Father can be an enemy to the country

This requires a brief mention of the long struggle between grammarians and Confucian scholars.

Later generations believe that the imperial examination began in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but in fact, the method of selecting bureaucrats through cultural examinations began as early as the Warring States Period. The selected talents are the grammarians.

These people generally came from small landowners or declining scholars. They were proficient in writing but did not read classics and history. Instead, they specialized in laws, regulations, and the like. After passing the exam, they could immediately carry out specific administrative tasks, so during the stressful Warring States period, they were deeply loved by monarchs of various countries.

Li Si, Li Kui, Shen Buhe and other famous officials of the Warring States Period were outstanding representatives.

The most important use of grammarians was the state of Qin, which accepted Legalist ideas. With the help of this group of grammarians who were efficient and harsh, advocated harsh punishments, and had clear rewards and punishments, the King of Qin worked hard for six generations to unify the world.

Of course, the demise of the Qin Dynasty was also related to the excessive harshness of the grammarians. Not to mention anything else, Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and Liu Bang rebelled because they delayed the court's deadline and deserved death according to the law.

Therefore, in the Western Han Dynasty, the emperor continued to use grammaticians to govern the country, and on the other hand, he also began to introduce Confucian scholars into the bureaucracy to educate the people and soften the rule, so as to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Qin Dynasty.

Therefore, the bureaucracy of the Han Dynasty was divided into two major opposing groups, civil servants and Confucian scholars. Literary officials still controlled the state machine, but after Dong Zhongshu "deposed all schools of thought and respected Confucianism," they monopolized the right to speak and interpret scriptures, and gradually gained the upper hand.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, with the rise of the celebrity group, scholarly public opinion gradually became able to control the selection of officials. The official selection system that had been implemented for hundreds of years of "selecting people based on their ability" turned into "selecting people based on their filial piety and moral character."

At this time, the Confucian scholars completely overwhelmed the literary and legal officials and monopolized the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty, leaving only the dirty officials with complicated and thankless tasks to the literary and legal officials.

In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the emperor established six schools and one library and selected scholars by subject. In fact, they wanted to reverse this situation and give grammarians an outlet. It was helpless that the aristocratic family, which had been transformed into a cultural aristocracy, was able to distort its policy to focus only on the scholarly education, allowing Confucian scholars to still maintain their dominance over the court and government.

With the rise of Confucian scholars, Confucianism continued to rise in status, and finally became the state religion - Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, reaching its peak.

The Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty not only completely monopolized official positions, but also completely expelled the grammatical and legal officials from the official ranks, turning them into subordinate officials who would never get ahead. We must also try our best to erase the mark of grammarians in history.

So that when future generations mention scholars, they will be equated with Confucian scholars, thinking that all dynasties were governed by them and that history was created by them...

~~

Zhu Yuanzhang thought so at first. Fortunately, he had the sober Liu Bowen beside him.

In addition, the influence of Confucian scholars in the Yuan Dynasty fell to its lowest point, so he did not fall into the lies created by Confucianism.

Moreover, after studying the Four Books and Five Classics with Song Lian and others, he did not find any way to govern the country. He knew that Confucian scholars alone could not govern the country well.

Besides, you are already the emperor, why should you let Kong Laoer, who has been dead for almost two thousand years, ride on your head? When the time comes, those Confucian disciples will definitely lock him into a frame composed of the words of saints, just like they did in the Song Dynasty.

This is something that a self-made emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang would find difficult to accept. So he began to think of 'derogating Confucianism'.

In March of the first year of Hongwu, Xu Da conquered Jining. The general trend of the world was determined, and the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was only a matter of time. The Kong family, who had developed a keen sense of smell and a soft body, immediately surrendered to Boss Zhu.

But at that time, Kong Kejian, the Duke of Yansheng, was canonized by the Yuan Dynasty. He also served as a high-ranking official in the Yuan Dynasty such as Shandong Lian Envoy, Minister of Rites, and Guozijiujiu. He was worried that he would be liquidated by Boss Zhu, so he only sent his son Kong Xixue to visit Xu Da. .

Afterwards, Xu Da sent Kong Xixue to Nanjing to meet Zhu Yuanzhang. Kong Xixue also specifically explained to Boss Zhu that his father was bedridden due to illness, so he could not come to congratulate the emperor in person.

But Boss Zhu didn't accept this trick. He gave Kong Kejian a directive, clearly stating that 'don't pretend to be sick', and you can't pretend to be sick and not come... It scared Kong Kejian that he 'traveled to Beijing in fear'.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang forgave him even though he was aiming for a united front. However, Kong Kejian was not given an official position, and the first Duke Yansheng of the Ming Dynasty was directly granted to his son Kong Xixue.

In the second year of Hongwu's reign, he issued an edict: "In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Confucius Temple will hold memorial tributes and stop in Qufu. There is no need to offer sacrifices throughout the world." ’

That is to say, it will be enough to keep a Confucius temple in Qufu to worship Confucius, and there will be no need to worship Confucius elsewhere. Of course, there is no need to build any Confucius temple.

So why Lao Liu dared not to set up a Confucius Temple in Guozi University was because his father wanted to do this back then.

But Boss Zhu’s suppression of Confucianism was very unsuccessful. The opposition aroused was no less than today. At that time, Zhongshu Sheng took the lead, and all the ministers collectively spoke out, saying, "Confucius has taught for all generations, and the world respects his teachings. Therefore, the whole world can worship Confucius, and the gift of repaying the origin cannot be abolished." 'Yunyun.

In short, if you don't let the world worship Confucius, we will stop doing it.

At that time, Boss Zhu had not yet established a firm foothold and did not have the self-confidence he has now. He had to rely on the united front role of Confucianism, so he had to withdraw his life.

But people like Boss Zhu would not give up. He procrastinated until the fourth year of Hongwu to reopen the imperial examination despite repeated calls from scholars. Within three years, he again embarrassed the general public by saying that Confucian scholars were not accustomed to political system. On the grounds of using it, the imperial examination was stopped again...

The imperial examination is the lifeblood of Confucianism. If you can't pass the imperial examination to become an official, who will become a disciple of Confucianism? Although Confucianism is now very popular, without new blood joining it, it is basically water without a source and a tree without roots. It will not be able to sustain itself for a few years before it will fully show its decline.

This is the reason why Shilin reacted so strongly this time, even carrying the two holy tablets, and fighting to the end at all costs.

~~

It is said that Confucianism and Confucianism are one, so of course they should advance and retreat together and support Shilin to the end.

But that requires Yan Shenggong to be strong enough and not afraid of his shadow being distorted.

Coincidentally, Kong Xi learned neither of these two things.

In the former case, the Kong family has surrendered to the Jin and Yuan dynasties in succession. With ancestral rickets, how can there be any strong bones?

The latter, like Zhang Tianshi's family in Jiangxi, the Kong family is the largest landowner in Shandong, and the Zhang family has many crimes.

What's more coincidental is that during the Chinese New Year, Nan, Zhang and Beikong gathered in the capital. Under the arrangement of Boss Zhu, Zhang Dazhen had socialized with Yan Shenggong several times.

The purpose is to let Zhang Maocheng speak out and use his own experiences and painful lessons to educate Kong Xixue, go back and take good care of his children, clear out the land and population in advance, and don't wait until the Qingzhang of Shandong creates a yellow book to repeat the Zhang family's mistakes.

It would be a disgrace to his ancestors...

Kong Xixue has been beaten and subdued by Boss Zhu. Rather than worrying about the future rise and fall of Confucianism, he was more worried about the Kong family being exposed. He knew very well that if he didn't cooperate with Boss Zhu this time, the Kong family would suffer the same fate as the Zhang family...

"I will stop them now and prevent them from using my ancestor's name to deceive you!" Duke Yan Sheng hurriedly volunteered.