In this article "Confucianism".
Su Che wrote:
Confucianism and Taoism should not be a false and empty doctrine, but should come from the people and go to the people, and everything should be for the people.
The people of the world do not refer only to scholars and aristocratic families, but should include all the common people in the world.
These people have no say, never make their voices heard, and have always been ignored.
But they also have their own thoughts, their own joys and sorrows.
They are ignorant and wise, they are simple but cunning, and they have the purest and most humble wish, which is to have enough food to eat and stay alive!
In fact, there is nothing wrong with this article up to this point. It is just an article that encourages people to be kind and care about the grassroots people. Although the words are sharp and the angles are tricky, it is still a good article.
After all, most Confucian scholars of this era were the type who "analyzed the meaning of words, talked about trivial things, and could not even grasp a single meaning when they were old and retired", and they had seriously become detached from the grassroots of society.
From the perspective of social development, "between the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, there were two kinds of party turmoil; many people of noble character and benevolence were imprisoned; scholars and literati also fought against the literary network; morale was already low and Confucianism was desolate."
Therefore, there is really nothing wrong with Su Che previously criticizing the inferior Confucian scholars and now encouraging everyone to learn from the real great Confucian scholars.
But the key point soon came. The map of Yan State ended here. Su Che changed the subject in the following text and began to question the foundation of Confucianism, elaborating on the real situation of Emperor Wu of Han's exclusive promotion of Confucianism.
Did Emperor Wu of Han really promote Confucianism alone and reject all other schools of thought?
The answer is obviously no.
The descriptions of this incident in "Records of the Grand Historian", "Book of Han" and "Tongjian" differ, but what is consistent is that none of the three historical books records that Emperor Wu of Han "abolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone".
Combining the policy of abolishing all schools of thought with the policy of respecting Confucianism alone is the practice of later generations. Emperor Wu of Han never adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion of "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", and he never took any action of "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone".
Some of them only "rejected Huang-Lao, respected Confucianism, emphasized the rule of law, and adopted the teachings of all schools of thought."
To respect Confucianism is to take Confucianism as the guiding ideology or ruling ideology of the country.
Attaching importance to the rule of law means taking the Legalist doctrine of governing the country by law as the method and system of governing the country.
Besides, he also used the theories of various schools. This is what Sima Qian called "the study of all disciplines."
However, in this era, the teachings of the Hundred Schools of Thought have been devalued to the extreme, which is really inappropriate. It goes against the original intention of Emperor Wu of Han and has created a huge obstacle to the development and progress of society.
Su Che gave an example.
Since ancient times, agriculture has been valued over commerce because it is easy to make profits by doing business. If there is no restriction, everyone will go into business and who will farm? In this case, the country will be in danger of extinction. This is why every dynasty has valued agriculture over commerce.
Ultimately, this is because productivity is limited, the land area is limited, and grain output is limited, so appropriate constraints must be imposed to restrict merchants.
The current practice of upholding Confucianism as the only doctrine has the same flaw. Even if Confucianism has been developed to its extreme, it still has its limitations. If it cannot spread all kinds of knowledge and allow competition to reappear, it is only a matter of time before Confucianism decays.
By then, the whole world will be filled with corrupt and despicable scholars, and sooner or later the Chinese land will fall and become a place for foreigners to bully and rule!
If Confucianism wants to truly develop, it should not reject the teachings of all schools of thought. Instead, it should accommodate and accept all schools of thought and become a brand new Confucianism. Only in this way can it become full of vitality again and reduce the emergence of those cheap and corrupt Confucians.
This article has 10,000 words!
From encouraging people to be good and attaching importance to the grassroots in the beginning, to throwing out new ideas and questioning the foundation of Confucianism later on, it is equivalent to luring people in and killing them, making people subconsciously watch the whole thing.
Throughout the article, Su Che's intention was not to expose the lies of Confucianism and recreate the dispute among the Hundred Schools of Thought, but to make Confucianism accommodate the doctrines of the Hundred Schools of Thought and become a brand new Confucianism.
Just as Su Che’s title says: Confucianism.
Su Che intends to create a brand new Confucianism, one that can accommodate hundreds of schools of thought. It doesn’t matter whether it is Confucianism or not, as long as it has enough vitality!
no doubt.
This is an article with a very sharp angle and very novel expression.
As soon as Su Che finished writing, his literary spirit soared into the sky, causing changes in the wind and clouds, and even the sky and the earth changed color! !
This article is even more inspiring than the article "The Lowly Confucian"!
Even louder!
Many scholars in Nanyang County looked at the soaring literary atmosphere in the prefect's mansion with surprised expressions.
"Master, have you written any new articles?"
"This... is such a strong literary energy! It directly caused changes in heaven and earth!"
"This is much more of a stir than the previous article 'The Lowly Scholar'!"
"What kind of article is this?"
"The Han literary world is going to be lively again!"
In Nanyang College.
Several scholars looked at the soaring literary aura and began to discuss it.
"I don't know what kind of article would cause such a reaction. Is this Ji Shi Hou really a natural saint?"
"If he wasn't a born saint, how could he have written such a good article?"
"Yes, how else can one explain his achievements except that he was born with all the knowledge?"
"He studied medicine at the age of ten, wrote Journey to the West at the age of eleven, and then went into business, selling ice cubes and earning hundreds of thousands of silver taels. After that, he opened money houses all over Jingzhou, and wrote the Barefoot Doctor's Manual, saving countless lives and eradicating the plague at all costs. At the age of fifteen, he was named Jishihou and sat on the position of Nanyang County Governor! What were we doing when we were fifteen?"
"The 'Humble Scholar' was written very well, and the subsequent debates in the imperial newspaper were even more exciting, defeating countless great scholars. I wonder what kind of articles he will write now. I am really looking forward to it!"
In Nanyang Academy, this group of future scholars have a very good impression of Su Che and think he is a natural saint!
"Everyone, just wait patiently. In just a few days, we will be able to see the article!"
"Honestly, I can't wait!"
"Ha ha."
…
This article caused a huge stir before it was even published!
County Magistrate Lu Guan hurried over and asked, "What article have you written?"
"Just take a look." Su Che waved his hand.
I didn't write this article on a whim, but I had the idea long ago, which led to all kinds of ideas.
Su Che has always been thinking about how to make doctors respected and no longer be regarded as a class of "workers".
At the beginning, he didn't have many ideas, until later, he gradually had some ideas.
If Confucianism does not accept the medical school and other schools of thought, then he will create a completely new Confucianism!
Is Confucianism such an inconvenient thing?
County Chancellor Lu Guan hurriedly began to read it carefully. Soon, his expression changed rapidly and his breathing became rapid. It was obvious that Su Che's article had a huge impact on him!
After a while, Lu Guan raised his head and said seriously: "My Lord, this article of yours will shock the entire Han literary world again... The sky of the Han literary world will be pierced by you again!"
"I've had this idea for a long time!" Su Che said with a smile, "This decadent Han literary world needs some new vitality, so that it will be interesting!"
In a word, Su Che thinks that the current literary world that only respects Confucianism is very boring, and he wants to overturn this literary world and make rivers of blood flow!
Baijia has become ashes, it’s time to revive with this article! !
…
soon.
When Su Che posted this article in the official newspaper.
Without a doubt, it caused an instant sensation!
All the official newspapers of the Han Dynasty published this shocking article in unison!
The Han literary world, which had been relatively quiet for a while, became lively again because of Lu Xun's article!
And those people from the Hundred Schools of Thought who had been in decline for a long time were immediately excited when they read this article.
Although the author of this article is shameless enough to want to create a new Confucianism that accommodates all schools of thought... but if you can't beat them, just join them. This is actually not shameful. The most important thing is to be able to pass on your own teachings.
Who wants to be completely lost in history?
“I support Neo-Confucianism!”
The people of the Hundred Schools of Thought, who were almost swept into the dust of history, suddenly burst out with incredible firepower as if they were rekindled from the ashes. They all jumped out at this time and unanimously expressed their support to nominate Lu Xun as the leader of the New Confucianism!
The sage of Neo-Confucianism is Lu Xun!
Many Confucianists simply couldn't hold it anymore at this time. Confucianists didn't support you, so you wanted to set up your own school and create a new Confucianism?
This is simply disrespecting one's teacher and ancestors, and is extremely treasonous!
This article was even more unacceptable than the previous one. When it was published in the official newspaper, it directly caused the whole world to boil! It was like poking a hole in the sky!
Fufeng County, Maoling.
Lu Zhi came to see his teacher with a newspaper and shouted, "Teacher, Lu Xun is crazy. He wants to create a new Confucianism!"
"New Confucianism?" Ma Rong raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "Don't worry, show me the court report."
"Teacher, please take a look." Lu Zhi handed over the report respectfully.
Ma Rong took the report handed over by Lu Zhi and read it carefully. His brows were frowned and relaxed from time to time. He finished reading it quickly. He still felt that he was not satisfied, so he read it again.
Half an hour later, Ma Rong let out a long sigh and put down the newspaper in his hand. He couldn't help but sighed: "This guy is really amazing. He actually came up with something like this..."
"What do you think?" Lu Zhi asked subconsciously.
"I think his opinion is correct." Ma Rong nodded and said, "At first I thought he was a fraud who stole the reputation. After that article on cheap Confucianism came out, I thought he was a rare hero of the time. Now after reading this article on Confucianism, I think he is a living saint..."
saint?!
Such a high evaluation made Lu Zhi a little dumbfounded. This Lu Xun was a traitor to his teacher and wanted to create a new Confucianism. Why did his teacher still praise him so much? !
"Teacher..." Lu Zhi hesitated to speak.
"I know what you are thinking, and I also know that this article will definitely cause an uproar when it is released, but what he said is actually the problem of contemporary Confucianism. If we can accommodate the doctrines of hundreds of schools of thought and integrate them into a new Confucianism, it may not be impossible to reach a new height." Ma Rong said slowly.
"But this is undoubtedly difficult... it is as difficult as climbing to the sky."
"He can't stand on his own feet just relying on the support of those people from the fallen Hundred Families."
"I want to see how he makes waves this time."
This article "On Confucianism" is different from the previous one "On the Lowly Confucianism".
The number of people scolded in "The Bad Confucian" is limited, so there are not many people who challenge Su Che. He can be invincible in the official newspapers because there are not many ceiling-level figures to challenge him.
However, this article "Confucian Theory" actually stirred up the foundation of Confucianism and wanted to create a new Confucianism. Such a rebellious act would undoubtedly cause all kinds of old monsters to jump out. It would be impossible for Su Che to gain the upper hand in the official gazette.
so.
In Ma Rong's opinion, although this article is good, it would be extremely difficult to implement it!
It would be impossible for Lu Xun to gain a foothold in the official newspaper and to be as glorious as before!
Not to mention creating a new Confucianism?
This kind of thing is not something that can be accomplished by one person in one lifetime...
However.
Something happened that Ma Rong never expected.
A few days passed.
In the imperial capital of Luoyang, the emperor issued a statement announcing that Lu Xun's new Confucianism would become one of the official schools.
When this statement came out, the whole world was shocked!
The emperor actually came out to support Lu Xun? !
This is too absurd. Don't the important officials in the court know how to object ? They are role models for scholars!
In fact, it’s not that there was no opposition from important officials in the court; this was the result of their opposition.
Because at the court meeting, Liu Hong announced right away that he wanted to let the new Confucianism completely replace the old Confucianism and become the prominent school of thought in the world!
This directly confused the important officials of the court.
what's the situation?
New Confucianism replaces old Confucianism?
Is this going to turn the world upside down? !
Even if you are the emperor, you can’t do that!
Afterwards, numerous officials swore to oppose it, saying that this new Confucianism only had a foundation and had not yet been fully formed. How could it replace the current Confucianism? This was absolutely unacceptable.
But Emperor Liu Hong had already made up his mind and was determined to implement it regardless of the opinions of his ministers.
In the end, the ministers had no choice but to step back and allow the new Confucianism to become one of the official schools of thought while they wait and see what would happen.
This is a compromise.
It's a compromise.
This was also the cleverness of Emperor Liu Hong. He knew that if he made New Confucianism the official school of thought, the ministers would not agree, so he opened the skylight and let New Confucianism completely replace Old Confucianism and become the prominent school of thought in the world!
At this time, the ministers took a step back and were willing to let the new Confucianism become one of the official schools.
But this statement came out...
no doubt.
This directly dumbfounded all the Confucianists in the world. Just as they were about to attack Lu Xun and his ridiculous New Confucianism, they did not expect that the emperor would strongly support it and list it as an official school!
This stab in the back from the emperor made these Confucian masters very embarrassed. Should they publish this newly written article or not?
If I don't post it, all the time I've put into writing so many words would be wasted, and I would be letting down those companions who have already gone ahead.
But if it were to be sent out, it would be a blatant opposition to the emperor's support, which was completely contrary to their previous advocacy and would definitely be criticized.
He was caught in a dilemma for a moment, just like Zhu Bajie looking in the mirror, neither human nor human!
This is so uncomfortable!
When the great scholar Ma Rong heard the news, he was dumbfounded: "Is this even possible?"
In his opinion, Lu Xun's situation will be very bad next. The great scholars in the world will jump out one after another. Although Lu Xun is very powerful, the opponent he will face next will be very terrifying, which he cannot cope with.
It is obviously not possible to debate with so many people and be invincible.
But what he didn't expect was that Lu Xun directly reported his ideas to the emperor, who adopted his theories!
This move of cutting off the source of the problem shocked countless people.
In this way, Lu Xun did not need to debate with those great scholars, nor did he need to preach slowly. He could directly make his knowledge become official learning.
Even though the great scholars are unwilling, what can they do?
Do you have the emperor's contact information?
Do you have this relationship?
Fight with me?
What do you have to fight me?
This debate ended prematurely in this way before it officially began, which made many great scholars very upset. Many people changed their identities and started various debates regardless of how Emperor Liu Hong supported them.
But this time, Su Che did not respond to them, but started writing the works of Neo-Confucianism.
He knew very well that this argument was meaningless. No matter how reasonable your words were, they would not support you. The butt determines the head. Most people will not betray their class, even these great scholars are no exception.
The reason why Su Che was able to get Emperor Liu Hong to support him was not because the emperor had a keen eye and knew that only Neo-Confucianism could save the Han Dynasty, but because Su Che bribed the emperor.
Liu Hong was not short of money now, but he lacked one thing, and Su Che just filled this gap. Naturally, this made the emperor very happy and he was willing to go through fire and water for Su Che.
This thing is the "Zhongmiao Pills". It was specially developed for the emperor by Su Che. Various medicinal materials were added. It has the effect of strengthening the foundation and replenishing the vital energy. It can allow the emperor to show his prowess without hurting the kidneys. In a sense, this is an absolute panacea!
And this "Zhongmiao Pill" is also the next strategic product of Chengjin Chamber of Commerce.
After all, when people reach middle age, there are too many times when they feel powerless. For a man, if he fails at the critical moment, it is a huge blow to his self-confidence.
Therefore, this requires the appearance of "Zhongmiao Pills" to enable men to do what they should do when they should do it!
This panacea that can save men's self-confidence sells better than any pill and will definitely make a lot of money.
Different from other similar "Qiu Shi Wan" on the market, the main feature of "Zhong Miao Wan" is that it has an immediate effect. As long as it is not used excessively, it will not even harm the body. This is amazing.
That is why Liu Hong supports Su Che’s new Confucianism so much. If you let me do it, I will let you do it!!!
…
Time flies.
Two years passed in the blink of an eye.
A lot of things happened during this period, such as Su Che and Zhang Ying getting married.
The wedding day was extremely lively and Su Che received blessings from people all over the world.
The local people of Nanyang County made the wedding particularly lively. They beat drums and gongs, and the whole Nanyang County became extremely lively, as if it was New Year's Day!
This is Su Che's influence.
For example, Su Che wrote three books for Neo-Confucianism.
The three books are: "Productive Forces and Production Relations", "The Theory of Position", and "The Wealth of Nations".
Neo-Confucianism provided a living space for the remnants of the Hundred Schools of Thought, which allowed the Hundred Schools of Thought, which were almost in ashes, to reignite and burst into unprecedented vitality.
New Confucianism is different from traditional Confucianism. It is full of vitality and everything is flourishing...
In fact, in this era of the late Han Dynasty, Confucianism was already at the end of its strength and was not at its peak, which gave Su Che the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
If it was the peak period of Confucianism, the Hundred Schools of Thought would have been crushed before they even emerged.
In the original history, after the demise of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism directly declined, and the three religions of "Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism" coexisted in the field of social thought and culture.
This situation continued until the Sui and Tang dynasties, when Confucianism gradually declined.
As mentioned earlier, in order to trace the legitimacy of the founding of the country, Li Yuan and Li Shimin, father and son, began to randomly recognize their ancestors. They recognized Li Er as their ancestor and Li Guang as their forefather.
Since we recognize Li Er as our ancestor, we naturally have to respect Laozi.
Therefore, the order of the three religions emerged: Laozi first, Confucius second, and Buddhism last.
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang also personally annotated the "Tao Te Ching", established Taoism, and added Laozi's strategy to the imperial examination.
In terms of sacrifice, Xuanzong elevated the sacrifice to the Taiqing Palace, which was dedicated to Laozi, to the highest level of national sacrifice.
Among the officials of the middle and late Tang Dynasty, it became a fashion to name people after Taoist thoughts and Taoist gods, which shows the popularity of Taoist thoughts at that time.
And now.
The emergence of Su Che, a new Confucian, was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Confucianism, which had been gradually losing its vitality. Most of the great Confucian scholars knew this, but due to their own interests and face, they did not join in at the first time.
But if you fall behind by one step, you will fall behind step by step.
In the past two years, with the strong support of Chengjin Chamber of Commerce at all costs, the development of New Confucianism has been very rapid, and it has gradually become a prominent school of thought in the world! There is even a trend of replacing the old Confucianism. Even the great Confucian Ma Rong has joined in to study the way out of New Confucianism.
Ma Rong's betrayal broke the defenses of a large number of Confucian disciples and also led many Confucian disciples to join the new Confucianism.
Today, the unprecedented vitality of this new Confucianism has brought new life to the almost corrupt Han Dynasty.
In addition, the Chengjin Chamber of Commerce used its enormous wealth to do countless great things that benefited the country and the people. Hybrid rice and wheat have gradually become popular...
Potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes brought back from overseas were also planted in various places.
Various antibiotic drugs are also made available to grassroots farmers through Chengjin Medical Clinic.
Su Che also built water conservancy projects, renovated highways, and established large-scale elementary schools.
The Chamber of Commerce did various businesses in the country and paid a large amount of business taxes, filling the national treasury.
Su Che's money is like the water in rivers, flowing continuously into the sea.
At the end of the year, Su Che, like in previous years, wanted to see how much money his Chengjin Chamber of Commerce had lost.
But when he saw the account book, he couldn't believe his eyes: "Huh?"
Su Che frowned, paced back and forth, and couldn't help but shouting, "This is unscientific!"
Zhang Ying came over and asked curiously, "Husband, what are you talking about?"
Su Che pointed to the figures on the account book and showed them to Zhang Ying: "Look, how come my bank and my chamber of commerce are still profitable? This year's total profit is 198 million yuan!"
Zhang Ying was stunned when she heard this, and then asked curiously: "Isn't profit a good thing? And it's nearly 200 million!"
"It's a good thing indeed, but it's a little unbelievable to me. Can it be profitable?" Su Che shook his head and said speechlessly.
You have to know that his money house is a Ponzi scheme, where he takes money from Peter to pay Paul. The Chengjin Chamber of Commerce does not do business for the sake of making money, but it was established to benefit the world. From the very beginning, it was not for the sake of making money!
From the very beginning, Su Che was certain that his Chengjin Bank would collapse one day, and the financial turmoil caused by that would definitely subvert the entire Han Dynasty.
However, with the continuous development of Chengjin Chamber of Commerce, it has expanded rapidly and turned into the behemoth it is today. The interests of all parties have continued to flow in, and it has even made up for the interest losses of the money houses and started to make money? ?
This is so unscientific!
Su Che said he couldn't accept it.
He had already started preparing to flee, ready to hand over the bank at any time, pass the bomb to the emperor and princes and ministers, and then sail overseas with his entire family on a fleet. Who would have thought... that it would actually make a profit!
Su Che frowned and looked at the account book carefully, wanting to see what was going on and why there was a profit.
After looking carefully for a while, Su Che finally understood the reason.
The reason for the profitability is mainly due to the Chamber of Commerce's overseas business. Although the domestic business is also making money and a lot of money, due to the heavy taxes, the money earned is simply not enough to make up for the interest on the money house.
The Chengjin Chamber of Commerce's main income comes from overseas, part of which comes from the constant trade of large ships. Every international trade can bring back shiploads of gold and silver. It is too easy to make money from trade dumping. Whoever controls the sea route controls the road to wealth.
Just like what Su Che wrote in "The Wealth of Nations", the wealth of the world is limited. If you want to make your country rich, you must plunder wealth from other places to enrich your own wealth. This is an extension of the way of being a sage inside and a king outside.
As for the other part, Su Che relied on the powerful Han Dynasty - yes, even in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when people were living in poverty and the court was corrupt, it was still quite powerful.
After all, there is a saying: "Countries are often destroyed because of their weakness, but the Han Dynasty was the only one that perished because of its strength."
Even a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse.
Relying on the advantage of the powerful Han Dynasty, Su Che began colonial expansion and continuously expanded the power of Chengjin Money House overseas. Partly to make trade dumping smoother, and partly because colonial expansion itself could bring countless wealth.
For example, when colonizing Japan, Su Che's original plan was to mine gold and silver mines and share the profits with Japan in a 3:70 ratio. However, with the expansion of colonization, there was no need to share the profits with the local indigenous people and it was just pure plunder.
This once glorious Eastern power, under the promotion of Su Che, began to influence countless countries.