Chongzhen, sitting on the throne of the carved dragon, watched silently, nearly a hundred officials in the hall below were arguing, and nearly eighty percent of the officials on both sides were still watching, it seemed that as long as the officials in the hall did not decide a winner, they were not willing to easily show their attitude.

Seeing this scene in front of him, he seemed to understand a little bit why the political forces leading a group were either left or right, while the political forces of the center could only be united.

In contrast to the left and right, which are not afraid to express their political leanings, the centrists, who are not inclined to stand only on the side of the winners, have the power to decide the outcome of the victory, but they are unable to lead the entire group forward.

For example, in this court, although the middle-of-the-road officials account for nearly eighty percent of the total number of officials, it is the remaining twenty percent of the officials who decide the debate.

The arguments that erupted between the pro-new and pro-old officials were like the left and right factions of the group, and the controversy that broke out between them completely distorted the direction of the previous court meeting.

Not to mention that Chongzhen did not expect this situation, even those officials who initiated the petition at the court meeting obviously did not expect it. But by this time, no one cares that the issue has deviated from the original direction, but is trying to overwhelm the other party and ensure that the group they are in does not fall behind.

When Shoufu Huang Liji stood up to preside over the court and asked Chongzhen to come forward to make a decision, Qian Longxi, Hu Yingtai and others, who were inclined to write to officials, also came out to ask the emperor to make a fair decision.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Youzhen became cautious. Originally, he did not mind a head-on confrontation with these officials who represented the interests of the southern gentry, but when they focused their arguments on the question of the old and new studies, he could not easily express his attitude.

Since the beginning of the Republic of China, Zhu Xi's "Annotations on the Collection of Four Books and Chapters and Sentences" was used as the official required reading annotation and the basis for the imperial examination, and Zhu Xi's status was deified. He is also the only person who is not a disciple of Confucius and is worthy of enshrinement in the Confucian Temple, ranking among the twelve philosophers of the Dacheng Temple.

The reason why the "Annotations to the Four Books and Chapters and Sentences" has the status of "inheriting the classics from the top, enlightening the group from the bottom, and teaching the golden rules from generation to generation" is not in the final analysis because of its academic achievements, but in the political purpose that Zhu Xi had when he wrote this book, so that "the will of the Bible can be restored to the world" and serve as a model of "politics and religion".

In general, it is through the moral education of the people's ideology in order to maintain a hierarchical society that conforms to Confucian ideology and morality. This kind of spiritual world built on morality is just like the spiritual world built on theology in the West, and it is an ideological tool for rulers to maintain their rule.

The spiritual world built on the moral basis of the Chinese is far stronger than the spiritual world constructed by Western religions, after all, the written records in China are far longer than those of Westerners, and any slight change will be opposed by quotations.

The era in which Zhu Xi lived was also the last generation of a feudal dynasty with a relatively developed commodity economy, and the wind of land annexation that he saw was rising, and the world of moral degradation and indoctrination was also intensifying in this era.

Therefore, in the eyes of some scholars, only by re-respecting science can we save the current situation of the collapse of etiquette in front of the Ming Dynasty. However, compared with physicists like Zhu Xi, the scholars and doctors who admired science in this era were just a group of rigid clay wooden statues.

They regarded every word Zhu Xi said as an immutable truth, but they did not learn Zhu Xi's spirit of attaching importance to observation and empirical evidence and pursuing truth.

In addition to the "Annotations to the Four Books and Chapters and Sentences", Zhu Xi also wrote the "Beichen Identification", which is dedicated to the constellation of the celestial sphere and the North Star; In the notes to the Yaodian, the concepts of precession and intercalation in astronomy at that time were discussed; In the notes of the Shundian, the early armillary theory and the structure of the armillary sphere are discussed, and the structure of the armillary sphere at that time is recorded in detail.

In addition, Zhu Xi has insights on geological fossils, denial of creationism, the origin of the universe, geocentrism, the rotation of the earth, solar and lunar eclipses, tides, the shape of hexagonal crystals of snowflakes, the formation of rainbows, the influence of geography on climate, biological and human origins, traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis, agricultural production structure, crop layout and specific production technology.

However, in the eyes of the Taoists of the Ming Dynasty, it seems that Zhu Xi only wrote a book of "Annotations to the Four Books and Chapters and Sentences", and they held this book without seeking much understanding, but only memorized every word in this book with sincere fear, and then used it as a prison for their own thoughts.

Zhu Xi once put forward the idea of "Gewu, Zhizhi, sincerity, righteousness, self-cultivation, Qi family, governing the country, and leveling the world", but some people focus on sincerity and righteousness, and some people only see self-cultivation, Qi family, governing the country, and leveling the world.

Therefore, in Zhu Youzhen's eyes, the "Annotations on the Four Books, Chapters and Sentences", which wanted to maintain the feudal ruling order, became the biggest obstacle for the Ming Dynasty to transform and enter from feudal economic relations to capitalist economic relations.

Although, he has always wanted to stall for time and give Xinxue more time to influence the scholars of this era. But the controversy that broke out in the court today made him realize that whether he wanted to or not, the natural sciences of the material world had come into conflict with those Taoist gentlemen who were not stubborn.

Zhu Youzhen glanced up at Shoufu and several other senior officials of the six ministries who were silent, and then slowly spoke: "Since you all want me to make a judgment, then I can barely say a few words."

But before that, I have only one thing to say to you, to give others the right to speak. I don't want to be the king of Zhou Li, and I will never allow anyone to want to be the king of Zhou Li of the Ming Dynasty.

It is not a crime to argue in public, nor is it a sin to defend one's doctrines and beliefs, but it is an atrocity to force others to accept one's own doctrines and beliefs, or to propagate one's doctrines and beliefs by means of deception and intimidation.

You should all know very well that I did not go through systematic study before accepting the succession of my former emperor's brother, so I have little understanding of the study of Confucius and Mencius, so you ask me to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages between the new science and the science, and I find it a little difficult..."

Hearing Chongzhen say this, most of the officials in the palace finally breathed a sigh of relief, except for some old-fashioned officials who really regarded natural science and Catholicism as enemies of famous religions, most of the officials were unwilling to fall into a possible party struggle because of this kind of problem.

Moreover, it is not only the northerners who advocate the new learning, and it is not only the southerners who defend the science. The attack on Xinxue itself was only an incidental element of today's organization of the officials who had launched the letter, and whose real purpose was to put pressure on the emperor to withdraw from industry and commerce.

For the Jiangnan gentry, the involvement of the inner government in industry and commerce was similar to the move of the Wanli Emperor to send tax supervisors to the world to collect taxes. They are all competing with the people for profit and looting the wealth of the people.

But unlike those stupid eunuchs sent by Emperor Wanli, this Emperor Chongzhen did not simply send one or two eunuchs to the local government to forcibly collect taxes. Instead, they mostly cooperate with local small and medium-sized merchants to establish a sales company attached to the inner government, sell various goods produced for the inner government, or purchase locally produced raw materials.

This method of looting people's wealth is obviously more hidden, because the people who come forward are local merchants, and the goods bought and sold are competing according to market prices, and there is the intervention of the inner government, these merchants are not allowed to hoard and live in strange behaviors, so the business name of selling goods in the inner government has gradually gained the recognition of the local people.

The merchants who depended on the inner government for supplies had obviously harmed the interests of the local gentry and some big merchants, and in this era hoarding was the only means for merchants to win high profits. Although the handicraft industry of the Ming Dynasty was developed, it far exceeded that of most countries in the world.

However, as long as it is not industrial production, the manufacturing capacity of a certain type of commodity must have an upper limit, and with such a huge volume of the Ming Dynasty, the quantity of this commodity is even more limited in places far away from the place where the commodity is produced, and basically will not exceed the upper limit of sales in the local market.

In a market where the supply is already insufficient, and the merchant sells it in a monopoly way, then the price of this commodity will naturally rise to a level that makes most people give up buying. And the merchant who monopolizes the goods can get several times the profit as a result.

Of course, businessmen who dare to do this are either big businessmen with strong capital, or it is inconvenient for officials and businessmen who have the support of the gentry behind them. They either monopolize the local market with capital or monopolize the local market with power. Due to the strong business atmosphere in the Jiangnan area, there are a large number of businessmen, and the number of businessmen who naturally monopolize the local market is also quite large.

However, in the face of the Four Seas Commercial Firm, which was supported by the Inner Government, both the capital of the merchants and the power of the gentry encountered challengers. However, what frightened them the most was the speed and ability of the inner government to supply goods, although the Four Seas Commercial Company had only gained a foothold in Shanghai County and Zhoushan City, but the merchant gentry in Jiangnan had already felt the smell of danger.

The merchant gentry in Jiangnan dared to drive the mine tax envoys sent by the Wanli Emperor back to the capital, relying not on their own power, but on the power of the citizens of Jiangnan that they had instigated. And the reason why the citizens of Jiangnan dared to risk their lives to fight against the mine supervisors and tax envoys sent by the emperor was not because of the righteousness of the business gentry.

Rather, these mine supervisors and tax collectors completely disrupted the industrial and commercial market in the Jiangnan area due to uncontrolled and unregulated taxation methods, but the market was depressed, and most of the workshops were closed. As a result, most of the handicraft workers, who had actually been detached from the fields, lost their ability to earn a living, and naturally rebelled at the instigation of the merchants.

However, the government now uses commercial means, although under the fierce price competition, some workshops have gone bankrupt and many workers have lost their jobs. But the situation did not deteriorate to the point that the whole market collapsed, because of the abundant supply of goods, the market has prospered.

In this way, it became unrealistic for the merchant gentry to incite the local people with righteous slogans. Then they can only take the road of political struggle in the court.

In order to arouse the sympathy of the gentry in the world, it is not enough to accuse the inner government of selling goods too low, so opposing the new local bureaucratic system and opposing the promotion of new learning have become the best protection to cover and attack the inner government and compete with the people for profit.