Prime Minister of Great Qin

Chapter 43 Law is Confucianism! (for collection)
"Ji Heng, you are talking nonsense."

"What you listed above are all reforms." Hu Hai chuckled.

Ji Heng nodded, shook his head again, and said, "What I said earlier is indeed reform."

"But they're not Legalists."

"Not the Legalists?" Hu Hai was taken aback, looking at Ji Heng suspiciously, a little confused.

Ji Heng sat up straight and said, "Do you think there are legalists in the world?"

"Of course there are." Hu Hai said without hesitation: "Aren't Li Kui, Wu Qi, Shen Buhai and others listed above all legalists?"

"Who defined it?" Ji Heng asked again.

"Ah?" Hu Hai scratched his head, somewhat confused about the situation.

He looked Ji Heng up and down, and asked in surprise, "Are you confused by drinking? Isn't this a well-known thing in the world?"

Ji Heng smiled and said, "There are no legalists in the world."

"Some are just reformers!"

"The legalism passed down by word of mouth in the world is just the running around of Confucian scholars."

"because."

"Legalism is Confucianism!"

"Legalism is a part of Confucianism."

"It's just that this part of the concept of 'Confucian scholars' is excluded by mainstream Confucian scholars, so they have been cut off, but they have never deviated from their roots. These people are considered Confucian scholars according to their origin."

"At least they were heavily influenced by Confucianism."

Hearing Ji Heng's words, Fusu's complexion changed slightly.

He suddenly remembered Zhang Cang's words, Confucianism is very good at making noise.

During the Warring States period, Confucianism only respected the 'first teacher Confucius', and Mencius was slightly better. As for Xunzi, he was kicked out directly and was included in Legalism by Confucian scholars.

Judging from this situation, what Ji Heng said was not false.

Xunzi once sacrificed wine for the Jixia Academy, and was the leader of the world's literati at that time, and he was not respected by Confucian scholars, let alone other "Confucian scholars" who "deviated from the classics"?
Ji Heng continued: "Li Kui was a student of Zixia, Wu Qi was a student of Zeng Zi, and Fan Li, Tian Zifang, Duan Ganmu and others were all students of Zixia. In terms of origin, they are all Confucian scholars. One line."

"It's just that compared with the pedantic and old-fashioned Confucianism, Li Kui, Wu Qi and others place more emphasis on strength and utilitarianism, and are even a little eager for quick success."

"Legalism is just a branch of Confucianism."

"At least it was like this before Shang Yang."

"The so-called Confucianism is just some unworkable empty talk made by Confucius, the ancestor of Confucianism, who wholeheartedly pursued old dreams in troubled times."

"Only through the development of Confucian scholars in the past dynasties, Confucianism has gradually formed the core values ​​of benevolence, forgiveness, sincerity, and filial piety, emphasizing the moral cultivation of a gentleman, emphasizing that benevolence and propriety complement each other, emphasizing the five ethics and family ethics, advocating enlightenment and benevolent governance, and criticizing tyranny. A vast doctrine that seeks to rebuild the order of ritual and music."

"Just as a leaf has two sides."

"The same goes for Confucianism."

"After these years of development, Confucianism, which mainstream Confucian scholars admire, and Legalism, which are rejected by Confucian scholars, are actually exactly the opposite of each other."

"Mainstream Confucianism is big and wrong, acts subjectively, thinks ideally, and educates the world by benevolence, righteousness and morality."

"Legalists are relatively pragmatic. They expounded those empty actions in clear text, and finally summarized them into laws and regulations to educate the world."

"Confucianism values ​​privilege."

"The deviant Legalists talk about equality."

"Confucianism advocates the inherent goodness of human nature."

"Legalists firmly believe that human nature is inherently evil."

"But the two sides of the leaf, which seem to be diametrically opposed, actually come from the same petiole."

"In the end, we will reach the same goal by different routes."

"Confucianism attaches great importance to fooling the people, and so does Legalism."

"Confucianism emphasizes agriculture, and Legalism even more."

"Confucianism talks about patriarchal law, human relations and family ethics, and Legalism, except during the period when Shang Yang was in power, talked about the same thing."

"Confucianism talks about hierarchical privileges, and Legalism also talks about it."

"Confucianism advocates filial piety, and so does Legalism."

"Confucianism and Legalism are the same in many respects."

"It's actually quite normal."

"Since Confucius, Confucianism has spread private learning widely in the world. There are too many scholars influenced by Confucianism. Even if they want to abandon it, they will inevitably be interfered in the end. ?”

"The real distinction between Confucianism and Legalism began with Shang Yang."

"Shang Yang only counts as half."

Ji Heng took a sip of his wine and took a deep breath.

continued:
"Shang Yang is from the state of Wei."

"When Shang Yang entered the Qin Dynasty, he brought the "Fa Jing" written by Li Kui with him. Wei Guojing's reforms were popular, and Shang Yang would inevitably be influenced by Confucianism. This can be seen from the first meeting between Shang Yang and Xiaogong. Shang Yang first talked about The Confucian 'Way of Kings'."

"But Wang Dao was not liked by Duke Xiao. In the end, when Shang Yang was about to be given up, he said 'overbearing' for the first time."

"Shang Yang's reform is different from that of Li Kui, Wu Qi and others. His focus is no longer sticking to Confucianism, but focusing on human nature."

"So Shang Yang's laws are very anti-human."

"The patriarchal family that has always been respected in the world was completely abandoned by Shang Yang. A family can only have a maximum of five people. After the children get married, they must separate the family. There is no respect for human relations or human relationships, and it is completely implemented according to the law."

"I oppose the ritual system, put forward the 'theory of human nature that likes the good and hate the bad', and the materialist view of history that violates the law and does not follow the present."

"There are likes and dislikes in life, so the people can be governed!"

"Starting from Shang Yang, Confucianism and Legalism officially separated."

"But only when Shang Yang was in power."

"After Shang Yang was killed, the laws of the Great Qin Dynasty were amended to a certain extent, Confucian filial piety returned, punishments without grades became punishments with grades, and the patriarchal clan system came back."

"However, Shang Yang's political legacy is still very rich."

"He established fairness and justice for the Legalists!"

"In addition to Shang Yang, another 'Confucian scholar' who is different from Confucianism is Han Feizi."

"His book "Han Feizi" only talks about two characters."

"rule!!!"

"Since then, the thinking of Legalists has changed from rewards and punishments at the beginning to clear rewards and punishments, fairness and justice."

"There must be rules and regulations in everything!"

"Everything in the world has to be done according to the system."

"It's just that Shang Yang and Han Feizi's ideas are too ruthless, so they have also been criticized by the world. The Great Qin is indeed based on the law, but in fact it is significantly different from Shang Yang's legal system at that time."

"Today's Great Qin is Yang Law and Yin Confucianism."

"Use Legalism as a ruling tool to control the people, and use Confucian loyalty, filial piety, propriety, righteousness and trust to tame the people."

"This system is indeed the most suitable at present."

"But I'm actually not optimistic."

"Because the current Legalism has returned to the beginning. Shang Yang managed to pick out the Legalism and formed it into a separate system. But these years, the Legalism has gradually embarked on the old path and returned to the original leaf. Now It is true that the legalists are in power, and the leaves are facing upwards, but who knows, the future will not be Confucianism and leaves facing the upwards?"

"At that time, where will the world go?"

Ji Heng shook his head.

He stopped, drank and ate.

The house is quiet.

It was as if the audience were overwhelmed.

(End of this chapter)