The Prosperous Era of Longwan

As a school of Confucianism, Xinxue can be traced back to Mencius. Cheng Hao in the Northern Song Dynasty started it, and Lu Jiuyuan in the Southern Song Dynasty opened its door. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it began to compete with Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism.

The reason for this situation is naturally due to the influence of Xinjian Bowang Shouren.

Wang Shouren, whose childhood name was Yun, courtesy name Bo'an, nickname Yangmingzi, and posthumous title Wencheng, was born in Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. He was a thinker, philosopher, calligrapher, military strategist, and educator in the Ming Dynasty. He taught Buddhism and Taoism, and was able to unite the army in battle.

Because he once lived in Xiuwen Yangming Cave in Guiyang, he called himself "Yangmingzi", so he was called "Mr. Yangming" by scholars. Later generations generally called him Wang Yangming, and his theory was called "Yangmingology" in the world.

Wang Shouren inherited Lu Jiuyuan's emphasis on "the heart is reason" and opposed Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi's "investigation of things to achieve knowledge" method of pursuing "perfect principles" through everything. Because the things are endless and it would be troublesome to study them, he advocated starting from one's own heart. To search for "reason" in the world, we believe that "reason" is all in people's "heart", and "reason" transforms all things in the universe, heaven and earth, and people uphold its elegance, so the human heart itself holds its essence.

Regarding the relationship between knowledge and action, it is emphasized that we must know and more importantly, do. There is action in knowledge, and there is knowledge in action. The so-called "unity of knowledge and action", the two are mutually exclusive and inseparable. Knowledge must be expressed as action. If it fails, it cannot be regarded as true knowledge.

In "Wang Yangming's Four Sentences", "There is no good or disgusting body, there are good and bad intentions, knowing good and evil is conscience, doing good and eliminating evil is observing things", in fact, it fully reflects that he has combined Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism The integration of the triangle is the product of the fusion of the thoughts of the three religions.

Wang Shouren was born in the eighth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty and died in the seventh year of Jiajing. He was a Jinshi in the twelfth year of Hongzhi of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty and served in the three dynasties of Xiaozong, Wuzong and Shizong.

Since he was the head of the Ministry of Punishment, he has successively served as the postmaster of Guizhou Longchang Yicheng, the magistrate of Luling, the censor of Youqiandu, the governor of Southern Jiangxi, and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. He successively quelled the rebellions in Southern Jiangxi and Guangxi and Chenhao, and was awarded the title of Xinjian for his merits. Bo became one of the three civil servants who were knighted for military merit in the Ming Dynasty. The other two were Jingyuan Bo Wang Ji and Weining Bo Wang Yue. In his later years, he became the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing and the Censor of Zuodu.

Yangming's philosophy of mind did not take long to form and spread, so in the Ming Dynasty today it is far from being able to compete with Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism that has been circulating for hundreds of years.

Although many officials in the court claimed to be the successors of Yangming's Xinxue, Wei Guangde still had people check it out. In fact, Wang Yangming had not many disciples. Many people who said they believed in Xinxue either read Yang Shouren's works or because of After listening to his lectures, I began to understand and learn from the heart.

These things found are actually slightly different from what Wei Guangde knew in later generations. At least many people in later generations thought that it was not correct that the mind science was widely spread in the Ming Dynasty soon after its formation and competed with Neo-Confucianism.

In fact, the dissemination area of ​​Yangming's Mind has long been concentrated in southern Zhili, Jiangxi and Zhejiang. It is said that it also had a certain influence in Guizhou where Wang Yangming attained enlightenment. Perhaps it is because most of the local students have heard Wang Shouren's lectures in person. The core area where learning spread is actually a place where industry, commerce and industry flourish.

What were the top three provinces with the best imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty?

Naturally, it is southern Zhili, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and the spread of Xinxue is also here. Naturally, it gave later generations the impression that most officials came from Xinxue, which also gave rise to the illusion that Xinxue spread very much in the Ming Dynasty.

Southern Zhili, Zhejiang and Jiangxi were originally developed areas of industry and commerce during the Ming Dynasty. The three places were extremely close both geographically and in the flow of people. Wang Shouren was originally from Yuyao, Zhejiang, and his experience as an official in Jiangxi later made his thoughts in The rapid spread here is of course no surprise.

Today's imperial examinations use stereotyped writing to select candidates, which exerts great control over people's thoughts.

Wang Shouren's theory of mind was like a clear stream, which injected into people's thoughts, causing people to highly advocate the theory of mind, which emphasizes the unity of knowledge and action, and opposed Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi's theory of preserving heaven's principles and eliminating human desires, emphasizing that all principles lie in the human heart.

In terms of the relationship between knowledge and action, it is emphasized that knowledge must be known, and more importantly, action must be done. Knowledge must be accompanied by action, and action must be accompanied by knowledge. People admire him for his official deeds, thus spreading the knowledge of mind.

Wei Guangde had also heard of Mr. Xu Jie and Xu Ge mentioned earlier. He privately admitted that he had studied mind science, and judging from the fact that he once worshiped Nie Bao as his teacher, Nie Bao and Wang Shouren were both teachers and friends. One of the Ming Dynasty officials who publicly supported and studied Xinxue, Xu Jie claimed to be a disciple of Xinxue, which is considered to be related.

However, Wei Guangde still has some doubts about the fact that Lan Daoxing is also a disciple of Xinxing. It cannot be that this old liar is packaging himself to deceive people.

Although the influence of Xinxue is limited, there are high-ranking officials in the areas where it spreads. If you read some Xinxue books and talk to Xinxue officials, you can have a topic. After learning from each other and giving advice, you can have contacts, and then spread their reputations to each other.

For someone like Lan Daoxing, fame is really important.

There are only a few direct disciples of Wang Shouren such as Ji Yuanheng, Wang Longxi, Qian Dehong, and Xu Ai. There are more followers, including Wang Gen, Huang Zongxi, Liu Zongzhou, Zhu Shunshui, Wang Dong, etc. It is a bit difficult to check the lineage of Lan Daoxing.

At this moment, Wei Guangde heard King Yu's question.

"Shandai, you said that Master Lan ran from Shandong to the capital and was introduced to the palace. Could it be that Mr. Xu Ge arranged it behind the scenes?"

In response, Wei Guangde shook his head, "It's hard to say."

He had thought so much before, but he actually had this suspicion.

The officials of the imperial court were not opposed to the fact that Emperor Jiajing believed in Taoism, but they were very opposed to him spending the palace's limited money on practicing cultivation and building Taoist temples.

Despite appearances, the emperor's Taoist temple and elixir refining were all funded by the inner court, but when the emperor didn't use the internal treasury as an excuse to reach out to the Ministry of Household Affairs, he would take hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Although the officials were very generous when they saw the group of alchemists gathered by Emperor Jiajing, they did not want to offend the villains and were afraid that people would snitch in front of Emperor Jiajing, so they would scold these people behind their backs.

If Lan Daoxing is really brought by Mr. Xu Ge, thinking about what he did in Xiyuan a few days ago, and thinking about the personnel adjustments that Emperor Jiajing made in the court before, Wei Guangde has already thought about the fall of Yan Song and Chief Assistant Yan. I'm afraid it's not far away.

What Lan Daoxing did in Xiyuan was probably Mr. Xu Ge's planning behind it. It seemed like a very accidental thing. If he hadn't known the secret connection between Xu Jie and Lan Daoxing, who would have thought of so much?

Wei Guangde could even boldly guess that Xu Jie had placed personnel to monitor Yan Song and Hu Zongxian, so he knew that Yan Chief Assistant would receive Hu Zongxian's memorial that day and go to Xiyuan to meet the emperor.

Because any error in any of these links will lead to the failure of this plan.

"Did Mr. Xu Ge not send a note to the palace these days?"

Wei Guangde suddenly asked Li Fang.

Li Fang shook her head, "There has been no news from Mr. Xu Ge recently."

"In that case, let's take everyone back. Seeing that Xu Ge is always planning something big, don't let us ruin other people's plans and make a small gain."

Wei Guangde turned to King Yu and said.

King Yu did not answer, but nodded towards Li Fang.

"Shandai, do you think you should ask Mr. Xu Ge at this time, or have a look with Uncle Shu?"

After a moment, King Yu suddenly asked.

Ask Xu Jie or start with Zhang Juzheng. From this passage, Wei Guangde believed that King Yu might have noticed his thoughts just now, but he just didn't know what he should do at this time.

"Your Highness, since Mr. Xu Ge has not contacted us, let's not get involved in this matter."

Wei Guangde shook his head and replied.

To be honest, who is Xu Jie targeting?

Yan Song.

In any case, they are all from Jiangxi. Although Wei Guangde knew that Yan Song's downfall would be a matter of time, given the current social environment, he did not want to get involved in this matter.

Just because he doesn't support Yan Song doesn't mean he's going to be the one pushing him to step down.

What's more, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. The Yan family's final counterattack is not something that a short person can withstand, so there is no need to go through muddy water.

King Yu nodded, "Then this matter ends here, don't mention it to Master Gao."

King Yu actually said this to Li Fang, and Li Fang naturally agreed.

Prince Yu's Mansion completely let this matter go and no longer sent people to follow Lan Daoxing and other alchemists to wait and see what would happen. However, within two days, bad news came from Yang Bo.

Although he had already agreed with the Minister of War and the two ministers to recommend Yu Dayou as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Southern Jiangxi Province, an accident happened to Emperor Jiajing after all when he was asked by Xiyuan.

Wei Guangde saw Yang Bo's note and hurried to the Ministry of War to inquire about the specific situation.

"Shaloan, we are not to blame for this. Your Majesty asked about it, and we all recommended Yu Dayou. However, when His Majesty consulted the cabinet, Yan Shoufu raised objections. Xu Cifu and Yuan Ge Lao didn't say much. At that time, Judging from the current situation, I’m afraid this matter is in doubt.”

In Yang Bo's duty room, after the clerk brought tea and went out, Wei Guangde actively asked about the matter, and got Yang Bo's answer.

"Is this why His Majesty summoned you to the palace this morning? What did Yan Ge always say."

Wei Guangde frowned and lowered his head to think.

Wei Guangde inquired about it on the way here. At around noon today, Yuxi Palace convened three cabinet ministers and Yang Bo, Minister of the Ministry of War, to discuss matters. However, he did not expect that Emperor Jiajing would choose to follow Yan Song's advice with the support of the Ministry of War. .

"Mr. Yan Ge said that since Hu Zongxian proposed this matter, it would be best to listen to his opinion."

Yang Bo replied, "By the way, I saw that memorial in Xiyuan two days ago. When you came to me, you only told me about the deputy commander-in-chief of Nangan. What do you think about the Poyang garrison?"

Before, when Wei Guangde came for him, neither Emperor Jiajing nor Yan Song had spread the contents of Hu Zongxian's memorial, so it was only when Emperor Jiajing summoned Yang Bo for consultation that he saw the memorial.

"Poyang garrison? That is a matter for the former military governor's office, and it is up to the court to decide."

Wei Guangde replied.

"Isn't Nangan under the jurisdiction of the former military governor's office?"

Yang Bo said angrily, and then changed his tone and said: "I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult for Yu Dayou to serve as the deputy commander-in-chief of Southern Gansu this time."

"Military matters, why doesn't Your Majesty pay attention to the opinions of the Ministry of War?"

Wei Guangde didn't want to talk more about Jiujiang Wei, but asked suspiciously.

In his impression, since Yang Bo became Minister of War, Emperor Jiajing has always shown great trust, and he never expected that Emperor Jiajing would be hesitant with the support of the Ministry of War.

"I usually call him Governor Hu, but he also holds the title of Minister of the Ministry of War."

Yang Bo just smiled.

However, Wei Guangde knew that Hu Zongxian's title of minister was only for improving his rank, and he was not really in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of War.

The reason why he was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War was not because he was in charge of the military affairs of the nine provinces. If he was in charge of financial power, then he should be appointed Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Moreover, don’t all cabinet ministers hold the title of minister? Have you ever seen anyone who can intervene in the affairs of the six ministries?

"That is to say, Governor Hu did not recommend anyone for this position?"

Wei Guangde thought about it and asked. He thought that when Hu Zongxian raised the matter, another recommendation memorial would be sent out, and Yan Song would choose the time to submit the memorial.

"Don't think about it. Judging from today's situation, Your Majesty has no intention of promoting Yu Dayou. Perhaps he wants to wait until he has wiped out the rebels before he can reward him for his merits."

Yang Bo said at this time, instead of answering Wei Guangde's question, he expressed his own judgment.

"Da Sima, the plan you proposed before to attack Huanglong has already selected an executive general?"

Hearing Yang Bo's words, Wei Guangde suddenly remembered a memorial written by Yang Bo years ago. At that time, he proposed the strategy of sending elite troops to sneak attack Zhang Lian's lair, but there was no follow-up after that, but he heard that the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs had been making preparations for this battle. Prepare.

Yang Bo looked at Wei Guangde with surprised eyes. He didn't expect how he would have thought of this. Did he reveal anything in his words just now?

Thinking carefully about what I said just now, it seems that it was the last sentence, and it seemed that it revealed a little bit intentionally or unintentionally.

"I won't hide it from you either. From my mouth to your ears, I have indeed secretly reported it to Your Majesty."

Yang Bo seemed to have answered, but also seemed to have said nothing.

Wei Guangde blinked and asked slightly excitedly: "Yu Dayou will be the general?" ’

This time, Yang Bo shook his head.

Wei Guangde calmed down. At first he thought that Yang Bo had recommended Yu Dayou, so Emperor Jiajing did not nod at this meeting to promote Yu Dayou to his official position.

Thinking about it, if he were to be promoted to deputy commander, he would be done with his promotion after he killed Zhang Lian.

But I didn't expect that the general recommended by Yang Bo to suppress thieves was not Yu Dayou. Who could it be?

While Wei Guangde frowned and thought, Yang Bo smiled and said: "He is not the chief general, but he is also the deputy general. Otherwise, he would not have been transferred to Jiangxi in a hurry. This battle should be a complete victory. Don't be impatient."

After that, Wei Guangde asked several times but did not get an answer. It seems that this matter has been regarded as top secret by the top brass of the Ministry of War.

Speaking of which, the encirclement and suppression prepared by the Ministry of War has been going on for half a year. It seems that there will be big moves in the near future, but Wei Guangde can't figure it out. In this case, Hu Zongxian, who is in Zhejiang, has not received any news?

Yu Dayou is the deputy, who will be the leader?

Could it be that Hu Zongxian recommended the deputy commander-in-chief of Nangan as a general?

However, if this is the case, I am afraid that the first person to be dissatisfied is not him, but the adults in the Ministry of War. They will never tolerate such naked peach picking behavior.

Returning to Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde reported the news he heard from Yang Bo to Prince Yu.