Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"King Wen was imprisoned and performed the Book of Changes, while Jiang Sheng was imprisoned and performed science."

Dao Yan put down the briefing paper in his hand and said with a smile: "Zhuo Jing, Zhuo Jing, I know that you can't resist the temptation to understand the great road."

In front of Dao Yan, Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Zhang Yuchu, who was sitting upright in a feathered Taoist robe, took a sip of the fragrant tea grown in Datianjie Temple and shook his head secretly in his heart.

The taste is much worse than the tea trees on the solitary cliff of the Qing Palace in Longhu Mountain.

As for the briefing on the table, Zhang Yuchu pretended to be completely uninterested.

"Zhenzhen Zhang, let's take a look."

Dao Yan stretched out his fingers as skinny as old tree branches, symbolically pushed the brief on the proposal, and motioned for the other party to take it and read it.

Zhang Yuchu put down his tea cup reservedly, slowly picked up the briefing, and then read it without blinking.

After a long while, Zhang Yuchu turned over and reread it twice before stopping.

Even so, Zhang Yuchu refused to put down the briefing and held it in his hand.

"Measuring the power of the sky and the earth, and measuring the power of the sun and the moon are really the spirit of an immortal." Zhang Tianshi sighed sincerely.

"but."

Zhang Yuchu changed the topic and looked at Dao Yan, who was there, and asked: "The heliocentric theory and universal gravitation can certainly prove the error of the 'influence between heaven and man' followed by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and his own 'reasons are different', But it's not all without drawbacks, right? If His Majesty sees this thing, he will probably change his mind. After all, the theory of 'celestial induction' has been used for countless years from Dong Zhongshu of the Western Han Dynasty to the present, and it has already become the power of the emperor. I’m afraid it would be inappropriate to easily shake the solid foundation of our country.”

"Indeed."

Dao Yan also nodded slightly and agreed with Zhang Yuchu's words.

Confucian thinking, after thousands of years of time and the evolution of countless great Confucians of the past dynasties, has long become two completely different things from the Confucianism of Confucius' time.

Dao Yan asked symbolically: "Then we might as well deduce a thing or two? Let's see how we can find a way to eliminate Jiang Sheng's troubles."

"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders." Zhang Yuchu said he was good at everything.

For Zhang Yuchu, an ambitious and highly educated Taoist leader, he had had enough of the days of suppression and humiliation during the Jianwen Dynasty.

Apart from anything else, Longhu Mountain has been inherited for thousands of years. Even in the most chaotic times, it has not forced any heavenly master to dare not return to Longhu Mountain to live, but instead needs to live in a house dozens of miles outside the mountain!

Therefore, in the era when Qitai and Huang Zicheng controlled the government, Zhang Yuchu really lived his life with his tail between his legs, cautious and humble, and anyone else would be resentful.

Now that there is an opportunity to take revenge on Neo-Confucianism and take advantage of it to flourish, and this opportunity obviously lies with Jiang Xinghuo, using theoretical deductions to help Jiang Xinghuo avoid the possible wrath of the emperor is naturally something Zhang Yuchu is very happy to do.

"A Confucian is a scholar."

Dao Yan opened his mouth softly and said in a difficult voice: "Tracing back to the roots, Confucianism comes from the 'scholar' class in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is the duty of teaching and cultivating 'scholars', that is, a gentleman. "Mencius·Teng Wengong" once said: Scholars An official is like a farmer doing farming. A scholar comes out to serve as an official and serve the king, just like a farmer doing farming. It is his profession."

When it comes to Confucianism, Zhang Yuchu, who is known as a master of Taoism, is certainly not to be outdone.

After all, although Zhang Yuchu was a little more sincere, that was because Zhang Yuchu was not a bachelor like Dao Yan. There were thousands of people from Longhu Mountain behind Zhang Yuchu.

Tianshi Tao evolved from the Five Pecks of Rice Cult. It has been passed down for thousands of years and remains standing. What does it rely on?

Isn't it all about "following the heart"?

Therefore, of course Zhang Yuchu must be cautious in his words and deeds in other matters, but in purely theoretical matters such as discussing Taoism, Zhang Yuchu did not have too many scruples as long as he did not provoke the imperial power.

Zhang Yuchu continued: "The Confucianism of the time of Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi, that is, primitive Confucianism, is essentially a theory of training officials for the king, and it is the culture of the 'scholar' class. "Xunzi Honor and Disgrace" explains When it comes to the division of labor in society, 'scholars' are also attributed to people who are kind, knowledgeable and capable of fulfilling their official duties."

"Don't look at the group of people who advocate restoration of Jie Jin now who worship the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period." Zhang Yuchu smiled sarcastically, "But if we really throw Jie Jin back to the Spring and Autumn Period, according to his background, he would not even have reached the threshold of Confucianism. If you don’t go in, fundamentally speaking, the relationship between Confucianism and blood relations at that time was too great.”

Hearing this, Dao Yan couldn't help laughing.

"I didn't expect Mr. Zhang's words to be very interesting."

"Master Daoyan is laughing."

Zhang Yuchu made a cup of tea for Dao Yan, then added some tea for himself, and took another sip of tea before saying: "Zigong once asked Confucius, 'How can one be called a scholar? (How can one be called a scholar)' Confucius answered the question: "It is shameful to act according to one's own conduct. If one does not disgrace the emperor's order in all directions, he can be called a scholar."

"If later generations of Confucian classics, metaphysics, and Neo-Confucianism, especially Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, really inherited something from the original Confucianism, then it is probably that they are consistent with it in the three concepts of 'nature, emotion, and Wu'. As for other Yes, as time goes by, it has been changed beyond recognition.”

Daoyan smiled and shook his head.

"I'm afraid it's impossible for the current Neo-Confucianism to be able to live up to the emperor's order in all directions, right?"

What I want to say here is that in this question and answer in "The Analects of Confucius·Zilu", Confucius' personal definition of the official class of "shi" is based on two points. One is to behave with shame, that is, to behave in a moral way. To regulate one's behavior with a sense of shame; secondly, to ensure that people in all directions do not disgrace the emperor's orders, that is, to be able to complete the tasks assigned by the king in terms of talents.

The former is a requirement for a scholar's moral character, and the latter is a requirement for a scholar's practical ability to do things. The unity of these two aspects is the image of a qualified scholar, that is, a perfect Confucian scholar.

Ahem, if we really divide it according to the concept of Confucius and other elders, then in fact, the so-called scholar-officials of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism cannot do the latter point.

Just like the heart-breaking criticism made by Yan Yuan, a Qing Dynasty scholar in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, against the Neo-Confucianists of the Song and Ming Dynasties in "Cunxuebian".

——Normally, you stand up and talk about your heart, but when in danger, you die to repay the king.

If your moral standards are up to standard, you are already an outstanding scholar-official. Don't insist on your ability to do things.

Therefore, I'm afraid it's not feasible to ensure that the emperor's orders are fulfilled in all directions.

Zhang Yu was stunned when he heard this, and then he laughed and said: "It was copied from "Confucianism", which is quite appropriate."

If the ordinary people sitting opposite him had said this, they probably wouldn't know what Zhang Yuchu was talking about.

To be honest, in the ancient Chinese debate process, the most troublesome thing is that literati like to quote endless allusions.

Why cite these allusions?

There is no other reason. It is just like the slang of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life at major Internet companies: granularity, user mentality, and private domain traffic. To put it bluntly, it is a key that can effectively distinguish between people inside and outside the door.

Only by possessing this key can one enter the door of effective conversation and be considered as someone of the same level or capable of conversation.

Regardless of whether it is at this moment or at that time, many people like to throw away their book bags/speak slanderous words in order to express themselves, so that other people who do not know the truth will feel uncomfortable.

But in any case, this is indeed an unavoidable problem in debates in this era.

The "Confucian Effects" mentioned by Zhang Yuchu is an article titled "Confucian Effects" written by Xunzi, in which the image and social role of Confucianists are described in this way - Confucianists, in this dynasty, are responsible for good governance. In the lower position, it is beautiful and vulgar.

"Beautiful customs" means continuous self-cultivation, improving moral quality, and leading by example; "beautiful politics" means "beautifully regulating the world" and formulating various etiquette norms, political and legal systems for the country, so as to stabilize social order and enrich people's lives.

These moral principles of pre-Qin Confucianism are also the most inherited by later generations of Confucian classics, metaphysics, and Neo-Confucianism. As for the others, they have basically been changed beyond recognition.

Dao Yan nodded and said: "So, if you want to find something that can replace the heliocentric theory and gravity to explain the imperial power through classics debate, I'm afraid you have to start with the Confucianism of the pre-Qin Dynasty. After all, the later Confucianism, since the beginning of the Classics, has been closely related to Neo-Confucianism. We’ve gone a long way.”

Zhang Yuchu also agreed with Dao Yan's point of view. He added: "Although Confucianism was a prominent school in the pre-Qin Dynasty, it only existed as a sect of hundreds of schools of thought. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty 'deposed all schools of thought and only respected Confucianism,' Confucianism The Confucianism that had just achieved its dominant position was no longer Pre-Qin Confucianism, but Confucian classics."

The so-called Classics refers to the work "Spring and Autumn Fanlu" written by Dong Zhongshu, a master of Gongyang Studies in the Western Han Dynasty, which transformed traditional Confucianism with the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and established an academic system with the main characteristics of the interaction between heaven and man. The emergence of Classics had a significant impact on the promotion of Confucianism. Throughout the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, Confucian classics was the dominant system of thought at that time.

This was especially true in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty. The selection of officials was based on the level of Confucian classics. Therefore, at that time, there were many great Confucian scholars such as Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan who were famous all over the world for their Confucian classics.

"As for metaphysics, is there any merit?"

".Nothing better than shit."

"Neo-Confucianism is naturally even more impossible. It is impossible for us to find anything in Neo-Confucianism that can defeat Neo-Confucianism."

Zhang Yuchu thought so too.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, so to speak, used an exquisite speculative philosophical system to argue the social system and ethics of feudal society as eternal truth, the origin of the world, and the ontology of the universe to defend the centralized feudal state.

Therefore, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, heliocentric theory and universal gravitation are not only incompatible with each other, they can also be said to be irreconcilable.

"I do have an idea that may be able to solve the dilemma Jiang Sheng is facing."

Dao Yan suddenly spoke.

"Master, please speak." Zhang Yuchu also interrupted from his state of contemplation.

Daoyan turned the rosary beads in his hand and spoke slowly.

"Xunzi once said: The latitude and longitude of heaven and earth, and the materials and officials of all things, are controlled by Dali and are in the universe."

Zhang Yuchu's eyes lit up.

He understood what Dao Yan meant.