Rise From the Humble

"Haha, Zihou, if you are in a hurry, you can talk to us. Our colleagues will definitely help if we can. Why do you have to be tainted with the smell of copper? It will be a joke to others."

Zhu Pingan had just entered Wuyi Hall. A middle-aged official who had never interacted with him very enthusiastically came up to him, patted Zhu Pingan on the shoulder, chuckled, and said to Zhu Pingan with a smile on his face. said.

Seemingly enthusiastic and well-intentioned.

Yes, I can only use the word "seemingly".

The acting skills are outstanding and the whole process is not distracted.

By the way, you can't hide the contempt on your face, and the hehe you just made was too mocking...

At this time, in this situation, I have a saying mmp that I don’t know whether to say or not.

Zhu Ping'an raised his head and glanced at this person, twitched the corner of his mouth, and cursed in his heart, but with a slight smile on his face, "Thank you for your concern, sir. I wonder if you are talking about Zhu Ji's fast food?"

"Well, that's exactly what happened." The middle-aged official nodded.

"I don't think it's anything." Zhu Ping'an shrugged nonchalantly, with a calm look on his face, "Three hundred and sixty people will be the number one scholar."

"Nothing? Doesn't Zihou know the difference between justice and benefit?" Hearing this, the middle-aged official couldn't help shaking his head and laughing out loud, as if he had heard a big joke.

Zhu Pingan certainly knows the difference between justice and benefit.

The distinction between righteousness and benefit is a basic argument in Confucianism, which talks about whether people should pursue righteousness or benefit.

Confucius's sentence "A gentleman is compared to righteousness, and a villain is related to profit", which laid the basic argument; Mencius's "I will do things for the sake of righteousness and profit first, and I will never tire of taking it" further elaborated on the theory of righteousness; Xunzi's "For the benefit of things, Fighting for goods and wealth, only looking for profit, is the courage of Jia and thieves." This completely drove businessmen into the ground.

The above is the mainstream ideology of Confucianism, which values ​​righteousness and despises business, that is, "the so-called last one is industry and commerce."

"A gentleman is likened to righteousness, and a villain is likened to profit. Therefore, scholars, farmers, industry, and commerce are at the bottom of the pile." The middle-aged official talked eloquently.

"No. In ancient times, there were four kinds of people: scholars, farmers, day laborers, and merchants. Scholars who were diligent in their studies could obtain titles and salaries; farmers who were diligent in their fields could gather crops; workers who were diligent in their crafts could be employed in trade. Clothing and food; if merchants are diligent in trade, they can accumulate wealth. These four are all the common people's business. Since the birth of the people, no one has been able to change them, regardless of the order of high and low." Zhu Ping'an shook his head slightly and proposed A perspective that is different from the mainstream ideas of this era.

This is the difference of the times.

Although the status of merchants was much better in the Ming Dynasty, it was still incomparable with modern times. They would never have imagined that a few hundred years later a businessman would be called "Dad" by the whole people, let alone the conglomerate politics of Western powers a few hundred years from now.

"It's ridiculous, how can we not distinguish between high and low. Xunzi said: To seek profit, fight for goods and wealth, and only look at profit, this is the courage of the thieves."

Another official stood up to refute Zhu Ping'an, with an expression on his face that said, "Young man, your thoughts are very dangerous."

"That's right, Zihou. Businessmen value profits but have no righteousness, and are looked down upon by others. "Book of Rites: Kingship" says: Businessmen and businessmen 'do not interact with the officials when they leave the country', which is clear evidence." Immediately afterwards, there were officials who agreed.

These officials have deep-rooted ideas of great literati in their hearts, and their minds are full of the idea that they are inferior in everything but reading is good.

Of course, the reason why so many officials stood up to ridicule Zhu Ping'an was because they took sides.

Zhu Ping'an was the unveiler of the Taicang case.

The Taicang case involved many people, and many officials were fined with silver and salary. Dozens of officials from the Yan Party were fined with silver, and many officials from the Li Mo Party were also fined with silver. Many people present were fined a lot of money, or some relatives and friends were fined a lot of money for this.

If it weren't for Zhu Ping'an, a loser, I wouldn't have been fined. This is the sentiment of many officials who have been fined.

It can be said that Zhu Ping'an single-handedly offended almost half of the officialdom.

Of course, when they heard that Zhu Ping'an himself had also been fined, many officials felt a little angry. They deserved it. They must have suffered it themselves. Later, when I heard that Zhu Pingan was fined for bankruptcy and forced to go into business, I felt even more relieved.

When he learned that Zhu Ping'an was still in the smelly business of pig sewerage, he couldn't help laughing.

The number one scholar is the best among scholars. Among the thousands of troops, he crossed the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination first. It is like a carp jumping over the dragon's gate, but you jumped over the dragon's gate and then went to toss the pig into the water.

Isn't this a joke!

"Don't overgeneralize. A businessman and a scholar have different skills, but they have the same mind. Therefore, a good businessman will cultivate wise behavior in the field of wealth, so although it is beneficial, it will not be tainted."

Zhu Ping'an cupped his hands and replied calmly.

Although businessmen and scholars have different ways of making a living, their hearts are the same. People who are good at doing business, although they are sailing in the sea of ​​​​business, their moral cultivation is still noble, just like the lotus that emerges from the mud without being stained. Although businessmen seek profit, they can still be noble.

"The Master said: A gentleman is likened to righteousness, and a villain is likened to profit; Mencius said: Gou is the first to benefit for the sake of righteousness, and he will never tire of taking it away; Xunzi said: For the sake of profit, fighting for goods and wealth, and only seeing profit, this is the courage of a Jia thief. Who said that there is no distinction between high and low among the four peoples?"

Another official stood up and joined the ranks of refuting Zhu Pingan, saying bluntly that what Zhu Pingan said was unreasonable and unfounded, and it was just personal sophistry.

"What Mr. Yangming said." Zhu Pingan replied.

"Mr. Yangming?" Everyone was startled.

Wang Yangming can be said to be a legend in the Ming Dynasty, with a legendary life, legendary abilities, and an influence no less than that of Zhu Xi.

"Yes. I believe all of you are aware of Mr. Yangming's intellectual purpose of 'Studying things to develop conscience'. The so-called 'Studying things to develop conscience' means that everyone has a conscience in their heart. That is to say, no matter what you do, no matter what you are, Scholars are still farmers, workers, and merchants, and they all have consciences in their hearts, which can be achieved through studying things. For this reason, Mr. Yangming said, "The streets are full of saints," and he also emphasized that businessmen can also be saints and sages. He said, "Although he does business all day long, , Don’t harm him as a saint or a virtuous person. Since all scholars, farmers, industry and merchants can be saints, how can there be distinction between high and low?"

Zhu Ping'an looked around at the crowd and unhurriedly brought out Wang Yangming's "The Study of Things to Conscience".

Using the banner as a tiger skin can still have some effect.

After Zhu Pingan brought out Wang Yangming's "Questioning Things to Conscience", everyone couldn't think of how to refute Zhu Pingan in a short period of time.

When they figured out how to refute Zhu Pingan, they found that Zhu Pingan had already left.

All they saw was Zhu Pingan's back. After Zhu Pingan's back disappeared around the corner, everyone couldn't help but jeer in a low voice.

"Hmph, that's a bunch of nonsense and misinterprets Mr. Yangming's original intention."

"that is."

"You advocate the equality of scholars, peasants, industry and commerce. If you are just a pig, even businessmen will look down upon you."

"Haha, I think he is stupid because of his studies. When he does business, he just does business. He can eat such lowly things as pigs. Look, when he opens Zhuji, he will cry. .”

"Hahaha, I'm afraid it will be closed soon after opening."

"Hahaha, that makes sense."