My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 573 Reminiscing about the old days~
It is against this complex backdrop that the bizarre scene of Prime Minister Dou Ying kneeling and kowtowing while Emperor Liu Rong remained unmoved occurred in the Xuan Shi Hall today.

In later generations, it may have been commonplace for officials, including the prime minister, to kneel before the emperor, or even considered a proper courtesy for subjects.

However, in the Han Dynasty today—a time when the legacy of the Warring States period still lingers—the relationship between the emperor and his ministers is characterized by the emperor choosing his ministers and the ministers choosing their emperors.

When evaluating his subjects, the monarch must assess their talents, morality, and whether they are of service to himself and to the ancestral temple and the state.
Conversely, when choosing a ruler to serve, or deciding whether to serve a ruler at all, subjects should also observe the ruler's character and aspirations, and judge whether the ruler can become their mentor.

This is a two-way choice.

It was neither the monarch begging his subjects to help him, nor the subjects begging the monarch for an opportunity to serve the country.

Although nominally they belonged to the category of ruler and subject with a 'superior-subordinate relationship', in reality, their relationship was more like a near-equal cooperative one.

In particular, the Prime Minister, who was second only to the Emperor and held a position of absolute authority, was so powerful that he was virtually on par with the Emperor in terms of etiquette and law.

This fact is mainly reflected in the etiquette between the emperor and the prime minister.

—In public and formal occasions, when officials pay homage to the emperor, the emperor must also rise to return the greeting.

This means that only when all the officials and ministers were gathered together would the emperor be qualified to rise and bow in return.

But the Prime Minister alone was entitled to make the Emperor rise and return the greeting, and even to treat both sides with equal courtesy in public.

That is, when the prime minister greets the emperor with clasped hands, the emperor must also return the greeting with clasped hands.
When the prime minister bows with his head held high, the emperor must also symbolically bend his waist in return.

As for kneeling and worshiping, that is almost non-existent.

Even ordinary officials, such as county magistrates with a salary of 600 shi (a unit of grain measure), or even clerks with a salary of 100 or 200 shi, were required, according to the etiquette of the Han Dynasty, to bow and kowtow as much as possible when meeting the emperor, rather than kneeling and kowtowing.

To put it more bluntly, you can fold the screen by bowing and bending over, which is better than kneeling and kowtowing.

As an official, whether you are a lowly nobody with a salary of 100 shi or a high-ranking official with a salary of 2,000 shi, as long as you only bow and do not show respect when meeting the emperor, everyone will think you have backbone and integrity, and everyone will look up to you.

Moreover, the lower your official rank, the more you will be considered to have integrity.

A high-ranking official with a salary of two thousand piculs does not have to kneel—that's normal, he's
A thousand stones of grain, yet he refuses to kneel—not bad, he has some backbone.

He refused to kneel even after graduating from a household with a salary of 600 bushels of grain—he's got some guts, and his ambitions are high.

Two hundred bushels of grain and he doesn't kneel—amazing!
He wouldn't kneel even if you were a hundred stones tall—wow, what a sight!
That's roughly the situation.

Conversely, if you kneel and kowtow to the emperor without saying a word, people will say you are sycophantic and spineless.

Similarly, the higher the official rank, the more contemptible the act of kneeling before the emperor would be.

Kneeling and bowing to a hundred officials—it's a bit embarrassing, but not too bad, considering the official rank is too low.

Two hundred bushels of grain kneeling in worship—I find this person rather disgusting.
Six hundred bushels of grain knelt in obeisance—what a sycophantic scoundrel, and this is supposed to be the magistrate of a county!
A thousand koku kneeling in worship—have they no shame?!
As for the two thousand shi (a unit of grain)~
It can only be said that if a high-ranking official with a salary of two thousand piculs were to kneel before the emperor in public, not only would the official kneeling be despised and criticized.
Even the emperor, who was being worshipped, had to reflect on how a pillar of the state, a high-ranking official with a salary of two thousand piculs of grain, could be forced to kneel before him.

Did I commit a moral transgression?

Or was it because I was too violent and tyrannical that even important ministers could no longer maintain their dignity and integrity in front of me?

Of course, all of the above is based on the premise that the subject has committed no crime.

If someone commits a crime, then no matter how high-ranking an official is, even a prince would have to kneel before the emperor.

However, kneeling here is not a conventional etiquette, but a way of admitting guilt, and a means of expressing one's apologies and seeking forgiveness when one has made a mistake.

For over a thousand years, ancient China has proclaimed that "a man's knees are worth gold," but if we really want to be honest, it is only the current Han Dynasty that can be considered to be practicing this motto of life in accordance with universal values.

A man of the Han dynasty truly has gold under his knees.

Apart from worshipping ancestors and paying respects to parents, Han men generally adhere to the principle of "if you can stand, never sit; if you can sit, never kneel."

As for today, Dou Ying kneeling before Emperor Liu Rong, it can actually be considered a political event of moderate importance.

If this had happened in public or been leaked, the resulting controversy and upheaval would have been no less significant than the chain reaction triggered by the Empress Dowager's fury.

—It will cause an uproar both inside and outside the court!

The final result will either be that Dou Ying provides a reasonable explanation for the necessity of his kneeling before the emperor;
Alternatively, Emperor Rong could offer an explanation—more accurately, a tactful apology—and guarantee that he would never again force the prime minister to kneel before him, thus damaging the integrity of a high-ranking official.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, if Dou Ying knelt before him, Liu Rong would be extremely respectful and at least pretend to be flustered to help him up, saying a few polite words such as "Why did you have to go to such lengths?"

But today, the situation is clearly somewhat different.

To be precise, Dou Ying today was not in the position of "Han Chancellor Wei Qihou" and was not kneeling before Emperor Liu Rong.

Instead, he acted as a representative of Confucianism and a member of the Dou family's maternal relatives, starting from the perspective of Confucian interests and using the relationship between the Dou family and Liu Rong's relatives as a starting point to ask Liu Rong to show leniency.

It's no wonder that Liu Rong was unmoved by Dou Ying's 'kneeling and bowing' gesture, and even felt a slight displeasure.

The Prime Minister kneeling in obeisance is a very important matter that deserves to be discussed and investigated in depth, no matter the circumstances!

If Dou Ying had remonstrated with Liu Rong by kneeling and bowing for the sake of the country, the ancestral temple, and the state, asking Liu Rong to retract his decision or change his mind, Liu Rong would have been greatly pleased, believing that Dou Ying had fulfilled his responsibilities as prime minister.
Or, as a second-best option, Dou Ying pleaded with Emperor Liu Rong on behalf of his powerful maternal relatives, the Dou clan, or on behalf of a high-ranking official or meritorious official who had been punished. Liu Rong would not have thought much of it.

Liu Rong would only say: As a member of the Dou clan/head of all officials, Dou Ying still has some sense of responsibility.

But right now, Dou Ying is doing this for the sake of Confucianism, even going so far as to kneel before the emperor to plead with Liu Rong, or rather, to put pressure on him.

Why would it be applying pressure?
Again.

In the Han Dynasty, the prime minister kneeling before the emperor was a genuine political event!

If there is no valid reason, not only is the prime minister who does this problematic, but the emperor who watches the prime minister do this, or even causes the prime minister to do this, is also problematic!

Liu Rong was quite certain that, in Dou Ying's original plan, once Dou Ying entered the Xuan Shi Hall, he would kneel down and bow without saying a word, catching Liu Rong completely off guard.

Then, with a sense of trepidation, he stood up from the imperial couch, quickly walked down the imperial steps, and helped Dou Ying up.

At worst, he would quickly give a signal to the eunuch serving him to come forward and help Dou Ying, the prime minister, up.

In this way, with Dou Ying kneeling and Liu Rong supporting him, Dou Ying could control the pace of the ensuing conversation.

But right now, Liu Rong sat on the imperial couch with a nonchalant expression, even taking small sips of tea.
Dou Ying was caught in a dilemma: getting up was awkward, but continuing to kneel was also wrong. He felt extremely uncomfortable and uneasy, as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

"Lord Wei Qi, please sit down and let's talk." "Our Han dynasty has never treated a national hero so harshly."

Ultimately, out of consideration for Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace, Liu Rong was the first to relent.

They offered Dou Ying a way out, so that he could gracefully accept the situation and at least sit down.

Just as Liu Rong had predicted—as soon as Liu Rong finished speaking, Dou Ying hurriedly stood up, then put on a pitiful and miserable look, and knelt down in front of the banquet table on the side of the hall.

Liu Rong's seemingly casual two sentences allowed Dou Ying to glean a great deal of information.

— Referring to Dou Ying as 'Marquis of Weiqi' rather than 'Prime Minister' is clearly a reminder to Dou Ying: the one kneeling before me today is neither Prime Minister Dou Ying nor the maternal relative Dou Ying, but Marquis of Weiqi Dou Ying.

As a meritorious marquis, kneeling before the emperor was somewhat undignified and disgraceful, but it was still considered normal and at least did not fall into the category of a 'political event'.

By letting Dou Ying sit down to talk, it seemed like giving Dou Ying a break and providing him with a way out of his predicament.
However, it is also possible that Liu Rong was expressing his dissatisfaction with Dou Ying kneeling before him.

As for the later statement, "Our Han dynasty has never mistreated our national heroes," it laid bare Liu Rong's dissatisfaction to Dou Ying without any attempt to conceal it.

—Do you think you can force me to submit by 'kneeling'?

——You wish!

He talked a lot, but in reality, it all happened in the blink of an eye.

In the short time it took for Dou Ying to rise from his kneeling position in the center of the hall and sit down at the banquet on the side of the hall, he had already completed this series of mental activities and understood the intention that Liu Rong wanted to convey.

Just as Dou Ying was frowning and hesitating, Liu Rong's slightly cold voice rang out again, causing Dou Ying to instinctively sit up straight.

After hearing what Liu Rong said, they fell into a long silence.

"The story of Marquis Wei Qi being appointed Grand General and pacifying Wu and Chu is still fresh in our minds."

"Back then, before the late emperor had established a crown prince, he first appointed Marquis Wei Qi as the Crown Prince's tutor and steward of the crown prince's household."

At that time, inside and outside the court, there were countless people saying that Marquis Wei Qi had "reverted to Chao Cuo".

"—As the rumors intensified, even the late Emperor repeatedly asked and tested me: What is Confucianism?"

"I replied: Confucianism is the teachings of Confucius, supplemented by the work of Mencius, Xunzi, and their disciples and followers who filled in the gaps and made up for the deficiencies, thus forming a school of thought."

...

The late emperor asked again: "For the sake of the country and the people, what kind of learning can be called 'good'?"

"Huang-Lao? Legalism? Mohism?"

"Could it be the teachings of Confucius?"

"—I replied: All the teachings of the various schools of thought that can be used by our Han dynasty can be called 'good'."

"If one selects the good from the various schools of thought and their sayings and corrects the bad, then one will be a ruler who is neither foolish nor cruel."

...

"Choose what is good and follow it; correct what is not good."

"If I remember correctly, this is also the saying of Confucius, isn't it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Dou Ying's lips moved as if he wanted to speak but then stopped.

After pondering for a long time with his head bowed, he said with a sorrowful expression, "Your Majesty is absolutely right."

"This saying comes from the twelfth chapter of the Analects, 'Shu Er': 'When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher. I will choose his good points and follow them, and correct his bad points.'"

"Your Majesty, in response to the late Emperor's question, summarized the various schools of thought with the principle of 'choosing the good and following it, and correcting the bad,' which can indeed be called wise."

"And I..."

"minister……"

In the end, knowing that he had to say something and should say something, Dou Ying remained vague and ultimately failed to utter the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

On the contrary, Liu Rong remained calm on the imperial couch and said, "Then, please give your instructions, Marquis Wei Qi."

"What merits and demerits can we derive from Confucius's words for our Han dynasty today?"

"Are the merits so great that they absolutely must be adopted?"

"Is it something that can only be taken by my own hand, or something that must be taken by me in this very day?"

"Do Confucian scholars know that what is 'unacceptable' is actually 'unacceptable'?"

Liu Rong asked the question casually, but when his words reached Dou Ying's ears, they sounded particularly jarring.

Liu Rong's words seemed to be asking about the advantages and disadvantages of Confucianism, and whether the parts of it that could be used by the Han dynasty were necessary to adopt in the short term.
However, considering that Dou Ying personally came to pay his respects to Liu Rong today due to the background of Empress Dowager Dou's thunderous anger, Liu Rong's words undoubtedly carried a hint of admonition and questioning.

—Do I absolutely have to employ your Confucianism?!
—Is all of your Confucian teachings beneficial to the ancestral temple and the state, without any content that is detrimental to them?
As the prime minister, Dou Ying was naturally aware that Confucianism was not of great urgent necessity for the Han Dynasty at that time.

It could even be said that the Confucian doctrine of "gentry governing the country" and "landlords, scholars and officials sharing the world with the emperor" was seriously inconsistent with, and even contrary to, the Han dynasty's core national policy of suppressing powerful clans and supporting self-cultivating farmers.

If we really want to be serious, compared to Confucianism, Legalism's academic propositions and stances are more in line with the current national conditions of the Han Dynasty.

But there was no way around it—the Legalists had too many limitations, and they also had the strange habit ingrained in their genes of 'unconditionally reforming the law regardless of whether it was necessary or not';
In addition, Huang-Lao thought, which also has strong limitations and is only suitable for specific situations and specific time points, as well as other schools of thought whose transmission is problematic and which are unable to form their own distinct schools.

Today, the academic and intellectual circles of the Han Dynasty can confidently say that Confucianism was not the ultimate winner or the best, but rather the only survivor that was not completely eliminated after the great wave of change.

It's not that Confucianism is so good, but that other schools of thought are too bad, either having limitations and a limited scope, or being too extreme and having obvious shortcomings.

Confucianism, on the other hand, has some merit in all aspects, and its shortcomings are not unacceptable.

To put it bluntly, it's a competition of who's the worst, and Confucianism is the 'least bad' one.

Or, to put it another way, it was a case of choosing the best among the worst, and in the end, a Confucian scholar was chosen.

(End of this chapter)