My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 58 Hongli's Sinology Education

Next, Hongli was personally taken by Yongzheng to Maoqin Hall to prepare to become Zhu Shi's disciple.

Maoqin Hall is located on the west side of the Qianqing Palace and was where Emperor Kangxi studied when he was young.

Normally, the princes should study in the upper study.

For example, Hong Zhou is currently studying in the upper study room.

However, because Hongshi was old and his enlightenment and basic education had ended, Yongzheng no longer allowed him to study in the upper study.

Moreover, because Yongzheng considered that Hongshi's character needed to be corrected, he also assigned him a special teacher, and let Wang Maohong work in his third prince's study to teach him how to read and behave.

In short, Yongzheng arranged targeted education for his three older sons.

However, the fact that Hongli was arranged by Yongzheng to study in Maoqin Hall where Kangxi once studied naturally has a special meaning.

When Hongli followed Yongzheng to Maoqin Hall, he saw Zhu Shi standing outside the hall with a sharp face and bright eyes.

As soon as he and Yongzheng walked in, Zhu Shi knelt down decisively and bowed deeply: "Your Majesty, Prince Bei, I pay my respects to you!"

"That's it!"

Yongzheng called out.

Only then did Zhu Shi stand up.

Then, Yongzheng asked Hongli to become his disciple.

At this time, Zhu Shi entered the hall and sat on the armchair in the hall.

Hongli performed the ceremony of becoming a disciple very reverently.

Seeing this, Yongzheng smiled with satisfaction and told Zhu Shi to educate him strictly.

Zhu Shi said he would obey the order and asked Hongli to sit behind the desk opposite the armchair where he had just sat.

After Yongzheng left, Hongli looked at Zhu Shi, wondering how Zhu Shi would teach him.

"Your Majesty has allowed me to review your recent writings. They are quite clear and organized, like the butcher cutting up an ox."

"But between the lines of your writing, it seems that you still have a certain contempt for the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties. Therefore, when you discuss the sages' scriptures, you mention the Han and Tang dynasties more often, and not the Song and Ming dynasties."

"Master, I'm guessing, do you think the Ming Dynasty perished because of our Confucian scholars' empty talk about the mind and nature, and therefore have no reverence for Song and Ming Confucianism?"

Zhu Shi spoke at this time and took the initiative to ask about Hongli.

Because Hongli was not the emperor yet, there was no distinction between him and Zhu Shi as monarch and subject, only as teacher and student. Teacher-student is one of the five human relationships, so Zhu Shi could call him by his name.

Hongli couldn't help but be shocked. He didn't expect that Zhu Shi not only saw the clues from the article he was ordered to write when he was in school, but also spoke out his heartfelt words, and said them so bluntly!

Could it be that Yongzheng had already instructed him to teach himself not to be taboo about anything?

Hongli made no secret of this and nodded earnestly, "Sir, I dare not hide it. I do have this understanding. Especially after reading the historical records from the time Chongzhen hanged himself to the time Yongli was hanged, I believe that the Qing Dynasty's conquest of the world is half due to the wisdom and bravery of our ancestors, and half to the Confucian scholars who only knew how to talk about the mind and nature and repay the emperor with their death."

"Even most Confucian scholars couldn't even die! Back then, when Chongzhen hanged himself and his body was left exposed in Beijing, only a few ministers wept for him. Most officials simply ignored him as they passed by!"

"Of course, Chongzhen was a stubborn and suspicious ruler, which displeased his ministers, but isn't the etiquette between ruler and minister the most important of the Five Relationships advocated by Confucianism?"

"If Confucian scholars cannot practice their own teachings, how can they convince others to believe in their teachings?"

"Students can use this knowledge to deceive the world, but they cannot deceive themselves."

Since Zhu Shi told him the truth without any hesitation, he might as well tell him the truth in return.

No matter what, only by telling the truth can you learn real things.

Although, the truth can sometimes be painful!

However, Hongli noticed that Zhu Shi was relatively calm, with no facial twitching. He just became more serious: "It is rare that you can mention that Chongzhen himself had faults. It shows that you are not shy about the emperor's own gains and losses."

Zhu Shi then looked at Hongli with a burning gaze: "And what I want to tell you is that the failure of the former Ming Dynasty that you mentioned can also be said to be the failure of the Han people. It was the fault of Han emperors like Chongzhen, not the fault of Confucian scholars!"

"Please enlighten me, sir!"

Hongli wanted to argue and say, "Chongzhen is dead, you Confucian scholars can of course put the blame on him."

But thinking that he was here to study, not to debate, I didn't say it out loud.

Zhu Shi said, "Chongzhen's fault was not his stubbornness and suspicion, but his failure to uphold rituals. As the ruler of the world, he should uphold the rituals of the world, unify the rituals of the world, promote the rituals of the world, and educate the people! He should not allow officials to behave like officials, scholars to behave like scholars, common people to behave like common people, men to behave like men, women to behave like women, monks to behave like monks, and Taoists to behave like Taoists!"

Hongli found it quite new.

Although he wasn't particularly familiar with Ming history, he knew that the late Ming was indeed very free and open, unlike the repressive early Ming. Men dressed up as women, put on makeup, prominent officials openly married famous prostitutes, and scholars and officials no longer felt ashamed to associate with eunuchs.

Therefore, Hongli decided to listen carefully to what Zhu Shi, a Han scholar, thought about the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

The ruling class of every dynasty hopes to summarize the lessons of the previous dynasty's demise.

Zhu Shi and others were no exception.

So, he did have a lot to say to Hongli.

And Yongzheng did allow him to tell Hongli everything he knew.

Zhu Shi then continued to explain to Hongli, "Emperor Chongzhen was only complacent about his ability to control power and maintain a balance of power, and he was proud of it. However, he did not maintain order in his government. He refused to confiscate the property and execute the powerful and noble who were disrespectful and immoral and who only cared about exploiting the people. Instead, he was very picky about the loyal and virtuous people, and he would execute them or imprison them at will."

"Even a member of the royal family like the King of Tang was imprisoned because of his sincere desire to serve the king."

"Thus, rituals gradually break down, people become increasingly corrupt, and ultimately ministers lose their sense of duty, and the people lose their sense of righteousness."

"You just said that after Chongzhen hanged himself, few of his ministers cried for him. Isn't it because the ministers he employed at the time were all disrespectful?"

After hearing what Zhu Shi said, Hongli understood what he meant. He knew that Zhu Shi attached great importance to the maintenance and construction of ritual order, so he took the initiative to ask Zhu Shi: "According to you, as an emperor, Chongzhen's primary responsibility should be to maintain ritual order?"

"Exactly! The king holds the highest authority and is the descendant of a sage, so he is the one most responsible for upholding the order of propriety and law!"

"If the monarch does not strictly protect and observe rituals, then even if his subjects do, they will be unable to prevent the collapse of rituals and music and avoid chaos under heaven."

Zhu Shi smiled and nodded. He was very satisfied with Hongli's comprehension.

Hongli continued to question Zhu Shi: "If so, is the etiquette determined by the emperor?"

Zhu Shi nodded: "Of course!"

"To uphold his own rites, can the Emperor punish those who disobey them, even to the point of beheading and whipping their corpses?"

Hongli asked again.

Zhu Shi smiled and nodded again: "In upholding the order of propriety and law, no matter how strict it is, it is not excessive!"

"The study of learning should not be limited to lecturing, but should be about benefiting the world. To benefit the world, one should explain principles through propriety, and bring them down to the common people, into the homes of the common people, so that everyone, from top to bottom, conforms to propriety and morality."

Hongli understood what Zhu Shi meant. It was nothing more than advocating strengthening centralization, unifying thoughts, and further strengthening control over families and individuals in the name of courtesy to the common people.

Ever since Gu Yanwu proposed that "every man has his share of responsibility for the rise and fall of his country", Han scholars and officials began to believe that the common people also had the responsibility to maintain the order of ethics and morality, and that the control of ethics and morality needed to be transferred to the common people.

It seems that the biggest lesson the Qing elites learned from the fall of the Ming Dynasty was to further deprive everyone of their freedom, and even to penetrate ideological control into every family and every person's daily behavior.

It was hard to say whether Hongli was right or wrong, because the Ming Dynasty was indeed much more free and open on the eve of its demise than at the beginning of his reign.

However, in his opinion, the fact that Emperor Qianlong further strengthened ideological control in history may have been related to the education of Confucian scholars like Zhu Shi.

"Hu Yizhi of the Northern Song Dynasty said: 'Understand the essence and realize its application.' Li Shugu of today also said: 'Be able to accomplish practical things and be useful to the world.' In this way, ritual is the essence, and practical achievements should be sought. Learning is practical learning, and practice is career. All governance is practical achievement."

"As a ruler, should we uphold rituals and establish the rituals of the world with the goal of pursuing practical results?"

Hongli had read a lot of books on Confucian classics over the years, so he could quote a few famous sayings of Confucian scholars and continued to ask questions to Zhu Shi.

Zhu Shi smiled with satisfaction.

In his opinion, the fact that the twelve-year-old Hongli could quote a few words of sages and ask questions proactively showed that he was really learning seriously.

For this reason, Zhu Shi said more seriously: "Heaven has created saints and wise men to rule the world. There has never been a person whose fame and honor did not originate from morality, nor has there ever been a person whose morality did not lead to fame and honor. A ruler should seek real achievements and establish rituals; this is essentially to establish virtue!"

"I will first teach you the teachings of Gu, Huang, Wang, and Yan, and then you will know what kind of practical skills you should pursue."

Hongli nodded. He didn't expect that Zhu Shi supported strengthening control in order to allow the emperor to achieve greater achievements.

He did not comment on this. He just wanted to know how a scholar-official like Zhu Shi would react when he found out that he would be increasingly restricted by the emperor in the future.

After the lecture, Yongzheng called Zhu Shi over and asked him, "How is the Fourth Prince doing?"

"Your Majesty, I am honored to be your teacher. You are extremely talented, a diligent student, and more importantly, a proactive thinker. I am not exaggerating, but I believe you will achieve great things in the future."

Yongzheng was quite surprised after hearing this. After a long silence, he smiled and said, "Then you should teach him well and make him understand that if the Qing Dynasty wants to be recognized by the world, it must make great contributions to the world."

"The minister obeys the order!"

After some research, I found out that the biggest proposition of Zhu Shi, Qianlong's teacher in history, was to integrate etiquette and moral order into daily life at home, requiring everyone (including common people and women) to conform to etiquette and legal norms in their words and deeds in daily life. So I wrote that this is how he taught Qianlong.

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(End of this chapter)