Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Holy King!

The way of heaven is enough for one person!

Complete morality, leading to long heights, Qi arts and science.

With one word, everyone in the world will obey!

Xunzi's "Sage King" theory is simply tailor-made for powerful monarchs like Zhu Di!

Every word spoken by Dao Yan and Zhu Gaochi seemed to hit Zhu Di's heart and hit his heart!

It was not that Zhu Di had never doubted the telepathy between heaven and man and the emperor's theory before, but after all, he still did not encounter a suitable opportunity. Now that he has encountered it, he has to think about it carefully.

After all, he is the king of a country, and he got the throne through rebellion.

Therefore, at this critical moment when he had just ascended the throne, he had to act cautiously.

I still have some scruples about the theory of telepathy between heaven and man. After all, the position of emperor is, in a sense, conferred by heaven, and telepathy between heaven and man is the perfection of the theory of emperor.

But now after hearing what Zhu Gaochi and Dao Yan said, Zhu Di felt faintly that he seemed to have found the right path.

A path to supreme authority.

Zhu Di's eyes were heavy: "It turns out that the sages have long said that the connection between heaven and man is a false existence, and the Holy King is the incarnation of the way of heaven and controls the way of heaven in the world. I am the Holy King. Since I am the Holy King, I naturally want to control the way of heaven. , follow the way of heaven."

When Zhu Gaochi saw this, he quickly bowed and said: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, I am willing to serve the Holy King and follow him to the death."

"The same applies to you!" Dao Yan also folded his hands and saluted, "Your Majesty has great talents and great strategies, and he will surely bring peace to the world, make the Ming Dynasty prosperous, and achieve the great cause of one emperor throughout the ages!"

"well!"

Zhu Di was overjoyed and said hello twice, and then said: "I had the honor to listen to the teachings of two masters of Buddhism and Taoism today, and I was deeply touched. Come here, give me some wine to Master Zhang."

Among Taoist sects, Taoist priests of the Quanzhen sect are not allowed to drink, while Taoist priests of the Zhengyi sect represented by Longhushan are allowed to drink, but not excessively.

In Buddhism, when it was introduced from Tianzhu to the Han Dynasty, monks were allowed to drink alcohol and eat meat. However, since Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty issued the "Essay on Forgoing Wine and Meat" during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, monks stopped drinking alcohol.

Several eunuchs brought drinks and quietly left.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty, I am ashamed to accept it!" Zhang Yuchu stood up, picked up the wine glass on the table, and drank the wine.

"Chi'er, you have a drink too!"

Zhu Di said with a smile, obviously in a good mood.

"Thank you, Father."

Zhu Gaochi also held the wine glass with both hands and drank all the wine in the glass.

"Haha." Zhu Di laughed heartily, with a hint of amusement on his face, "Since I came to the throne, I have never been as happy as I am today. What the Holy King said makes me really excited when I think about it. How can there be any connection between heaven and man? I am the only one in heaven and on earth. I want to tell the world that I am the Holy King whose way of heaven is enough for one person!"

Zhu Di was so excited that he raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp.

The cold wine with a hint of coolness rolled into his throat, and then into his stomach. After a while, warm heat emanated from it, and Zhu Di felt even more comfortable.

Although Zhu Di rebelled and usurped the throne to seize the throne, and even killed countless opponents, he was able to secure his position and achieve imperial status. Who dares to say that he was incompetent?

What's more, for an emperor, Zhu Di was still in his prime, had huge potential, and was extremely healthy. It would not be a problem to continue to rule the Ming Dynasty for twenty years at least. In the future, even if he could achieve the great feat of "ruling the Tang and Song Dynasties, and reaching the Han and Tang Dynasties" , it is not impossible.

Therefore, whether from the perspective of consolidating the throne or from the perspective of centralizing power to achieve great achievements, Zhu Di had sufficient reasons to accept and implement Xunzi's theory.

Strengthen the imperial power with the Holy King!

Use the theory of heaven to abolish the connection between heaven and man!

Just like what Dao Yan said to stimulate him before, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty could use Dong Zhongshu's theory. You, Zhu Di, want to be the emperor of the ages, so you don't dare to abandon this theory?

Dao Yan not only provided him with a better theory that was more conducive to the centralization of imperial power, but also perfectly solved the natural obstacles to the heliocentric theory and universal gravity caused by the relationship between heaven and man.

The most important thing is that these are the theories of your Confucian sage Xunzi!

Thinking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but look up and look out the window.

The sun was shining brightly and the sky was clear. It could be said that the sky was clear and the air was clear, which made people feel particularly comfortable and comfortable.

People are like this. As long as they are in a good mood, everything they look at is good. Even the foxtail grass on the roadside that you usually step on when you are not in a good mood will look particularly shy at this time.

"Does Xunzi have anything else to say about the holy king and the people?" Zhu Di suddenly thought.

After all, just now Dao Yan only talked about the absolute authority of the Holy King, but as the old saying goes, water can carry a boat and also capsize it. If only the Holy King has unilateral absolute authority, it is unreasonable no matter how you think about it.

This shows that Zhu Di has been completely attracted by the theory of "Holy King".

Daoyan smiled meaningfully.

The reason why Dao Yan put forward the theory of "holy king" was of course not only to help Zhu Di consolidate and strengthen the imperial power.

The first purpose of Daoyan is to find self-consistent logic for heliocentric theory and universal gravitation from Confucian classics.

The second purpose is to use the heliocentric theory and universal gravitation to prove that the theory of induction between heaven and man is wrong, and then overthrow Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism by attacking the theory of induction between heaven and man.

The third purpose is to help the imperial power who has lost his sense of heaven and man find a new coat.

Well, the theory of "Holy King" is the "Emperor's New Clothes" that Dao Yan found.

Facing Zhu Di's question, Dao Yan explained.

""Xunzi: Strengthening the Country" once said: The etiquette and justice are cultivated, the meaning is clear, the wrong one is timely, and the love of benefit is the shape. In this way, the people are as noble as the emperor, as high as the sky, as close as their parents, and as fearful of them. Like gods. Therefore, rewards are not used but the people encourage them, punishments are not used but they are powerful. This is called moral authority."

""Xunzi: Fu Guo Pian" also said: He who governs all changes, uses all things, nourishes all people, and controls the world is nothing more than a benevolent man. Therefore, his knowledge is enough to control it, his kindness is enough to calm him, and his virtue is enough Transform it, and if you gain it, you will be in control; if you lose it, you will be in chaos. The people sincerely rely on their knowledge, so they work hard to serve it and nourish their knowledge. Therefore, the benevolent people are above, and they are happy to save themselves from death. Otherwise, there is no other reason."

When Zhu Di heard this, his expression was slightly stern.

He once thought about how supreme the Holy King would be, but he never thought about it, or dared not think about it. According to Xunzi's theory, the Holy King only needs to "govern all changes, cultivate all things, and nourish all people" before he can make people The people regard the Holy King as a noble emperor and the supreme way of heaven, as kind as their parents, and as reverent as a god.

It is even said that the sage king can make the people "work hard for him in order to serve him" and "please die for him".

In other words, the people would take the initiative to repay the saint king's kindness with hard labor, and would even be willing to die for it!

There is no doubt that some Legalist thinking is clearly reflected in this.

There is no such thing as a sage within and a king outside, a law within and a Confucian outside.

But then, a huge question arose in Zhu Di's mind.

——Why is Xunzi’s status in Confucianism so low? So much so that Zhu Di had almost never heard of Xunzi's theories.

"Chi'er, how does the Confucius Temple deserve to be worshiped now?"

Confucianism, as the most powerful school of thought in Chinese history, has a profound influence. Especially after Dong Zhongshu of the Western Han Dynasty "deposed hundreds of schools of thought to only respect Confucianism", Confucianism became the only official doctrine recognized by the feudal dynasties of the past dynasties. By the Ming Dynasty today, , has extended to thousands of years.

Because of its strong role in maintaining feudal rule, Confucianism has been highly praised by kings of all ages. Many emperors have specially set up Confucian temples to worship Confucian sages, and Confucian temples have blossomed all over the country.

Wherever there are scholars, there must be a Confucius Temple.

Therefore, the posthumous status of the great Confucian masters in the past dynasties can be determined from the sacrifices in the Confucian Temple.

This is the most intuitive judgment.

That's why Zhu Di asked his eldest son this question.

After all, Zhu Di had never paid special attention to Xunzi's status in Confucianism before, and Zhu Di was the emperor after all. Even if he didn't have common sense, he couldn't directly ask Xunzi where he ranked, right? Therefore, Zhu Di used a tactful approach.

If you read to me all the people who are worthy of worship in the Confucius Temple, I will know where Xunzi ranks, and he will not be embarrassed.

Zhu Gaochi quickly explained: "The chief worshiper of the Confucius Temple is naturally Confucius, the great sage and sage. There are three levels of worshipers, the highest is the 'Four Matches', followed by the 'Twelve Philosophers', and finally those who worship in the East and West verandas 'Sages came before Confucianism'. The Four Matches and Twelve Philosophers are all in the Dacheng Hall, on both sides of Confucius, the closer to Confucius the more noble they are."

"The so-called 'four matches' are Yanzi and Zisi to the east of Confucius, and Zengzi and Mencius to the west."

This ranking is very important.

The person starting with Yan Zi on the east side is Yan Hui, needless to say, Confucius's most beloved disciple.

Zengzi and Zeng Shen, who start on the west side, are also disciples of Confucius, and are considered to be the successors of Confucius's mantle. This is based on the fact that in the Analects, the dialogue between Confucius and Zengzi about the way of loyalty and forgiveness has a certain color of spiritual transmission. There are also some records about Confucius passing the "Book of Filial Piety" to Zengzi, and Zengzi also wrote "The Great Learning". Of course, in fact, Zengzi's historical status in the inheritance of Confucian culture is mainly due to his pioneering role in the creation of the Simeng school. .

The two direct disciples of Confucius take the lead on the east and west sides, which is based on seniority.

Zisi, who is second on the east side, is not only the direct grandson of Confucius, but he was also taught by Zeng Shen.

More importantly, Zisi was also Mencius's orthodox teacher. That is to say, Confucius' Confucian thinking was passed on to Zisi by Zeng Shen, and was passed on to Mencius by Zisi's disciples. Later generations called Zisi and Mencius together as the Simeng school. Therefore, Zisi inherited Zeng Shen and Mencius, and played an important role in the inheritance of Confucius and Mencius.

Mencius, who is second on the west side, is the lowest among the four saints, but he was awarded the title of "Less Sage" because Mencius raised his arms and shouted loudly to defend the banner of Confucianism, and completely and comprehensively inherited Confucius' thinking.