The roots of Confucianism have been dug up!
The one who followed in digging up the roots of Confucianism was Confucius’ 56th generation descendant, Duke Wenxuan Kong Xilu!
This left the ministers in the court with no reason to refuse, and they had to continue working for the court.
Many ministers felt very uncomfortable, and under the influence of the general trend, they could only go with the flow.
At first, they still wanted to resist.
Since the Southern Confucius aided and abetted Zhou in his evil deeds and took the initiative to help the imperial court to dig up the roots of Confucianism, what about the benevolent and kind Northern Confucius?
However, at this time, Beikong had been exiled or beheaded, and the situation had become a mess.
It is said that when the Confucius Mansion was demolished, the people of Qufu all applauded, tears welled up in their eyes, and they kowtowed several times in the direction of Yingtian Prefecture.
These people suffered from oppression and exploitation by the Confucius Mansion. They were angry but dared not speak out and were extremely desperate because no one cared about their lives.
That is the Confucius Mansion, the descendants of the sage of Confucianism. Throughout the dynasties, no emperor would treat the descendants of the sage harshly for the sake of the lives of common people like them!
From Song to Jin, from Jin to Yuan, and from Yuan to Ming, no matter how the dynasties changed, the Confucius Mansion always stood firm.
Because they represent Confucianism, and behind them stand the literati of the world.
No matter who becomes emperor, no one dares to touch them.
But for the people living under the rule of the Confucius Mansion, this was an extremely hopeless situation.
The patriarch of the Kong family can decide life and death with a single word, and even the imperial court has no right to rule...
This kind of unrestrained power allowed the Confucius family to become more unscrupulous and do whatever they wanted.
These common people thought that they would have to endure humiliation and torture for the rest of their lives, but suddenly one day, a team of Jinyiwei broke in and besieged the Confucius Mansion.
And then right after that.
The Confucius Mansion has collapsed!
The mountain that had been pressing down on them for countless years suddenly disappeared!
Soon, officials from the imperial court came to Qufu and announced the crimes of the Northern Kong family.
All the people listened to the verdict of the crimes and burst into tears with excitement. Then they prostrated themselves in worship. The sound of kowtows was endless. The scene was magnificent and extraordinary!
Even the well-informed court officials were moved after seeing such a situation, and their mood was extremely complicated for a while.
They were sent here by the court to pronounce judgment on the crimes of the Northern School of Confucius, and each of them was very reluctant. After all, as Confucian students, they had to do such a thing, which would bring them infamy.
However, it is difficult to defy fate. As court officials, if they refused, the consequences would not be as serious as death, but they would definitely lose the black hat on their heads.
There is precedent for this...
There were actually people who refused the emperor's dispatch. Of course, they did not refuse directly, but they tactfully stated that they were sick and could not work for the court for the time being.
However, despite such a tactful refusal, the emperor still directly dismissed him from his post and ordered that the official's descendants would never be employed again!
This is truly a hundred times or a thousand times more painful than killing him. Not only will he lose his official position, but his descendants will also be implicated, leaving them with no chance to enter officialdom, which is equivalent to extinguishing the flame of the clan's rise.
If the emperor simply killed him, he could still retain the reputation of a loyal and virtuous minister, and his family would also be looked up to and cared for by other Confucianists, which was also normal.
Not only was he dismissed from his post, but he was also ordered not to be employed again by his descendants. This kind of punishment is truly terrifying.
With such an example in mind, no one dared to disobey the emperor's order easily. They came here with reluctance, expecting to see the people of Qufu reluctant to see the Kong family sentenced. What's worse, they would insult them as running dogs of the court, saying it was disgraceful for them to dare to sentence the Kong family. How could they face the ancestor in the future?
As a Confucian scholar, I am most afraid of seeing such scenes...
But the facts are completely opposite to what they imagined!
The people of Qufu not only did not insult them, but were grateful to the court for its strong legislation, impartiality and selflessness!!
When many officials saw this scene, they couldn't believe it at all. They subconsciously thought that these people were crying for the Kong family. After careful questioning, they found out that they were crying because the Kong family had finally fallen. It was not easy. After so many years, it finally fell! That's great!
No one knew how long they had been oppressed, how desperate they were, and why they were so excited when the court pronounced the Northern Sect Confucius Mansion's verdict.
After hearing such a response, the officials who made the judgment were all stunned!
The officials who came here reluctantly at first now felt very complicated.
How... could it be like this?
This matter soon spread to the surrounding counties and became a topic of conversation for many people. Everyone kept discussing Bei Kong's various actions and felt that he deserved the punishment for being tried in this way.
Of course, the affairs of these people were soon covered up by humans and did not spread thoroughly.
This kind of thing was really because it was immoral and damaging to the reputation of saints, and those great scholars and literati simply could not let it go, and they all took action to stop it.
How could such a thing happen under the rule of the descendants of the saints? Someone must have maliciously slandered and spread related rumors!
but.
They had no way to cover up the news that the imperial court was trying Bei Kong for his crimes, and there was no need to cover it up. After all, it was an atrocity of the imperial court!
As these things develop.
These great scholars already had an extremely bad impression of the new dynasty.
In fact, as early as the founding of the country, the emperor wanted to ban Confucian sacrifices throughout the world. Fortunately, he was stopped. Later, he even wanted to expel Mencius from the Confucian Temple.
Who is Mencius? The second sage of Confucianism.
If Confucius is the founder of the edifice, then Mencius is the builder and perfecter of the edifice. One can imagine the sensation caused by inviting such a heavyweight figure out of the Confucian Temple.
Zhu Yuanzhang's repeated attempts repeatedly stepped on the edge of the limit of what Confucian scholars could bear, which naturally aroused the disgust of many great Confucian scholars.
but.
What Zhu Yuanzhang did before did not shake the foundation of Confucianism and was not a particularly serious problem.
But soon, Su Che stripped Duke Yansheng of his title, and then tried and sentenced Duke Yansheng's family.
This caused a widespread sensation.
The Kong family of Qufu had never encountered such violent treatment. This incident was truly unprecedented.
The most infuriating thing is that when the officials pronounced the charges against the Kong family in Qufu, the people living under the rule of Duke Yansheng all applauded and cheered , showing no idea of ​​upholding the reputation of the saint!
It’s okay for the common people to suffer, but how can the descendants of the saints be treated unfairly?
This is really putting the cart before the horse!
Regarding such things, the great scholars can only shake their heads and sigh, lamenting that the world is becoming more corrupt and people’s hearts are no longer the same as before.
But very quickly.
The Hundred Schools of Thought launched half a year later, as well as a large number of enlightenment schools, directly undermined the foundation of Confucianism!
This time, these great scholars really couldn't sit still.
How can those inferior studies be compared with Confucian studies?
This matter is very serious.
Many great scholars gathered together spontaneously and began to discuss countermeasures, how to alleviate the current situation?
If this continues, the consequences will be disastrous!
The situation where Confucianism is the only dominant school of thought will completely disappear!
In a dim library, a few candles were lit, and several world-famous scholars were sitting around the table.
An old Confucian with gray hair, known as Bi Shenggong, whispered: "I never thought that the Southern School Wenxuangong would be so ignorant of the general situation, openly betraying Confucianism and speaking such treasonous words for the court. It's a pity that now that things have come to this, it's impossible to find the Northern School Confucius..."
"Hey, we should have taken action when the court dealt with Beikong. But you said that the trend was irreversible. Now it's too late to support Beikong. It's too late to regret!" A young scholar said gritting his teeth.
"Brother Beiyue, it's no use talking about these things now. Let's discuss what to do!" said a middle-aged man with a beautiful beard, waving his hand.
The young scholar known as Beiyue glanced at the old man standing in the corner of the room reading and asked, "Master Xinyu, you are well versed in the art of observing the weather. The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty has acted so perversely. Does this mean that his luck is unstable and the foundation of the dynasty is shaken?"
"If there is a sign of unstable fortune and the dynasty's foundation is shaken, perhaps we can..."
The young scholar Beiyue did not dare to finish his words, as long as everyone understood.
Mr. Xinyu put down the book in his hand, glanced at the expectant eyes of everyone in the room, his expression a little strange, and he did not say anything, but just shook his head silently.
When everyone saw him shaking his head, they were immediately disappointed and kept saying "what a pity!"
"Not even a little bit of shaking?" A great scholar asked. He didn't believe that the emperor, who had done such evil things, would not see any signs of shaking his foundation. Even if there was a little bit, it would be a comfort to them.
"Yeah, isn't there any change at all? Tell me what's going on!" someone else asked.
"There will naturally be changes." Mr. Xinyu smiled bitterly and said helplessly.
When everyone heard this, they suddenly became quiet.
I only heard Xin Yu Jushi slowly say: "I see that the foundation of the Ming Dynasty has not been shaken, but has become more stable. There is a sign that a great era is coming!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was stunned, and each of them showed an expression of disbelief, and could not believe that this would be the result.
"The Great Age is coming?"
"What kind of great world is coming?"
"This... How is it possible!?"
"Master Xinyu, you are kidding me!"
"How is this possible? How is this possible! The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty did such a perverse thing, digging up the roots of our Confucianism and causing so much dissatisfaction. How could there be a sign of the coming of a great era? This is too absurd! Too weird!"
"Mr. Xinyu, what nonsense are you talking about!"
The great scholars simply did not believe it. Some even scolded it out loud, unwilling to accept such a reality.
This statement is equivalent to denying everything they have, making them all clowns!
"Ah..." Mr. Xinyu knew that everyone would have such a reaction, so he was unwilling to say it at first. Only after everyone's repeated questioning did he tell the truth.
"I know you don't want to believe it, let alone accept it. I couldn't believe what I saw at first..."
"Before, I was in Yingtian Prefecture, observing the fortune of the Ming Dynasty court, and saw a prosperous era that I had never seen or heard of before. That scene, that movement... If the Ming Emperor really succeeded, he might create an unprecedented prosperous era!"
"A prosperous era unprecedented in the history of the world!"
"No!"
"Even if he fails, if the current situation continues, it will still be a rare great world!"
"This is the result of my observation. You can believe it or not."
After saying this, Xinyu closed his mouth, and the faces of these great scholars became extremely ugly.
Having said that, naturally no one would accuse Mr. Xinyu of talking nonsense anymore.
If you continue to make trouble, it would be really inappropriate.
Everyone who can enter this room can trust each other.
But the more this happens, the more uncomfortable everyone feels.
Why?
How could the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who acted so recklessly, still create an unprecedented prosperous era?
Is it true that Confucianism is not important at all?
impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
From the time when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty promoted Confucianism as the only doctrine to be respected until today, the empire has prospered and declined with the assistance of Confucianism for so many years. By the Song Dynasty, a situation had been formed in which the emperor and the literati shared the empire.
Confucianism was flourishing at that time, who could have imagined that such a sudden change would happen!
Many great scholars were silent for a long time, and finally couldn't help but sigh.
They encouraged Duke Yansheng, instigated various public opinions, united the literati in the world to jointly resist the emperor's will, and covered up the scandals of the Northern School. What they did in secret was to protect everything about Confucianism.
And now, it seems that Confucianism is being abandoned by this era?
After everyone was silent for a long time, the young scholar named Beiyue suddenly said quietly: "Do you still remember what Wenxuan said?"
"Duke Wenxuan?"
"What did he say?"
"He said... Your Majesty is promoting various studies, which is a great thing. We should learn from it and improve ourselves. How can we stop opposition? This is not right! Are Confucians so short-sighted and selfish?"
After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent again.
Do we really want them to learn those low-level knowledge?
…
at the same time.
Inside the palace.
Su Che was thinking about something.
How to bring imperial power to the countryside?
From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the county was the most basic administrative agency, with grassroots organizations to manage the people under it, and the heads were generally not directly appointed by the central government.
So how did successive dynasties establish “self-governance” management among the grassroots people?
The Qin and Han dynasties had a village system, such as the Three Elders and the Ten-Five Organization.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties there were the Lijia system and the Baojia system.
Of course, an empire can control the countryside.
However, the so-called "imperial power does not extend to the countryside" does not refer to the imperial power's control over local administrative work, but rather to the imperial power's actual control over towns and villages.
In ancient China, local wealthy families or clans had a strong voice in the local area, and their power and economic influence directly affected the daily lives of people in towns and villages.
In the process of governing, local officials often had to compromise with local gentry, and they became the communication hub between local gentry and the upper-level government offices.
The imperial power can only reach the level of county magistrate, and those below the county magistrate have to rely on local clans!
This is what is called the imperial power not extending to the countryside.