Zhao Xin really couldn't understand how Liu Yong could say such words with confidence. If he hadn't seen the clear eyes of the other party, he would have thought Liu Yong was insane.
"Mr. Zhao, other people would think that I, Liu, are crazy, but I mean everything I say from the bottom of my heart."
Liu Yong put on a sincere look, and continued in a tone that was half kind and half stern: "The Emperor is a wise and wise ruler. He is a rare hero in the ages. He has the world's most powerful talents and billions of people under his command. How many people do you have in Beihai Town? People? Even if you count those border people who have been favored by the emperor for generations, are there half a million? Even if you take all the living people of the Japanese country, it will only be tens of millions. The so-called earthworm shakes the tree refers to the current situation between the two sides .
Destroying a country is different from seizing land. Right now, Mr. Zhao, from Yaksa to Ninggu Pagoda, and from the east of the sea to Heilongjiang City, seems to have conquered a huge piece of land, but that is just a small part of the world. In order to pacify Jinchuan and Jinchuan, the imperial court fought for nearly thirty years and raised hundreds of thousands of troops. May I ask how Mr. Zhao compares with Shaluoben and Sonomu? Can you afford it?
Even if your big iron ship is invincible across the sea, can you drive it onto land? If the imperial court issued a sea ban, where would you go to find supplies? Where can I earn money to support the army? Our emperor is as merciful as heaven. For the sake of the people along the coast, he could not bear to cut off their livelihoods. This is why your big iron ships are allowed to exploit loopholes everywhere. But do you really think the court dare not? "
After Liu Yong finished speaking, he saw that Zhao Xin and Cao Peng beside him were both stunned, showing a look of dementia, and thought that my words had spoken to Zhao Thief's heart.
The background of his words was an edict sent by Qianlong last month, which said that if it didn't work, he could only adopt the appeasement strategy. In fact, the conditions offered by Qianlong were far more than that. His upper limit was to raise the flag to become a county king, hereditary succession, and choose one of the princes to marry. The price was that Zhao Xin guarded Yaksa for the Manchus and fought against Rakshasa. A life or death.
Na Qitai stared at Zhao Xin intently, only to see the other person frowning and squinting, with an expression as weird as possible.
At this time, Cao Peng, who was sitting next to Zhao Xin, finally couldn't stand it anymore and said with a sneer: "Master Liu, do you still remember the clothes of the Han people? If you don't do good things, you have to be a dog for the Manchu Tatars. You, Mr. Liu, and your son are really role models for Han scholars! Throughout the ages, there have been many heroes and lofty ideals in Shandong who sang tragic songs generously to resist foreign invasions. How could they come up with something like you?!"
As soon as these words came out, several Eight Banners generals, including Na Qitai, became furious, and some even drew out their swords and shouted harshly. To them, Liu Yong was the imperial envoy of the imperial court and represented Emperor Qianlong; Cao Peng insulted Liu Yong and insulted the emperor.
"Presumptuous! Who are you, who dares to speak such arrogant words?!"
"Master Liu, what can you, a bastard with no hair on his head, talk about?! His old man, Qing Jie, holds a bow and is famous all over the world! Everyone in the world admires his kindness, even Bao Gong can compare with him!"
"Now that the Holy Emperor is on the throne, Manchu and Han are one family, and there is no longer any distinction between Yi and Di in the world!"
The soldiers of the Northern Navy behind Zhao Xin had been prepared for a long time. At this time, they all took out the pistols from their waists, pointed at the generals and shouted: "Put down the knife! What about you!"
"I won't let you go. If you can, beat me to death!"
"How presumptuous! Put away all the knives!" Liu Yong shouted sharply and looked back at the generals. The light from his triangular eyes made everyone under his command shudder.
When he turned around, his face was calm. He looked at Cao Peng and said calmly: "Your surname is Cao, and your speech has a Hui accent. Could it be related to the Cao family in She County?"
"Tch!" Cao Peng's mouth was crooked, thinking that this old fox really guessed it right. Cao Peng's ancestors were the Cao family in Shexian County, Anhui Province, and Cao Wenqian who had previously made a fuss about resigning but was taken advantage of by Liu Yong.
Liu Yong turned his attention to Zhao Xin and said: "Mr. Zhao, I advise you not to make a fuss about the distinction between Manchu and Han. Nowadays, even a three-year-old child in Jiangnan knows that Manchu and Han are all one family, so why are there differences between Yi and Di?" If you try to use this to win people over, I’m afraid you will be disappointed.”
Zhao Xin smiled and said: "Cao Peng, it's too hard for Mr. Liu to say that. Mr. Liu's moral articles are famous all over the world, and everyone in the world admires the incorruptible character of the two generations of father and son. Zhu Zi said, why is the Doctrine of the Mean created? What? Zisi Zixia was worried about the loss of Taoism and wrote it. Since ancient times, the Holy God has succeeded the heaven and established the pole, and the transmission of Taoism has come naturally. It is found in the classics, and it is allowed to hold on to those who are in the middle. The reason why Yao taught it Shun also."
After saying this, among the other Manchu and Qing officials present, except for Liu Yong and a few civilian officials, their expressions suddenly changed. None of the other generals understood what Zhao Xin was talking about.
"You!" Liu Yong's eyes narrowed, and a cold light suddenly shot out at Zhao Xin, and the muscles on his face twitched a few times unconsciously. Zhao Xin's words were like a whip, hitting him hard.
Zhao Xin now knows three things about swearing without using curse words. The first person in history to clearly put forward the concept of "Tao Tong" was Zhu Xi, and what Zhao Xin just said was his explanation of Tao Tong in "Preface to the Doctrine of the Mean".
Since ancient times, Chinese scholars have always upheld the spirit of who would be better than me! Mencius said, "In five hundred years, a king will surely rise, and during this period there will be someone famous... If I want to rule the world peacefully, in this world, who else can I do?"
Zhao Xin's words were both praise and criticism, meaning that although you, Liu Yong, are a so-called great Confucian, and your father and son are known to be incorruptible, you have lost even the most important orthodoxy of a scholar. What kind of character do you have? The scholars' right to speak is gone. What is it if it's not a dog-leg?
It is said that the reason why Zhao Xin appears to be so "learned" actually stems from an in-depth conversation between him and Wang Zhong.
In Wang Zhong's view, since the Northern Song Dynasty, with the formation of the "Taoist View", scholars all over the world have been practicing the political ideal of "taking responsibility for oneself with Taoism", relying on the power of Taoist discourse to check and balance each other with the imperial power representing the rule.
Both Zhu Xi and later Wang Fuzhi believed that Taoism had the superiority of existing independently of governance, and Confucian scholar-officials must have a sense of mission to consciously preserve "Taoism." In the minds of Confucian scholars, it is a consensus that reason is superior to power. Since the Song and Ming dynasties, Confucian scholars have all hoped to rectify the order of the world according to the ideal of "Tao Tong", so as to integrate "political unity" into "Tao Tong". This is the so-called "To Jun Yao and Shun".
Wang Zhong asked Zhao Xin at that time, do you think it was the Literary Prison that scared scholars and made them willing to be slaves of the Manchus?
Zhao Xin's answer is right, that's what I think.
But what Wang Zhong said next completely refreshed Zhao Xin's understanding. He said that literary inquisition has existed since ancient times and has been common in all dynasties, but it was the most cruel and violent in this dynasty, and it has become even more distorted to the extreme since Qianlong succeeded to the throne.
In the Song Dynasty, which many Chinese people are proud of, there were countless literary inquisitions. There were dozens of cases, including the case of Zuo Di, the case of Wutai poems, the case of Tongwen hall, the case of Chegaiting poems, the case of Hu Quan's memorials, the case of Li Guang's "Small History", the case of "Collection of Jianghu", etc.
Yes, the scholar-bureaucrats could not be punished, and the emperor did not confiscate their homes and exterminate their families, but he was exiled! When the ancients arrived in the smoggy south, there was no one who didn't get sick, and few survived the amnesty and returned home.
However, during the Song and Ming dynasties, even though the scholar-bureaucrats were repeatedly persecuted due to literary inquisition, they still adhered to their orthodoxy and tried every means to decentralize power with the emperor. Why could they not do so in the Qing Dynasty?
Wang Zhong told Zhao Xin that the real reason was not the literary prison, but the "unity of governance and Taoism"!
With the establishment of the emperor's image of "governing and Taoism as one" during the Kangxi era, the lofty political ideal of "ruling the world with the emperor" based on Taoism that Confucian scholars relied on was finally shattered, and the scholars' right to criticize politics and the right to speak out were lost. Only then will he be manipulated by the Literary Prison to the point of death.
Those Confucian officials in the court who were worried that "the Tao was not working" played an important role in this process. They accelerated the Confucianization process of the Manchu aristocrats, especially the emperors of the early Qing Dynasty, through "classical banquet lectures", and finally completed the process of "the conquerors were conquered." Conquest" historic transformation.
This is why the rules in many Banner families are stricter and more cumbersome than those of Han people. Didn't you say we are barbarians? I am more polite and polite than you Han people! In fact, it was the Sinicization of Manchu dignitaries that accelerated the pace of "unity of governance and morality."
In fact, during the Shunzhi period, the emperor's participation in Sutra banquets was not high. However, starting from Kangxi, as the frequency of Sutra banquets gradually increased, the studious Kangxi also gained a certain degree of confidence in his mastery of Confucian culture, and the nature of Sutra banquets gradually changed. Changes have occurred; from Confucian ministers teaching Han culture to emperors, it has transformed into a means for emperors to express their own opinions and instruct Han ministers, and the role of scholars as "imperial teachers" has gradually been lost.
Kangxi, who was as knowledgeable as a Confucian scholar, reconstructed the Huayi debate with "great unification" on one hand, and eliminated racial distinctions with cultural identity on the other. It was only in the Yongzheng period that the "Dayi Jue Mi Lu" was perfected, and at the same time, he also used literary inquisition. The political high pressure finally monopolized the right to interpret the "Orthodox".
This is not just the right to interpret culture, but the right to interpret "truth"!
In the feudal society of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, orthodoxy was the unbreakable truth.
The theory that traditional monarchy is restricted by Taoism has lost its basis for existence. The consciousness of imperial power has developed to the extreme. The emperor controls the common people as the "teacher of the world". Any thoughts and speeches that pose a threat to the rule of the Qing court or are not in line with the rule of the emperor will be punished. Crack down hard.
In this way, readers consciously give up their own right to criticize discourse. Political ideals were gone, as was spiritual freedom, so scholars could only express their personal thoughts in a "private" way. This is why "textual criticism" emerged in the Qing Dynasty.
The scholars tried to find an expression of principles in textual research, thereby forming a new right to speak, and using the cloak of textual research to express their personal "private will" in addition to the "public will". They indirectly criticize real politics through textual research on Confucian classics, and adopt a relatively obscure way of expressing their right to speak in textual research. On the one hand, they can get rid of the control of cultural autocracy, and on the other hand, they are still involved in real politics, playing the role of assistant, Observe and correct the role of realpolitik.
Therefore, things like the mountains and rivers of the motherland, the clothes of the Han people, etc. are just superficial. Cao Peng used this to argue with Liu Yong, but it was completely irrelevant.
In fact, so far, although the Beihai Navy has defeated the Qing army, defeated the Rakshasa, and ravaged the shogunate, Qianlong and Liu Yong, including many scholars, actually look down on Beihai Town.
In a word, Beihai Town has no culture!
The Manchu Qing Dynasty at least had "unity of governance and Taoism", but Beihai Town didn't even have "Taoism". If you don't talk about orthodoxy, you are simply the enemy of the scholar class, more barbarian than the Manchus!
If Zhao Xin hadn't pulled the tiger skin of the descendant of the last King Zhao, no one in the Li Dynasty would even bother him.
Zhao Xin saw that the fire was almost done and decided to add more firewood. He stared at Liu Yong's eyebrows and said, "Master Liu, my wife asked me to say hello to you."
"What do you mean by this?"
"This time you are here to negotiate with Beihai Town on behalf of Qianlong. As far as I'm concerned, the two countries will not be cut off until war breaks out, so I will be polite to you. Otherwise..."
"Mr. Zhao, tell me what you have to say. Why do you have to be so pretentious? Do you still want to arrest me and make me a prisoner?"
Zhao Xin took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, trying his best to make his tone less impulsive. "There are more than 200 men, women, and children in Xu Chen's family in Dongtai. They asked me to say hello to you. My wife will not forget your 'kindness' to them for more than ten years!"
In the flash of lightning, Liu Yong, who was well-read and well-remembered, suddenly remembered the big scandal he had handled in Jiangsu's academic administration eleven years ago. He suddenly stood up with a "swish" sound and pointed at Zhao Xin with an unbelievable expression on his face.
"Yizhulou in Dongtai?! Isn't your wife the daughter of Shen Jingdan? What does she have to do with the Xu family in Dongtai..." Liu Yong suddenly reacted. He was half sure and half asked and said sharply: "No! She Are they descendants of Shen Chengzhuo?!"
Zhao Xin smiled faintly, extended his thumb and said: "Mr. Liu, you have such a good memory! As an aside, Mr. Liu, you know that although you have married one wife and three concubines in your life, you have enjoyed all the blessings of the same family. But why are you here? Are you still childless in a sixty-year-old family?"
(In another time and space, the modern historian Ma Zonghuo said in his "Shu Lin Chronicle": "There are three concubines in Shi'an, all of whom can ghostwrite, but they can be unreliable and outsiders cannot tell." Needless to say about calligraphy, Liu Yong had three concubines. But it has been verified.)
At this time, Liu Yong was still immersed in the memories of the old events in the 42nd year of Qianlong's reign, so he instinctively replied: "Why?"
Cao Peng didn't wait for Zhao Xin to speak, and answered directly: "Master Liu, the so-called evil man's immorality does not need to be used too much. One thing is so immoral that it can annihilate his descendants!"
"Hmm~" Liu Yong felt a sweetness welling up in his throat, and there was already a trace of blood on the corner of his mouth.
It is said that Liu Yong's biggest regret in his life was that he had no children when he was over sixty. He asked himself that he had lived a life worthy of others. Both father and son had been upright and upright, so why did he not have a son? Forget about my wife, even if I marry three concubines, they can only crow but not lay eggs. Later, there was no other way, so he adopted his nephew Liu Xipeng. Unfortunately, he had no future and could not even pass the Jinshi examination.
As a result, Cao Peng shook off the biggest hidden problem in his heart.
Cao Peng still felt that it was not enough, so he added: "You vomit blood after being spoken to for a few words. Is this the virtue of a scholar? Hahaha! If I say a few more words about Qianlong's scandal, will you have to jump into the river?"
"The surname is Cao!"
"What's the matter? You want to bite me? I'll throw a detonator and blow a hole for you first, so you don't have to drill it yourself!"
"That's outrageous!" A Manchu official sighed as he stamped his feet.
Zhao Xin laughed and stood up, turned to the confused Na Qitai and said: "I said before, you can take away more than a thousand prisoners from Ning Guta this time without ransom. They will be there in ten days It will be delivered to you and you can take it away. There is nothing else to talk about!
Go back and tell Qianlong that the Northern Navy is not the White Lotus Sect and the Tiandihui who divide gold and silver. In less than ten years, our red flag will be planted all over the mountains and rivers! "
After that, he turned to Liu Yong, who was being supported by someone with his eyes closed, and said, "Master Liu, I won't be so polite next time we meet, so please take care of yourself!"
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