My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 278 Primary and Secondary Contradictions
That’s right, what Lao Li said is absolutely right. Those pedantic literati who hinder industrial development are the bad guys!

Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself and continued reading.

“In fact, Confucianism itself is not opposed to new things. In fact, its attitude towards all new things is something we all need to keep in mind.

The words "impartial, neither too much nor too little" in "Collected Commentaries on the Doctrine of the Mean" reflect the Confucian pursuit of balance and moderation in the development of things. For everything, the attitude we need to uphold is the pursuit of balance and moderation.

The "Book of Changes" says, "The virtue of heaven and earth does not change, but the changes of heaven and earth are renewed day by day." The "Zhouyi Zhengyi" also mentioned that "rebirth" is an endless word. Yin and Yang change, and the later life is inferior to the previous life. This is the constant birth of all things, which is called Yi.

This fully demonstrates that Confucianism believes that all things are constantly generated, changed and developed. This process of replacement of the old with the new and endless life is the basic law of the existence and development of all things in the universe.

We can see that Confucianism holds a positive and optimistic attitude towards new things. It believes that the emergence of new things is a reflection of the natural laws of the universe and an important driving force for the progress and development of human society.

If you, Lao Zhu, can agree with this point, then we can use it as the ideological basis for our resistance to the literary world.

Of course, you have many great scholars under your command, such as Fang Xiaoru, whose understanding of Confucian classics is certainly much deeper than mine. It is up to them to figure out how to quote classics and argue with reason, and defeat the opponent ideologically. What I want to teach you here is the methodology of how to fight."

Tsk tsk, Old Li, you are too modest. I think you just want to be lazy, so you deliberately praise Fang Xiaoru and others.

After so many correspondence exchanges, Zhu Yuanzhang had already determined that Li Han knew everything and was the most knowledgeable person in the world. He did not believe that Li Han's understanding of Confucianism was not as profound as that of Fang Xiaoru.

Not to mention anything else, just what he said before, that the ideas integrated with Confucianism and other schools of thought constitute the ideological cornerstone of Chinese civilization, allowing Chinese civilization to survive and thrive forever. This point alone is far beyond the reach of the great Confucian scholars.

He understands Confucianism from the perspective of the entire history. In my opinion, there are only a few great Confucian scholars who can reach this level.

But what kind of method is the methodology that Lao Li is talking about? Lao Li is a guy with a lot of clever ideas, and clever ideas are just clever ideas. Why did he have to come up with such a profound term as methodology?

"Then I will teach you the advanced method of using newspapers - united front work!"

United front?

This word made Zhu Yuanzhang shudder all over. Although he didn't understand what it meant, he always felt a sharp and solemn murderous aura coming towards him.

During the academic conference, Lao Li had taught himself to set up a newspaper based on the official gazette in order to compete for the right to speak in the literary world.

And this tactic really worked. Wherever the newspaper was distributed, it immediately won the hearts of the people and made the people stand on its side.

Today, newspapers have become the most important propaganda tool in the Ming Dynasty. Even under the leadership of Fang Xiaoru, the official newspaper company has published several newspapers.

Newspapers also became the most important source of information for all classes across the country. Even many foreign countries obtained information about the Ming Dynasty court through newspapers.

Just like when the imperial court was conquering Annan, the publicity provided by newspapers won the support of all the people for the imperial court. Many foreign countries were also deeply influenced by the newspapers and criticized Li Jiliu of Annan.

Although it takes some time to distribute newspapers from Yingtian Prefecture to all parts of the country, Fang Xiaoru considered setting up newspapers in various prefectures and cities to transmit the latest information from the court via radio stations so that the people can know the court's movements and measures in a shorter time.

This is the power of public opinion. Nowadays, many people want to work in factories. In addition to earning more money, newspaper publicity also plays an important role. Now Lao Li is going to teach me the advanced use of newspapers. It seems that this guy's new ideas are always emerging. I have to study hard.

“At the academic conference, I have already taught you to use newspapers to spread public opinion and let the people understand the importance of industry, so as to win their hearts and minds.

This time, we will go a step further and use newspapers to divide the literary world, find supportive voices within the literary world, and minimize opposing voices. "

This is a good idea. Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up. Why didn't he think of it? It seems that Old Li has a good brain.

As the saying goes, writers look down on each other and artists despise each other. The literary world is not a monolithic entity, and the conflicts between them are quite profound.

"Before that, we need to understand the obstacles we face on the road to industrialization in Daming, what the main contradictions are, what the secondary contradictions are, and distinguish the primary from the secondary, so that we can start our work."

Let’s just say it, contradiction!
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help feeling complacent. The fact that Lao Li also mentioned the contradiction meant that his thinking was correct and he had followed Lao Li's line of thinking.

"The main contradiction, in fact, Lao Zhu, you have already made it very clear in your last letter. We can go deeper into it. It is the contradiction between different interest groups."

Hehe, that’s right, Lao Li, you are absolutely right!
Zhu Yuanzhang felt even more proud. Being able to get Li Han's approval was the happiest moment for him.

"So what is a secondary contradiction? It's very simple. It's the contradiction within the literary world. After all, the literary world is not a monolithic entity."

Look, Old Li thinks exactly the same as I do. It seems that Old Zhu has also learned some skills from Old Li!

Zhu Yuanzhang became more and more proud, but what he saw next gave him goose bumps.

“These are all easy to understand, so what we need to do is to further refine the situation within the literary world. In other words, there must be people in the literary world who support education reform. These people are naturally our allies and must be won over.

However, there are some people who, although they do not support education reform, support industrial development. This kind of people can be small handicraftsmen, small landlords, or small business owners. We need to carry out ideological work to turn them into our people.

And there are some people who are wavering, the kind who are, as the saying goes, fence-sitters. These people are actually the easiest to deal with. They will help whichever side is stronger, and you don't need to spend too much thought on them.

The last part is the die-hards in the literary world, the most old-fashioned and the most corrupt group of people. These people are the backbone of the landlord and aristocratic class, and they are also the targets that we need to crack down on resolutely!

You see, after breaking down the literary world, it becomes much clearer to know who are the friends and who are the enemies, right? "

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt as if a light bulb had been turned on. Suddenly he remembered that Lao Li had actually taught him this method as early as the academic conference.

That is to distinguish between the people and the literary world. From Lao Li's explanation, I understood it and used newspapers to win over the hearts of the people.

This is the methodology that Lao Li taught me, but I was troubled by the mundane world and had too many things to do, so I completely forgot this methodology!
Fortunately, Old Li has once again awakened me. Otherwise, when I saw the literati's opposition, I would just be anxious and angry, but I would not be able to do anything.

(End of this chapter)