This requires a brief mention of the long struggle between the grammarians and the Confucian scholars.
Later generations believe that the imperial examination began in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but in fact, the method of selecting bureaucrats through cultural examinations had already begun as early as the Warring States Period. The selected talents were the literary and legal officials.
These people generally came from small landowners or declining scholars. They were proficient in literature but did not read classics and history. Instead, they specialized in laws, regulations, and the like. After passing the exam, they could immediately carry out specific administrative tasks, so during the Warring States Period, when the pressure was high, they were deeply
Loved by kings of all countries.
Li Si, Li Kui, Shen Buhai and other famous officials of the Warring States Period were outstanding representatives.
The most important people who used grammarians were the Qin State, which accepted Legalist ideas. With the help of this group of grammarians who were efficient and harsh, advocated harsh punishments, and had clear rewards and punishments, the King of Qin worked hard for six generations to unify the world.
Of course, the demise of the Qin Dynasty was also related to the excessive harshness of the grammarians. Among other things, Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, and Liu Bang rebelled because they delayed the court's deadline and deserved death according to the law.
So in the Western Han Dynasty, the emperor continued to use scribes to govern the country. On the other hand, he also began to introduce Confucian scholars into the bureaucracy to educate the people and soften the rule, so as to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Qin Dynasty.
Therefore, the bureaucratic team of the Han Dynasty was divided into two major opposing groups, the civil servants and the Confucian scholars. The civil servants still controlled the state machinery, but the Confucian scholars monopolized the right to speak and the power of Confucianism after Dong Zhongshu "deposed all schools of thought and respected Confucianism".
The right to interpret scripture gradually gained the upper hand.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, with the rise of the celebrity group, scholarly public opinion gradually became able to control the selection of officials, and the official selection system that had been implemented for hundreds of years of "selecting people based on their ability" turned into "selecting people based on their filial piety and moral character."
At this time, the Confucian scholars completely overwhelmed the literary and legal officials and monopolized the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty, leaving only the dirty officials with complicated and thankless tasks to the literary and legal officials.
In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the emperor set up six schools and one hall, and selected scholars by subject. In fact, they wanted to reverse this situation and give the grammarians an outlet. But unfortunately, the aristocratic family, which had been transformed into a cultural aristocracy, could distort the policy to only focus on the scholarship.
Let Confucian scholars still maintain their dominance over the court and government.
With the rise of Confucian scholars, Confucianism continued to rise in status, and finally became the state religion - Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, reaching its peak.
The Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty not only completely monopolized official positions, but also completely expelled the grammar and legal officials from the official ranks, turning them into subordinate officials who would never get ahead. They also tried their best to erase the mark of the grammar and legal officials in history.
So that when future generations mention scholars, they will be equated with Confucian scholars, thinking that all dynasties were governed by them and that history was created by them...
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Zhu Yuanzhang thought so at first, but fortunately he had the sober Liu Bowen beside him.
In addition, the influence of Confucian scholars in the Yuan Dynasty fell to its lowest point, so he did not fall into the lies created by Confucianism.
Moreover, after studying the Four Books and Five Classics with Song Lian and others, he did not find any formula for governing the country. He knew that Confucian scholars alone could not govern the country well.
Besides, you are already the emperor, why should you let Kong Laoer, who has been dead for almost two thousand years, ride on your head? At that time, those Confucian disciples will definitely lock him into a frame made of the words of saints, just like the Song Dynasty.
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This was something that a self-made emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang could not accept no matter what. So he began to think of "derogatory Confucianism".
In March of the first year of Hongwu, Xu Da conquered Jining. The general trend of the world was determined, and the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was only a matter of time. The Kong family, who had long cultivated a keen sense of smell and a soft body, immediately surrendered to Boss Zhu.
But at that time, Kong Kejian, the Duke of Yansheng, was canonized by the Yuan Dynasty. He also served as the official envoy to Shandong in the Yuan Dynasty, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the minister of state wine. He was worried that he would be liquidated by Boss Zhu, so he only sent his son Kong Xixue to visit Xu Da.
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Xu Da then sent Kong Xixue to Nanjing to meet Zhu Yuanzhang. Kong Xixue also specifically explained to Boss Zhu that his father was bedridden due to illness, so he could not come to pay homage to the emperor in person.
But Boss Zhu didn't accept this trick. He gave Kong Kejian a directive, clearly stating that 'don't pretend to be sick', and you can't pretend to be sick and not come...it was so frightening that Kong Kejian 'traveled to Beijing in panic'.
Later, although Zhu Yuanzhang forgave him for the purpose of uniting the front, he did not give Kong Kejian an official position, and directly granted the title of Ming Dynasty's first Yan Shenggong to his son Kong Xixue.
In the second year of Hongwu's reign, he issued an edict: "In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Confucius Temple will be offering sacrifices and will stop in Qufu. There is no need to offer sacrifices throughout the world."
That is to say, it will be enough to keep a Confucius temple in Qufu to worship Confucius, and there will be no need to worship Confucius elsewhere. Of course, there is no need to build any Confucius temple.
So why Lao Liu dared not to set up a Confucius Temple in Guozi University was because his father wanted to do this back then.
But Boss Zhu's suppression of Confucianism back then was very unsuccessful. It aroused no less opposition than today. At that time, the Ministry of Education took the lead, and all the ministers collectively spoke out, saying, "Confucius has taught for eternity, and the world respects his teachings."
, Therefore, the whole world must worship Confucius, and the ritual of repaying one's origin cannot be abolished,' and so on.
In short, if you don't let the world worship Confucius, we will stop doing it.
At that time, Boss Zhu had not yet established a firm foothold and did not have the self-confidence he has now. He had to rely on the united front role of Confucianism, so he had to withdraw his life.
But people like Boss Zhu would not give up. He procrastinated until the fourth year of the Hongwu period before re-opening the imperial examination despite repeated calls from scholars. Within three years, he again embarrassed the country by saying that Confucian scholars were not familiar with political system.
On the grounds of using it, the imperial examination was stopped again...
The imperial examination is the lifeblood of Confucianism. If you can't pass the imperial examination to become an official, who will become a disciple of Confucianism? Although Confucianism is huge now, without fresh blood joining it, it is simply water without a source, a tree without roots, and it cannot sustain much.
In the next year, the decline will be fully visible.
This is the reason why Shilin reacted so strongly this time, even carrying the two holy tablets, and risking everything to fight to the end.
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It is said that Confucianism and Confucianism are one, so of course they should advance and retreat together and support Shilin to the end.
But that only requires Yan Shenggong to be strong enough and not afraid of his shadow being distorted.
Coincidentally, Kong Xi learned neither of these two things.
In the former case, the Kong family has surrendered to the Jin and Yuan dynasties in succession. With ancestral rickets, how can there be any strong bones?
The latter, like Zhang Tianshi's family in Jiangxi, the Kong family is the largest landowner in Shandong, and the Zhang family has many crimes.
What's more coincidental is that during the Chinese New Year, Nan, Zhang and Beikong gathered in the capital. Under the arrangement of Boss Zhu, Zhang Dazhen and Yan Shenggong had many friendships.
The purpose is to let Zhang Maocheng speak out and use his own family's experiences and painful lessons to educate Kong Xixue, go back and take good care of his children, clear out the land and population in advance, and don't wait until the Qingzhang of Shandong creates a yellow book to repeat the Zhang family's mistakes.
It would be a disgrace to his ancestors...
Kong Xixue has been beaten and subdued by Boss Zhu. Rather than worrying about the future rise and fall of Confucianism, he is more worried about the Kong family being exposed. He knows very well that if he does not cooperate with Boss Zhu this time, the Kong family will turn around.
He will suffer the same fate as the Zhang family...
"I will stop them now and prevent them from using my ancestor's name to deceive you!" Duke Yan Sheng hurriedly volunteered.
