I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 573 The situation is just different

Hearing the emperor's question, he suddenly became excited. He knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for for a long time was finally coming. He had finally been recognized by the emperor and was about to ascend to the position of chief minister of the cabinet. He tried hard to suppress the excitement in his heart and stabilized look.

"Thanks to the trust of Emperor Shenzong, I have been serving as the chief minister of the cabinet since the 36th year of Wanli and took office in the 42nd year of Wanli."

"I have long heard that you have been in charge of the cabinet for seven years. It seems that you have worked hard and are very capable. Otherwise, I would not have let you return to the cabinet."

Zhu Youxiao nodded slowly. He understood Ye Xianggao's situation best. Asking questions like this knowingly was nothing more than sending a signal to the outside world.

After all, Liu Yishen has never made any major mistakes since he became the chief minister of the cabinet. It would not be appropriate to directly issue an edict to replace him.What he hopes most is that Liu Yishui invites himself to serve as an official, so that he will be decent to everyone.

Everyone present was smart. How could they not know what the emperor meant when they heard this?

This is good news for Xu Guangqi. After all, Ye Xianggao has a good impression of Western learning and takes good care of him. If he can serve as the chief assistant of the cabinet, it will be of great benefit to both himself and Western learning.

But compared with Xu Guangqi, who was in favor of this matter, Sun Shenxing, the Minister of Rites, felt that it was ridiculous for the emperor to do this.

Liu Yishen is still the chief minister of the cabinet. Even if he has no credit, he still has hard work.

What's more, Liu Yishen has done a really good job. He has been very effective in stabilizing the political situation and implementing reforms in the past two years. I wonder what is wrong and what are his faults that require him to be replaced?

Unkind and unkind!

When Sun Shenxing thought of this, this word suddenly popped into his mind.

Since the emperor ascended the throne, everyone has been valued by the emperor if they are useful. If the emperor does not like them, or hinders the emperor from doing what he wants to do, he will be excluded or dismissed.

Zhu Guozhen, Shen Guan and others are all like this, and now even Liu Yishui, who has been working hard, is like this.

"Your Majesty, although Mr. Ye Ge is very capable, it is also the result of your Majesty's reuse, and even the entire cabinet is like this. Since you came to the throne, Liu Yisui has served as the cabinet to stabilize the government and strive for reform. Sun Chengzong and Ye Xianggao have been among them. With assistance, we achieved today’s results.”

When Zhu Youxiao heard Sun Shenxing's words, he immediately understood what he meant, but there was no disturbance in his heart.He just secretly thought that Sun Shenxing was really impatient. He had just made a hint and he couldn't wait to object.Why does Liu Yishen serve as the cabinet to stabilize the government and strive for reform? Isn't this just telling himself that Liu Yishen has no merit but hard work?

How can people be ruthless even though they are not grass and trees? Although he was very grateful to Liu Yishui.But the matter has come to this, if further reforms that suit his wishes are to be carried out, Ye Xianggao must go, there is no reason.

This was not only a report on Ye Xianggao's obedience, but also a guarantee for reform. Zhu Youxiao was more determined than anyone else about this matter. Thinking of this, he said it unhurriedly.

"Haha, Sun Aiqing is right. How could I not know about Liu Yishen's contribution? I still remember how he and Yang Lian tried their best to protect me in Qianqing Palace. It's just that the situation is different."

The situation is different.

Sun Shenxing pondered this sentence secretly in his heart, and finally sighed in his heart that the situation was different.What the emperor said could not be more obvious. It was not because Liu Yishen did not do well, but because the situation was different and Liu Yishen was no longer needed.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt powerless. He wanted to continue to object but didn't know what to say, so he could only respond in silence.

Zhu Youxiao saw that Sun Shenxing stopped talking and ignored him.Now that he has said everything he should say, the next step depends on whether Liu Yishen can save his dignity.

"That's it, you go down first. As for my opinions and questions, I will let people from the Hanlin Academy write them down when the time comes, and then deliver them to the Cabinet and the General Affairs Department, and then publish them in the Daming Daily."

The three of them nodded in agreement when they saw this. They had different thoughts now, so they bowed and slowly retreated.

As soon as the three of them left the Qianqing Palace, Sun Shenxing immediately handed over Ye Xianggao and others and left, leaving only Ye Xianggao and Xu Guangqi looking at each other.

"Mr. Ye Ge, I would like to congratulate you first."

But even if Sun Shenxing was gone, Xu Guangqi and Ye Xianggao had a good relationship, so they immediately congratulated Ye Xianggao.

When Ye Xianggao received such a hint from the emperor, he knew that he had decided on the position of chief minister of the cabinet.And in the flash of lightning just now, he had already begun to plan his future political allies.

And Xu Guangqi, who was trusted by the emperor and had a close relationship with him, and who asked for help from him, was a suitable candidate.So when Xu Guangqi said this, he stopped hiding it and sighed:
"We are all His Majesty's close confidants, and all we can do now is to do our best. But how can the chief assistant be so easy to do? Once he is appointed, he will become the target of public criticism. We are only frightened and trembling, and we just hope not to let down Your Majesty. expect."

Having said this, he looked at Xu Guangqi with a smile on his face.

"Actually, having said that, the one I envy the most is Zi Xian (Xu Guangqi's nickname). Since His Majesty came to the throne, you and Yang Lian are one of the two people most trusted by the Emperor. It is certain that you will join the cabinet in the future."

"Mr. Ye Ge is joking, but you are right. It is all because of His Majesty's trust, and we can only try our best. But His Majesty is very keen on reform. If he wants to continue to implement it, I am afraid there will be a lot of resistance."

After hearing Ye Xianggao's compliments, he also expressed his inner worries.These words were indeed harsh to Ye Xianggao's ears, secretly thinking that Xu Guangqi was really thoughtful.

Ye Xianggao has been in the officialdom for decades and holds a high position, so he can immediately understand the little moves of the people below him, including Xu Guangqi's.

Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao clearly believed in Western learning, but they both openly entered Western religion.But this time Li Zhizao participated in the debate on behalf of Xin Xue. Although he had some cultivation of Xin Xue, it was really ridiculous for Ye Xianggao to participate in such a debate as a Western believer.

So when he knew that Li Zhizao was going to participate in the debate, he guessed that Xu Guangqi was secretly behind this matter.

Especially after the debate, he summarized three people's comments on the content of the debate.When he saw Xu Guangqi's comments, he was even more certain that Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao and others had great intentions.

When he found out about it at that time, he couldn't help but be suspicious, fearing that Xu Guangqi also wanted to fish in troubled waters and promote Western learning while the emperor was suppressing Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue.It's just that he is not sure whether there is the emperor's support behind this.
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Zhu Youxiao in the Qing Palace of Qianqing Palace continued to read the debate title book. He was talking about cabinet issues just now, and he did not read the debate title book carefully.

Now that he has enough time, he has enough time to carefully ponder these contents. After all, this is closely related to his Confucian reform.

After the discussion of the first debate topic, the application of knowledge to the world, the following is the debate on the content of the study of things to achieve knowledge.

The term "investigating things to achieve knowledge" has long appeared in terms of managing the world and applying it, and it has also been expounded and practiced by Confucian great Confucians.Both Neo-Confucianism and Psychology have an extremely deep understanding of it, but they are also very different.

Therefore, in the debate, the two scholars and the Confucian scholars criticized each other. Neo-Confucianism scolded the Xinxue, saying that its investigation of things to achieve knowledge is to investigate the principles of all things. Doing one thing well and making everything you encounter conform to your own conscience is the study of things to achieve knowledge. It is really nonsense and a misinterpretation of the meaning of the sage.

And Xinxue is not to be outdone. When he sees this, he directly takes Wang Yangming's "Glorifying bamboos in front of the pavilion" as an example, saying that the study of things in Neo-Confucianism is the most unreasonable. Is the way to study bamboos just to look at them? This is not so much observation. Said it was an epiphany.

And they continuously refute Neo-Confucianism, saying that their methods are clearly wrong, but they are unwilling to change.To say that it is impossible to understand things is not a problem of methods, but a problem of oneself.It's because you don't have enough cultivation of your own merits and virtues. You need to cultivate your moral character and improve your moral cultivation in order to understand the truth of all things in the world.

If this is the case, does it mean that people with insufficient self-cultivation are not qualified to study things and understand the principles of all things in the world? In this case, wouldn’t it be different from the principle of saints educating all peoples?

Zhu Youxiao shook his head when he looked at the content of the debate. They found their debate ridiculous. Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue were really too preoccupied on this point. They placed too much emphasis on moral cultivation and character, and deviated from the original intention of studying things to achieve knowledge.

However, he also knew that he was only highly criticized by later generations, and it was indeed difficult to make contemporary people understand that it was difficult to break away from their Confucian way of thinking.

But not everyone is like this. Xu Guangqi's comments in the title book surprised me.

Xu Guangqi's thoughts, which accepted both Western learning and Confucianism, were obviously completely different from Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue.

He felt that the development of Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue was all empty talk. It focused too much on morality and character, and deviated from the original intention of Confucian classics (original Confucianism) to apply in the world.

Both psychology and Neo-Confucianism are based on enlightenment, morality, understanding goodness, etc., and regard these as the first and foundation of studying things and learning.

Therefore, when we talk about studying things to achieve knowledge, we don’t talk about the method of studying things to achieve knowledge at all, we don’t talk about the rules that should be obtained by studying things to achieve knowledge, and we don’t apply the principles and rules obtained into practice. This also goes against the emperor’s point of view of managing the world and applying it. .

Therefore, Xu Guangqi came to a conclusion after summarizing the two debates.

That is, the current Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue are both "turning aside books and not reading, talking without roots". They rarely pay attention to Confucian classics, and the principles they talk about are based on their own opinions and lack actual evidence.

The reason for all this is that they do not read the "original scriptures" and even regard knowledge other than the Thirteen Classics as "invisible tools", "minor affairs", "little skills", etc.Talking about character, morality, and despising merit are contrary to the spirit of "the learning of Confucian scholars is the latitude and longitude of heaven and earth."

So he then came up with his own solution.

(End of this chapter)