“In ancient times, if you want to bring clear virtue to the world, you must first govern your country; if you want to govern your country, you must first regulate your family; if you want to regulate your family, you must first cultivate your body; if you want to cultivate your body, you must first rectify your mind; if you want to be righteous, you must first rectify your mind. To be sincere in your heart, you must first be sincere in your intentions; if you want to be sincere in your intentions, you must first gain knowledge; to gain knowledge is to study things..."
In the Rixin Building of Nanning Houfu, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, a young voice read seriously. The little figure sat behind the desk by the window, but his little head turned towards the study next to it from time to time, as if he couldn't help but take a sneak peek.
"Cough!" Liu Xin coughed lightly in reminder, attracting the child's attention. The little guy winced and muttered in a low voice: "Daddy has been in there for a long time."
"So you were distracted?" Liu Xin snorted softly: "Your father will come out for the school test in a while. If you can't answer the answer, you will be punished by running again."
The little guy said angrily: "But every time my father takes the exam, he will ask me questions about things I haven't studied before. It's not fair."
"It's because you haven't learned it. It's obviously because you haven't been able to understand it. So as soon as he connected it and asked questions, you didn't answer the question. In the end, you still didn't learn deeply enough."
As Liu Xin spoke, she sat next to him, looked at him seriously and said, "Gao Yuan, have you noticed that when your father took the exam for you this year, he was no longer satisfied with asking you to recite it, but wanted to ask you some of it?" Reason, reason, do you know why?"
"Why?"
This child was naturally none other than Gao Yuan, the eldest son of Gao Pragmatic and Huang Zhiting. He was born in the 15th year of Wanli and is eight years old this year.
"Because when your father was your age, he had already been a reading companion to the crown prince. Many times he even had to explain scriptures to the then crown prince and now the emperor." Liu Xin smiled slightly and said, "If you are asked to do it, When others are lecturing on the scriptures, can you clearly explain all the principles in the scriptures?"
Gao Yuan shook his head and said, "No." After a pause, he added, "But dad is the number one scholar in the Sixth Score and is the smartest person in the world."
The door of the study room next door opened at just this moment, and Gao Pragmatic, who was wearing a Taoist robe at home, walked out and said calmly: "Sixth No. 1 scholar does not mean the smartest, but it more likely means the hardest working. If you work harder than dad, you will be better in the future. You will be smarter than daddy."
"Daddy." Gao Yuan stood up, stood solemnly and called out obediently, then asked cautiously: "Are you done?"
"Well, what did you learn today?" Gao Pragmatic waved his hand for him to sit down. He also walked to the chair next to him and sat down. He looked at the "University Chapters" on his desk and suddenly thought about everything.
Gao Yuan recited the passage just now, and Gao pragmatically asked: "What did Zhu Xi note?"
"Government, calm the voice, then let it go. He who makes his virtue clear to the world makes everyone in the world understand his virtue. The heart is the master of the body. Sincerity is the truth. The mind is what the heart emits. . In fact, what comes from his heart is that he wants to be good without self-deception. Zhi means pushing to the extreme. Zhi means knowing. Pushing my knowledge to the extreme means that what he knows is exhaustive. Ge means reaching. Objects are still things. When one reaches the point of understanding the principles of things, one desires to reach the extreme. These eight are the items of a university.
Observe things first and then know it, know it first and then have a sincere mind. With a sincere mind, then the heart will be upright. If the mind is upright, then the body will be cultivated.
Treat it, remove the sound, and then put it away. The object grid is the ultimate in physics. Those who know it well, my heart knows everything. Once the knowledge is complete, the intention can be obtained and realized; once the intention is realized, the mind can be obtained and corrected. Cultivation of one's moral character and above are all matters of virtue. Below the Qi family, it is also about the new people. If you know the object pattern, you will know where it ends. If the intention is sincere, everything will be in order.
From the emperor to the common people, everything is based on self-cultivation. One is everything. Having a correct mind and above are all for cultivating one's self. Those below the Qi family will take measures accordingly. Isn't it true that it is originally chaotic and ends up being governed? What is thick is thin, and what is thin is thick, but it is not there! This is the body. What is thick is called family. These two verses combine the meaning of the two verses above. "
After Gao Pingshi listened quietly, he nodded and said: "You memorized it well. I'll come here today. You can go and rest for a while. Mr. Xiao will come and explain the next section to you later."
Gao Yuan was quite surprised. He looked at him and then looked back at Liu Xin. He seemed to feel that there was something wrong with today's plot.
Liu Xin suppressed her laughter and deliberately said with a straight face: "Why, do you have anything else to say?"
"No, no, no." Gao Yuan quickly denied Sanlian, hurriedly packed up his books, and bowed to Gao Pragmatic to say goodbye: "Dad, I'm leaving my son."
"Go." Gao Pingshi nodded and said, then he seemed to remember something and stopped Gao Yuan who had just turned around to leave, and warned: "The autumn water is getting colder, so don't play in the water."
Gao Yuan's face fell slightly, but he obviously didn't dare to express it. He lowered his head and said, "Yes, daddy."
As soon as Xiao Gaoyuan left, Liu Xin couldn't help but laugh and said: "Every time I see you and your son talking to each other, I find it very interesting."
"What should I say?" Gao Pingshi didn't need to put on his father's airs at this time, and smiled slightly.
"It's nothing else. I just feel that being a father is something that was done before the 'modern times'." Liu Xin shook her head and said, "We were back then. When I think about it, it's probably not called being a father. I'm afraid it's not a good idea." He is doing long-term work in the name of being a father."
Gao pragmatic also laughed, but he did not expand on it, but quickly asked: "You have read the letter just now in advance. What suggestions does the secretariat have?"
"The Secretariat has no suggestions, because this matter first depends on your attitude towards Japan in the future." Liu Xin said: "To put it simply, if you plan to support the Tokugawa family in Japan in the future, then Tokugawa Ieyasu's proposal this time is Very good; if you don't have this intention - whether you want to rule Japan directly, or the person you support is not the Tokugawa family, etc., then Tokugawa Ieyasu's suggestion is worthless."
Gao Pragmatic didn't seem to have any reaction after listening, which was probably his acquiescence. After a while, he said: "Actually, compared to whether Tokugawa Ieyasu's proposal has practical significance, I think what is more interesting is the attitude he showed. .”
Liu Xin thought for a while and asked: "You mean, he plans to use you and Ji Feiji's son as his heir. What is the meaning of this move itself?"
Gao Pragmatic nodded, while Liu Xin frowned and said, "But haven't you said many times that the Japanese martial arts attach great importance to family name but not to blood? According to this premise, there is nothing wrong with him doing this."
"Tradition is indeed true, but have you ever thought that the so-called 'valuing family name over bloodline' itself has a premise." Gao Pragmatic said with bright eyes: "The premise is between 'preserving family name' and 'preserving bloodline' When a contradiction arises, you cannot have both, you can only choose one."
Liu Xin reacted and said in surprise: "Ah... you mean Tokugawa Ieyasu realized that if he wants to preserve his bloodline, the family name will be unsustainable?"
Gao Pragmatic stretched out his index finger and tapped the book table twice, and said: "To put it more bluntly, Tokugawa Ieyasu has realized that Japan will undergo major changes in the near future, and the person who can decide Japan's direction by then is not Toyo. I am not Tokugawa, but the Maritime Trade Alliance—that is, me."
Liu Xin said in amazement: "No wonder you have always attached great importance to this person. It seems that this guy really has some vision, but why did he suddenly understand?"
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and said: "I think it should be caused by the death of Toyotomi Hideji."
"Is the death of a second generation really so serious?" Liu Xin seemed a little confused and wondered: "If the relationship between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Toyotomi Hideji is like that between Li Yuan and Li Shimin, then what will happen if Hideyoshi kills Hideji? It will indeed be very serious, but Xiuji's contribution is not that big, right? In this case, his death should not have such a big impact."
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "Your analogy is wrong. Li Yuan has a lot of sons. After taking over the world, his legitimate sons include Jiancheng, Shimin and Yuanji. It doesn't matter who among them dies. It's even an exaggeration to say that even this brother Even if all three of them died, there wouldn't necessarily be big trouble. The bastard son could still inherit - as long as all the legitimate sons died, the bastard son's inheritance rights would be undisputed.
Moreover, Li Yuan not only had many sons, but most of them were adults in Li Yuan's later years. Li Tang did not need to worry about the suspicion of his master, which was completely different from the current situation in Japan.
Hideyoshi did not have a son in his early years, so he had to adopt Hideji as his heir. In his later years, he first had a Hesong, but it soon died.
Now this Ah Shi is still in his infancy, and there is no doubt whether he will grow up smoothly, but Xiuji was killed first. His death caused the already small Toyotomi family to become even less blood-related. Once Hideyoshi himself died, the Toyotomi regime would not only dominate the country, but also fall into a dangerous state without any relatives at all. "
Liu Xin had already entered the state at this time and said: "If the Toyotomi family is still strong, they can actually maintain their rule at this time. After all, judging from Hideyoshi's final arrangement, he has the greatest threat to the two daimyo Tokugawa and Mori They are all defensive.
He arranged for the Toyotomi clan daimyo to guard the areas around the Tokugawa and Maori Rivers. As long as his successor or the actual ruler can maintain the internal stability of the Toyotomi regime, the crisis will be over when the successor reaches adulthood and establishes prestige. .
But judging from the history you told me before, it was Tokugawa Ieyasu who was superior in the end. He not only provoked the internal fighting between the general faction and the loyal faction within the Toyotomi regime, but also dared to use troops at critical moments... It seems like this , I am afraid that the truly powerful figure in Japan in the future will be Tokugawa Ieyasu. I don’t think you will agree with his suggestion. "
Gao pragmatic laughed and said: "The premise of supporting a puppet is that the other party is suitable to be a puppet, and the premise of being 'suitable to be a puppet' is divided into two points: First, the opponent's strength cannot be too strong, and it must be within the scope that he is fully capable of controlling. Secondly, the other party must know how to assess the situation and not just kill the enemy at every turn."
He paused and continued: "Tokugawa Ieyasu actually complies with the second clause. He is a very tolerant person. He will not run away without thinking clearly and ensuring that victory is almost certain. But... do you know how the British generally ruled the colonies during the colonial empire?
The British have always used the few to rule the many, and the second strongest to attack the strongest. If a few people want to rule the majority, they have to rely on the power of the British; if the local second strongest wants to suppress the strongest, they have to rely on the British. In this way, the British can achieve the greatest ruling effect with the smallest force. .
After Hidetsu's death, once Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself dies, the military commander faction and the observant faction in Toyotomi's regime will inevitably fall out. This is determined by objective reality, and by then Tokugawa Ieyasu will become the de facto strongest.
Obviously, if I support him, he will indeed easily conquer the world, and then restore the shogunate system and become a general to conquer the barbarians. But by that time, although I am still stronger than him, I have to worry about what if he really regrets it. .
And if I am not supporting him, whether it is supporting the young master of the Toyotomi family or supporting Mori, Tokugawa Ieyasu will in turn become my help in controlling the puppets - the puppets are worried about Ieyasu and have to rely on me. "
Liu Xin also smiled and said: "But you don't want this kind of puppet, right? In other words, you may need such a puppet in the short term, but not in the long term, that's why you said before Let Japan have two armies, East and West, as it did in history, and let them fall into a continuous war. Only when both sides are exhausted will you step in to clean up the mess... Then, I guess you will directly accept Japan."
Gao pragmatic curled his lips and said: "This is roughly the rhythm, but it is not as simple as you said, especially when you said 'direct rule', this is wrong, and the decoration of face is still needed."
"Fashionable?" Liu Xin thought for a while and asked, "For example, there is still a need for a shogunate, but this general is just in name, and is actually the leader you sent to take charge?"
The governor is a shogunate official. It is the highest position to assist the general in handling government affairs. It is the abbreviation of "general commander" and was originally also called a deacon. Judging from Japanese history, this position was originally held alternately by three families: Hosokawa, Shiba, and Hatakeyama. In fact, the general was often left alone.
However, Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "Japan's power system is often a bad debt. The generals ignore the emperor, the leaders ignore the generals, and the leaders ignore the leaders... In fact, the name is not that important. The key is that the power system requires actual strength. to maintain.
The reason why I still think I need a name to decorate it after having arranged so much is simply that I hope to suffer less resistance. However, embellishments are just embellishments after all. Whether the people I send directly serve as generals or serve as leaders under the name of the generals, or even I take the Toyotomi system back and ask him to do Guanbai, it actually doesn't matter.
As for the name, just find any one that makes sense. It just gives people a reason to convince themselves that they don't have to rebel. However, I think it is best not to reject Tokugawa Ieyasu's proposal immediately.
This man is very smart. If I refuse now, he will definitely be thinking about a way out. But if I refuse even such a 'favorable' condition, he must think that I must destroy the Tokugawa family, so he might not He will provoke infighting within the Toyotomi family to delay my schedule...
Therefore, I want you to draft a reply and agree vaguely, but you must not write it clearly to avoid being true to your words in the future. "
Liu Xin nodded in agreement.
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Thanks to book friends "Dancing at the Peak", "Clouds Cover the Moon and Rain", "First Landing", "The Sun and the Moon Never Set on Hawaii", and "KeyNg" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
ps: The epidemic has come again, and I was arrested for two hours at night to listen to arrangements and other things. The update is a bit late, sorry for that.
