My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 572 Are you kidding me?!

As we all know, spoiled children will take advantage of any kindness shown to them and become arrogant if they are given a chance to be treated well.

After so many years of so-called "hard times," the Huang-Lao school of thought finally reached its waning point and was about to fade from the central government. Legalism and Mohism were also struggling to gain traction, so Confucianism suddenly felt that it was in a position of power.

Nowadays, Confucianism has even developed a misplaced confidence that "I will definitely be the next corrector of schools of thought!"
Driven by this inexplicable self-confidence, Confucianism began a series of questionable actions.

The sheer number of bizarre incidents involving Confucianism's "self-importance" that Liu Rong received definitive information about is countless.

For example, in some remote areas of Guandong—that is, areas far from Guanzhong—officials with Confucian backgrounds have begun to use the "learning of the sages" as their guiding principle, and based on this, they have eliminated dissidents and suppressed officials from other schools of thought.
In places like Qi, Chu, and Wu—especially Lu—Confucianism had already begun to build its own base, recruiting officials without clear academic backgrounds into its political camp.

It makes it seem as if Confucianism's rise to prominence on the historical stage was a natural progression, just waiting for the right opportunity.

If this is the case in politics, then the situation in academia is even worse.

—In the past year or two, all the scholars who came from Confucian backgrounds were arrogant and looked down on others!
It's commonplace to say "Confucius said" or "The sage has said" to everyone you meet;
If he were to attend a banquet with scholars from other schools of thought and an academic debate were to take place, he would often adopt an arrogant attitude as if to say, "You are not worthy to debate with me."

It's like the phrase "Confucian background" implies that no one can argue with or out-debate him; it's like the word "Confucianism" is the only golden rule and the only truth in the world.

Although within Confucianism, the five classics that still retain their lineage, excluding the Classic of Music (the Book of Music), namely the Book of Poetry, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals, are still used as the standard, they are divided into five major schools, which are further subdivided into dozens of minor schools based on region and lineage.
However, on topics such as the ruling school of the Han dynasty and the academic discourse leaders of the future of China, the Confucian school is united in purpose.

—It is fitting that Confucianism should become the only prominent school of thought in the future of the Han Dynasty!

Given this almost arrogant mindset, it's no wonder that Confucianists would do some bizarre things.

Take this instance, for example. The Confucianists were so audacious as to take advantage of the birth of Liu Rong's eldest son and Liu Rong's clear statement that he would establish the legitimate heir rather than the eldest son as heir, and began to try to interfere with the succession of the Han dynasty through public opinion!

In later generations—or rather, according to the original historical timeline, after Confucianism gained 'sole dominance' during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, it did indeed do this quite often over the next thousand years.

After all, they hold the power of discourse!

With a single sentence, "As the sage said," a person's goodness or badness, right or wrong, is entirely determined by others.

But the key issue is that today's Confucianism is far from the behemoth that completely monopolized the academic, intellectual, and even political circles of China after suppressing all other schools of thought and exclusively honoring Confucianism in history!
Even though Huang Laoxue is in his twilight years, he is still bigger than a horse, even though he is a skinny camel!

Although the Law and the Mohist schools are not respectable and cannot stand up, they still exist and are receiving visible support and protection from Liu Rong!

Especially compared to Emperor Wu of Han, who was determined to 'exclusively honor Confucianism' in history, the current Liu Rong has never been so friendly towards Confucianism!

Even the support and protection of the Famo school, as well as the efforts to prolong the life of Huang-Lao thought, are measures taken by Liu Rong to counterbalance and suppress Confucianism!
In feudal China, for a school of thought to become prominent, it absolutely needed the full support of those in power, especially the supreme ruler.

This was true even during the Warring States period.

—It is said that Confucius, the sage of the Central Plains, had three thousand disciples, seventy-two of whom were accomplished, and they traveled to various states.

To say that he traveled around the states was just a nice way of putting it, to save face for Confucius.

To put it bluntly, it was essentially Confucius and his disciples traveling all over the world peddling their knowledge.

Why travel around the world?

Why not just find any vassal state, settle down there, and dedicate yourself to changing that state?
Don't you want to?

of course not.

Confucius traveled around the states not because he wanted to make a round-the-world trip or personally visit every single state, nor because the states he passed through were not well-liked by him.

Rather, it was the knowledge that Confucius was selling, namely Confucianism, which, given the historical context, was not something that any feudal lord was willing to accept.

—What benevolence and morality?
—What about filial piety and brotherly love?
—This is the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods!
—The warring states fought each other endlessly, devouring people without spitting out the bones, competing to see who was more shameless and who could break the bottom line the most!

In such a chaotic world, at a critical juncture of life and death, you tell me to be a gentleman and cultivate morality?
How many war chariots can a virtuous man possess?

How many soldiers can morality serve as?

This is just a joke...

Thus, Confucius traveled far and wide, encountering setbacks along the way, and was never welcomed by the rulers of various countries.

Those with a bit of manners might even offer a warm welcome before sending Confucius and his party on their way to continue their 'travels around the states';
Those who lack manners simply pretend they don't know there's such a person or that 'Confucius has visited country X,' and continue singing and dancing as if nothing is wrong.

Considering that historians edited historical records and Confucianism was the only school of thought in ancient China to be "exclusively respected," the glorious image of Confucius, as the founder of this school, is highly necessary. It is not unreasonable to speculate that, even if there were few cases of Confucius being brutally expelled by the rulers of some states during his "travels around the states," it is not impossible that such cases did not exist at all.

He kept walking, bumping his head and getting bruised and battered, until he finally arrived in Lu.

Ultimately, Confucius found his only home: to let Confucianism take root in the land of Lu and to implement his ideals and provide protection in the state of Lu.

If Confucius was like this, what about later generations?
Without the support of the rulers, Confucius had to travel to various states. He finally found the State of Lu, which was willing to support him. How much more so now, with these disciples who fantasize all day long?
It should be noted that even in the original history, when Emperor Wu of Han dismissed all other schools of thought and exclusively promoted Confucianism, it was also due to the supreme ruler's willful and all-encompassing support that Confucianism was able to fully flourish.
Without Emperor Wu of Han's exclusive promotion of Confucianism, no matter how much the Confucian school relied on sheer numbers to gain influence, it would have been utterly useless.

After all, the right to speak is like a chicken rib – useless.

You might say it's useless?

Not really—at least there's some meat in it;
But you could say it's useful, right?
It is a pity that it is tasteless.

Ultimately, the power of discourse in the feudal era is like the beauty of young women in the modern era—it can be combined with any other card to form a winning hand!

However, if it were to emerge alone, it would only amount to a small, deflated hill. Since the Warring States period, any school of thought or doctrine that has achieved prominence has received strong support from the highest ruler in order to gain widespread recognition.

The Legalists of the Qin Dynasty, the Huang-Lao school of thought in the early Han Dynasty, and the Confucianists after Emperor Wu of Han in history all followed this pattern.

Liu Rong was quite certain that, given the talent pool and scale of Confucianism, it was impossible for them not to understand such a simple principle.

However, even if they understand something, when it comes to actually groveling before the emperor, the thoughts of different schools of thought are not entirely the same.

For example, Huang Lao, although he understood that he had to depend on the imperial power and the ruling power to exist, still could not completely let go of his pride;

Therefore, Huang-Lao thought ultimately chose to attach itself to the nobility, or even to become a nobleman itself, thus indirectly attaching itself to the supreme imperial power as an assistant.

Take the Mohists, for example. No matter how unruly and disregardful of the ruling class they were, they still had to serve the Qin government during the Qin Dynasty. They used their artisan skills to help the Qin Dynasty grow stronger and eventually ended the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, which lasted for hundreds of years, by "stopping war with war".

As for Legalism, there's nothing more to say. It was born to depend on imperial power, and Legalists studied the posture of groveling to the ruler most thoroughly.

However, Confucianism has always been somewhat unable to distinguish between the major and minor kings.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Confucianism was in a weak position, and all other schools of thought in the world were either Yang Zhu or Mozi. Confucianism could only barely remain humble and subservient.
By the time Qin Shi Huang unified the country, Confucian scholars had already dared to emerge and teach him 'how to be a qualified emperor'.

At the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there was another period of decline, which came after Emperor Wu of Han promoted Confucianism as the state ideology.

Confucianism, however, expanded as a result, and even attempted to create a cage of power for feudal imperial authority!
More than a thousand years later, during the Song and Ming dynasties in China, the influence of Confucianism had become so great that it could sway the general direction of Chinese civilization, the succession to the throne, and even the emperor's stance.

As a visitor from later generations, Liu Rong was extremely wary of this!
Although Liu Rong was well aware that even if he were to follow the example of Emperor Wu of Han in history and suppress all other schools of thought and exclusively promote Confucianism, Confucianism would not be able to grow to the point of being able to influence the course of China or even the rise and fall of dynasties within three to five hundred years.
However, as a time traveler, Liu Rong did not use personal gains or losses, or even the Han Dynasty or several dynasties, as the standard for judging things.

—Having the privilege of traveling back to this era, having the privilege of living in the pre-Christian era, how could Liu Rong possibly allow Confucianism to become too powerful and lead Chinese civilization down the wrong path?

Therefore, since ascending the throne, in addition to launching the Han-Xiongnu War to improve the external strategic environment of the Han Dynasty, and internally rectifying officialdom, cracking down on corruption, and reforming the bureaucratic system, Liu Rong's biggest focus has been on controlling the academic and intellectual circles.

The core objective is simple: to curb the growing influence of Confucianism, and especially to prevent Confucianism from becoming dominant!

However, it is unclear whether Liu Rong was too gentle and approachable, which led the Confucian scholars to have some kind of misconception, or whether Liu Rong's weight as emperor was still not heavy enough in the current Han Dynasty.

Even though Liu Rong repeatedly and openly expressed his dislike and aversion to Confucianism in public, the Confucian school still failed to grasp the situation.

Originally, Liu Rong didn't understand: when a feudal emperor—especially a powerful emperor with both civil and military achievements—clearly expressed his dissatisfaction and dislike for you, and you still don't know how to behave yourself, are the Confucians out of their minds?

It wasn't until this time, when the Confucian school used Liu Rong's eldest son as a small probe, that they discovered the only epic event in the current Han Dynasty: the wrath of Empress Dowager Dou. Only then did Liu Rong finally realize the gravity of the situation.

—The Confucianists were not unaware of Liu Rong's malicious intent;

Rather, they simply don't care.

Perhaps from the perspective of Confucianism, with Huang-Lao philosophy declining and Legalism and Mohism having no future, it was inevitable that Confucianism would rise to prominence on the stage of Chinese history.

Given this 'inevitability' as a premise, Liu Rong's malice was nothing more than the malice of a certain emperor of the Han dynasty.

The Confucian school is not unfamiliar with this kind of 'personal dislike of a particular emperor'; in fact, it can be said that they are quite experienced with it.

—During the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng did not like Confucianism very much, and even became somewhat estranged from his son Fusu, who was fond of Confucianism, because of this.
By the early Han Dynasty, it had become even more outrageous—Emperor Taizu Liu Bang was one of the most epic-level Confucian critics in Chinese history.

Therefore, Confucianists probably believe that Liu Rong is just another First Emperor or Taizu Emperor—it's just that they personally dislike Confucianism.

Emperor Liu Rong, who held the upper hand and was destined for prominence, could not fundamentally harm the Confucian school simply because he disliked it on personal terms.

At best, he could only suppress Confucianism for a few decades, during his reign.

As for the next generation—even if the Confucian school doesn't succeed directly, it would only take three to five generations to cultivate Liu Rong's successor into another Prince Fusu or Emperor Xiaohui Liu Ying, and they would achieve their goal.

Three or five generations is nothing compared to a school of thought, especially Confucianism, which has been passed down for hundreds of years but has never truly become famous.

Confucianism has been waiting for hundreds of years!
Even if we wait a few hundred years, Confucianists won't think anything of it!
It could even be said that at this historical juncture, most of the schools of thought among the Hundred Schools of Thought are still struggling to survive, merely seeking to continue their doctrines. For them, simply 'the doctrines being passed down' is enough to satisfy the minimum requirement of Confucianism.

After all, with the passage of time, within just a few decades, most of the Hundred Schools of Thought had already withered away.

Even today, the number of schools of thought that still exist and are passed down in the form of 'schools of thought' can be counted on two hands.

This is more like a survival game.

Over the past few decades, out of hundreds of participants, fewer than ten have survived.

Even if Confucianism does nothing but 'survive,' it is very likely that it will eliminate most of its competitors in the coming decades.

Confucianism is confident that it can become the ultimate winner in this survival game.

Unfortunately, Liu Rong was unlike any other feudal emperor.

—Liu Rong's priority has never been the personal gains or losses of "Emperor Rong" or the interests of the Liu family;

Rather, it's about the future direction of the entire Chinese civilization!
With such lofty aspirations, how could the Confucianists possibly expect to succeed under Liu Rong's rule?
Are you kidding me? !

(End of this chapter)