Cai Yuanpei's family is also having breakfast, and at the dinner table, in addition to his wife Huang Zhongyu, there is also the second son Wuji born to his late ex-wife Wang Zhao, the eldest daughter William and the third son Bailing born to Huang Zhongyu. This is the same as the Yang family, there are five people, the difference is that Wuji is nineteen, William is thirteen, and the youngest Bai Ling is also eleven years old, and such a big child is sensible. The family ate quietly, but Cai Yuanpei, who had not slept all night, obviously had no appetite, and only ate two bites and went back to the study to read.

As soon as Yang Rui, the prime minister, resigned, after the cabinet was dissolved, he could no longer be the secretary of the school, and the representatives of the Inspectorate repeatedly abstained from voting on the candidates for prime minister submitted by various parties, so that the government has always been managed by the caretaker cabinet headed by Yu Huizu and Xie Zhangtai. Although the act of resigning to clear himself is an irresponsible manifestation of the country in his opinion, not many people criticize this kind of behavior, but almost everyone pointed the finger at him, thinking that he wanted to sit in the position of prime minister, so he forced Yang Rui away with the words 'Napoleon second, Wang Mang second'. He is responsible for the whole incident.

The day after Yang Rui's resignation, the Imperial Daily gave him the nickname of 'Donglin Party in the World', and thought that if the prime minister really wanted to usurp power, the founding meeting would have done it, so why wait until later. The Imperial Daily is a big newspaper, so it is polite, and some tabloids that pursue circulation have turned over his past. He emphatically said three things: the first thing was that he didn't want revolution at all when he rejected Russia, and only hoped that the Manchus would send troops to resist Russia, which can be described as ignorance; The second incident was that after the uprising in Hangzhou, the revolutionary army was defeated by the Qing army, and although he committed suicide to apologize, the morale of the revolutionary army was greatly weakened, and there was no determination and courage shown in the telegram of the prime minister later. This can be described as incompetence; The third thing is that after being captured, he was treated favorably by the Manchus and survived until the liberation of Beijing. At this time, the whole country was basically under the control of the Baath Army, and he was completely enjoying it. This is called reactive.

A person who is ignorant, incompetent, and meritless refers to a person who is knowledgeable, capable, and meritorious on trumped-up charges, and the newspapers say that this is jealousy of meritorious heroes and framing virtuous people, which is simply a villain's behavior. The literati are unscrupulous, especially when public opinion is one-sided, and the scolding is even more unscrupulous and joyful, and they don't know that Cai Yuanpei is on their side.

Public opinion was like this, and the ambassadors of various countries also expressed unease about Yang Rui's resignation, and now the Bolsheviks were negotiating with Germany and intended to withdraw from the war. The Chinese Expeditionary Force, on the other hand, suffered losses of nearly 100,000 due to the stubborn defense of Baledik. At this moment, due to the inconvenience of shipping, the number of US troops arriving in Europe is less than 200,000, but the Germans have begun to draw troops from the Eastern Front, and all governments hope that China's political situation can return to normal as soon as possible and increase troops in Europe as soon as possible. For this reason, scholars from all over the world have argued for China's current administrative system, believing that the most suitable thing for China at present is that one party is dominant, enlightened and autocratic; The Japanese don't know why. actually invited Yang Rui to Japan to serve as prime minister.

When public opinion and foreigners cooperated with each other, many deputies of the Inspectorate also began to express their dissatisfaction, and some deputies openly declared: Democracy cannot be eaten. Free can not be stir-fried. Now the state is not a question of achieving democracy and freedom, but of satisfying warmth and prosperity. As long as the people can be warmly clothed, well-fed, rich, and not bullied, then who is the saint of China. What the people want is an agricultural technician. It is not the Donglin Party that is wanted.

The tide of opposition and the curse that changed his way made Cai Yuanpei's already sensitive nerves torture. Last night, a few activists threw bricks outside the house, and he didn't sleep well all night. It is different from the mood of Yang Rui when he just resigned. At this time, Cai Yuanpei had a grievance of 'I would have been to the bright moon, but the bright moon shone on the ditch'.

Judging from the results of Yu Zixun's discussion with him, Yang Rui is a dictator who is even more terrible than the emperor, because even the emperor must abide by the Confucian rules and various ancestral systems of the monarch and his ministers. But Yang Rui didn't have this concern at all, he killed people if he wanted to kill during the revolution, and the landlords in Yanzhou and the dissidents in the association died a lot because of this; The land policy said that only the rent would be reduced, but then the 180-degree turn was made, and the landlord's land was expropriated without a few dollars, so it is said that tens of thousands of people died of disobedience.

Turning his hands into clouds and covering his hands into rain, he not only has political power but also controls thoughts, which makes him not only the head of a country, but also a god in the hearts of the people. There is also a Confucius on the head of Zhu Yuanzhang, the former Ming Taizu, and there is not even a Confucius on Yang Rui's head, and in the long run, he will only become a living god.

I had a book in my hand, but I hadn't seen a word for a long time. Cai Yuanpei was stunned and thinking about it, his wife Huang Zhongyu came in, she put the brewed tea on the desk, and then leaned on his shoulder from behind and said softly: "Xiaomin, let's go back to our hometown." ”

"Hey......" Cai Yuanpei shook his wife's increasingly rough hand, understood her worries very well, and said: "It used to be for revolution, but now it is for democracy, and I always have to take some risks......"

"But Bailing, they are still young, and now the classmates in the school are not good to them......" Huang Zhongyu couldn't go on after saying half a sentence, after the resignation of the prime minister, all the spearheads were pointed at her husband, the maids of the Cai Mansion went out to sell vegetables and were looked down upon by the vegetable farmers, and many classmates in the school where their children attended were also far away from them, and it seemed that the whole world was hostile to the Cai family, which she couldn't stand the most.

"Wait for next year, arrange for them to go to Shanghai to study." Cai Yuanpei said, "Let them study abroad in a few years, don't Wuji want to learn agriculture, let him learn agriculture; William likes to draw, so let him learn art. And Bai Ling, he's still too young, let's see what he likes first. ”

"Yes." Hearing that her husband had made arrangements, Huang Zhongyu nodded, and after the child's affairs were put down, she asked again: "What's wrong with you and Jingcheng?" They are all former revolutionary comrades, how can you ......"

"Don't you know, on the Western calendar, Cheng and I were actually born on the same day, and our birthdays were together. Think about it, what if two of the same me had different ideas? Cai Yuanpei didn't want to talk about things so complicated and dangerous, so he had to talk about the birthday of the Western calendar. In fact, many times, he found that he and Yang Rui are very similar in personality, using the Western horoscope he recently watched to explain, Goat people are born with a sense of compassion. And those born on the 11th are equal to the eleventh Western tarot card: justice!

It is the nature of this natural person to be jealous and hateful, with a strong sense of justice and morality, but when he saw this, Cai Yuanpei felt that there were some things that the constellation technique could not explain. Because many of the things Yang Rui did were not in line with justice and morality, especially when he actually wanted to kill millions of gentry across the country to get their property. Willing to die 100 million people to achieve national prosperity and strength, this kind of brutality comparable to Qin Shi Huang makes people shudder.

The wife behind her didn't know that Cai Yuanpei's face had become extremely ugly at this time, she listened to Cai Yuanpei's analogy, and after being a little relieved, she said: "Then can't you two seek common ground while reserving differences, do you have to make such a stiff fuss?" ”

"It turned out that the country is supreme, I am the individual first, and we are actually on the same path." Cai Yuanpei stroked his wife's hand and lightly elaborated on the differences between him and Yang Rui, and at this time. The housekeeper reported that a guest had visited.

"It's good that Mr. is fine, I read today's newspaper, I was worried that Mr. would have an accident, so I rushed here." In Cai Yuanpei's study, Chen Youji, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities of Peking University, said with concern. Although Yang actually resigned as an adult and left the capital, his soul remained. It's chilling that the power of autocracy is so powerful. ”

"yes." Cai Yuanpei picked up the tea made by his wife and took a sip, "The Ministry of Rites has been promoting King Min and promoting loyalty and patriotism in recent years. There is no propaganda of democracy and freedom at all, not only is it not propagated, but it is also curbed everywhere. Now it's actually gone, but it's ......" Cai Yuanpei said that Yang Rui resigned. His face suddenly became a little unsightly, "I feel that this time I am too, if I can delay it for a few years." That's a lot better. ”

Seeing that Cai Yuanpei actually had this kind of thought, Chen Youji immediately said. "Sir, we are weak. The idea of democracy must blossom and bear fruit in China, and the sooner the better, and there must be no idea of compromising with the enemy. At present, the Court of Suspicion cannot elect a prime minister, but it can wait for next spring. We should strike while the iron is hot, and the school should abolish classical Chinese as soon as possible and promote vernacular Chinese! ”

Chen Youji said eagerly, and then said: "Mr. Jidao, Shizhi, Deqian, Shuren and I all believe that if you want to spread new ideas, you must first implement a new language, that is, vernacular Chinese. You know, language is the last frontier of the world! Most of what we see, feel, think, and think is expressed in words, so language determines cognition. What kind of language is used, what kind of thinking will be born. Just as chemistry and gewu have special nouns, each thought has its own set of language systems, special nouns, and inherent logic, which are the only ways to express ideas.

Uncle Zhang Mei of the Ministry of Rites saw through this and ordered the government and schools not to use vernacular Chinese, but only classical Chinese; But for the text, whether it is simplified or traditional, the Ministry of Rites has never been limited, just to understand.

China has a long history, from the beginning of the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the present, classical Chinese can be said to be in the same line, which makes the current readers pick up ancient books thousands of years ago, as long as the words are recognized, the general meaning of the article can be understood, and the ideas contained in it can also be inherited. That is to say, the ideas of thousands of years ago can be easily obtained even today, which is the most detrimental to the implementation of the new culture, and only when everyone only uses the vernacular and cannot understand the classical Chinese at all, can the old ideas be eradicated, and new ideas can be established, and only by establishing new ideas can democracy and science be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. ”

Chen Youji is worthy of being a great man who created an era, and the logical connection between language and thought could not be more clearly explained than in his statement. Just as the clergy have a language system, Marxism has a language system, and Mao Taizu's thought has a red treasure book, what kind of belief is spoken, and the articles, styles, and words used in different eras are always different. Words are not the key to culture, language is the most important thing. Yes, just as democracy and freedom cannot be pieced together with the Red Book, there is only hierarchy and autocracy in classical Chinese, of course, there will be other things in classical Chinese, but for the sake of new culture, who cares?

Taking advantage of Yang Rui's resignation, Uncle Zhang Mei of the Ministry of Rites did not abolish classical Chinese as soon as possible, and advocating vernacular Chinese was the unanimous view of those young people who advocated new culture in the School of Literature of Peking University. If you don't abolish classical Chinese, you will not be an opponent with those old scholars, and thousands of Hu Shi, Liu Bannong, and Zhou Shuren combined. But if the classical Chinese is abolished and the old scholars are swept into the garbage heap of history, then the situation will be different.

Decades later, when these people sat on the altar of a hundred schools of thought to give the illiterate people who could not understand classical Chinese to popularize the traditional culture, they were whatever they said, grandmasters, masters. These titles belong to them, and they will be a generation of God-men who alternate between the old and the new. Those who come behind can only follow the fork in the road they have created. In other words, the only way to be a top student if you don't have enough knowledge. It is to pull down everyone's IQ, and when everyone enters the cultural desert, the last poplar forest they see will be their permanent memory of the forest.

Cai Yuanpei, who understood what Chen Youyi was thinking, thought for a while and said, "But some people say that abolishing classical Chinese is ten million times more brutal than Qin Shi Huang's book burning and Confucianism, which is tantamount to burning the classics of thousands of years before, and no one will be able to understand those things in the future." After Cai Yuanpei finished speaking, he said, "It's not that I don't agree with the promotion of new culture. I'm only worried that there is too much resistance to abolishing classical Chinese, after all, there are many Confucian students all over the country, and they still run many private schools, and their influence is definitely not small. ”

"Then first dissolve those private schools in the name that the school must be public, Confucianism is a dead tiger, and we can advocate 'hitting the Confucian family', just like Japan did decades ago." Chen Youji's words are forceful, and there is no better opportunity to do things than in the current situation.

"Can it be activated?" Cai Yuanpei said, "It's the end of the year soon." The students in the school have already gone on vacation, right? ”

"Students are on vacation, but these things can start after the school year starts next year." Chen said by himself. "Even if Yang Jingcheng comes back at that time, he will do nothing about it."

Seeing that Chen Youji was so confident, Cai Yuanpei, who knew Yang Rui deeply, closed his eyes. After a while, he said: "Zhongfu, don't underestimate it." It was not just luck that he was able to get to where he is today, but it was because of his thoughts. He's not the same as Uncle Mei. He knows everything new, it's like.... It's as if he'd known these things for a long time, the disadvantages and pros of them. Know it all in one cover. ”

"Sir, freedom is human nature, and students are the most rebellious and the most freedom-seeking, and there may be different arguments about democracy, which can be sophistry, but he has nothing to say when he criticizes Confucianism and advocates freedom and science." Chen Youji did not believe that Yang Jingcheng could agitate the peasants, but to the students, to be exact, the current students, he believed that he was powerless.

"Zhongfu, you must not underestimate the enemy, you have to remember one sentence......" Cai Yuanpei looked at Chen Youji with blazing eyes, very serious, "In Jingcheng, any miracle can happen!" ”

When Cai Yuanpei was talking about miracles, Yang Rui, who was looking at the six-year financial annual report of Tianyuan Fruit Company Shenwu, also said miracles to Xu Xilin, who suddenly appeared in Shanghai, I really didn't expect him to come out. But it's strange to think about it, Qiu Jin and Cai Yuanpei are familiar with him, and they also appreciate him very much, he is more independent of the formal system of the Revival Society, and it is best for him to be the peacemaker.

After sitting down, Xu Xilin said with a smile: "Are you going to spend the New Year in Shanghai?" ”

"No, I've already asked someone to buy a train ticket. has been busy with official business, this time is to go back to Sangzi to spend the New Year, in addition to recognizing the ancestors and returning to the ancestors, Xianfeng will also be buried in the ancestral grave of his hometown. Yang Rui took the tea in Cheng Ying's hand, politely put it in front of Xu Xilin, and then said: "Bosun, aren't you from Beijing, why did you come to Shanghai?" ”

"As soon as I leave, the capital will be in chaos, how can I sit still." It is Xu Xilin's nature to be anxious for justice and righteousness, and after learning what happened to the daily committee that day, he volunteered to be a peacemaker. "It's unpleasant to hear the words of the day, but when you think about it, there is no selfishness in it, it's just that Xuanqing and the people are idealistic people, and it's really hard to accept these truths!"

Listening to Xu Xilin's interpretation of Qiu Jin and Cai Yuanpei in this way, Yang Rui smiled and said: "Xuanqing, I understand, when she found out that the Revival Society and the Manchu Qing Dynasty were essentially the same in their rule, it was understandable that she made the decision to withdraw from the Association." On her side, she can only say that she resembles the revolution too beautifully, but in fact, the revolution is not so beautiful, but very dirty.

She really forgot that man was supposed to be a beast, and then a man. If evil is animal nature, then good is human nature. The great English writer William Shakespeare once said: 'Life is a cloth woven from the threads of good and evil, and our good deeds must be whipped by our past mistakes, so that we will not be overly arrogant; Our sins depend on our good deeds to cover them up, so that we do not despair completely,'

Like people, Revival cannot do just good deeds. If taking power is a revival of evil, then the policies pursued while in power are its good deeds. There is no absolute between good and evil, and sometimes it is even more difficult to distinguish between good and evil, and it would be unrealistic to imagine everything that Revival has in a golden light. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Rui glanced at Xu Xilin, who was listening attentively. Said: "Bosun, actually, it's true. There is no fundamental difference between us and the Alliance, and there is no fundamental difference between me and Sun Wen. If there is a difference between the two. That is, I am very nostalgic as a person, and I love everything about this country from ancient times to the present; And Sun Wen, he loves the United States, and he can't wait to crush this country and recast it in the image of the United States......

The same ......" Yang Rui stood up and said, "The difference between me and the people is also here. He felt that this country and this nation were hopeless, and that Western democracy and freedom needed to be introduced. It is ironic that the people see Western democracy as something that cannot be better, but in fact democracy is an evil that stems from selfishness.

Just like Western economics, it is one of its two foundations. That is, everyone must be rational and selfish, and only when everyone only thinks about themselves and does not care about the life or death of others, can the market function normally and the democratic system can be established. There is nothing wrong with being selfish, whether it is the income of hard work or fraud, no one's money is blowing in the wind, but the problem is that he thinks that something based on evil is good, and beats gongs and drums to welcome it, it is very ironic.

He didn't even know that democracy presupposes that citizens must be rational and selfish. He just went around preaching it and attacking me for being a dictatorship, which had to make people doubt his intelligence. I am in favor of a certain degree of authoritarianism, but this is not my dictatorship. It's the tyranny of the whole Revival Society, and his opposition to this despotism is to oppose the whole Renaissance Society, which I can't accept.

Think about it! Be a member of the peasant association, be a soldier of the Renaissance Army, and be a member of the Renaissance. When he sacrificed for the revolution and the country, no one said anything about humanity or democracy; But when those who want to survive are sacrificed. They start talking about humanity and democracy and freedom. I can't figure it out, the martyrs who sacrificed for the revolution and the country are so despicable?! Even their sacrifice is often said to be a fool. And the people who are alive and enjoy it are extremely noble, and the closure of a school magazine is shouting that it destroys freedom of speech. Hehe, it's really bullying dead people who can't speak. ”

The resentment and anger that had accumulated for more than half a month slowly calmed down, and in the cold words, Xu Xilin heard a sadness. There is no victory without sacrifice, but those who are now enjoying victory are putting a price on themselves with humanity and democracy. This is the logic of democrats, but in the eyes of Yang Rui, the leader of the revolution, this is extremely unfair - when we sacrificed for the revolution, did we let go of half a fart? Now that a magazine in a chaotic country has been sealed, some people are shouting that it violates human rights and does not respect humanity and democracy.

"Actually, Xuanqing was also thinking about everything you said that day during this time, she said that she knew that your words were right, but she just couldn't accept them, so she said that it was better for her to quit the Standing Committee, and in the future, she would only be the president of the Women's Revival Association, supervising and advocating women's rights." Xu Xilin brought Qiu Jin's words, but before he could say anything, Cai Yuanpei was interrupted by Yang Rui.

"You tell her that if you want to improve the status of women, you have to get women out of the house and have a job to support themselves, otherwise women will have no money in their hands and will always be low. Only when she is on the Standing Committee can she protect the rights and interests of women in various decision-making, otherwise, women will always be crushed by men. Yang Rui said, hearing Qiu Jin's words, his heart suddenly felt a lot easier.

"Okay, I'll tell her." Xu Xilin said. "It's just ...... the people," he laughed to himself, and added, "I don't make sense with him." I think it's because I read too many books and think too much. ”

"Bosun, I really have nothing to say to the people, although we used to be comrades-in-arms, but now he and I are no longer comrades." Yang Rui said that Cai Yuanpei's voice was a lot colder, "He, and his gang, if they continue to mess around, the best ending will be like those democratic liberals in Russia, exiled to Siberia by the Tsar, with a salary, scenery to see, and the right to travel; The worst outcome was to meet the Bolsheviks and be executed. ”

"It's done, it's not like that." Neither of these results was what Xu Xilin wanted to see, so he was surprised.

"Bosun, I used to think that the direction of social development would only be democracy, but now, I realize that I am wrong." Yang Rui said, with deep thought, "The development of society is actually always oscillating between authoritarianism and looseness. An authoritarian society will eventually be deconstructed by democratic liberals to give them the kind of freedom they want, but in countries that do not have a democratic foundation, the price of such democratic freedom is that the society becomes extremely loose and anarchic, and then the extreme power takes advantage of the situation. The situation is like in Russia today, where no one can prevent the Bolsheviks from coming to power, because all those who can prevent it are deconstructed by the democratic liberals, and the whole of Russia begins to unfold tragedy. I, and the Renaissance Society, will not let what happened in Russia happen in China. ”

Listening to Yang Rui's narration, Xu Xilin forgot the identity of the peacemaker and asked inquiringly. "So what is the basis of democracy?"

"When the economy grows to a certain extent, culture will change; If culture is transmuted to a certain extent, politics will change. Anyone who intends to skip this process and pull out the seedlings will be punished; Or he may be lucky enough to die early, but the rest of the people will suffer this retribution for him. Yang Rui sat with a golden knife and said it categorically. (To be continued......)