Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Jiang Xinghuo coughed twice and spoke slowly and clearly.

"The great affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military affairs. You should have heard of these eight words."

"Of course, I'm not a fool." Zhu Gaoxu replied matter-of-factly.

Jiang Xinghuo nodded happily, it's good that he's not a fool.

Jiang Xinghuo continued to ask: "Then do you know why 'sacrifice' and 'rong' are the only two major national events?"

The only one? Zhu Gaoxu felt that this wording was extremely inappropriate, but he was embarrassed to point it out, so he ignored the past and thought about the question raised by Jiang Xinghuo.

Thinking about it this time, I really gave him the complete answer.

Zhu Gaoxu said matter-of-factly.

"Because if you chop off the heads of the enemy's envoys or captured generals and offer them to heaven, you can send troops to fight!"

"."

Jiang Xinghuo was silenced for a few breaths by such a straightforward but reasonable answer, and then he spoke.

"What you said makes sense, but that's not the underlying meaning. It's just a representation."

Jiang Xinghuo closed the folding fan and explained seriously: "The essence is that the army and wizards, these two professional social divisions of labor, are the ruling class necessary for the formation of a dynasty. One rules the body, and the other rules the soul. So That’s all. In fact, nobility is not necessary. The army and wizards can also assume the ruling function and form a military state or a religious state."

Outside the wall, the rosary beads spinning in Daoyan's hand stopped.

"Is this what it means that the most important affairs of the country are in sacrifice and military service?"

Dao Yan murmured to himself: "It's interesting that Jiang Xinghuo has such a novel perspective and a way of interpretation that directly points to the essence of the problem."

Looking at Dao Yan's reaction, Zhu Di chuckled, feeling a little inexplicable sense of superiority.

Are you shocked?

What Zhu Di was sure of was that, based on what he knew about Jiang Xinghuo's habits, a bigger shock would definitely be yet to come.

Zhu Di was looking forward to seeing how Dao Yan, who had always prided himself on his resourcefulness, would be shocked today.

"The essence of the dynasty comes from these eight characters and the various changes in form that occur with the development of manufacturing power."

"First of all, we want to talk about the early form of the dynasty - the slavery dynasty."

"You should know that the first dynasties were the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty. So, what is your first impression of these two dynasties? What is the thing that comes out of your mouth when you think of them?"

In Zhu Gaoxu's understanding, Xia Jie and Shang Zhou were very cruel. Xia Jie released wild beasts to hunt and kill people for fun, while Shang Zhou invented the punishment of burning with cannon.

So he threw out all his knowledge without thinking.

"Xia Jie and Shang Zhou were the tyrants of ancient times."

"You answered very well."

Seeing that Jiang Xinghuo did not continue to ask, Zhu Gaoxu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If he continued to ask, he would not know anything.

Zhu Gaoxu had no idea how many generations the two dynasties lasted, where their capitals were, and what their history was.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't ask these questions, but asked a question that sounded strange.

"Then why are they so cruel?"

Zhu Gaoxu replied without thinking: "I think they are cruel people by nature, and there is no reason why they are cruel."

"No."

Jiang Xinghuo shook his folding fan: "If you read historical records carefully, you will find that the cruelty of the Xia and Shang dynasties was not the cruelty of the last king, but the cruelty of the entire ruling class."

"During Emperor Zhongkang's reign, Xi and He engaged in promiscuity, devoting the time and causing chaos; Emperor Kong Jia was established, and he treated ghosts and gods, and engaged in adultery; Emperor Taijia had been in power for three years, but he was unclear, tyrannical, disobedient to soup laws, and disordered morality; Emperor Geng was After the collapse, his younger brother Zu Jia Li became Emperor Jia. Emperor Jia was promiscuous and the Yin Dynasty continued to decline. Emperor Wu Yi was unprincipled and acted as a puppet. He called him a god and played with him to make others do what he did. The god couldn't win, so he killed and humiliated him. Since the time of Zhong Ding, disciples have been replaced and replaced by others. The disciples may compete with each other to replace him, which is more chaotic than the ninth generation, so the princes have no court."

Jiang Xinghuo has an excellent memory. When he was a lecturer at the university, he almost blurted out the content he prepared for the lectures, and every word was correct.

"How cruel were the Xia and Shang dynasties? It was commonplace to select babies and virgins as 'human sacrifices' for human sacrifice. Not to mention the large-scale massacre of slaves, and even the joy of cruelty, such as Zhou The king made Jichang’s son Boyikao into meatballs.”

"This kind of top-down cruelty is even called a dynasty of terror. The root cause is that they are a slave dynasty and they do not regard slaves as human beings at all."

"But I want to ask a question."

Jiang Xinghuo looked up at the bearded man.

"So, why did the Zhou Dynasty become the first feudal dynasty after the demise of the Shang Dynasty, which did not treat slaves as human beings, instead of continuing to be a brutal slavery dynasty?"

"Is it because King Wen of Zhou, King Wu of Zhou, and Duke Zhou are all kind by nature? Why did Duke Zhou establish the "Rites of Zhou" that protected slaves to a certain extent?"

"Master, why is this?"

Next door, Zhu Di turned to Dao Yan curiously and asked.

Dao Yan's fingers hidden in the sleeves of his black cassock held the rosary and pondered for a moment before answering uncertainly.

""Book of Rites: Mingtang Wei" once recorded: In the past, the Yin Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty brought chaos to the world, and they cooked ghosts for the princes. Therefore, the Duke of Zhou served as the king of Wu to defeat Zhou. King Wu died and the king was young and weak. The Duke of Zhou assumed the position of emperor to rule the world; In the sixth year, the princes came to the Mingtang, made rites, made music, and awarded measures, and the world was in great service."

"It seems that the rule of Shang Zhou was too cruel, which led to the resentment of the people, the rebellion of the princes, and the people of the world doubted the legitimacy of the 'Emperor'. Therefore, it is necessary to use rituals and music to clarify the order and to govern the world with mercy, so Duke Zhou formulated "The Rites of Zhou" was introduced, thus bringing order back on track."

Zhu Di nodded, what Dao Yan said made sense, just like after the Jingnan Rebellion, he wanted to compile the "Yongle Dadian" to show his intention of civil governance and calm the hearts of the people in the world.

But Jiang Xinghuo, who was next door, gave an obviously different answer.

"The transition from a slave dynasty to a feudal dynasty is a gradual process of evolution. Judging from the social economic system and the people's system reflected in "Zhou Li", it has the characteristics of a feudal society and is obviously in the early stage of feudal society. It also has primitive There are remnants of the social system and some remnants of the slavery system, but generally speaking, the manufacturing relations of feudal ownership are dominated.”

"The manufacturing relationship can be understood as three aspects, that is, who owns all the materials for producing food; what is the status of the people who produce the food and those who own it; and who ultimately distributes the food."

"As for the ruler's transition from being cruel to slaves to not being cruel, and the transition of the nature of the dynasty from a slave dynasty to a feudal dynasty, these two issues must be discussed from this point of view."