Prime Minister

Chapter 1289: Science has become a prominent discipline

Chapter 1289: Science has become a prominent discipline

Watching Zhang Cheng eating the Lenghuai Soup Noodle, Zhang Yue had a nostalgic look on his face. He couldn't help but recall the scene when he came to this noodle shop to eat noodles with Fan Zuyu, Huang Lu, Han Zhongyan and others.

But now, the small shop has become a big shop on the third floor facing the river.

Most of the people coming and going are well-dressed people. The noodle shop that used to be affordable for a few students for a few dozen coins has changed a lot.

Zhang Yue asked: "Do you have any good classmates in the Imperial College?"

Zhang Cheng said: "There is a man called Hu Anguo!"

Zhang Yue thought for a moment and said, "I've heard of his name. He must be a disciple of Mr. Yichuan. You should learn more from him."

"Okay, go back early!"

After Zhang Cheng returned to the Imperial College, Zhang Yue sat by the window and quietly watched the scenery of the Bian River.

I came to find Zhang Cheng near the Imperial College, not only to see my youngest son who had left home, but also for other purposes.

Soon footsteps were heard on the stairs. The person who came was Cheng Hao, the current chief academician of the Imperial College and one of the two Cheng brothers.

Zhang Yue saw the other party stand up and salute, Cheng Hao laughed and said: "The Right Prime Minister summoned me here to eat noodles, Cheng I am very grateful."

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Mr. Mingdao, you are too polite. I have always respected your study of classics and scholarship. Today, I happened to pass by the Imperial College and wanted to revisit my old place. I thought of you being in the Imperial College, so I invited you to have a chat."

"It's not a business matter. Let's just talk and reminisce over a bowl of noodles."

After hearing this, Cheng Hao smiled and took a seat.

The two Cheng brothers have different personalities. Cheng Yi is old-fashioned and never makes a single mistake. He and Zhang Yue would start arguing after just a few words.

But Zhang Yue and Cheng Hao have similar personalities.

There is a classic joke about the personalities of the two Cheng brothers. Someone invited the two Cheng brothers to a banquet and there was a prostitute at the banquet. Cheng Yi pushed the prostitute away and left, but Cheng Hao sat down and drank three cups in a row.

The two brothers have different styles of doing things, so their academic theories and ideas are also different.

Later generations put the two Cheng brothers together, thinking that the two brothers had the same ideas, but in fact they were different. After the Yuanfeng reform, Zhang Yue took the initiative to invite his old friend Cheng Hao to serve as the chief priest of the Imperial College, which was also unexpected.

After Cheng Hao sat down, Zhang Yue asked, "Mr. Mingdao, what would you like to eat?"

Cheng Hao said: "Same as the Prime Minister."

Zhang Yue nodded and immediately told the waiter, "Bring two bowls of hot noodle soup!"

But Cheng Hao said, "I also have two bowls of hot soup noodles!"

Zhang Yue was stunned when he heard this, and then he and Cheng Hao burst into laughter.

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Mr. Ming Dao really likes to joke."

Cheng Hao laughed and said, "It is impossible to be rigorous in academic research, so I often joke with the straight talkers about this."

Zhang Yue nodded and said, "This is also why I respect Mr. Ming Dao."

"In the Imperial College, the Luo School of Mr. Mingdao and Mr. Yichuan, the Guan School of Mr. Hengqu, and the New School of Jinggong were originally the three major schools in the world."

Zhang Yue said: "I thought that the Guanxue of Mr. Hengqu would replace the New Learning Society of Jing Gong, but I didn't expect that in the Imperial College, it is the Luoxue of Mr. Mingdao and Mr. Yichuan that is most respected by the students. This is really beyond my expectation."

Zhang Yue thought that Zhang Zai's Qi school would replace Jing Gong's new school, but he did not expect that Taixue was now dominated by Luo School.

Cheng Hao said: "Before, the students of the Imperial College studied the "Three Classics New Meaning" and "Character Explanation" written by Wang Jinggong."

"Later, the several direct lecturers appointed by Jing Gong were all dismissed due to the case of Yu Fan in the Imperial College. Now Zhang Gong deleted the "Zi Shuo" and only retained the "Zhou Li" in the "Three Classics New Interpretations", supplemented by "Taixue", "Zhongyong" and "Mencius".

"I didn't expect that this would be exactly what we brothers advocate."

At this time, the waiter had brought two bowls of hot soup noodles.

Zhang Yue handed Cheng Hao chopsticks and said with a smile: "Mencius's book advocates the idea of ​​'people-centeredness'."

"The author of the Doctrine of the Mean is Zisi, whose doctrines are closely related to those of Mencius. But how can it be said that it is in perfect harmony with the two gentlemen?"

Cheng Hao was already eating noodles in big mouthfuls, without any scruples at all. Zhang Yue also liked Cheng Hao's casual personality, so he picked up his chopsticks and started eating as well.

Cheng Hao was a smart man, but he also had an unexpectedly simple side.

This kind of simplicity can easily make people feel very simple, but Zhang Yue knows that this is not simple but pure.

People who have reached this stage have no distracting thoughts and a clear mind.

If you have the chance to meet one or two such people in your life and have in-depth interactions with them, it would be a great opportunity.

Cheng Hao said: "The Si Meng School mainly expounded on the word 'sincerity', and we brothers extended 'sincerity' to mean 'respect'."

Zhang Yue thought to himself, that's right, but he thought that Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism's explanation of the word "sincerity" was still insufficient. Instead, it was Lu-Wang Neo-Confucianism that truly grasped the meaning of the word "sincerity".

Now Zhang Yue inherited Wang Anshi's idea of ​​"cultivating scholars with classics", and in the future, he would use the "ministers of classics" trained by the Imperial College to replace the "ministers of literature" during the Jiayou period, and advocated governing the country with "righteousness". Therefore, he attached great importance to the grasp of ideology in the Imperial College.

Zhang Yue did not follow Wang Anshi's example and write "New Interpretations of the Three Classics" or "On Characters" as the highest theoretical guidance for future reforms in governing the country.

However, he did not reveal to the court and the public that he would use the Neo-Confucianism of the Cheng brothers as the "righteousness" of governing the country after he stepped down.

Although Zhang Yue now appointed Cheng Yi as the lecturer of the sixth prince, Cheng Hao as the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, and Cheng Yi's disciples such as Yang Shi, Lu Dalin, and You Zuo as lecturers of the Imperial College.

He originally wanted to use Neo-Confucianism and the theory of Qi to repair Wang Anshi's new learning, but he did not expect that Neo-Confucianism was now flourishing in the Imperial College, and many students of the Imperial College worshipped the theories of the Cheng brothers. This was beyond Zhang Yue's expectations.

Although Zhang Yue always believed that Neo-Confucianism had problems in practice, there must be a reason why Neo-Confucianism was able to flourish for 500 years in history.

Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Mingdao, the court no longer uses the method of 'one morality' to guide the classics of the world to return to one."

"My principle in governing is to promote virtue!"

Cheng Hao put down his chopsticks and said seriously: "Ming Mingde came from the Imperial College, and this is also what Cheng Hao agrees with."

Zhang Yue said: "To manifest the bright virtue is different from Jing Gong's 'one morality'. If Neo-Confucianism becomes a prominent school of thought in the court in the future, I can promote and spread the ideas of Neo-Confucianism, but I will not suppress other doctrines."

Cheng Hao said: "Since I became the chief academician of the Imperial College, both Mr. Hengqu's Qi learning and Mr. Jing's new learning can be taught together in the Imperial College, forming an inclusive style of study."

"However, there is one thing that I do not understand. With Master Zhang's attainments in the classics, why don't you create a theory of your own and introduce it to the students of the Imperial Academy?"

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Are you saying that I should also learn from Jing Gong's new school and create a Jiangong new school or a Zhang's new school?"

Cheng Hao smiled and said, "That's possible."

Zhang Yue waved his hand and said, "I don't have such plans."

“The law of nature is like a drawn bow. The more you consciously promote something, the more another force will push it in the opposite direction.”

Zhang Yue sighed, this is what Wang Anshi’s new learning is like.

Why did the new learning eventually disappear? Even the new meanings of the Three Classics and the theory of characters were only left with a few words to be passed down to later generations.

As a "prominent school of thought" at the time, and one that was strongly recommended by the imperial court, it would never be like this.

The reason is that the "Jing Gong New Learning" was too strong. It is just like when teachers and parents keep telling you a truth, children will develop a rebellious mentality.

Therefore, Lao Tzu said that we should "abandon sages and knowledge". When you worship a sage or believe in a book, you will lose the subjectivity of your thoughts.

Zhang Yue said: "The Tao Te Ching says: If people abandon benevolence and righteousness, they will return to filial piety."

"If Laozi were alive today, he would definitely warn us not to believe in Confucianism, benevolence and righteousness. What is 'Ming Ming De'? 'One morality' is absurd."

"The failure of Confucianism is that 'when morality is lost, virtue is lost; when virtue is lost, benevolence is lost; when benevolence is lost, righteousness is lost; when righteousness is lost, propriety is lost.'"

Confucianism always likes to do this. The more it promotes something, the more it will fail.

The Tao was first advocated, but now that the Tao is gone, we can only talk about virtue.

Later, virtue was advocated, but now that virtue is gone, all we can talk about is benevolence.

Now we advocate benevolence, but benevolence is gone and all we can talk about is righteousness.

In the end, there is not even righteousness, only etiquette.

In fact, Zhang Yue understood that Lao Tzu was not against the set of benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but was against the alienation of benevolence, righteousness, and morality to people.

It's like money is supposed to make life more convenient, but people have become slaves to money. If you use something like this, even the best things will be broken.

Zhang Yue said: "This is because the strength is poor."

Cheng Hao said: "So it is beyond my expectation that Mr. Zhang did not promote his own doctrine in the Imperial College."

Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Mingdao, although the Xining Reforms were beneficial to the country, they lost the support of the people."

"I take Mencius as the classics to introduce the idea of ​​people-centeredness and balance the new learning of Jing Gong. As for me, I don't want to establish any doctrine privately."

Cheng Hao said: "Now I understand the Prime Minister's painstaking efforts, but the Prime Minister's method is the best method for the world!"

That’s right, Zhang Yue did not promote the “Zhang’s New Learning” in the Imperial College. Zhang Yue only introduced a first-class theory to patch up the theoretical loopholes in Jing Gong’s New Learning during the Yuanfeng period, but he did not replace Wang Anshi’s New Learning with his own theory.

Therefore, under his leadership, the Imperial Academy allowed various schools of thought to compete on their own, as far as possible without the guidance of the court, to see which school of thought would win in the end.

Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Mingdao, I don't understand why seven out of ten students in the Imperial College now worship Luo School?"

"Why is Luoxue so popular?"

Zhang Yue's current feeling is that he has conquered the country, but why is it that the two Cheng brothers are on the throne? Isn't it Neo-Confucianism that was chosen by the ruling class, but Neo-Confucianism itself is the inevitable choice of the scholar-official class?

Cheng Hao said: "Right Prime Minister, we Confucian scholars all say to cultivate ourselves, regulate our families, govern our country and bring peace to the world."

"The emperor is at the top, the officials are in the middle, and the literati are at the bottom. How can we have a theory from top to bottom that everyone from the emperor to the literati can follow? Only our brothers' Luo School can do that."

"The governance of the world lies with the emperor, but the moral principles of the world lie with us, the scholars and officials."

"Since Fan Wencheng, before he entered the officialdom, he was already concerned about the country and took the country as his responsibility, rather than using official positions as a way to make a living."

“So the way of the world lies in my Luo School, not in other schools!”

When Cheng Hao said these words, a sense of righteousness arose spontaneously.

Zhang Yue said: "Thank you Mr. Mingdao for your guidance. I understand a little bit now."

Cheng Hao sighed, "In fact, my brother and I have not said a word. We two brothers have benefited a lot from the Prime Minister's argument today."