In the spring of the third year of Yanxi's reign, Prime Minister Luoyang's palace was even busier than before. Firstly, because the execution of the Abolition of Wuxing Order was coming to an end, the palace was preparing for the re-establishment of farmland in Hebei; secondly, some of the new troops had been trained, and in Beijing,
The Prime Minister's Office was responsible for coordinating the relevant procedures for the transfer; thirdly, due to the Prime Minister's own family affairs, Chen Chong's second daughter was finally getting married.
Speaking of which, Chen Chong's second daughter Ayun actually reached the age of marriage early, and she was considered slim and graceful. However, because of her unruly personality and high vision, she never found a suitable family. Dong Bai scolded her specifically for this matter.
I don’t know how many times Chen Chong and A Yun have met, but fortunately this year they finally settled down. The person they married into was none other than Jiang Wei. Although Jiang Wei was a warrior, he had the appearance of a handsome boy from the Han family, with long hair.
He has high cheekbones, teeth as white as jade, and a stalwart and tall figure, standing as prominently as a jade tree. After the first year of Yanxi, he was highly regarded by Chen Chong and often came to the Prime Minister's Mansion to report on palace affairs. It happened that Ayun was passing by the corridor and saw among the crowd.
There was a man from the Han family who was tall and tall and well-groomed. He looked like a lone pine standing on the jade mountain. He was so dazzling that he couldn't help but secretly thought: "I didn't expect that there is such a strange man between heaven and earth!" So as Chen Chong mentioned
this matter.
Chen Chong naturally agreed with such a good candidate. Even Dong Bai couldn't fault him, so he discussed the matter with Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei's father died in his early years and his widowed mother comforted him, so he did not dare to decide on the marriage alone, so he
He said that he would go back to his hometown to ask his widowed mother for her opinion. Chen Chong laughed and said, "Since Bo Yue is already an official in the capital, how can he let his family live alone in the countryside?" So Chen Chong sent Zhao Qiu to Tianshui to ask him to specially
Responsible for the relocation of Jiang's mother. After Jiang's mother arrived in Luoyang, Chen Chong paid a special visit to Jiang's mother to say hello. However, Jiang's mother was neither humble nor overbearing. She declined the courtyard presented by Chen Chong and only said: "People in the country cannot bear the wealth, but
I will be satisfied if I can make Bo Yue love the people like the Prime Minister." The marriage was decided like this.
The two families were originally scheduled to get married in September of the second year of Yanxi, but unfortunately, Ayun suffered from a lung disease before the wedding, and the wedding was delayed until February this year, just in time to catch up with various important events.
At Jiang's mother's request, the wedding was held in a simple manner, but the proper etiquette was still indispensable. It took more than ten days of busy work before the matter came to an end. Logically speaking, the court would allow officials to get married.
He rested for a while, but just three days after Jiang Wei's wedding, the Prime Minister's Office sent him a transfer order, asking him to prepare to go to Nanyang with the new army and transfer to Nanfu.
Naturally, he had to meet with Chen Chong again before leaving. Jiang Wei did not dare to neglect. At noon when he received the transfer order, he changed his clothes and went to the Prime Minister's Mansion to wait for the summons. Due to the authorization of the late Emperor Liu Xie, the entire Prime Minister's Mansion had actually become the official residence of the imperial court.
As the political center of the country, Prime Minister Chen Chong spent most of his time in the palace dealing with military and state affairs except for going to court. There were countless things to deal with every day. When Jiang Wei came, there were about a hundred people waiting to meet Chen Chong.
After waiting in line for a long time, it wasn't until the sun set that he heard someone calling his name.
Entering the study, Jiang Wei saw his father-in-law at a glance. He was writing at the desk. Just as Jiang Wei was about to salute, he heard Chen Chong say: "We've been waiting for a long time, so don't make false salutes. Sit down and talk."
Jiang Wei was stunned for a moment, then sat down cross-legged, lowered his head and waited for Chen Chong to continue speaking.
Chen Chong put down the pen and ink in his hand, punched his waist, and then smiled at Jiang Wei and said: "We just got married, so I will transfer you to Nanyang. You won't blame me in your heart, right?" Jiang Wei said he didn't dare, and then Chen Chong said again
Said: "The situation in Nanyang is actually not bad. If the Wu people come to fight, it won't be much better than last year. But we serve the country and the people and we cannot be content with the status quo. Now that the new army has grown to tens of thousands, Marshal Guan asked me for help.
, I will send you here, Boyo. Do you dare to perform meritorious service, Boyo?"
Jiang Wei keenly heard the implication and asked excitedly: "Sir, are you planning to go south to attack Wu? Wei is willing to be the vanguard of the army!"
Chen Chong waved his hand, sighed and said with a smile: "It's still early, it's still early." He paused, saw the disappointment on Jiang Wei's face, and said with a smile: "You don't have to be too anxious. Last year Hebei implemented the abolition of docks. Today
It takes one year to field the annual fields, one year to register the next year, and another year to raise the people. After three years, it will be a good opportunity to march south again. Bo Yue went to Nanyang, so he could train his troops carefully and become familiar with the geography and humanities of Jiangnan.
After the war begins, I believe you will be able to shine."
When Jiang Wei learned about Chen Chong's specific arrangements, he felt a lot more at ease. He clasped his fists and nodded, saying, "I will obey your instructions." Just when he thought the conversation was over and was about to stand up and leave, Chen Chong suddenly asked, "Boyue, what are you doing?"
Have you heard of the theory of talent lately?"
Although Jiang Wei was a military commander, he was fond of studying Confucian classics. In the past two years, he often went to Taixue to listen to lectures. Naturally, he had heard about the theory of talent and nature. He nodded and said: "In recent years, people in Taixue often discuss the differences between talent and nature, or talk about it.
Talents and talents have nothing to do with each other, or they are said to be compatible with each other. There are often arguments going on all day long, which is quite similar to the conflict between ancient and modern texts. Your Excellency, do you think there is anything wrong in mentioning this matter?"
When Chen Chong saw that Jiang Wei also knew about this, he couldn't help but feel a little depressed. He did not answer Jiang Wei's question, but asked: "What does Bo Yue think of the theory of talent and nature?"
Jiang Wei pondered for a moment and replied briefly: "From what Wei has seen, if we look at the most popular theory of changing customs today, there is nothing wrong with it in theory. If the scholars can be made to have the same talent and temperament, all officials in the court will be able to practice
Virtue is naturally the best choice. However, this is easier said than done. In the four hundred years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, although there has been peace, such simplicity has never been seen. It seems that only the ancient kings can have such virtuous governance."
Seeing that he could quickly grasp the key points, Chen Chong felt relieved and nodded: "Bo Yue is right. Since I took office, I have also held the view that people should have both ability and political integrity. If someone has bad character, I will always be unforgiving in accordance with the law.
.But now some people are ridiculing the government, saying that the country deals with many corrupt officials every year because they do not pay attention to morality but only to officials. Isn't this ridiculous?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! At this point, he pulled out the "Four Books on Talent" from the document on the desk, and while reading the preface, he said to Jiang Wei: "But now someone is saying
, it is actually not difficult to change the customs. All you need to do is to let the court give up interfering, promote virtuous government, and let the Zhongzheng listen to the people's opinions. Naturally, you can calm down the customs and recruit good talents. What a joke! If the opinions can produce good ministers,
Some of the three monarchs, eight heroes, eight guardians, eight warriors and eight chefs introduced by the Qing Dynasty back then are of great use! Now these remarks are simply misleading the country and the people!"
After he put down the "Four Essays on Talent", he took out another piece of writing and handed it to Jiang Wei, and then said: "This is an article I wrote specifically to refute the Theory of Talent. You are also familiar with the classics, so you might as well
Take a look and tell me what you think."
After listening to the remarks just now, Jiang Wei knew that Chen Chong attached great importance to this article, so he immediately opened it and read it. Although it was known that Chen Chong was extremely disgusted with talent theory, only after reading the article did he realize how disgusted Chen Chong was. Chen Chong's language in this article is plain,
The discussion is detailed, and although the rhetoric is not very gorgeous, it uses scriptures and references and is extremely persuasive.
Chen Chong's discussion mainly focused on two points, one is that talent is knowable but nature is unknowable, and the other is that the Qing discussion is in name only but not in reality.
Regarding the first point, Chen Chong explained that everyone in the world knows that one should study both character and academics without partiality, but this can only be a person's self-requirement and cannot be a criterion for selecting talents. After all, people's hearts are deep and unpredictable, and they are often fickle. Today,
Seemingly good people, once they encounter setbacks, often change their ways and pursue self-interested ways. And those who made mistakes yesterday may not be unable to repent and change their past mistakes. This is a common thing in the world. Why?
Is it possible that one's good and evil deeds in one day determine the good and evil deeds of a person's life? Moreover, there are still some people who, on the surface, use the guise of morality to confuse the world, but secretly they engage in male theft and female prostitution. Once they gain power, they begin to
He has no scruples and acts wantonly. This kind of man-made harm often subverts divine weapons and brings disaster to the government and the public. Those who blatantly cause harm in the countryside are nothing compared to such people!
On the second point, Chen Chong's criticism was even more sharp. He severely criticized the Party members' purge during the second Party Rebellion. It was certainly true that the Party members opposed Ling Emperor's chaotic government. But the Party members' purge had already appeared.
For this reason, he even criticized his elders, saying that even the fourth chief of Yingchuan at that time paid too much attention to family connections. In addition to their focus on making famous their children, many children from poor families were obviously far better in talent and character than
However, because the Qing Dynasty Council was controlled by the county magistrates, there was no way for him to become an official. Later, when Dong Zhuo came to Beijing, how many of the famous noble men elected by the Qing Council could keep their integrity in front of Dong Zhuo? There were only a few who could protect themselves wisely, and even more so.
Let alone defend the Han Dynasty and serve the country.
Therefore, Chen Chong concluded that Confucius was called a saint by later generations, and he even taught traitors like Gong Boliao. Before Wang Mang became regent, he was famous all over the world, but he committed the crime of Tai Ah's rebellion.
It is absolutely impossible. The current government selects people based on their talents, and then rewards and punishes them based on merit. This is the right way to employ people. If the world listens to the lies of the so-called talent theory and abolishes the current right way of the country, it will inevitably lead to a downfall.
What a disaster. After reading this article, those who still persist in promoting the talent theory are either stupid or false. They can be said to be a great harm to the country!
After Jiang Wei finished reading, he was extremely torn. On the one hand, he felt that the article was fascinating, clear and almost impossible to refute; but on the other hand, he could not accept it. After all, this article essentially denied Confucianism.
The political ideal of "cultivate oneself, harmonize one's family, govern the country and bring peace to the world" has been a political ideal for hundreds of years. And once it was published, Chen Chong offended almost all the county magistrates who presided over local political discussions, and it would definitely cause an uproar in both the government and the public. How will things develop next?
This was something Jiang Wei could not imagine. So after he struggled for a while, he handed the article back to his father-in-law and gently advised Chen Chong to be cautious.
But Chen Chong was determined. In March after Jiang Wei left Luoyang, he came to Taixue again to give lectures in an extremely rare event and made this article public. Then Taixue was in an uproar, leading to a protracted debate that lasted until Chen Chong
Even after his death, the debate has not come to an end. Of course, this is all a story for another day.