Do you know: I, a commoner prime minister

Chapter 38 Ridiculous

Don't underestimate this point. Starting with the suppression of other schools of thought, the core idea of ​​Confucianism has been the main code of conduct.

The words in Confucian classics are about righteousness.

Therefore, when officials advised the emperor, they liked to quote the words of the sages.

The Book of Changes (Zhouyi) is the first of the Six Classics and is revered as a sacred text by Confucian scholars.

Any scholar, even if they can't recite it backwards, will certainly remember its contents.

Why is no one citing this?

It's not that they couldn't think of it, but whether they supported or opposed the reform, they were mainly using this matter to show off.

However, they could not imbue the reform with a grander purpose, not that it was enough for them to do so.

As mentioned earlier, Confucianism itself contains many opposing and contradictory viewpoints.

Propriety, righteousness, benevolence, and filial piety—which are not contradictory or contradictory—will become the moral standards for all scholars.

However, those opposing or contradictory viewpoints are also divided into different groups within Confucianism.

For scholars, however, they cannot go against the words of the sages. Once they advocate a certain viewpoint of the sages, they must adhere to it without wavering.

Simply put, their support for or against the reform can be considered a personal opinion.

But to quote the ancient sages, that's tantamount to creating a persona.

An individual's views can change depending on their understanding of the situation.

But once a persona is established, it cannot be easily changed.

Those who support Xunzi's idea that human nature is inherently evil will not refute Mencius's idea that human nature is inherently good, because both were Confucian sages.

Similarly, they will not change the ideas they support, because that would be a denial of the sages.

Why do later generations criticize Confucianism as a malignant tumor that led to feudalism?

It's not that Confucianism is bad, but rather that after the establishment of the exclusive veneration of Confucianism, it was mythologized.

The existence of contradictions and conflicts within Confucianism itself demonstrates its great inclusiveness.

But after being mythologized, it became like an inviolable law.

Therefore, scholars will not easily advocate a certain ideology, because once they do, they can only go down a dead end.

The fact that Zhou An dared to use him shows that he genuinely believed that reforms were necessary.

Lu Wang's fondness for Zhou An stemmed from this.

It's not that he saw Zhou An as the future of the reformists, but rather as the spark that would ignite future reforms.

Even if their reforms fail, there will always be people in the younger generation who support and endorse them, and there will still be people who advocate for reforms in the future, so there will still be a chance to solve the long-standing problems of the court.

Having figured this out, Zhou An smiled wryly and said, "Instructor Lu, you think too highly of me."

Zhou An supported the reforms because he had lived two lives and was not as deeply influenced by the distorted Confucianism of the ancients.

Why do we say it's gone bad?

In his view, Confucianism was a very good ideology before it became the sole state ideology, but it changed after it became the sole state ideology.

Because Confucianism was initially just an ideology used to educate the common people.

However, once it became a tool for the rulers to control their ideology, it was inevitable that its meaning would be deliberately altered in order to cater to those in power.

Many of Mencius's ideas were actually considered rebellious by the rulers.

There are sayings like "Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it," and "If a ruler treats his ministers as his hands and feet, then the ministers will treat the ruler as their heart and soul."

These kinds of sayings were put forward by Mencius. To put it more nicely, it can be said that the ruler should treat the people well and that there should be a proper relationship between ruler and subject.

To put it more bluntly, the people can respect you as emperor, but they can also rebel and overthrow you.

If you treat your subjects well, they will be loyal. But if you treat them badly, they will not be loyal.

These words can be found in Confucian classics, but who has ever mentioned them in front of the emperor?

Water can carry a boat, and it can also overturn it.

The reason it became so famous is because it was Li Shimin himself who gave it that title.

This has led many people in later generations to believe that this statement was made by Li Shimin, rather than Mencius.

These words do not align with the interests of those in power, who desire the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues, and the principle that all favors, whether thunder or rain, are expressions of imperial grace.

Simply put, whether the emperor was a wise ruler or a foolish one, everyone in the world had to obey his rule and could not rebel.

If the emperor himself makes such a statement, it can be interpreted as an expression of love for the people; his subjects, of course, cannot mention such things.

So even though ancient scholars often talked about the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, in reality, many of Mencius's theories were downplayed.

This is the distorted form of Confucianism.

Zhou An was not affected by these things; he simply knew the course of history and that things were about to change.

However, this does not mean that he supports the new law proposed by Fan Da Xiang Gong.

"What do you mean by this?" Lu Wang asked, frowning.

"Instructor Lu treats me like a teacher, and I don't want to hide anything from you."

Zhou An said in a deep voice, "I do not actually agree with some of the things that Master Fan has done."

Lu Wang frowned even more deeply upon hearing this, but instead of getting angry, he asked, "Tell me, what do you disagree with?"

"The new laws that Lord Fan formulated back then had some flaws. I don't want to say much about those, but I can't agree with Lord Fan's decision to stop the Emperor from killing Chao Zhongyue!" Zhou An said.

He had always deeply admired Fan Zhongyan, who was concerned about the world's troubles before enjoying its pleasures.

However, when he was young, he heard something that completely shattered the illusion he had of him.

Chao Zhongyue was the military governor of Gaoyou. More than ten years ago, a rebellion broke out near Gaoyou. When the rebel army attacked Gaoyou City, Chao Zhongyue saw that the rebel army was powerful and worried that he could not defend it.

So they summoned the wealthy households in the city, asked them to contribute money and grain, and then used this money and grain to negotiate with the rebels.

It is said that the city of Gaoyou is tall and difficult to conquer, and even if it were captured, the losses would be heavy.

All you want is money and supplies, right? I'll give them to you. Just stop attacking Gaoyou and go attack other small counties instead.

When the rebels heard that there was such a good deal, there was no reason for them not to agree.

The rebels kept their word; they took the money and supplies and left immediately to attack other nearby cities.

Later, after the rebellion was quelled, this incident was reported.

Upon hearing this, the emperor was furious. Gaoyou was a fortified city, and as long as it held, the imperial army would be able to easily quell the rabble once they arrived.

However, because of Chao Zhongyue's bribery, the rebels not only received money and food, but also actually captured a county town, resulting in countless deaths and injuries among the people.

Even if the emperor is lenient, he will still order the execution of such an official.

Not only the emperor, but most people in the court at the time supported the emperor's decision.

However, after the emperor's decree was issued, it was rejected by Grand Chancellor Fan.

Not only that, he also tried his best to persuade the officials who supported him.

The reason is simple: the current dynasty does not kill scholar-officials, a rule established by the founding emperor.

If we break this rule, the knife might fall on our heads in the future.

Upon hearing this, the officials thought about it carefully and realized they were right.

Then they all changed their tune and opposed executing Chao Zhongyue. In the end, the emperor was forced by the pressure and changed his sentence to exile.

It's ridiculous that someone who was in charge of the reforms used the regulations of the founding emperor to prevent the government from killing civil officials.

It's important to understand that the reform itself involved changing some of the rules established during the reigns of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong.

On the one hand, you want to change the rules, and on the other hand, you don't want the officials to break the ancestral rules. How can you not fail?