu Youjian did not notice the strange looks in the eyes of some of the ministers below. He just kept to himself and said: "If there are many talents and the Song Dynasty, which has great cultural prosperity, can get the "Posthumous Works of Confucius", the Confucian scholars in the Song Dynasty will definitely be studying things." Great achievements have been made on the road to knowledge, and the disgrace of Jingkang will definitely not happen... let alone the tragedy of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty destroying the Song Dynasty. And if this dynasty did not get this "Confucius Posthumous Chapter", what I would have done, It can extend the life of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years at most. If you want to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years or even preserve the country for a thousand years, that is wishful thinking!"
This Zhu Youjian actually paid more attention to "The Legacy of Confucius" than Nizi, because he didn't know the general trend of historical development, nor did he know what the expansion of people's wisdom meant to a feudal dynasty?
In his opinion, the reasons for the collapse of the country in the past dynasties, apart from committing suicide, are basically two reasons, one is poverty; the other is weakness.
There are many reasons for poverty and weakness, but being unable to figure it out must be an important reason. Because if the grid is good, production and military can be greatly improved. If production increases, there will be no limit. Once the military improves, it will no longer be weak.
If a country is rich and powerful, why should it perish?
Didn’t the Song Dynasty die because of weakness? If the check of things had revealed rifled guns, bronze cannons, and explosive shells, and the Northern Song Dynasty army carried rifled guns, pulled bronze cannons, and fired explosive shells on the Northern Expedition, the Khitan would have been defeated long ago. Even Mongolia can't stand it, even Genghis Khan has to kneel down!
In his previous life, Daming almost died of poverty because he was poor...not being good at studying things was actually an important reason for his poverty.
Being poor is not just poor in the court. The poor in the court is due to various institutional problems. And if the world is poor, it is no longer a question of investigating things - the world is so big and there are so many places for living people. Why did people have nowhere to go when the northwest and central plains were desolate, so they had no choice but to rebel?
Moreover, in the previous life, Houjin invaded and the bandits destroyed the country, which also exacerbated the poverty. And Houjin and stray thieves can also be eliminated by checking objects... Therefore, in Zhu Youjian's view, not being able to check objects will lead to poverty and weakness. If you are poor and weak, you will inevitably perish.
No matter how wise the king is, no matter how loyal the minister is, it is nothing more than procrastinating for a while.
Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to have long-term peace and stability, in addition to implementing the "Ming Rites and Covenants" (also called Fu Rites), it had to master the ability to study things and gain knowledge. The publication of "Confucius' Legacy" in the Ming Dynasty just shows that destiny is in the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Youjian is not worried that the Ming Dynasty will encounter crisis because "Confucius' Legacy" enlightens people's wisdom.
"There are only two things in the world," Zhu Youjian said slowly, "One is to restore etiquette, and the other is to ask questions. I promulgated the "Ming Rites Covenant Law" to restore etiquette! And the principles in "Confucius' Legacy", Just for asking questions.
"Ming Rites and Covenants" has been promulgated for some time, and "Confucius' Legacy" has been published for nearly two years... Now is the time to take "Ming Rites and Covenants" and "Confucius' Legacy" to test All the filial and honest people in the world. "
"Your Majesty," Wen Tiren, a bachelor of Jianji Palace and the Minister of Rites, reacted immediately upon hearing this, "Do you want to use the contents of "Ming Rites" and "Confucius' Legacy" as the title of next year's competition of the Ministry of Rites? "
Zhu Youjian smiled and nodded, and said: "Second Assistant, you are also the Ministry of Etiquette, what do you think? Can you take the test like this?"
"This..." Wen Tiren dared to say "no". After thinking about it carefully, he said to Zhu Youjian, "Long live the Lord, use "Ming Li Covenant" and "Confucius' Legacy" to test the course. There is no problem... You can write a policy essay on "Ming Li Yue Fa", which is relatively easy. But how to take the "Confucius Posthumous Chapter" exam? How to calculate whether you do well in the exam, and how to calculate if you do not do well in the exam? "
"This is easy," Zhu Youjian said with a smile, ""Confucius's Posthumous Chapter" has fifteen chapters, hundreds of articles, covering a wide range of things. It can be said to be all-encompassing and all-encompassing. However, the saint is not among the Posthumous Chapters. An in-depth study of the mentioned method of investigating things... This gives us latecomers the opportunity to use "Confucius' Sutra" to learn and become great Confucians. My requirements are not high, as long as we can use "Confucius' Sutra" If you have a rough understanding of any of the principles in the "Sutra", and you can express the principles that the sage has not explained clearly, you will be considered to have passed the test."
"Your Majesty, this is to inherit the unique knowledge for the saints!" Wen Tiren said with a wry smile, "In the past, those who could do this were the great Confucians who will go down in history."
Zhu Youjian said: "Isn't it a great Confucian who can make a difference in the "Posthumous Chapters of Confucius"? In the past, great Confucianism was difficult to come by because there was no method of investigating things, so the door to the great road was closed. Confucian scholars in the world can only I have written articles on the Four Books and Five Classics... I have written articles for 2,000 years, how can I still make flowers?"
Wen Tiren still shook his head, "But I have little talent and little knowledge. I don't know if those articles about raising children are correct!"
"Oh, you don't know?" Zhu Youjian thought for a while, "That's okay... I will mark the papers! The candidates can only choose one article from "The Posthumous Psalms of Confucius" to write an article. The number of words in the article It cannot exceed 2,000 words. I will read it slowly, 50 articles a day, and I will finish it in a month. When I finish reading it, I can go west to fight against the Chagatai Khanate and the Oara Alliance!"
According to the plan, Zhu Youjian would start the Western Expedition in the summer of the 10th year of Chongzhen. Before that, Zhu Youjian planned to accomplish another big thing - of course not to recruit scholars for the country. He did not remember any outstanding talents in the list of Chongzhen 10 years. In his previous life, he really couldn't choose anything, so he ended up picking a 51-year-old No. 1 pick. Not long after he worked, he was driven back to his hometown for impeaching Yang Sichang for stealing his love.
So Zhu Youjian simply changed his mind this time and instead of selecting scholars, he selected "candidate great scholars". After taking out a group, he will lead them to the Western Expedition together. By the way, he will mention these "candidate great scholars" and try to cultivate a few real great scholars.
After the Western Expedition is successful, a university can be opened!
"Then, then..." Wen Tiren asked, "Are we still going to take the test on the classics and its meaning?"
"Take the test!" Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "Then just take the test casually... Always keep the examiners occupied!"
...
The Four Books and Five Classics that Zhu Youjian wanted to test casually were still very difficult for Shen Tingyang, who was born in Nanjing Imperial College!
He knew his own level very well, so he never took any imperial examinations in his previous life. Even the imperial student Jiakenan's background as a hero became a cabinet minister and became a relative of the emperor.
But in this life, because Zhu Youjian personally engaged in examination fraud and was awarded a Jinshi, he handed over the affairs of Xiangshan Commercial Port and Guangdong Navy to his brother Shen Tingzhi, and took a Guangzhou ship north to Nanjing. . First, he met up with a few people he met when he was visiting Shilin in Jiangnan, and then they all took the canal together, then changed to the land route, and went north to Beijing while sightseeing all the way.
The reason why these moves are so leisurely is because they are knowledgeable and confident!
These scholars who went north together with Shen Tingyang were Luo Dagong, a scholar from Songjiang, Ji Kun, a scholar from Yangzhou, Fang Yizhi, a scholar from Tongcheng, Huang Zongxi, a scholar from Yuyao, and Gu Jiang, a scholar from Kunshan. Almost everyone was from the same side. They are talented people, and they all have a lot of experience in "The Legacy of Confucius"!
All of them are sure-winners from Jinke!
