Cao Cao put down the Zuozhuan in his hand and sighed softly, "When Master Cai taught Zuozhuan of Zhengxi, many people were puzzled. Now that I think about it, I can understand its meaning... Zhengxi, Zhengxi...
"
Xia Hou was sitting aside. His single vision caused a lot of inconvenience. Even to see people, he had to turn a larger arc than others. Hearing Cao Cao's sigh, he turned around and asked, "Why do you say this, my lord?"
Cao Cao raised his head and laughed twice, and said: "Do you know, Yuan Rang, that a certain man once made up his mind to make a marquis as a general who conquered the west? He inscribed on his tomb said: 'The tomb of Cao Hou, the former general of the Han Dynasty who conquered the west'. That is enough..."
Xia Hou was stunned for a moment and said: "Now that your majesty attaches great importance to the lord, entrusts you with important tasks, and your grand plan is being carried out, so what if you conquer the west?"
Cao Cao still laughed twice, narrowed his eyes and said: "Your Majesty, haha, your Majesty may not completely trust us... The court proposed to move the capital, but instead of looking for someone, they looked for Xunhuangmen..."
Cao Ren nodded and said: "Brother, regarding this matter... moving the capital to Xu County, Yingchuan will inevitably become more powerful..."
Cao Cao stroked his beard, lowered his eyelids, and remained silent. m Most things in the world are like this. It's easy to say things in hindsight. Everyone can say a few words, but when it comes to making a real choice, who can grit their teeth?
Resist pressure, eliminate all distractions, and make the absolutely right choice?
"Everyone, get out!" Cao Cao waved his hand and ordered all the attendants to exit the hall, leaving only Xiahou and Cao Ren.
"Brother..." Cao Ren realized that he had been somewhat reckless just now, but he was also a little surprised by Cao Cao's caution. He looked around at the retreating servants and his eyes were cold, "Why is this? Could it be..."
Xia Hou also looked at Cao Cao and said: "This person in the mansion..."
Cao Cao laughed a few times, relaxed his posture, and said: "Yuan Rang, Zi Xiao, why don't you two confiscate some singers, dancers, and maidservants? If it is kept secret, it will be done. I have my own considerations about this matter.
No need to worry."
"There are five reasons for moving the capital to Xu County..." Cao Cao lowered his voice and explained, "Firstly, it can recruit talents from Yingchuan, secondly, it can win the hearts of party members, thirdly, it can avoid the attack of Jizhou, and fourthly, it can capture Yuzhou
Land, these five..."
Cao Cao laughed twice and did not continue, but changed the topic and said, "Yuan Rang, Zi Xiao, do you know why the imperial court has been in turmoil in the past ten years?"
"First there was the Western Qiang and the Yellow Turban Rebellion, then there was the Eastern Hu and the Xiongnu. During the Zhongping period, Dong Zhuo brought trouble to the imperial court. Until today, the world has collapsed and everyone has their own power..." Cao Cao sighed, "What can I say about the king's first month? Da
Unification...but now we look at it, when will we be able to unify it?"
The word "big" in "Great Unification" is not the bigness of big or small, but the bigness of respect. Most of the time, Yitong is interpreted as the meaning of "Yuan Shi", which is the ontology of all things, so in "Great Unification"
In its original meaning, it just means that political society relies on a metaphysical ontology from bottom to top, so that this political society obtains a transcendent existence value, rather than conducting politics from top to bottom with a supreme power as the center.
Centralization and unification of scope.
So what Cao Cao means here also refers to bottom-up.
But now in the Han Dynasty, the bottom-up foundation has begun to shake, causing the prestige of the entire royal family to be shaky. What does the court need most? The court hopes that the absolute majesty of Han law, the enforcement of orders and prohibitions, and the supremacy of monarchy based on the effective checks and balances of imperial power and prime ministerial power
, absolute loyalty to the emperor and the court, people living and working in peace and contentment, etc.
But now, none of them can be done.
This is an extremely bad signal...
"Nowadays, there are many people from Shandong in the court..." Cao Cao sighed and said, "If this is the case, if it is... so it is the lesser of two evils..." Cao Cao couldn't help but think of Wei Xi, and closed his eyes.
Eyes, shook his head.
Cao Ren nodded and said: "So, I know...but the Xun family is in power, so the lord has to guard against it..."
Cao Cao pondered, neither nodding nor shaking his head. The cold wind was whistling by and snowflakes were flying. Cao Cao couldn't help but wrap up his clothes. It's so cold this winter...
…………………………
Chang'an.
The lobby is warm, and there are three copper basins with some briquettes placed in them, which are smoldering, bringing plenty of warmth.
"Ah, ah..." Pang Tong spread out lazily and pointed at the copper basin and said, "If nothing else, I am really convinced... Well, in the winter, sit and watch the snow falling, raise a glass and warm the new wine,
comfortable……"
There is coal in Shanxi, and in this era, there are still many open-pit coal mines. You can get a lot of coal by just digging on the ground.
When the Little Glacier comes step by step, heating items are particularly important. If there is no one who can stir up a stick in it, charcoal is the most important thing for heating. Therefore, at the end of every year, when winter comes,
The price of charcoal has always soared to a rather outrageous level, and this phenomenon will continue until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the royal family even designated so-called tribute charcoal.
The price of charcoal remains high for a reason. The most important thing is that it is not easy to make charcoal. In this era, most people want to keep warm. Rich people burn charcoal, while the poor and humble can only burn firewood. Although charcoal is difficult to burn,
It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it burns more fully and does not produce too much smoke, so it is very popular among wealthy households. But firewood is different. As long as there is still a little moisture in it, it will be smoky and choking.
It cannot breathe, and it is not resistant to burning. It often has to go out of the city to cut wood. The new wood that is cut cannot be used and has to wait for drying. It seems cheap, but in fact it is time-consuming and laborious.
So when Fei Qian tinkered with anthracite coal, the whole Bingbei went crazy. The research and development of anthracite coal was not smooth at first, because the mined coal contained sulfur and other impurities, and once the sulfur was not fully burned, it would
It's simply murder.
Therefore, at the beginning, anthracite coal could not be spread in large quantities. However, with the large demand for iron-making fuel in Huang's workshop, the desulfurization process gradually matured, the technology of cleaning coal and then carbonizing it to make anthracite coal also gradually matured, and the output gradually increased.
, although anthracite will also emit some deadly gases such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, fortunately the content is not high, and the buildings of this era are not sealed environments, so the gas from anthracite is actually the same as burning charcoal, which is almost harmful to the human body.
It won't cause much harm.
So now, the large-scale use of anthracite can, on the one hand, eliminate the need to continue to cut down a large number of trees, and on the other hand, it also provides Feiqian with a steady stream of financial resources.
Children of noble families who had money in their families naturally tended to use cheaper anthracite after discovering that there was no obvious difference between anthracite coal and charcoal-burning. Although it caused many charcoal-burning workers to lose their jobs, it also provided more coal-mining and charcoal-burning workers.
From the work of burning coal, money was collected from the nobles and wealthy households to Fei Qian, and then dispersed to ordinary people who wanted to make some money for their families during their leisure time, and then flowed to the market...
Therefore, unlike other princes, who like bears crawl into caves to hibernate when winter comes, Feiqian is even busier here, with material exchanges, money flows, and anthracite tightly binding Bingbei and Guanzhong together.
, many Guanzhong nobles began to stare, crowding in front of the Chang'an government office all day long, wondering if they could get some benefits from this rolling tide of money.
How many people are there in Bingbei, and how many people are in Guanzhong? Even if each person burns a basket of coal in winter, how much is this? And these coals are dug out from the ground, and after cleaning, removing sulfur and carbonization, they can
If you sell it directly for money, it will be a huge profit. Even if the bulk of it is eaten by General Zhengxi, you can still be full of fat if you drink some soup!
As a result, there used to be some noble nobles in Guanzhong who spoke ill of Zhengxi. Now they are all gone. Everyone is eager to catch someone else's excuse, and then pull them down to make money themselves. In the face of interests, fair-weather brothers are nothing...
…
This is true in the countryside, and it is true in the court.
Of course, when it comes to the level of the court, interest does not just refer to money.
"Why not use Huang Lao? Isn't it out of date?" Pang Tong laughed, raised his wine glass, and took a sip, "Actually, Dong Gong's method is not that good, but... well, choose the worse of the two evils.
It’s just light... Look, the harm in the court is now revealed..."
"Which is the lesser of two evils?" Fei Qian shook his head and said, "Actually, I feel it is overkill... You know, many people like to do such things..."
When talking about Huang Lao, many people will probably think of governing by inaction, but in fact, the "inaction" of Huang Lao's teaching is not absolute "inaction", but the king does nothing and the ministers do something under the premise of clear and clear laws.
In terms of the concept explained in the "Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor", although Tao does nothing, Tao can produce laws. Therefore, as the supreme monarch, the behavior should also be like "Tao", after formulating a clear legal system.
A kind of "inaction". In Huang Lao's theory, although the monarch can "do nothing", ministers must still "execute the rules on the left and the rules on the right", which means they must be active.
Fei Qian smiled and said: "The decline of Huang-Lao's learning is not out of time, but because the imperial power wants to dominate the prime minister... So Dong Gong appeared... Then Dong Gong launched New Confucianism, but he certainly did not
Thinking that it would be like this now, or...well, or even if he thought about it, he couldn't change anything..."
Pang Tong can be said to be the direct disciple of Pang Degong, or a close disciple, and Pang Degong can be said to be the last great Confucian in the contemporary era who mainly studied Huang-Lao's studies. Therefore, Pang Tong naturally learned a lot of relevant contents of Huang-Lao's studies from Pang Degong.
Huang Lao's understanding was even deeper than Fei Qian's.
Therefore, when Fei Qian said that the main reason for Huang Lao's decline was the struggle between imperial power and prime minister power, Pang Tong couldn't help but sit up straight, then frowned and thought for a long time, then nodded slowly and said: "Well... you
What he said...makes sense...it's true. Emperor Wu was so talented and powerful that he naturally couldn't tolerate anyone gesticulating from the sidelines...Speaking of which, wouldn't it mean that Mr. Huang will never be able to succeed..."
No one in power likes to be ignored, so even if Huang Lao is used in the early stage, things will eventually change.
But does Huang-Lao’s learning have no effect at all?
Huang Laozhi attaches great importance to agricultural production and believes that according to the natural laws of heaven, earth, yin and yang, and the four seasons, corresponding agricultural policies should be promulgated. Once the policy is formulated, the rulers should be "frugal and inactive" and should not build large-scale construction projects during the busy farming season to "go against the weather."
, Chaosing the people", let alone looting people's wealth so that the people can no longer continue to produce. To achieve this kind of "inaction" with non-interference and not affecting the lives of the people as the main content, the emperor and officials at all levels must
"Be thrifty and simple, not extravagant".
Isn't it great?
But it’s not easy to really do it well.
Relying solely on agriculture cannot meet the various needs of social prosperity. Industry, commerce, etc. are also needed, just like anthracite. If there were no anthracite, then the land of Guanzhong where Fei Qian is now would inevitably be the same as other areas.
People are huddled in their houses, struggling to endure the severe cold of winter. Where can there be any rolling caravans, traveling thousands of miles in the wind and snow?
So in fact, luxury is not a big sin, it just depends on where it is used.
The reason why he discussed this issue with Pang Tong was because Fei Qian suddenly discovered that there were some very strange changes in Chang'an. Perhaps it was because Chang'an was not well received by the Eastern Han Dynasty court, or because the imperial power was now on the decline, and Liu Xie was
They are young and have no power, so the gentry children in the vicinity of Chang'an seem to have basically kept their loyalty to the emperor and the court in their mouths. The big man is still a big man, but as for which emperor will be the leader of the big Han, it seems that these people have no idea at all.
care.
This is a signal, a signal of a change in ideological trends.
This signal shows that the status of Confucianism seems to have begun to waver along with the turmoil in the court...
The core of Confucianism is etiquette. The etiquette system is complicated and requires a lot of money to implement. The most expensive ones are weddings and funerals. The Han Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety. As a result, for ordinary people, no one could die.
Since then, in order to express their filial piety, people have first advocated generous burials.
The practice of lavish burials began in the Qin Dynasty and became frightening in the Han Dynasty. Burying the dead resulted in bankruptcies, selling them into slavery, corruption and corruption, and desperate people everywhere. As a result, the living were often unable to maintain their lives and were in miserable conditions.
The emperor also repeatedly emphasized the need for a sparse burial, and even issued edicts, but with little effect.
Because under the mainstream Confucian thought, do you really want to have a thin burial? If you don’t want to be famous, do you still want to be an official? If one person doesn’t want to be an official, it will be difficult for other people in the family not to want to be?
Confucianism requires people to study the classics and meanings, and then through the education and practice of morality, ethics, etiquette and knowledge, so that the daily life of the educated, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, dealing with others, etc., must be close to Confucian moral norms and codes of conduct. In society,
Be a good person of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness; become a gentleman who is gentle, kind, respectful, and frugal, and have the five virtues in your body.
Good is very good, but when things go to extremes, they must be reversed.
The Confucian rules and regulations that were too thin and too dense were like vines. I didn’t think it was a big deal at first, but as time went by, the vines began to spread everywhere, gradually affecting the joints of the entire man, causing the man to become more and more fettered.
Hands and feet tied...
The various chats during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the various drug-taking and debauchery behaviors that broke through the upper and lower limits may also be an instinctive rebound. Now, Fei Qian seems to be using this signal to make this rebound in the Eastern Jin Dynasty come ahead of schedule. Then
The first thing to do is...
"Shiyuan, what do you think of us having another Baihutong meeting?"
