New Shun 1730

After a long time, Meng Songlu, who was speechless, sighed and smiled bitterly.

Before he came to Haizhou, Cheng Tingzuo had talked to his disciples about one thing, which was a huge crisis that Confucianism was facing now.

When the Dashun Dynasty was founded, it demoted Yanshenggong to a worshipped marquis and promoted the study of good families, which clearly showed that it did not trust Confucianism too much.

However, in Cheng Tingzuo's view, this was actually to save Confucianism, and in theory there was still a chance to save itself.

The Ming Dynasty lost the world, and the Dashun Dynasty pulled it back, so this pot is not too big.

So this black pot, which is not too big but certainly not small, can be completely taken by "Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism".

Confucianism is not wrong, but it is wrong that some people sing the wrong scriptures. As long as we reverse the blind interpretation of the classics by the Song Confucianists, it is still okay.

But Cheng Tingzuo wrote a poem twenty years before the Dashun Dynasty went to Southeast Asia, saying that the so-called "island barbarians" must be a great enemy in the future, and we must beware of Western invasion to prevent the recurrence of the Luzon story.

This is both a radicalism in youth and a vigilance after seeing Western culture.

With the opening of Songjiang Port, the more Cheng Tingzuo came into contact with, the more fear and panic he felt in his heart.

In those days, Buddhism forced Confucianism to launch a comprehensive counterattack. Countless great Confucian scholars took action to perfect the worldview and block Buddhism, which also included the direct use of the court's administrative power and violent machinery.

This also led Cheng Tingzuo not to regard Yangmingism as orthodox, because they generally felt that "although they strongly promoted Yangming, they did not take it as the main doctrine. Why? Because it was mixed with Zen."

Now, the wind of Dashun's ban on religion is getting tighter, but there are still continuous reports of private preaching, and what is exposed is often jaw-dropping.

Some would rather die than reveal the hiding place of the missionaries, and some were beaten with sticks and still maintained the posture of worship.

All of these deeply shocked Cheng Tingzuo. What made these people so stubborn?

What on earth allowed these grassroots people to physically fight against the court's ban on religion, which was comparable to Japan's back then?

After the Suzhou Incident broke out, he went to see it. With his reputation as a writer in Jiangnan, he learned a lot about the interrogation and also knew why those women in Suzhou were so determined.

His conclusion was not necessarily correct, but he felt that it was because the people were too miserable and their lives were worse than death, so they were easily bewitched and would rather look forward to heaven after death.

After being shocked, he arrived in Songjiang Prefecture and learned that Liu Yu's words on the issue of selling tea were purely partial truths and encouraged the expansion of Dashun capital to the west: "The average monthly salary of British 'tenant' farmers is 32 shillings, equivalent to five taels of silver."

This statement has different meanings to different people.

Liu Yu was telling part of the truth, deliberately borrowing the difference between Dashun's "tenant farmers" and British agricultural workers to pretend not to know, and deliberately translated it into the very stimulating word "tenant farmers", without talking about the specific background.

To the emerging class of Dashun, this was a vast market, and this vast market made them willing to go to war with the British East India Company and seize the profits from it.

But for Cheng Tingzuo, this was a deep shock.

If he was one of Liu Yu's direct descendants, they would analyze the difference in grain prices caused by the spread of the price revolution, the land situation on both sides, the per capita per mu tax, the traditional feudal tax in the past, external expansion, wool trade and other issues.

But he was not.

So this shock, for Cheng Tingzuo, only felt a huge crisis.

Combined with the various behaviors of the believers that shocked him in the ban on religion, the shock in his heart quickly turned into a crisis.

The Ming Dynasty fell and the Shun Dynasty was pulled back. This pot is not too big, so this not too big but certainly not small black pot, "Song Ming Neo-Confucianism" can completely bear it.

If the island barbarians invade in the future and the Western barbarians are strong, then "Song Ming Neo-Confucianism" has already taken the blame. Not to mention that it has already taken the blame, even if it doesn't, if something really happens in the future, can it bear it together?

If they can't bear it, who will bear this big pot?

Who can bear it?

Who has the prestige to bear this?

His teacher's generation was an extreme radical, and at most they shouted "destroy one point of Cheng Zhu, get close to one point of Confucius and Mencius", and wanted to sweep away the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties.

But if the thing he feared happened, who would the radicals like his teacher destroy?

Confucian scholars like Cheng Tingzuo in Dashun had experienced too many twists and turns. They had experienced the most brutal Dashun counterattack to protect the world, and they had also experienced unanimous reflection on Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and even experienced the impact of equal civilization that had never been seen before.

Then, they had to have a circle that they couldn't get out of.

If.

Confucianism said that it was only about self-cultivation and morality, then should it shave its head and submit a petition, and join the bandits to suppress the bandits and take the blame?

Even if it is put into the Confucian ideology, it is a moral issue, right? How did it make the world destroyed on the moral level?

How should the kingly way be implemented to truly educate the people and make them virtuous?

The problem now is that the people who stubbornly resisted to the end at the end of the Ming Dynasty were a group of people who were not educators but educated. Confucian scholars, as educators, are not as good as the educated. What should we do?

If.

Confucianism believes that it is not a religion, but something more advanced than the Western religions that are now invading. It is not a low-level religion at all. It is not just about self-cultivation and morality, but also has a complete set of political ideas.

Then, this whole set of political ideas must come up with a political structure that conforms to their own ideas. Land ownership, legal rights, industry and commerce, taxation, etc., all of these must have a framework, and then try to implement them, right?

Let’s not talk about how to implement them first, but the blueprint must be drawn first, right?

It is very easy to expel Wang Mang and Wang Anshi from the Confucian books.

But what about after the expulsion?

Then draw a new one.

It should be said that Cheng Tingzuo realized this and also realized the huge crisis in it. After all, he was also worried about the Western invasion of Luzon 20 years before Dashun went to Southeast Asia.

So he wanted to do "new philosophy".

The Yanli School, which overemphasized utilitarianism and disdained debate, should be theorized and systematized, and then guided by reality.

Because Shunxing Ming fell and expelled the Tartars, the period was unprecedentedly difficult. Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism has been blamed, but now it has been delayed in breaking and not establishing, and no new is established. If similar things happen in the future, who should be blamed? Some radical Confucian scholars know it clearly.

The Yongjia and Yongkang schools were in a similar predicament to the Yanli school. They did not have a complete set of scriptures and could only "see it in the matter". They were too domineering and it was difficult to establish the scriptures.

Wang Anshi's new school was intended to "unify thoughts" at the beginning, but it was generally believed within Confucianism that Jing Gong's new school was obviously the art of Shen Shang.

This scripture is very difficult to argue, and the standard of right and wrong has been set first.

Many new studies fundamentally touch on issues such as "whether to eat pork" and "whether to eat fish on Friday". They seem to be useful, but they can be directly denied after a closer look. They are not Confucianism at all.

Now the situation of breaking but not establishing is here, making everyone want to be orthodox.

Then no one can be, because if you want to be orthodox, someone will point out that you do not conform to the scriptures.

The reason why the situation of breaking but not establishing is also due to this.

When breaking, everyone works together.

When establishing, everyone strives to be the first, but whoever runs faster will definitely be pulled by the people behind.

Now, we can only change the system by relying on the ancients. Whoever is ancient can stand firm and whoever is original can stand firm.

So a group of people picked up the ancient books of the pre-Qin period and bypassed the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties directly, and wanted to annotate the classics by themselves.

However, the older, the bigger the problem.

What was the proportion of industry and commerce in ancient times? Was there a factory system in ancient times? Was the economic foundation of ancient times closer to the present or the economic foundation of the Song and Ming dynasties closer to the present?

Moreover, it is useless to annotate the classics by yourself. After annotating, you have to get the recognition of the world. Now the authority of the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties has fallen. Confucius died two thousand years ago, and everyone has the right to interpret the classics.

This means that everyone has the right to hold an article from two thousand years ago and say that others have interpreted it incorrectly.

It was not until he really did this that Cheng Tingzuo understood why his teacher said that sentence that sounded so weird.

[Poems and books in ancient times are nothing more than the spectrum of practicing economics, but as long as you know the path, the authenticity is irrelevant].

Now that I think about it, authenticity doesn’t matter. This is just preparing to "fabricate" the words of the saints. It's a pity that he died early, otherwise, taking advantage of the opportunity of Japan's opening, I'm afraid I don't know how many "ancient books" "from the East to the Middle Earth" he could have compiled.

Now, it has come to Meng Songlu's generation. On the issue of equal distribution of land, Meng Songlu was directly confronted by these young people and was speechless.

Now it is clear that expecting the court to equalize the land and the landlords to donate their own land is pure nonsense.

Then, if you can't even take the first step, what else can you talk about?

If you have to take the first step, and it is determined that it is impossible for the court to equalize the land and the landlords to donate their land, what should you do?

If you continue to push it down, it will be scary.

Imitate the practice of the school in Cangzhou in the past, recruiting disciples, teaching various halls of knowledge, astronomy and geography, martial arts and military tactics, horse riding and firearms, strict discipline, determining political programs, and perfecting social blueprints?

Meng Songlu was speechless, but Meng Tiezhu opposite him did not stop.

Thinking darkly, perhaps it was because of the huge difference in status, or because Meng Tiezhu was born a bad guy who liked to ridicule others, or perhaps it was because the court divided status, so those who claimed to be "scholars" were not scholars and were jealous of the court-certified scholars.

In short, Meng Tiezhu did not stop ridiculing, but continued to ask: "Even if you say that the land is distributed equally, then after the land is distributed equally, only agriculture is mentioned. What about businessmen? What about scholars? What about officials?"

Meng Songlu was pushed to the edge, and at this time he could only recite.

"Mr. Kunsheng said this question..."

[It is clear to the world that the people have a permanent property. It means that those who cannot be supported have no place to stand; so those who have no place to stand are annexed by the powerful...]

[The law now established: those who have land must cultivate it themselves, and no one should be hired to cultivate it for them. ]

[Those who cultivate themselves are farmers, and they can no longer be scholars, merchants, or workers. ]

[If you are not a farmer, you have no land. Scholars, merchants, and workers have no land, let alone officials? 】

【Officials, regardless of their rank, are not allowed to own land, except farmers. 】

【Those who own land but are not farmers can offer it to the government and receive a salary, sell it to the government and receive money, and sell it to farmers, but no one other than farmers can buy it. 】

【A farmer who owns his own land may not own more than 100 acres. 】

Meng Tiezhu was unlikely to be like Liu Yu, who directly criticized this as "a reactionary fantasy", but said in a sarcastic tone: "Oh, so the perfect system you envisioned is like the previous dynasty, restoring the craftsmanship, military, and business registers, and never changing for eternity? You serious "scholars" can only think of this, right?"