The phrase "although Zhou is an old state, its life is renewed" is not a highly pragmatic "original", but a quote here. This quote comes from the "Book of Songs, Daya, King Wen", which is a group of poems praising King Wen of Zhou, and its opening sentence is cloudy: "King Wen is above, and Yu Zhao is in the sky." Although Zhou is an old state, its life is renewed. ”

The gist of these words is: King Wen of Zhou's spirit is in the sky, and the light is clearly shining. Although Zhou is an old state, its mission is to be "new". The word "new" here can be used as a verb to mean "innovation"; It can also be used as an adjective to indicate that it remains in a state that is always "new".

As we all know, the history of the Zhou State is very long, so it is called the "old state" here. In the later Shang Dynasty, Zhou became a powerful state under the Shang Dynasty regime and submitted to Shang, but Shang was not at ease with it and imprisoned King Wen in Yuyi. The legend that "King Wen detains and plays Zhou Yi" is at this time.

After King Wen returned to the Zhou Kingdom, on the one hand, he developed production, and on the other hand, he expanded his territory, and over time, the national strength increased greatly. By the time of his son King Wu, he was so powerful that "there are two-thirds of the world", and finally destroyed the Shang Dynasty and established the Zhou Dynasty.

It can be said that King Wen of Zhou was the key figure in the death of Zhou Xing, "although Zhou is an old state, its life is renewed" refers to the historical merit of King Wen of Zhou leading the rise of Zhou, an "old state", to establish a new dynasty. Later, "although Zhou is an old state, its destiny is renewed" was given a new meaning, describing that although China is an ancient country, its mission is to renovate, and it should and has been constantly rejuvenated through reform.

The Book of Songs is an ancient book highly respected by Confucius, so its "official status" is also very high, and Gao pragmatically quoted this sentence as one of the bases for his reform, at least from the "theory" point of view, it is difficult to refute.

In fact, it is not impossible to find evidence from other aspects, for example, the highly pragmatic scripture is "Yi", and it is said in "I Ching: Department of Resignation": "If you are poor, you will change, and if you change, you will be long", and the core here is "change".

Why change? Because to adapt. Everything in the world is developing, and all aspects of the situation are always changing, if you don't change, you probably won't be able to adapt, and there will be chaos.

Can you still wear the clothes you wore when you were three years old when you are thirty?

If the status of the "Book of Songs" is high, after all, it is not "orthodox" enough, what should we do?

It doesn't matter, it is also recorded in the "Book of Rites and Universities" that the king of Shang Tang engraved an inscription on the bathtub with the inscription "Gou Rixin, Ri Ri Xin, and Ri Xin" to remind himself to reflect on and innovate in time.

Since Zhu Xi compiled and annotated the "University" together with "The Mean", "The Analects" and "Mencius", and called it the "Four Books", the "University" has long been one of the main classics of Confucianism, and it is also the "compulsory subject" of the Ming imperial examination today. Although there are scholars in the Ming Dynasty who oppose Cheng Zhu Lixue, at least no one has jumped out to oppose the Four Books themselves, so Gao Pragmatic is not worried that he will not be able to find a basis for his reform.

As for the other sentence he just mentioned, "If the world is not governed together, the country will be lawless", it is from "Shang Junshu - Change Law". This sentence is more straightforward and direct, which means that the way of governing the country is never immutable, as long as it is beneficial to the country, it is not necessary to stick to the ancient law and the old system.

The "Changing the Law" is the first article in the "Book of Shang Jun", which mainly reflects the Shang Dynasty's anti-ancient and easy-to-use rites, the implementation of new laws, and the implementation of new policies. Gao Pragmatic's quotation here has a deep meaning, and he is sure that the two colleagues in front of him will definitely understand - they are both from dignified scholars, and it is impossible that they have not even read the "Book of Shang Jun".

Specific to the article "Changing the Law", it is in the form of a dialogue, recording a debate between Shang Ying, Gan Long, and Du Zhi in the court on the eve of the Qin State to change the law.

At that time, Qin Xiaogong first raised the topic: "I want to change the law to govern, and teach the people with more courtesy." ”

Gan Long first expressed his position, saying that "it is not easy for the people to teach, and those who know will not change the law and rule", and Du Zhi also said that "there is no fault in the ancient law, and there is no evil in following etiquette".

Of course, Shang Ying objected to Gan Long and Du Zhi's arguments, so he asked the two of them: "Different religions in previous lives, what is the ancient law?" If the emperor does not get back to each other, what is the etiquette method? Fuxi, Shennong, teach but not punish; The Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun are punished but not angry; As for the civil and military affairs, they should be legislated at the time and made according to the matter. The etiquette is determined by the time, the rules and regulations are as appropriate, and the armor and weapons are prepared for their own convenience.

Therefore, the minister said: If the world is not governed together, the country does not need to be ancient. The king of soup and martial arts is also prosperous without repairing the ancients; The destruction of Yin and Xia is also not easy to die politely. However, those who oppose the ancients may not be wrong, and there are not enough people who follow the rites. There is no doubt about it. ”

This is Shang Ying's assertion that "if the world is not governed together, the country will be lawless", which expresses the innovative spirit of insisting on change, opposing conformism, and having the courage to forge ahead.

By summarizing historical lessons and lessons, Shang Ying pointed out that the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties had different ritual systems, but they were all called kings of the world; The reason why Qi Huan, Jin Wen and others dominate the princes is also because their respective laws are different - if the laws of various countries are the same, why are they hegemonic? Therefore, Shang Ying asserted that there is no immutable way to govern the country, as long as it is beneficial to the country, it is better to boldly reform, and there is no need to imitate the ancient system.

Why did Gao Pragmatic suddenly throw out these two sentences? Because these two sentences are the "political program" he found for the Shixue School - what is the Shixue School? The School of Mind also claims to be the "School of Moral Realism", how can we distinguish it from them?

That's the distinction.

Our school of practice is a school of practical application to the world, and it pays attention to doing practical things and seeking practical results. Whether we do well or not depends not on whether the slogan is shouted loudly or not, whether it sounds noble or not, we want to see the real chapter.

What is a true chapter?

Gao pragmatic paused for a moment and said, "The practical school has come to this day, and some goals must be more clear. We are not fighting with anyone for power or profit, our goal is to at least let the imperial court have more financial resources to maintain the prosperity of the military and protect the interests of the Ming people from infringement on the basis of peace in the world; It is necessary to allow the imperial court to have spare energy to build water conservancy and provide relief to the victims; It is necessary to make the private economy more and more vibrant, so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and will not go hungry or freeze; It is necessary to allow businessmen to operate legally on the basis of paying certain taxes, and not to be maliciously exploited or bullied; Even we need to let more people learn the teachings of the saints, understand etiquette, righteousness, honesty and shame, and know how to be self-reliant and self-reliant. ”

Cheng Wen could still understand Gao Shishi's intention to put forward these propositions, and although Hu Zhili was also happy with his statement and agreed with it in his heart, he inevitably doubted his intention to present these ideas in front of him.

Forcing himself to throw away the highly inflammatory ideals in Gao Pragmatic's words in his mind, Hu Zhili noticed that Gao Pragmatic actually mentioned "businessmen" here.

Previously, Gao pragmatic said that he wanted to crack down on profiteers, but here he said that he wanted to protect businessmen "from malicious exploitation and malicious bullying", which ...... Which sentence is true and which is false?

However, Gao Pragmatic seemed to have learned the "other heart of Buddhism", and continued lightly: "Ya Zhai Gong is a little hesitant, why do I talk about cracking down on profiteers and protecting businessmen? ”

Hu Zhili was indeed suspicious, but since Gao Shishi asked, he couldn't speak outright, so he had to answer: "Presumably Situ thinks that businessmen also have good people?" ”

If this is said in later generations, it will definitely provoke a lot of scolding: What does it mean that there must be good people in businessmen? Are the merchants all badas?

That's right, future generations will not think that businessmen are all bad guys, and businessmen who do business legally must account for the vast majority, which is the truth and the mainstream view.

However, this point of view is not "mainstream" in the Ming Dynasty, and the mainstream view is "no treacherous business, no business and no treacherous" - adulterer, treacherous also, obviously not a compliment.

If it's just the people who hold such a point of view, then it's easy to do, the key is that the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, is also an extreme anti-businessman, which leads to the official level has to follow this "tradition" for a long time and criticize businessmen, even if it is now this period, many officials have the shadow of big businessmen behind them, but at least in the official face they still have to express their disdain for businessmen from time to time.

It's not a strange phenomenon to say no but be honest.

However, Gao Pragmatic wants to change the status of businessmen, but Zhu Yuanzhang's extreme hatred of businessmen is an unavoidable hurdle.

Although "valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce" is the basic national policy of most dynasties in Chinese history, the Ming Dynasty founded by Zhu Yuanzhang was the most serious blow to merchants.

So, why is Zhu Yuanzhang the most hateful businessman compared to other founding emperors? Gao pragmatically believes that there should be two main reasons.

The first reason: Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty, and until he became the emperor, his memories of his early years were still extremely profound.

Lao Zhu is the poorest at the bottom, not to mention that he can't afford to go to school, he was a cattle herder and a monk in his early years, but he couldn't even be a monk when there was a famine, so he could only go to beg along the street.

The hatred of the rich in those days was deeply rooted in the hearts of almost every poor people. For Zhu Yuanzhang, who couldn't eat and could only beg along the road, he couldn't figure out why those rich people and businessmen had to raise the price of grain the more they were in the time of famine, and even would rather throw them away and give them to the chickens, ducks, pigs and dogs at home than give alms to the poor people.

Hey, this plot seems familiar: the capitalists dump milk, drown livestock, and set cotton on fire...... The Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal, this is a compulsory high school history course.

It's too graphic, isn't this the same play!

However, is the result of this argument really that "capitalists are the root of all evil"? I'm afraid not necessarily, this is caused by the laws of the market economy, whether ancient, modern, Chinese or foreign, in fact, it is the same.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang has neither heard of the theory of market economy, nor does he agree with it, he has always regarded himself as a representative of the poor, and in the eyes of the poor, the root of this problem is very simple: the root cause is these hateful businessmen, they have no sympathy at all, and they only have money in their eyes!

So what to do? The poor can only choose to rebel, so after Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, he was also a "peasant emperor" who defended the peasants everywhere and tried every means to suppress and even exploit the merchants.

Turning over the serfs and singing, this mentality is completely understandable.

As for the second reason, it is because his main opponents Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen are both businessmen.

Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen were both born as salt dealers, and Zhang Shicheng called himself King Wu in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, because of his generosity and righteousness, he had a high prestige among the local people. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang later defeated Chen Youliang and his strength increased greatly, the people in the coastal areas south of the Yangtze River still liked Zhang Shicheng more, but disdained Zhu Yuanzhang, the "old hat".

And what's worse is that Zhang Shicheng also swore to the death and refused to surrender - at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang said no good, but Zhang Shicheng refused to agree. In desperation, he still chose to hang himself, saying that he could not be humiliated. One can imagine how annoyed and angry Zhu Yuanzhang, who was bent on getting the support of the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang at that time.

As for Fang Guozhen, just look at Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation of him: "Fang Guozhen is a fish and salt seller, stealing a living, watching and seeing, and being the first mouse." "——This person is a moment to reduce the yuan, a moment to the yuan, a moment to reduce the Zhu and a moment to oppose Zhu, very discredited.

Then by extension, Zhu Yuanzhang's conclusion is obvious: all businessmen are not good things, they are all bastard bastards, and they are hopeless.

As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang is a person who likes to be angry, so Zhu Yuanzhang is even very annoyed with the "rich merchants" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang as a whole, so that after the founding of the country, when other regions are lightly taxed, rent-free and low-tax, they only impose heavy taxes on the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

It's just that he confused a concept in this matter, which led to some very funny mistakes: he did not recognize the identity of a merchant at that time, which led to the non-recognition of "business status", and since the business status was not recognized by the imperial court, then the commercial tax was naturally uncollectible.

As a result, this heavy tax not only did not "harm" the original merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but on the contrary, forced many peasants in those areas who were not originally businessmen to "change their careers" one after another, and simply did not do anything and went to business.

This is also why the original "Suhu is ripe, the world is full" has become "the lake is ripe, the world is full" - it is not cost-effective to grow food, how good is it for me to grow mulberry and silkworms? Otherwise, then follow others to be a "wolf" and do that business!

"If you are poor, you will change, and if you change, you will be successful", even if the people of Jiangnan have not read, but this truth is obviously understood by everyone.

The root of the problem has been identified, but how can it be changed? Gao is pragmatic and does not know how to summon spirits, so it is impossible to invite Zhu Yuanzhang out of the filial piety tomb and understand these truths with him.

Then there is only a two-pronged approach, one is to use the Confucian classics to find a theoretical basis for his own practice, and the other is to follow Zhu Yuanzhang's meaning to recite crooked scriptures.

He has already briefly explained the former, and Cheng Wen and Hu Zhili must understand it. The latter is actually quite experienced - he has done it in the "military industry" and in "Shu Yi Lu Shu" before.

In a word: I want to follow the original intention of my ancestors, but I may not follow the old laws of my ancestors.

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