Zhao Kuo didn't want to hear Meng Hong bragging about his kingly ways. King Wei of Qi, King Xuan of Qi, King Hui of Wei, King Wei Xiang, and King Kang of Song were not fools. As long as Mencius's kingly ways have some practical significance, no king would agree with him.
‘Virtue’ can indeed ‘conquer people’, but it cannot ‘conquer the country.’
If you want to "subdue the country", you can only rely on force.
Other countries are making weapons and armor, but your country is implementing benevolent policies and upholding benevolence and righteousness. You will definitely be the one who will perish in the end.
"I heard that Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin used tyranny to dominate the world?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"Not bad." Meng Hong nodded.
King Xuan of Qi once asked Mencius how Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin came to dominate the world.
Mencius did not like the tyranny of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin. He directly said, "I have never heard of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin." He made King Xuan of Qi look angry.
"I wonder if there is a monarch who can use his royal methods to dominate the world?" Zhao Kuo asked rhetorically.
Meng Hong suddenly fell silent. He realized that Zhao Kuo was no different from other monarchs. They didn't like the kingly way. However, he did not give up. Instead, he replied: "Yao and Shun ruled the world with the kingly way, and they were saints."
"Wen of Jin and Huan of Qi are close at hand, and Yao and Shun are already figures in the ancient times. I have only heard that the passages can move at any time, but I have never heard of it. Instead of learning from the sages of today, I will learn from the principles of the sages of ancient times." Zhao Kuo said.
He shook his head.
"How can the saints of Yao and Shun be compared to Jin Wen and Qi Huan?" Meng Hong suddenly became unhappy.
"Excuse me, sir, is the government implemented by this king a benevolent government in the State of Zhao?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"It's benevolent government." Meng Hong nodded. These were not words against his will, but words from the bottom of his heart.
"If that's the case, then why haven't other countries come to seek refuge with me, Zhao?" Zhao Kuo asked.
Meng Hong was stunned and stood there, watching Zhao Kuo leave.
The teachings of Confucius and Mencius failed again!
"Send someone to give them a message. Academics are not equal to governing the country. If you want to realize your ideals, you should make good contributions to the State of Zhao. There will be a day in the future when you will not get a fief." Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said.
Although Confucianism has shortcomings of one kind or another, Zhao Kuo does not dislike Confucianism.
Because there are hundreds of schools of thought, each school has its own shortcomings.
This is true for Taoists, military strategists, Legalists, and Mohists.
There are no perfect people in this world, nor are there any perfect schools of thought.
As for "combining Confucianism and Mohism, combining it with law", gathering the strengths of hundreds of schools of thought and creating a new school of thought, Zhao Kuo did not have this idea.
On the one hand, it is difficult to succeed in this matter. Even if it succeeds, this "Miscellaneous School" still has shortcomings and cannot be more advanced than Confucianism.
On the other hand, all schools of thought need to compete, and only competition can make progress.
If there is only one sect left, the final result will be the same as Confucianism in history, from prosperity to decline, and finally everyone will despise it.
Zhao Kuo understood that the dispute between Mohists and Confucians was not just a dispute over Taoism, but also a fight over the State of Zhao. Both sides wanted Zhao State to use them to govern the country.
If the country is regarded as a person, then the military strategists are the weapons and the legalists are the bones.
But weapons and bones alone are not enough, you also need flesh and blood, and what other schools of thought are competing for is the position of flesh and blood.
Taoism occupied Chu and South Korea, Mohism occupied Qin, and Confucianism occupied Wei and Lu.
Qi State is inclusive and embraces all rivers.
Excluding the Yan State, which is located in a remote location and is looked down upon by everyone, the only country that can compete with each other is the Zhao State.
The Mohist family was the first to seek refuge with Zhao. Zhao Kuo was also very good to the Mohist family. He had no shortage of funds, fiefdoms, and talents, but he did not use the Mohist family to govern the country.
Confucianism is a prominent school in the world, and it had previously looked down upon the State of Zhao. However, as the State of Lu lingered on, Zhongshan was destroyed, and the State of Wei declined, Confucianism urgently needed to seek refuge in a powerful country.
But Zhao Kuo obviously had no idea of using Confucianism to govern the country.
In fact, in addition to Confucianism and Mohism, Huang Lao, represented by He Guanzi, also wanted to compete. However, this old guy was smarter than the others. Apart from sending a disciple to come forward, he did not show any ideas.
After realizing that it couldn't be done, I gave up.
What Zhao Kuo was more willing to learn was the inclusiveness of Qi.
The world is huge, and it is not so crowded that it can only accommodate one family.
Seal all the schools in one place and let them compete every day, not only for debate, but also for governing the country. It must be much more interesting than it is now.
Up to now, the world has reached a completely different fork in the road from history, and Zhao Kuo doesn't know where the future lies. Maybe a few hundred years from now, a group of talented people like Confucius and Mozi will come out of these fiefdoms.
, guiding the direction of Chinese civilization.
"I will tell them." Lin Xiangru nodded.
"Go and have a look elsewhere." Zhao Kuo said.
Handan College is very large. In addition to various branches, there are also colleges dedicated to enlightening children, intermediate colleges for further study, colleges to teach literacy to soldiers, and colleges to teach reading and literacy to Loufan and Lin Hu people.
Students who want to learn the thoughts of hundreds of schools of thought must first undergo five years of basic education, be admitted to an intermediate college, study for three years, and graduate successfully before entering Handan College to study the thoughts of hundreds of schools of thought.
If you have not gone through these eight years of education, you will have to wait until you reach adulthood, pass the assessments of each branch, and enter the college to study.
This is also to prevent some schools from using certain methods to refresh offline in order to grab disciples. After all, children in their teens and teens have no discernment and have not formed their own cognition, so they are easily influenced by the outside world.
After eight years of study, or after reaching adulthood, you have formed your own three views and have a certain understanding of the hundreds of schools of thought, then you can choose which school to study, or study others.
However, there is no such restriction on technical aspects. Only ideological matters have age restrictions.
"By the way, have the textbooks for the second year of enlightenment education been compiled?" Zhao Kuo asked.
Zhao's enlightenment education was a failure in terms of implementation results.
As expected by Li Fu, Mao Gong and others, within one month of the opening of the college, some students dropped out of school due to one or another reason. Some even informed the college, and some simply did not go to the college.
It's free, but they don't know how to cherish it. Spend money, they don't have money.
Zhao Kuo was quite helpless sometimes.
After that, through a series of propaganda, encouragement, reputation and financial rewards, Zhao finally increased the enrollment rate of school-age children to more than 20%, and it could no longer increase.
But fortunately, almost no one has dropped out of school now, and the enrollment rate has not dropped.
Even so, this incident dealt a heavy blow to the popularization of education in Zhao State.
It turns out that everyone only talks about reading and literacy, but not many people are really willing to read and write.
Zhao Kuo originally planned that it would take more than five years to complete the initial construction of water conservancy facilities in various places and arrange the industries. After that, Zhao Kuo would be free to start popularizing education.
The first batch of students have just graduated at this time, which can solve the problem of a serious shortage of teachers.
Looking at it now, this time has to be postponed.
At least one college has only single digits or a dozen students, which Zhao Kuo cannot accept.
Maybe it's a little unfair to the children in the countryside, but there's nothing we can do about it.
"It has been compiled. It is still focused on teaching people literacy and arithmetic, including the third year. It will be more complicated in the fourth year." Chulong said.