Wang Yuan is fifty-seven years old and still has a sword that is not old. He dances with the sword for half an hour every day.
However, gray hair has grown on the temples.
"I have roughly read several of Meng Jing's manuscripts, and they are quite profound." Wang Yuan praised them.
Zhao Zhenji held up his hands and said, "I'm so lucky to be able to catch my eye."
Zhao Zhenji's academic thoughts were passed down from the Taizhou School of Yangming's Psychology, and he also studied physics.
Historically, this person was a pioneer of "practical learning". He hated empty talk, advocated hard work, hated evil as much as hatred, and was upright and upright. He was an old angry young man who couldn't get rid of the dirt in his eyes.
"The Ming Dynasty 1566" actually made Zhao Zhenji very miserable and turned into an exquisite egoist.
In another time and space, Zhang Juzheng also believed in "practical learning" and happened to be the same cabinet minister as Zhao Zhenji. The relationship between the two was very bad.
Zhao Zhenji was the oldest person at the time, but because he had been dismissed from office during the Jiajing Dynasty, he was ranked at the bottom of the cabinet. The three cabinet ministers in front of him, including Zhang Juzheng, were all reprimanded by him as his grandsons.
Because Zhao Zhenji likes to work hard, although he joined the cabinet at a young age, he did not come back to Beijing to support himself in his old age.
The first and second assistants were all scolded by Zhao Zhenji to lose their temper. The Minister of the Ministry of War was directly scolded by him as a political enemy for practicing favoritism and malpractice.
Zhang Juzheng could only endure, willing to listen to some words and not listening to others. In the end, he couldn't bear it anymore and simply brought Gao Gong back and forcefully forced Zhao Zhenji to resign.
Zhao Zhenji was very interesting in his later years. He spoke uprightly on things he didn't like and resigned when his political opponents counterattacked him. He seemed too lazy to fight with a bunch of juniors - maybe he had experienced too many political struggles and knew the dangers of party struggle.
I want to keep the situation as stable as possible.
The same was true of the fight with Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng brought Gao Gong to take charge of the civil service, and Zhao Zhenji asked for the job of taking charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. As a result, Zhao Zhenji cherished feathers, and was disgusted by Gao Gong. When he resigned, he said to the emperor: "
Gao Gong is tyrannical and shows favoritism, and has brought chaos to the civil service. After I take office, I would like to ask Your Majesty to let Gao Gong join the cabinet and not allow him to monopolize the civil service and cultivate party members."
In fact, it is a pity that Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji have similar ideas, but there are differences in their specific policies. If Zhang Juzheng can take the initiative to show his kindness, Zhao Zhenji is likely to protect Zhang Juzheng.
Of course, if he could take the initiative to show good will, he would not be Zhang Juzheng, and it would be impossible to break through resistance and carry out reforms.
Wang Yuan asked: "Meng Jing has been at sea for three years, do you want to go back?"
Zhao Zhenji said: "I will return home by boat by the end of the year at the latest. My father at home is already old."
Zhao Zhenji didn't know that his father had already died of illness when he went to sea...it has been three years now.
Wang Yuan nodded and said: "Meng Jing is a great talent. If he is willing to come to Tianzhu to serve as an official in the future, the important ministers in the cabinet will definitely be waiting for him."
Zhao Zhenji asked: "Sir, when I look at the politics of Tianzhu, it seems that they are practicing the Mohist method."
Wang Yuan laughed heartily: "All schools of thought have been integrated for a long time. How can there be any Mohist school now? However, it does have the legacy of Mohist school. Do you know why it is like this?"
"Why?" Zhao Zhenji asked.
Wang Yuan said: "The schools of thought were born in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At that time, rituals and music collapsed, and many of the talents recruited by the emperor and the princes were unemployed. Seeing that the people were in danger, they tried to improve the situation from their own perspective.
society. This is how all the schools of thought came to be."
Zhao Zhenji smiled and said: "Sir, you always have novel ideas."
Wang Yuan also said: "There are hundreds of schools of thought, each representing the interests of different classes. Who does the Mohist school represent? Craftsmen and small landowners, and craftsmen are the main ones."
Mohist disciples, at the very beginning, were actually a group of engineers and technical workers!
What are the interests of these people?
Social stability, opposition to war, advocacy of personal values, and protection of private property.
The opening chapter of "Mozi" does not talk about anything else, but explains the political philosophy.
The first thing is to respect the virtuous, that is, to select talented people as officials. Morality is secondary, as long as the king can make reasonable arrangements. This is different from Confucianism. Confucianism pays more attention to moral character. If the moral character is corrupt, the more capable the greater the harm.
.
Mohist's promotion of virtuous people also comes with a requirement, that is, the monarch must give me due reward no matter how much my abilities are worth. I cannot let the horse run fast and not let the horse eat enough like the Ming Dynasty treated officials. Talents should be reused.
Only when talents are rewarded can we cultivate an atmosphere of meritocracy and gather truly talented people to serve the country.
The Mohist School also talks about benevolent government. The benevolent gentleman in the Mohist School is similar to the "big man" described by Mencius, that is, he should not be lewd when he is rich or poor, and he should be kind to the living and pity the dead.
The Mohists also talked about the legal system and recognized the legalist idea that human nature is inherently evil.
However, the Legalists were completely disappointed with human nature and tried to use laws to restrain human nature. The Mohists believed that human nature could still be saved, and tried to use human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages to achieve a win-win situation of "loving each other and benefiting each other".
If you want a win-win situation, you must create a reasonable environment. Therefore, you must solve the problem of people's food and clothing. Otherwise, how can you achieve a win-win situation if you don't even have enough to eat?
Therefore, Mohism advocates frugality, that is, no extravagance and waste, and all national finances are used for people's livelihood and national defense, so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and are always ready to drive away invaders.
In terms of law, Mohism follows heaven, while Taoism follows nature.
Mohists believe that the will of heaven is benevolence, and the king should implement benevolent government and laws to bring society into a healthy and orderly state. When the king implements benevolent government and laws, he is following the will of heaven, and God will recognize the king's legal authority. If the king harms the people, he is
If you violate the will of Heaven, Heaven will cancel the monarch's legal authority, and the country will perish as a result.
Mohism advocates unity, that is, unity of thought from top to bottom. Only in this way can government orders be smooth and the whole country can be concentrated to accomplish major tasks.
The growth of the Qin State initially stemmed from the Mohist Reform, which twice defeated Wei, the most powerful country at the time.
Even though Shang Yang later brought Legalism and Mohism gradually faded out, Qin's administrative system still had strong Mohist characteristics. And with the blessing of Legalism, Qin's Mohist administrative system was more efficient and almost reached the Mohist vision.
of perfect condition.
What is the Mohist administrative system like?
From the countryside to the central government, all talented people are selected as chief officials. The monarch's philosophy of governing the country is passed from one level to the next, and must be understood by craftsmen and farmers. The monarch's policies and laws are passed from one level to the next, and must be understood by the grassroots.
The fastest and best execution. Concentrate the whole country's efforts to do big things, and anyone who stands in the way will get out!
In the Mohist administrative system, the Confucian patriarchal tradition was abandoned. Officials were selected based on their talents and contributions, and nepotism should be eliminated as much as possible.
The Mohist family also operates according to this system, and the orders of the master can be conveyed to every believer.
To put it bluntly, it is to govern the country according to the concept of engineers. This is how large-scale projects in ancient times can be completed. Mozi moved the way of doing large-scale projects to the field of state governance, and was later absorbed by Confucianism.
It just so happened that when Wang Yuan founded the country in Tianzhu, he also focused on protecting the interests of industrialists, merchants and landlords. Every Han immigrant was a small landowner, and the others were either merchants or craftsmen.
From the perspective of the stakeholders, it just fits the Mohist composition, because the Mohists also represent a group of craftsmen and small landowners.
Naturally, Wang Yuan's philosophy of governing the country highly overlapped with that of the Mohists, which also led Zhao Zhenji to mistakenly believe that the country of Tianzhu was governed by the Mohists.
In addition to firmly supporting scientific development, Wang Yuan will not favor any school, because the essence of Confucianism is also very good.
Once a country becomes rich and powerful, and once the central government has the ability to control local areas, the core concepts of Confucianism are a very perfect strategy for governing the country, but some dross must be removed.
From Western accounts of the Ming Dynasty, we can know that many virtues of the Han people did not appear out of thin air later.
For example, modesty, hard work, gentleness, hospitality, etc. There is an article by a European, one of which is roughly as follows: "We have the best goods here. Ming people like their own things, but they also do not hesitate to praise the things of other countries. When looking at
Even if you don’t like the products from foreign countries, you will still admire them for their novelty. This is a unique virtue that cannot be found in any other country... They are also very enthusiastic, because I am an outsider, and there are always people
Invite me to the banquet...They are still very humble and possess this virtue without knowing it..."
This is the power of education. Don’t think that education is too illusory.
When you observe countries around the world, you will be surprised to find that many of the concepts and moral qualities you are accustomed to are unique to China.
At least the immigrants became proud of their culture when they came to Tianzhu.
Even the lower-class peasants feel from the bottom of their hearts that the native Indians are a group of barbarians who do not understand etiquette - including the Indian nobles, they are also standard barbarians, as if they have never been civilized!
Is Confucianism a free gift for thousands of years?