My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 416 Big Stick!

Liu Rong once reflected on why he was so repulsive and disdainful of Confucianism, which has been running through the history of China for nearly 2,000 years.
Even in later generations, most people felt that Confucianism and Confucianism were the reasons why Chinese civilization became increasingly corrupt and gloomy in the middle and late feudal era.

In the end, Liu Rong came to the conclusion that the Confucian approach of "gentry governing the country" has made the gentry and landlord class the real rulers of the country in every dynasty - in every Chinese feudal dynasty.

Compared with the feudal imperial power, which still had some dignity and some aspirations, the demands of the gentry and landlord class were much purer.

It is nothing more than the eight words of annexing land and passing on farming and studying from generation to generation.

The lower-class people's yearning for a better life is contrary to their desire to suck the blood of the entire lower class to help them accumulate wealth and status like a snowball.

It was only the existence of Confucianism and Confucianism that allowed them to shift the class contradiction between the lower classes and the landlords into the institutional contradiction between the lower classes and the feudal imperial power.

Thus, the feudal dynasties came and went, trapped in the 300-year dynasty cycle and unable to extricate themselves;
In contrast, the gentry and landlords had already accumulated wealth dynasty after dynasty and generation after generation - that is, after exploiting the lower-class people, they developed into notorious century-old or even thousand-year-old families.

It was not until the new era that this situation was ended by a great man;

But Liu Rong still remembers clearly: Even in the new era more than two thousand years later, Chinese civilization was the only one on the entire earth that got rid of this deformed "gentry governing the country" route.

The countries in the Pan-Huaxia cultural circle surrounding the Chinese civilization are all still being poisoned by the Confucian erroneous concept of "gentry governing the country" and have no hope of turning things around.

As for the distant West, it developed a unique concept of plutocracy and never returned from the path of self-destruction...

After understanding this, and looking back at the current Han Dynasty that he controls and rules, Liu Rong easily knows what he should do.

——It is absolutely impossible to abolish all schools of thought and only respect Confucianism.

As for "unified thought", Liu Rong also thought about whether he should choose one from other schools and doctrines besides Confucianism that can cover all aspects and perfectly arm the Chinese civilization thought.

But Liu Rong eventually found that this idea was too naive.

Because after Liu Rong's brief understanding, he found that the so-called "Hundred Schools of Thought" of this era were more like the legs of a round table with a hundred legs.

Cutting off some, or even most, of the hundred legs may not affect the balance of this table named "Chinese Civilization".

But among these hundred legs, not a single one can support the table on its own.

Historically, Confucianism has tried this.

However, everything that happened later proved that placing a table leg in the middle of a round table would barely support the table, but the balance would be extremely fragile.

If you put anything anywhere on the table, it will fall over immediately.

Confucianism itself even discovered this hidden danger, so it had no choice but to "split itself" and separate into multiple schools within the school to jointly support the balance of this table.

In Liu Rong's opinion, even according to the most basic principles of physics, the Chinese table needs at least three legs to stand firm.

The Confucian idea of ​​"teaching without distinction" and educating people has its merits.

The Legalists’ concept of rule of law and belief in reform are equally indispensable.

In addition, there is Huang-Lao School - the Taoist 'rule by non-action', resting with the people;

Mohism's "investigation of things to gain knowledge", and even the prehistoric version of the concept of "communism and anarchy";
There are also farmers responsible for agricultural technology, doctors responsible for medical technology, strategists responsible for the art of diplomacy, and novelists responsible for the dissemination of public opinion...

Etc., etc.

You cannot say that among the various schools of thought, any one can fully represent the intellectual crystallization of Chinese civilization.

——Even the generalist who claims to ‘combine the strengths of a hundred schools of thought’ is not good enough!

But you have to admit that among the hundreds of schools of thought, any school or doctrine taken alone has its positive significance.

Therefore, in Liu Rong's view, unifying thoughts does not need to be achieved through the brutal method of "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting only one particular method".

This is simply the lazy man's way of doing things.

What Liu Rong wanted to do was to achieve the ideological unity of Chinese civilization by carrying out a unified ideological transformation of the various schools of thought, while retaining as many theories and schools of thought as possible that were obviously of positive significance.

Well, the problem is coming.

——Why should others listen to you?

The ancestors have pointed out the way clearly, and you, Liu Rong, want others to change just by saying a few words?

Do you have such a big face?

Liu Rong obviously didn't.

To be precise, the feudal imperial power at this stage does not have the ability to transform any one or even all the schools of thought according to its own wishes.

But Liu Rong knew: the imperial examination existed.

The world is bustling, all come for the benefit, and the world is bustling, all go for the benefit.

For schools and doctrines, the word "benefit" is nothing more than the inheritance of doctrines.

And inheritance requires people.

Only if more people study and pass on the school's traditions, will it not be cut off in the long river of history.

So what can we do to get more young people to actively join a certain school of thought?
The answer is: to be an official.

The temptation of the four words "promotion and wealth" to the Chinese people has existed throughout history.

Only a school that can train officials and enable its students to join the bureaucracy more easily can attract more and more outstanding young intellectuals.
Thus, the logical closed loop is roughly formed.

——Schools and doctrines need more people to learn their own doctrines to ensure the inheritance and continuation of the doctrines;
At the same time, it is also necessary to have someone from this school of thought in official positions to safeguard the inheritance of the doctrine;

As for the young elite intellectuals, they need to find a stepping stone that can more easily open the door to the "officialdom".

At the same time, we also need to use theories as a medium to form a network of personal connections for "grouping together for warmth".

The two sides hit it off.

The only thing lacking is whether one school of thought has a clear competitive advantage over other schools of thought in terms of "training disciples to become officials."

At this time, Liu Rong took action and made up for this shortcoming.

——Which school is more obedient, and the scholars from that school are more likely to be recruited as officials!
At this point, the logical closed loop is completely formed.

If the school wants to be more popular, it must produce more officials;
The existence of the imperial examination system required the school to listen more to Liu Rong in order to train more officials.

The school became obedient, the proportion and ability of officials trained increased, and the attraction to young people naturally became greater;
When other schools of thought saw this, they thought: How could this be tolerated?
Yu Shi hurriedly followed.

In a few years, all the existing schools of thought will be caught up in the competition of "who listens to the emperor and who has a firmer stance on the country".

Liu Rong had no intention of abolishing all schools of thought and only respecting a certain one, so he would give corresponding care to those theories that were capable of doing things.

In this way, the various schools of thought were preserved, thinkers were unified, and each school of thought had official endorsement, so inheritance and continuation became no problem.

Even more, the inheritance of these theories and schools will be tied to the destiny of the Han Dynasty!
After all, who knows if the Han Dynasty perishes, will the next dynasty still use this method to ensure the smooth inheritance of the various schools of thought?

At this point, Liu Rong's thoughts became clear. ——He was temporarily confused, yes.

But the imperial examination was precisely a brilliant move made by Liu Rong in order to unify people's thoughts.

What Liu Rong really wanted to achieve was to use the imperial examination as a tool to guide various schools of thought to be more in line with reality and national interests.

Compared with this grand political goal, killing more people seems to be a matter of convenience in selecting talents for the country and enriching the bureaucracy through examinations.

Previously, Liu Rong released the news about the imperial examination. Considering the seriousness of the matter, it was naturally not easy to reveal too much.

As the saying goes: Things are accomplished through secrecy.

If Liu Rong had put all his goals on the table from the beginning, not to mention how much resistance and difficulty there would be - the wrangling alone would consume the life of this mortal body of Liu Rong.

Not much was said at the beginning, only that bureaucrats were to be selected, to give the court and other officials some time to buffer and digest the situation.

Now, the court and the people inside and outside the court have basically accepted the reality of "recruiting talents through imperial examinations" and this bureaucratic selection system;

Coupled with the confusion in public opinion, there has been some uneasiness about the imperial examination both inside and outside the court.

Liu Rong knew it was time.

It is time to further reveal one's political intentions both inside and outside the court.

"Hmm~"

"so;"

"The learning of Shen and Shang is unique among the court, and Dali is the only one."

"Then Dali wrote a letter to Zhang Hui, telling him: This autumn, we will not accept the Legalists who are good at criminal law and nominalism in the imperial examinations."

"In the next few years, I would like to ask Zhang Zi to teach and discipline the Legalists more."

These words were Liu Rong's final verdict for the Legalist scholars participating in this autumn examination.

——One person causes trouble and everyone takes the blame.

The nations of the past, including the Qin and Han dynasties, all told you not to form a group, but you insisted on forming a group;
Well, since you insist on sticking together in the name of "academics", then experience the feeling of sharing honor and disgrace.

As for Zhang Hui, whom Liu Rong asked Zhao Yu to convey the message, he was the late emperor's mentor: Chao Cuo's early student.

Thanks to his disciple Chao Cuo, Zhang Hui has now become a figurehead within the Legalists.

Liu Rong was very sure that there was no need for Zhao Yu to say anything specific - as long as the news that no one from the Legalist school passed the imperial examination this autumn was sent to Zhang Hui, there was no need to say more about other things.

learn from past experience.

With this lesson learned, in the next imperial examination, the Legalists will surely appear on the streets of Chang'an City in a manner that will be more pleasing to Liu Rong.

After beating the Legalists, Liu Rong naturally did not miss another big problem.

"And Confucius's theory~"

"Well, I'll trouble Wei Qihou to write a letter to tell Ouyang Hebo - Ouyang Sheng;"

"It is said that most Confucian scholars are good at classics but not good at practice."

"Therefore, in this year's autumn imperial examination, many Confucian scholars may fail."

"I also hope that Mr. Ouyang will discipline his disciples and promote other Confucian studies, such as Lu Confucianism, Qi poetry, etc. I established the imperial examination system to select talents for the country;"

"If you have not achieved anything in your studies and have no moral integrity, don't send them to Chang'an to bring disgrace upon yourself and bring disgrace upon your school..."

Compared with the Legalists' one-size-fits-all policy of "no one will be admitted to the imperial examination this autumn", Liu Rong obviously showed some mercy to the Confucians.

no way;
There were too many Confucian scholars who came to take the imperial examination this year—more than 70% of the total.

It was Flagg who first made the rule that "no legalist scholars would be admitted". In the autumn examination this year, Liu Rong had already lost hundreds or even thousands of candidates.

If there is another sentence "Confucian scholars will not be admitted", then there is no need to have the imperial examination;

Just call the remaining 1,000 to 800 people into the Xuanshi Hall and have a fight in the palace...

As for Liu Rong asking the Imperial Censor Dou Ying, a "great scholar of the time", to convey the message to Ouyang Hebo, the contemporary inheritor of "Shangshu" and the only successor of Fusheng from Jinan, it was a not-so-obscure signal to Confucianism.

——Those who study the Book of Documents are the Confucian talents that our Han Dynasty needs most.

Just like Jia Yi, Jia Changsha, and Prime Minister Zhang Cang during the reign of Emperor Taizong.

This could be considered as an attempt by Liu Rong to use the imperial power to gently lift Ouyang Hebo up, allowing him to have greater say among the many schools of thought within Confucianism, and also an attempt to reform Confucian scholarship and thought.

The scope of the examination has been divided for you: those who study the Book of Changes will be accepted in principle, and those who study the Book of History will be given an unconditional thumbs up;
The rest depends on whether Confucianism is sensible.

Now that the Legalists and Confucianists have been criticized, it is time for the Huang-Lao school to be passive and arrogant and not get involved in the imperial examination.

"And Huang Lao..."

He pretended to hesitate and groaned, causing dozens of heads in the hall to be raised one after another. Liu Rong finally shook his head with a strange smile.

He said "that's all" several times, then lowered his head and remained silent.

Liu Rong didn't have high expectations for Mr. Huang.

——We do not expect Huang-Lao School to rebound and become the ruling school of thought of the Han Dynasty again;
Even if he has to withdraw from the center of power, Liu Rong hopes that Huang Laoxue can withdraw in a more dignified and principled manner.

And after you fade out of the center of power, don't give up on yourself and try to practice Taoism or cultivate immortality.

Just like a retired athlete, he just sits on the bench and waits for the next time when Chinese civilization needs him, and then he can go into battle.

However, as the founding and ruling school of thought of the Han Dynasty, the influence of Huang-Lao school in the court of the Han Dynasty is still dominant.

Especially Donggong Changle and a grand empress dowager, who supported the theory that "it is very old" both at the overall spiritual level and at the individual physical level.

Therefore, Liu Rong was not in a position to criticize Huang-Lao philosophy too directly.

A hesitant groan, a few "that's all"s between a wry smile, and a look of extreme disappointment were enough.

Liu Rong was very sure that after today's court ceremony was over, Huang Laoxue, who would learn of his statement, would definitely reflect on it.

As for the results of reflection, Liu Rong doesn't care.

It could be sending a few people to symbolically take part in the imperial examination, or taking it seriously, or continuing to not care about it.

Changes have to be made eventually.

For decades, it has remained the same - even the internal order and inheritance of doctrines have not changed much. Huang-Lao School should make some changes...

(End of this chapter)