Dashun Yongchang

However, for the generals of the old battalion, the system of 22 generals of the fifth battalion is still good, because they have obtained complete disposal rights over their subordinates.However, after the establishment of the General Staff, the system of 22 generals of the Fifth Battalion could not be maintained.Because the General Staff used military and political orders such as logistics, training, personnel, rewards and punishments, and various regulations and military command orders to take away the daily command power of the 22nd General for troops below the regiment.

The largest fixed unit of the new army organized by the General Staff is the regiment, and brigades and divisions above the regiment are the expedition units.That is to say, the highest officer who can manage the soldiers on weekdays is the head of the regiment. It is difficult for the generals to directly interfere with the affairs of the troops when it is not in war, but they can issue tasks to the General Staff through the resolution of the Military Council.

Under the General Staff system, those army generals who surrendered to the Shun Army were deprived of control over the troops, even the old battalion generals.In the past, if these generals wanted to ask the army to do something, they only needed to discuss with two confidants, and then they could mobilize their troops, but now they must first obtain the approval of the General Staff.

No grassroots officer or soldier will defy a superior unit that is responsible for their own training, logistics and personnel management, unless you intend to rebel and overthrow this institution.The generals of the old battalion just wanted to defend their own power, and they didn't have the guts to rebel, so in the struggle between the two sides, they could only spread their grievances on the staff members of the General Staff Headquarters.

The staff officers who carried out orders on behalf of Li Zicheng were naturally unwilling to be angry, and these staff officers who were born generals also looked down on those generals of the peasant army who were refugees and soldiers, and the two sides naturally became antagonistic.

Chapter 259 New Deal 74

Seeing the quarrel between the two groups of people in the hall, Liu Zongmin, who was sitting at the head, also frowned. In the past, the generals would not have dared to be so rude in front of him.After he killed two wives and concubines in Shangluo Mountain and expressed his desire to live and die with Li Zicheng, his position as the second person under Li Zicheng had already taken shape. And when he killed King Fu, no general dared to stand on his right side.

Therefore, when Li Zicheng was named "Fengtian Advocate Generalissimo" and "Xinshun King" in Xiangyang, he also became the first general with power, and he really took the position of under one person and above ten thousand people in the Dashun regime. .Even Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, Li Zicheng's two most trusted literati, had to salute and say hello to him when they saw him.

And the generals in the army were also afraid of his bravery, and they all relied on his ideas. This was also the confidence for him to challenge Li Zicheng in Beijing.However, as the Shun army withdrew from Beijing, the soldiers below all blamed him for the loss of Beijing, and began to have some yin and yang sayings.

Although Li Zicheng said that he was mainly responsible for the loss of Beijing, the soldiers below obviously didn't think so. They all felt that Liu Zongmin had gone too far in the capital, which made Shunjun lose popular support.

Although Liu Zongmin wanted to defend himself, these soldiers did not say these things in front of him, and it was not easy for him to defend himself publicly, which would only make more soldiers doubt him.Therefore, he wholeheartedly wanted to make a great contribution to stop the mouths of the soldiers in the army.

After all, for the peasant army, as long as you can lead everyone to win the battle, then everyone will naturally forget what you did before.Because everyone joins the peasant army to survive, and only by constantly winning battles can everyone survive.As for who will be the emperor, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, this position is not the turn of the soldiers.

It was because of this idea, and Li Zicheng's success in the south, that Liu Zongmin connived at the other generals of the military government to slowly withdraw the soldiers and civilians from Hebei, and tried to fight Jiannu in the wild.Because he knew very well in his heart that the peasant army actually had little experience in siege and defensive warfare. Siege meant sending spies to infiltrate the city to seize the gates, and even less defensive warfare.

Only those who have some experience in fighting in the wild, fight if they win, and leave if they don't win.If you were trapped in the city, you would be unable to leave even if you wanted to. For example, in the Battle of Tianjin, it was actually the generals of the Ming army who surrendered. The generals of the peasant army almost became a tool for executing orders.

Liu Zongmin's idea is to use the triangle area of ​​Xuzhou, Guide, and Jining as the final defense area, but firstly, there will be a big battle in Baoding, Hejian, Dezhou, Dongchang, Zhangde, Daming, and Huaiqing in Hebei to defeat the enemy. After defeating Jiannu's spirit, he retreated.

After going south to reorganize the army, the strength of the Shun army has returned to the number before the attack on Beijing. A rough estimate should be about the same as the total number of Jiannu plus the surrendered frontier army.And Li Zicheng successively subdued the Nanming army in the south, Liu Zongmin was more confident in the victory of this big battle.

However, his attempt to revise Li Zicheng's defensive strategic idea of ​​continuous resistance was met with resistance from Li Guo and others and members of the General Staff. The former was out of loyalty to Li Zicheng, while the latter was mainly because he looked down on Liu Zongmin. The plan was considered unfeasible.

As Yuan Yuzong commented, "If the two sides in the battle are only Jiannu and old battalion soldiers, then this big battle may be feasible. But if the original Ming army on both sides participates in this battle, this plan becomes It’s not feasible. Because the power that decides the battle will be the original Ming army, and whoever they support will win the final victory. But we can’t be sure of this right now, so we should choose a defensive strategy.”

Due to the dispute over whether to withdraw or fight, the Shun army in the Hebei area was in a state of confusion. They didn't know whether to strengthen the city wall and prepare to stick to the garrison, or pack up and prepare to retreat to the south. .

While the generals of the Shun Army in Hebei were still hesitating, Wu Sangui, who had been conferred by Emperor Shunzhi, could not wait to go south from Baoding. Loose positions to the north.

And Wu Sangui had just arrived at the Yellow River, and Jinan City, the gateway to Shandong, surrendered to the Qing army again.So far, Liu Zongmin's hope for a battle in southern Hebei has been lost.Facing Li Zicheng who had captured Yangzhou City and started to persuade Nanjing and Dashun to live in peace, Liu Zongmin also felt that he had done a little badly.

His misjudgment also caused the Military Council and the General Staff to shirk each other. In their eyes, Liu Zongmin, who had lost his aura at this time, was just an ordinary general who maintained the situation when Li Zicheng was away, and the so-called Dashun Second. People don't have much contact.

After being silent for a long time, Liu Zongmin finally called to stop the quarrel between the two sides. He said briefly: "I will apologize to His Majesty for the mishandling of the problem before. Now let's not discuss the previous problem. Let's talk about how to deal with the Qing army. The problem of going south."

Hearing what Liu Zongmin said, the generals on both sides finally calmed down. Since someone took the responsibility for the early defeat, there is no need for everyone to argue.

Guan Fumin from the General Staff Headquarters said: "The loss of Jinan seems to have a great impact, but the threat to us is actually not that serious. When we deduced the Shandong battle before, didn't we already factor in the loss of Jinan?" Have you considered it?

As long as we can keep the frontline defenses of Jining, Zoucheng, and Taishan, it will be difficult for Jiannu to flank us.On the contrary, if the Qing army wanted to go deep into the Jiaodong Peninsula, it would give us the opportunity to open up the Shandong battlefield.We should hold back some more Qing troops in the Jiaodong Peninsula, so as to reduce the positive pressure on Jining.

In fact, I am actually more worried about the Yellow River defense line from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou to Luoyang. Henan is a flat area, which is especially suitable for northern cavalry to gallop.Once the Qing cavalry broke through the defense line of the Yellow River, they would be able to rush all the way into the hinterland of Henan, Guide, Luowanhe Town, Xiangcheng, Fuyang, Suzhou, Suqian, there are too many points they can attack..."

Zhou Fengwu also nodded in agreement and said: "The fall of Hebei has already shocked the officials and people everywhere. Now that there is another mutiny in Jinan, I think we still need to appease and investigate the river defense army."

Lin Chengcheng couldn't help but stood up and said, "It seems that the generals from the Nine Sides are not very reliable. Can't the Military Council order those people to be recalled to Xuzhou and send someone else to lead their army?"

Lin Chengcheng's words were like throwing a big stone into a pond that had just started to calm down, and the quarrel started again in the hall.Although some generals from the Peasant Army felt that what Lin Chengcheng said was fine, the generals from the Ming Army basically expressed their opposition. Obviously they were very worried that the Marshal’s Office would use this as an excuse to punish all those from the Ming Army. The general will handle it.

Li Guo and Liu Zongmin had to come forward to stop the dispute between the two sides. They said that this proposal was not feasible at all. Now that they are both at war with the Qing army, they should be transferred back to Xuzhou. Isn't this clearly telling the front-line generals that they are under suspicion?Even if he didn't betray the generals of the Marshal's Mansion, he might not make wrong decisions under such stimulation.

Seeing everyone quiet down, Gu Kecheng finally said, "Should I send a letter to your majesty, asking him to return to take charge of the overall situation as soon as possible? If your majesty can bring back another batch of troops, at least we don't have to worry about the issue of military strength."

Li You also agreed: "Your Majesty can indeed come back. With the continuous loss of cities in the north, the morale of the army in front seems to be a little low. Only when His Majesty comes back can the hearts of the troops be calmed. Otherwise, the situation will not be good."

The others also nodded one after another, feeling that it was time for Emperor Yongchang to come back.In the past, they never had such an urgent hope that someone would come out to preside over the overall situation, because the Dashun used to have no overall situation. Everyone usually cared about their own share, and when something happened, King Chuang called a meeting to discuss and make a vote. That's it.

But since the establishment of the Marshal's Mansion, although everyone still has a lot of things to do, these things are just official duties issued by the Marshal's Mansion, and they are out of the framework of the Marshal's Mansion, so they have nothing to do.Therefore, the Marshal's Mansion has now become the place of everyone's interests and power.

Liu Zongmin summed up everyone's opinions and said: "Writing a letter to His Majesty, asking him to return to Xuzhou as soon as possible is a countermeasure. Are there other countermeasures?"

Han Lin said: "The fortifications between Jining and Zoucheng have been almost completed, but the fortifications in Guide City and Xuzhou are still lacking, and it will take at least half a month to a month to complete. Right now the most lacking There are still all kinds of earth-digging tools and barbed wire, can the left-behind department help with it?"

Yang Chengyu replied: "After the opening of the Yangtze River waterway, iron materials from Wuhu have been sent up. Huai'an has set up a factory to manufacture various iron tools, weapons, and armor. In addition, we have also sent orders to Nanjing, Wuhu, and Foshan. Today Among the ten boats that arrived in the morning, two were loaded with various iron tools, and one was loaded with barbed wire, which should be put into storage in the afternoon."

Han Lin nodded slightly, while Lin Chengcheng got up again and said, "Mianhou asked me to collect the autumn clothes, gunpowder and iron, when can they be transported?"

Yuan Yuzong replied: "Right now, we must first pay attention to the Jining garrison and the river defense army. The return of autumn clothes and military funds to the German army will be delayed, but it will not be later than November 11."

Lin Chengcheng frowned and said: "The gunpowder and the iron will be later. Can the autumn clothes be sent earlier? We soldiers are all from Huguang, and the clothes are relatively thin."

Yuan Yuzong was still hesitating, but Liu Zongmin said: "Well, let me give you [-] pieces first, Yihou and Qihou, each of you will give [-] pieces, and Mianhou will give [-] pieces first." A piece of autumn clothes. I will import the rest and urge Yangzhou to deliver them."

Lin Chengcheng immediately loosened his frown, thanked Liu Zongmin, Li Guo and others, and sat down.

Chapter 260 New Deal 75

On November 11, in the warehouse at Dongguan Wharf in Yangzhou, Tang Diaoding, Zhang Xinbiao, and Li Zijin, together with their subordinates from the Military Supplies Office, were checking all the materials for the North Transport.

Tang Tiaoding listened to his subordinates report the number of various materials in the warehouse, and at the same time looked at the various items placed in the warehouse. He has gradually gotten used to the current life, although he has to face all kinds of people and all kinds of things every day. numbers, but this kind of life is obviously much more fulfilling than his studying and entertaining in the countryside.

He suddenly stopped in one place, commanding the followers around him: "Go and take out a cotton coat from the middle of the back."

When the entourage handed him a blue padded jacket, Tang Tiaoding weighed it in his hand and asked, "How much should this padded jacket weigh?"

The clerk in charge of the warehouse was still thinking about it. Zhang Xinbiao on the side had already said: "The standard should be 4 catties, but the error can vary by one or two taels. If there is more, you will not be charged, and if you are less, you will have to deduct money. If it is less than three catties and 12 taels, it is not allowed." take over."

Tang Tiaoding asked his entourage to take out a few more cotton-padded jackets, and then asked the clerk in charge of the warehouse to bring a scale. After weighing, he nodded and said, "The weight is correct. Give me a pair of scissors."

Zhang Xinbiao said with some surprise: "You still want to cut it open?"

Tang Tiaoding carefully inspected the stitches of the cotton jacket, and said: "The price of a cotton coat is one tael, of which the price of cloth and cotton is one tael, and the processing fee is two taels. At the current exchange rate of silver taels and copper coins, those Merchants are very profitable. The Marshal’s Mansion spent so much money, of course, to make the soldiers warmer. If you spend money and let the soldiers freeze, do you think your majesty dare not kill people? Forget, every document is signed by us."

Zhang Xinbiao and Li Zijin became quiet immediately, and the subordinates surrounding the three became more serious.Tang Tiaoding cut open three cotton jackets, carefully pulled out the cotton inside and looked through them. After a long time, he said with satisfaction: "This time they sent all new cotton, it seems that the cotton that was sent back last time A batch of cotton-padded clothes still worked.”

Tang Tiaoding checked the cotton-padded jackets, then checked the cotton-padded trousers and cotton-padded shoes, and after confirming that there was no serious problem with this batch of clothes, he turned to his two colleagues and asked, "What about the first batch of [-] sets of autumn clothes and shoes?" Are the orders complete?"

Li Zijin nodded and said: "20 days ago, 15 days ago, 10 days ago, 5 days ago, a total of 2 sets were sent to Xuzhou, and this batch of 30 sets will be complete. The second batch of [-] sets in autumn Fifteen thousand sets of clothes and shoes arrived in the afternoon, and they will be transported northward together with this batch of autumn clothes tomorrow.

However, according to His Majesty's request, we still need to leave some work for those military families, but those military families don't know everything about making clothes and shoes. If they are asked to make military uniforms and shoes, I am worried that the time and price will change.After all, those merchants in the south of the Yangtze River have already established a clothing and quilt factory. If they purchase and produce uniformly, it will save costs and save a lot of trouble than we arrange military production by ourselves. "

Tang Diaoding looked left and right, waved his subordinates and warehouse clerks to do their own business, and waited until the others had gone away before he said to his two colleagues: "Your Majesty also said this, It is not only an economic issue, but also a political issue. Soldiers are fighting at the front, and the most worrying thing is naturally their wives and children at home. Only when the soldiers can feel at ease can the army be at ease.

Therefore, some adjustments can be made to the production time and cost, but it is necessary to allow military families to live with peace of mind.In addition, we can also select those businessmen who cooperate with us. They should also solve some problems for the Marshal's Mansion after they make money. For those businessmen who only care about making money for themselves, they don't need to be included in the list of long-term cooperation.

As for businessmen who can carry out long-term cooperation, they can send people to help manage the clothing factories set up by these military families. As long as they can help us solve the work problems of military families, then they are our priority partners..."

Zhang Xinbiao and Li Zijin did not object to Tang Tiaoding's suggestion. Although the number of members of the Military Supplies Office was increasing, compared with the production and living needs of hundreds of thousands of troops and more than [-] officials and craftsmen that the Military Supplies Office had to manage, Their manpower is still far from enough.Compared with organizing military production by yourself, it is a less labor-intensive way to throw it to those cooperative businessmen. Anyway, those businessmen dare not violate their requirements, unless they do not want to cooperate with the Marshal's Mansion.

The three of them walked from the warehouse to the storage yard outside. Looking at the wooden boxes and sacks piled high outside, Li Zijin couldn't help but hold his head up and sighed: "This war is really a very expensive thing." I don’t know when the war will be ended and the world will be restored to peace.”

Zhang Xinbiao also nodded and echoed: "Fortunately, Your Majesty and Nandu have reached peace. If there were no such supplies from Jiangnan, we would not only have to deal with the northern soldiers going south, but also fight the southern army. The cost would be even more unstoppable. Now at least the people in Jiangnan can take a breather, although the burden is heavier, but they don’t have to worry about breaking up their families and fleeing famine. However, I heard that there is a mutiny in Jinan, can we win this battle?”

After hesitating for a moment, Li Zijin said, "The Marshal's Mansion has raised so much supplies, not counting the armies in Shaanxi and Shanxi, and the combined armies on the East Road will exceed 60. You can't lose, right?"

Tang Tiaoding said disapprovingly: "It is said that there are 60 troops, but at least 20 are too old and weak to fight, and a part of the army must be left to defend the front line of the Yangtze River. In the end, only 20 troops can be used. Not bad.

Among the northern soldiers, most of the Jiannu and frontier soldiers had been on the battlefield, and their combined elite is estimated to be between 15 and 25.The question now is whether the troops on the front line can contain the attack of the northern soldiers. If they can't stop the attack of the northern soldiers, then they will fight more and more troops just like His Majesty conquered the four towns, and finally crush us. "

Li Zijin, who is from Henan, retorted subconsciously: "Your Majesty is not the King of Fortune, and Liu Zongmin and other generals are not the four towns, so they shouldn't be defeated like this..."

Seeing this, Tang Tiaoding just smiled and did not continue to discuss this issue with Li Zijin. He changed the subject while walking towards the exit and said, "Your Majesty asked us to make a form yesterday regarding the procurement and transportation of materials during this period. Just go back and do this."

Zhang Xinbiao and Li Zijin followed, and couldn't help asking: "Didn't your majesty go to the western suburbs barracks today, will he come back at night?"

Li Zicheng, who was being chanted by the three, was speaking to 750 soldiers sitting cross-legged on the ground in the barracks at the foot of Sougou Mountain.The weather this afternoon is still good. The wind is sunny and the sun is shining on everyone. It is very suitable for outdoor activities. Of course, it is also possible to sit outdoors and bask in the sun for meetings.

However, these soldiers sitting cross-legged on the ground were very quiet, they didn't make any noise, they just stared at Emperor Yongchang standing in front of them.There were two groups of people standing behind Li Zicheng, a group of civil officials on the left and a group of generals on the right. Prince Zhu Cihong also stood among the civil officials, listening to Li Zicheng's speech on the establishment of the Yangzhou Military Academy.

Li Zicheng first glanced at the soldiers sitting on the ground from left to right. Nearly two-thirds of the 750 soldiers were literate officers and soldiers selected from the middle and grassroots officers and soldiers of the four towns. Half of the guards from Zhu Cihong came from Yangzhou volunteers and civilians who applied for the exam. These people may not be completely loyal to him, but they are still enough as the basis for training officers.

After a glance, he finally said to the soldiers in front of him: "Today is the day when the Yangzhou Military Academy was established. As the principal of this military academy, I think I should say something to you. What should I say? Someone told me that I should talk about the principles of loyalty and patriotism, so I asked someone to prepare a speech. I can tell you that the article is very well written. Even if I don’t understand what is said in this article, I think it is It was very pleasant to listen to, but after listening to it, I suddenly realized that I didn't remember anything..."

The soldiers sitting on the ground were taken aback for a moment, and then suddenly laughed heartily.Although they have all read a few books, most of them can't write an article if they are asked to write an article. Therefore, Li Zicheng's sincerity made them feel very kind.

After the soldiers stopped laughing and became quiet again, Li Zicheng continued: "So, I will not read the article written by the scholar. Anyway, you can't remember it just like me after listening to it. Then Let me tell you about the article that I can remember, I think this article has a lot to do with us soldiers, so you should be able to remember it too."

Everyone became curious, thinking about what the article Li Zicheng memorized, "The article I read is called "Xunzi Yibing Chapter". Have you ever heard of Xunzi? He was from the Warring States period. Zhao Guoren, who claims to be a disciple of Confucianism, has taught several great disciples, such as Han Fei, Li Si and Zhang Cang.

However, Xunzi was not recognized by Confucians of later generations. For example, Zhu Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty criticized him in this way: Xunqing (Xunzi) is all Shen and Han (Legalists); only one sentence of "nature is evil", the big book has been lost;

Who is Zhu Xi?He is a master of Confucianism, and his "Four Books Collection" has been the standard book for the imperial examination since the second year of Hongwu. It can be said that the scholars of Ming Dynasty were the disciples of Zhu Xi first, and then they could say that they were disciples of the master.Why do I say that?Because they don't agree with Zhu Xi's theory, they can't win the exam, and if they don't win the exam, they can't be an official. Can scholars who can't be an official fulfill their life ambitions? "

The soldiers sitting on the ground listened with gusto, but the civil servants standing behind Li Zicheng became agitated. No matter how you interpret Li Zicheng's words, it seems that they don't like Zhu Xi and Neo Confucianism.Although there was a faint feeling that something was wrong, no one would jump out to stop Li Zicheng at this time. Everyone could only look at each other, and then had to continue listening.

Li Zicheng walked back and forth in front of the crowd, sorting out his thoughts, and said: "Then what kind of articles did this Xunzi, who was criticized by Zhu Xi, write? I was very curious, so I found a few articles and read them. After finishing it, I felt that Xunzi's claim that he was a disciple of Confucianism could not be wrong..."

Chapter 261 New Deal 76

"...Xunzi said that human nature can be good when it is evil. I think this is correct. Why is this sentence correct? Because Zhou Gong made rituals and music, it became the rule of the three generations. Therefore, Confucius said: Zhou was in the second generation, and he was very literary. I am from Zhou.

Why did the Zhou Gong system of rites and music become the rule of three generations?Because rites and music can lead people to be good, and the people to be good, there is a rule of three generations.If human nature is inherently good, why do we need etiquette and music to guide it?

The best proof that Confucius inherited Zhou Gong's idea of ​​making rites and music to guide people to be good is in "The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong", Confucius said: There is no distinction between teaching and learning.Why did Confucius say this?Because Confucius' political idea is to build a world of great harmony.

The journey of the great road also means that the world is for the public.Select the virtuous and capable, trustworthy and harmonious.The old man is not alone in kissing his relatives, not only in his sons.Let the old have an end, the strong will be useful, and the young will be strong.Those who are widowed, widowed, lonely, disabled and sick all have something to support them.Men have points, women have returns.Goods are evil and discarded on the ground, so there is no need to hide them in yourself.Power and evil do not come from the body, and it does not have to be for oneself.That's why they don't prosper when they seek closure, and they don't commit robbery and chaos.Therefore, the outdoors are not closed.It means Datong.

Are there villains in the great harmony world that Confucius described for us?Obviously not.If human nature is inherently good, then we can now build a world of great harmony. It is precisely because human nature is inherently evil that we need to guide people to be kind in order to complete this Confucian political philosophy.

And there is no distinction between teaching and learning, which is the inheritance of Zhou Gong's etiquette, and it is also the only way to the world of Datong that Confucius believed.Therefore, Xunzi said: Human nature is evil and can be good.This also inherited the political philosophy of Duke Zhou and Confucius, and stood on the shoulders of the two giants to push the Chinese civilization one step forward.

From Zhou Gong to Confucius, from Confucius to Xunzi, this just proves another political proposition advocated by Xunzi: the Queen of Law.The world of great harmony can only move forward, not backward, so the present must be better than the past, and tomorrow will be better than today. Therefore, the realization of the world of great harmony must be based on the progress of society and the foundation of more wicked people turning into good people.

This point can be proved by the history of the expansion of Chinese civilization from the Yellow River Basin to the Yangtze River Basin from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to today.The Yellow Emperor wiped out the barbarians around him, and led those savages who admired Chinese civilization to be good; Zhou Gong guided the people to be good with rituals and music; The goodness of civilization; the first emperor drove the Xiongnu in the north and conquered Baiyue in the south, leading these savages to goodness...

My Chinese civilization has been passed down to this day, and it is built on two cornerstones, one is to educate the savages, and the other is to crusade against disobedient ministers.And these two points are based on the argument that evil can be good in human nature. If those barbaric peoples are inherently kind, would the Duke of Zhou still use it to make rituals and music?Does Confucius still need to advocate teaching without discrimination?

It can be seen from this that Zhu Xi's criticism of Xunzi was obviously wrong.Of course, I am not saying that I want to completely negate Zhu Xi. Except for the fact that he is wrong about human nature, his knowledge is still good.But we can explore why Zhu Xi denied the theory that the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, and Xunzi all came down in one continuous line, saying that human nature can be good from evil? "

The civil servants standing behind Li Zicheng became even more agitated, and the soldiers sitting on the ground couldn't sit still. Although most of these soldiers came from grassroots officers and soldiers, even if it was just a soldier, it was impossible for a literate soldier to be treated as a soldier. It is used by big soldiers.Therefore, they can understand it naturally. Li Zicheng's words are obviously criticizing the sage Zhu Xi among those scholars.

Zhu Xi is the only great Confucian who is not a direct disciple of Confucius and enjoys worship in the Confucius Temple. He is among the twelve philosophers in the Dacheng Hall and is worshiped by scholars all over the world. This honor can be said to be unprecedented.But Li Zicheng actually criticized the saint in front of them, which made them very excited.

The contempt that the scholars of the Ming Dynasty had for the soldiers had reached its peak by the end of the Ming Dynasty. Those civil servants thought it was a kind of humiliation for them to turn themselves into high-rank military officers, and at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was very normal for low-rank civil officials to drive high-rank military officials like dogs. , Even Mao Wenlong, a first-rank military general with a Shangfang sword, was killed by a low-rank civil official like Yuan Chonghuan under the guise of an imperial decree, and he was also praised by his colleagues.

Therefore, after the central government lost its authority, military officers of the Ming Dynasty had no qualms about killing civil servants. How awe-inspiring those soldiers used to be to scholars, how crazy they were to kill scholars after losing their restraint.However, killing scholars is killing scholars, and the soldiers only regard this hatred as a personal enmity, and they still dare not insult saints.

After all, they still think in their hearts that what the scholar said is right, and even though they killed the scholar, it doesn't mean that they have a moral foothold.Therefore, whether they are rebels or rebels, their conduct is very poor, because they think that they have fallen after betraying the court, so they don't have to abide by any moral constraints.

When the peasant army rose up to rebel against the imperial court, they were at least driven to a desperate situation by corrupt officials, thinking that they would not be able to survive without rebelling. They had no intention of betraying the imperial court at the beginning, so most of them still retained their basic moral concepts.It was only after those bandits and deserters joined the peasant army that the military discipline became corrupted, but it soon began to improve under the constraints of Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant army.

So at the end of the Ming Dynasty, such a strange scene appeared. The military discipline of the official army was much worse than that of the peasant army, and those official soldiers who surrendered to build slaves were even more merciless in killing ordinary people. Beast.

But now Li Zicheng pointed out a new path for them, which is to deny the theory of good nature advocated by scholars, which is tantamount to overthrowing the social moral concept established by scholars, which naturally aroused the interest of these soldiers.If the right to interpret social morality and ethics is not in the hands of scholars, then they can explain their past behaviors, and naturally they don't have to break the jar.

As for the folks who applied for the exam, they felt the shock even more than these soldiers.Because they are not from the army, civilians who can apply for the military academy have at least the same level of knowledge as children. They understand what Li Zicheng said today better than those soldiers who can barely read a few words.Many people are thinking: Is Your Majesty trying to justify Xunzi's name?Xunzi is not among the five sages and twelve sages.

"... When it comes to Zhu Xi's political ethics, we have to talk about the era he lived in. What era was the Southern Song Dynasty? It was an era when the Central Plains was occupied by barbarians and the Chinese civilization in the south of the Yangtze River was weak. In this era, the kingdoms of Jin, Mongolia and The Xixia in the northwest is stronger than the Southern Song Dynasty, so the Song people of this era simply cannot afford to educate the savages to fight against the disobedient Chinese civilization.

In order for the weak Song Dynasty to survive, Zhu Xi had to oppose the cornerstone of Chinese civilization, which is human nature, which is evil and good, and tried to appease those who tried to overthrow the Zhao and Song Dynasty who had lost their destiny by giving up the destiny of Chinese civilization.Zhu Xi gave up educating the savages and tried to get rid of human desires and preserve the principles of nature. The final result was that the fire of Chinese civilization was almost completely extinguished, and the barbarians occupied China for nearly a hundred years.

It can be seen from this that Neo Confucianism is not Confucianism, but it is the result of letting everyone quietly accept being slaves.Because Neo-Confucians can neither let savages teach goodness, nor can they really get rid of human desires.They keep saying that a gentleman is cautious about his independence, but isn’t it just that everyone cleans the door for himself?Could the Datong world be established by such a group of selfish hypocrites?

Therefore, Zhu Xi betrayed the Confucianism of Duke Zhou, Confucius and Xunzi, and he just wanted to find a reason to rule for the Zhao and Song royal families who were unable to recover the Central Plains..."

"Luo Gong, Luo Gong, what's wrong with you? No, Luo Gong passed out..." The noise from behind interrupted Li Zicheng's speech, and he looked back rather dissatisfied.Noticing that Li Zicheng turned his head, Zhu Cihong hurriedly bowed his hands to the other party, and then whispered to the officials nearby to carry the fainted Luo Gong down.

After watching the fainted officials being carried away, Li Zicheng turned around again, and continued to the military academy cadets, "This is the compromise Zhu Xi made in the era. We can call it the limitation of history. Just like a fish cannot get out of the river to see where it is going, even a great scholar like Zhu Xi can only drift with the current in the long river of history.

Of course, we must see that although Zhu Xi’s criticism of Xunzi was wrong, his spirit of questioning is worth learning from.Because without questioning the predecessors, civilization will not progress, which is why there has been nothing new in Confucianism for hundreds of years after Zhu Xi.

Therefore, for the knowledge of the predecessors, we must study critically, criticize those ethics that are not suitable for the present, and learn those ideas that have been inherited in one continuous line, so that future kings will appear.

This topic is getting too far, let's go back to the article "Xunzi·Yibing Pian".What impressed me the most in this article is this passage: Therefore, the martial arts of Qi should not meet the soldiers of the Wei family; the soldiers of the Wei family should not meet the sharp fighters of Qin; Temperance; Huan Wen's temperance cannot rival Tang Wu's benevolence and righteousness.

The meaning of this passage is that the people of Qi State who love martial arts cannot resist the professional soldiers of Wei State who have undergone long-term training, but the professional soldiers of Wei State are no match for the professional army organized by Qin State, and the professional army of Qin State is difficult to resist A military system supported by the entire nation.In the end, two nation-based military systems go to war, and the one with faith wins.

When I think back on the battles I have fought over the years, this passage just happened to coincide.The hungry people who were forced to revolt in the third year of Chongzhen had no choice but to flee when they encountered officers and soldiers.And when the rebel army is organized, at least the guards can be defeated.After the court lost control of the army, even the frontier army could hardly resist the attack of the rebels.

At present, the slaves who are fighting against us are a military system based on the state, but they have no faith.Whether it is Lao Nu or Huang Taiji, they are just a group of robbers. As for the so-called Nine Kings, they don't even have enough reputation to call on the Manchurians. They need to support a little sweat to command the Eight Banners.

In history, who is such a power minister to die?So Dorgon either died early, or he had to fight with his nephew to determine the ownership of the sweat.Jiannu can occupy Beijing as a small country, which can be said to be extremely prosperous, but this is also the apex of their clan, and it will only go downhill step by step after that.

Of course, we can't wait for the enemy to fall on their own. As the emperor of Dashun, I want to pick up Huaxia's life that was lost by the weak Song Dynasty.To educate the savages, conquer dissidents, and achieve Datong, this is the manifest destiny of my Dashun.

My people of China will fight under this manifest destiny until the world of great harmony is realized. The literati spread my Chinese civilization with pen and ink, and the warriors defend it with swords.That's what this military academy was created for..."