"Let's go, Jiang Yu, go to the Imperial College with me."
Zhu Yunzhen stood up. He wanted to go to the Imperial College to see the current situation of the Imperial College after Fang Xiaoru gained power.
At the same time, I also want to see how many young Confucian scholars firmly believe in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and how many are Confucian scholars who are aware of the shortcomings of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.
In fact, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is not entirely bad.
Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism also has its benefits, and it has made indelible contributions to China. However, if any idea is out of date, it should be swept into the old pile of history.
In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu's reign, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was still an advanced thought in the world.
But in another hundred or two hundred years, this set of ideas will slowly fall behind, even to the extent that it hinders China's development.
But thinking is the hardest thing to change.
Once an idea was established at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it left a stamp of thought on the people, courtiers and even the emperor.
There is simply no way to change it.
Habit is an extremely terrible thing!
When everyone is accustomed to Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and begins to recognize all the principles expounded by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, unless a saint with extraordinary intelligence appears, there will be no way to change!
Zhu Yunzhen cannot place his hopes on future generations.
But we need to start with him and make changes! Even if this is an almost impossible thing!
Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism began in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Stretching across the land of China for thousands of years!
How could it be that Zhu Yunzhen said that it could be cleared by just clearing it? There are countless supporters of this set of ideas. It can be said that even Zhu Yunzhen does not know who the real enemy he will face is.
But no matter how difficult it is, Zhu Yunzhen will still do it!
After getting up and leaving the imperial study, Jiang Yu quickly followed behind him, summoning his entourage to protect the safety of His Highness the Grand Sun.
Go straight to the Imperial College.
…
At the foot of Jiming Mountain, the Imperial Academy building occupies a vast area.
There are as many as 8,000 Imperial College students studying here! It can be said to be extremely prosperous!
And what most of these students studied was the Four Books and Five Classics, Confucianism.
After Fang Xiaoru served as the minister of the Imperial Academy, he abandoned the Four Books, Five Classics and the words of saints, and turned to studying Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which is the "Tianli" set. It is called Confucianism, but in fact it is moral theology!
It fictionalizes a 'natural law' that everyone must obey, with moral kidnapping as the core.
It drives everyone to follow the "natural principles" and the set of morals prescribed by them, suppressing human nature and constraining thoughts.
Zhu Yunxuan walked into the Imperial College.
Everything you see is a depressing atmosphere, and all the Confucian scholars are looking at the words of the Confucian saints that have been misinterpreted by Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism.
And those teachers who were preaching knowledge all talked about the ideas of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.
That is to say, the fundamental law of all things in the world and human society is the "Law of Heaven", and everything in the world has "Law", and this "Law" comes from the "Law of Heaven".
Therefore, 'Heavenly Principle' is the supreme existence.
No one can violate it, and at the same time, they must explore the laws of nature as much as possible and achieve "preserving the laws of nature and destroying human desires."
The fundamental knowledge of Confucianism and the words of saints were almost completely abandoned.
The so-called words of saints are just a form borrowed by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism to explain their own thoughts. In essence, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is an alternative form of Buddhism and Zen.
It belongs to theology and seriously deviates from the original Confucian path.
As for the thoughts of Pre-Qin Confucianism, they are even more different.
"Are you going to teach the students of the Imperial College these things?" After Zhu Yunxu made an inspection, he said with some disappointment to the Doctor of the Five Classics of the Imperial College.
How could Dr. Wu Jing not hear the dissatisfaction in Zhu Yunzhen's tone?
However, after Fang Xiaoru took the post of Imperial Confucian priest, he ordered that there was no need to teach Confucian classics, and instead promoted Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism's theory of heaven.
Although in the past, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was the official orthodox doctrine.
It is also extremely important to study the words of saints and read "Book of Changes", "Shangshu" and other works.
Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is nothing more than a school of thought that expounds the words of saints.
But since Fang Xiaoru came, everything changed.
These Doctors of the Five Classics no longer even teach the Five Classics, but spend all day instilling in their students the idea of the supremacy of heavenly principles.
Confucian scholars study the words of saints just to make their words and deeds conform to the laws of heaven, and consciously do what the saints do, so as to do whatever they want without violating the rules.
Finally, we can achieve the inner sage realm of becoming a saint, becoming a benevolent person, and becoming an adult.
The inner sage advocated by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is a state of 'harmony between man and nature', where human desires merge with heavenly principles.
From then on, no matter what you do, it is the law of heaven and the way of heaven.
But the question is...how can we be sure that a person is truly 'unity between man and nature'?
If a great Confucian who is full of selfish desires is falsely touted as the unity of heaven and man, from then on, everything he says and does is the law of heaven and the way of heaven.
There is no fault to be pointed out.
This will only cause unimaginable consequences!
So this is the most terrifying point of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. What they advocated as the "unity of nature and man" and "the preservation of natural principles and the elimination of human desires" do not have a specific measurement standard at all!
This is entirely a psychological state.
No one can know what level the opponent is in.
In the end, everyone just pretended.
Everyone looks like a gentleman on the surface, but in fact they are full of selfish desires on the inside!
But the way these people pretend to be is very confusing.
He looks concerned about the country and the people, but when he really puts it into practice, it's completely different.
Moreover, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism also has a shortcoming, which is that it pursues the psychological realm too much. All the propositions of this theory are in pursuit of the realm of inner sage.
This theory has absolutely no practical spirit!
It seems that as long as you think about it in your heart and then do the so-called "preserve the principles of nature and eliminate human desires", you can become a saint.
There is no need to do anything practical for the country and the people.
They can also achieve the highest realm pursued by Confucian scholars.
If this kind of doctrine is not misleading the country and the people, what else is it? !
"This..." Dr. Wu Jing was speechless for a moment.
He could only say: "I still learn other things on weekdays. It's just the teachings of the saints and needs to be reviewed repeatedly."
"And if students understand the principles of nature, they will know better what to do in the future so as not to violate the principles of nature."
"Going wrong."
"In order to become a gentleman."
Zhu Yunxuan raised his eyebrows.
There are a lot of things in my heart that I haven't said out loud. Is it possible for a gentleman to become a gentleman just by thinking about it? !
But in the end I held back, now the time has not come.
Since the decision was made to kill Fang Xiaoru, we couldn't give up halfway.
Instead, he turned around and said, "Do you remember that in addition to these Confucian learnings, there are also legal studies, calligraphy, and arithmetic in the Imperial College?"
"Why didn't you see it after being alone for a long time?"
Doctor Wu Jing pointed in the direction and replied: "Your Highness, arithmetic was originally taught in this location."
"However... after Fang Jijiu took office, he deliberately moved the arithmetic to another place."
"It's far from here..."
Zhu Yunxu looked at Jiang Gu again. Jiang Gu understood and immediately walked to Zhu Yunxu.
He whispered: "Your Highness, Fang Xiaoru is very dissatisfied with arithmetic."
"I felt that arithmetic should not appear in the Imperial College at all, so I moved the arithmetic school to the most remote part of the Imperial College."
Zhu Yunzhen immediately understood.
How can a person who pursues 'natural principles' like an alien who pursues 'truth'?
There is an inherent contradiction between the two.
All external objects in the world are useless to the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism that Fang Xiaoru believed in.
The pursuit of inner sage is a psychological pursuit.
In fact, it doesn't matter what the external environment is like. What matters is the changes in their own hearts.
This kind of extreme psychology is poison that inhibits social development!
"Let's go, take Gu Gu to where Suan Xue is."
Naturally, Dr. Wu Jing couldn't stop him, so he had to take Zhu Yunzhen to the door of the arithmetic school.
Inside the door, students in twos and threes were listening attentively to the lectures of the doctor of mathematics.
The students present were extremely serious.
He is just a disciple of arithmetic, but there are not many students.
Presumably most students sneer at arithmetic.
After all, no matter how well you learn this thing, it is difficult to become an official. On the contrary, learning Confucian knowledge and participating in the imperial examination is the right way to become an official.
These people, on the contrary, are the "crooked people".
"Ahem." Dr. Wu Jing walked into the door and coughed lightly.
He said: "His Royal Highness Taisun has arrived, why don't you greet His Highness respectfully?"
Inside the door, a group of students and math doctors were stunned.
He looked at the Doctor of the Five Classics in disbelief.
Grandson?
How can this be? How could Taisun come to a remote place like theirs?
But looking at the Doctor of the Five Classics, it doesn’t seem like he is lying.
At this time, Zhu Yunzhen slowly walked into the room, stood on the podium, and looked down at the many students below.
"Really Taisun?!"
The students below were extremely excited and suddenly became lively.
"I have met His Highness the Grand Sun!"
Zhu Yunxuan nodded lightly and motioned for everyone to get up.
Then he said: "I visited the Imperial College today and saw many students, but you are the most special in my opinion."
"Do you know why?"
Many students below did not know how to answer for a while.
One of the students stood up.
Asked: "Your Highness, could it be because we are not studying Confucianism, but arithmetic?"
"Isn't it the path to sainthood that you are pursuing?"
Zhu Yunzhen nodded appreciatively.
Said: "That's right! In Gu's opinion, arithmetic is not inferior to Confucianism!"
Zhu Yunxun said something shocking!
Directly leaving the Doctor of the Five Classics on the side stunned in place, as if struck by lightning!
This... when did arithmetic and Confucianism stand side by side?
The countless arithmetic students below all had their eyes lit up and couldn't help but look at Zhu Yunzhen.
I want to know whether His Highness Taisun is deceiving them.
But Zhu Yunxuan's face was full of seriousness, and he said firmly: "Confucianism is the most prominent science today, and the top priority is to select scholars through the imperial examination."
"But in the future, the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty will no longer be limited to Confucianism."
"The arithmetic you have learned will also be a top priority! It may not be worse than Confucianism!"
"The talents that Ming Dynasty lacks most now are not Confucian scholars who can only talk empty talk, but arithmetic students like you who can do practical things!"
"In today's Ming Dynasty, whether it is national debt, land reform, national highways, or even the manufacturing of new weapons, they are all inseparable from the support of arithmetic."
"As long as you study hard now, choose a direction, and study from the most practical problems of the Ming Dynasty."
"There will definitely be a place to show off your talents in the future!"
Daming, now is the time when we need practical talents!
Countless arithmetic students below were shocked. Their arithmetic had always been the lowest-status subject in the Imperial College.
Unexpectedly, His Highness Taisun now actually said that he would vigorously develop arithmetic in the future.
Talents in arithmetic are even more needed!
Let all the students present be excited! I wish I could learn arithmetic well now and devote myself to the construction of Ming Dynasty!
"Hey, just remember one sentence."
"Read for the rise of Ming Dynasty!"
"Da Ming will definitely not let you down!"
"I guarantee that you will be able to develop your talents and make full use of them! Your future achievements may not be inferior to those of Confucian scholars!"
"Even above Confucian scholars!"
(End of chapter)
