I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 458 Intellectual Theory
Just like Zhou Tieyi said, it does take some time for the money to fly around. As for whose pocket it flies to, that depends on how clever the means are.

The stock market in the afternoon was as hot as expected. After all, it had only been two days, and there were only five stocks in total. Except for the Baizhishan Coal and Steel Plant, which had a weaker foundation, the other four stocks were solid blue-chip stocks even in Zhou Tieyi's era. As long as the industrial revolution of the entire Daxia continued to advance, these five stocks would not lose money.

Of course, as stocks are still a new thing, people are more likely to follow the trend. They would rather hold on to the other four stocks and wait for others to sell them than buy the Baizhishan Coal and Steel Plant, which has been rising and falling today.

However, this was also what Zhou Tieyi intended. Although the trading rules have stated that stocks are not a purely money-making business, with such vigorous promotion, it is inevitable that people will have an illusion that stocks can only make money and not lose money.

Once the price reaches a high level, the wealthy families and big businessmen will have enough capital to wait for dividends for a few years, but the common people do not. Therefore, Zhou Tieyi needs an example to let the common people know that stocks will not only make profits but not losses.

Now the Baizhishan Coal and Steel Plant is a good example. Under the circumstance of overall surge, the ups and downs of the Baizhishan Coal and Steel Plant have also made the people involved truly understand what stock trading is.

Without waiting for the afternoon market to close, Zhou Tieyi's carriage arrived at the Ministry of Justice. Chang Sundan, a direct descendant of the Zhou family and the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, was waiting in the hall.

Zhou Tieyi's entry into the Ministry of Justice naturally attracted everyone's attention. Everyone understood that he came to close the Mo Shi case.

"Have you finished the trial?"

Zhou Tieyi asked.

Chang Sun Dan nodded seriously. This case was originally presented by the subjugated noble families in several states of Taihang Mountain. Even the relationship with the military strategists was explained clearly. Even if there were still some secrets, it would not be a big deal at this time.

This half month was enough time for the Ministry of Justice to basically verify the case.

“These are the judgments?”

Zhou Tieyi walked to a pile of documents next to him and opened them. As the chief judge of the Mo Shi case, he certainly had the right to read the case files before the case was closed. Because it involved the sentencing of thousands of people, although the Ministry of Justice had only dealt with it preliminarily in the past few days, it was still very busy.

"Yes."

Chang Sundan looked at Zhou Tieyi, then said seriously, "I'll deliver this case tomorrow."

Although the Mo Shi case was fought in a relatively mild manner amid the struggle among all parties, the struggle was far from over. Everyone just agreed on two basic points. The first was that Zhou Tieyi was responsible for making up the deficit, and the second was not to involve the front-line troops.

But the incident had caused a lot of uproar before and was known to everyone in the world through newspapers. It had both advantages and disadvantages. Zhou Tieyi had already reaped the benefits, so naturally he had to bear the disadvantages now.

Just like what he told Li Jianhu before, the Moshi case was a double-edged sword. When it was stabbed, both sides would bleed.

"Uncle Changsun, even though you are a minister, you cannot bear this case."

Zhou Tieyi answered with a chuckle as he glanced at the results of the trial.

Chang Sun Dan sighed, "Actually, this matter can be turned from a big thing to a small thing, or a small thing to nothing."

In the past when there were no newspapers, the most feared thing about things like the Mo Shi case was that no one would make up for the deficit. But now Zhou Tieyi has found a way to make up for the huge deficit discovered this year by establishing a central bank. With everyone working together, the matter will naturally be resolved.

Zhou Tieyi stopped flipping through the case files, raised his head, and looked at Chang Sun Dan seriously, "Uncle Chang Sun, why do you think I can make up for the shortfall?"

Chang Sun Dan looked at Zhou Tieyi's face, which had changed from childish to dignified, and said seriously, "If it was before, I would definitely praise your intelligence, but now after reading some of the things you wrote, I also understand that we are officials serving the people, and you are actually borrowing the people's money to make up for the deficit today."

Zhou Tieyi's frosty majesty turned into a smile. As the head of Zhou family's disciples, Chang Sun Dan not only needed to help the Zhou family look after their disciples and old officials and make them stand on his side, but he also needed Chang Sun Dan to accurately understand his political intentions and convey his political ideas to the people below.

Otherwise, disciples who are gathered together only by interests and power may seem stable, but they will not be able to withstand the test of politics, because this test is not only in the officialdom, but also within their own power.

Without a unified political ideology as a guideline for action, political groups can easily become corrupt.

"Since it is a loan, the people should at least know who borrowed it, where it was used, and how to pay it back. This is the most basic contract."

Zhou Tieyi lowered his head again, flipped through the most important cases in front of him, and then said, "There is a saying in the Confucian classics: If the people can be led, let them be led; if they cannot be led, let them know."

Chang Sun Dan nodded slightly. Although he switched from being a military strategist to a legalist, he had read a lot of Confucian books over the years.

Zhou Tieyi restated the sentence, "I heard a saying in the market that people can be made to follow it, but they cannot be made to understand it."

When Zhou Tieyi said this, Chang Sun Dan immediately understood the difference between the two meanings. He immediately retorted, "The words of ordinary people are hard to listen to!"

The second punctuation is the so-called policy of keeping the people ignorant. However, this sentence has a contextual source, especially in conjunction with Confucius' proposal to establish private schools. This statement is obviously suspected of misinterpreting the words of the sage.

Even though there are hundreds of schools of thought in this era, it is still a serious crime to misinterpret the words of the sages. Don't think that Confucian officials can't do anything.

Chang Sun Dan reacted instantly. These were not the words of a common person at all, but Zhou Tieyi's own words. This made him think more. Since Zhou Tieyi was speaking to him in the name of a common person, did it mean that he was going to take action against Confucianism from this aspect?

But before Chang Sun Dan could think about it, Zhou Tieyi laughed and said, "I also think it's nonsense."

"However, the sages also said that if one abandons wisdom and knowledge, the people will benefit a hundredfold. This is similar to the saying that the people can be led astray, but not made to know."

Chang Sun Dan was stunned and smiled bitterly, "You are testing me!"

In just one sentence, Zhou Tieyi had turned around three times. He used the words of a Taoist saint to refute the words of a Confucian saint, and said that he did not completely agree with the misinterpretation. Combined with Zhou Tieyi's current identity and status, for a moment, even Chang Sun Dan, a direct descendant, felt that he was unfathomable and difficult to guess.

"So the words of the saints are not necessarily more correct the more refined they are. I do have a new understanding. Uncle Changsun, are you willing to listen?"

"Appreciate further details."

"I think the understanding of the people's wisdom by Confucian and Taoist sages can be explained in terms of 'knowledge' and 'nature'."

"The so-called 'knowledge' is people's objective understanding of everything, such as the knowledge of drilling wood to make fire. This knowledge does not change with the cognition of one person or a group of people. At the same time, it can guide our life and production and make us live better. This is the original intention of Confucian saints to open private schools and teach the people, and it is also 'enlightenment'."

"The so-called 'nature' is a person's self-perception of everything, including anger, joy, benevolence, and morality. These emotions are easily led and even misled, so Taoist saints believe that they should be overcome and should not become the standard for people to judge and deal with things." "At the same time, 'knowledge' and 'nature' must be necessary stages in the process of learning knowledge, and they can be transformed into each other."

After Zhou Tieyi finished speaking, Chang Sun Dan stood up and paced back and forth while combing his hair carefully.

The definition of "knowledge" in the first paragraph is easy to understand, which is what people often call "knowledge" in a narrow sense, but it is the first time that Chang Sun Dan has heard of the term "nature".

"Is morality also 'sexuality'?"

Chang Sun Dan's eyes lit up. If morality is judged as anger, joy or other emotions, it would be no less destructive to Confucian classics than the saying "The people can be made to follow it, but they cannot be made to understand it"!
"Naturally it's sex."

Zhou Tieyi said with certainty, "Not only morality is nature, but law can also be nature. This is the common cognition of human society for a period of time, but this cognition is not an objective truth and will inevitably change with the passage of time. Uncle Changsun can use the laws of the previous dynasty to judge the cases of this dynasty?"

After Zhou Tieyi said this, Chang Sun Dan came to his senses instantly.

In a sense, law is also a kind of morality, but it has stronger binding force. At the same time, morality will also affect the judgment of the law.

For example, Chang Sun Dan encountered several such difficult cases. If a person killed someone to avenge his father, generally speaking, the court would give him a light sentence rather than a heavy one.

Chang Sun Dan thought about it seriously and said regretfully, "It's a pity that we can't use this method to criticize Confucianism!"

Since law is also "nature", as a member of the Legalist School, Chang Sun Dan naturally could not criticize Confucian morality on this point.

Zhou Tieyi smiled silently.

Chang Sun Dan saw Zhou Tieyi's smile and laughed himself, "After all, I am too narrow-minded and still stuck at the level of 'sex'. You have already seen 'true knowledge'."

Zhou Tieyi shook his head instead. "No, I don't think that 'knowledge' and 'nature' are completely divergent or contradictory. On the contrary, I believe that it is the accumulation of 'nature' that can prompt people to learn true 'knowledge'. So if it is not due to nature, we don't know the purpose of life! It's just that in this process, we need guidance."

"How do you guide me?"

Chang Sun Dan's eyes lit up. In his previous conversations with Zhou Tieyi, he had only seen Zhou Tieyi's methods in officialdom, but today he saw Zhou Tieyi's reasoning.

"Take the Moshi case as an example."

"We all know that the people involved in the Moshi case deserved their punishment. They exploited the people and deserved death. But what is the reality? The Moshi case is related to the deficit of the national treasury, the military affairs on the front line, and even the current reform. If we handle this case according to the most simple morality, we can only get a more chaotic situation, inflict secondary harm on the people who have already been harmed, and make the people completely lose the trust of the court."

"But on the other hand, can we completely disregard reason and law for the sake of a momentary political compromise and completely abandon 'sex'? Then why are we born?"

"So I need to let the people know about this and let the world know. At the same time, I cannot let the surging public opinion turn into an uncontrollable force and completely destroy the situation that I have worked so hard to build."

Chang Sundan sorted out his thoughts carefully and said in a slightly questioning tone, "So you chose to throw out the Moshi case and close it when the stock was selling?"

"Yes."

Zhou Tieyi nodded and said affirmatively, "The reason why the vast majority of people in the world hate corrupt officials is because they harm their interests. Therefore, only when they gain benefits is the best time to guide public opinion."

"The people need a legal and reasonable explanation. We can make it legal, but how can we make them feel it is reasonable? There are only two ways: unity between the top and the bottom, and redemption through merits."

Chang Sun Dan's eyes lit up after hearing this. He felt that the Legalist principles that he had never understood before had some new explanations from Zhou Tieyi today. It was like drawing inferences from one instance to another, and it suddenly became clear to him.

Of course he understood the idea of ​​atonement by merit, and the whole society was one... Thinking of this, Chang Sun Dan's eyes fixed, he stopped and looked at Zhou Tieyi in front of the case. At this time, Zhou Tieyi had already read through the case list, and all those who should be sentenced had been sentenced, except for one person, whom the Ministry of Justice did not dare to mention.

So Zhou Tieyi picked up his pen and said, "I have heard of the "Strategy of the Three Talents of Heaven and People's Induction". After reading it for a long time, I think it is a good strategy. This summer is dry and autumn is flooding, and the people are in dire straits. In addition, the Moshi case involves many officials and people. Even if the heaven has the morality of loving life, I have committed many sins. My many sins are listed above, but there is still one sin that I dare not speak out."

When Chang Sun Dan saw what Zhou Tieyi wrote on it, his pupils shrank in his already solemn gaze. He immediately understood why Zhou Tieyi said right away that he, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was not qualified to hand in the charges.

From the beginning to the end, Zhou Tieyi had no intention of downplaying the Mo Shi case, but only wanted to handle it in an appropriate manner. After the verdict of this case, it would not end with today's verdict, but from today on, all future verdicts in the world would be affected by the Mo Shi case!

The three talents of heaven, saints and people are in responsive harmony.

The auspicious signs from heaven are the result of the emperor's natural virtue, while the sins of the people and ministers are the result of the emperor's immoral behavior!
There is no such thing in this world as enjoying the credit without taking any responsibility. There has never been such a thing in the past, and there will never be in the future!

Zhou Tieyi wrote down his name, closed the case file, and said to Chang Sun Dan, "Please ask Minister Chang Sun to hand the case file over to the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Civil Affairs for review, and then submit it to His Majesty for review."

Silu Mansion.

The lights were bright. After reading the case file, Qingkong Gui wanted to put his name at the end to end the farce of the Moshi case. However, when he saw Zhou Tieyi's last inscription, even with his temperament, his pupils shrank and he asked the butler beside him, "Did Changsun Dan send this case file? Where is he? Is he gone?"

Seeing that his master looked like a tiger waiting to devour someone, the butler quickly replied, "Master Changsun is waiting in the flower hall."

"Tell him to come in."

After a while, Chang Sun Dan walked into Qing Kong Gui's study leisurely.

Qingkong Gui frowned, "It's over now, can't he just be quiet for a few days?"

Chang Sun Dan said to the court, "Reporting to Si Lu, Marquis Zhou asked me to bring you a message."

"speak."

"Without nature, one does not know the purpose of life; without true knowledge, one does not understand the purpose of the world!"

(End of this chapter)