Please ask me to be the emperor

"Are you not surrendering to the 'shun thieves'?" Chen Zilong asked loudly when he saw Xia Yunyi being escorted back by several soldiers. He didn't look like a prisoner at all.

"Take refuge? You can say that!" Xia Yunyi nodded.

"You traitor, have you forgotten the oath you and I made! Are you worthy of the death of Shen Junmen! Are you worthy of the passing of His Majesty!" Chen Zilong couldn't help but asked heartbrokenly when he heard this.

It turns out that Xia Yunyi and Chen Zilong, one is calm and generous, the other is as strong as fire, have always been kind to each other, and have quite a literary reputation, so they are called "Chen Xia".

These two people have never lived up to the name "Chen Xia". They have always exchanged knowledge, strengthened their integrity, and agreed to work together to support national affairs.

Unexpectedly, Xia Yunyi would "betray himself" just after a slight setback, which immediately made him furious.

Of course, Chen Zilong didn't know that Xia Yunyi was not the only one who "betrayed" him?

Liu Rushi, his old sweetheart in his previous life, also fell into the arms of Zhang Shun early in this life.

Although he knew nothing about it, it did not prevent him from being as proficient in secular affairs as he was in the original history. In addition to traveling around to study and form associations, he mostly stayed in brothels and brothels.

But Xia Yunyi is not the case. Although the two have similar minds, he is actually ten years older than Chen Zilong and is more knowledgeable.

After hearing what Chen Zilong said, he couldn't help but explain: "The 'Shun Thief' has profound knowledge and advanced knowledge, just like a dragon, and cannot be looked down upon by the 'Thief'."

"Oh? Then you mean that he is a learned thief?" Chen Zilong couldn't help but sneered.

"I regard him as a thief, and he also regards me as a thief!" Unexpectedly, Xia Yunyi shook his head and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Seeing that Chen Zilong was about to curse again, he quickly stopped him and said, "Renzhong, just listen to what I have to say. It's not too late to curse again."

"Okay, tell me!" Chen Zilong spread his hands and sneered, "Let me save them and scold them together!"

Seeing that it was difficult to persuade this person, Xia Yunyi continued: "In the past, Fei Zi said that there were five beetles in the country, but now King Shun also thinks that there are five thieves in the world."

"One said: Peasants and thieves occupy all the land in the world as their own, leaving the people with nothing to cultivate and their homes displaced, so refugees are everywhere."

"Second: The tax thief seizes the rich land and wears silks and silks, but refuses to pluck a hair to benefit the world, thus leaving the court with no wealth and soldiers and horses without pay."

"Thirdly, people are thieves, they will have empty wages and no soldiers under their command; soldiers will keep slaves and maidservants, and the country will have no service, causing the whole world to be dependent on one end and miserable!"

"The fourth is that scholars and thieves use literature to disrupt the law, form cliques for personal gain, and discuss government affairs arbitrarily. On the surface, they are upright and upright, but in fact they are just like a dog and a dog, making the court's laws unenforceable and the national system almost paralyzed."

"The fifth is official thieves. They are high above the temple. They cannot share the country's worries. Instead, they only focus on making money."

"Their hands are up and down, so that the court cannot communicate with the superiors and subordinates, and money and food are greedy, so that the enemy cannot be defended externally and the thieves cannot be defeated internally."

"If the imperial court abandons its people, how can the world's scholars turn away from it?"

"You...I..." When Chen Zilong heard this, his fingers pointing at Xia Yunyi trembled.

None of these words were meant to accuse Chen Zilong, but when they fell into his ears, every word hit his heart.

Xia Yunyi quoted several views from Zhang Shun, which roughly related to five major issues: land annexation, gentry resistance to taxes, gentry and generals competing with the country for population, Confucianism and literature violating prohibitions, and official governance.

Obviously except for the last one, they didn't play a good role in it.

"Could it be that...were we wrong...that we are the biggest thieves of the country?" Chen Zilong couldn't help but asked in disbelief.

"What do you think?" Xia Yunyi smiled bitterly and replied, "Yes, we always shout for the country and the people, but we never thought that we are the culprits that brought the country to this point!"

"Could it be...that there's no way to save it?" Chen Zilong was silent for a long time and couldn't help but ask.

"Yes!" Xia Yunyi said with an even weirder expression, "We must start from these five points, divide the fields, adjust the tax burden, recruit soldiers, release slaves, regulate speech, and clean up the officials!"

Good guy, Chen Zilong almost jumped up when he heard Xia Yunyi's words.

Why?

It turns out that this method is a good one, but the knife is going to hit you. Who can accept this?

"No... no..." Chen Zilong couldn't help but said in a hoarse voice, "You can't do this!"

"Why?" Xia Yunyi smiled.

"Because... because of this... isn't this going to deal with us?" Chen Zilong couldn't help but yelled hysterically.

"No, there must be something wrong!"

"Only when the country follows the king's principles and implements the king's government can the people live and work in peace and contentment, instead of...rather than destroying the pillars of the country..."

"Chen Zilong!" Just as Chen Zilong was defending eloquently, Xia Yunyi suddenly heard a loud shout, "Could it be that you are trying to deceive people!"

"Ah?" Chen Zilong suddenly woke up after receiving this warning, and for a moment he was so ashamed that he felt ashamed.

As the saying goes: "It is easy to break a thief in the mountain, but it is difficult to break a thief in the heart."

This Chen Zilong has been taught by saints since he was a child, and has almost integrated it into his own bones.

However, his family background, his life and his high spirits in recent years are all based on the "Five Thieves" and are almost integrated into his flesh and blood.

Nowadays, flesh and blood are at odds with each other, and it is hard to accept this reality for a while.

Fortunately, at this time, Confucianism regarded the study of the mind as its authentic teaching.

This philosophy of mind is based on "cultivating conscience" and "deceiving one's mind" is the thief. Therefore, Chen Zilong realized that he had deceived himself and others, and couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"It's easy for a conscience to know itself. But if you can't reach that conscience, it's 'Knowing is extremely difficult, but acting is only difficult.'" At this moment, Xia Yunyi took the opportunity to add another blow.

This means that now that you know that your conscience is no good, it’s time to start practicing the unity of knowledge and action.

"You're right!" Chen Zilong was silent for a long time, and finally nodded helplessly and sighed, "It's just that the price of conscience is a bit too high!"

Everything in the world is easier said than done.

Now it is indeed difficult for him, Chen Zilong, to betray not only his own class position, but also the loyalty to the emperor that he has learned since childhood.

Moreover, because of this, he will be spurned by thousands of people and cursed by thousands of people, which is even more difficult!

"How can it be easy to follow the teachings of saints and do the things of saints?" Unexpectedly, at this moment, Xia Yunyi said with a bit of fanaticism.

"His Highness, wearing a commoner's body, did not hesitate to feed thieves with his own body, and finally achieved great success. Then he planned to usurp the throne, and did such reckless things, which will cause infamy for thousands of years, but he is not afraid of it."

"You and I have been taught by saints since we were young, and we are not as good as your Highness?"

As soon as Xia Yunyi said these words, Chen Zilong was shocked and dumbfounded. He couldn't help but bowed deeply and said, "I would like to learn from you. Even if Chen is shattered to pieces, he has no regrets!"