Having said this, Wang Xiaolie handed Xu Cai's official documents to Chen Yuyi and asked him to read them carefully. He sat there, quietly looking at the peonies in front of him.
In the eight hundred years of the Zhou Dynasty, there are too many stories to tell. But the most important thing, Wang Xiaolie thinks, is "Three Hundred Poems".
"Poetry" is the first of the Five Classics and the first of all the classics. Of course, ancient classics don't think so. They ranked "The Book of Changes" first, and most of the later generations also ranked "The Book of Changes" first. When they interpret the Book of Songs, they mostly believe that it is a collection of poems with high literary value. Especially after the May 4th Movement, people believed that the Book of Songs only had literary value and its status was not high.
If its status is not high, "Poetry" will not become one of the Five Classics.
The pioneering contributions of the sages of the May 4th Movement were naturally great. But later generations often say that there were many masters in the Republic of China, and these masters were too watery. Especially in the fields of humanities and social sciences, there is nothing that can be truly learned by learning from the West, and nothing that can be established internally. Decades later, the thoughts of some people who still regard these masters as their models are really pitiful. In decades, nothing has been learned.
In the Han Dynasty, "Shi" was often used to regulate and admonish. This use illustrates the real value of "Poetry", its political value.
The Book of Songs is divided into Feng, Ya and Song. Each of these three parts has its own purpose. The elegant and sung parts were basically inherited by later generations of royal families, although the taste became more and more wrong as the later generations progressed. Only the wind has not been inherited.
Wang Xiaolie believes that wind is how the court understands the people's style and can better understand the world. But in fact, that’s not necessarily what the rulers thought when they were collecting folk songs. No matter what the rulers thought, the wind did have this effect.
Later, in the Qin Dynasty, the three princes were the prime minister, the Taiwei, and the imperial censor. The status of Yuefu was greatly reduced. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, its status rose, but it eventually became an accessory to music and dance.
What Wang Xiaolie asked Chen Yuyi to do was actually to inherit the tradition of national style and use various forms to understand the people. Only by understanding can we govern well.
From the natural right of kings and the divine right of kings to the later establishment of parliamentary power, it can be seen that it is a process of power transferring from heaven or gods to the hands of the people. It's just that some countries are more thorough in this process, while others are far from complete.
Is it just that state power is transferred to the people? Is it a part of the people or the people with full power? Is it the people as a whole, or individual individuals? Everyone has their own understanding, and every country has its own approach.
Wang Xiaolie's point of view is not to smash the sky to pieces, but to transform the sky from nothingness into the whole people. On this basis, the emperor governed the human world as a representative of heaven. So as a political power, it must know the will of God, that is, the will of the people.
Chen Yuyi read the official document, put it on the table, and remained silent.
Wang Xiaolie said: "How do you think Qufei should handle this matter?"
Chen Yuyi was about to speak but stopped when Wang Xiaolie persisted and said: "Although the chief secretary's actions are contrary to common sense, they are in line with the way of being an official. Between Tao and emotion, it is really difficult to grasp the principles of being an official. Next The official believes that the chief clerk should be encouraged and facilitated."
Wang Xiaolie smiled and nodded: "Yes, we should focus on encouraging the chief secretary, and everything else is secondary. Why? This depends on what kind of political power we want to establish and what kind of political power we want to use. The official said. I hope that under our rule, the people will live happily and not be oppressed. No matter officials or people, there will be no intrigues and they can live a simpler and simpler life. I hope that all the people , Hard work can make you rich, and people are regardless of their level. I hope this is a happy and simple society, where everyone is happy and healthy."
Chen Yuyi smiled and said: "It's nice to think about such a society, but I'm afraid it will be difficult to realize it."
Wang Xiaolie looked at the flowers in front of him quietly and didn't speak for a long time. Finally, he sighed: "Yes, it is difficult to achieve. But we can't stop doing it just because it is difficult. We should firmly believe that we can do things that others can't do with hard work."
Chen Yuyi was silent and shook his head slightly.
Ideals are always beautiful, but it is difficult to realize them. There are very few people who don't want peace and happiness under their rule after taking power, but they just can't do it. When they couldn't think of a solution, some people even advocated a policy of obscuring the people, advocating the enfeoffment of nobles, and advocating high-pressure rule. Don't they know this is bad? of course not. It's just that they can't think of a better way, so they have to pick and choose from the garbage heap of history.
Wang Xiaolie said: "After taking power, the first thing is to restrain it. Taizu ordered a fumigation cage to be built in the backyard, but it took several days. When he called people to ask, it turned out that the emperor had to go through many departments to build a fumigation cage, which was cumbersome. . Recruiting Prime Minister Zhao Zhongxian, he said to him, this is a self-made passage, not for His Majesty, but for His Majesty's descendants. Taizu was overjoyed and said, this passage is excellent. Why? Because Taizu was afraid that his descendants would be unworthy and would not be able to restrain them. Live in your own power.”
Chen Yuyi said: "Yi Zu is really an extraordinary person."
Wang Xiaolie smiled and said: "Since he is an emperor, how can he be an ordinary person? If he is just an ordinary person, he is not a blessing to the country. After restraining his own power, he also has to restrain the power of relatives and friends. It is difficult to restrain the power of relatives and friends. Ah. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty and Empress Dugu were inseparable as husband and wife, so much so that Empress Dugu and Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty were called two saints. When his wife wanted power, she not only had no restraint, but also usurped the imperial power. Until Yang Yong was deposed, Yang Guang was established, and Sui Li II Death."
Chen Yuyi said: "Queen Dugu is gentle and respectful. Although she usurps the imperial power, she can still be regarded as a virtuous queen."
Wang Xiaolie said: "Whether it is a merit or a fault, the world will judge it, so we will not comment too much. It just shows how difficult it is to restrain relatives and friends. It is already difficult if those in power can understand power and restrain power. It can be done. Say, most people can’t do it.”
Chen Yuyi nodded slightly.
Yes, how many people can recognize their own power and take the initiative to restrain it? Not even talking about restraint, just recognizing your own power. How many people in history can do this? Many emperors only knew that they had power, but it was unclear where this power came from.
People often say that you can conquer the world immediately, but you cannot rule the world immediately. In fact, the source of power when the world is about to be conquered is different from when the world is about to be ruled. The method of using power is of course also different. If we must rule the world immediately, that's okay, just like the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty. It's just that this kind of rule is not normal.
Only by recognizing power can we use it correctly.
Seeing Chen Yuyi deep in thought, obviously not agreeing with his opinion, Wang Xiaolie smiled.
Once upon a time, Wang Xiaolie believed that everyone was equal and everyone should be the same. If you understand something, others should understand it too. It's best if you can think of something yourself, and others should be able to think of it too. People have different thoughts, which should be due to differences in education. More education would be better.
Now, Wang Xiaolie finally understands that people are different and the similarities are just accidental. People's understanding of a thing is based on probability distribution and conforms to statistical laws. A person's hard work can move him/herself in the position of this probability curve, and the probability curve is difficult to change.
This understanding changed a lot of things. It also caused a fundamental change in Wang Xiaolie's thoughts on governing the country.
Regarding the understanding of human nature, there is a kind of thought that is widely spread in China. People are believed to be inherently unequal, with high and low levels of distinction. Later generations deeply hated this idea and criticized it, thinking it was a way to anesthetize the lower class people.
Now Wang Xiaolie realizes that since people's thoughts are distributed according to probability and conform to statistical laws, it is probably inevitable to be rich or poor regardless of high or low. It’s just that this is not something people are born with, nor is it completely the result of acquired efforts, but a comprehensive effect.
Social governance means facing such a society and trying to make people happy.
After the Opium War, China was opened to the country by the powerful ships and guns of the West, and people of insight began to open their eyes to see the world. But generally speaking, it was necessary to open our eyes to see the world under such circumstances. The level of intellectuals at that time was relatively low. They are more like pioneers, paving the way for future generations, who need to move forward along the road.
At that time, China introduced a lot of Western knowledge. It must be noted that a large number of Western terms, such as politics, economics, philosophy, etc., were introduced from Japanese, which also shows that the level of intellectuals at that time was relatively low. Due to various reasons, later generations can say that this is the original vocabulary of Chinese and that the Japanese borrowed it from Chinese. But it cannot be denied that the level of intellectuals at that time was relatively low. At most, it shows that our ancient literati were still relatively good. Therefore, the intellectuals at that time criticizing traditional Chinese culture were like scumbags criticizing academic masters. They must be aware of this.
To study Western culture, we must clearly understand how we are different from the West and what we want to learn. Don’t be frightened and blinded by the various nouns and definitions, and you will never be able to raise your head again.
Especially in the field of humanities and social sciences, it is necessary to clarify the context of changes in Western ideas, why they have changed so much, and what they represent. They have moved from backwardness to advancedness, and how do they show it? Which things we can learn from, which ones need to be cast aside, and which ones don’t matter.
There is a kind of person who likes to wear gold-rimmed glasses and use a deep alto voice. When he opens his mouth, he is Socrates and when he is closed, he is Plato, telling you all kinds of great principles of life. It is basically certain that this person is ignorant and incompetent. Socrates and Plato were two years ago, so how could they have so much to say? The West wants to build their philosophical edifice. From these two people, there is a lot to say.
There are also people who speak Kant but not Hegel. They are also people who have not learned enough. Even if they are familiar with these people's works, they are just getting started. When Chinese people learn Western culture, they need to go in and get out of it. As the saying goes, after going through a thousand sails, you have to return to Chinese culture and be the same young man. Otherwise, according to traditional understanding, we can only teach primary schools and not enter universities.
Hegel once said that Confucius was just a secular wise man, not a philosopher. The principles taught in the Analects of Confucius are also shared by other ethnic groups, and they may be able to explain them better. In fact, it shows that Western philosophy and Chinese thought are not the same thing. Moreover, even in philosophy, Hegel was far from Confucius and could not be reasoned with. This is the difference between Chinese civilization and Western civilization, and future generations should understand this difference.
How much does a nominal ten-gram weight weigh? It's ten grams, right, but the weights are not made to standard? Or is the weight correct, and the nominal ten grams is just an approximation? If you understand this problem, you will also understand the difference between Chinese civilization and Western civilization.
Western civilization believes that ten grams is correct, and the error is just a technical limitation of weight production. Chinese civilization believes that the weight is of course correct, and ten grams is just a divisor of the nominal number. If the nominal ten grams of the weight are replaced by the rational world, and it is believed that the rational world is correct and the truth exists, it is Western civilization. Chinese civilization does not have the understanding of the rational world, but only reality and void, existence and non-existence. Of course, the weights are correct, and the nominal value is only approximate.
Chinese people must understand this when learning Western culture. Of course, if it is not learning but just taking refuge, it is another matter.
The nominal weight of ten grams is of course not exactly ten grams. And how much it really weighs, humans may never know. Even if it is accurate to the quantum level, the weight is still uncertain according to quantum theory.
When this uncertainty is put into discussions between the rational world and the real world, things become complicated. This complexity is what attracts people to ideas.
(End of chapter)
