"Your Highness, dressing and eating are the physical principles of human ethics; other than dressing and eating, there is no ethics."
"In my opinion, scholars should only recognize the vacuum of ethics and objects, and should not distinguish ethics and objects from ethics. Therefore, Mencius said: "Understand the common people and observe the ethics of people. "
"If you add clear observation to ethical things, you can get to the root and know the true source; otherwise, you will only be calculating and contemplating on ethical things, and you will never be satisfied."
Li Zhi continued to talk about his theory to the prince Zhu Changzhen, and he was very excited about it.
After all, he is now instilling his thoughts into the future monarch of the Ming Dynasty, which will undoubtedly make his thoughts likely to become official governing thoughts.
"Your Highness, I think what Master Li said is a fallacy!"
"Human ethics and physics are not all vacuum. Let's not talk about human ethics. The relationship between parents and brothers is real."
"And physics also has entities, and there are even invisible objects."
"This world is not a vacuum, because if life is in a vacuum, it will perish! And candlelight cannot light up! Therefore, it cannot be said that human ethics and physics are a vacuum at all."
But when Li Zhi finished speaking, the prince-in-law Wan Wei expressed his different opinions.
Although Li Zhi was very critical of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, he was influenced by Buddhist thought and believed that social relations and natural phenomena were manifestations of "vacuum". He believed that everything in the universe was nothingness, so he believed that human ethics and physics were all "vacuum".
Wan Wei, who was in charge of teaching the prince physics, had always been interested in studying atmospheric pressure, so he raised a different opinion at this time, and also asked:
"Your Highness, please allow me to conduct an experiment to prove my statement."
"experiment?"
Li Zhi looked at Wan Wei and frowned slightly.
He didn't expect that Wan Wei would use experiments to prove his point of view again, just like he had proved that there was an invisible object such as gas in the void. This method of exploring knowledge through experiments was different from what he was used to. His way of doing learning was very different, which made him very uncomfortable.
"Uncle's request."
Zhu Changjun did not refuse.
First, because Wan Wei was his uncle after all, so he could not refuse; second, because Zhu Yijun deliberately allowed people from various schools of knowledge to be his teachers, making him more tolerant and willing to engage with all kinds of new knowledge.
So, not long after, Wan Wei had someone bring him a pump he invented and a transparent glass tube with a mouth, and a cricket was placed in the glass tube.
Young Zhu Changjun was very curious about this, so he asked Wan Wei: "Uncle, what are you going to do?"
"Back to Your Highness, I plan to remove the air from this glass."
As he spoke, Wan Wei shook the glass bottle. After the cricket inside jumped a little, he said, "Your Highness and the masters must have seen it. This cricket is alive."
Zhu Changjun and Li Zhi both nodded.
Wanwei then used the air pump he invented to pump out the air. Because the glass tube was not big, it didn't take long before there was no more air in the glass tube.
Soon, Zhu Changjun saw the cricket inside the glass tube that had been drained of air turned over with its belly facing up, and he looked stunned.
Li Zhi also had a look of astonishment on his face and couldn't help but say: "So, this cricket has to live in an environment with air, but it really can't survive in a vacuum?"
Subsequently.
Wan Wei also asked people to prepare small candles and put them into two glass tubes of the same size, one that was pumped and one that was not pumped. The results also proved that the candles in the pumped glass tube were extinguished faster.
Seeing this, Zhu Changxun looked directly at Li Zhi.
Li Zhi was dumbfounded at this time and murmured: "I didn't expect that my consort would surpass me in knowledge, and my consort's ability to correct me did not rely on his mental awareness, but still relied on experiments to speak for himself."
After Li Zhi said this, he turned to look at Prince Zhu Changxun, bowed his hands to Zhu Changxun and said: "Your Highness, what I just said is indeed a fallacy. The prince consort used experiments to refute it. Even a child can understand who is right." Who is wrong? Therefore, if I refuse to admit it, I will obviously deceive His Highness, be disloyal to the Crown Prince, and also deceive myself and others."
With that, Li Zhi bowed his hands to Wan Wei and said, "Thanks to my prince-in-law for correcting me, I have indeed gone astray. The book I wrote before needs to be burned, and I should not talk about it in front of His Highness again, as it would be too inconsistent with the facts." .”
Zhu Changjun nodded: "In that case, let's break up the class and prepare for the next one."
"yes!"
Xiyuan.
Zhu Yijun, who was taking a walk in Taiye Pond, asked the prince how he was doing recently and learned from Dongchang Admiral Tian Yi that Li Zhi of Wenhua Palace was refuted by Wan Wei when he lectured to the prince, so he laughed and said:
"Very good. I didn't let Wan Wei serve as the lecturer in the East Palace for nothing. This time, it opened the prince's eyes even more. He knew that although some people's views were novel, they were not necessarily right. As the saying goes, there is no end to learning. He You should always keep your own thoughts.”
After Zhu Yijun said that, he returned to his bedroom.
On the way back, Zhu Yijun met Huang Min, the Master Attendant, and asked her: "Can penicillin be extracted in large quantities?"
Huang Min looked at Zhu Yijun, then lowered his head and replied with a blushing face: "Your Majesty, it's not possible yet. The Department of Pharmacy still relies on luck to extract penicillin, mainly because it is difficult to do it in a sterile environment. Please forgive me. crime!"
"I don't mean to blame, just do your best."
"Maybe there needs to be a more efficient sterilization method."
Zhu Yijun left after saying that.
When he turned back inadvertently, he found that Huang Min was still standing there, but when he turned around, Huang Min hurriedly turned around and left.
Zhu Yijun smiled knowingly at this, and then asked Tian Yi: "What is the public opinion on the imposition of luxury tax?"
"Many people say that the first thing Yuanfu did when he took office was that he wanted to make money for himself, so he simply created a clever name to collect money from big families and use it for his own private party, in order to prepare for raising troops to usurp the throne in the future."
Tian Yi replied.
Zhu Yijun frowned after hearing this.
In order to prevent the emergence of the luxury tax, opponents actually made such rumors.
In Zhu Yijun's view, this really kills two birds with one stone. If he really believes this, he must first prevent the emergence of the luxury tax, and then end the matter of Ji Guogong as the chief minister.
At this time, Tian Yi glanced at Zhu Yijun because Zhu Yijun didn't say a word.
"I understand."
Zhu Yijun replied, "Look carefully where this public opinion came from."
"yes!"
With the arrival of the 21st year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun and his ruling ministers did not only implement military reforms but also impose luxury taxes.
Although Ming Dynasty's current social wealth growth mainly relies on external development, if corresponding distribution adjustments are not made, most of the increased social wealth will still flow into the powerful and bureaucratic class, rather than flowing into the country and the common people in large quantities.
The imposition of luxury tax is essentially a control method. It only increases taxes on extravagant behavior in the name of advocating frugality. It does not mean that the court really does not allow powerful bureaucrats and the people to pursue extravagance.
This is what Zhu Yijun and his ruling ministers must do.
Because if we don’t do this, although wealth will increase significantly, we will not be able to enrich the country and benefit the people.
What's more, Zhu Yijun now also needs more treasury revenue to maintain the increased expenditure after the military reform, as well as increase internal revenue to prepare for his next southern tour.
It's just that the sale and use of luxury goods are basically monopolized in the hands of powerful bureaucrats.
Therefore, when Zhu Yijun and his ruling ministers took action on this issue, they were going against all the powerful officials.
Naturally there are many opponents.
certainly.
After all, Zhu Yijun is the emperor, and he is the emperor who has just returned from a personal victory. Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang and other ministers who advocate the imposition of luxury tax are all very prestigious military commanders, so no one dares to directly oppose it. At present, there are only rumors. Rumors were secretly trying to influence the emperor's thoughts.
"His Majesty!"
“According to the data obtained by the Cabinet Policymaking Department based on overt and covert investigations, if the luxury tax is levied and in accordance with the new ratio of three taxes and one to two taxes and one set by the Policymaking Department, the seven major customs and nine municipal shipping departments of this dynasty will We will receive a total of more than 20 million taels of tax money!"
"Gain, since the switch, the demand for luxury goods has been rising every year, even faster than the increase in the demand for food. The demand for luxury goods by the rich and powerful is far greater than the demand for food by the common people."
On this day, when the sun is rising.
Qi Jiguang reported the estimated scale of luxury tax to Zhu Yijun in the Imperial Palace.
Zhu Yijun smiled after hearing this and asked: "So, if the luxury tax is really implemented, it can meet the increased needs of the military reform and the expenses of my southern tour?"
"Back to Your Majesty, yes, even if we add troops to the Tokugawa clan, we will still have savings. If we add in the future opening of trade routes on Honshu Island in Japan, and the increased business taxes and luxury taxes, we can further implement some good governance that benefits the people. .”
Qi Jiguang replied at this time.
At that time, Wang Xijue went out to report: "However, Qianhu Zhongchun, the avant-garde of the government army, recently said in a speech that levying a luxury tax is not as good as levying a mineral tax, saying that the mineral tax will be more generous. Many ministers in the DPRK and China share this opinion. Now I am reporting Your Majesty knows."
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun asked: "What do you think?"
"Your Majesty, mineral taxes cannot be levied. Once a mineral tax is levied, it will be equivalent to a ban on mining. It will also cause the authorities to levy taxes on the people in the name of a land containing mines."
At this time, Shen Li replied.
Zhu Yijun nodded: "I have no intention of exploiting China's favorable geographical location now."
And Wang Lin, the Minister of Household Affairs, said: "But Your Majesty, there are so many people stealing mines among the people. If the mines are still banned, the people who are afraid of being killed will still be unable to stop them."
"Loving the people does not mean being a slave to the people. If you don't want to farm, you can work in factories, or you can go to sea to mine, but you are not allowed to mine in the country. We must try our best to preserve the local mining profits for future generations, and we must not exhaust the lake to fish!"
Zhu Yijun refuted Wang Lin's words and said: "Just impose a luxury tax!"
At this time, Zhang Jingxiu came in: "Your Majesty, there is an urgent delivery from Jinyiwei. Tens of thousands of workers involved in silk and other processing in Suzhou are on strike, demanding that the court stop levying luxury taxes. The organizers Cheng Renqing, Cui Yilin and other people have been secretly detained by Jinyiwei. take."
(End of chapter)
