My father is Jiajing

Chapter 534: The Study of the Emperor
After finishing the free speech in Wenhua Hall, Zhu Zaigui also asked Xu Jie and Li Chunfang to find some Hanlin scholars with good writing skills to engage in a political discourse debate on the significance of the new Beijing-Tianjin Road and the grand narrative of the "Rise of the Ming Dynasty."

These discussions were published in the internal publication of the Hanlin Academy and the Daming Bookstore's "Da Ming Fenghua" magazine.

Use this new political theory to illustrate the important impact of the new Beijing-Tianjin route on the Ming Dynasty now and in the future.

Let more knowledgeable people understand the historical and political significance of the new path through these political discourses.

This will form a consensus from top to bottom, and after the success of the Beijing-Tianjin new road, the construction of other new roads will be initiated.

In this way, many people who may have encountered ideological problems and some bottom-line issues that could not be touched before can use the new political consensus to explain, break through and change the original lifeless political atmosphere.

Therefore, the political theory construction work on "grand narrative" initiated and started by Zhu Zaigui began.

Its significance is almost comparable to the political movement of "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" carried out by Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty using Dong Zhongshu's theories to strengthen central power.

Although Zhu Zaigui's political theory started with a new path, if one examines it in detail, many people with political foresight will find that it has more than just the political significance of a path.

Rather, it represents a completely new political direction and development.

Because in order to build such a road, we must abandon the original political ideas and use new political ideas to think about the meaning of this road.
This will help us understand what kind of new ideas will provide new opportunities for the rise of the Ming Dynasty in terms of commerce, industry, people's livelihood, etc.

When this new idea becomes a consensus in the world, the political thought of "Confucianism as the only doctrine" that has existed for more than a thousand years will produce corresponding cracks, leading to a new political evolution.

This is also something that many people with lofty ideals would like to see.

Many of them are striving for the great goal of opening up new paths and realms on the current Confucian path, so that they can become great scholars like Zhu Xi, Cheng Hao, Wang Yangming and others.

The fundamental reason why these great Confucian scholars became "sage"-level Confucian scholars after Confucius and Mencius is that they pioneered and innovated new theories based on the original Confucianism.

It is not as some people think, that they just read more books and interpreted more Confucian classics.

But that’s not the case at all.

The birth of a generation of great Confucian scholars must bring new Confucian theories and new Confucian thinking, so that they can become great Confucian scholars recognized by the world.

If the only criterion is who has read more books and who has written articles with stronger moral sense, then wouldn't great scholars become worthless common commodities?

Therefore, the development of Confucianism is not static.

The development of Confucianism must also rely on the needs of the times and undergo new theoretical sublimation in order to maintain its vitality.

Now Zhu Zaigui uses a road as a lever to pry open the needs of the times, allowing these smart scholars to think about the new changes and new needs brought about by this road. Then, as long as they are smart enough, their knowledge and theories are solid enough, their thoughts are active enough, and they have the vision to think beyond the times.

Then they can definitely use the gap that Zhu Zaigui helped them to pry open to rethink the issue of the integration between current political needs and Confucian culture.

Until they have supplemented all these theories and formed a new system.

Then the dominant Confucianism may also become a new theoretical thinking in the aspects of "commerce" and "industry".

After all, during the more than two thousand years of its development, Confucianism has absorbed many advantages of various schools of thought and added them to its own system in order to survive and to better meet the needs of the times.

Therefore, whether Confucianism is feudal or backward actually depends entirely on the people who use Confucianism, their depth of thought and thinking, and whether it is feudal or backward.

If the depth of their thoughts and thinking is advanced enough and can lead the needs of the times, then they may become the new great scholars needed by the new era.

Just like Zhu Xi, Cheng Hao, Zhang Zai and others in the past.

The reason why Zhu Xi and others were able to achieve such high achievements in Confucianism is actually because the Confucian theories and thoughts they proposed were in line with the needs of the time. That is why they were revered as Confucian philosophers and sages by later Confucianists.

Now that Zhu Zaigui has opened up new political needs and provided them with new political theoretical support, there is naturally no reason for them to be much worse than Zhu Xi, Cheng Hao, Zhang Zai and other ancient people.

Perhaps after in-depth thinking and research, these people will come up with new slogans for Confucianism.

For example, the new Confucian thinking that "development is the only truth" and "truth is within the range of cannons."

After such a situation, who would dare to say that Confucianism is a representative of feudal backwardness?
And by extension.

Even in the historical development timeline that Zhu Zaigui was in before he traveled through time, there was a period of humiliating historical process, which led to the masters and thinkers of the time to criticize Confucianism in writing and verbally.

But one thing that cannot be denied is that these people were able to come up with such thoughts and such critical words and ideas, in fact, all for the purpose of giving new vitality to the future "Confucianism" and making it no longer as lifeless as it has been since the Song and Ming dynasties.

So, in the final analysis, the masters and thinkers of that era did not criticize Confucianism or Confucianism itself. They criticized those pedantic and corrupt Confucians who were conservative and insisted on taking the laws of their ancestors as the golden rule.

If they had been fortunate enough to survive that period of humiliation and enter a relatively peaceful and powerful era, these people would certainly have transformed themselves into masters of "national studies" and would have further sublimated the Confucianism that they once criticized into new ideas.

Because they will also clearly understand that the greatest contribution of this civilization that has lasted for thousands of years to continue unbroken is that Confucian culture has provided a sufficiently strong internal driving force.

Therefore, as the new spokespersons and people of the new era of Chinese civilization, they will inevitably use the ideas and thoughts that they can see and understand now to reintegrate into the new Confucian needs, so that it will continue to be the backbone supporting the entire civilization.

To enable children of present and future to recite some ancient poems, as well as to speak a few sentences from Confucian classics, while at the same time maintaining a spirit of thinking and exploration of new culture and the new world.

And this is the proof of the progress of Confucian culture!
Therefore, no matter how many people curse and hate Confucianism, in fact, what they hate is only the backward Confucianism, the feudal Confucianism.

Therefore, as long as we can link Confucian culture and Confucian doctrines with the progress of the times, we can form a new theoretical model.

If this pattern continues, who will criticize Confucianism as a conservative and backward ideology?
After all, there is no other ideology in the Ming Dynasty that can replace the influence of Confucian culture, and Zhu Zaigui does not have the confidence to create a new cultural theory to replace the current Confucian ideology.

Moreover, based on Zhu Zaigui's knowledge before the time travel and his current thinking, he also discovered that China at that time, no matter which "Bible" of foreign monks they had learned, those politicians were also sparing no effort to emphasize the theoretical practice of "Sinicization of certain ideas."

And what is this “Sinicization”?

This is the foundation of the culture that the Chinese have been learning and accepting for thousands of years. So, in a sense, "Sinicization" is also a development and inheritance of the new Confucian culture.

The reason why the word "Confucianism" is not mentioned is because the previous humiliating history is difficult to accept, so these changes are not described as the evolution of Confucianism, but are replaced by the term "Sinicization".

But if we explore the origin and explain the reason clearly, the significance of "Sinicization" of foreign ideas is to adapt to the needs of the new era, to protect the national roots and the national foundation, and only then should they be Sinicized.

Otherwise, why would we spend so much effort to innovate theories?
Therefore, to put it bluntly, if Chinese culture is to remain constantly updated, it must have these constantly improving theories as the ideological support for the entire civilization.

As long as we have these ideological agreements, many of the remaining things will become easy and will no longer seem to be full of obstacles.

So after Zhu Zaigui opened this gap, he immediately made the Hanlin Academy and Daming Book Company the birthplace and dissemination center of New Confucian thought and theory, and played the important role in brewing the ideas of the New Culture Movement at Tsinghua University and Peking University.

It can be said that Zhu Zaigui worked hard to ensure that the Ming Dynasty would have a vibrant new future.

He not only wanted to revitalize the current Ming Dynasty in terms of industrial technology, but also to broaden the Ming Dynasty's horizons in terms of ideological realm.

Make it a giant with a strong body and a sound mind!

Otherwise, if Zhu Zaigui only thought about making some new inventions and cultivating some technical inventors who could invent and create, then the Ming Dynasty he created would definitely not be a promising and vibrant Ming Dynasty.

It is just an ancient man wearing mecha. No matter how advanced its weapons are, they cannot cover up the fact that it is barbaric.

Zhu Zaigui was also well aware of the consequences of this barbarism.

He also knew some world history before he traveled through time.

He knew that a certain big country in the north only focused on industrial creation and neglected ideological sublimation and construction. As a result, it appeared stupid and corrupt when competing with other countries. In the end, it collapsed after only 69 years.

Therefore, in order to prevent the Ming Dynasty, which he had worked so hard to pull out of the quagmire of the feudal vicious circle, from following in the footsteps of that superpower, Zhu Zaigui had to create new ideas and political theories for the future of the Ming Dynasty.

Let the future Ming Dynasty be not only physically strong, but also mentally healthy and spiritually rich.

Otherwise, God knows what kind of monster the Ming Dynasty will become in a few decades.

If this monster gets out of control one day in the future and begins to collapse, it will probably never be possible for later generations to unify the situation after the collapse.

Therefore, in order for the Ming Dynasty to continue to exist, Zhu Zaigui had to plan ahead and develop and explore future political theories so that he would have enough ideological power in the future to support and consolidate the great territory of the Ming Dynasty that had been passed down for thousands of years.

For this reason, Zhu Zaigui could not hide it from Emperor Jiajing and just work on his own in silence.

So after making all the preparations and starting all this, Zhu Zaigui also wrote a memorial to the Jiajing Emperor who was in seclusion about creating the grand narrative political theory of the Ming Dynasty.

In his memorial, Zhu Zaigui expounded on the significance of the grand narrative political theory to the Ming Dynasty's renewed greatness, and also explained the importance of the new political theory to the Jiajing era of prosperity.

Therefore, when Emperor Jiajing saw Zhu Zaigui's memorial during his retreat, he couldn't help but reveal an expression of great shock!

He never thought that politics could be played this way?

It turns out that Emperor Jiajing believed that politics was nothing more than a contest between power and people's hearts.

But after reading Zhu Zaigui's memorial on the creation of the grand narrative political theory of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing suddenly felt that his original ideas seemed a little too childish.

It seems that the key point has been grasped, but in fact it has fallen short.

This caused everyone in the Ming Dynasty, whether he or others, to fall into a political atmosphere of "calculation".

Although this political atmosphere ensured that the imperial power in his hands would not be at risk of falling into the hands of others, it also cut off his possibility of becoming an eternal sage monarch.

Therefore, after reading Zhu Zaigui's memorial "On the Creation of the Grand Narrative Political Theory of the Ming Dynasty" several times, Emperor Jiajing seemed to have a new understanding in his mind and felt that he was one step closer to "becoming an immortal."

"Huang Jin, have you read the new memorial sent by San'er?"

Emperor Jiajing was extremely eager to share at this moment. He wanted to have someone around to talk about his excitement and understanding with.

Huang Jin certainly knew what memorial Emperor Jiajing was talking about.

But as a qualified servant, Huang Jin was never particularly smart.

So Huang Jin said, "I read it once, but I didn't understand it. I don't know what Prince Yu wanted to say. And I was confused and still bewildered in the end."

Emperor Jiajing looked at Huang Jin like this and listened to what Huang Jin was saying now.

He immediately burst into laughter, "That's right, you don't understand it. This is the knowledge of an emperor bestowed by heaven! San'er is indeed worthy of being my good son!"

Huang Jin was immediately surprised and said in shock: "What did you say, Your Majesty? This is the study of the emperor! How come I didn't see it?"

Emperor Jiajing laughed and said, "It's normal that you can't see it, because you don't have the perspective of me and San'er. San'er and I have the Ming Dynasty in our hearts and the world in our eyes. So I can see the importance of San'er's memorial at a glance!"

"What is written in this memorial is an unprecedented and shocking study of emperors. Its significance is no less than that of "The Book of Lord Shang" and "Zizhi Tongjian". "The Book of Lord Shang" and "Zizhi Tongjian" talk about the methods of governing people, while what is written in Saner's memorial is the actual method of governing the world."

"If he can really solve all the problems mentioned in this memorial, then my Ming Dynasty will surely be an unreachable peak! In the future, I will be no less powerful than the saintly emperors of previous dynasties!"

"Even after thousands of years, future generations will still praise my prosperous Ming Dynasty!"

Then Emperor Jiajing said excitedly: "Pass the decree. Prince Yu has made great contributions to the state. I am very pleased. I grant Prince Yu an additional level of honor when entering and leaving the imperial carriage, a robe of ten medals, and a jade belt."

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Asking for a monthly ticket~~
(End of this chapter)