New Shun 1730

The emperor's examination was like a palace examination, and these people were well prepared.

If we look at it from the perspective of enriching the country, strengthening the army, and expanding the living space of the nation, these people's answers are quite reliable. At least, on issues such as trade, economy, navy, Southeast Asia, expansion, and colonization, they are much more reliable than most ministers in the court.

But after the emperor heard it, it was hard to tell what he felt.

Listening to these people talking about words like "monopoly", "trade", "commodity", "assimilation", "rule", "labor and wealth", and "division of labor", the emperor nodded frequently and praised them from time to time, but he was still a little wary in his heart.

These people only understand what they say.

There are also contradictions among these people, and they have different views on the same thing.

However, the words they use to argue and the way of thinking they use to argue are consistent.

The emperor does not know what happened in later generations.

But if we look at the examples of later generations, we can say that their internal debates and dissents, as well as the vocabulary and concepts used in the debates, are somewhat similar to the Russian populists and the Bolsheviks: they all use vocabulary such as class, struggle, capital, and society; and the ultimate goal sounds the same.

In fact, their thoughts are very different. The problem is that the vocabulary, concepts, and ultimate ideals they use are indistinguishable to outsiders.

The emperor never worried about Liu Yu, because Liu Yu himself could not cause any trouble, whether it was Liu Yu's style of doing things or the centralized structure of Dashun.

But today, when asking these people about their views on Southeast Asia, trade, enriching the country, and strengthening the army, the vocabulary and thinking methods used by these people made the emperor feel an unspeakable worry.

Shuncheng Ming system relies on good family sons to be the knife handles and meritorious nobles to control the army to achieve a balance with civil officials.

At the same time, due to the introduction of Western learning in the late Ming Dynasty, Dashun was able to open the Wude Palace, using an education system completely different from that of Confucian civil servants to cultivate a basic force that was incompatible with Confucian civil servants, hated each other, and competed for official positions.

However, according to Emperor Taizong, who founded the new Shun Dynasty and established the system, "If the Wude Palace does not test Western geometry, astronomy, geography and other knowledge, it is just to recite the ancestral rate and see who can recite more decimal places. In fact, it is the same. It is just to select a group of smart people to be officials to balance."

The Wude Palace, the sons of good families, the founding heroes, etc., this force that balances the Confucian civil servants, has no "Tao".

They have no officially designated beliefs, beliefs, or doctrines, or in other words, their "Tao" is still the Confucian set of things.

Or, there is no Tao at all.

After the failure of Wang Mang's new policy, the Confucian ideal of building a heaven on earth in reality for the last time was basically shattered. Now, even if they are born in the imperial examination, do they have Tao? I'm afraid there is none. How can anyone really practice the governance of the Three Dynasties and truly practice the restoration of the well-field system?

Since there is no Tao.

And since Emperor Taizong believed that even if it was a competition of memorizing the digits after the decimal point of pi or seeing who could draw shit more vividly, the people selected and those selected through the imperial examinations were not much different in their ability to be officials - the people who were familiar with the classics and passed the imperial examinations were either smart enough to govern the country or they could govern the country because they learned the classics. Emperor Taizong tended to the former and believed that smart people would study the classics, so the imperial examinations must have selected the smartest ones. But if they studied geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, geography, and the Hundred Schools of Thought, they would still be ranked in the exams - then, to put it bluntly, the system of the good family sons of the Wude Palace existed for checks and balances.

This was obvious, and everyone in the Dashun court knew it, like lice on a bald head.

As for why they had to use the so-called "Western knowledge" instead of the Hundred Schools of Thought of the Celestial Empire?

The reason was also very simple.

Because they dared to use the Hundred Schools of Thought as the orthodoxy to counter Confucianism, the Dashun Dynasty could not sit still.

The Hundred Schools of Thought had the Tao.

Therefore, the use of Western knowledge actually corresponds to the Confucian Six Arts, because Western knowledge such as geometry only has skills but no Tao.

Rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics.

The imperial examination selection tests three of the six arts: rites, music, and calligraphy.

The Wude Palace selection tests the remaining three of the six arts: mathematics, archery, and charioteering.

This sounds much better. Dashun still respects the Confucian orthodoxy, which is consistent with the three words "protecting the world".

The policy essays, history, geography, and arithmetic tested in the Wude Palace can only be regarded as the so-called "a branch of Confucianism".

In short, the orthodoxy is still the Confucian orthodoxy, at least on the surface.

In this way, it is divided into two, forming a basic base of the royal court to counter the Confucian civil service system and achieve a balance similar to that before the Battle of Tumu.

There is nothing wrong with this.

The emperor was in the middle, deliberately instigating conflicts between those born in Wude Palace and those born in the imperial examination. He basically did not like the marriage between those born in Wude Palace and those born in the imperial examination. The ratio of officials was basically maintained within the unspoken rules and the number that everyone agreed to.

When necessary, the emperor could use civil officials to suppress those in the Wude Palace system; or use those in the Wude Palace system to suppress the Confucian civil official system.

This was the basis for the restoration of the "Han and Tang style of generals becoming ministers" in Dashun.

However, the things that the emperor now tested and taught made him smell a power or political crisis - although the emperor also thought it made sense.

Before, Wude Palace was only about academics, not Taoism.

Have these people who are kneeling in front of me learned a new "Tao"?

Talking about trade, labor, wealth, currency, division of labor... How can these things not be mentioned in the six arts of Confucianism?

Which of these things should be counted as ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics?

Of course, this is just for the sake of superficial political struggle. If it is not included, other reasons can be found.

The problem is that the answers, the way of thinking and the way of reasoning of these people are incompatible with those who come from the imperial examination or the Wude Palace.

Take the emperor's question "How should Java be governed" as an example.

In West Java, should land reform be carried out and land be distributed to the common people?

In fact, whether it is those who are kneeling here at this time or those who are not here from the imperial examination, Wude Palace or nobles, the talented people will definitely give the same answer: to change.

The answer is the same.

However, the starting point, or the reason for "why to change", is completely different.

This is similar to Liu Yu's view that "Han Ming obtained the state in a legitimate way", and the "Han Ming obtained the state in a legitimate way" in the official consciousness of Dashun or Daming. The conclusions are consistent, but the reasons are completely different.

One is that the resistance of the grassroots is the legitimate way to obtain the state; the other is that those who have never served as officials of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty and have never received salaries from the Mongol Yuan emperor are the legitimate way to obtain the state.

The answers are consistent.

The ideas are very different.

The same is true for the land reform in West Java.

The reasons given by those who came from the imperial examination or Wude Palace can basically be divided into several categories.

Benevolent government is a slogan.

In fact, distributing land to small farmers is a continuation of the policy of suppressing annexation.

Suppressing the powerful.

Facilitating the flow of officials.

Eliminating the power of the local "Tusi".

Registering the people equally is convenient for governance.

Disintegrating the power of the local "Tusi" and "powerful" allows the court to control West Java.

However, the reasons given by those who knelt in front of the emperor at this time were completely different.

They believe that the reasons for the land reform in West Java are almost the same, and the previous ones are completely different.

The reason they gave is: after the land reform, the farmers in West Java can cultivate the land, so that their income belongs to themselves, and their enthusiasm for work is improved. And they grow rice, cotton, coffee, indigo, etc., which are exactly what Dashun needs.

Dashun's ironware, cloth, woodware, farm tools, etc. can be exchanged for the rice, cotton, coffee, and indigo they grow.

It is equivalent to taking away the harvest of West Java farmers at a very low price.

Coffee, etc. can be sold to Europe for gold and silver currency.

Rice can stabilize the rice price in Jiangnan; cotton can be woven into cloth by Jiangnan, and then exchanged for more cotton and indigo in Nanyang.

In this way, it can not only show a benevolent government that is completely different from the "forced planting system" of the Netherlands, but also greatly promote the development of Dashun's industry and commerce, provide sufficient raw materials for Jiangnan's industry and commerce, and open up a Nanyang market.

They believe that the land reform in West Java will increase the potential of West Java farmers to buy things. The more cloth they bought, the more money Dashun made, and the more raw materials such as rice, cotton, and indigo grass they earned.

In this way, on the one hand, it made industry and commerce flourish, and alleviated the survival problems of a large number of bankrupt farmers in Dashun due to the merger trend after the abolition of the head tax. They could go to the city to work and sell the products they produced to Nanyang; on the other hand, it could also deepen the control over Nanyang, so that Nanyang would not be able to make hair without Dashun.

And this also made the emperor praise these people repeatedly, but in his heart he considered and weighed power and politics and then became worried.

Wude Palace and the imperial examination, that is the white horse and the black horse.

Dashun was worried that all of them were black horses, and it was pitch black, so that the disaster of the previous dynasty would occur, and the Confucian scholars would be completely strengthened at the grassroots level.

So they made a bunch of white horses: Don’t think that only your black horses can pull the cart. If you are desperate, I will use white horses to pull the cart.

However, this is just to scare you.

Deterrent power is deterrent only before it is used. Once used, it will be useless.

You are fine, it seems that I may use all white horses to pull the carriage, and the number of white horses is sufficient, but don't worry, don't go too far, I won't use all of them: Dashun is still the orthodoxy of the world.

Although I demoted Yanshenggong to Fengsihou, I didn't make him a commoner, right?

Although I scare you all day long, I will use people from Wude Palace to execute the emperor's will, but it's just a scare. If you agree to my compromise, you can raise the price and pay the money on the spot, and we can still discuss it.

But now, the relationship between these people and Wude Palace and the imperial examination is not about white horses and black horses, but now there is another kind of yellow horse.

Rather, this is a group of horned, even-toed, ruminating yellow cattle.

They insisted that they all had four hooves, tails, ears, and two eyes, and then said that they were no different from the non-ruminant, odd-toed, hornless white and black horses, and that they were just a group of yellow horses...

It seemed to make sense, but it also didn't make sense.

At least, the emperor at this time felt that something was wrong.