"If your Majesty wants to use Confucianism, you must know why Confucianism prospered back then, why it failed, and how it ended up here.
I recall that even though Confucius and Zhongni did not dare to call themselves Confucian, they found the first and most important concept for Confucianism.
That’s Jen!
Whether it's his etiquette, which still reflects Mencius' belief that the people are noble, or Xunzi's belief that human nature is evil and the law follows it, benevolence must be the main priority.
As a king, you should treat the people of your family and country with kindness and righteousness.
This is no problem in itself, but why can't Confucianism stand out in front of Legalism and Taoism?
In the final analysis, except for his benevolence, it is not a very reasonable theory in the eyes of the king, especially in the eyes of the king in troubled times.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, they were still not trustworthy, not because the Confucians were at odds with the Qin and Han emperors, but because they had no way to solve the biggest problem.
That's why benevolence?
Taoist Huang Lao said that Tao is the source of the world, so everything in Taoism is because of the way of heaven.
The Legalists believe that the imperial power is supreme, and the power of a country is used to support one person. The imperial power is supreme in the world, and everyone in the world can throw it away for the sake of imperial power!
But what is the reason for Confucianism?
What is the reason for Confucian benevolence?
The supreme power in the world is the imperial power. Why should we suppress the imperial power and treat the people of the world with benevolence and righteousness?
Is this one of them?
Etiquette and law are the basis of Confucian law, but etiquette and law also have benevolence as the core, and this also has no root.
Because Confucianism lacks this root, it has not been reused.
Until Dong Zhongshu found another way and found a reason for Confucian benevolence that was not a reason, that is, to ignore benevolence and instead follow the Legalists to become a vassal of the monarchy.
This is also the reason why the Gongyang family and Dong Zhongshu's lineage are almost inextricably linked to death.
The people of the Gongyang family already know love on the basis of benevolence. The Gongyang family follows the path of a knight-errant, retaliating with hatred and retaliating with resentment.
The Xiongnu oppressed the Han border, and the Han wanted to rush out and take revenge.
But Dong Zhongshu's theory and the Gongyang family's theory are almost completely opposite to each other, so the rangers are all over the northern Xinjiang and rarely enter the Central Plains.
The land of Yongliang does not recognize people from the Central Plains.
But this was not a long-term success after all. The Gongyang family had no successors, and Dong Zhongshu's theory collapsed under the erosion of time.
That's all for Wang Mang. There was also the chaos that lasted for hundreds of years after Huan Ling. In the troubled times, imperial power was in danger, so Confucianism and Legalism, the two academics that relied on imperial power, were all in an embarrassing situation.
At this time, the only prominent school that could continue to support him was Taoism, which once again stood out.
Taoism, especially the Taoist Huang-Lao Way, has its own unique theory. They do not need to rely on any imperial power or any force.
At this time, He Yan, a leader in metaphysics, proposed a concept to combine Taoism with Confucianism.
By borrowing the Taoist way of heaven to return to the origin and to deduce the Confucian benevolence, Confucianism can complete the path that it has not completed for thousands of years.
This idea was a good one, and what he did in the early stage was indeed good, but later on... I think His Majesty also knew about it. "
In prison, Li Gang began to tell Zhao Huan bit by bit about the ideological changes in the world.
"Because of the lack of Confucianism, even with Dong Zhongshu's unity of heaven and man, the people of this Han Dynasty can only keep wandering between the two factions.
The people of the borderlands, the rangers, are not only exceptionally martial, especially in the North, even killing someone to avenge a friend is not considered too much.
He may even be called a righteous man.
But in the Central Plains, this combination of Confucianism and Legalism places more emphasis on superiority and inferiority, as well as etiquette and rules.
The two sides cannot say who is good and who is bad, but for the court, it is best for the people and powerful people in the world to abide by etiquette and law.
In the north, because they faced many foreign races, the imperial court did not mind the preservation of the martial arts and frequent killings.
When the Han Dynasty was strong and powerful, capable ministers and celebrities emerged in large numbers in the Central Plains. The generals in the north, especially the Liangjiazi system, led to the emergence of famous generals in the north.
This is the great man changed by Confucianism.
But after the fall of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism and Legalism collapsed one after another, and the metaphysics based on Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism began to rise. And because of the deviation of this metaphysics, Your Majesty can also see that this famous person in the world does not regard governing the world as his own responsibility.
On the contrary, everyone is obsessed with chatting, and is indifferent to the world, the rulers, and the people.
And this trend also made it impossible for the Southern Dynasty to conquer the Central Plains despite many famous ministers and generals.
In the end, we could only wait until the Sui Dynasty and Yang Jian unified the world, but he was born in a powerful family and had the same problems. In addition, the death of the second generation of the Sui Dynasty led to the third change of the world.
Both the Sui and Tang Dynasties knew that Xuan Feng could not last long, so they unanimously agreed on the matter of containing it. However, because his surname was Li, the Tang Dynasty believed that its ancestor was the Taoist Li Er.
Taoism naturally became the only choice to replace metaphysics, and therefore Taoism became popular.
It's nothing if it's just Taoism. After all, whether it's Huang Lao's art or Taoist alchemy, as long as you don't think about ascending to immortality, it doesn't hurt to build a few Taoist temples.
But at this time, Wu Zetian appeared.
It is so difficult for a woman to become an emperor.
She not only wanted to clear up the obstacles in the court, but most importantly, let the people of the world recognize that Wu Zetian deserved to be the emperor.
So, he chose Buddhism!
Buddhism flourished during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Buddhism's rebirth and metaphysics had similar approaches and approaches. After entering the Central Plains, it immediately became popular in the Central Plains.
But compared to Taoism's inaction alchemy, Buddhism is better at occupying fields and land, recruiting disciples, and expanding its power.
As a result, he was hit again and again early.
In order to fight against the Li and Tang royal families, Wu Zetian not only relied on Buddhism, but also gave herself a well-deserved reputation in the promotion of Buddhism.
As a price, the expansion of Buddhism could no longer be contained from the moment she took power.
In addition to the occupied fields and plundered populations, the most important thing is that their Buddhist thoughts on reincarnation, reincarnation, etc. once again impacted the Central Plains at that time.
Since then, the world has fallen into the constant conflict of ideas from Confucius and Mencius, Confucianism and Taoism, Xuanfeng of Wei and Jin Dynasties, Taoism of Li and Tang Dynasties, and Buddhism of Wu Zhou Dynasty.
While competing with each other, everyone completely put aside this word of loyalty.
Because there is no loyalty in the theory of benevolence and righteousness, Xuanfeng in the Wei and Jin Dynasties placed his affection on the mountains, rivers and natural principles, but there was no loyalty.
Taoism seeks the present, Buddhism seeks the future, both have no loyalty.
It seems that the era of kings choosing ministers, and ministers choosing kings has arrived again, but this time there is no similarity with the past.
This is a simple powerful minister, a powerful minister from generation to generation.
After Taizu established the Song Dynasty, in order to prevent the emergence of powerful officials, the Song Dynasty had an extremely unique official system.
But the root cause has not been solved, that is, after Mr. Ouyang left the town, he still lingered among the mountains and rivers.
Those who were officials in the Song Dynasty were all good in literary talent. They would write a poem or a line of poetry at every turn. When they ran out of ideas, they would wander around the mountains and rivers.
No one looked at the people. After all, the Wei and Jin Xuanfeng and the many ideas gave them countless reasons.
They can do what they want, with the excuse that the sages have already thought of it for them.
What's more, Emperor Zhenzong said that the book has its own golden house, and the book has its own beauty like jade. "
Zhao Huan looked at Li Gang in front of him, and his expression gradually became serious. He sat upright and solemnly. Looking at Li Gang who stopped breathing, he nodded again.
"If you continue, what about today's so-called New Confucianism?"
"Back then, Duke Zhou Dunyi was facing many problems and put forward his own opinions. He felt that people in the world should not be like this. If you can't become an official, you must either get money, or do it for the experience of landscape, or for yourself.
Such scholars are not scholars and do not deserve to be scholars.
Scholars in this world should all be like Fan Wenzheng!
Therefore, the idea of New Confucianism also appeared, and Zhang Zaigong's next four sentences in Hengqu determined the direction of New Confucianism.
Establish a mind for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the living people, carry on the unique teachings of the past saints, and create peace for all generations!
This is the path of New Confucianism.
It is precisely because of all the previous things that we have these four sentences of Hengqu. To establish a heart for the world is why we study; to establish a destiny for the people is to be an official; to carry on the unique knowledge to the saints is to learn; to create peace for all generations is to The world!
But the road changed again with brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi.
Cheng Hao came up with another idea. Starving to death is a small matter, but losing integrity is a big deal!
New Confucianism and imperial power were once again linked together, but this time what they wanted to do was to suppress the imperial power as well.
They merged the Xuanfeng of Wei and Jin Dynasties again and placed the principle in the position of the way of heaven. Everything in the world is because of the principle. Whatever we want to do, we must pursue this principle.
It is even proposed that to limit our desires, we only need to have the most basic principles between heaven and earth.
Between heaven and earth, eating and drinking and husband and wife are the principles of this world. Other desires for food, greed, money and silk, and fame and fortune are just human desires.
Desires must be restrained.
This cannot be said to be bad, but if this was really put into the world, how many people would be able to persist.
What will happen if the superior cannot persevere?
Your Majesty, today's Neo-Confucianism is a path that has been finally taken, and today's Neo-Confucianism is also a path that can still be changed.
If that's the case, why don't we wait?
We need to let the people in the world understand, let the scholars in the world understand.
Killing and massacre have never been the purpose. What we have to do is let them know what they should do and how they should do it!
At the very least, I want them to study not for fame, fortune or money!
It is to establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to carry on the unique knowledge of the saints, and to create peace for all generations! "
Looking at Li Gang, Zhao Huan moved his head, constantly making crisp sounds, which was the bones rotating.
"If I want to achieve this, I'm afraid I will have to stick to it for the rest of my life."
"yes!"
"In this life, I cannot accept concubines, build palaces, enjoy extravagant things, and even have to put many shackles on myself.
Just because of this so-called effectiveness.
If I want the people of the world to... even if it's just for the sake of appearance, I have to set an example? "
"Your Majesty, the Lord of Saints!"
.....
In 1138 AD, the thirty-eight-year-old Zhao Huan officially changed his reign name to the first year of Tianding.
This year, Empress Zhu Lian of the Song Dynasty personally ordered that 80% of her palace residents be dismissed to weave cloth and raise silkworms in order to live frugally.
Emperor Zhao Huan of the Song Dynasty ordered to reduce all expenses inside and outside the palace to supply the world.
Fan Zongyin, the official secretary of the Song Dynasty, died of illness in his palace. Before his death, he donated nine layers of his family's money to support the emperor.
Yu Wenxuzhong was once again re-appointed by Zhao Huan as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and he also donated a lot of family wealth.
This year, officials of the Song Dynasty began to move out of the big houses, lived in small courtyards, put on shabby clothes, and no longer dared to put big fish, meat, and delicacies on the table.
But just when they were guessing how long they could keep pretending like this.
In the same year, Zhang Yong, deputy commander of the Imperial City Department, investigated and punished 315 officials of the Song Dynasty. Every one of them was wearing rags and rags, so they said that they donated all their wealth to the court.
In fact, it is those who line their own pockets and violate the law.
Also in this year, Neo-Confucianism, or Neo-Confucianism, was officially designated as the official school of the Song Dynasty.
The four lines of Hengqu were carved by Zhao Huan at the entrance of the imperial city to inform the world.
"Every scholar, official or common man in the Song Dynasty, must keep these four sentences in mind and do not violate them!"
