Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1074 Evil Dragon Afterimage ([-])

Of course, people's correct thinking did not fall from the sky. At least on the issues of what currency is, whether it should be metalized, and whether it should be taxed again, these enlightenment scholars in the late Ming Dynasty came to it through social practice and historical experience. A more intuitive and logical idea.

Shengshi took the initiative to open the door to communicate, and it is really completely different from the many ideas and logic that are forced to communicate by knocking on the door when they are already behind.

People in later generations feel that some things are correct, but people at this time do not feel that they are correct.Because... because the other side doesn't seem to be too strong, so it's just like that at this time, why is everything on the other side right?
After all, it is still similar to the question of "whether Confucianism has universal applicability".

A very simple example shows the difference.

For example, Dashun opened up exchanges with Europe, Liu Yu wanted to develop the navy, and astronomy was the front-end technology for navigation, so Dashun made up for the latest developments in astronomy.

This leads to a problem, such as some knowledge in astronomy, such as concepts such as the red pole and the yellow pole.

And the great Confucianists definitely want to solve the problem of "Westerners know, but we don't".This is basic pride.

Therefore, it is said that since the Han Dynasty, people in the Chou did not know there was the Yellow Pole, and when Westerners entered China, there was the Zodiac Pole beyond the Equator Pole. "Li", "Le", "Yi", "Spring and Autumn" are unprecedented.Then there was a great Confucianist who said: The Westerners say Chiji is the true North Pole in "Zhoubi", and Huangji is the North Pole Xuanji in "Zhoubi". "Yu Shu" said: In Xuanji Yuheng, Qi Qizheng is used.Xuanji is set up to imitate the poles of the zodiac.Huangji is located in the southeast of Zhushixing, between Shangbi and Shaobi, and has not changed with the precession throughout the ages.The red pole is in the middle, and the yellow pole surrounds it. "Zhou Bi" has already said that it did not start with Westerners.

That is to say, the knowledge of astronomy is science.

Yes is yes, no is no.

Some people are surprised that there is no record in the six major scriptures.

And those who are proud need to prove that it's not that there are no records, but that you don't understand what the sages are talking about.For example, the phrase "Xuanji Yuheng" actually refers to Huang Daoji, which is a metaphor. It has already been mentioned in "Zhou Bi", but you don't understand its profoundness, and you just understand it randomly.

Is this a good thing?
Of course it's a good thing, because now Dashun is not when he is beaten until he cries for his father and mother, and feels that the enemy is invincible.

No matter how fragile and uninformed a civilization is, when someone surpasses it a little bit, it scares me to think about it comprehensively, and I feel that I can’t do this or that, race issues, and even the biggest fantasy is that I can be a second-class person , at least to a higher degree than blacks.

This kind of textual research-style catching up is of course a good thing. It can seamlessly catch up with learning on scientific issues, especially mathematics, astronomy, algebra, etc., and greatly offset the resistance.

But things outside the category of "science and engineering" such as mathematics and astronomy are different.

Not to mention, modernization is a set of things that the whole world jointly destroys the remnants of the old era and extracts its essence.

Just talking about governance, governance, economics, taxation system, colonization, business, and political science is not the same as mathematics and astronomy. Why do the proud scholar-bureaucrats at this time think that these things are correct and right? Woolen cloth?

What's more, at this time, the opposite is actually the same thing at this time, and there may not be any overly brilliant theories, and even many existing theories at this time are simply unable to solve the predicament Dashun is facing.For example, the so-called free trade theory, even in the original history, Adam Smith also used tricks to give a special explanation on the issue of trade with China.What's more, now, Liu Yu has started to cooperate with the Dutch compradors, under the background of smuggling everywhere.

The boats and guns have caught up. Before the Crimean War, the gap caused by the so-called industrialization was just that.To catch up with flintlock guns, adjust the tax system, and solve artillery skills. With his size, it is no problem to be a steamroller.

Therefore, Liu Yu and Lin Min had differences on the reform of the salt administration, or Liu Yu and most of the Dashun bureaucrats and scholar-bureaucrats had huge differences on some issues.

And Dashun's mainstream thoughts originated from the reflection on the evil dragon of the previous dynasty, and the afterimage of the previous dynasty still hangs over Dashun's head.

This kind of afterimage shroud is similar to the lesson of Song Dynasty who tried his best to avoid the chaotic politics of military people in the military towns in the late Tang Dynasty, and created a Song Dynasty.

Why did Ming die?

At the time of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the scholar-bureaucrats conducted collective reflection.

One of the results of the reflection was the reaction to the heresy of Xinxue, which eventually led to a collapsed reflection on Neo-Confucianism.

And reflections on state governance, economic system, and taxation system... These reflections are not empty reflections, but reflections on various chaos in the late Ming Dynasty.

Guozuo has been around for nearly 300 years, even for later generations, 300 years is enough to annihilate many things.

At this time.

The reflection at the end of the Ming Dynasty is more about the various chaos in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Attributed to a whip method.

It is attributed to excessive extortion.

Attributed to the monetization of silver.

attributed to the tax system.

Of course, it also includes the salt administration system, currency system, who collects taxes, industrial and commercial development, and so on.

But it should be noted that Adam Smith lived in England, so he wrote The Wealth of Nations in England where the handicraft industry had developed; while the French people lived in France, so after the French Revolution, they came up with the Jacobin land reform.

The various ideas of the scholar-officials in the late Ming Dynasty did not fall from the sky, but were condensed from social practice, historical evolution, and the deep-rooted ubiquitous benevolence and morality that melted into the body.

Liu Yu said he was right, how could he prove it?

If the future generations are thrown away by others, and a huge gap has been widened, it can be proved by "opening their eyes to see the world".

So what now?Now how does his idea prove to be correct?
At this time, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, do not include the future, so there is no way to prove that he is right.

On the issue of salt administration reform, he was able to win the support of the emperor, and finally won the compromise and a certain degree of support from the reformists. It should be said that it was due to the reflection of the mainstream literati on the previous dynasty.

But this kind of reflection is destined to be only a short-term fellow traveler with Liu Yu.

Because, including Wang Fuzhi, who was highly praised by later generations, many of their reflections on the previous dynasty were based on the mentality of "sorrow for their misfortunes and anger for their indisputability". If you manage what you think, you will have a stable mentality.

It is still considered from the perspective of "the king can minister to the people of the world", "it is the rule of heaven to raise a gentleman with a villain", and "people are like beasts, and they are not human".

What Huang Zongxi opposed was not against the monarchy, but against the autocracy of the monarchy. Instead, it was "the republic of the gentry class over the rest of the class, plus the Confucian parish system", a semi-feudal system, and the school as the highest legislative body and supervisory body. .

The so-called: what the Son of Heaven is not necessarily right, and what the Son of Heaven is not necessarily wrong, so the Son of Heaven does not dare to be self-righteous, and publicizes what is not right in the school.

How to choose the people in the school?

School officials in counties and counties are not allowed to choose and remove themselves.County public discussion, please name the Confucian master.

What about ethics?
The good and bad luck among the people is based on Zhu Zi's "Family Rituals".The common people may not be familiar with the system of mourning clothes, the size of the wooden master, the style of clothing, the system of the palace, and those who work in the market will be paid by the officials;

If there are sacrifices that violate the etiquette, if there are illegal clothes, if there are useless things on the market, if there are funerals left uncovered in the soil, if there are good songs in the ears, and the streets are full of insults, then the post of academic officials will not be cultivated.

What about heresy?
In the anthology of humanities of the time, the ancient prose does not have the teacher's method, the quotations do not have the experience, the memorials are not helpful and practical, and the prefaces are not helpful to the historians, so they are not allowed to be passed on and engraved.At that time, the essays, novels, lyrics and music, and entertainment ghostwriting were all engraved and burnt.

It is not impossible to say that this is based on the people, or that this is a representative system.

But it's really a bit of a feeling that after being stamped with ideological stamps, you first decide what is right, and then go back and talk about it, and then make it clear.

If it is true that I really have no chance to enter modernization spontaneously on my own side, it is possible to find a few words from these thoughts and seek answers from the ultimate self-comforting fantasy.

In other words, it has fallen behind, and when looking for theories that seem to be the same as those on the opposite side from the remarks of the sages, it can also be used.

However, with Dashun at this moment, can it really complete the transformation with this set of tools?
Reflecting on the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty, what we get is a mainstream reflection on avoiding the chaos in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, just like the Song Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, but can we complete the mission of destroying the old era?

Is the opposite of the mistakes made by the previous dynasty necessarily correct?
The many ideas spawned under the afterimage of the evil dragon are not necessarily all bad things, but if you follow this routine completely, you don't have to try it, and it will definitely not work.

For example, in Wang Fuzhi's taxation view, he believes that property tax should not be collected, nor should land be assessed as a tax from the upper, middle and lower levels.

For example, his concept of labor and labor believes that the two tax laws and Zhang Juzheng's one whip law are all bad policies.It should be returned to rent-yong modulation, and the tax should be light and the service should be heavy.

The tax is light, showing that the emperor does not think food and wealth are good things, they are all rubbish.

The heavy service shows that the emperor believes that people's power is a good thing, and it shows that the emperor attaches great importance to the people, and it is people-oriented.

And it is concluded that if taxes are light and labor is heavy, then there will be no lazy people in the world.Because farming or not farming, everyone has to do hard labor, so why don't you farm?
And, if the land rating system is abolished, the tax rate will be unified, or it will be levied per head.Then, the tax is the same for all people. You must be poor because you are lazy, so you will work hard to cultivate the land, and try to turn the bad land into good land.

For example, in response to the outrageous local land tax collection at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the idea of ​​equalizing land by the peasant army, it was proposed that instead of equalizing and limiting land, as long as taxes were lowered, land would not be merged.

This may be considered enlightenment thinking, and it must be true.

But is it in line with national conditions?It should be said that it is also consistent.

At least it is an overkill reflection that fits the special circumstances of the late Ming Dynasty.

After all, thoughts are not created out of thin air, but based on reality and history, and the conclusions drawn may be staged. If a tree does not bloom or bear fruit for 5000 years, and it will bloom and bear fruit every year after 5000 years, then human beings judge this tree If there is no flowering and no fruit, it is correct.

With regard to the degree of magic in the late Ming Dynasty, excessive tax collection, carnival of subordinates at the grassroots level, and the state of all taxes on the land, this kind of reflection that seems really unreasonable is actually not wrong.

It was too dark in front of my eyes at that time, and I was blinded by the eyepatch that was too dark at that time, and I felt that the light was pure white.It's normal.

It's just a reflection at a specific time, and it may not be really feasible.

(End of this chapter)