Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1360 Signal
Cao Cao put down the Zuo Zhuan in his hand, and sighed softly, "Back then, Mr. Cai taught Zheng Xi Zuo Zhuan, some people were still puzzled, but now thinking about it, Fang deeply understands what it means...Zheng Xi, Zheng Xi..."

Xiahou Dun was sitting on the sidelines, and his single eye caused a lot of inconvenience. Even to see people, he needed to turn a larger arc than others. Hearing Cao Cao's sigh, he turned his head and asked, "My lord, why do you say that?"

Cao Cao raised his head and laughed twice, and said: "Yuan Rang, do you know that a certain man once made up his mind and wanted to be named a Marquis as the General of Conquering the West, and the inscription on the tomb said 'the tomb of Marquis Cao, the General of Conquering the West from the Han Dynasty', that is enough..."

Xiahou Dun was stunned for a moment, then said: "Now Your Majesty values ​​the lord highly and entrusts him with a heavy responsibility, and the grand plan can be developed, so what if we just conquer the West?"

Cao Cao still laughed twice, squinted his eyes and said: "Your Majesty, hehe, Your Majesty may not trust us completely... The court discussed moving the capital, and instead of looking for someone, he looked for Xunhuangmen..."

Cao Ren nodded and said, "Brother, this matter...moving the capital to Xu County, it is inevitable that Yingchuan will take over..."

Cao Cao stroked his beard, lowered his eyelids, and remained silent.Most of the things in the world are like this, after the fact is quite easy, anyone can say a few words, but at the moment when the real decision is made, who can grit their teeth to withstand the pressure, eliminate all interference, and make the absolutely correct choice ?

"Everyone back down!" Cao Cao waved his hand and told all the attendants to leave the hall, leaving only Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren by his side.

"Brother..." Cao Ren realized that he was a bit reckless just now, but he was also a little surprised at Cao Cao's caution. He looked around at the retreating servants, his eyes turned cold, "Why is this? Could it be..."

Xiahou Dun also looked at Cao Cao and said, "The people in this mansion..."

Cao Cao laughed a few times, relaxed his sitting posture, and said, "Yuan Rang, Zi Xiao, don't you two take in some singers, dancers, and servants? If it's a secret, then it will be done. I have my own consideration on this matter. No need to worry about it."

"There are five reasons for moving the capital to Xu County..." Cao Cao lowered his voice and explained, "One is to recruit talents from Yingchuan, the other is to attract the hearts of the party members, the third is to avoid the front of Jizhou, and the fourth is to gain Yuzhou. The land, these five..."

Cao Cao laughed twice, did not continue, but changed the subject and said, "Yuan Rang, Zi Xiao, do you know why the court has been in turmoil for nearly ten years?"

"First there was the rebellion of the Western Qiang and the Yellow Turbans, then the Eastern Hu and the Huns, and during the Zhongping period, there was Dong Zhuo's chaos in the court, until today the world has collapsed, and each is based on each other..." Cao Cao sighed, "What do you say about Wang Zhengyue? Unification is also... But now that it is seen, when will it be unified?"

The word "big" in "Great Unification" does not refer to the bigness of size, but the greatness of respect. Most of the time, unification is interpreted as the meaning of "Yuanshi", which is the essence of everything. Therefore, in "Great Unification" In the original meaning, it only means that political society is attributed to a metaphysical ontology from bottom to top, so that this political society can obtain a transcendent existence value, rather than conducting politics from top to bottom with a supreme power as the center. Centralization of scope.

So what Cao Cao means here also refers to bottom-up.

But now in the Han Dynasty, the bottom-up foundation has begun to shake, causing the prestige of the entire royal family to be crumbling. What does the court need most?The imperial court hoped for the absolute majesty of the laws of the Han Dynasty, the prohibition of orders, the supremacy of the monarchy based on the effective check and balance of imperial power and prime ministerial power, absolute loyalty to the emperor and the imperial court, and the people to live and work in peace and contentment, etc.

And now, none of them can be done.

This is an extremely bad signal...

"Nowadays, there are many people from Shandong in the court..." Cao Cao sighed, and said, "If it is here, if it is...so the lesser of two evils..." Cao Cao couldn't help thinking of Wei Kai, and closed his eyes eye, shook his head.

Cao Ren nodded and said: "So, I know... But the Xun family is a big one, so my lord has to guard against it..."

Cao Cao pondered, neither nodding nor shaking his head.The cold wind whizzed by, and the snowflakes were flying. Cao Cao couldn't help wrapping up his clothes. This winter, it's so cold...

....................................

Changan.

The lobby is warm, and there are three copper basins, in which there are some coal balls, which are smoldering, bringing plenty of warmth.

"Ah, ah..." Pang Tong lazily spread out, pointing to the copper basin and said, "Not to mention, that's all, I'm really convinced... Well, sitting and watching the snow in winter, toasting to warm the new wine, comfortable……"

Shanxi has coal, and in this era, there are still many open-pit coal mines. You can get a lot of coal by digging directly on the ground.

When the small ice river is approaching step by step, heating items are particularly important. If there is no Fiji sneaking in and stirring a stick, charcoal is the most important heating item.Therefore, at the end of each year, when winter comes, the price of charcoal will always soar to a rather ridiculous position, and this phenomenon will continue until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and even the royal family will designate the so-called tribute charcoal.

There are reasons for the high price of charcoal. The most important thing is that charcoal is not easy to fire.In this era, most people want to keep warm, and the rich burn charcoal, while the poor and lowly can only burn firewood. Although charcoal is time-consuming and laborious to burn, it burns more fully and does not produce too much smoke, so it is very popular among the rich. household's favor.But firewood is different, as long as there is even a little moisture in it, it will be smoky, choking people can't breathe, and it is not resistant to burning, so we often have to go out of the city to cut, and the new firewood cut can't be used. Waiting for drying may seem cheap, but it is actually time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Therefore, when Fei Qian fiddled with anthracite, the whole Bingbei was almost crazy.At first, the research and development of anthracite was not smooth, because the mined coal contained sulfur and some other impurities, and once the sulfur was not fully burned, it would kill people.

So at the beginning, anthracite could not be spread in large quantities.However, with the large demand for iron-making fuel in Huang's workshop, the desulfurization process has gradually matured, and the technology of cleaning coal and then carbonizing it to produce anthracite has also gradually matured, and the output has gradually increased, although anthracite will also volatilize some sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Fortunately, the content of the deadly gas is not high, and the buildings of this era are not in a sealed environment, so the gas of anthracite is actually the same as burning charcoal, and it hardly causes much harm to the human body.

So now, the large-scale use of anthracite can save the need to continue to cut down a large number of trees, and on the other hand, it also provides Fiji with a steady stream of financial resources.

After finding that there is no obvious difference between anthracite and charcoal burning, the children of noble families who have money in their families naturally tend to use cheaper anthracite. Although many charcoal burners are unemployed, it also provides more coal digging and For the work of burning coal, the money was collected from the aristocrats and wealthy households to Feiqian, and then dispersed among the ordinary people who wanted to earn some household income during the slack season, and then flowed to the market...

Therefore, unlike other princes who have to hide in caves to hibernate like bears in winter, Feiqian is busier here, exchanging materials, flowing money, and anthracite tightly binds Bingbei and Guanzhong together. , Many Guanzhong gentry began to stare, huddling in front of the Chang'an government office all day long, thinking whether they could get some benefits from this rolling tide of money.

How many people are there in Bingbei and how many people are there in Guanzhong?Even if everyone burns a basket of coal in winter, how much is this?Moreover, these coals are all dug out from the ground. After cleaning, desulfurization and carbonization, they can be sold directly for money.

As a result, there were some nobles in Guanzhong who spoke ill of Zhengxi in the past, and now they are gone. Everyone can't wait to catch some others, and then pull them down, and stand up to make money by themselves. …

This is true in the countryside, and it is also true in the court.

Of course, when it comes to the court level, interests don't just refer to money.

"Why don't you use Mr. Huang? Isn't it out of date?" Pang Tong laughed, raised his glass, and took a sip, "Actually, Dong Gong's way is not very good, but... well, choose the best of two evils." It's all light... Look, the current harm of Chaotang has come out..."

"The lesser of two evils?" Fei Qian shook his head and said, "Actually, I think it's overkill... You know, many people like to do such things..."

When talking about Huang Lao, many people probably think of governing by inaction, but in fact, the "inaction" of Huang Lao's theory is not absolute "inaction", but the king's inaction and his ministers' action under the premise of clear laws and regulations.

In terms of the concept expounded in the "Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor", although the Tao does nothing, the Tao can produce the law. Therefore, the behavior of the supreme monarch should also be like the "Tao", after formulating a clear legal system A kind of "doing nothing".According to Huang-Lao theory, although the monarch can "do nothing", the ministers must still "follow the rules on the left and enforce the rules on the right", and they must do something.

Fei Qian smiled and said: "The decline of Huang Lao's learning is not out of date, but because the imperial power wants to surpass the power of the prime minister... So Dong Gong appeared... Then Dong Gong launched New Confucianism, but he certainly didn't Thinking about how it would become like this now, or... well, or even if he thought about it, he can't change anything..."

Pang Tong can be said to be the direct disciple of Duke Pang De, or a closed disciple, and Duke Pang De can be said to be the last great Confucian who mainly cultivates Huang-Lao studies in the contemporary era. Therefore, Pang Tong naturally learned a lot of relevant content about Huang-Lao studies from Pang De. Huang Lao's understanding is even deeper than Fei Qian's.

Therefore, when Fei Qian said that the main reason for Huang Lao's decline was the result of the struggle between imperial power and power, Pang Tong couldn't help but sit up straight, then frowned and thought for a long time, then nodded slowly and said: "Well...you What you said... makes sense... that's true, Emperor Wu is so talented, so naturally he can't tolerate someone pointing fingers... Speaking of it this way, doesn't it mean that Mr. Huang has no future..."

No one in power likes to be ostracized, so even if Huang Lao is used in the initial stage, it will eventually change.

But is the theory of Huang Lao useless at all?
Huang Lao Zhishu attaches great importance to agricultural production, and believes that according to the natural laws of heaven and earth, yin and yang, and four seasons, corresponding agricultural policies should be promulgated.Once the policy is formulated, the ruler should be "respectful, thrifty and inactive", and should not make large-scale construction projects during the busy farming season to "disrupt the people's achievements", let alone plunder the people's wealth so that the people cannot continue to produce.In order to achieve this kind of "inaction" with non-interference and not affecting the lives of the people as the main content, the emperor and officials at all levels must live "respectful and simple, not luxurious".

Is it good?
But it is not easy to really do it well.

Closely relying on agriculture cannot meet the various needs of social prosperity. It also needs industry, commerce, etc., just like anthracite. If there is no anthracite, then the Guanzhong land where Feiqian is now must be the same as other regions. People are all huddled in the house, struggling to endure the severe winter cold, where is there any rolling caravan, traveling thousands of miles in the wind and snow?

So in fact, luxury is not a big crime, it just depends on where it is used.

The reason why I discussed this issue with Pang Tong was because Fei Qian suddenly discovered some very strange changes in Chang'an. Maybe it was because Chang'an was not well received by the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty, or because the imperial power had fallen and Liu Xie They are young and have no rights, so the sons of the gentry around Chang'an seem to be loyal to the emperor and the court. The big man is still a big man, but as for which emperor came to be the master of the big man, it seems that these people are not at all. care.

This is a signal, a signal of a trend of thought change.

This signal shows that the status of Confucianism seems to have begun to waver along with the turmoil in the court...

The core of Confucianism is ritual.The etiquette system is complicated, and many etiquettes need to spend a lot of money in the specific implementation process, and the most expensive ones are weddings and funerals.The great Han ruled the world with filial piety, and as a result, for ordinary people, the dead could not afford to die. In order to express their filial piety, people first advocated generous burials.

The trend of heavy burials began in the Qin Dynasty, and it was frightening in the Han Dynasty. Because of burying the dead, they ruined their homes and property, sold themselves into slavery, corrupted the law, and took risks everywhere. .The emperor also repeatedly emphasized the need for thin burials, and even issued edicts, but with little effect.

Because under the mainstream thought of Confucianism, do thin burials really take place?Do you want to lose your reputation? Do you still want to be an official?If one person doesn't want to be, it's difficult for other people in the family not to want to?

Confucianism requires people to learn the classics and righteousness, and then through the education and practice of morality, fame, etiquette and knowledge, so that the daily life of the educated, including clothing, food, housing, transportation, and dealing with people, etc., must be close to the Confucian moral norms and codes of conduct. Be a good person of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, and become a gentleman with the five virtues of warmth, kindness, respect, thrift, and letting go.

Good is good, but extremes lead to opposites.

Confucianism regulates too thin and dense rules and regulations, just like vines. At first, I didn't think much of it, but as time went by, the vines began to spread everywhere, which gradually affected the joints of the whole man, causing the man to become more and more bound. hands tied feet...

All kinds of casual talks in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, all kinds of drug-taking and debauchery behaviors that broke through the upper and lower limits, may also be an instinctive rebound, but now, Feiqian is like borrowing the current signal to make this rebound in the Eastern Jin Dynasty come earlier, then First things first...

"Shi Yuan, what do you think of us holding the White Tiger Communication Meeting again?"

(End of this chapter)