New Shun 1730

When things get out of hand, you can always find faults in an egg.

Liu Yu picked out the great righteousness of "the survival of the orthodox religion" from tempura, which was in line with the background of Japan, China, Korea and other countries banning Catholicism at that time.

This was not just a matter for Confucianism itself, but a common enemy of Chinese culture and its derivative and assimilated cultures.

On the Dashun side, "dousi" was translated into "Haotian God"; on the Japanese side, "dousi" was translated into "Dainichi Tathagata"; on the Dashun side, Christianity was used to supplement Confucianism, trying to challenge the status of Buddhism first; on the Japanese side, Catholics and Buddhists once burned churches and temples against each other...

And it was not allowed to worship ancestors, Confucius, Zhou Gong was not allowed to call saints because canonization required the permission of the Pope, etc. These things caused a strong backlash in the Confucian cultural circle.

Liu Yu's words naturally did not need to find fault with Dashun, after all, the ally Dashun was looking for was France, which was known as the filial son of Catholicism. On the Japanese side, at least they were looking for the Netherlands, which was at least not a Catholic country.

But the Confucian scholars on the Japanese side took advantage of the topic and recited Xin Qiji's "Watching the Tide" to relieve the depression in his heart, so it's no wonder that he took advantage of the topic.

The officials on the Dashun side looked at Liu Yu quietly, and they all wanted to laugh in their hearts. Who in the court didn't know that Ying Suobo knew nothing about the orthodox teachings? It was unknown whether he had read the Thirteen Classics. Why was he pretending to be such a guardian of orthodox teachings?

While criticizing it in his heart, he also admired it in his heart, thinking that this ability to take advantage of the topic was really worthy of the level of years of struggling in the court. Although he has been away for these years, he has learned some of this ability by osmosis.

The Confucian scholars on the Japanese side are still inferior in level. Even people like Arai Hakuseki felt that "cultural inferiority and military confidence, and the only way to deal with Korea is to rely on military force to achieve equality" after going to Korea. The Jieying Temple, which was about to exchange the treaty, was full of inscriptions and inscriptions left by Korean envoys.

Liu Yu made such a fuss and was speechless.

There are many contradictory opinions and thoughts within Confucianism, such as the horse liver theory that existed in the Han Dynasty.

Did King Wen and King Wu rebel? Or did they act on behalf of heaven?

In the end, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty gave instructions: Don't argue.

Horse liver is poisonous, but horse meat is not. Just eat some horse meat quietly. Do you have to eat horse liver to be considered as having truly eaten a horse?

What Liu Yu said today is also something that cannot be argued.

This kind of debate has already been debated in Japan more than 90 years ago.

At that time, the Nagasaki magistrate Yamazaki Masanobu saw the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty and tried his best to collect intelligence on the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the "Copy of the Letter from Li Ze to Shi Junmen", "Shi Kefa's Letter to the Regent of the Qing Dynasty", "The Edict of the Thief Chuang's Usurpation of the Throne" and so on were copied to Japan.

On one hand, it is written directly that Li Zicheng is a thief, but "the heavy taxes and levies have caused the people to hate to perish together. The great heaven has exhausted its benevolence, causing the people to suffer from disasters. I am a commoner..." This is back to the original horse liver dispute. Are Shang Tang and Zhou Wu rebelling? Or acting on behalf of heaven?

On the other hand, in "Shi Kefa's letter to the Regent of the Qing Dynasty", "Respectfully write to His Royal Highness the Regent of the Qing Dynasty", "My general Wu Sangui borrowed troops from your country and defeated the rebels... Such actions are unprecedented in ancient and modern times. All the ministers of the Ming Dynasty kneel to the north and bow their heads..."

This not only confuses the Confucian scholars in the Central Plains, who don't know whether to stand on the side of the peasant army or directly join the Duke of Ji of the Ming Dynasty, General Wu Sangui, to avenge their ancestors.

The Confucian scholars in Japan also had a serious ideological confusion, and the horse liver theory that had been "undisputed" was once again turned up. Who is orthodox? Who is right and who is wrong?

After that, Dashun abolished the slogan of equal distribution of land and exemption of grain, and changed it to the slogan of protecting the world. Jingxiang Nirvana, Japan's uprisings gradually increased, and they were afraid that Dashun's resistance ideas would affect Japan's domestic rule. In addition, the feud between Nanming and Dashun caused by borrowing troops, and then cut off any form of official exchanges.

Now Liu Yu has brought up a similar topic again. Dashun is protecting the world and the orthodox teachings, and beating Japan. Is it right or wrong?

The Japanese Confucian scholars can have doubts about "what should we do if Confucius and Mencius are the main generals and come to conquer Japan" because they have such doubts. Of course, they would not ask if they did not have such doubts.

Moreover, Dashun did not cede land. Tsushima and Oki Island were ceded to Ryukyu for the virtue of orthodox teachings to "repay grievances with justice", which happened to be twice the time that Ryukyu ceded the five northern islands.

Regardless of whether Ryukyu "actively" handed over to Dashun for custody afterwards, Dashun did not cede land to Japan anyway.

Opening a port is renting land and giving rent. Nagasaki itself has a Chinese town, which is not a big deal. The purpose of opening the port is to increase the price of rice in Japan and improve the lives of samurai, Confucian scholars and farmers; the purpose of opening the port is to allow the Japanese people to get enough goods. This is all very benevolent.

According to Liu Yu, Ezo was invaded by the Rakshasa Kingdom from the south. Japan has no ability to repel the barbarians. As the Celestial Empire, Dashun has the obligation to repel the real barbarians.

This doubt can be said to be a reflection of the great ideological confusion caused by the expansion of Song Confucianism in Japan since the Tang Dynasty to the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

And Liu Yu's sophistry and exaggeration were just the fuse that ignited this great ideological confusion.

Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, three different thoughts have emerged among Japanese Confucian scholars.

This is not a dispute between Zhu Xi's school and ancient Confucianism. In fact, the dispute is a dispute between those who want to move forward under the banner of the Pre-Qin Dynasty and those who want to retreat under the banner of Song Confucianism. It still involves economic issues.

The three thoughts mentioned here are about the issue of Huayi.

One group believes that since they are Yi Di, they should work hard to learn Chinese culture and wish they could have been born in China.

One group believes that Japan itself can also be called Zhonghua. As long as it conforms to etiquette, is more advanced than surrounding nations, and has a vassal tribute system, then the Central Plains can be called Zhonghua, and Japan can also be called Zhonghua.

China is a cultural concept. As long as Confucianism observes etiquette, it is China. It has nothing to do with geography. When calling China, we should change it to place names such as Cathay and Zhiyuna. Zhonghua is what China calls itself, and in Japan, China is what Japan calls itself.

There is also a group of people who believe that Japan is China and China is not Chinese orthodoxy at all.

Because Japan's eternal lineage was shaped according to the etiquette of heaven on the day of birth. Confucian etiquette is the great road between heaven and earth. Different paths lead to the same destination. The emergence of Confucian righteousness in Japan was much earlier than Zhou Gong, Confucius and Mencius.

The reason why Japan mostly uses Chinese is because Japan also had writing in the past. However, when Emperor Kotoku made reforms, all Japanese classics were "grazed", so now we can no longer see classics written in ancient Japanese characters.

If you could see it, you would be surprised to find that ancient Japan actually had writing and also wrote its own Confucian classics, which reached the same goal as Zhou Gong and Confucius and Mencius.

It's a pity that all of them were burned down because of Emperor Kotoku's great reform and comprehensive Tang transformation.

The first two schools are still moving around within the scope of the Confucian view of the world. At most, they are "arrogantly calling the two flowers", and they are not so outrageous as the third school, which is a strange combination.

When Yamaga Sokyo proposed the third school theory, he was inevitably influenced by Buddhism, Jesus Christ, and Confucianism.

Just like Song Confucianism was faced with the impact of Buddhism's shaping cosmology of "where does it come from and where is it going?", they had to develop Neo-Confucianism to counterattack. However, they were criticized by the ancient Confucian school in Dashun as "Neo-Confucianism was tainted by Buddhism." without knowing it”.

Shanlu Soxing thought that he was a "retro-Confucian", but in fact the entire system was unconsciously influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism and Buddhism.

Continuing the debate between the Hayashi family and the Jesuits in Japan, it is believed that heaven is before the Creator. So there is heaven first, and then there is the universe. In this case, heaven has already existed at the beginning of the creation of the universe, so it is reasonable for there to be a Japan with a "complete civilized system" that conforms to the heaven at the beginning of the creation.

Since heavenly principles precede the Creator, Confucianism also existed at the beginning of creation. It was just the Duke of Zhou, Confucius and Mencius who realized the great way and spread it. But in fact, Confucianism has appeared in Japan for tens of thousands of years.

Just like when dark clouds cover it, it's not that there is no sun, it's just that the group of people on the west side of the sea were still in the wilderness at that time and couldn't see it.

The main reason why Shanlu Soxing was able to do this was because... Chinese history books were too detailed.

Myths are myths, and history books are history books.

And Yamaga Soyuki took Japanese mythology and compared it with Chinese history books and said, if you look at the time, is it earlier than you?

His combination of three families was still very popular among the lower-class samurai in Japan. Among the upper-class Confucian scholars, they were criticized.

This can be seen as a prototype of nationalism that turns from a simple inferiority complex to arrogance, and it is the kind that is invincible: Japanese Confucian classics that were earlier than Confucius and Mencius were burned in the era of Emperor Kotoku , so you can’t see it now; you said you didn’t find any evidence of its existence, doesn’t that just prove that it was burned cleanly at that time?

This is almost the same as the later generations who believe that "history books have been tampered with, so history books cannot be trusted." They are basically invincible. If you cite examples from history books, he will tell you that they have been tampered with.

Even a Confucian master like Arai Shiraishi felt culturally inferior when he went to North Korea. But what the masters do is to deconstruct the world view and concoct theories on how to claim each other's own country. The level is still a bit high.

Yamaga Soyuki, on the other hand, turned from having low self-esteem to being arrogant, and came up with such a set of self-pleasure things, which had a great influence on the lower-level samurai.

That kind of cultural inferiority is immersed in the bones. The lower the level, the easier it is to be deceived by this kind of inferiority and then conceited thing.

However, not everyone can be a theorist. If you want to be a saint and claim to be a sect, Shanlu Suxing still lacks some enthusiasm.

Based on the situation in Japan, he rejected the orthodox concept of "Heaven" and instead used "Martial".

Because if we don't use "Martial" to find legitimacy, and only rely on "morality", "ethics", etc. derived from "Heaven", Japan will feel inferior in front of North Korea.

But if "Martial" is used as the orthodoxy, then one will not feel inferior in front of North Korea: If I can beat you, it proves that I am orthodox.

Therefore, Yamaga Soyuki regarded the "Tian Qiong Spear" from the founding of Izanami as the first of the artifacts. "In times of ignorance, in order to eliminate violence and exorcise evil spirits and demonstrate the holy way, one must use force."

This leads to the biggest problem in this system, just like the theory of the Austrian painter: if the Germans are superior, then the result must be victory over other inferior peoples; if the Germans are not superior, they deserve it. Exterminated by other peoples.

The Germans who won the world of food and drink, but lost the entire race and did not commit suicide at the last moment are holiday Germans. Since they have proved themselves inferior, why not commit suicide as a whole to make room for the superior race? In short, the theory of racial superiority is correct, but it is not us Germans who are superior.

Therefore, after Liu Yu trained in the navy for ten years and the Privy Council ordered a violent beating of Japan, this third school theory collapsed almost instantly.

Since "Wuwei" is a symbol of orthodoxy, then if you lose, doesn't it just prove that you are not orthodox?

"Wuwei" is not bad, but you shouldn't be so ambitious. You can only win, not lose.

If you take out the mentality of "I am a barbarian, only Wuwei", there is no loophole.

The problem is that you want to be the emperor, but you don't recognize the virtue of heaven but Wuwei. Then you can only win and not lose. If you lose, all the cornerstones of this theory will collapse.

Any method has flaws, and you have to find the weak point.

If the great scholar of Dashun and Yamaga Suxing debate at this time, it can only be a chicken talking to a duck: the great scholar does not believe that Japanese mythology is official history, and all the foundations of Yamaga Suxing are myths. It's a chicken talking to a duck, and no one can win the debate.

You said to show the evidence of your previous texts, I said that during the Taika Reform, books were burned and ancients were buried, so doesn't this just prove my point, that the ancient texts and ancient culture were burned clean?

You say your myths are history, show me the evidence. I say these are all recorded in books. Your books can be history, so why can't ours? I'll ask you if Zhou Gong and Confucius were not born ten thousand years ago? I can roughly infer the year Confucius was born from your history books.

The result of such a debate is that those who believe in Dashun Confucianism still believe in Dashun Confucianism, and those who believe in Yamaga Suxing still believe in Yamaga Suxing.

But Wu Fangrui's surprise attack on Kyoto, the fire he set in Kyoto, Li Li's smashing of the usurped objects in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and Dashun's subsequent benevolent act of "compensating the people with tens of thousands of taels of silver" hit the weak spot of Yamaga Suxing's theory.

If the myth is true, then Wuwei is the destiny, and losing proves that the destiny is not in Japan.

If the myth is false, then Japanese culture is a derivative of Chinese culture, and derivative culture has no destiny.

After the criticism of weapons collapsed the foundation of the third school's system, the Japanese Confucian community actually only had the first two schools left.

One faction considered itself barbarians, and the other claimed to be Chinese.

But Liu Yu used "Tempura" to shatter the foundations of the remaining two factions.

The concept of Tianxia gradually expanded with the development of transportation. When sailboats connected the whole world, the era of closing the door and claiming to be Tianxia was over.

Liu Yu used the topic of Tempura to put forward the concept that Tianxia is the earth and the earth is Tianxia.

On the one hand, "complimenting" Japan that it is not barbarians, but Westerners are barbarians; on the other hand, since Tianxia is the earth and the earth is Tianxia, ​​the debate between Hua and Yi is different from the past, and there can only be one Hua.

What Confucian scholars in the world should do now is to "respect Zhou and repel barbarians".

It can be recognized that Korea and Japan are both vassals of the Zhou emperor, and they are not afraid of the Seven Heroes coming again. Anyway, this system will collapse sooner or later.

Before the collapse, it is better to continue on the path of Dashun. At the very least, it will not be to the extent of being challenged by others. At least before the collapse of the concept of Tianxia, ​​there will be no danger.

North Korea can continue to dream of "the emperor came from Zhen" and Japan can continue to dream of "the heroes compete for the emperor", but the Zhou emperor is no longer the Zhou emperor of the 800-li capital. Whether the emperor came from Zhen or the heroes compete for the emperor, it still depends on guns, population and productivity.

If the Zhou emperor still had six divisions, who would dare to dominate? The body of the Duke of Qi is still boiling in the big pot, and the princes probably drank the soup.

Wu Fangrui disintegrated the Japanese "True Hua" theory with a fire, Liu Yu's concept of the world disintegrated the theory of "each calling himself Hua and the East and West Hua coexisting", and the last barbarians were divided into different levels to make friends with those Confucian scholars who considered themselves barbarians.

Now he, a person who does not believe in Confucianism at all, is here to angrily criticize the Japanese Confucian scholars for "this harm is enough", and he even sprays and scolds.

Several Confucian scholars who considered themselves to be barbarians stared at the tempura thrown by Liu Yu on the ground, blushing and lowering their heads, thinking that if the world is so, then we should really respect Zhou and expel the barbarians.

Since the Tang people are the emperor, we are also princes, not barbarians. Even if we are barbarians, we are higher than the southern barbarians. Chu did not pay tribute to the emperor, and the emperor conquered it, so the emperor was not wrong. Even if the Chu people are barbarians, aren't they a little higher than the southern barbarians further south?

Being a barbarian, there are also different levels.