My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 376 Untitled
"Yan Qing."

"Yan Zhonglang?"

Seeing that no one in the hall responded and just seemed to sigh but actually pretended not to know, Liu Rong's attention was naturally attracted to Yan Yi, who was sitting at the last seat and seemed to be lost in thought.

——As a 'prophet', Liu Rong knew how capable Yan Yi was.

To be precise, the reason why Yan Yi, Ji An and Zhang Tang were able to appear here and participate in this high-level discussion that was obviously inconsistent with their identities and they were obviously not qualified to attend was because of Liu Rong's "prophet" characteristics.

According to Liu Rong's memory, after the team left by Emperor Jing gradually faded away, Emperor Wu of Han had only a handful of people at his disposal.

In the military field, Wei and Huo are at the ceiling level, and the next level includes Li Guang, Cheng Buzhi, Li Ling, Li Guangli, and quite a few children of meritorious officials.

In the court, the prime minister Gongsun Hong, who was a pig farmer, was the leader, the current chief guest: Gongsun He, the son of Gongsun Kunxie, the family of the "Wanshi Jun" of the Shaofu Shi Fen, and the relatives Dou Ying and Tian Fen;
In addition, there are three new generation bloods, Yan Yi, Zhang Tang, and Ji An, as well as contemporary heroes such as Zheng Dangshi, Sang Hongyang, and Zhufu Yan.

Among the entire list of talents mentioned above, Liu Rong has actually already made preparations for those who can be used by Liu Rong and the Han family in the future.

——Wei and Huo, Liu Rong brought the former into the palace and waited patiently for the latter to be born.

Li Guang and Cheng Buzhi, the former was abandoned by Liu Rong, while the latter had long been regarded by Liu Rong as his "right-hand man and confidant", and was the most trustworthy veteran general of the Han Dynasty.

People like Li Ling and Li Guangli were either still young or simply not yet born.

In addition, Liu Rong had never had a good impression of these two people, so he had no intention of using them.

As for the remaining descendants of the various meritorious families, Liu Rong did not need to prepare for the future and pave the way for future generals.

——If they really showed some military talent, their own families would pave the way for them more actively than Liu Rong.

This is the case in the army and the court is no exception.

Liu Rong did not have any of the 'future team' with meritorious service or aristocratic backgrounds, nor did he plan to interfere. He just waited for them to show their talents and be sent to him by their respective families.

For example, Gongsun He and the like.

As for the rest - the pigherd prime minister, Liu Rong was not in a hurry as he had not yet reached the day in history when he would 'complete his studies and come out of the mountains'.

At that time, Zheng was from Huaiyang County, Sang Hongyang was from Luoyang, and Zhufu Yan was from Linzi, Qi State.

The three of them are all in Kanto, and none of them have experienced any power yet. They are basically still young boys and cannot be used in important positions.

As for these three people, Liu Rong adhered to the principle of "let them go on their own and use them when they reach Chang'an".

The reason is simple: each and every one of these three people is a knife that has never drunk blood and a sword that has never been sharpened.

The more setbacks, obstacles, and hardships they experience, the higher their future ceiling will be.

Counting on my fingers, the only two people that Liu Rong can start promoting and training now are Ji An and Zhang Tang.

——The former was a servant of Liu Rong during his reign as crown prince, and was a close confidant of the emperor's palace;

After ascending the throne, the Han emperor usually had only two ways to deal with the former princes.

Or, he could start to use them right away, just like the previous emperor did when he first ascended the throne, and quickly placed his cronies in the court, almost replacing all the nine ministers with his own team of princes!

Or, just give him a nominal position and keep him there, which is considered as abandonment.

There is absolutely no third situation, such as not using it temporarily and then slowly reusing it later, or reusing it temporarily and then slowly abandoning it later.

——Either use it or not, simple and straightforward!
Therefore, Liu Rong could only start training Ji An directly.

As for Zhang Tang, on the one hand, he was a talent discovered by Liu Rong himself when he was the crown prince with the help of the time traveler's plug-in, and he was also considered half of Liu Rong's confidant in the palace.

On the other hand, before being discovered by Liu Rong, Zhang Tang was working as a patrol officer in Chang'an, right under Liu Rong's nose.

A famous historical official who will go down in history is right under his nose. If Liu Rong doesn't lend a hand, he would be a complete loser.

As for Yan Yi, to be honest, his situation was the same as that of Zheng Dangshi, Sang Hongyang and Zhufu Yan - he was in Guandong and was too young and immature, so it was not suitable for him to be summoned to the court so early.

But Yan Yi had a good family background and extensive connections, so he was directly selected through the recommendation process and was sent to Liu Rong's Weiyang Palace.

What can Liu Rong do?
We can't possibly reject such a capable minister and official who is also famous in history and is one of the rare Confucian scholars, right?

Therefore, even though he had not originally planned to work with Yan Yi so early, Liu Rong had to accept the reality and keep Yan Yi in the palace temporarily.

In fact, this was the first time that Liu Rong asked Yan Yi about major matters concerning the ancestral temple and the country after Yan Yi was recommended to serve as a palace official.

It was not because Liu Rong was busy, but because Liu Rong really didn't want to discuss overly realistic issues with a young man from a Confucian background.

Because Liu Rong didn't want to hear a bunch of long-winded and boring "Confucian words" from a future rising star who had unlimited potential and whom he had high hopes for.

As for today, the reason why Liu Rong asked on this occasion was because Yan Yi looked like he was thinking hard and seemed to be puzzled, which made Liu Rong feel a little bit of expectation for this young man.

——If what Yan Yi was thinking about was the "Confucian words" that Liu Rong hated to hear the most, then Yan Yi would definitely not be thinking like this.

For a contestant of Yan Yi's level, those clichés and polite words come out of his mouth without any need for thinking.

With this inexplicable expectation, Liu Rong called back Yan Yi's scattered thoughts with a single word;

When Yan Yi turned around in panic and was about to stand up and apologize, Liu Rong smiled and pressed his hand, indicating that Yan Yi did not need to be so polite.

Seeing Liu Rong's reaction, Yan Yi felt relieved.

After a moment's meeting, they remembered the end of Liu Rong's previous words, pondered over their words, and then stood up from their seats and bowed to the person on the imperial couch, as well as to the direction of Liu She, Dou Ying, Han Anguo, and Shi Fen.

"I am a student who has not made any progress, so I dare to speak nonsense."

"I hope your majesty and the others will not be surprised..."

He followed all the etiquette, causing the four important ministers to nod their heads slightly. Then, under the scrutinizing gazes of everyone, Yan Yi began his first test in the political arena of the Han Dynasty.

"Everyone knows that the attitude of our Confucian scholars towards merchants is completely opposite to that of Mozi's disciples."

"——The Mohists said: love all and do not attack. People should trade in a peaceful and friendly business environment and benefit each other."

"But I, the Confucianists, say that scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans are called the four classes of people, and merchants are the last and the lowest occupation."

"From this point of view, the attitude of my Confucianism towards merchants and the Legalist's theory of the 'Five Fools' are similar in nature?"

As he spoke, Yan Yi glanced at Zhang Tang, who was standing not far away and looked thoughtful.

Just like Yan Yi was already shouldering the future rise and fall of Confucianism - after Chao Cuo's life and death and Zhao Yu's appointment as Nine Ministers, Zhang Tang, the second surviving Legalist disciple to enter the core of the court, also became the object of heavy investment and training within the Legalists.

It’s not because Zhang Tang is more worthy of training than Zhao Yu;

But Zhao Yu was already one of the Nine Ministers. As a professional legal talent, Zhao Yu's career had basically reached the top. The next step up was the path from Internal History to Imperial Censor, and then to Prime Minister.

This path not only requires military merit to be awarded a title of nobility, but the difficulty is far beyond what the current Legalists can achieve.

Therefore, between doing one's utmost to try to promote Zhao Yu to a higher position and transferring resources to train the second of the Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty who came from the Legalist school, the Legalists unanimously chose the latter.

——Zhao Yu served as Dali (Tingwei), which was very good;
By training another Zhang Tang, not only would the two brothers have someone to look after them in the court, but it would also pave the way for the Legalists to export talents to the central government in the future.

In other words, Yan Yi's words just now were not just Yan Yi's personal words, but were a gesture of goodwill to Zhang Tang as an individual;
Instead, he was a representative figure of the new generation of Confucianism, expressing goodwill on behalf of Confucianism to the Legalists who were also declining behind Zhang Tang and who also wanted to take advantage of the decline of Huang-Lao school to enter the government.

Obviously, everyone present heard Yan Yi's intention.

Therefore, Liu Rong, who was sitting on the imperial couch, raised his eyebrows. Although he did not comment, he was obviously very interested in the sparks that might arise between the two schools.

Liu She, Dou Ying, Han Anguo and Shi Fen all had blank expressions on their faces, pretending they heard nothing.

After all, he is an old-school politician, and he still has the ability to hide his emotions.

As for Liu Rong, it’s not that he is not shrewd enough, but that on this matter, Liu Rong does not need to hide his attitude at all.

Quite the contrary: Liu Rong even really expected some strange sparks to emerge between Confucianism and Legalism.

The reason for expressing this attitude was to make the Confucian and Legalist schools behind Yan Yi and Zhang Tang feel at ease and not worry about his attitude.

——Huang-Lao school of thought has been in charge of the Han Dynasty court for more than fifty years.

What's more, nowadays, the most solid supporter of Huang-Lao School is precisely Liu Rong's only "competitor" in his life: Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace.

If the Confucianists and Legalists could really form an alliance and challenge the declining Huang-Lao school together~
Well, Liu Rong thinks it will be very interesting.

The most important thing is: a lean camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how declining the Huang-Lao school of thought is, it is definitely not something that Confucianism and Legalism can challenge.

No matter which of these two schools is picked out alone, even with Liu Rong's support, they will never be able to fight against Huang Laoxue alone.

Liu Rong acted like this, looking very excited, and even slightly encouraging;
Although Liu She, Dou Ying, Han Anguo and Shi Fen did not react, it is not difficult to guess their inner thoughts.

——Liu She was a descendant of the Xiang family, and he was a lucky minister, and he never got involved in academic affairs;

Shi Fen is a "diligent official" and also focuses on self-preservation.

Therefore, the two of them acted as if they were not concerned about the matter and did not try to conceal their emotions.

The remaining two people are interesting.

Dou Ying was a famous scholar in the world. Even the most respected Confucian scholars in Lu had to give Dou Ying some respect.

As for the new generation like Yan Yi, when they met Dou Ying, they had to behave like a junior and respectfully call him "Sir".

Han Anguo, on the other hand, studied a mixture of Han Feizi and eclectic theories, and could be considered half a Legalist - at least he was more emotionally inclined towards the Legalists.

At this moment, Dou Ying, a great Confucian scholar, and Han Anguo, half a legalist, looked at Yan Yi and Zhang Tang, two younger generations, who were showing goodwill to each other on behalf of their respective schools. The two men showed no emotion on their faces, but secretly, their brains were working for who knows how many times.

It was in this inexplicably strange atmosphere that Yan Yi continued speaking as he had said before.

The general content is similar to the previous paragraph, which aims to show that Confucianism is equally hostile and contemptuous of businessmen, and its value system is more in line with that of Legalism.

But Liu Rong just listened to the content of this passage for fun.

——Confucianism and Legalism both despise the merchant class, but only in theory.

Compared with the Legalists' hatred for businessmen from the bottom of their hearts and their extreme attitude of wishing that all businessmen would die, the Confucians' attitude towards businessmen is somewhat ambiguous.

Are businessmen bad?
Confucians dare not say that it is not bad;
But isn’t there anything good about being a businessman?
Confucians would say: Ahem, well, it’s the merchants who are bad, not the merchants’ money…

To put it bluntly, Confucianism's hatred of businessmen is just a slogan.

The four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, putting merchants at the last place is just to belittle their social status, rather than directly describing them as unforgivable sins like the "Five Idiots" of the Legalists, who hated them so much that the world would be at peace if they were all killed.

Furthermore, scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans are called the four classes of people - this is what is said in "Xiao Kuang" of "Guan Zi".

Guan Zhong was a great sage of the Legalists. What does what he said in "Guanzi" have to do with you Confucians?

Uh, okay;

A big copy of all the schools of thought.

You said it has something to do with your Confucianism, so it can be considered to be related...

With Yan Yi's previous "good show" of representing Confucianism to show goodwill to the Legalists behind Zhang Tang, Yan Yi's somewhat bland discussion did not disappoint Liu Rong too much.

With a grin that showed neither praise nor criticism, Liu Rong motioned Yan Yi to return to his seat. He then looked at Liu She again and brought the topic back on track.

"Confucianism, Legalism, Huang-Lao, and Mohism all have their own prejudices against merchants."

“But I think none of this is important.”

"——The Han family has its own system, and we govern it with a mixture of hegemony and kingly ways!"

"Since my ancestor Emperor Gao, all the previous emperors of the Han Dynasty have never considered merchants to be good things."

"Even Emperor Taizong Xiaowen only closed the Tianjin Pass and allowed trade."

...

"The fact that the government-run rice is managed by the Shaofu has proven that the monopoly of goods related to the ancestral temple, the state, people's livelihood, and people's livelihood by the state is a good thing with only one benefit and no harm."

"It was like this with rice in the past, and it will be like this with salt and iron in the future."

"I know that you all think that I used to manage grain and rice, and now I manage salt and iron, which seems to be competing with the people for profits."

"But I want to tell you: if the government produces grain and rice to feed the people, it can be regarded as 'competing with the people for profit';"

"——Then I don't mind being a tyrant who devotes his entire life to competing with the people for profit!"

...

"Again, the same thing;"

"——Salt and iron, like grain, are the lifeline of the ancestral temples, the country, and the people."

"Not to mention that the salt and iron industry can fill the treasury - even if we cannot share the profits, and even ask the treasury to subsidize us heavily, I will definitely do this!"

(End of this chapter)