New Shun 1730

Just when George Anson and Walter lamented that China had only a static history, ignorance, darkness, isolation, and barbaric children like the pagan Greeks and Egyptians.

But some people also expressed another impression Europe had on China at this time.

"China's system is the most perfect in the world."

"Everyone is allowed to enter the palace and write in the suggestion box what is reprehensible in the government... People certainly cannot think of a better government than this. Under this administrative system, it is impossible for the emperor to be arbitrary. Where people's lives, property, and reputation are protected by the law...The emperor cannot abuse his power and must abide by the law, and cannot harm people he does not know and who are protected by the law."

William Chambers, the designer of Somerset House in London who later presided over the construction, came to China in this year as an employee of the Swedish East India Company, as in history.

The purpose of this visit is that the Academy of Sciences in Dashun is going to build some Western-style houses.

It is not all Western style, but it must reflect the emperor's golden saying: "Practical learning is practical learning, and Western learning is Western learning. Practical learning is applicable to all countries, and Western learning has its own national conditions and cannot be easily trusted." Therefore, it must be inclusive. Show some styles of Western classical architecture.

He commissioned the Swedish East India Company to recruit some people.

Mainly because the emperor did not want Catholic missionaries to monopolize these things, and hoped to find some people from Protestant countries.

William Chambers believed that this was a good learning opportunity, and he wanted to see with his own eyes the China that many people in Europe described as an ideal country, so he went to work as a special employee of the Swedish East India Company and as an intern of an architectural designer at the Beijing Academy of Sciences. Come.

At this time, he was expressing his longing for China to Liu Yu who came to greet them.

Liu Yu had just gotten rid of the French people who continued to slander Britain like a national disease after getting off the ship. After listening to the translation, he was stunned and couldn't help but said: "Which idiot... uh, who said this?"

"Frenchman, François Arouet."

"Who?" The name was a bit weird, he had never heard of it before.

"Uh... pen name, Voltaire. Lord Marquis."

Liu Yu snorted and thought to himself, "Allow everyone to enter the palace and write down things that should be criticized in the government's affairs in the suggestion box...The emperor cannot abuse his power and must abide by the law." Really, I am running into the Constitutional Monarchy and Responsible Cabinet of China. Is the people's supervision system in place?

Fortunately, I came from a noble family and served as a guard in the Forbidden City, otherwise I would really believe it.

Chambers's eyes were full of the little stars who were satisfied to finally set foot in this "Utopia", and he looked at Liu Yu blinkingly.

Before the illusion was shattered, he said all the praises he had heard in Europe about China. His words were full of expectations, as if a Catholic had really touched the shroud of Jesus.

"Chinese people are the most moral. The laws of other countries are to punish evil. Only China's laws are to promote kindness."

"I heard that in China, there was an honest farmer who found a wallet full of gold coins and handed it to the government. When the emperor found out, he immediately rewarded him with a fifth-rank official, and also rewarded him with the same amount of gold coins, exempting him from the crime. If this were in France, this farmer would be severely taxed."

Liu Yu laughed and thought that this was not entirely wrong. The Jielie Archway should be considered a fifth-grade one, and hanging himself in a well was indeed tax-free for the whole family.

"Is this what Voltaire said too?"

Chambers nodded repeatedly, showing that he respected this great scholar.

Then Chambers made another small request.

"Your Majesty, where is Mr. Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb? I want to see this gentleman's tomb. He is a hero."

"Mr. Voltaire said that the ninth grandson of Genghis Khan forced the people to believe in Lamaism."

"The Buddhist hero, Mr. Zhu Yuanzhang, a wise general like Odysseus, led the Buddhists to resist and won the religious war. He also issued the "Beijing City Edict", allowing people to freely believe in all heresies without forcing Lamaism to reform. Believe in Buddhism.”

"I hope to visit the tomb of such a hero. This is a hero who supports religious freedom."

Liu Yu was speechless. As expected, many people in the Enlightenment era just sat at home and made up their own stories.

The magnificent anti-Mongolian uprising was suddenly referred to as the "Huguenot Religious War" that they were familiar with. This is also a talent.

Liu Yu had no choice but to say almost the same words as Walter who insulted China on the Centurion.

"Some people use their own experience as a standard to measure everything in the world; they use the things around them to judge distant and unknown things."

"But it's also understandable that people can't imagine things they haven't seen. Just like a person who is born blind can never imagine what red and green look like. People always add what they have done and experienced to On people from afar.”

"Ming Taizu is naturally heroic, but he really did not lead the Buddhists to resist the religious unification decree. If it were just that, he would not be blessed by the emperor. Don't use European methods to trick China, otherwise you will be disillusioned. Our heroes, and Your heroes are not the same."

"Just like our God and your God, both are God when written in Chinese, but don't think they mean the same thing."

Liu Yu was not very old at this time, only thirty. But Chambers was still young at this time, and Liu Yu's words were old-fashioned, rather like an elder.

Although he didn't quite understand what Liu Yu meant, he nodded like a sixteen-year-old kid, indicating that he would pay attention.

Liu Yu tilted his head and looked at a few people who were similar to Chambers, who had heard that Dashun was so beautiful and like an ideal country, and thought to himself that within a year, you will be disillusioned.

Zhu Yuanzhang was resisting the religious unification order? What the hell is going on.

He shook his head secretly, and in fact, he had some respect for these enlightenment scholars.

But this style of "using the past to satirize the present" and "using the outside to satirize the inside", as long as the conscience does not care about the truth, and the practice of creating an ideal country for the purpose, he really felt a little... too familiar.

The higher the exaggeration, once you see the truth, the harder it is to accept after being disillusioned, and even give rise to a rebellious total denial.

Thinking that this was sooner or later, he could only say "Hey" and told the person next to him: "Arrange them to walk along the way. Don't some of them want to see the garden architecture of our Celestial Empire?"

"Take them to Jiangnan, Jinling, Suzhou, and other places, and then go to the capital. The gardens in the capital are really far from those in Jiangnan. Anyway, my grandfather's duke's mansion can't be compared with those gardens in Jiangnan."

The entourage responded, and Chambers shouted excitedly. He just wanted to see Chinese garden architecture. After shouting, he felt rude and lowered his head in embarrassment.

Liu Yu waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, and paid out of his own pocket to buy some things as souvenirs for these young people who would work in civil engineering in Tsinghua Park in the future.

The attitude of the Swedes was still very good. Under the temptation of trade profits and the vision of going to war with Russia, they responded to Dashun's requests.

Even though Dashun did not send troops to start a war against Russia, Russia had to allocate part of its troops to Central Asia after such a long argument with Count Orst, which was considered as its best effort. The Swedes were still very grateful.

As soon as these Europeans who were going to Tsinghua Park to do civil engineering left, Liu Yu called the team leader and told him: "Keep a close eye on the way. You can't go to Jingdezhen. You can't go to visit silk production and the like. Since you are going to see the gardens, then just see the gardens. Understand?"

"Understand, sir, don't worry. You must be on guard against others. Moreover, without our guidance, these foreign faces can't go anywhere." The team leader was very smart and hit the key point at once, and also understood what Liu Yu was guarding against.

"Okay, I understand. We should eat and drink along the way."

After the arrangements for the civil engineering of the Academy of Sciences were completed and these people withdrew, Kang Budai, who had followed Liu Yu to Guangzhou, couldn't help laughing.

"Sir, that Voltaire has great ambitions. I heard from that kid that he wants to make a constitution to constrain the king?"

Liu Yu laughed and said, "Zhongxian has a good ear."

"Hey, using the past to criticize the present, using the past to reform the system, using the outside to criticize the inside, aren't they all the same thing? I was born in the Celestial Empire and have seen a lot. Reading his books and listening to his words, you can know his heart."

Kang Budai has really seen a lot. This method of changing the soup but not the medicine has been staged countless times.

He smiled and said, "In the past, Wang Jinggong explained the meaning of "Zhou Li" and said, 'The financial resources of Zhou's affairs are all taken from interest.' He said 'Zhou', but in fact he was talking about 'Song' and his 'Qingmiao Law'."

"Westerners don't like to change the system by citing the past, but they seem to like to make up an 'ideal country'. But it's all the same, invisible and intangible."

"References to the past and ideal countries are nothing but Peel. The pride of the Celestial Empire cannot tolerate an ideal country outside, so it can only seek the ancient 'rule of the Three Dynasties'."

"Ancient Confucianism, the restoration of the past, the study of the mind, all want to 'restore the rule of the Three Dynasties'. The paths are completely different. What is the difference between this 'rule of the Three Dynasties' and the 'ideal country' made up by Westerners? "

"This Voltaire uses the past to illustrate the present and the outside to illustrate the inside. He talks about China, but he actually wants France to implement the system of constitutional law and monarchy."

"The Celestial Empire has its own 'rule of the Three Dynasties'. Everyone knows that the rule of the Three Dynasties is good. The various schools of thought, Taoism, Legalism, Confucianism, and Mohism all talk about the rule of ancient times. However, the problem of the Celestial Empire is how to get to the rule of the Three Dynasties and the world of great harmony."

After saying that, he looked at Liu Yu with a smile and whispered: "I have always known that you have the ambition to reform. However, there is one sentence that you need to remember. "

"Zhong Please speak, sir. "

"The Celestial Empire cannot talk about the good of foreign countries, absolutely cannot talk about it. We can only use the past to express our aspirations, and we must not learn from Voltaire and use foreign countries to talk about the inside. The Celestial Empire has its own national conditions, and this is a taboo. Not only is it not beneficial, but it is also harmful. Unless the Celestial Empire is willing to survive to the death and external oppression is stronger than everything, it cannot use the theory of foreign countries to carry out reforms. "

Liu Yu also thought about this point, and nodded solemnly when he heard it: "Zhongxian's words make sense. But using the past to reform the system is also a taboo. I wanted to ask you, but you can hardly form your own opinion. "

Kang Budai smiled bitterly and said: "Sir, it's not that I don't do anything, it's really Yes... if we use ancient times as an example, the words of this school can be Taoism, Legalism, or Mohism, but we can't find the path of Confucianism. This is not Japan. Even though Japan uses the name of Confucianism to talk about criminal law, legalism, and Mohism, you can tell them apart here at a glance. "

Liu Yu also smiled bitterly and said, "Is it so difficult?"

"It's not difficult. But the words of Legalism, Mohism, and Huang Lao are now only a few words, and the words are no more than tens of thousands. It is easy to make up by taking advantage of the topic and taking them out of context. Just like what you said about the Physiocracy School in France, there is only one sentence "Tao follows nature". Although I am not talented, I can also make a whole system according to your meaning. "

"Another example is the strategy used by the Master to exterminate the Japanese country. The law of heaven has damaged more than it can make up for. This sentence can be used to make up for the deficiency. The method that the Master wants to eliminate the family can be achieved."

"But Confucianism has been formed, and there are thousands of words. It is really difficult to use the topic and take it out of context. Now that the dynasty is broken and not established, everyone wants to be orthodox, so everyone's words will inevitably be criticized. If you use Confucianism to criticize, you can always Pick it out.”

Kang Buyao thought for a moment and gave Liu Yu a simple example.

"For example, the Yongjia Yongkang school in this dynasty talks about utilitarianism. The Mohist scriptures also talk about utilitarianism. However, it is also about utilitarianism. If you look at its core, you can tell at a glance that Confucianism and Mohism are different. The Japanese Confucian scholars can distinguish clearly, but how can we not distinguish between them? clear?"

"Everyone knows that Wang Jinggong's tricks are the techniques of Guan Zhong's Legalists. But you must also understand that it was Wang Jinggong who became the prime minister and determined Jinggong's new learning; but it was not because of Jinggong's new learning that all the Confucian scholars accepted it and became the prime minister."

"He has become a prime minister. He said that his Confucian principles are derived from "Zhou Rites", "Book of Songs", and "Shang Shu". Who can say otherwise? After all, there are three ways to select scholars, so that one thought can Those who don’t recognize it can’t be an official.”

"But since the Ming Dynasty, it has been different from the Song Dynasty. The Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty may be able to determine the righteousness of the world. But now in this dynasty, unless the emperor says: This is the righteousness, anyone who does not understand it this way cannot be an official. Otherwise, it is really difficult."

Speaking of this, he asked Liu Yu in an extremely low voice: "Do you recognize the righteousness of the Frenchman Voltaire?"

Liu Yu did not answer, and Kang Buyao whispered again: "Unless the emperor says that justice is like this, the emperor's power must be supreme in order for the emperor's words to become the law; and if the emperor's words become the law, how can the emperor establish a constitution and make an appointment with the emperor? This is Paradox."

"I have always heard that France, starting from its king Louis XIV, has a centralized government similar to this dynasty. Voltaire's meaning is definitely not feasible. From what I see, his words are widely used in Europe, and even Sweden is aware of it, which shows that If the people's wishes are to be fulfilled, there must be chaos first."

"Young Master, you can look carefully. Stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade."

This can be said to be quite far-sighted. If others heard it, they would definitely nod in agreement and take it for granted.

But when Liu Yu heard this, he couldn't laugh or cry.

I thought to myself, I... I've already seen it once. The problem is that the conditions in France, with Dashun currently at the peak of his dynasty, are completely impossible to replicate and nothing can be learned.