Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian's explanation bridged the contradiction in the Liyun chapter and made the ministers nod their heads, thinking that this explanation was very smooth.

Even Liu Zongzhou thought that the emperor's explanation was selfish and not smooth enough. But I also think this explanation is much stronger than before.

The article "Liyun" can also be freed from its previous embarrassing situation and be read by Confucian scholars again.

However, there are still risks in the interpretation of this article. Because there must be scholars who were influenced by the ancient annotations and interpreted the world as a system of abdication.

Why did Zhu Youjian take the risk and use this article as a manifesto?
This is because in his view, Confucianism has reached a dead end in its development. We can only turn the current small Confucianism to the Confucianism of Datong. Only then can Confucian scholars not be obsessed with complicated etiquette and regulations, but move towards a world of great harmony——

According to later generations, it means working towards ideals and goals. Rather than having no pursuit, it gradually becomes vulgar.

This is a major issue related to the morale of scholars and even the morale of the entire society.

Zhu Youjian wanted to give Ming Dynasty the high-spirited temperament of the Han and Tang Dynasties and reshape social atmosphere by reshaping ideals.

Instead of making Confucian scholars become more and more vulgar, there will be fewer and fewer people like Liu Zongzhou.

At the same time, the policies in the court will also have clear goals under the guidance of the Great Harmony.

Under such a goal, whatever Zhu Youjian thinks should be changed, he can say that the world of great harmony should not be like this. Then modify it and replace it with a better one.

Rather than like before, every policy had to be explained to the ministers for a long time before it could be reluctantly passed through various means.

After the ministers have a clear goal, they can also know in which direction to work hard.

However, the current ministers have not realized this yet. Most of them feel that the emperor's explanation of the world of great harmony is like looking at the moon in the water. It seems that we can see it, but in fact it is just out of reach.

Even Confucius only reached the state of "following the heart's desires without violating the rules" when he was seventy years old. He was considered by the emperor to have the moral state of the world of great harmony. How could other people who are not as good as Confucius achieve it?
Neither Mencius nor Zhuzi necessarily had this moral realm, let alone others.

Not to mention that a world of great harmony is a requirement for all people in the world and is almost impossible to achieve.

Therefore, the world of great harmony is simply a fantasy.

This has made some people put aside their previous worries about public ownership. Because no matter how public ownership is, it is impossible to achieve it.

But they didn't expect that after Zhu Youjian explained the relationship, he immediately said to everyone:
"The era of Great Harmony was the rule of the Three Dynasties, the rule of Yao and Shun."

"From now on, the rulers and ministers of the Ming Dynasty should all work hard towards a world of great harmony."

After setting this goal, Zhu Youjian also stated a more specific goal to the ministers:

"But we can't aim too high and hope to reach Datong in one step."

"Mr. Liu, tell me how to build a moderately prosperous world?"

Liu Zongzhou thought for a while and said:

""Liyun" says that Yu and Tang became kings in civil and military affairs and Duke of Zhou."

"The "Historical Records" says that after King Zhou became King, King Kang ascended the throne. When King Cheng became Kang, the world was peaceful and punishments were not used for more than forty years."

"I believe that a well-off world is nothing better than this. We should formulate rituals and music to educate the people like the Duke of Zhou, so that the world can be governed."

Thinking deeply about this, Zhu Youjian said:
"The punishment will not be used for forty years. If it goes further, it will be an era of great harmony where there is no need for explicit etiquette and laws."

"It seems that the final stage of a moderately prosperous world can be called a prosperous world."

"We aim to create a prosperous world and recreate the rituals and music of the Ming Dynasty."

After hearing this, all the ministers were shocked. I never expected that after the emperor spoke some scriptures, he proposed to build a prosperous and prosperous world. We should also use this as our goal to remake the Ming Dynasty ritual music.

This made them think that the emperor was out of his mind and decided on such an important matter at the Sutra banquet.

However, Liu Zongzhou already knew about this matter. Because he knew yesterday that the emperor intended to remake ritual music. Asking him to explain the rituals and luck today is also preparing for the remake of rituals and music. Now that the emperor officially issued the order, he immediately echoed:

"What Your Majesty said is sincerity."

"I would like to ask you to revise the notes on etiquette based on your majesty's explanation."

This is to finalize the matter so that Zhu Youjian cannot go back on his words. After Zhu Youjian thought about it, he agreed:

"It should be so!"

“I’ll ask you, sir, to comment on the chapter on rituals and luck in the Book of Rites.”

"Starting from the next subject, the etiquette will be explained as follows."

This means that from now on, the interpretation of etiquette in imperial examinations must be based on this statement.

And with Liu Zongzhou as the main author, I believe that this theory can be perfected and recognized by people all over the world.

It will spread quickly.

After Liu Zongzhou accepted this task, Zhu Youjian was inspired by this request and said:
"The Six Classics refers to the poems, books, rituals and music of the Spring and Autumn Period. After the Music Classics were lost, they became the Five Classics."

"The rituals in the Five Classics, the Han Dynasty refers to the "Rituals"."

"In the Tang Dynasty, Kong Yingda and others compiled the "Five Classics of Justice" and changed to the "Book of Rites".

"This dynasty also adopted this statement and designated the "Book of Rites" as one of the Five Classics."

"But this "Book of Rites" is just the "Book of Rites of Xiao Dai". It is really inappropriate to leave aside the "Book of Rites of Dai Dai", "Rituals" and "Zhou Rites".

Coming to this conclusion, Zhu Youjian said to Liu Zongzhou:
"Sir intends to reproduce rituals and music, so the compilation of ritual and music teaching materials will also be left to him."

"Leave aside the Music Book for now, the most important thing about etiquette is the law, which is used to guide the legal system."

"Please sir, be the director of the Etiquette Research Center, re-create etiquette for the Ming Dynasty, and select suitable chapters from the three rites to formulate etiquette teaching materials."

"This textbook is called "The Book of Rites and Justice". After it was approved by the imperial court, it was officially printed and released."

This appointment surprised Liu Zongzhou and made him very excited.

Not to mention his position as the director of the Etiquette Research Center, having him write textbooks means that his interpretation of etiquette will become orthodox. Scholars all over the world must study, otherwise they will not pass the imperial examination.

In this way, he naturally does not have to worry about the enactment of etiquette being unimplementable. All the scholars who are qualified to be officials learn this, so why can’t it be implemented?

At the same time, it also put a lot of pressure on him, knowing that if the etiquette he formulated was inappropriate, he would be criticized by the world. It may even be possible that even books cannot pass court approval and cannot be printed and distributed.

This made him feel anxious and excited, and he paid homage to the emperor and accepted the appointment.

When the other ministers saw this, they were all envious.

Although there are risks in Liu Zongzhou's mission, the benefits far outweigh the risks.

As long as he can compile the "Book of Rites and Justice" well, it will become a teaching material for scholars all over the world like Zhu Xi's "Collected Commentary on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books".

For literati, this is something that will be remembered by future generations. Liu Zongzhou was even honored as Liu Zi by future generations because of this textbook.

As long as they think of this, the officials can't help but be envious.

From then on, although Liu Zongzhou was an official in the same dynasty as them, his status was completely different.

They should have more respect for this man who is destined to become a sage. (End of chapter)