Chapter 386: The harm of political internal strife, the hateful old thief Sima
Cao Shuang held the reins and continued to drive the horse forward. After thinking for a while, he continued: "In the final analysis, apart from the chaos in the late Eastern Han Dynasty when a large number of horses were needed to serve as war horses, some war horses were needed in the previous wars.
As long as the number needed is not particularly large, a huge empire can still get the necessary war horses together. Therefore, no one in power will pay attention to raising horses.
What's more, the Han Dynasty after Liu Xiu highly valued Confucianism, even more so than the Western Han Dynasty. No one who really wants to be in power is willing to spend a lot of time and energy on something as military as raising horses?"
During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented the policy of deposing hundreds of schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone, unifying thoughts and advocating Confucianism, but the concept of loyalty to the emperor was not taken seriously.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, on the basis of advocating Confucianism, the concept of loyalty to the emperor was further strengthened from both theoretical and practical aspects.
The reason why the Eastern Han Dynasty strengthened the concept of loyalty to the emperor was because it learned the lessons from the collapse of the Western Han Dynasty.
Although the Western Han Dynasty advocated Confucianism, the issue of loyalty to the emperor in Confucianism was not taken seriously. This made during the dictatorship of Wang Mang at the end of the Han Dynasty, there were many supporters of Wang Mang in the government and the public, and even among the common people, while the opponents were relatively small, and most of them refused.
He quietly resisted by entering the court and serving as an official.
This shows that there is no strong concept of loyalty to the emperor in the hearts of the Western Han people, which makes them rise up to resist in order to maintain the Western Han regime.
Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty learned this lesson. After ascending the throne, he greatly praised officials who did not serve Wang Mang's new dynasty, expressing his respect for justice.
It can be seen that the reason why the Confucian concept of loyalty to the emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty was strengthened was actually the historical lessons left over from the Western Han Dynasty.
The first is the expansion and deepening of the theory of the induction of heaven and man. In the theory of induction of heaven and man by Dong Zhongshu of the Western Han Dynasty, the rationality of a certain surname becoming a monarch was explained by the auspicious signs descended from heaven.
This made Wang Mang vigorously promote the theory of Fu Ming during the period to prove the rationality of his regime. After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu paid more attention to quoting Fu Rui, and took the power of interpretation of Fu Rui from heaven to name a certain surname as a monarch into the hands of the emperor.
, let God’s will serve the Han emperor.
In daily life, Fu Rui has expanded and developed, making life full of mystery, and used mystery to demonstrate the rationality of the Liu family becoming the masters of the world.
This provides a theoretical basis for the concept of loyalty to the emperor. It is believed that ministers should be loyal to the emperor with all their heart and should not have any wrong thoughts, otherwise they will suffer punishment from heaven.
The second step is to build the orthodox ideology of the Liu surname. The emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty changed the situation in the Western Han Dynasty and did not bother to compile history. The ruler led the historians to compile history and openly intervened in private history compilation.
This made the history books of the Eastern Han Dynasty reflect the Liu family's orthodox concepts in style, putting those usurpers into biographies, and establishing a historical view of suppressing adversity and promoting good.
Since history books are for future generations, some officials are afraid that their reputation will not be preserved for future generations, so they gradually strengthen the concept of loyalty to the emperor in their hearts.
They have regarded the title of loyal minister as the destination of value that transcends life and everything. It can be seen that intervention in the revision of history has a role in strengthening the concept of loyalty to the emperor.
The Eastern Han Dynasty paid more attention to Confucian education than the Western Han Dynasty. Since its establishment, the Eastern Han Dynasty inherited the Western Han Dynasty's admiration for Confucianism, attached great importance to Confucian education, and adopted a series of measures to advocate Confucianism.
This made a group of scholars more enthusiastic about studying Confucian classics, and the important concepts of loyalty, filial piety, and justice in the Confucian classics naturally penetrated into their consciousness.
Therefore, even in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when society was in turmoil, people did not dare to think of proclaiming themselves kings. However, they dared to threaten the emperor to order the princes. Only in the late Eastern Han Dynasty did these powerful tyrants dare to blatantly expand their armaments and pay attention to them.
Start a horse breeding business.
Secondly, the Eastern Han Dynasty reformed and improved the system of selecting talents. It is not enough to strengthen the concept of loyalty to the emperor through education. Only by linking education with the system of selecting talents can the concept of loyalty to the emperor be further strengthened in people's hearts. Therefore, the Eastern Han Dynasty improved the concept of loyalty to the emperor in the following aspects.
Selection system.
One is that the Eastern Han Dynasty valued scholars with integrity, especially those who were reclusive. For example, Emperor Guangwu was very courteous to Niu Lao and others. Integrity reflects a person's values. As long as he has integrity, he can be upright and loyal to the monarch.
Secondly, the Eastern Han Dynasty perfected the system of selecting officials with filial piety and integrity during the Western Han Dynasty. The reason for attaching importance to it was to maintain the stability of rule. Because Confucian classics regard loyal ministers as filial sons as sacred precepts, linking filial sons and loyal ministers, which gave rise to the concept of loyalty to the emperor.
deep influence.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the politics was dark, and some people talked about changing their surnames to change their dynasties. However, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, social unification was dark, but a group of wise ministers appeared to support the Eastern Han Dynasty and maintain the existence of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Cai Yong, Xie Bi, etc.
people.
In addition, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang was in chaos and no one in the court dared to resist directly. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, society was in turmoil and various forces were constantly fighting.
However, the Han Dynasty royal family was able to continue to exist for thirty years by relying on the imperial reign name that represented the existence of the political power. This shows how difficult it was to change the surname.
There were two Qing Dynasty discussions at the end of the Han Dynasty. They hoped that the emperor would be close to virtuous ministers and stay away from villains, and they resolutely fought against the eunuch forces and stood on the opposite side of the emperor.
But this was not to resist the imperial power and replace it. On the contrary, it was for the sake of stable imperial power, political clarity, and long-term stability of the rule. Therefore, they did not hesitate to admonish the emperor even if they sacrificed their lives. This shows that the Confucian concept of loyalty to the emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty has reached its climax.
In less time than a stick of incense, Cao Shuang and his entourage drove their horses to the Luoyang fortress. The soldiers patrolling and guarding the city gate saluted Cao Shuang one after another.
The location of the stables in the Luoyang base is very obvious. Several soldiers and civilians were tied up in the stables to drink water and escape the heat. When everyone tied up the horses, Ma Jun took over what Cao Shuang said on the road: "Confucian scholars in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty are also a thing that is harmful to the country.
Son, there is nothing wrong with being loyal to the emperor, but we cannot let the eunuchs and relatives take turns to hold the emperor hostage and control the power of the world.
Let the Han Dynasty continue to decay like this. To achieve this without force, just relying on words and threatening death at every turn will not work. After all, this has no practical effect. Many things still have to rely on strength.
Come and talk."
Cao Shuang tied up his horse and said: "Of course, I think it's not just Confucian scholars, but also political internal strife. We, the Wei Dynasty, should learn from these.
If all the courtiers' minds are focused on internal strife, they will have no intention of developing a basic business such as horse breeding for external expansion. After all, I, the Wei Dynasty, have experienced internal political strife, and the most hateful one is the old thief Sima!"
The seeds of internal strife in the Eastern Han Dynasty were sown since the founding of the country and began to intensify.
After Liu Xiu, Liu Zhuang and his son, it only took two generations, and it began to decline from generation to generation. Internally, there was political infighting, and the endless internal strife between relatives and eunuchs for power.