Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 205: Banning and destroying the School of Mind, Ju Zheng destroys his ancestors!
Ok Hee Palace.

Zhang Juzheng's cabinet met with the emperor.

The story of the six schools of Yangming's philosophy besieging the north and seizing the ideological high ground was reported truthfully.

"So, what does the cabinet think?" Zhu Houcong looked at the elders in the cabinet, or to be more precise, at Zhang Juzheng. His cold and resolute face clearly showed that he had some ideas.

As soon as the holy voice fell, Zhang Juzheng stood up and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, we should rectify the academic atmosphere in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty and restore the school system."

"Oh?" Zhu Houcong heard a different meaning.

Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian and Li Chunfang naturally also heard it and looked at the prime minister in surprise and doubt.

Zhang Juzheng paused and said, "In my humble opinion, the first thing to do is to ban and destroy all academies in the world!"

At present, most of the academies in the Ming Dynasty teach the "empty" approach of Yangming's philosophy of mind.

Although the banning and destruction seemed to be a "one-size-fits-all" move, Zhang Juzheng did regard the School of Mind and Yangming's School of Mind as a rotten piece of flesh on the body of the Ming Dynasty. To prevent future troubles, he banned and destroyed them, which was equivalent to cutting it off with a knife.

It is painful, but for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, it is worth it to endure the pain for a while and remove the rotten flesh!

Including Zhu Houcong, everyone in the hall couldn't help but lean back, looking directly, sideways, or peripherally at Zhang Juzheng with awe.

Strictly speaking, Zhang Juzheng was a true disciple of Yangming's School of Mind, and his mentor Xu Jie was a disciple of the sage Yangming who inherited the school of thought in an orderly manner.

To this day, the friendship between Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng as master and disciple has not been announced to the world.

Xu Jie was born in the 16th year of the Hongzhi reign, and was already 58 years old. It was unknown whether he would get married in the future and whether he would be able to have children after getting married.

It can be said that the Jiangyou Wang School, now called the Donglin Academy School, ultimately owes its origin to Zhang Juzheng to a large extent.

Although Nie Bao and Xu Jie worked tirelessly, in the end they might have been preparing wedding dresses for Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng once said that he would be in charge of the country for a maximum of 20 years. If everything went well, after returning to his hometown in Jingzhou, the 56-year-old Zhang Juzheng would be able to turn Donglin Academy into a base for praising his achievements.

Once Zhang Juzheng had outlasted all of his contemporary rivals and officials, it would not be difficult for him to have his disciples and followers praise him and belittle others, thus leaving his name in history and being praised for generations to come.

He banned and destroyed all academies in the world. The first strike was directed at his mentor Xu Jie, his great-grandmaster Nie Bao, his great-grandmaster Wang Yangming, and his future self.

ruthless!
Too bad!
So cruel and ruthless!

Zhu Houcong waved his sleeves and nodded, "Anything else?"

"Your Majesty, the court should issue a clear order to refuse Mr. Yangming from being enshrined in the Confucius Temple. Anyone who discusses this should be severely punished so as to restore the practical learning style of our great Ming Dynasty!" Zhang Juzheng spoke fluently, with everything in mind.

Hear the words.

Everyone in the hall suddenly widened their eyes and held their breath unconsciously.

If banning academies was Zhang Juzheng's "deception of teachers", then refusing to participate in the worship was "destroying ancestors".

The Confucius Temple is a place to worship Confucius, but Confucius is not the only one being worshipped in the temple. There are more than one hundred Confucian scholars around Confucius who are "subordinate worshippers" and enjoy the worship along with Confucius.

Those who could be included in the ranks of worshippers were not ordinary people. Only two people were selected in the entire Ming Dynasty of 200 years.

The first is Chen Xianzhang, the pioneer of Confucianism and the founder of the School of Mind.

He is a great Confucian scholar known as "the true Confucian of the Holy Age", "the Southern School of the Holy Way" and "the only one in Lingnan".

Then there is the great scholar Hu Juren, who was from the same school as Chen Xianzhang but always adhered to Confucianism and accused Chen Xianzhang's Confucianism of being "empty" and "heresy."

The idea of ​​"respecting reality" in Neo-Confucianism and "focusing on the abstract" in Mind Learning came from Hu Juren.

The two brothers Chen Xianzhang and Hu Juren fought for the two words "virtual" and "real" for their entire lives, but there was no result.

Wow, Zhang Juzheng, a disciple of the second-generation disciple of the School of Mind, with just one sentence, classified his master Wang Yangming and the more distant master Chen Xianzhang as "empty" school, thus confirming the "empty" nature of the School of Mind.

Twentieth year after the reign of Emperor Jiajing, the imperial court held several discussions on whether to allow Mr. Yangming to be enshrined in the Temple of Confucius, but the emperor always rejected the idea.

The scholars of the School of Mind and Yangming School of Mind were also busy editing and publishing "The Complete Works of Wang Wencheng" to promote Yangming School of Mind.

Interestingly, in the Yingtian edition of the Complete Book, there are only the titles of the officials who compiled and supervised the engraving of the book, while in the Zhejiang edition, in accordance with the practice of the time, the names of officials at the provincial and Hangzhou prefectural levels are all included in the surname list of the Complete Book.

The reason for this situation is related to the views of the scholars of the Ming Dynasty on Wang Yangming. Not all scholars recognized Wang Yangming's status, especially those who were deeply influenced by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, who were very dissatisfied with Wang Yangming.

In February of this year, Jiangxi Governor Xu Zai requested to enshrine Wang Yangming. In March, the Military Affairs Department Censor Zhao Sicheng wrote a letter requesting to cancel the proposal to enshrine Yangming. His words were quite fierce, and he even attacked Wang Yangming for "going against the way and promoting licentiousness." In May, Xie Tingjie, who organized the publication of "Complete Book" in Nanzhili, requested to enshrine Wang Yangming. Almost at the same time, Fujian Dao Censor Shi Ji wrote a letter directly saying that Wang Yangming should not be enshrined in the Confucius Temple.

The issue of Wang Yangming being enshrined in the Confucius Temple became a battleground between the two major schools of Neo-Confucianism and the School of Mind.

Zhang Juzheng, a great follower of the School of Mind, actually proposed to permanently stop Mr. Yangming from being enshrined in the Confucius Temple and to restore the court's style of respecting practical learning. It was not just that his butt was crooked, but that he sat on the seat of Neo-Confucianism.

As if to verify everyone's thoughts, Zhang Juzheng continued: "Your Majesty, Cheng-Zhu's school of thought is the academic discipline designated by Emperor Taizu Gao. In my humble opinion, we should restore the ancestral system of Emperor Taizu Gao. All teaching places in the world can and can only teach Cheng-Zhu's school of thought. Anyone who violates this system should be regarded as violating the ancestral system!"

Zhang Juzheng reaffirmed the unshakable status of Neo-Confucianism and prohibited the teaching and lecturing of other disciplines. This was a formal break with the School of Mind and the Yangming School of Mind, and he turned his butcher knife against his former "fellow" disciples of the School of Mind.

Most of the people who followed Yangming's School of Mind came from lectures, which could not be taught or lectured. With this move, Zhang Juzheng stabbed deeply into the hearts of the six schools of Yangming's School of Mind, and then stirred them up a few times.

This time.

The people in the hall suddenly felt a little cold, perhaps it was the weather, or perhaps... they were scared.

Zhang Juzheng declared war on all those who followed the School of Mind and Yangming School of Mind.

As a beneficiary of Yangming's Philosophy of Mind, Zhang Juzheng betrayed the foundation of his life. This is a stain that will never be erased in his lifetime, forever, and even in future generations.

From now on, I am afraid that scholars in the world will no longer trust Zhang Juzheng.

Can Zhang Juzheng continue to hold the position of Prime Minister of the Cabinet?

Everyone's heartbeat was accelerating, and the surging sound almost burst through their chest. In this huge palace, you could hear a pin drop.

Zhu Houcong looked at Zhang Juzheng, who had broken through the shackles of his mind and was wholeheartedly concerned about the country and people of the world. Even though he was a powerful official, he still hoped that the world would be better. He smiled and said, "Except for being able to and only teaching Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, I have approved everything!" Zhang Juzheng immediately became anxious, but before he opened his mouth, he heard the holy voice again, saying, "The thoughts and ideas of the various schools of thought all have their merits. Confucianism also had the difficulty of burning books and burying scholars. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also 'abolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone'.

Whether it is prosperous or difficult, in the final analysis, it is whether the ideas can still conform to the development of the corresponding time. The ideas are not wrong, but they are born in the wrong era.

The same principle applies to today's Confucian philosophy of mind. Mr. Yangming was not wrong, and neither was Chen Xianzhang, the founder of Confucian philosophy of mind. There was nothing wrong with Yangming's philosophy of mind and all the Confucian philosophy of mind. What was wrong was the people and the era.

As Zhang Juzheng said, the philosophy of mind, especially the philosophy of Yangming, is prevalent in the world. I think this is not what Mr. Yangming and Mr. Xianzhang want to see.

Zhang Juzheng. "

"The minister is here."

"You are not wrong. You banned and destroyed all academies in the world, refused to allow Mr. Yangming to be enshrined in the Confucius Temple, and prohibited the teaching and teaching of the School of Mind and Yangming's School of Mind. There is nothing wrong with this. For the sake of the Ming Dynasty and the millions of people, you had no choice. You would rather be cursed by all eternity than fight for the court and the people of the Ming Dynasty. I think people in later generations will give you a reasonable evaluation." Zhu Houcong pointed to the historian who was writing so fast in the corner of the hall that his hands left afterimages, and praised him.

Zhang Juzheng thanked him and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Gao Gong and others looked in the direction of the emperor's finger, with complicated expressions and feeling uneasy.

As long as there are historians, at least the national history and the emperor's daily records will have a more objective record of current events. Even if some future generations deliberately smear Zhang Juzheng, there will be wise people who will clear his name.

No one knew when the historian entered the main hall of Yuxi Palace, nor did they know from which part of the conversation he started recording. Almost everyone was recalling their own words and actions just now, and only felt a little relieved when they repeatedly considered that there was nothing rude or inappropriate.

Feeling the many eyes on him, the historian scratched his head with the end of his writing brush, smiled shyly, and went back to recording.

Zhu Houcong did not care about the so-called "historical pen is as hard as iron" and smiled lightly: "I will not be like Emperor Wu of Han, 'abolish the School of Mind and respect the School of Principle alone', but I cannot allow unfashionable academic studies to continue to be preached unscrupulously in the Ming Dynasty at this time. It is better to put the School of Mind and Yangming's School of Mind aside for the time being.

Zhang Juzheng. "

"I'm here." Zhang Juzheng bowed deeply to the ground.

If we listen carefully, the next words of the emperor will be the final outcome of the School of Mind and Yangming's School of Mind. And the final outcome will most likely be decided by the person who was pointed out by the emperor's words.

"You are the head of the cabinet, a minister of the current dynasty, and a disciple of the School of Mind. I think there are very few people in the world who understand the School of Mind better than you. In addition to your government affairs, you should write books and biographies on the School of Mind, record the thoughts and ideas of the masters of the School of Mind, and store them in the Wenyuan Pavilion for future generations to read. I specially allow you to write a book and biography on Yangming's School of Mind separately from the School of Mind." Zhu Houcong issued an order.

Ban the study of the mind and store the books in the cabinet for future generations to read!

Moreover, the person who wrote the book and biography about the School of Mind was Zhang Juzheng, the "traitor of the School of Mind". Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian and Li Chunfang could not imagine how disgusted the people who believed in the School of Mind and Yangming School of Mind would be after hearing this.

I don’t know if this was intentional on His Majesty’s part, but I dare not say or ask.

However, all knowledge has a time limit. Once it is discontinued, it is doomed to be difficult to reappear.

Your Majesty, you did not kill Xinxue, but buried him alive.

"I obey your order!" Zhang Juzheng knelt down.

I personally organized the "funeral" for the School of Mind and Yangming's School of Mind. I can't say I was excited, but I felt it was somewhat interesting.

"Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, and Li Chunfang." Zhu Houcong called the names of several cabinet ministers.

The three of them quickly knelt down on the embroidered cushion and said in unison: "Your humble servant is here."

"Although Zhang Juzheng is well-educated, his opinions are inevitably biased. After Zhang Juzheng wrote books and biographies on the School of Mind and Yangming's School of Mind, you three should proofread the parts that he failed to review, and make corrections if necessary, and encourage others if not." Zhu Houcong helped Zhang Juzheng find a few people to share the work.

A funeral cannot be organized by one person alone. One person cannot please a hundred people. Weddings and funerals are the most difficult to handle.

The huge field of Xinxue was managed by the entire cabinet of Zhang Juzheng, and no one could escape.

Gao, Hu, and Li straightened their expressions and said loudly: "We obey your order!"

In modern times, there is no doubt that the main focus of the ban on the School of Mind is on Zhang Juzheng. Even if there is an impact, as the deputy prime minister (cabinet elder), he can still bear it. After all, who doesn't have a few disciples and former officials?

In later generations, most people would question these marginal figures. When talking about banning the School of Mind, they would probably only remember Zhang Juzheng.

Proofreading psychology is not stressful.

"Go." Zhu Houcong waved his hand, signaling the cabinet to leave.

Zhang Juzheng said, "I will take my leave!"

Zhang Juzheng's cabinet left Yuxi Palace.

Huang Jin, the eunuch on duty at Yuxi Palace, was about to close the door when he heard Zhu Houcong say, "Don't close it. It's stuffy. Open the window too. I want some fresh air."

As he spoke, Zhu Houcong stood up from the futon.

Huang Jin withdrew his hand that was about to close the door, walked to the window, and opened the windows one by one. The cold wind immediately blew in.

Zhu Houcong's silk robe fluttered up immediately, and Huang Jin brought another robe over, but the Emperor signaled that he did not need it.

Standing in front of the palace gate, Zhu Houcong looked at the backs of the elders, thinking about something.

Huang Jin looked confused.

"What are you confused about?" Zhu Houcong turned his head, saw his expression and smiled.

Huang Jinyao bowed and said respectfully, "Your Highness, Elder Zhang and Elder Chen are both extremely selfish people. Elder Zhang values ​​power, while Elder Chen values ​​family. Both elders don't care about their reputation before and after death, but they are obviously doing good things. Why is it so difficult?"

Huang Jin couldn't understand why, if it were a different dynasty or a different time, Zhang Juzheng would definitely be a powerful official with omnipotent power in the court, while Chen Yiqin would most likely be a middle-ranking official who never competed for anything.

In short, whether they were evaluated during their lifetime or after their death, they would never be regarded as wise ministers. However, both of them tried their best to do good things for the country and the people, but they always encountered difficulties and had many concerns when doing things.

Contradictory, very contradictory, very contradictory.

"A powerful minister is not always a powerful minister, and a middle minister is not always indifferent to disputes. A powerful minister or a middle minister can also be loyal to the emperor and love the people. This is not a relationship between a spear and a shield."

Zhu Houcong nodded, then shook his head and said, "The powerful ministers and the middle ministers are all doing their best for the country and the people. The reason why they feel it is difficult is that some insects who are disloyal to the emperor, do not love the people, and only know how to steal the country and enrich themselves are resisting. But insects are insects after all, and they can be killed with a slap!"

(End of this chapter)