Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 741 What is the intention
"What do you want to do?"

In Longwu's view, if you don't have two ambitions, you should learn from the good ministers in ancient times, and you should not make the king feel uneasy. When the king has any doubts, you should voluntarily give up your rights and turn yourself out of the government and the opposition. The above The emperor felt at ease, but Wang Yan's behavior was just the opposite. He was constantly trying to gain power, and even formed cliques to try to challenge the imperial power. Emperor Longwu really didn't understand, and even hated Wang Yan a little bit, hating why he couldn't be an obedient courtier .

Wang Yan fell silent after hearing Long Wu's words.

The world is full of goodwill, and the world is all good.

Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are like this, everyone is working hard for the same goal, willing to become slaves of gold, silver, beauty, and power, and giving their all.

Utilitarianism, self-interest, this is the choice of most people, for this reason, they can do whatever they want, just like nowadays.

This is also a reality, but if everyone in the whole world is like this, it will be terrible.

The characteristic of early capitalism was utilitarianism. If you don’t make money, what kind of teeth do you have?

When explaining the germination of modern capitalism, it should also be considered that when the entire class of scholars in the south of the Yangtze River is chasing money, the original value of Xiu Qi Zhiping will inevitably collapse.

After the collapse of rites and music, how can an official who believes in utilitarianism be required to resist the Qing Dynasty?
During the Hongguang period, the Ming Dynasty collapsed at the touch of a button, and there was a big reason for the ideological confusion in the late Ming Dynasty.

Mencius said: "The reason why human beings are different from beasts is that the ordinary people get rid of them, and the gentlemen keep them."

Humans and beasts are both utilitarian in nature, and the difference is only a little bit. Ordinary people discard this little bit, but gentlemen keep it.

The mediocre can choose utilitarianism, but they should not ridicule those who insist on ideals and morality, because it is because of this small group of people that the whole society can continue to progress, morality can continue to improve, and civilization can have hope.

Confucianism has always assumed the responsibility of enlightenment in ancient Chinese society, but under the intervention of the rulers of all dynasties, it gradually lost the function of enlightenment and the ideal of governing the world, and gradually became a profit-seeking bureaucrat.

This change was particularly evident in the Ming Dynasty, and the most important reason for the change was that the imperial power was too strong and the ministers' power was too weak. People were completely chilled and gave up the ideal of governing the country.

Taizu set up the imperial staff, initially to deter lawless officials, that is, one or two people, but after the descendants, it completely changed its taste and became a tool for the emperor to vent his power.

During the Zhengde period, Wu Zong set a record of 130 people receiving the cane at the same time, and not long after, this record was broken by Emperor Jiajing with 16 four people receiving the cane at the same time, of which [-] died on the spot.

In addition, the great eunuch Liu Jin also killed 23 ministers with a stick, and there were not a few people who were killed by Wei Zhongxian after that.

The reasons why these officials received sticks include those who impeached Yan Song, those who talked about demon monks, those who advised Wan Guifei to interfere in politics, those who advised Yuanxi to watch lanterns, those who advised Emperor Wuzong to tour the south, and those who advised Jiajing not to accept Jindan. stick.

The most outrageous thing is that during the Zhengde period, the thirteen censors impeached Liu Jin. As a result, the last book would be punished with thirty rods, the last two books would be punished with sixty rods, and the last three books would be rode with sixty rods each. When the rod is finished, the person dies.

Confucian scholar-officials, there are many pedantic people, and there are quite a few pious ones, but there have been no such old masters in the past dynasties. They pulled the emperor with glaring eyebrows, and used Confucian standards for emperors to demand the emperor. This cannot be done, and that cannot be done. , How many absurd things did the emperors of the past dynasties do, and how many crimes the people have to suffer.

Scholar-bureaucrats are supposed to be outspoken about state affairs, but after speaking out, they are beaten to death.Just like Wu Zong, when the local disaster happened, he wanted to travel south. The ministers persuaded him, and more than a dozen were killed. In the end, Wu Zong was moved by the courtiers and canceled the plan of the southern tour, but the minister who advised him did not died.

If you were a minister, would you be chilled?I am afraid that next time, knowing that the emperor's deeds will cause people's grievances to boil, he will not speak up to persuade him. This is a change in the thinking of the scholar-bureaucrat class.

The most representative of these is the Donglin Party.

Donglin's reputation is very bad, but you must know that Donglin's party was not like this at the beginning of its association, and why did they have a clear political opinion in the past, demanding that "the court should be honest and upright, revitalize the administration of officials, open the way of speech, and eradicate A large part of the reason for this is that Donglin was shocked by the emperor's behavior in his early remonstrances. Heart.

After experiencing the struggle between the Shenzong Dynasty and the Tianqi Dynasty, some literati and bureaucrats woke up like a dream. With the continuous concentration of imperial power, the world was not ruled by the scholars, but was regarded as private property by the Zhu family. The Zhu family's family is dictating, and this kind of enlightenment has led to the Donglin party members to be reborn in two aspects.

One is that the nature of the Donglin Party has changed. Prior to this, both the disciples of Confucianism and the believers of Wangmen Xinxue all had the traditional Confucian ideal of governing the world, so they would have moral constraints and restrictions in the process of governing. Regardless of the specific content of this Confucian worldview, the sense of responsibility of the scholar-officials to take the world as their own responsibility is very powerful.

But after that, the Donglin Party as a whole began to evolve into a bureaucratic group consciously pursuing self-interest, especially worldly wealth.

He gave up the ideals of the original scholar-bureaucrat class and abandoned the constraints of Confucianism on them. After the morality withered, the pursuit of secular interests has become the only impulse of this group.

From the changes in the Donglin Party, we can mostly see the ideological changes of the scholar class in the Ming Dynasty.

The emperor did not want to share the world with the scholars, and the scholars did not want to contribute to the Zhu family.

Those who insisted on their original ideals withdrew from the court and lived in seclusion in the countryside, while those who remained became profit-seeking bureaucrats.

At this time, the bureaucratic system of the entire Ming Dynasty no longer expressed the wishes of all social strata, but became an interest group that only expressed the interests of the bureaucrats. Therefore, even when Donglin knew that the court had no money and the north was deteriorating, he was unwilling fight for their taxes.

When the entire bureaucratic system of the imperial court has lost the ideal of governing the world, it is useless for the emperor to have personal ambitions.

Before the Hongguang Dynasty, after the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, the original bureaucratic group would collapse at the touch of a touch and surrender like a cloud, which is also reasonable.

This is the loss of morality and ideals of the entire class, and the consequences and ideological confusion brought about by the collapse of rituals and morality cannot be resolved by killing a few people.

The collapse of faith and the desire to re-establish the spirit of the scholar-bureaucrats to take the world as their own responsibility did not happen overnight, which is very similar to the present.

What Wang Yan wants to do is to revive the spirit of the bureaucratic scholar-officials, but how to revive, then this world cannot be the world of the Zhu family.

　Thank you Nongmin, Yuedong for your heartfelt rewards, thank you for your subscription, monthly pass, and recommendation.

　　Finally, I wish everyone Valentine's Day is coming soon. I don't know if there are any single girls who read this book besides the big man who picks his feet. Hehe...
　　
　
(End of this chapter)