Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian asked Datong and Xiaokang for their explanations, thinking that many people could tell them. Unexpectedly, after this question was raised, the officials fell silent.

Obviously he did not know that the reason why the terms Datong and Xiaokang were widely circulated in later generations was because Kang Youwei vigorously advocated and redefined them.

Nowadays, the term Datong is a very sensitive issue——

Because the four words "the world is public" were interpreted by Zheng Xuan, Kong Yingda and others as a concession system. The Ming Dynasty's imperial examination textbooks and Chen Hao's "Book of Rites" have the same explanation.

How could any minister dare to mention such a fatal statement in front of the emperor?
So after Zhu Youjian raised this question, the officials were silent for a while.

After a while, Liu Zongzhou said:
"Li Qingchen, a scholar of the Song Dynasty, said: The Great Dao and the Governance of the Three Dynasties, his words are particularly confusing and unethical. It seems to be the theory of Lao Zhuang."

"Moreover, the theory of great harmony does not have the relationship between emperor, minister, father and son, and contradicts the theory of Xiaokang. It may be suspected of being a forgery."

This statement is to omit Datong and only talk about well-off society, so as to avoid the fatal problem of the abdication system.

In fact, most of the article on Rites and Luck is also about the Rites for a well-off society. The only explanation for Datong is the opening paragraph.

However, it was that passage that put the Liyun Chapter into an embarrassing situation. Not only was it inconsistent, but it also violated the emperor's taboo.

Therefore, after the Song Dynasty, Confucianism basically ignored the Rites and Luck chapter, and instead separated the Daxue and Zhongyong chapters of the Book of Rites into four books together with the Analects and Mencius.

Even when Liu Zongzhou explained the rituals and luck to the emperor, he was talking about the operation of rituals rather than the great prosperity of the country.

Zhu Youjian didn't know this at all. After hearing Liu Zongzhou's explanation, he realized that the so-called Datong did not have the relationship between emperor and minister, father and son. For a monarch, this is a vital question.

If this problem is not solved, no one will dare to discuss rituals and luck.

Therefore, he must overthrow the interpretation of the concession system and interpret the world as public ownership as public ownership. So he asked:
"What does public mean? Has anyone explained it before?"

Liu Zongzhou said:

"Zheng Xuan's note: Public means public."

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied and said:
"In this case, the world is for the common good, which means that the world is shared by all."

"For example, under the well-field system, land is owned by the state, which means it is shared by everyone in the world, not privately owned."

"The income from its output will be distributed by the imperial court on behalf of the people of the world, and will be used for all people in the world. This is the purpose of the world being public."

"The world is for the common good, which means public ownership, not the abdication system misinterpreted by predecessors."

This explanation was different from the previous explanation by the Confucian scholar, but the ministers had to accept it.

Because they can never say in front of the emperor: The rule of the world is to abdicate. If your Majesty wants to be committed to great harmony, he should abdicate the throne to a wise man.

However, the practice of the abdication system has already been proven to have failed by Wang Mang and others. If someone still insists on saying this, you can be sure that everyone in the world will oppose it. Even the article "Liyun" will be banned by the emperor.

Therefore, the ministers pinched their noses and agreed: the world is for the public means public ownership.

In order to strengthen this statement, Zhu Youjian explained:

"The Son of Heaven governs the world on behalf of Heaven. This Heaven not only refers to the heaven above, but also refers to the people of the world."

"Then 'select the worthy and capable, maintain trust and cultivate harmony', and govern the whole world."

"Mr. Liu's "To Jun Yao and Shun" also advised me to 'sacrifice myself in order to make use of the virtuous people in the world'."

"This is a wise saying, and I will practice it after being taught!"

When the ministers heard this, they immediately praised him in unison and were happy that the emperor accepted the advice. Not to mention that the emperor is using them now. Doesn't the so-called "employing the wisest people in the world" mean to appoint them?

How dissatisfied they were with this statement.

Therefore, the sentence "When the Great Dao is implemented, the world is public. Select the worthy and capable, be trustworthy and cultivate harmony." According to the emperor's interpretation, it became "In the era when the Great Dao is implemented, the world is public. The emperor chooses the capable to govern." In the world, pay attention to credibility and seek harmony."

This can barely explain it, and avoids the sensitive issue of abdication.

However, the contradiction between Datong and Xiaokang is still an unavoidable issue in the chapter on propriety and luck. Especially after the emperor proposed that the world should be owned by the public, this problem became more serious.

Li Qingchen, a Confucian of the Song Dynasty, believed that it is really bad to regard the world as a common people, not only to kiss his own relatives, not to have only one son to his own son, as a common people. , There is no relationship between father and son.

If Zhu Youjian wants to talk about Datong, he must correct this statement, which is the same as later generations dispelling a certain rumor.

So he explained:
"The premise of 'Kiss not only his relatives, not only his children', is 'Kiss his relatives, not only his children'."

"So this sentence does not mean that in the era of great harmony, families will be eliminated and public ownership will be completely implemented."

"Its meaning is the same as the saying in Mencius: 'I am old, and I am old, and I am young, and I am young, and I am young,' which means the same thing."

"It is said that in the world of great harmony, people have a very high moral level. They not only care for their own relatives and children, but also the relatives and children of other people."

"In this way, we can correspond to the following words: 'The old will have their end, the strong will be useful, the young will have their own growth, the widowed, lonely, and disabled will all be supported; men will have their share, and women will have their home.'"

This explanation is more fluent, and all the ministers agree with it. After all, they are unwilling to admit that the world of great harmony will destroy the family.

Liu Zongzhou said:

"Mr. Hengqu Zhang Zai said: Since it is said that one should not only kiss one's relatives and have one's children, one must first kiss one's relatives and one's own children."

"What your Majesty said is the same as Zhang Zi."

This makes Zhu Youjian's statement even more recognized.

Then the question of whether there was etiquette in the world of great harmony was naturally explained.

Previous Confucian scholars believed that the contradiction between Datong and Xiaokang was because the age of Xiaokang was about etiquette, while the age of Datong did not have the etiquette of emperors, ministers, fathers and sons.

Now according to the emperor's explanation, the world of Great Harmony also has the relationship between monarch and minister, father and son, but the requirements are extremely high and require people to have a high moral realm.

This solves the fundamental contradiction in the Liyun chapter and connects Datong and Xiaokang.

Zhu Youjian finally concluded:
"In a well-off world, etiquette is necessary. This is to prevent someone from harming others and to punish bad people."

"But as people's moral realm improves, some etiquette and laws are gradually no longer needed. Because people are consciously observing them, there is no need to explicitly emphasize them."

"In this way, there are fewer and fewer explicit etiquette laws, until the world is unified and etiquette returns to heaven and earth."

"Is there no etiquette then?"

"No, it just doesn't need to be emphasized explicitly."

"The relationship between king, minister, father and son was something that everyone consciously abided by at that time."

"Just like Confucius said, 'Follow what the heart desires without going beyond the rules.' People can do whatever they want without going beyond the rules."

"When all people in the world reach the state of Confucius at seventy years old, they will be able to enter the world of great harmony!" (End of this chapter)