My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 414 Concerns of Various Schools
You can't blame Zhao Yu for being cold-blooded or for not caring about the friendship between fellow disciples;
Indeed, among the various schools of thought that still exist in the world, the Legalist school is extremely special.

Now the Han Dynasty has had a ruling school since its founding: Huang-Lao School, for example;

The basic base of Huang-Lao school of thought is undoubtedly the aristocracy.

And he is a great noble.

Not to mention the princes and royal family, they are at least the people at the top of the power pyramid.

Only that group of people have the qualifications and opportunities to be exposed to the profound and obscure Huang-Lao philosophy;

In other words, as long as Huang-Lao school of thought can firmly grasp the hearts of this group of people, it will not decline.

Over the past few decades, Huang-Lao philosophy has flourished and then declined, precisely because the top aristocrats who once regarded Huang-Lao philosophy as the only truth in the world began to show "heretics".

——For example, during the reign of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, with the mentors Jia Yi and Zhang Cang, as well as Chao Cuo, who was a Confucian but a legalist, Confucianism began to have influence and voice at the top of the power pyramid;

For example, during the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, the appearance of Zhang Shizhi, Chao Cuo, and even the current Chief Justice Zhao Yu allowed the Legalists to begin to rise to high positions in government.

The cake is only that big;

There is only so much say.

In the past, both the power pie and the right to speak at the decision-making level were exclusively enjoyed by Huang-Lao school of thought.

When Confucianism and Legalism rose and began to divide the cake and the right to speak, Huang-Lao school of thought naturally and inevitably declined.

Of course, in addition to the shaking of its basic foundation, there is another objective reason that cannot be ignored for the decline of Huang-Lao philosophy.

——Talent training cycle.

Compared with other schools of thought, the period for cultivating talents in Huang-Lao school of thought is really outrageously long.

Let's say a nobleman, who learned to read and write as early as he could remember, began to study Huang-Lao doctrine in his teens, and continued to study until he was 40 or 50 years old - congratulations, you have successfully achieved the entry-level achievement of "Huang-Lao scholar talent";

When one is in his sixties or seventies, and has extraordinary talents, he can barely be included in the ranks of "Huang-Lao scholars".

As for achieving great academic success, or even becoming a Huang-Lao master, it is simply impossible to do so at least when you are eighty or ninety years old.

no way;
The theoretical framework of Huang-Lao doctrine is too grand and its theoretical ideas are too obscure and difficult to understand.

Just the sentence 'The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao' - only six big words. Without thirty to fifty years of life experience, don't expect to comprehend anything from it.

There are thousands of six-word mantras like this in Huang-Lao doctrine...

In this era when the average life expectancy of the people is less than 30 years and the nobles generally do not live beyond 50 years, the decline of Huang-Lao philosophy is almost a historical inevitability.

Let’s talk about Confucianism.

Compared with the high-end market positioning of Huang-Lao school of thought which "focuses on top aristocrats", the basic base of Confucianism is a wider group of landlords and powerful people.

The so-called "farming and reading to pass on the family" refers to the large landowners with a certain literary heritage who are most admired by Confucianism.

What about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness? No matter how many, they are all ideological tools provided by Confucianism for the landlords and powerful to exploit the poor at the bottom.

Therefore, no matter who they offend, Confucianism will never offend the landlords and powerful groups.

Because they are their most solid supporters and the most indispensable base.

The Legalists also have a base.

The basic foundation of the Legalists is precisely the reason why they are "special".

——Ever since the teachings of Shen and Shang proclaimed themselves as a school and became the world-famous "Legalist doctrine", Legalist thought has always been equated with reform and strengthening the country.

However, the political propositions of the Legalists, which seek to strengthen the country and reform the old system, will naturally affect the old aristocracy and the vested interests.

In order to achieve their political vision, the Legalists could only place all their hopes on the highest level of feudal power: royal power, or even imperial power.

Only with the support of royal power and imperial authority could the Legalists carry the old aristocracy and old order and promote the new system.

In this way, the "basic situation" of the Legalists is obvious.

The supreme ruler!
If Huang-Lao philosophy and the top aristocrats complement each other and Confucianism represents the politics of landlords and powerful people, then Legalism is naturally dependent on imperial power.

There have been countless cases in the past - whether it was Shang Yang's reform in Qin, Shen Buhai's reform in Han, or Chao Cuo in the reign of the previous emperor;

Almost every Legalist figure who has made certain political achievements in Chinese history, without exception, has made great strides towards his or her political vision with the support of royal power and imperial authority - the supreme ruler, despite the hostility of the whole world.

Shang Yang was supported by Qin Xiaogong Ying Quliang and completed the reform in Qin despite strong opposition from the whole Qin State.
Not surprisingly, after Duke Xiao of Qin died, Shang Yang was killed and his body was torn to pieces by the old nobles who fought back.

But at least the results of the reform were preserved in the Qin State and became a solid foundation for Emperor Qin Shihuang to unify the world in the future.

Shen Buhai gained the trust of Han Zhaohou Han Wu and presided over the political reforms in Han State.

Historians have different opinions about Shen Buhai's later years.

However, from the fact that Shen Buhai's reforms in Han were all abolished after his death, it is not difficult to infer that the resistance Shen Buhai encountered in Han was far greater than that Shang Yang encountered in Qin.
More importantly, the support Shen Buhai received from Han Zhaohou Han Wu was by no means as firm and thorough as that from Qin Xiaogong Ying Quliang.

More intuitive - Chao Cuo during the reign of the previous emperor.

With the late emperor backing him up, Chao Cuo was extremely powerful in the court.

There was even a time when Chao Cuo, relying on his status as the Nei Shi, the head of the Nine Ministers, was evenly matched with the prime minister, the head of all officials: the former Marquis of An, Shentu Jia!

But as the saying goes: Its rise is rapid, and its fall is sudden.

When he had the support of the imperial power, Chao Cuo was the number one favorite and powerful official who could call the shots in the court.

But once he lost the support of the emperor, Chao Cuo would eventually have a miserable end.

From the above past cases, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion: for the Legalists, the only supporter they need to win over is actually the supreme ruler.

As for the others?
——Whether they are top nobles, wealthy landlords, or poor people;

No one likes the Legalist ideology that treats people as nuts on the state machine, or even as the fuel needed for the state engine.

Only monarchs and emperors who are seeking to strengthen the country would temporarily borrow the Legalists' thoughts and philosophy to promote reforms when the country is in a desperate situation and urgently needs change.

The Legalists themselves also have a clear understanding of this point.

What do the Legalists think about this?
It's so sweet!

All Legalists are never afraid of sacrifice!
Since Shang Yang died in Qin, the results of his reforms really made Qin strong. The Legalists firmly believed that reform needs to be driven by blood.

And it is highly likely that the blood of the reform host will be needed to push it forward!

What the Legalists feared was never sacrifice because of reform, but that after the sacrifice, the results of the reform would be completely overturned and everything would return to its original state.

Just like Shen Buhai's reform in Han, his reform ended with his death...

Knowing this, we can see the reason behind Zhao Yu's seemingly overly violent reaction. ——Legalists need to rely on the imperial power!

The relationship between Legalism and feudal imperial power is like that between fish and water;
The Legalists are the fish and imperial power is the water.

If there is no fish in the water, it means nothing to the water;

But if the fish is without water, it will die immediately.

Under such circumstances, Confucianism, Noble Studies and other schools complained that the Han Dynasty "did not treat scholars with courtesy". To put it in a broader sense, they had ill intentions, and to put it in a narrower sense, they were just complaining out of boredom.

Anyway, they are not scolding the customer audience.

But the audience of the Legalists was precisely the feudal imperial power and the state apparatus called "central court"!

As a fish that cannot survive without water, why does it not only fail to protect water, but also poops and pees like crazy?

With such a brain, let alone pursuing academic studies or becoming an official;

Even if they were drinking at the same banquet, Zhao Yu was afraid that one or two people would die from drinking, and he would be held "jointly liable".

As the old saying goes: A bad guy's scheming is never as good as a fool's sudden inspiration.

Zhao Yu still cherishes his life very much.

To these idiots who come from the same school, Zhao Yu only wants to say: Stay away from them!
In fact, the reason why Zhao Yu was the only one who stood up in the Xuanshi Hall at this moment was actually because among the various schools of thought involved in this "public opinion incident", only the Legalists had Zhao Yu, a Du Miao who could handle crisis public relations in the temple.

As for the other schools, let alone a scholar serving in the court - the vast majority of them do not even have a spokesperson in the court who is slightly inclined towards themselves.

Huang Laoxue, the only person who had connections in the court and was capable of "crisis public relations", was not involved in this incident at all.

The reason is not hard to guess.

——Most of the "new generation" talents of Huang-Lao school are already old men with white hair and beards.

They did not need to take the imperial examination, nor did they bother to pass such an examination to seek an official position with a salary of 400 shi.

What they need to do is to study and comprehend in the deep mountains and forests;
Once you have made a name for yourself in your studies, you will start as a doctor with a salary of 2,000 stones.

Furthermore, as the ruling school of thought that has never wavered since the Han Dynasty, the Huang-Lao school has enjoyed the most prosperous period among all the schools of thought.

After more than fifty years of such comfortable life, if they still accuse the Han family of "disrespecting the Huang-Lao scholars", let alone whether they can get over it with their conscience, the spit of people all over the world will be enough to drown them alive.

As for the other schools, as long as there are people in the court - even if there is someone who is emotionally inclined towards a certain school or likes the ideas of a certain school, I am afraid they will stand up at this juncture and follow Zhao Yu's example and "kill their relatives for the sake of justice."

This is attitude.

An attitude of awe towards imperial power.

This attitude, in a broader sense, may have affected the treatment that various schools of thought may receive during Liu Rong's reign - whether they were valued or ignored, supported or suppressed;

To put it simply, even if Liu Rong inherited all his father's true teachings and could really "not abandon the public interest because of personal grudges", and did not target certain schools of thought for a long time because of this incident, there are still the upcoming examinations!
For the Huang-Lao school, which has been prominent for many years but has gradually fallen into obscurity but is still bigger than a horse, and the Confucian and Legalist schools, which have gradually returned to the power decision-making level, this examination is actually just that.

Huang Lao Xue not only didn't take it seriously, he even sneered twice;
Although the Legalists attached some importance to it, they just responded calmly and regarded it as an opportunity to speed up the "bureaucratic team building progress" of their school.

As for the Confucians, although they attached the most importance to this examination among the three schools, they were also the most cautious and worried.

There is no other reason;

As one of the Hundred Schools of Thought, Confucianism has expanded to an exaggerated extent over the years.

——Nowadays, among every ten scholars in the world who study a certain doctrine, at least seven study the Six Classics of Confucianism!

Seventy percent of the scholars in the world are Confucian scholars!
What concept?
Take this examination for example - so far, more than 11,000 people have registered for the exam, and more than 8,000 of them are Confucian scholars!

Even if only 3,000 students are admitted in the end, Confucianism can still occupy 2,500 places!

As a doctrine that has been passed down for thousands of years, and especially a school of thought that is unpopular in this dynasty, Confucianism is very clear: how dangerous this change is.

If Confucianism really takes away more than 70% of the passing quotas for the imperial examinations, all the schools of thought in the world will surely rise up to attack it!
Not to mention the attacks from all the schools of thought in the world - Confucianism would not be able to withstand the ruling school of Huang-Lao alone.

Therefore, Confucianism is both expectant and fearful. It wants to soar to the sky, but it is also worried that it will be wiped out.

Compared to the attitudes of these three schools, which either ignored, responded indifferently, or were extremely conflicted, the rest of the scholars, without exception, cried for joy.

——Finally there is a chance!

Finally, I have a chance to seek a genuine official position based on the doctrines of my school to provide protection for my school!

Don’t talk about who’s the highest official and who’s the lowest official.

In the future, if there is a county magistrate, then the school will be able to maintain peace within the county.

If a pavilion chief can emerge, he will stay in the pavilion to preserve the flame of this school and pass it on from generation to generation.

After all, it is much better than the past years when various schools were like rootless duckweed and their inheritance could be cut off at any time.

However, this public opinion incident has made it inevitable that these originally enthusiastic theories will suffer a certain degree of suppression.

——Liu Rong certainly would not take the initiative to say: In this examination, scholars from such and such schools should be disqualified as much as possible, or the standards should be made stricter.

Oh, by the way, except Lu Ru...

But whether the people below him would flatter him or not was not something Liu Rong could control.

It's impossible that Liu Rong is really so "magnanimous" that he specifically instructed his subordinates: Don't target certain schools of thought because of this public opinion incident?

As long as Liu Rong didn't say so, there would definitely be people who, with the idea of ​​"venting the anger of His Majesty", would embarrass the scholars of the schools involved.

Even if Liu Rong really made such a statement, it is not certain that no one would interpret it in the opposite way.

——Your Majesty specifically mentioned this~
——Are you speaking sarcastically?
——They said don’t target us, but actually, they should target us as much as possible…

As for these situations, Liu Rong said: Let it be.

True gold is not afraid of fire.

A truly capable person will not allow his talent to be tarnished by the suppression of a few clerks.

As for the attitude shown by Zhao Yu, it made Liu Rong laugh and thought of a very interesting possibility.

"Legalists..."

"Is it a bad situation?"

...

"In the past, no matter what the court was discussing, I've never seen Zhao Yu kneel so smoothly."

(End of this chapter)