Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The establishment of a legitimate emperor is a major event for both the government and the public.

The imperial court needed this to compile history books and make revisions to the Imperial Temple, the Temple of Literature, the Temple of Martial Arts and other temples.

Scholars need to relearn to avoid making mistakes when answering exam questions.

Even the review of published books has become more stringent.

Anything that contradicts the orthodox imperial views set by the court is not allowed to be published publicly.

Criticisms of the orthodox emperors need to be supported by historical materials. Otherwise, it will be treated as defamation and the relevant personnel will be held accountable.

This is another tightening of control over historical books after the establishment of the Publishing House of the Ministry of Rites.

Zhu Youjian needed to establish an orthodox emperor to distinguish between the rulers of China and those of the barbarians or semi-barbarians, and to make a clear distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians.

Therefore, he would never tolerate some literati making up stories about the emperor and challenging the concept of Huayi that had just been emphasized.

However, he also knows that some people's minds are already fixed and it is difficult to change their views.

So he found something for these people to do, and let go of the criticism of the Song Dynasty emperors.

Anyway, the emperors of the Song Dynasty had to endure the criticism of their ministers when they were alive, so naturally the people of the Ming Dynasty could criticize them as well.

In order to guide people to discuss the Song Dynasty more and reduce doubts about other orthodox emperors, Zhu Youjian raised a question and consulted the court and the people:

“Why did the Song Dynasty decline, causing China to no longer be far superior to the four barbarians and lose its status as the Celestial Empire?”

“Why was it destroyed by the barbarians, leading to the first fall of China?”

“How can the Ming Dynasty avoid repeating the same mistakes?”

Let court officials and scholars in the society think and find answers to the questions.

Not to mention the court officials, after the common people learned of the emperor's consultation, they all expressed their opinions in the newspapers.

The essay contest about the relationship between the emperor, his subjects and the people some time ago made many people stand out, and some were even granted the status of Yuanshi.

Now that the emperor has issued another call for submissions, those who think they have talent will naturally want to display their talents.

For a time, newspapers were full of such articles, full of criticism of the Song Dynasty.

Ai Nanying, who had proposed the distinction between Chinese and barbarians some time ago, boldly elaborated at this time:

"The reason why the Song Dynasty fell was because of the emperor."

"The emperors of the Song Dynasty were wary of military commanders, which led to the Song Dynasty's trend turning to a culture of weakness and gentleness."

"Compared with the Han and Tang dynasties, the Song dynasties were servile and subservient."

Starting from the story of Zhao Kuangyin's Chenqiao Rebellion, which showed the country was not in order, the author quotes classics to explain the various measures formulated by the emperors of the Song Dynasty to guard against military generals.

We can then draw the conclusion that the reason for the decline of the Song Dynasty lies in the emperor.

The Zhao Song dynasty came to power in an illegitimate way, and brought harm to China for hundreds of years.

The words were so sharp that many people who saw them broke out in cold sweats, fearing that he would be charged with defamation.

However, after Ai Nanying was safe and sound and continued to teach, many people figured out the meaning:
The emperor allowed them to criticize anyone in the Song Dynasty.

Soon, all the deeds of the Song Dynasty emperors were dug up and criticized.

Not to mention the yellow robe, candlelight and axe sounds, Song Gaozong's "minister's advice" and sending Han Tuozhou's head to ask for peace... have all become hot topics.

People began to further understand the Song Dynasty and realize its decadence and decline.

The impression of the Song emperors in people's minds quickly plummeted. Even the scholars who had longed for the Song Dynasty to "rule the world with the literati and officials" did not dare to defend the Song emperors at this time.

But their failure to come forward did not mean they would be ignored. Soon someone pointed out that the emperors of the Song Dynasty ruled the country with the literati, and that the literati also had problems.

This extended to the knowledge of the literati in the Song Dynasty and began the criticism of Song Dynasty Confucian classics.

Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, and the School of Mind... almost none of them were spared and were scrutinized under a magnifying glass.

When criticizing the Song Dynasty became the mainstream voice, the shortcomings of these studies were naturally pointed out.
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Zhu Youjian felt very proud when he saw this situation.

Because he criticized the Song Dynasty by using it as a negative example to prevent others from changing the system of monarch, ministers and people ruling the world into the system of the emperor and literati ruling the world.

The second is to overturn Song and Ming Confucianism and guide Confucianism onto a new path.

He had already started this matter a long time ago, and had previously encouraged schools of thought such as practical learning and science. He also instructed Liu Zongzhou to revise the "Book of Rites" based on concepts such as "Great Harmony" and "Moderate Prosperity".

However, the dominance of Neo-Confucianism remained unshaken, and some people even rebuilt Donglin Academy under the name of Yang Shi.

Zhu Youjian was impatient to get entangled with these people and planned to start from the root of the birth of Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism by denying the Song Confucianists' practice of governing the country and their academic views.

In this way, rationalism and psychology can be defeated, giving practical learning and science a chance to come to the fore.

This practice was a revolutionary change and concerned all the scholars in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian didn't tell anyone, but pushed forward step by step in the dark.

However, some people noticed this, such as Qian Qianyi, who was pushed by Zhu Youjian towards practical learning.

After he realized that the decline of the Song Dynasty was related to Song Confucianism, he quickly realized that this was an opportunity for practical learning.

If he could take this opportunity to make practical learning the mainstream, his status in the academic community would certainly be completely different from before.

Maybe he can replace Liu Zongzhou and preside over the reconstruction of rituals and music:
"The world calls them unicorns and phoenixes, and scholars are the Taishan North Star."

"Liu Zongzhou is now a leading figure in the academic world. If I want to replace him, I must gain a higher position in the academic world."

"Is there any hidden secret behind this criticism of Song Zhifeng? Is it an opportunity?"

Thinking about the criticism of Song Dynasty, Qian Qianyi, who was in charge of Datong Daily, sensed traces of manipulation.

Especially as the Minister of the Imperial Household, he knew the emperor's emphasis on the establishment of sacrificial rites in the Imperial Temple. He also knew that this matter was likely to cause controversy.

However, there are very few discussions about the Temple of the Emperors in newspapers nowadays, and most of them criticize the Song Dynasty based on historical periods.

This reminded him of the emperor's usual tactics -

Shift the focus of public opinion.

Thinking back to the criticisms of Neo-Confucianism and Mind Learning that he had heard when he was being led by the emperor to establish practical learning, he was even more certain that the emperor must be behind this wave of criticism of the Song Dynasty:

"In normal times, I sit back and talk about my character, but in times of crisis, I die for my king."

"The Emperor has long been dissatisfied with Neo-Confucianism and the School of Mind!"

“Practical learning and science will have opportunities.”

It is clear that the emperor not only supported his practical learning, but also supported Xu Guangqi's Western learning, and changed the name, combining it with traditional knowledge and calling it science.

If his practical school does not take action, the scientific school will probably take action.

By then, Neo-Confucianism and the School of Mind will have collapsed, and the academic circles of the Ming Dynasty will respect science as the highest priority.

This was something Qian Qianyi did not want to see, so although he had doubts about whether the emperor could overthrow the Confucianism of the Song Dynasty, he still planned to take some action. At least he wanted the emperor to see his actions, rather than fully supporting science.

Soon, Qian Qianyi wrote a memorial on the reconstruction of the Imperial Temple and requested an audience with the emperor to present his proposal in person.

Zhu Youjian agreed to his request and summoned Qian Qianyi for a private meeting. (End of this chapter)