The power of inertia is really strong.
Even in this current state, even in the state where the Jinwen School has been defeated mentally and physically by Liu Bei, it is still extremely difficult to destroy his spirit.
It is a long and arduous task to ideologically reshape the Han Empire, so it would be a good choice to pay a little attention to the trends in folk thought.
Therefore, Liu Bei handed over the letter screening process to Ruan Yu, the person in charge of public opinion warfare, letting him wear multiple hats and eat two things.
When understanding public opinion, one can also be alert to the spread of some bad ideas, so that Ruan Yu can discover them as soon as possible and formulate corresponding strategies as soon as possible.
A war of public opinion must be fought at any time. The more superior a person is, the more they must pay attention to the influence of public opinion. It cannot be done badly.
Ruan Yu was very happy about this and devoted himself to the job with great interest. After a while, he came to see Liu Bei with the letters he selected that he considered the most valuable and representative, and divided them into different categories. The letter was given to Liu Bei.
"The few ones are just nonsense and meaningless. But if you need them, I will pick out some that look more pleasing to your eyes. They are somewhat meaningful."
"The majority of these letters are the letters you need that provide suggestions and highlight your talents. Some of them are quite interesting. I read them and feel that there are indeed some talented people among them."
Ruan Yu said with a smile: "This method of yours not only allows some people to vent their emotions and improve their opinions of you, but also allows you to understand some trends in folk thought. Killing two birds with one stone is what you are best at."
Liu Bei smiled.
"It's good if it's effective. If it's effective, it means that the people among the people still have confidence and ideas in us. It wouldn't be good if there aren't even serious letters and they're all just moaning and groaning. It means that the people want to Something big happened.”
"That's what you said."
"So, after reading this, what do you think about the trends among the people during this period of time?"
"Generally speaking, there are no very strange trends. It's just that after we destroyed the Modern Literature School, some scholars among the people did not seem to have much confidence in ancient Chinese classics, and turned to study the early days of the founding of the Han Dynasty. It’s Huang Lao’s technique.”
Ruan Yu said slowly: "It seems that there are not many such people at present. One of the five or six letters mentioned Taoism and Huang Lao's art. In their view, ancient classics and modern classics are not the same. There is no essential difference.
Modern classics have failed, and ancient classics may also fail. They all have some doubts about Confucianism. They believe that the difficulties since the ZTE were all caused by Confucianism, and they should turn back to the right path and try to rebuild Return to the era of Wenjing's rule. "
"If you want to use Huang Lao's skills to return to Wenjing's rule, this is not a simple matter."
Liu Bei nodded slowly, picked up a letter, opened it and read it for a while.
"What a coincidence. This is a book advocating the art of Huang Lao. The writing is quite interesting."
"Um?"
"This is not only criticizing some of the errors and disasters caused by Confucianism, but also advocating the use of Huang-Lao's techniques for targeted improvements, and also proposing relevant methods, striving to complete the reform within three years, so that the Han Dynasty can Return to the era of Wen and Jing's rule, completely abandon Confucianism, and depose all high-ranking officials."
"oh!"
Ruan Yu smiled and said: "I remember, this letter was written by an imperial student named Chen Mu. He was very courageous and his words were very sharp, especially when you yourself are also the head of a high-ranking family. This letter is truly groundbreaking.”
"Well, that's interesting."
Liu Bei smiled and said: "Not only are he dissatisfied with the modern classics, but he also feels that the ancient classics are the same breed. The way for the Han Dynasty to truly get out of its decadent situation is to return to the rule of tranquility and inaction.
He believes that the main reason why civil wars have occurred in the past twenty years is because the court officials are ruthless and wanton. The court officials take and ask from the people and take too much, so that they are using Confucian techniques on the surface, but they are committing violence in their hearts. The art of Qin Legalism.
The same is true for the imperial court itself. On the surface, it claims to be benevolent and righteous, but in fact it is extortionate, unbenevolent, and only harsh. If there is no real change, even the ancient literary school will follow the old path, so Confucianism should be completely abandoned. "
"Don't say it. Although it is a little immature in some places, it makes some sense."
Ruan Yu said with a smile: "Many of the chaos we have seen in recent years were forced by corrupt officials. The imperial taxation has also become more and more serious. It really has the intention of tyrannizing the Qin Dynasty, which is similar to the frivolous corvee and low taxation at the beginning of the founding of the country. , it’s really a big difference.”
Liu Bei nodded.
"So, he expressed strong dissatisfaction with this and believed that if I want to change the status quo, then after eliminating the Modern Literature School, what I should do is not support the Ancient Literature School, but return to the rule of Wenjing, implement reforms, and adopt the techniques of Huang and Lao. Governing the country.
He wants me to change my current state of being very promising, do light corvee and low taxes, rest with the people, try not to disturb the people, and let the people recover on their own. He also wants me to reduce the number of officials, reduce the number of officials, and restrict the power and power of officials. Behavior.
It would be best to change the three-level system of states and counties to the two-level system of states and counties, and remove the county level, so that we can save... Oh, this guy even calculated the accounts for me, let me take a look and find him In this way, by removing the first-level organizational structure, at least 10,000 officials and four to five times the number of staff can be reduced. "
Liu Bei looked up at Ruan Yu and smiled.
"This guy is shouting about quietness and inaction, but all the people he uses are promising people who are more powerful than me. He has cut off 10,000 officials and 40,000 officials. The big man only has 160,000 officials in total. He is here to kill them. The entire officialdom of the Han Dynasty has been cut off by one-third. How can this be quiet and inactive? This is fatal."
"I was also shocked by it, so I brought this letter to you."
Ruan Yu said with a smile: "Compared with this article, the others all seem a bit petty, they are all joking around and talking about boring things, but this one is really talking about things.
Although it seems a bit arrogant, it can also represent the dissatisfaction of a considerable number of people with the policies pursued by the current court and the dissatisfaction with the misbehavior of court officials. "
"Yes, I am indeed very dissatisfied. Didn't I hate corrupt officials so much back then?"
Liu Bei put down the letter and said with a smile: "But what he said was too violent, and he spoke to ten thousand officials. The fact that he can have such thoughts shows that he does not have a deep understanding of Taoist classics.
He was probably just dissatisfied with reality, and then he briefly read some Taoist classics. Without systematic study or understanding, he mixed Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism together to create a three-dimensional image. "
Ruan Yu didn't know much about Taoist classics and asked curiously: "Aren't you specialized in "Zuo Shi Chun Qiu" and "Guwen Shangshu"? Are you also involved in Taoist classics?"
"After coming to Luoyang, I took a lot of time and read a lot of books, including Taoist classics and even some documents and records from the Wenjing era. I also read them all."
Liu Bei said slowly: "The Taoist technique is said to be quiet and inactive, but in fact, the real essence lies in following the rules."
"follow?"
Liu Bei nodded.
"Well, Tai Shigong's father, Sima Tan, knows a lot about Taoist art. He once said that its art is based on nothingness and uses conformity. Silence and inaction are the pursuit and ideal of Taoist art. If you want to achieve The most important thing is to follow this ideal.
Sima Tan publicly believes that Taoist techniques have no fixed rules, and the most important thing is the principles of nature, adapting to changes, and taking advantage of the situation. It seems to be inaction, but in fact it is very promising. And this kind of promising can be like the drizzle on a spring night, moistening everything. Silence This is the highest ideal pursued by Taoists, and I cannot live up to it. "
"So, what Chen Mu said is somewhat reasonable?"
Ruan Yu asked: "Should we call him to have an in-depth talk with him? This person is somewhat famous within the Imperial College, and his grades are quite good. He also often delivers some public speeches within the Imperial College. There are not a few Taixue students influenced by him. ."
"No need, he is still too immature. Moreover, we are doing what he said and doing it even better."
? ? ?
Ruan Yu looked at Liu Bei with a question mark on his head.
"what do you mean?"
"Didn't I make it clear enough?"
Liu Bei looked at Ruan Yu with a smile: "Yuan Yu, the art of Taoism lies in nothingness, but also in compliance. He saw nothingness, but did not see compliance. Of course, it is not his fault. Without enough experience, he cannot see compliance. of the essence.”
"The essence of Yinxun?"
Ruan Yu said puzzledly: "My subordinates are not very talented and have little knowledge, so I would like to ask you for some advice."
Liu Bei nodded and said slowly: "If you don't understand the rules, you can't be quiet and do nothing. If you don't understand the rules, you can't be quiet and do nothing. It's not as good as me, using military force to force reforms. At least I can really do it." Do it, and he simply can't do it.
Eliminating the first-level organizational structure and laying off 50,000 officials is of course a good thing. It can save the court a lot of money and prevent corrupt officials from continuing to act recklessly. It is also good for the people. But does he think that these people who have been laid off Will 50,000 officials be captured without hesitation?
How did I deal with them? Use troops to directly make them unable to fight against me. Only in this way can we succeed. And what about him? With just a few words, there are more than 160,000 officials in the country, and 50,000 are to be cut. How to cut them? Who should be cut and who should not be cut?
Moreover, these 50,000 reduction quotas will cause more than 100,000 people to worry before they are actually implemented. They will all worry that they will be laid off, lose their power, lose their status and interests. trouble.
In order not to be laid off, these officials will resolutely stand against our opponents even if they are afraid. Believe it or not, if I do this, the power of Zheng Tai and Jia Xi's gang will instantly expand ten thousand times. Directly became my life and death enemy. "
(End of chapter)
