After Zhu Youzhen explained to Wang Chengen about the Daming Times, he picked up the sharpened pencil in the pen holder and prepared to write an article about Liu Zongzhou's use of the topic to govern the country with benevolence and righteousness.

Since perfecting ink printing and inventing the pencil and blackboard, Zhu Youzhen has made great efforts to make pencils with the craftsmen of the court using graphite and clay and wooden shells.

For Zhu Youzhen, it may be a pleasure to write calligraphy, but for Su Changqing, it is good to write calligraphy and cultivate temperament, but to use a brush to correct and write articles, the efficiency is too low.

If it weren't for the difficulty of making a fountain pen, and the inconvenience of writing with a goose feather dip pen, he really wouldn't want to use this impure graphite to make an inferior pencil. The pencils used in later generations were made of graphite and clay, which is very pure, so they are easy to use.

But in Daming, no one helped him purify graphite, and the graphite containing impurities and pencils made of clay often couldn't write. In the end, it was a little eunuch who had the idea to wash the graphite first to remove impurities and then mix the clay to make the refill, which barely made a pencil of stable quality.

After having a pencil, Zhu Youzhen reviewed and read the folds three times faster than in the past, which gave him time to be distracted from other affairs.

However, when Zhu Youzhen held the pen in his hand, he froze at the white paper in front of him. He wanted to say a lot, but now he realized that he didn't know how to begin. The inaugural words of the Daming Times were originally an article on the promotion of compulsory education, and its content was about today's internal and external troubles in the Ming Dynasty, and the subjects of the empire were in dire straits.

Only when the subjects of the empire are united and work together against the enemy will it be possible for the Ming Dynasty to get out of the current predicament. Only when the people of the Ming Dynasty understand the content and role of the policies issued by the imperial court, will they not be deceived by corrupt officials and forced to pay taxes that should not be paid in addition to the national taxes.

And only when the people of the Ming Dynasty receive education can they enlighten people's hearts. And since the people's hearts are civilized, the corrupt officials will be afraid, and they will not be as unscrupulous as they are today.

Although Zhu Youzhen chose this article as the founding word, he always felt in his heart that the momentum of this article seemed to be a little weak and not enough to shock people.

Until today, when he went to court, Liu Zongzhou read his Shangshu. Zhu Youzhen took advantage of the topic to give full play, and suddenly found that the four words of benevolence and righteousness governing the country were used as the founding words of the Daming Times, which was much more imposing than this article on compulsory education.

The foundation of the Ming Dynasty is about benevolence and filial piety, and Zhu Youzhen changed the word to benevolence and righteousness. The so-called benevolence and filial piety is nothing more than that the king should be benevolent to his subjects, and the subjects should be loyal and filial to the monarch's father.

The word benevolence and filial piety is the manifestation of the development of feudal ethics to the highest stage, and below these two words, it represents the relationship between the king and the subject is the relationship between the father and the son. This means that everything the king does is right, and any resistance from the subjects is against the normal order, which is also the Ming Dynasty that Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, hopes to shape.

Of course, after Jiajing, the expansion of civilian power, officials all regarded the face of the king as a show of daring to speak out. The word benevolence and filial piety are only left in the mouths of these civil officials, and filial piety has become a moral code for officials to keep filial piety for their parents.

Paying attention to benevolence and filial piety is naturally the greatest political correctness for a feudal dynasty with a family in the world. Because everyone often says that loyal ministers are filial sons, but you are not filial to your parents, how can you be loyal to the king?

But for Zhu Youzhen, who wants to change the crisis situation in the Ming Dynasty, benevolence and filial piety are the biggest obstacle to his reform. Because the greatest role of benevolence and filial piety is to demand obedience. The obedience of the inferior to the superior, the obedience of the slave to the master, the obedience of the commoner to the official, and the obedience of the younger to the elderly.

This kind of obedience is not based on truth and right and wrong, but an obedience that does not distinguish between right and wrong and has no independent thinking. This kind of obedience does nothing to advance the progress of society, and only maintains the old order and the same life.

But if you want to replace benevolence and filial piety with benevolence and righteousness, a concept that has been rooted in the hearts of the people of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, you need to make it clear what is called benevolence and righteousness. Confucius said to be benevolent, Meng said to take righteousness, the word benevolence and righteousness as early as more than 1,000 years ago, was explained by two Confucian thinkers, although with the development of the historical trend, many scholars have tried to reinterpret the word benevolence, but no one has been able to surpass the two Confucian thinkers to set the model of benevolence and righteousness.

But the benevolence and righteousness mentioned by Confucius and Mencius are not one word, but two words. Moreover, Confucius and Mencius's interpretation of benevolence and righteousness is too vague to be regarded as a certain rule, and it is not as intuitive as the word benevolence and filial piety in practice.

There is nothing wrong with replacing benevolence and filial piety with benevolence and righteousness. But the overly empty and generalized benevolence and righteousness will only make the Ming scholars regard Zhu Youzhen, who advocates benevolence and righteousness, as a pedantic scholar king, which is not a good thing.

Zhu Youzhen frowned, and couldn't put down the pen for a long time. Until he suddenly thought of a sentence, there were two most inspiring sentences when the republic was founded, one was "the Chinese people have stood up since then", and the other was "serving the people".

What made Zhu Youzhen's heart suddenly moved was the latter sentence. What could be more intuitive than that? In the eyes of the people, this is the most simple and straightforward portrayal of this republic. In Zhu Youzhen's view, this is the most comprehensive and profound re-elaboration of benevolence and righteousness advocated by Confucius and Mencius.

Thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen's heart suddenly settled down. Maybe his words lack flowery words, but with this theme idea, this article has become the most emotional article Su Changqing has written since he crossed over.

"Serving the people of the Ming Dynasty", Zhu Youjian neatly wrote the title of the article.

When Zhu Youzhen wrote the inaugural article in one go, he found that the light in the room had dimmed.

He carefully checked the article he had just written, and asked Wang Chengen without raising his head, "What time is it now?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it's already more than three minutes away." A soft and sweet female voice answered Zhu Youzhen's question.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but look up in surprise, "It's Yufeng... Oh, it's Zitong, why are you here? ”

After Zhou Yufeng bowed to Zhu Youzhen, he said with a little grievance: "Isn't Your Majesty willing to see your concubine?" ”

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly got up, walked over to help Zhou Yufeng, and then said with a little uneasiness: "How come, it's just that I have just ascended the throne, and I haven't figured out a clue about the political affairs of the court, so I didn't care about Zitong." I don't see it these days, and Zitong seems to have lost some weight. ”

Hearing Zhu Youzhen's explanation and concern, Zhou Yufeng put down his worries before coming. She raised her head and looked at Zhu Youzhen with a little affection and said, "The concubine's body has always been like this, and His Majesty Lao cares." But His Majesty is busy with political affairs all day, so he has lost a lot of weight? ”

Looking at Zhou Yufeng's shining eyes, Zhu Youzhen soon didn't know what to say. Since the crossing, what he is most afraid of coming into contact with is Zhu Youzhen's three wives, because he doesn't know the intimate habits between Zhu Youzhen and his wife, lest he will be suspected by the three of them if he has too much contact.

Fortunately, there was a state funeral after that, so Zhu Youzhen could live openly and with the three concubines and be alone. But the three-month mourning period is about to pass, and it is unlikely that Zhu Youzhen will avoid the three daughters even if he wants to avoid them again.

Today is Zhou Yufeng coming to the door, so soon Tian and Yuan will also find an excuse to see him. It's a real headache and a sweet pain.

After a few words of conversation with Zhou Yufeng, Zhou Yufeng saw the pencil in Zhu You's pen holder, and couldn't help but ask with some curiosity: "What is this?" ”

Zhu Youzhen boasted to Zhou Yufeng with some pride, this is a new tool he came up with to facilitate writing, called "pencil".

Zhou Yufeng bit her lip, and suddenly made a formal etiquette to Zhu Youzhen, and then said to Zhu Youzhen seriously: "As the queen, the concubine dare not speak to Your Majesty. Your Majesty, as a great tomorrow, should put state affairs first, and should not indulge in small craftsmanship skills..."

Zhou Yufeng quoted a lot of scriptures, which was nothing more than persuading Zhu Youzhen not to lose his mind anymore, so that he deviated from the way of the sage.

If Zhou Yufeng was a civil official of a foreign dynasty, then Zhu Youzhen might be displeased. But a girl pretending to be an adult in front of her to persuade him, which couldn't help but make him a little ridiculous.

If it was in the past, he coaxed Zhou Yufeng over with a few vague words. However, Zhu Youzhen has just finished writing an article, and he feels that there are countless words in his heart that have not been said. At this moment, I couldn't help but ask: "What is the way of a saint?" ”

Zhou Yufeng couldn't help but sigh, she was born in a Han family, although she knew a few words, but it would be a little difficult for her to quote scriptures to persuade Chongzhen. The way of the sage she comprehended was nothing more than what the sage said and did as propagated by Confucian scholars.

Zhu Youzhen's question made Zhou Yufeng frown a lot, and then he said stiffly: "It's about the code of words and behavior of a saint, right?" ”

"If you do what a saint says and do, you can become a saint. Isn't it true that everyone can become a saint today? Why is it that apart from Confucius and Mencius, there are no saints in my country? ”

"This, isn't Zhu Zi a saint?" Zhou Yufeng timidly confessed.

"Zhu Xi? He told others to go to human desires and keep heavenly principles. Well, he didn't do it himself, though. Is there such a saint who is inconsistent in his words and deeds? Zhu Youzhen said disdainfully.