Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 469 Textbooks Should Emphasize Both Confucianism and Legalism (Part 2)
Song Lian got up and took the book, turning directly to the chapter on the signs of death mentioned by Lu Jin. After a cursory reading, he was indeed very surprised.

Seeing his expression, Lu Jin went even further and began to explain the importance of the article.

"The first sentence of the article 'Signs of Destruction' says, 'When a ruler's country is small but his family is large, and his power is weak but his ministers are strong, he is doomed.' What does this sentence make you think of?"
"What comes to mind is the Tang Dynasty. The five surnames and seven noble families of the Tang Dynasty, powerful clans, controlled wealth and the imperial examinations, monopolized power, and ultimately brought about the disaster of Huang Chao. After Huang Chao, these powerful families almost disappeared. This is what is meant by a small country with a large family."
"At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the regional military governors held great power. Military and political power were all in the hands of the military governor. The military governor had the right to levy taxes and conscript soldiers within his jurisdiction. Although he did not have the name of separatism, he had the reality of separatism. He outwardly obeyed the orders of the central government but inwardly disobeyed them. The central government had little power, while the local governments had great power. This was a case of weak power and heavy officials, which was a recipe for disaster."

"Do you think the Tang Dynasty perished because of this statement by Han Feizi? A figure from nearly two thousand years ago was able to accurately predict the reason for the Tang Dynasty's demise a thousand years later. If Confucianism had not been the sole state ideology, and if everyone had studied this article, would there have been ministers who came out to advise the monarch when the Tang Dynasty encountered such a situation?"
"Emperor Taizu of the Former Song Dynasty first implemented the separation of powers in local areas, with the Transport Commissioner in charge of finance, the Judicial Commissioner in charge of justice, and the Pacification Commissioner in charge of military affairs. Wasn't the purpose of doing this to prevent the drawbacks of 'light power but heavy ministers, small country but large family'?"

Hearing Lu Jin's explanation, everyone present became interested in the article and gathered around Song Lian to read it, nodding frequently as if they agreed with its viewpoints.

How they view this article is another matter, but Lu Jin, as a person from a later era, has witnessed hundreds of years more of history than them, and when he reads this article, he is truly deeply moved.

For example, the third line of the "signs of impending doom" reads, "When officials are preoccupied with learning, gatekeepers are fond of arguing, merchants amass wealth abroad, and the common people are impoverished at home, the dynasty is doomed." Doesn't this describe the late Ming Dynasty in the original historical record?

The ministers were fond of private schools, which led to the establishment of the Donglin Academy and the Donglin Party. The ministers were fond of arguing, which resulted in factional strife in the court. Merchants were accumulating wealth abroad, which meant that the Shanxi merchants who betrayed the country invested in the Qing Dynasty. The common people were suffering internally, which meant that there were constant natural disasters and heavy taxes at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the people were living in poverty. Such a country was likely to perish. In the end, the result was exactly as expected, and the Ming Dynasty really did perish!

Song Lian and others did not experience the late Ming Dynasty in history, so they may not have such a deep feeling. But when Lu Jin saw this sentence, he was truly shocked. Doesn't the accurate prediction by Han Feizi two thousand years ago demonstrate the merit of this article?

"A foreign scholar residing abroad, with his substantial wealth overseas, who can scheming against the emperor and influencing the people—such a nation is doomed." Who is this referring to? This is practically a perfect illustration of Marxism.
And then there's the classic saying: "A small country that does not humble itself, a weak country that does not fear the strong, a country that is rude and insults its great neighbor, a country that is greedy, stubborn, and inept at diplomacy—such a country is doomed." Japan perfectly embodies every point of this saying, which is precisely the reason why Lu Jin will attack Japan in the future!

A ruler who is arrogant and unrepentant, who boasts of his own country amidst chaos, and who underestimates his neighboring enemies while disregarding his own country's strength, is likely to perish.

This statement also reflects the situation in Japan, especially during the late Yuan Dynasty, a time of domestic turmoil during the Northern and Southern Courts period. It was the perfect opportunity to take action against Japan!
At this moment, Zhan Tong, who was craning his neck to read the article next to Song Lian, also spoke up.

"The omen of the fall of a nation is a sign of its demise. This article does have merit. In addition to the reasons for the fall of the Tang Dynasty mentioned by Your Highness, it also predicts the fall of the Sui Dynasty."

"'Those who indulge in extravagant construction of palaces, pavilions, ponds, carriages, clothing, and toys, who exhaust the people and squander wealth, are doomed to perish.' This is practically a direct quote from Emperor Yang of Sui."

"What's most surprising is that this article was actually written by Han Fei from the pre-Qin period, and he accurately predicted the fate of later dynasties!"

The others nodded in agreement, agreeing that it was a good article, including Song Lian. This was not because they liked Legalism, but because the article mainly discussed various signs of a country's demise and did not deliberately promote Legalist theories, so they could accept it.

Song Lian then commented, “This is indeed a good article, but I think it is more suitable for teaching the monarch, as it has the intention of advising and teaching the monarch how to govern the country. As for the common people and ministers, this article is not that important. However, if Your Highness insists on including it in the middle school textbook, there is nothing wrong with that.”

Zhu Sheng nodded and said, "It is said that Han Fei had a stutter and was not good at speaking, but he was particularly good at writing books. These articles he wrote were originally intended for Qin Shi Huang, so they were more inclined to teach the monarch how to govern the country. Interestingly, Han Fei and Li Si were both students of Xunzi, which is really amusing."

Everyone was speechless upon hearing this. Indeed, who could have imagined that Xunzi, a great Confucian scholar, could teach two giants of Legalism?
At this moment, Song Lian also said, "In Han Feizi, what other articles does Your Highness wish to include in middle school textbooks? Please also suggest them. We happen to have the book available now, and we can help Your Highness to consult it."

Seeing that the others agreed to include the article, Lu Jin immediately added, "Among Han Feizi's works, besides Wang Zheng, the most famous are undoubtedly the Five Vermin and Eight Traitors."

However, before he could finish speaking, even Zhu Sheng, who hadn't strongly objected at first, interrupted him directly, saying, "Your Highness, it's acceptable to include the article 'The Signs of Death' in the textbook, but I disagree with this 'Five Vermin and Eight Traitors'."

Seeing this, Lu Jin quickly raised his hand to interrupt, "Mr. Yunsheng, please let me finish. As for the articles 'Five Vermin' and 'Eight Traitors,' the 'Eight Traitors' is definitely not a problem. This article simply describes eight types of traitors, which are what you Confucian scholars call petty people, sycophants, and treacherous officials. Adding them to the textbook can serve as a warning and admonition, allowing students and future officials to distinguish between treacherous and sycophantic people, and also admonishing them not to become such petty and sycophantic people. There's nothing wrong with that."

Zhu Sheng breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Then Lu Jin continued, “I know you oppose including Legalist articles in textbooks, mainly because you are worried about the conflict between Confucianism and Legalism, but the article ‘Eight Traitors’ does not involve any controversy, so there shouldn’t be any problem with including it in the textbook, right?”

"For example, the three things mentioned in the Eight Traitors—'sharing a bed,' 'having a father or elder brother' beside them—aren't these exactly what's happening right now?"

Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged bewildered glances. What was happening now? Where had it happened? How come they didn't know about it?
Seeing the confused expressions on their faces, Lu Jin immediately reminded them, "The current prime minister of the Yuan Dynasty, Hama, was formerly a close attendant of Emperor Yuan's Little Iron Pot. He brought together a group of heretical monks from the Tantric sect to incite the emperor to engage in debauchery. They played some kind of Sixteen-Day Demon Dance in the Forbidden City, causing the emperor to become obsessed with women, indulge in debauchery, and neglect state affairs. Isn't this the treacherous minister who 'advised the emperor to share a bed' 'beside the emperor'?"

"Afterwards, Hama colluded with the second empress, Qi, to induce the emperor to resign as prime minister. On the battlefield in Huaibei, he deposed Tuotuo from his position as prime minister and demoted him to Yunnan. Hama also forged an imperial edict to disband the 200,000-strong army at the front.

"Colluding with the emperor's relatives and using imperial connections to influence the court's policies—isn't that exactly what the 'father and elder brother' among the Eight Traitors are like?"

"And then there's this 'nurturing calamity.' The emperor loved magnificent palaces and all sorts of treasures. Instead of advising him, treacherous officials catered to his tastes and exploited the people to gain the emperor's favor and then seek personal gain. Isn't this just like Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty and the Flower and Stone Tribute? What happened after the Flower and Stone Tribute? The Jingkang Incident led to the fall of the Song Dynasty."

"And then there's the seventh treacherous minister, Wei Qiang, whose ministers used force to intimidate the emperor and control the government. Isn't this exactly what the powerful ministers and prime ministers before the Yuan Dynasty were like? From Yan Temur, who deposed and installed emperors and fought the war between the two capitals, to Bayan before Toqto'a, they were all like this."

"The Yuan Dynasty perished because of these various treacherous officials. Shouldn't articles like 'Eight Traitors' be studied by all scholars in the country to serve as a warning to the new emperor and his ministers?"

Hearing Lu Jin say this, Song Lian and the others nodded repeatedly. However, Song Lian became even more worried. Lu Jin seemed to be a big believer in Legalist theories, which was not a good thing.
Song Lian immediately said, "I have just read the article on the Eight Traitors, and with Your Highness's explanation, it does have merit and can be included in teaching materials. However, I still have a question, and I would like Your Highness to answer it."

"Mr. Jinglian, please ask."

"How does Your Highness view the debate between Confucianism and Legalism? Should the new dynasty govern the country with Confucianism or with the rule of law?" Song Lian asked, then stared intently at Lu Jin.

Whether or not Legalist articles are included in textbooks is not the most important thing; what matters most is how the monarch Lu Jin understood and viewed both Confucianism and Legalism.

"Hahahaha." Lu Jin burst into laughter upon hearing this. Song Lian immediately asked in confusion, "Why is Your Highness laughing?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin said, "I laugh at you gentlemen for getting stuck in a rut. You gentlemen are so wary of Legalist ideas; you're being too attached to appearances."

Song Lian was even more puzzled, "What does Your Highness mean by this?"

Lu Jin immediately said seriously, "Sir, haven't you read Han Feizi? Please turn to the article 'Five Vermin' and see what's written at the beginning?"

Upon hearing this, Song Lian immediately opened the article to read it, and the others also gathered around to watch.

The article "Five Vermin" is a bit long, but it can be roughly divided into two parts. In the first part, Han Fei lists three historical stages: ancient times, medieval times, and early modern times, from eating raw meat and drinking blood to the rule of sage kings, and then to the Shang and Zhou dynasties in which he lived. He also made up the story of "waiting for a rabbit to bump into a tree stump." Yes, the story of "waiting for a rabbit to bump into a tree stump" was made up by Han Fei.
It is said that Yu the Great won the hearts of the people by controlling the floods, which enabled his son Qi to become king. Can you still emulate Yu the Great and become emperor by controlling the floods? No, because times have changed.

The core idea of ​​the first half is to argue that "times change and the world changes," and that people cannot wait passively for opportunities to come and completely imitate the practices of their predecessors to govern the present. It advocates seeking innovation and change, and is a reformist and a proponent of change. It advocates governing the country according to the times and the local conditions. Han Fei would not say that "the laws of our ancestors cannot be changed." Change should be made when necessary. As the world changes, the way of governing the country should also change accordingly!
The second half is about the Five Vermin. Well, I've gone a bit off-topic. The literal meaning of the Five Vermin is five kinds of pests, which represent five kinds of behaviors that harm the country. This part is practically a direct attack on Confucianism, which is why these Confucian scholars resolutely opposed including it in middle school textbooks.

For example, Han Fei said, if your own father breaks the law, would you protect him and exonerate him, or would you uphold justice, report him, and hand him over to the authorities?

If you would betray your own family for the sake of righteousness, then fine, you are immoral for harming your own father; that is unfilial! Filial piety is the most important of all virtues. If you can't even be filial, what kind of morality do you have?

If you choose to protect your father and exonerate him, you are being filial, but you are also violating the law. This shows that the rule of law and the rule of virtue are in conflict and cannot be achieved at the same time.

People like this are pests that harm the country. If everyone values ​​morality, then the law becomes meaningless. A country without the rule of law is not far from its demise.

Imagine if the official ranks were full of such "morally upright" people who would protect their lawless relatives and friends—how could the country possibly prosper?
Confucian scholars all considered themselves moral saints, so of course they couldn't stand these kinds of things.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty was governed purely on Confucian moral teachings. Zhu Yuanzhang's "Great Ming Code" and "Great Ming Proclamation" contain cases where a son who beat his father could be sentenced to death by a thousand cuts (lingchi), the most severe punishment imaginable. Furthermore, if a son reported his father for committing a crime, it was also considered a crime.
What does it mean to have proper relationships like ruler and subject, father and son? Old Zhu was the kind of person who could delete Mencius's saying "the people are more important than the ruler." If your son dares to beat his own father today, does that mean your subjects can rebel against the emperor tomorrow? We must strike hard!
After the group had roughly finished looking at the five vermin, Lu Jincai spoke.

"How I view the debate between Confucianism and Legalism, and whether the new dynasty should govern the country with Confucianism or with the rule of law, I think Han Fei's essay 'Five Vermin' has already given the answer."

"Gentlemen, don't get bogged down in the surface of the article. Han Fei Zi's article begins by saying that times have changed and the world is different now. We can use Han Fei's own words to refute himself. The world today is very different from that of the pre-Qin and Warring States periods. Can we still govern the country using the Legalist methods of the pre-Qin period? Of course not."

"In Han Fei's own words, are the things he said two thousand years ago still correct today? If we blindly study the Legalists of the pre-Qin period, isn't that just another form of waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump?"

Everyone suddenly realized what was going on, feeling as if Lu Jin had suddenly pulled them out of the debate between Confucianism and Legalism.

Lu Jin continued, "In my opinion, the debate between Confucianism and Legalism is like child's play. There is no irreconcilable contradiction between the two, at least not to the point of life and death."

"Rule of virtue and rule of law should be like hot and cold, yin and yang, day and night, coexisting. Neither can be neglected, and neither can be missing."

"If we compare a person's actions to a ruler, then morality is the upper limit of that ruler. Almost no one can achieve it, not even Confucius, whom you revere as a saint. What he said was certainly good, but could he really do what he said?"

"Therefore, I believe that there is no moral saint in the world who can perfectly abide by morality."

"The law is the lower limit of this yardstick. No one is perfect. As long as you are a human being, you will definitely have selfishness and desires. With selfishness and desires, you will naturally do immoral things. Being immoral does not necessarily harm the country, but breaking the law will definitely harm the country or others."

"The law is the lower limit of morality; crossing this lower limit must be punished."

"Correspondingly, a ruler cannot have only one end; it must have two ends. Governing a country should certainly emphasize both Confucianism and Legalism. The law is the moral lower limit set by the state, which cannot be touched. However, as human beings, we should also learn from the virtuous and set higher standards for ourselves. This is morality. We should encourage people to have morality, but we should also not violate the law."

"These two are not contradictory. I really don't know what there is to argue about between Confucianism and Legalism."

"Take Han Fei's 'Five Vermin' as an example. He uses the example of a son protecting his father to argue that rule by virtue and rule by law cannot be achieved at the same time. In my opinion, this is wrong."

"Han Fei likes to make up stories and give examples. Let me give you an example too. Suppose the new dynasty has a law prohibiting gambling in groups, but your father is addicted to gambling and has lost everything. He even wants to sell your mother and sisters to a brothel. Your father has already broken the law. Would you protect him and watch him sell your mother and sisters, or would you take him to the authorities and put him in jail?"

Everyone was speechless upon hearing this.

Lu Jin continued, “In my opinion, you Confucian scholars often talk about the relationship between ruler and subject, father and son. Since even the emperor can be advised and Emperor Wu of Han can issue an edict of self-reproach, why should you protect your own father when he makes a mistake? If you are filial to your own father, then are your own mother and sisters, who were sold by this gambler, not important?”

"When did 'ruling the world with filial piety' become a consensus among Confucian scholars? It was after Sima Yi usurped the throne that he abandoned all the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. He was too ashamed to talk about other morals, so he could only pick up the remaining filial piety as a fig leaf."

"In my view, there is no irreconcilable contradiction between Confucianism and Legalism. Both should be given equal importance, so what is there to argue about?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately stood up, cupped their hands, and said, "We have learned a great deal."

(End of this chapter)