My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 576 Controlling the Force
As a time traveler, how do you suppress a school of thought or doctrine that rose to power and became dominant in the original history, almost without any chance of success, and which was entirely a matter of 'natural progression'?
This topic is very broad and extensive.

But if we further specify this proposition as: how to suppress Confucianism, prevent Chinese civilization from going down the wrong path of "suppressing all other schools of thought and exclusively honoring Confucianism"?

This proposition is relatively more precise.

There are many specific measures, and they are quite complex.

As emperor, Liu Rong was never used to doing everything himself. Instead, he preferred to control the overall direction and delegate the specific operations and implementation to his subordinates.

On the issue of Confucianism, Liu Rong's main direction of control was undoubtedly "suppression".

Is Confucianism useful?

Of course there is.

Although Liu Rong did not admit it, and objectively it was not the case, it must be said that the connection between the doctrines of the Hundred Schools of Thought and Confucianism truly reflects the later saying: "The Hundred Schools of Thought copied each other, and every school copied the words of Confucius."

—The various schools of thought in the pre-Qin period were largely copied, with each containing elements of the other, which is certainly true.

However, apart from Yang Zhu and the Mohists who stood on the opposite side, the core ideas of almost every school of thought were deeply influenced by Confucianism.

Therefore, if Liu Rong treats Confucianism as a disgusting tumor and cuts it directly from the body of Chinese civilization, it will inevitably lead to a major earthquake in the intellectual and academic world, or even a long-lasting chaos.

no way.

In this era—in the era in which Liu Rong lived—the mainstream ideology of the entire society almost entirely followed a diode model.

That is: right is right, and wrong is wrong.

There is no gray area between right and wrong, or between good and evil.

For example, in rural areas, if two old farmers get into a dispute, the three elders of the village will come to mediate, and the neighbors will come to watch.

And the final result will inevitably be that one of them is right, that he is a good person.

Then, the other person must be entirely at fault; he is a completely bad and rotten person.

There is no such thing as 'you are wrong, and I am wrong', nor is there a middle way of compromise where both sides take a step back.

It's like two merchants trading with each other, and there's an error in their accounts.

The final result will inevitably be that one of them is honest and kind, and is deceived by the other, while the other is cunning and treacherous, and bullies the honest person without any scruples.

There is absolutely no possibility that 'both sides were at fault, neither was careful, and neither paid attention.'

If this is the case among ordinary people, similar incidents in academia and politics are even more extreme.

The academic community, in particular, is a major area of ​​ideological extremism.

Leaving aside other issues, let's take the 'blood feud' between Confucianism and Mohism as an example.

—The claim that half of the book on Mozi is blackened by Confucius is not without merit!

The entire book "Mozi" is less a collection of the thoughts and ideas of Mozi, the founder of the Mohist school, and more a gentle and refined greeting to the ancestors of Confucius.

As for Confucianism, it goes without saying—the fact that Confucius alone punished "heretics" and few righteous ones is enough to illustrate just how severe the crushing of different schools of thought was in that era.

Confucianism even has this famous saying;

Heretics are more hateful than pagans!
What do you mean?
Specifically, what is more hateful than a "heretic" Mohist is those "heretics" who belong to the same Confucian school but belong to different schools and branches.

In short, when Confucianism gets ruthless, it will even fight its own people!

Moreover, they tend to hit their own people much harder than they hit outsiders!

Given this context, the complete abolition and eradication of Confucianism was naturally ruled out by Liu Rong's instinct.

In this era where "right is right and wrong is wrong," if Confucianism were to be completely banned, it would be tantamount to the Chinese government defining Confucianism as "heretical and erroneous."

Since Confucianism has been officially labeled as heresy, the parts of other schools of thought influenced by Confucian culture will naturally also be seen as crooked branches that must be removed.

This can no longer be described as a major intellectual and academic upheaval;

This could even escalate into a major reshuffling and disruption of intellectual and academic thought!

By removing the Confucian elements from their respective schools of thought, many schools will no longer be themselves.

Those schools deeply influenced by the teachings, such as Legalism and Miscellaneous School, may have been completely wiped out during the turmoil and disappeared entirely from the long history of China.

Therefore, even for the sake of other schools of thought and doctrines, Confucianism must continue to exist.

Liu Rong also does not deny that in certain specific fields, Confucianism also has unique advantages that cannot be replaced by other schools of thought or doctrines.

For example, in terms of education, the Confucian saying "education for all" is a concept that other schools of thought may not have been able to grasp even after hundreds or thousands of years.

For example, the awakening of national consciousness was also inseparable from the domineering declaration of the Gongyang Confucian scholars that "even a feud of ten generations can be avenged".

But only there.

Just as a person cannot lack various trace elements, the food we eat must be nutritionally balanced, including meat, vegetables, and carbohydrates.

Confucianism is an essential element in the human body of 'Huaxia' (Chinese civilization), but it is not the only one.

To put it more bluntly, Chinese civilization cannot exist without Confucianism, but it also cannot exist solely based on Confucianism.

Confucianism must exist within the historical process of Chinese civilization, but it can never exist alone.

Given this, it becomes relatively easier for Liu Rong to gauge the appropriate level of control.

—Under the premise of not eradicating Confucianism, we should unleash our full power to suppress it!
In any case, Confucianism advocates "education for all" and has a huge base of support among the lower classes, making it an epic resilience king unparalleled in the Chinese academic world.

As long as Liu Rong doesn't directly send troops to commit genocide, Confucianism will not perish.

Of course, this is only a one-sided conclusion drawn from the perspective of 'suppressing Confucianism'.

If we only consider the health of Chinese academia and intellectual circles, then what Liu Rong should do most is to uphold the principle of "if you can't kill them, then beat them to death" towards Confucianism.

However, considering other factors, Liu Rong's suppression of Confucianism could not have been completely unrestrained or unlimited.

A very simple principle;

—The reason why Confucianism is an epic force for resilience, and why it can rely on a huge base of ordinary people and practice "education for all" and "accepting all comers," is only one aspect.

The fact that anyone can become a Confucian scholar without needing status, position, or wealth is certainly an important reason why people from the lower classes choose Confucianism, but it is not the only reason.

Besides the Confucian principle of "education for all," another major prerequisite for the lower classes to choose Confucianism was that choosing Confucianism was not without hope. Why did people study?

Enriching one's mind and accumulating knowledge—frankly speaking, these are all things said to the noble gentlemen.

For ordinary people, whether it's knowledge or martial arts, the ultimate destination is nothing more than this: "Learn literary and martial skills, and sell them to the emperor."

What's the use of learning arithmetic?

In later generations, they could work as accountants or in finance; in this era, they would serve as bookkeepers for wealthy merchants or nobles.

What are the benefits of learning calligraphy?

In later generations, it might have been for cultivating one's character or learning a new skill, but in this era, the best outcome was to become an official or clerk, and the worst outcome was to write letters or copy documents for others.

To sum it up—whether it's arithmetic, calligraphy, craftsmanship, or martial arts;

It is no exaggeration to say that all skills in the world, for the people at the bottom of society, are nothing more than a "livelihood," nothing more than a means of making a living.

The fact that a poor farming family could support a male member to take time off work to study and pursue literature was clearly not to show off the family's genes or to inject a literary atmosphere into the family.

For farmers at the bottom of society, the value of a male adult is extremely high!

In this generation, farming families that can quickly improve their economic situation in a short period of time must have one or more able-bodied laborers in their household.

Similarly, a farming family that falls into ruin or even goes bankrupt and becomes a tenant farmer in a short period of time must be because there is no male member in the family who can shoulder the main responsibility.

In fact, in the Han Dynasty today, the survival of many farming families often depended on a single able-bodied adult.

Imagine a young person who gets married, has children, and lives a rural life with four or five members, where the man farms and the woman weaves.

That young man was the only able-bodied man in the family.

In a few years, when the children grow up—especially one or two sons who can lend a hand in the fields—the family will have one or two more strong laborers.

During the period from when the son grows up, moves out into his own household, gets married, and has children, the family benefits from the extra labor force, and their family situation will inevitably improve.

—Even if we can achieve a comfortable life, at least the father, who is the pillar of the family, won't have to work so hard anymore.

After the sons marry and have children, move out into their own households, and the father enters middle age and his strength declines, the family will enter a low period.

The surplus labor force has disappeared;

The existing workforce is no longer considered "strong laborers" but has entered the category of "old and weak".

In such families, if the sons are incompetent and unable to support their parents, the family will likely end up in a rather miserable state.

Therefore, in traditional Chinese society, after the children separate from their parents, the eldest son does not leave the family but stays at home, inheriting the vast majority of his parents' property while also taking on the responsibility of supporting his parents.

In fact, not to mention the Han Dynasty more than two thousand years ago—even in the rural areas of the modern era, there is a similar saying: "The family with more male members is loud and not to be trifled with."

Against this backdrop, a farming family was not only willing to let a strong laborer who could have worked in the fields and supplemented the family income contribute, but also to bear the laborer's education expenses and daily living expenses—this investment, regardless of its risk, was at least extremely high!

For farmers at the bottom of society, investing a potential strong laborer in a scholar whose success or failure is uncertain is no less than going all in at the gambling table.

Farmers who are willing to pay such a huge price must have something to gain.

Cultivating a scholar is the most basic bottom line!
As for how this scholar, after being cultivated, will give back to the family that raised him, that depends on how far this 'scholar' can go and which path he can take.

Being able to become an official is naturally the best outcome.

If all else fails, becoming a retainer of a powerful figure and attaching oneself to a noble family is also a viable option.

If all else fails, I can just become a schoolteacher in my hometown!

It's better to accept the tuition fees from students who come to apprenticeship, and to receive filial piety and support from a few successful students than to toil in the fields, digging for food in the soil.

Under this kind of thinking, people choose Confucianism not only because it has the lowest threshold and requires the least investment, but also because Confucianism has the ability to cultivate scholars and even officials.

To put it bluntly, it's about getting your own children to study Confucianism, so that if they succeed, they can become officials!
If you can't become an official, what's the point of studying Confucianism?

It would be more worthwhile to find a local blacksmith, carpenter, or bricklayer and apprentice under them to learn a craft.

This means that Liu Rong's suppression of Confucianism not only had to be based on the premise that Confucianism could not perish, but also had to take into account that the foundation of Confucianism's "education for all" was actually supported by the political status of Confucianism.

The fundamental reason why the Confucian principle of "education for all" resonated with the common people was that students who studied Confucianism could become officials after graduation, and thus become scholars and potential officials who were not discriminated against.

Therefore, no matter how much Liu Rong suppressed Confucianism, he could never suppress Confucianism to the point that it had no way to advance in officialdom.

This will put Liu Rong to the test in terms of controlling the scale.

—You have to suppress it, you have to 'dislike' it, and you have to express your dissatisfaction as much as possible;

At the same time, we must not block the path to officialdom for Confucian scholars, and we must ensure that Confucian scholars always have a presence in the Han dynasty's officialdom.

At the same time, considering the Confucian school's extremely high brainwashing and assimilation abilities, as well as its ability to undermine other academic groups after forming small cliques in officialdom, it was also necessary to control the proportion and specific distribution of officials with Confucian backgrounds in the entire Han bureaucratic system.

In other words, Liu Rong not only wanted officials with Confucian backgrounds to account for no more than 40% of the entire Han bureaucracy, but also wanted to ensure that the proportion of Confucian scholars in every prefecture, county, and even every official administrative department was below 40%.

This can no longer be called the 'general direction'.

This can be described as precise control, or even supervision and monitoring!
"Whoo~"

"This is really a headache..."

“Especially officials who come from Confucian backgrounds, not all of them will have the word 'Confucianism' plastered on their foreheads.”

"—Inside and outside the imperial court, and even in the counties and localities, there are many people like Chao Cuo who are 'Confucian in appearance but pedantic in substance,' and people like Han Anguo who are 'pedantic in appearance but Confucian in substance.'"

"Even those who were not originally Confucianists, but were won over to Confucianism, were 'traitors' from other schools of thought..."

"It's tough!"

With this sigh, Liu Rong wearily rubbed his temples.

However, his gaze was uncontrollably drawn to Liu Xuan, the eldest prince, who was lying quietly in his mother's arms, his big eyes scanning everything around him.

—The feeling of becoming a father for the first time is absolutely wonderful.

Although it was hard to say whether it was a joy or a sorrow, it had unknowingly become a source of psychological comfort for Liu Rong when he felt tired and lonely...

(End of this chapter)