New Shun 1730

This question is actually quite normal.

But it depends on the occasion. In this occasion, it is a bit weird. And it is a bit weird.

Others are fine, but Liu Yu was really in tears and laughter.

Before coming to Beijing, when Yu Weihai and Kang Budai were chatting, he gave several examples of what is called "brainless".

For example, the horse liver theory during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, whether Shang Tang and Zhou Wu were traitors. For the rulers, this thing cannot be debated, discussed, or touched, but can only be sanctified and nihilized.

Another example is Yongzheng's "Da Yi Jue Mi Lu" in history, and his criticism of missionaries for believing that religion is a lie, which is the same reason, purely a brain problem.

And in Japan, Arai Hakuseki's "Great Lord or King" and Ogyū Sorai's "Ritual Law is the correct distribution under the limited social production, so it is reasonable" are almost the same.

Once the sacred things are discussed whether they are reasonable, the most important "sacredness" of the sacred things is shattered.

The greatest rationality of the sacred is that the sacredness cannot be touched, not that it is sacred because it is reasonable.

Now Li Gan asked if the Celestial Empire had borders, and whether the Celestial Empire should be divided into internal and external areas...

China can have its own sphere of influence, and it has borders.

But the Celestial Empire cannot have borders. The morals and laws of the Celestial Empire must be universally applicable, and those around it are all barbarians.

Li Gan said these words, which were fine as a Chinese monarch. But as the emperor of the Celestial Empire, there was a big problem.

Liu Yu could talk about the concept of the Celestial Empire and the world, and the ministers could discuss it. Even in private, the emperor and the ministers talked about how to distinguish between diplomacy and tribute.

But the emperor could not talk about it at such a high-level banquet.

In private, talking about distinguishing between diplomacy and tribute is a practical matter, belonging to the practice of governing the country.

At the grand banquet, talking about whether the Celestial Empire has borders is a line issue, which belongs to theoretical debate.

Liu Yu knew that the emperor hoped to use this opportunity to delimit the sphere of influence of Dashun, but even if there was no debate at the banquet today, this matter would definitely leave sequelae afterwards.

Saying this sentence itself is equivalent to Li Gan himself giving up the "All under Heaven is the King's Land" and the derived tribute system, and turning to the Westphalian system derivatives in Europe.

It is equivalent to Li Gan admitting that the Celestial Empire is now incapable of being the emperor of the earth, and can only try to be one of the Five Hegemons and create an international law system in which Dashun participates.

This is not a question of whether it is right or wrong, but it is necessary to trigger a big debate, and at this time this debate will inevitably give rise to extreme conservatism.

And after Dashun abandoned Zhu Xi's school, the moral corruption brought about by economic development, the people's hearts are not ancient, and the pursuit of profit and wealth has led to a comprehensive conservative rebound of ideas.

This is what Liu Yu said, "It is easy to make fire, but it is difficult to protect fire." In Liu Yu's view, Li Gan did this because he was too impatient.

Impatience is not a good thing.

Under the impact of the new era, new ideas will certainly be born, but extreme conservatism will also be born.

Light and shadow go hand in hand, and it has always been like this.

This is the case with Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity.

All the reforms are attempts to "seek answers from the classics of ancient sages".

The reason is that the progress of productivity has brought about the mismatch between the old culture and morality, resulting in "material desires", "people's hearts are not ancient", and "corruption of the atmosphere".

In Liu Yu's view, this is a good thing, which means the liberation of thought and the embodiment of the fact that the development of social productivity and cultural morality always lags behind the development of productivity.

But for the guardians of tradition, this is a bad thing.

In this era, Islam is also brewing religious reforms in the face of the impact of the new era, giving birth to Wahabi and extreme conservatism.

The ancient school that emerged in Japan is also "retro"; the ancient Confucian school in Dashun is also "retro".

Even the Protestant Calvinism of Christianity a little earlier is also retro: You are a pope, but you are just a mortal, what do you know about the great principles of Christianity? Why do you explain it?

The original and the tenets of the church should be a Bible in everyone's hands, instead of believing in things that have been changed by the Vatican.

The reason is similar to that of the ancient school and the ancient Confucian school, who all believe that the true "classics and great principles" have been misinterpreted by later generations. Zhu Xi is also a mortal. You don't know the Confucian doctrine. You should read the original and religious doctrines of the pre-Qin ancient books to understand the true doctrine of the ancient sages.

The scapegoat for the ancient school and the ancient Confucian school is the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties; the scapegoat for the Protestantism is the Catholic Church.

Just like after the Protestant Reformation, all the original doctrines are based on the Bible, and the Pope who has the right to interpret is kicked out, then various different schools will be born, all claiming to be orthodox. There are both progressive and extremely conservative and reactionary, even more reactionary than Catholicism.

The same is true for the ancient school of Confucianism. After the original doctrines, throw away the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties and pick up the classics of the pre-Qin Dynasty. The result is infinite divisibility. There must be two types: extremely progressive and extremely conservative.

Perhaps they are all under the banner of ancient school and Confucianism, but they are taking completely different paths.

Now Li Gan directly uses the sacred concept of the Celestial Empire to make a fuss, which may become the fuse of detonation.

Just like when the rise of ancient learning in Japan was about to kill Zhu Xi's school of thought, the conservatives fought back and implemented the Kansei policy to ban learning; Dashun abandoned Zhu Xi's school of thought, but the conservatives did not disappear, they just changed their names and existed.

Liu Yu did not disagree, but felt that Li Gan was too impatient and the timing was not right. He should wait for another ten years until many things in the new era took root and stood firm before debating these things.

Now we should learn from Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, do not argue, develop first, take one step and see one step at a time. When the time of Emperor Wu comes, we will dethrone hundreds of schools of thought and only focus on Confucianism, choose the right direction, and determine the principles and theories that adapt to the times.

And if Emperor Wen’s era did not use the learning of Huang Lao and the art of punishment and naming, skipped the great social development of Wen and Jing’s rule and quelled the chaos of the Seven Kingdoms, and tried to depose hundreds of schools of thought to unite Confucianism, not only would it fail, but it would also suffer Backlash.

It's just that even though the emperor said it, nothing can be changed.

Now that he has said it, he must be prepared.

Liu Yu was not told about this matter, but he must have discussed it with others.

Words are not spoken randomly in this kind of situation. When the emperor raises a question, the ministers must answer the question according to the emperor's wishes. If they have not practiced it in advance, it will be difficult to have such a tacit understanding.

Liu Yu thought that the emperor's side had already been arranged. Although he didn't think it was a good thing to say this on this occasion, he didn't want to worry about it anymore. Who knows what the emperor was going to do.

Anyway, I just want to talk less and watch more today.

He would not speak if he could, unless the emperor asked him.

After the emperor finished asking, all the ministers were muttering about the matter at the emperor's signal. Liu Yu also pretended to turn sideways and chatted with the Duke of Qi next to him.

But his eyes were darting around, and he quietly glanced at the Western envoys sitting there.

The translation has been done in Latin. No one in Dashun understands English or Dutch. External communication must be in French or Latin. Fortunately, everyone on the other side can understand it.

The rest of the envoys were okay. They probably guessed that they would be able to attend such a high-level banquet today. Dashun himself had the intention of declaring his own sphere of influence.

Only Count Altesmann, the leader of the Russian mission, looked obviously ugly.

Liu Yu can also think of what's going on here. Li Gan just traced back to the Han and Tang Dynasties. The mention of the Han and Tang Dynasties is almost tied to the issue of the Western Regions. The boundary treaty between Dashun and Russia has not yet been signed. Dashun is too threatening, asking Russia to demolish many fortresses and return many pastures to the Junggar tribe. At this time, there is news that Swedish radicals have come to power and are preparing to go to war with Russia. information.

When Liu Yu was so angry with Tolstoy, he had an issue with the translation issue of "Emperor" and "Tsar".

The emperor was given the title "Basileus of Basileus", which is also the title of King of Kings. This title is what Jesus was called in the Bible, but Liu Yu said that the inheritance of the King of Kings in Persia dates back to Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Dashun is the orthodox celestial dynasty. What's wrong with inheriting the title of King of Kings?

Now that Li Gan was envious of the Han and Tang Dynasties and asked "Where is the border of the Celestial Empire?", how did Count Altesman hear this? Why did he think that Dashun was going to declare war on Russia and regain Li and Tang's absolute control in the Western Regions? , or even thinking about intervening in Persian affairs?

Russia recently captured a small envoy who secretly went to Turgut's headquarters. It was obviously for liaison, and he brought various measuring instruments and drawing tools with him.

Although he and Dashun were still talking and it was hard to say anything, his attitude towards Dashun was still very nervous.

During the war against Japan, Liu Yu, who had single-handedly organized the navy, did not go to command, but stayed in the capital. There were many rumors that Dashun would send Liu Yu to conquer the Western Regions and command the troops in the Western Regions, Mongolia, and Heilongjiang.

At the end of the conquest, Liu Yu sealed the "Whale Sea" instead of "Jinghai". It sounded like Dashun was declaring "the ocean and continent strategy, we finally chose the mainland."

Liu Yu quietly looked over there, and Count Altesmann also glanced in Liu Yu's direction involuntarily. The two people's eyes met in the air, and then they turned to the side, no longer looking at each other.

After turning his head, Qi Guogong whispered: "Have Shou Chang heard the news from the West? It's wonderful, wonderful. If this happens, I think things will be much easier to handle."

It seems that the Duke of Qi didn't care that the emperor said such words on such an occasion, or maybe he didn't realize that what the emperor just said would cause a huge controversy?

Liu Yu felt a little strange, but Qi Guogong didn't say this. Instead, he asked about Western affairs, and he had to answer in a low voice.

"I heard that it is indeed wonderful and very beneficial to this dynasty. However, having said that, Qi Gong, your majesty didn't say anything to you? Your majesty asked that the dynasty has no borders. It was obviously to draw out the affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You didn't What’s the idea?”

Duke Guo of Qi smiled and was about to answer when he heard the etiquette officer ring the small bell. The situation where there had been noisy discussions just now suddenly became quiet.

"Mr. Qi, since you are in charge of the etiquette of interactions with Western countries, what do you think of this?"

The emperor directly named Qi Guogong, and Liu Yu let out a chuckle in his heart, thinking, "Are you the actor?"