sweeping the world

Chapter 599 Yu Guo, Wu is more important than literature

There is a saying in Confucianism called "Learning literature and martial arts, making goods and the emperor's family", but they just express people's desire to become an official in words.

In fact, talented people have always hoped to be appreciated by the rulers since ancient times, and this has created a phenomenon that no matter what they study, they want to participate in the country's governance class.

It’s really not just Confucianism that wants to cling to the ruler’s thighs. In fact, it’s the Legalists who have the lowest integrity.

It is not a derogatory term to say that a person has no integrity in front of the ruler. The existence of the law is to ensure the interests of the ruler. Generally speaking, the law is created to restrict others, but in the process of restriction, it can make society exist in order .

The ruler is the leader, and there is a well-known "leadership effect", which means that only one "supreme person" is actually conducive to social stability.So any country has only one supreme leader, not many.

To say that the law is useless to the rich and powerful is a phenomenon that has always existed in all dynasties... but the existence of the law still guarantees the interests of ordinary people. Without the existence of the law, ordinary people are actually the biggest victims.Therefore, no matter how imaginary the laws of a country are, it is definitely much better than no laws at all.

Of course Liu Yan is eager to promote education, but one thing must be faced squarely, that is, it cannot only be used to educate people to become officials after studying. Education should be used in all aspects, so that it can be used in daily life.

There are many ways to learn knowledge. It can be the baptism of the spiritual field. Confucianism is best at this. According to modern classification, Confucianism is a very powerful knowledge as a philosophy, and it is also used to cultivate morality and thought. Excellent, the only bad thing is that philosophers must never become officials.

The current Confucianism is not dominated by the Lu school. Several schools have their own distinctive characteristics, and Confucian students are not as ignorant of the five grains as in the Ming Dynasty.

Today's Confucian scholars, including Ruru Lu, have to grasp every aspect of rites, music, archery, censorship, calligraphy, and mathematics. If you count them carefully, Confucian scholars are really a well-deserved elite class nowadays.The Confucian six arts of a gentleman are actually inherited from the basic requirements of the Zhou family as an official.

The Zhou Dynasty was a feudal country. At that time, the surrounding environment of the country was not safe, and the basic requirement for being an official was to be a nobleman (or heir), that is, to look at bloodlines before choosing talents.

The nobility is a class that has existed since people lived together. In the early days, it was the class that led the ethnic group to develop. For example, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors are similar classes.Until the Zhou family moved eastward, the nobility was definitely not a derogatory existence. Their social status came from protecting the people and opening up more living space for the ethnic group. What responsibility brought was due benefits, such as social status Or quality of life.

Every class will have its own corruption process, which lasts until it becomes the rule to inherit the authority of the ancestors according to the blood relationship. Just relying on "who is my father" can get things that do not belong to their efforts, and they are buried for the corruption of power. Foreshadowing.

Each generation of pioneers always appears wise and capable, and they belong to the "pioneering" group of people.Pioneering aristocrats can't be idiots who don't know anything, and they must have enough force value, so how to cultivate them has become a matter worth studying.

"Zhou Li. Baoshi" clearly pointed out the methods and methods of cultivating elites, since "raising the sons of the country with the Tao is to teach the six arts: one is called five rituals, the second is called six music, the third is called five shooting, the fourth is called five imperialism, Five is six books, six is ​​nine numbers." This is the "six arts" in the so-called "compassing the five classics and practicing the six arts".

If you want to be an official in the Zhou family, any official needs to take an assessment, or the kind of assessment that happens every few years. The content of the assessment is the six arts. Distinguish between poor, qualified, and excellent grades.

Like many dynasties, the decline of a dynasty always starts from within, and the decline of the Zhou Dynasty starts from the examination officials.This phenomenon was caused by the absurdity of several generations of kings (such as the one in Fenghuo opera princes), as well as the loss of strength of the Zhou royal family after moving eastward.

The central government can't hold down the local government, and its strength is not enough to deter the vassals. The consequence of the weak and strong ministers is that the princes don't take the Zhou royal family seriously. Then the Zhou royal family wants to continue the official assessment, and those princes can accept the dismissal from the central government. and reappointment?

Until Confucius founded Confucianism, it was already the era of "the collapse of ritual and music".The so-called "ritual collapse and music destruction" have many meanings. First of all, it means that the Zhou royal family can no longer drive the princes, and the Zhou royal family can no longer have any say in the appointment and dismissal of princes. Many traditions are gradually disintegrated, including the evaluation of officials. one item.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Six Arts gradually evolved into the core content used by noble families to educate their offspring.Confucius required Confucian students to learn the Six Arts. In fact, he hoped to train Confucian students in the same way as the nobles. His approach was rejected by the nobles at that time, not to mention ridiculed from all sides.

"If you really want to promote education, you don't need everyone to be proficient in the 'six arts'." Liu Yan never felt that there are so many all-rounders in the world: "Everyone has their own talents, and if they specialize in something, then go to That direction focuses on cultivation. Just learning the six arts is not enough, knowledge comes from life and should be used in life."

"Yes, people who are good at fighting, as long as they can read and understand military books, they don't need to be able to understand poems and poems, and they don't need to be able to compose poems and sing poems." To hide his excitement.As long as Liu Yan doesn't go back on his word, then what Liu Yan says is right, he keeps nodding his head and said: "Not only must you learn, but you must also be able to use it. The unity of knowledge and action is the foundation."

Ji Chang's eyes lit up, and he nodded emphatically: "It is the unity of knowledge and action."

Why does Liu Yan feel familiar with the term "integration of knowledge and action"?It took me a while to think about it before I remembered it.

The unity of knowledge and action means that the object conforms to the subject, knowledge refers to conscience, and action refers to human practice. The unity of knowledge and action does not mean that knowledge is swallowed up by knowledge, and knowledge is thought to be action, nor is knowledge swallowed up by action. , thinking that doing is knowing.This was proposed by Wang Shouren, a thinker in the Ming Dynasty.That is to say, knowing the truth of things and applying this truth in reality are inseparable.

In fact, it is very ironic!In the Ming Dynasty, scholars devoted themselves to studying stereotyped essays for the imperial examination.In addition to being able to get scholars to get high marks for the eight-legged essay, it actually has no skills that can be used in life.To say which generation of scholars in the past dynasties is most suitable for the characteristics of rice insects, there are no other scholars except the scholars of the Ming Dynasty and "My Great Qing Dynasty".

The opinions and theories put forward by many people are actually the related arguments of the sages of the past dynasties. The difference is that those sages did not systematically summarize and write them out (maybe they were lost). "Knowledge and action are one", it is estimated that seeing that scholars do not know anything except reading, they have a sense of urgency.

However, it turns out that it is ironic to mention "unity of knowledge and action" in the Ming Dynasty.The reason why scholars read books is: Lao Tzu reads and specializes in stereotyped essays just for the sake of winning.It doesn’t matter if Lao Tzu can’t do anything after being elected. After having the power to exempt from taxes and taxes, some people will eagerly become their tenants. be an official.When it's time to enjoy the blessings, the old people are still working hard to learn other things, and what is it if they are not purely looking for sins.

Liu Yan was still thinking about the social changes after the promotion of education just now. Whether it was the Song Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, if the promotion of education would lead to a similar situation, then it would be worth not to promote it.Before he could magnify his worries, Lu Yi released the big move of "integration of knowledge and action".

Reading is not a bad thing, but I’m not afraid of how bad the bad guys are. What I’m afraid of is that the bad guys are educated. The bad guys don’t have to be vicious. The most depressing and worst thing is that the bad guys don’t think they’re doing bad things. On the contrary, they think they’re doing it A good thing that benefits the country and the people is most prominent in the behavior of those scholars in the Song Dynasty.

Of course, the Song Dynasty was due to the experience of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was an era when generals were rampant everywhere, and the Song Dynasty was just too much.

[Scholars in the Song Dynasty, they could do anything for their own power, including letting the army fail in the national war, and then appearing on the stage to subdue in the form of annual tribute, and they are not ashamed but proud, saying that they spend some money to ensure peace , completely disregarding what kind of blow to the morale of the country's military and civilians such behavior is. 】Liu Yan looks like he is watching Ji Chang and Lu Yi who are exchanging opinions, but his eyes are not in focus: 【Never underestimate the shamelessness of scholars... Of course, you can't believe how much integrity a general has...】

Generally speaking, if a country's generals lose control, the harm it will cause is indeed very serious, and the country will inevitably fall into repeated civil wars. The disadvantages are of course very obvious.

The harm of generals is very obvious, but the impact of literati is not just one generation.When literati go bad, it is not the most serious thing to cause the demise of a country. What will be affected is the follow-up of a nation. The ideas and culture created by literati will always be passed on. .

Walk across the world with a sword and take a look at the prosperity of the world... This is not a lyrics, it is what most scholars were really doing before the Song Dynasty, like Li Bai who was very busy. He traveled all over the famous mountains and rivers of the Tang Empire, and most of the places where his footprints passed left chapters that will be passed down to future generations.

If you study poetry, words, songs, and fu, you will find an obvious situation, that is, the stronger the country and the prosperous period, the more heroic and high-spirited the contemporary works will be; Without an aggressive mind, contemporary works will present a kind of profligacy.

When looking at a country or nation, one can see the pulse clearly from cultural works.Most of the works before the Song Dynasty were high-spirited artistic conception, but in the Song Dynasty and later dynasties, it was really romantic. It can be clearly found that the literati are less and less enterprising, and focus on how to enjoy themselves.

"A country can't focus on one thing, the martial arts of the great man are too much..." Lu Yi glanced at Liu Yan cautiously, and said with a tragic and heroic desperation: "The martial arts is too much."

Liu Yan frowned. He had just thought of the influence of the Song Dynasty on the nation, not only in terms of culture, but also in the differences between men and women in society.

With strong expectations, Lu Yi said in an almost inaudible voice: "It would be great if the king can persuade Xuewen."

[Rich families don't need to buy fertile land, they have thousands of millet in the book.There is no need to erect tall buildings to live in peace, and there is a golden house in the book.Don't hate unscrupulous matchmakers when you marry a wife, there is Yan Ruyu in the book.Don't hate to be unattended when you go out, there are so many horses and chariots in the book.If the man wants to fulfill his life ambitions, he reads the Six Classics diligently to the window. 】Liu Yan was very surprised that he could remember Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng's "Encouraging Learning", and stared at Lu Yi, whose face was already turning pale, with cold eyes, and did not say a word, still caught in his own emotions: 【Donghua Gate The one who rolls the name is a hero... and completely broke the backbone of a warrior.Those "heroes" only panicked and fled when the enemy attacked, the emperor deserved to be captured, and the imperial concubine became the enemy's plaything..., pity the people in Bianliang. 】

"There are thousands of bells in the book, there is a golden house in the book, there is Yan Ruyu in the book, there are many horses and chariots in the book, a man wants to fulfill his life ambition, and he reads the Six Classics diligently in front of the window." Liu Yan was laughing, His eyes were still cold, and he asked Lu Yi, "How is it?"

Lu Yi was so frightened by Liu Yan that he couldn't pronounce a single syllable.

Because of the angle, Ji Chang didn't see the coldness in Liu Yan's eyes. His first reaction was to stand up abruptly, almost roaring: "It's not right, it's not right!"

Liu Yan blinked, looked at Ji Chang with a smile on his face, and asked, "Why is it wrong?"

"If the king does such things, the big man's style of writing is prevalent, but..." Ji Chang almost glanced at Lu Yi with a murderous gaze, and when he looked at Liu Yan again, he knelt heavily: "Teaching is natural." It is necessary, but it can’t be like this. The lessons learned from the Hulu disaster in the Central Plains are not far away. The top priority of a country lies in military affairs. Your Majesty, a big man would rather not be educated than not have soldiers who can fight!"

Lu Yi was just intimidated by Liu Yan's eyes just now, chewing on the sentences Liu Yan read, the next moment he broke out in cold sweat uncontrollably.

As long as you read, you can get everything, so just read, you don’t have to do anything except read.Among them, the sentence "A man who wants to live his life, read the Six Classics diligently to the window" is the most lethal, and it will definitely turn scholars into nerds who are obsessed with reading. It will also become less and less.

"A country can have no literati, but it cannot be without warriors." Regardless of Liu Yan coming to help him up, Ji Chang is obsessed with the gesture of kneeling and admonishing: "Without warriors, no matter how prosperous the writing style is, no matter how prosperous the country is, it will be as good as waiting for him." The slaughtered lamb is but a wedding dress for the enemy."

(End of this chapter)