Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 111 Sima Hui goes south

When Liu Bei was still struggling in the quagmire of the Northern War, Shen Chen had already started his great cause in Jingzhou.

In fact, he has been thinking about a problem since a long time ago.

That is, let's put aside the assumption of whether the great Han can be unified, even if it can dominate the world, what should happen in the end?

Continue feudalism?

Then two or three hundred years after his death, the dynasty changed again, and a scene of princes fighting for hegemony in the last years of Ji Han was staged?
Then what is the meaning of his hard work?

The purpose is to let the Han Dynasty continue for another few hundred years, and then repeat history until the new era arrives after 2000?

This obviously won't work.

In that case, it is better to learn from Lu Xun. Even if more than a hundred members of the family were killed, he gritted his teeth and endured to join Cao Wei and overthrow Sima Yi.

Therefore, he must take some action to reform the current big man in terms of humanistic thought, political system and social development.

So what should be the direction of reform?

Hold high the banner of democracy?

A dead end.

It is as difficult as heaven to do this in an era when intellectuals have the right to interpret culture and everyone wants to maintain the rule of the monarch.

It is much more reliable to let him start the industrial revolution from scratch than to start democracy in Dahan.

So learn from great men?

Not at all.

The premise of learning from a great man is to overthrow feudalism, but to overthrow feudalism is still impossible in this era.

Mozi had already experimented in the Spring and Autumn Period, and then he was tolerated by almost all the princes.

Later in the late Ming Dynasty, there were also progressive people.

People such as Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi and others have long known that the feudal autocratic monarchy was "a great harm to the world", but they did not shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty.

But in the big man Shen Chen probably didn't even have a like-minded person.

So at least for now, feudalism cannot be overthrown, and you must even complete your ideological change within its framework.

So, in the current situation where the feudal autocratic monarchy cannot be overthrown, how can we build a sound political system, advocate a political system that is people-oriented and attach importance to the bottom, and create a country that does not treat the people like dogs?

Shen Chen has no idea yet.

But he firmly believes that he will be able to research a development system suitable for the national conditions of the Han Dynasty.

And to build such a country, you first need companions.

Such as Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.

They are all surrounded by people-oriented thinking and the idea that the king is light on the people and the people are precious. Compared with the upper class, they pay more attention to the lives of the people at the bottom.

Although you can also say that they still maintain feudal rule.

But compared to the other princes in the late Han Dynasty who killed people like hemp and treated the people like nothing, the thoughts of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang have been regarded as a torch in the dark world of the late Han Dynasty.

So Shen Chen wants to unite them to build such a country together.

Liu Bei is now in Henan, and Shen Chen can't help him, so he is now working with Zhuge Liang to study the issue of people-oriented thought.

If you want to advocate the concept of treating people as the people, it is absolutely impossible to say it directly, and you must find the answer from the books of ancient sages.

For this reason, Shen Chen has been studying the Seven Classics during this time, and all the people-oriented thoughts in it have been annotated and discussed.

At the beginning of the third year of Jian'an, the academy established by Shen Chen was on holiday.

The students he recruited were all children from local poor families. During the slack season, the family gritted their teeth and could send them to study, but they had to go back when the farming season was busy.

Therefore, when not teaching students to read, Shen Chen would study with Zhuge Liang at home by himself.

Not only the study of people-oriented thought, but also everything.

Philosophy, education, military affairs, economy, culture, social order, current affairs, etc.

Zhuge Liang is the best of the three cobblers.

Now adding Shen Chen, not only Zhuge Liang's many ideas are helpful to Shen Chen, Shen Chen's thinking from later generations has also benefited Zhuge Liang a lot.

The two are good teachers and helpful friends, and make progress together.

On this day, Shen Chen left Suiting in a carriage and headed for Longzhong.

He sat cross-legged on the carriage. At that time, the carriage compartment was not sealed, a bit like a pickup truck.

So he sat on it, and the people around him who were busy in the fields could see him.

When everyone saw him, they all stopped what they were doing, and cast respectful glances and gazes one after another.

It was not until he left that he continued to farm.

Since the debate that day, Shen Chen became famous in the first battle, and his reputation in the surrounding countryside increased dramatically.

Because of his noble morality of donating pigs and repaying coins, the people in the surrounding countryside recognized his character one after another, and whenever they encountered any injustice, they would come to him to argue.

And Shen Chen can always make the most fair judgments, which makes everyone convinced and satisfied. For a while, he has a very high prestige in the surrounding countryside.

Everyone knows that in Longzhong Township there is a young man in his teens, Xiao Lang, who has read poetry and books and has high moral character. Whenever there is a dispute in the village, he will often go to him for comment. In the end, everyone will be convinced by his reasoning. people respect.

The carriage drove slowly, and finally entered Longzhong Mountain. Along the mountain road, the Zhuge family's house was already seen from a distance.

Although Zhuge Xuan died of illness, he has left enough political legacy for Zhuge Liang.

The two older sisters were both married to a wealthy family in Xiangyang. Under such protection, Zhuge Liang was able to find peace amidst the turmoil. Even when Jingzhou Shilin opposed Shen Chen the most, no one provoked him.

Entering the yard, I saw Zhuge Liang was reading in the porch, and when Shen Chen came over, he raised his head and showed a gentle smile: "Brother."

"Brother."

Shen Chen cupped his hands, then walked slowly to his side and sat down together.

Zhuge Liang put the bamboo slips in his hand aside, took out a brand new roll of bamboo slips and brushes, and said: "The day before yesterday we talked about "Heaven is born to make people, so that the first is aware and the latter is aware", what you said I have recorded everything that enlightens and educates the masses.”

"Oh?"

Shen Chen took it over and glanced at it. The content recorded in it was indeed about the education they discussed the day before yesterday, but it was very brief. If no annotations and analysis were added, it might be difficult for people to understand, so he sighed: "It's a pity."

Zhuge Liang asked curiously, "What a pity?"

Shen Chen said: "It's a pity that I didn't record it on paper."

Zhuge Liang smiled lightly: "The paper produced by your Huangmenting is very expensive now, I can't afford it."

Shen Chen smiled and said, "It's okay, I'll bring some over to my brother when the time comes."

Papermaking was invented by Cai Lun and existed in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Including thousands of years later, the papermaking technology of the industrial age is the same as Cai Lun's process steps, except that one is manual and the other is replaced by a machine.

The reason why the Eastern Han Dynasty did not popularize paper is because the best raw materials have not been found.

It seems that before the use of tungsten filaments in light bulbs, even if there were electric lights, they did not popularize light bulbs. The best carbon filament light bulbs can only be used for a short period of time.

The same goes for papermaking.

The paper invented by Cai Lun is rough in texture and shatters when touched, and the surface is not smooth, so it is too annoying to wipe your butt.

But the wisdom of the working people in ancient China is infinite. From the emergence of papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty to the use of mulberry bark and rattan bark to make paper in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the papermaking technology gradually matured and the surface gradually became smoother.

This created conditions for the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi and others, and the painting of Gu Kaizhi and others.

At the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the early Sui Dynasty, sandalwood bark, wheat stalks, and rice stalks were also used as papermaking materials. People improved papermaking step by step, and the cost became lower and lower. Paper basically replaced bamboo slips and made bamboo slips disappear. on the stage of history.

Finally, in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, people discovered that bamboo is the best paper-making product.

Since then, paper has officially entered the lives of ordinary people, which laid the foundation for the decline of aristocratic families and the rise of the imperial examination system after the Tang Dynasty.

Shen Chen actually didn't know that the best raw material for papermaking was bamboo.

But he can try.

This process is not difficult, the difficulty is to find the most suitable raw materials.

Just like what we learned in textbooks when we were young, the so-called Edison experimented with more than 1000 materials and finally "invented" the tungsten electric light.

Under Shen Chen's repeated urging and experimentation, Huangmenting's paper maker finally found bamboo as a raw material and made paper that can be used for writing after two years.

Since then Xiangyang paper is expensive.

Zhuge Liang got Shen Chen's promise, clapped his hands and said with a smile: "It's a deal, you can't cheat."

"of course."

Shen Chen also said with a smile: "Recently, I'm thinking of annotating "Zuo Zhuan". If it can be carved and printed into a book, it will be able to teach students better."

Zhuge Liang pondered: "Is this the way of enlightenment that you have been studying, Ah Chen?"

"good."

Shen Chen nodded: "Education must start with the popularization of knowledge, but if you just talk about it, it's not enough. Bamboo slips can record too little. Only paper binding into books can complete the education of the people that even a master can't do. .”

Since the improvement of papermaking technology and the emergence of woodblock printing, the literacy rate among the people has grown rapidly since the Tang Dynasty. Breaking the monopoly of the aristocratic family started here.

But in the Han Dynasty, this was obviously a very difficult task, because the aristocratic families would not let you do it.

Zhuge Liang thought about it: "If this is the case, isn't it the family name of everyone?"

"Yes, everyone's family background is no longer prominent."

Shen Chen said: "In the past, if you wanted to be an official, you had to be able to read and practice calligraphy, but those who study and practice calligraphy must be from aristocratic families. If you can educate all people, there will be countless officials from poor families and below, and they will inevitably occupy their positions. "

"That"

Zhuge Liang frowned. Now Jingzhou Shilin is only complaining about Shen Chen's resistance to Cao.

And the popularization of paper and engraving printing is digging the foundation of the aristocratic family, how could they just sit idly by?

"Shh."

Shen Chen made a hush gesture on his lips: "Brother don't say it, I don't say it, who would know? Moisturize things silently, first print it privately to educate students, and promote it when they have the right in the future. They won't realize these things .”

"Ah."

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly, and then a feeling of emotion rose in his heart.

Ah Chen even told him these things, and he was not afraid of going to inform the family by himself at all, his trust in him could be said to be unbelievable, and he must not let him down.

Shen Chen smiled slightly. If it was an ordinary person, he would definitely not say that, because it would be equivalent to handing over his wealth and life.

But who did he trust?
Zhuge Liang, eternally loyal and unparalleled!

If you can't even trust him, who else can you trust?

In fact it is.

From the perspective of God, many people think that paper and woodblock printing in the Eastern Han Dynasty are courting death.

But the real popularity of paper was in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the heyday of the aristocratic family. If they really realized that this thing could cause harm to their ruling foundation, why didn't they ban it earlier?
Just like when the electronic computer was first invented in later generations, people would only think that it was just a tool for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

Who would have thought that it could develop to the point that people's lives could never be separated from it?
So when most people have already formed a fixed mindset, no one can see the changes brought about by a new thing at a glance. Even Zhuge Liang thought of this under the guidance of Shen Chen.

However, in order to prevent a certain genius from accidentally considering the impact of paper and printing on the aristocratic family, Shen Chen did not dare to promote it on a large scale.

It’s fine to teach in private, and when you take power in the future, you can use it to carry out universal education.

The two are talking.

Suddenly there was the clattering of horseshoes outside the door.

A moment later there was a knock on the door.

"Who?"

The boy Anu asked a question.

"Xu Shu."

Someone outside the door shouted.

Anu went to open the door, and when the door opened, Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Cui Jun and others walked in.

"It turned out to be a few brothers."

Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen stood up to greet them.

When Shen Chen was teaching, Zhuge Liang would often visit Lord Pang De.

After coming and going, he got on good terms with Xu Shu and the others.

In history, he also became friends with them not long after his uncle Zhuge Xuan died of illness.

It just so happened that Xu Shu and the others lived not far away, and would often come to see him.

Suiting was not far from Longzhong, they came to visit Zhuge Liang, and Shen Chen was often there, so naturally they became more and more acquainted.

But Shen Chen never talked about his thoughts with them.

Because except for Xu Shu who was forced, Shi Tao and Meng Jian took the initiative to recruit Cao Cao to Cao Wei as officials.

This proves that their thinking was actually the same as that of the Jingzhou scholars at that time, and this was after the Yidai Zhao happened.

Therefore, if you talk to them about people-oriented thought and anti-Cao ideas, it is easy to have conflicts with them, so it is better not to talk about it.

Xu Shu came in and said with a smile, "Ah Chen is also there, that's just right, let's go together."

"what happened?"

Zhuge Liang asked curiously.

Xu Shu said: "Mr. Decao wrote to Shiyuan, saying that he has arrived in Huyang, and he will be able to arrive in Xiangyang today. Let's discuss and meet together."

Pang Tong took his characters at the beginning of this year. The third year of Jian'an was 198 AD, and Pang Tong was born in the second year of Guanghe, that is, 179 AD, so his actual age should be 19 years old.

But at that time there was a theory of Xu Sui. According to the concept of the Han Dynasty, he was already 20 years old and crowned, so this year, his uncle Pang Degong personally selected the character Shiyuan for him.

Hearing that Sima Hui was coming, Shen Chen was also very curious about this famous man who named Zhuge Liang Wolong and Pang Tong Fengchu, so he said, "Mr. Decao is famous all over the world. I have long wanted to meet him, so I just happened to go together."

"Let's go."

Xu Shu waved his hand and led them away.

(End of this chapter)