Gao Pragmatic is eight years old this year, but he has been enlightened for nearly five years. How rare this is! How could Gao Gong not be confident in him?
Those "three hundred thousand" [Note: Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, Thousand Character Classic. ], "Ji Jiu Zhang", "Tong Meng Xun" and other famous enlightenment books that have been published, he has already memorized them by heart - this is not surprising at all. When he was young in his previous life, his grandfather was a teacher in the countryside, and he went to a private school in his early years, so " "Old Concepts" are very heavy, and Gao Pragmatic has memorized all the above enlightenment books. Even Gao Pragmatic's two favorite books, "Long Wen Whip Shadow" and "Zeng Guang Xian Wen" are missing. These two books are not yet available. When it came out, Gao Pragmatic had even been hesitating whether to rewrite it silently to benefit the public.
Of course, although he does have a little bit of the mentality of benefiting the public, the most fundamental reason is that he hopes to use these two books to "support his hope." But after thinking about it carefully later, I felt that "Long Wen Whip Shadow" could be used if there was a chance, but "Zeng Guang Xian Wen" could not be used - no matter how you read this book, it is a book that has seen through the hot and cold world. Only "Lao Jianghu" can write this work, and it adheres to Xunzi's theory of human nature and evil both inside and outside. With Mr. Xiao Gao's background, age, and experience, writing it will only be regarded as asking someone to take advantage of others. On the contrary, Not beautiful.
The book Gao Pragmatic is reading right now is "The Great Learning". When reading "The Great Learning" in the Ming Dynasty, one must also read the "matching" "Great Learning Chapters". After all, the Ming Dynasty respected Zhu Xi as Zhu Zi. If you are not familiar with Zhu Zi's views, If you are proficient in reading, there will definitely be no good results in the scientific examination. In fact, the book about "The Great Learning" that he really liked and often studied seriously was Qiu Jun's "Extensions of the Great Learning".
Gao Pragmatic has always felt that most of the contents of the Four Books and the Five Classics are too "metaphysical", or to use his inner words, it is simply: high-spirited talk.
But reading "The Supplement to the Explanations of the Great Learning" is not only a matter of learning, but also a matter of governance philosophy - the practical learning of the Ming Dynasty originated from this.
"Shi" is originally a knowing word. "Shuowen" explains the word "Shi": "Shi, rich, Congwu (Note: pronounced 'mian'.), Guan." Guan means goods. Therefore, the paragraph's note: "To fill the house with goods is to be practical." It can be seen that practical means real and substantial, and when extended to practical learning, it can be understood as practical knowledge, which refers to true learning, or even practical learning. , and even knowledge aimed at enriching the country and strengthening the people.
The theory of practical learning first appeared in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but its origins should be traced back to at least the Han Dynasty. Han Confucianism took the six classics "Poems", "Books", "Yi", "Li", "Yue" and "Spring and Autumn"" taught by Confucius in the pre-Qin Dynasty as its classics. However, because one of them was lost later, only five others remained. Called the Five Classics. Confucianism became more and more important during the Han Dynasty. After Dong Zhongshu wrote to Emperor Wu, proposing that "all those who are not in the 'six arts' or the art of Confucius must abandon their own way and not be allowed to advance together," Confucianism has been more officially supported and promoted, and has gradually become a Official science. At that time, all scholars studied the classics. Those who could master one classic were considered Confucian scholars. Those who could master the five classics and comprehensively studied them were called Tongren and were regarded as having practical knowledge.
Some people may be wondering, in the eyes of later generations, Confucianism is obviously a doctrine that "just talks about big principles", and few people would associate Confucianism with practicality. What's going on?
The famous historian Mr. Lu Simian said: "The rise of Confucianism was not only due to practical politics, so its learning was very practical." He also said: "Those who were practicing Confucianism at that time paid attention to facts rather than simple policies. Therefore, its learning is useful but not complicated." What Mr. Lu means is that when Confucianism first emerged in the form of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty, it focused on practical politics and practical affairs, which can be called practical learning. Later, due to the internal disputes between ancient and modern scriptures within Confucian classics and the theological teleology proposed by Dong Zhongshu, which promoted the superstitious trend of prophecy, Confucian classics became increasingly complicated, secretive, and false, and gradually turned into the opposite of early Confucianism.
What is the reason why Qiu Jun's "Supplement to the Explanations of the Great Learning" is regarded by Gao Pragmatic as the beginning of practical learning in the Ming Dynasty? Because people in the Ming Dynasty read "The Great Learning" like "The Great Learning" written by Zhen Dexiu of the Song Dynasty, they only focused on understanding the principles of studying things, rectifying the mind, cultivating one's character, and regulating the family, but had no knowledge of the affairs of governing the country and bringing peace to the world. . Therefore, "The Supplement to the Explanations of the University" mainly focuses on governing the country and bringing peace to the world, including political concepts, economic concepts, national concepts, etc., all of which are elucidated.
His political thoughts, such as the role of the monarch and the relationship between the monarch and the people, are discussed more clearly than those of his predecessors, but in general, they are still derived from the category of valuing the people and despising the monarch, so there is no need to go into detail. However, his views on economic theory were quite advanced at the time. For example, he said: "All department stores in the world rely on money to circulate. Those who are heavy cannot be lifted. Without money, one cannot go far. Those who are stagnant cannot pass. Without money, one cannot move." Money cannot be used for both purposes; what is big cannot be divided; what is not money cannot be used for small purposes; goods are heavy and money is light; goods are stagnant but money is all used." This is the realization that "money" is what later generations would call "general" Equivalents" principle.
Speaking of the shortcomings of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, he not only elaborated on the problem, but also proposed a solution: "It is better to use silver and money banknotes in equal measure. Each silver cent can be exchanged for ten coins, and a newly made banknote can be exchanged for ten coins. Wen, if the four corners are not broken at all, there are five wen for each change of money, for those who are broken, three wen, for those who are faint and have consistent characters, one wen, the whole world is considered to be custom-made, and the crime of unauthorized addition and subtraction is strictly enforced. Although things are born with abundance and abundance, Goods are always high or low, but the amount of silver and money transactions is fixed and never easy. It has been practiced for hundreds of generations and can be used in all directions."
Here, "the number of transactions between silver and banknotes is certain but never easy. It has been practiced for hundreds of years and can be used in all directions." In fact, a banknote issuance system based on silver should be established to avoid currency depreciation caused by the excessive issuance of banknotes. At that time, the silver-standard financial system may have some problems when looking at the world. However, in Qiu Jun's era, the great voyage of the West had just begun. If the Ming Dynasty implemented a silver-standard financial system, Gao Pragmatic felt that it should still be a very advanced currency. Thought. Even if seventy or eighty years have passed since Qiu Jun's era, it would not be impossible for the silver standard to be implemented within the Ming Dynasty - at least it would be better than the current chaos.
Others include proposing the labor theory of value, opposing the state monopoly system and advocating free trade among the people, advocating that the court establish an "ancient policy minister" - similar to the later National Bureau of Statistics - and even proposing that each locality report grain prices every year and the court stipulates tax amounts accordingly, etc. etc., many of which are similar policies to be implemented step by step in the highly pragmatic "saving the Ming Dynasty" plan.
One of the reasons why Gao Pragmatic read the "Extensions of the University" in depth is to find some basis for future reforms from the works and remarks of these predecessors. It should be noted that in Chinese history, especially in the era when Confucianism prevailed after Dong Zhongshu, reforms could not be implemented casually by those in power. Without a certain theoretical basis and a certain basis of public opinion, it was simply impossible.
At this time, he was seeing that "the cost of land transportation for river and canal transportation can be saved by 30% or 40%, and the cost of land transportation for sea transportation can be saved by 78%. The labor of speed is comparable to the benefits and disadvantages. Nowadays, the Cao River is well-connected and the fortunes are full every year, so there is no capital for sea transportation. However, those who are good at planning the country always worry about unexpected things before they happen, and would rather worry about everything. Regret at the last moment." He thought to himself: "Qiu Jun wanted to use sea transportation instead of water transportation. This matter was determined to be sabotaged by people related to the water transportation interests. If I want to reform this law in the future, I must think about the legendary 'Cao Gang' people. We have to find a way out, otherwise we will definitely get twice the result with half the effort, or even not be able to get on with it at all.”
As he was thinking, he suddenly heard footsteps outside. His heart moved, and he heard the voices of the two girls who were admiring the moon and listening to the piano outside: "I have seen the master."
Then a high-pitched voice came from far away: "Is your young master here?"
