Chapter 58 The world in the minds of Confucian scholars
Even on his deathbed, Song Ne didn't have much resentment towards Zhu Yuanzhang. Instead, he was more worried that without a loyal minister like him, Zhu Yuanzhang would eventually go astray. That's why I wanted to say something from my heart to He Xi.
At this moment, Song Ne could finally evaluate everything about He Xi calmly and objectively.
He admitted that He Xi was talented. Although he was a little immature, he was protected by Zhu Yuanzhang. He will definitely become a very important figure in the future.
Therefore, before he died, he wanted to persuade He Xi and bring He Xi back to the right path.
He Xi knew that Song Ne was a provocative person, but at this moment he also wanted to hear what Song Ne wanted to say, so he sat back again. Said: "Mr. Song, please speak."
Song Ne said: "Your knowledge is based on the theories of famous scholars on the inside, and the learning of Yongjia on the outside, emphasizing the skills of craftsmen, and forming a family. It is a good strategy for governing the country. However, this strategy can be used in one place, but cannot be implemented in the whole world. It can be used for war. At this time, it cannot be used for peaceful purposes."
"This is not a strategy for governing the country in the Ming Dynasty to bring peace to the world."
He Xi listened carefully and had his own interpretation of Song Ne's words. The so-called theories of famous scholars were mostly logical theories. Because the Theory of Logic seems to have some similarities with the famous scholars of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Song Ne believed that He Xi was based on the sublimation of the theory of famous scholars. Yongjia Studies, Yongjia Studies is a branch of learning in the Southern Song Dynasty. The biggest difference between him and Neo-Confucianism is that Yongjia's school pays attention to the way of king and dominion, that is, focusing on profit. It is different from Neo-Confucianism in the debate between profit and justice.
"Do you know how big the world is? Do you know how different the people's sentiments are in different places? Do you know how long it takes for an order to be transmitted from the capital to a remote place? Do you know how many hands this order has to pass through before it reaches the local area? , can it still be executed?”
"Do you know how many people in the local area deceive the superiors and the inferiors? How many of them don't care who the emperor is? Don't they care which dynasty it is?"
"The Qin Law is enough to dominate the six kingdoms and unify the world when used in Qin. However, when used in the world, it falls apart. Have you not thought about the reason?"
"Your knowledge and the subtlety of governing the country are amazing. If today's Ming Dynasty is only a few houses, and you use your strategy to dominate the world, I will definitely support it. But if you use your method to rule the world now, the world will be in chaos, and the world will be in chaos."
"Impossible." He Xi sneered and said, "You don't understand my approach at all."
Song Ne sneered and said: "Yes, you have been hiding it, and I don't understand the full extent of your knowledge. But what you have done in the Ministry of Industry, and the productivity you mentioned. Almost all of it is on my mind. In front of you. Can I not know what you are talking about? Your theory is to let the court promote the development of the so-called productivity. And the way to promote the development of productivity is to focus on the skills of craftsmen. What kind of work have you done if the craftsmen have knowledge? Faculty of Science? No?"
He Xi didn't know what to say for a while.
He never dared to underestimate anyone. But today I realized that I underestimated Song Ne.
Song Ne was not a first-rate Confucian. First-rate Confucian scholars were able to enter and exit Confucianism. The deeper their knowledge, the more they could do as they pleased without violating the rules. But Song Ne was too upright, too square, and his whole body was very tight. Now, before dying, I let go of the worry about gain and loss, and the worry about life and death, and my state of mind has improved.
But even so, Song Ne could see He Xi clearly.
Except for some mature technological solutions brought by He Xi from later generations, there is not much difference with He Xi in terms of main ideas.
Song Ne sighed and said: "Since the Gongyang School of the Han Dynasty, there are actually several key points in governing the world. First, the world must be unified. Second, the world must be equalized, and there should be no fear of few but unevenness. Third, the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats Sharing the world.”
"These three principles are the iron rules. They cannot be shaken. If you do them well, you will be prosperous. If you do them badly, you will be in decline. The power of soldiers and horses in the former Yuan Dynasty is unparalleled in the world. But why did the world fall in less than a hundred years? The Mongols govern the world based on their heeling. Those who do not have heeling cannot ascend to the imperial court. The Mongols share the world with their relatives and nobles, not with the scholar-bureaucrats."
"In fact, the latter two are extensions of the former."
"The world is so big that there are four seas and eight directions. The places are not uniform, so how difficult is it to unify the world? There are 60 million people in the world. Let Your Majesty take charge of everyone. Even if the imperial court is expanded ten times, it will not work. Your Majesty is in the court, while the scholar-bureaucrats are in the wilderness. The world is unified, and governance should be simple rather than complex. It is best for county officials in various places to not stir up trouble. Of course, the emperor must also restrain the scholar-bureaucrats. The way to restrain is to make the world equal. If there is equality, the people will be able to settle down in their own affairs, and the scholars and officials will win by their virtues. Not by their wealth and property."
"The relationship that maintains the relationship between the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats is Confucianism, which is morality. It doesn't even matter if it is moral knowledge, Neo-Confucianism, or Confucian classics."
"Do you understand now?"
He Xi was a little shocked. He was silent for a long time.
Sure enough, real scholars and ordinary scholars read the same books, but they see different things.
Confucianism seems extremely pedantic, but in fact, it naturally has its own vitality within. Otherwise, it would not have been passed down until the Qing Dynasty before being overthrown.
Song Ne also briefly said that in fact, many great Confucian scholars devoted their wholeheartedly to maintaining a unified dynasty in terms of institutional design.
He Xi also understood something.
in the hereafter. From one end of the world to the other, a phone call has a delay of at most one or two seconds, let alone within a country. It can even be said that after an event occurs, it can circle the earth more than ten times in a few minutes.
But it was not like this in ancient times. Nanjing is still relatively central in China's territory, and even more so in Beijing. It takes a month from Beijing to Yunnan. It can be said that if everything was left to the capital to decide, Yunnan would have fallen, and Beijing would still be discussing countermeasures. It is simply not possible to govern the world solely with state institutions and maintain system governance. Something else must be added.
Scholar-bureaucrats are just supplements.
And what is a scholar-official? It is a person who maintains a high degree of unity with the will of the country and is famous in the local area. And how to keep them highly unified with the will of the country is the same morality, the same moral standard, the same mode of thinking, and the same national belief mentioned earlier.
The world must be one, and to maintain this one world, there must be one morality.
Because of this, Confucianism is sacred and unshakable.
It is precisely because of the difficulty of maintaining a huge unified dynasty under backward technological conditions. There is no way to plan from above, and there is a lack of supervision from below. The best way is to leave the country alone and let the people find their own way out.
After all, when something happens to a country, the negative effects are more profound than the positive effects.
The reason why Song Ne risked his old life and violated Yan Zhijian's advice was because of his will or because of the connection between heaven and man? In his opinion, He Xi's actions were fallacies.
First, He Xi's plan improved the status of craftsmen. But there are only these positions in the world. Once the craftsmen stand, there will be no scholar-bureaucrats. So I would like to ask these craftsmen, do they have fields or people on the ground? Furthermore, when the country really falls apart, how many strong men can these craftsmen pull out?
Status is linked to strength. Don't look at it, Zhu Yuanzhang killed scholar-bureaucrats like he killed chickens, so why did Zhu Yunwen leave only a group of civil servants when Zhu Yuanzhang finally passed the throne to Zhu Yunwen?
Many times, power brings status, not the other way around.
Secondly, the court in Song Ne's heart is to maintain the country with morality, and the emperor is a moral model, which sanctifies the emperor. Everyone in the imperial court has his own duties. What develops productivity. It simply cannot be done and cannot be done. What was the best economic policy in ancient China?
It is to recuperate and recuperate.
Does the country not want to adopt more active economic policies?
It can't be.
Only at this moment did He Xi understand something about time and an inconspicuous word written in a political book.
The ruling class of the feudal dynasty was the landlord class headed by the emperor.
Emperors, nobles, and scholar-bureaucrats all dress differently, but they are essentially the same. In ancient times, when there was land, there were people, and when there were people, there was power. The power of the imperial court may seem powerful, but in essence, the imperial court is also composed of the emperor, nobles, and scholar-bureaucrats. The power of the imperial court may not entirely belong to the emperor
But in essence, it is just a few hundred thousand troops from the central government. Who does the local army listen to? It’s really hard to say.
