But after so many years, some of Emperor Taizu's statements had long been destroyed by them. The literati relied on Mencius's teachings to erode the imperial power step by step.

If they really practiced Mencius' morality, that would be it. Under the banner of Mencius, all they did were bullshit, and even monsters like the Donglin Party appeared later.

It looks like a progressive capital budding party, but it is actually a kind of party that agrees with each other and opposes differences.

As for Xunzi, no one likes him anymore.

In Zhu Houzhao's memory, during the Jiajing period, Xunzi was even invited out of the Confucius Temple, and his thoughts were completely denounced as heresy.

Zhu Houzhao did not expect that Wang Shouren would actually go to Xunzi, which made him hesitate and at the same time become very interested.

You must know that Xunzi's thoughts are different from the current mainstream thoughts, and are even opposite in many places.

So Zhu Houzhao asked curiously: "If you have any ideas, it's okay to say it. After hearing what you said, I am more interested."

Hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, Wang Shouren also showed a smile on his face, and then said: "I have traveled all over the country these years, and I feel more and more that things in this world are like what Xunzi said at the beginning:

"The behavior of heaven is constant. It does not exist because of Yao, nor does it destroy because of Jie. If it is used for governance, it will be good, and if it is used for chaos, it will be bad."

Zhu Houzhao knew that this was Xunzi's theory of the constant nature of heaven, which means that heaven is not mysterious and unpredictable, but has its own unchanging laws.

This law is not a mysterious law of heaven, but a natural inevitability. It does not change depending on human likes and dislikes. People cannot violate this law, but can only strictly abide by it.

In fact, to put it bluntly, it is the law of nature, the objective law of nature of materialism.

This point is different from many Confucian thoughts, especially Dong Zhongshu's theory of the induction of heaven and man.

Whether in the past or now, civil servants will associate natural phenomena with the king. As long as there are some ominous celestial phenomena, it must mean that the emperor has done no good. Civil servants use this to limit the imperial power, and at the same time, they also use it to obtain

Benefit.

Under such circumstances, Xunzi's idea is naturally not accepted by others, and may even be abandoned and rejected by others.

On this basis, Xunzi also derived the theory of the separation of heaven and man.

Xunzi believed that nature and human beings each have their own laws and duties, and the way of heaven cannot interfere with the way of humanity.

The control of chaos, good or bad, lies in humans and not in heaven. Moreover, heaven and humans have different functions. "Heaven can create creatures but cannot distinguish objects; earth can carry people but cannot govern them." ("Lun")

"Heaven has its own time, the earth has its talents, and people have their own governance." ("Lun of Heaven")

On the basis of these two statements, Xunzi derived his own policy strategy, which was to control the destiny of heaven and use it.

In Xunzi's view, instead of superstitiously believing in the authority of Heaven, longing for it, praising it, and waiting for "Heaven's" gifts, it is better to use the laws of nature to serve people.

Xun Kuang emphasized "respecting those who are in oneself" rather than "enjoying those who are in heaven", and even used the attitude towards heaven as the criterion for distinguishing between gentlemen and villains.

It emphasizes the subjective initiative of human beings in the face of nature, and advocates the ideas of "governing the destiny of heaven", "cutting all things", and "pursuing energy and transforming it".

To put it bluntly, don’t be superstitious, roll up your sleeves and work hard.

Zhu Houzhao looked at Wang Shouren, then smiled and asked: "Then do you think Xunzi's idea of ​​dividing heaven and man and using them to control the destiny of heaven is reasonable?"

In fact, the first two are not important. These two are the most important of Xunzi's thoughts, especially the last one.

If we believe in Xunzi, we will completely subvert the current Confucian system.

Wang Shouren thought for a while, raised his head and looked at Zhu Houzhao and said, "I think it makes sense."

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and then asked again: "Do you also think human nature is inherently evil?"

After saying this, Zhu Houzhao stared at Wang Shouren, waiting for him to give him an answer.

In fact, this article is also a very important thought of Xunzi, and it runs counter to Mencius and current Confucian thought.

Xunzi started from the standpoint of the distinction between heaven and man, and denied the transcendental moral basis in human nature.

In his view, the so-called human nature is the natural nature of human beings, the so-called "the reason why life is the way it is."

Its natural manifestations are "hungry but wanting to be full, cold but wanting to be warm, tired but wanting to rest".

Its essence is the abstract natural biological instinct and psychological instinct that people naturally have. It is believed that people's natural desire for material life conflicts with moral and ethical norms.

Xunzi believed that human nature is "born with interests and interests", "born with diseases and evils", "born with desires for ears and eyes, and lust". If "you follow human nature and follow other people's emotions, you will inevitably compete for them."

, which is consistent with committing chaos and chaos and leading to violence."

Therefore, human nature is said to be "evil", not "good".

When Zhu Houzhao asked this question, Wang Shouren started sweating on his face. This question was really serious.

Because once you agree with Xunzi's theory, then Mencius will be overturned, and then Neo-Confucianism will also be overturned, which means that all the Tao believed by all scholars in the world are wrong.

This is not a problem in the ideological world itself. There are too many things represented behind it, and they are too big.

However, Wang Shouren still made up his mind and said categorically: "I think this is the case. Human nature is evil. When hungry, you want to be full, when you are cold, you want to be warm, and when you are tired, you want to rest. This is human nature."

Zhu Houzhao nodded.

When many people in later generations heard that human nature is inherently evil, they arbitrarily judged that the evil in it refers to badness and evil. In fact, this is not the case. This evil here refers to human desires.

Just like you need to eat when you are hungry, you need to find the opposite sex if you want to reproduce, you naturally want to live a better life and need more money.

This is the core of Xunzi's propositions. With this, we have Xunzi's policy propositions.

He advocated educating people, using education to change people's hearts and make them restrain their desires; make them understand reason and know what benevolence and righteousness are.

On this basis, Xunzi felt that this kind of thing cannot all rely on education. Some people are born stubborn and ineffective, and they don't know how to educate them. So what should we do?

Then we need to adopt laws and use strict legislation to restrict them.

To put it bluntly, education is the upper limit and legislation is the lower limit.

Enlightenment is to teach people in a more positive and better direction, while legislation is to prevent people from crossing the bottom line, so Xunzi's theory is here, and this is his core thought.

But after Xunzi, many of his disciples went directly to the path of Legalism.

For example, his three famous students, Li Si, Han Fei and Zhang Cang, were all legal scholars, and they all respected Legalism.

Therefore, many people are disgusted with Xunzi's teachings, do not regard him as a disciple of Confucianism, and strongly reject his students.

Confucians especially dislike his thoughts on the rule of law.

After all, we are close to each other, hello, me, everyone. If I commit a crime, my whole family will not be killed. The emperor must be merciful. How wonderful is this?

Why use Xunzi's ideas and kill the whole family at once?

Therefore, Xunzi's thoughts declined, but Mencius's thoughts were admired by everyone.

We are all good people, we are naturally kind, and we are all gentlemen. How can something like studying be called stealing?

Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, Confucianism became what it is now, and the world's literati became what it is now.

They kidnap the emperor and use their thoughts to make the emperor feel that you will be a good emperor if you do what they say. They brainwash the whole people downward to make the people of the world feel that what they say is right.

They sit on the upper, middle and lower floors and continue to reap benefits for themselves.

So in the end, there will be the Donglin Party, which talks about benevolence, justice and morality, but behind the scenes, men are thieves and women are prostitutes. They don't pay taxes, they embezzle the profits of the country's mountains and rivers, and they even smuggle.

They will sell anything overseas or on the grassland as long as you give them money, and it has nothing to do with the shame they claim.

By exploiting the common people, appropriating their fields, and not paying taxes, they completed primitive capital accumulation, and then formed the bud of capitalism.

Because it is a capital that does not respect the law, it ignores the law even more after it grows. They cannot see the Ming Dynasty, they cannot see this country, and they cannot see the people living in poverty below.

They only have themselves in their eyes, and the poor people are just the objects of their exploitation.

After having troops and power in his hands, Zhu Houzhao was about to take action against the ideological world.

If the Ming Dynasty continues to operate according to its current thinking, even the things it created will sooner or later decline after its death, because people's thinking is wrong.

If ideological issues are not resolved, the system will never keep up, and the system you set will eventually be abolished.

At that time, everything will go back to the original path, so you must think about it.

Zhu Houzhao called Wang Shouren and asked for this purpose.

If his thoughts are different from mine, then I won't say anything.

From now on, it would be more appropriate to regard him as a capable minister under his command, and arrange a position for him in the military to prevent him from becoming an ideological leader. This would be more appropriate, and it would fulfill the duties of a monarch and his ministers.

If his idea is the same as your own, then let him go and let him do it.

Now he is touting Xunzi, which is exactly what he thinks, and he can also put a lot of his own ideas into it.

Many of the thoughts of later generations can be found in Xunzi's thoughts. As long as this matter can be promoted, it will be much easier to handle.

As for Wang Shouren, he has a high reputation now and has high hopes from many people. If he is really pushed to the front of this matter, his reputation will probably plummet, and he may be scolded.

From the court to the countryside, everyone would scold him.

It's not easy to turn your reputation around. It may have to wait until later generations.

This can be regarded as self-defeating to a certain extent. If you want to compare, it would be with Wang Mang.

Wang Shouren probably doesn't have as good a reputation as Wang Mang. Maybe everyone in the world wants him dead, even more than Zhang Juzheng.

Because Wang Shouren not only moved the actual power, but also moved their roots.

The reason why Zhang Juzheng's reforms were supported by some people was because they did not touch the depths of the soul, but only surfaced, whether it was an inventory of fields or a whipping method.

Inventorying the fields simply brings the land out to those who have hidden it.

As for the whipping method, it will benefit the landlords and rich people, allowing them to better exploit the people.
To be continued...