Chapter 995: Personnel changes, and exchanges become ancient and modern (two updates combined into one)

March of the 10th year of Xining.

Wang Anshi once again offered his resignation on the grounds that his son Wang Yu was ill.

As usual, the officials refused and gave Wang Anshi leave, allowing him to care for him at home.

However, Wang Anshi no longer agreed, and he went to court five times, and finally ordered him to be dismissed from his position as prime minister, and appointed as the governor of the Zhennan Army to judge Jiangning Prefecture.

At the time of the decree, Wang Anshi was living in Dingli Courtyard.

He also lived here when he retired as prime minister for the first time, and he still lives in this courtyard now, looking at the beautiful spring scenery in the garden and composing a poem.

No one was seen on the river for a long time, and the dust and dirt of ten years were trapped in my dream.

Diligence untied the lilac knots and released the spring among the branches.

This poem is imitated by Lu Guimeng (On the river, no one cares about me, and I am drunk in the clouds for ten years. I work diligently to untie the lilac knots, and let the branches spread to celebrate spring).

He stayed in Dingli Temple again and remembered the previous poem. At this moment, he was sitting under the lilac tree and reading the letter sent by Zhang Yue.

This letter can also be regarded as Zhang Yue's first-class reply to the fact that Wang Anshi was in the house and he was vaguely entrusted by the government.

For Zhang Yue, government affairs are not the most important thing. What is more important than government affairs is "state affairs".

This was what Zhang Yue ordered Chen Guan to do after he entered the capital. The two of them added and deleted it seven times, often discussing it for half a day. Until today, Zhang Yue wrote a letter to Wang Anshi.

What is said to be a letter is actually included in the volume.

Just like when Zhang Yue came to the capital alone, he submitted his article to the ministers, asking for their approval and recommendation. At that time, Zhang Yue submitted his article to Wang Anshi three times, and even visited his home in person to seek his favor.

As time passed, Zhang Yue wrote to Wang Anshi again, as if he was in the same state of mind when writing.

In the letter, he described himself as hesitant as a student asking for a teacher. Wang Anshi sighed slightly when he saw this. After so many years, Zhang Yue is still so respectful, cautious, and mellow.

The title of Zhang Yue's letter is "Mencius also talks about profit".

Wang Anshi laughed when he read Zhang Yue's question.

It is well known that Wang Anshi was the person who admired Mencius the most. People at that time ridiculed Wang Anshi for having the same views as Mencius, but the only difference was that one talked about profit all the time, while the other never talked about profit.

Therefore, Wang Anshi couldn't help but smile knowingly when he saw Zhang Yue's "Mencius Yan Li".

The distinction between justice and benefit is the first thing for Confucians.

The distinction between righteousness and benefit comes from Mencius, a chapter in "Mencius".

Mencius met King Hui of Liang.

The king asked, old man, will you benefit my country even if you come from a thousand miles away?

Mencius replied: Why should a king talk about profit? He is just benevolent and righteous.

This is the first sentence of the first chapter of Mencius, and anyone who has read Mencius will know it.

Zhang Yue said that the Book of Changes, the first of the Five Classics, has one hundred and eighty-four advantages and twenty-eight disadvantages.

According to the Book of Changes, Yuan Henry Zhen can be beneficial or disadvantageous.

The I Ching, regarded as the first of the Five Classics and the ancestor of various schools in China, teaches you how to "use your body".

The Book of Changes studies how to 'pursue good fortune and avoid evil' and how to 'achieve good fortune and good fortune'. This idea can be said to be integrated into the blood of every Chinese people and is shared by the three religions and nine streams.

If Mencius denies "profit", he also denies the "Book of Changes", the first of the Five Classics.

What is benefit? What is righteousness?

Mencius said that the "righteousness" mentioned by Mozi is to do things that benefit the world even if your head is scratched and your feet are bruised.

What Yang Zi said about "profit" is to pluck a hair to benefit the world and not do it. If you want me to pluck a hair to benefit the world, I won't do it either.

Mozi's "righteousness" is "selflessness". If everyone is not self-interested, there will be no self-interest in the heart to benefit the world.

Yangtze's "profit" is "selfishness". Only if everyone benefits themselves and completely disadvantages others, can the world benefit.

Mencius criticized Mozi and Yangzi for not using the "medium-purpose" way, but for adhering to the one. The way of adhering to the one is a thief, and using one will discard a hundred.

The "righteousness" mentioned by Mencius is different from the "righteousness" mentioned by Mozi.

Mencius' "righteousness" is the way of "neutral use", which takes into account both self-interest and benefit to others. But the way of "righteousness" is not to compromise and reconcile, how to use it appropriately? It must start from "sincerity", which is "benevolence and righteousness".

What is ‘benevolence and righteousness’?

Benevolence and righteousness means "big benefit", "far benefit", and what "benefit" does King Hui of Liang have for our country? The "profit" mentioned by our country is "short benefit", "near benefit".

Everyone knows short-term profit and near-profit. If there are a hundred pieces on the ground, you don’t need to teach anyone how to pick them up.

But because picking up these 100 yuan, if it is seen by the owner or the owner, it will be beneficial and harmful. Or there will be neither, and the idea of ​​getting something for nothing and waiting for something will be born, which is harmful.

The reason why people become addicted to gambling is because they start to win money from gambling.

Therefore, Mencius's "benevolence and righteousness" is to advise King Hui of Liang to abandon "immediate benefits" for "distant benefits". Only "benevolence and righteousness" is "far benefits", and do not give up the big for the small.

This is where Mencius conforms to the "seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages" in the Book of Changes.

To achieve self-interest through altruism is the Confucian "righteousness". However, Zhu Xi, a later generation, saw that others did not understand, so he quickly added in a hurry, "If you don't seek benefit, you will be self-interested."

If Confucius defined what ‘benevolence’ is, then Mencius defined what ‘righteousness’ is.

Mozi's "righteousness" of sacrificing himself and dedicating himself to others is very noble and great, but most people can't do it. Mencius' "righteousness" is the practical way to balance "interest and righteousness".

The principle of "pursuing advantages and avoiding disadvantages" in the Book of Changes is that "a house that accumulates good deeds will always be blessed, and a house that accumulates bad deeds will have residual disasters."

It's just that later Confucian scholars one-sidedly opposed "righteousness" and "benefit".

Therefore Zhang Yue wrote to Wang Anshi that Mencius also talked about "profit".

Wang Anshi read Zhang Yue's book and agreed with it in his heart. Sima Guang criticized himself for being "a master of Ji Lian" and violated the "ambition of Mencius".

Wang Anshi counterattacked: "The government of the previous kings was carried out to promote benefits and eliminate harm, not to cause trouble; to manage the world's finances, not to collect profits."

Later, Wang Anshi and Zeng Gongliang said, "What Mencius said is beneficial is to benefit our country. For example, to prevent and control boils, it benefits our body and ears. When a dog eats a person's food, check it, and if there is hunger in the wild, it will breed. This is the so-called

Political affairs. Political affairs means financial management, and financial management is the so-called righteousness'.

Zhang Yue used the Book of Changes to 'seek benefits and avoid harm', and Mencius' 'speech of benefits' essentially supported Wang Anshi, and also showed that if he was in charge of the [state affairs] in the future, this would not change.

Zhang Yue only wrote half of the letter here, and then explained why "benevolence and righteousness" did not work.

Laozi said, "When the great principles fail, there will be benevolence and righteousness; when wisdom arises, there will be great hypocrisy." Zhuangzi said, "As long as the saint does not die, there will be great thieves."

Neither Laozi nor Zhuangzi were interested in the Confucian set of "benevolence and righteousness", and even scorned it.

Is Laozi and Zhuangzi wrong? Or is Confucius and Mencius wrong?

Doing what you say is not the same thing. If you want to achieve the goal of "benevolence and righteousness", you cannot promote it in the name of "benevolence and righteousness".

Otherwise, the more you advocate "benevolence and righteousness," the more hypocritical the world will be. Whatever you advocate, it will weaken. The moment you exert your strength, you will go astray, and "the effort will be weak."

To practice "benevolence and righteousness", one must oppose the movement of Tao.

Heaven and earth are unkind and regard all things as stupid dogs. It is precisely because of their unkindness that they are benevolent to all things.

Therefore, the way of humanity must follow the way of heaven, and government must not be "benevolent". Legalists are the ones who see this most thoroughly.

Han Feizi once said, "When the ruler is over the people, he will sacrifice his life if there is trouble; if there is peace, he will do his best."

For the king, the role of the common people is that if the king is in trouble, the people will die for the king. If nothing happens, the people will work until death to support the king.

Legalists' words are not nice to hear, but they hit the nail on the head and every sentence is the truth.

"Harm is born from kindness, and kindness is born from harm." Resentment is born from kindness. On the contrary, there are many people with Stockholm syndrome.

Under severe punishment, a grateful heart emerged.

Therefore, when governing a country, we should pursue "benevolence and righteousness", but we cannot just govern the country by "benevolence and righteousness". It must be supplemented by Legalism.

When Wang Anshi saw this, the paper trembled slightly in the spring breeze.

Wang Anshi thought to himself, if he had met Zhang Yue twenty years earlier, he would have taken him under his wing. Why would he have entrusted Lu Huiqing and Zeng Bu to him?

Unfortunately, there is no if

…

In the deep palace.

Gao Taotao was hearing Zhang Maoze's report.

"Although this Wang Yu lives in Tianzhang Pavilion and is waiting to be ruled, his reputation has always been bad."

"Wang Yu had a mean and severe temperament. He often called himself Lord Shang (Shang Yang) and considered himself a hero. He often advised Wang Anshi to kill ministers who could not survive and drive out the old party."

"When Wang Anshi came to power, it was this person who instigated him to get rid of the mature and prudent people and use more new and clever young people in his sect. He ordered all students in the imperial, prefecture and county schools to take Wang's classics as their teachers."

"After Wang Anshi resigned as prime minister, this person used Wang Anshi's orders to ask Deng Wan and Lu Jiawen to impeach Zhang Yue and Lu Huiqing. Zhang Yue didn't know where he learned about this, and he wanted to go to the palace to confront Wang Anshi."

"But when things came to a head, he suddenly went to Wang Anshi's house, and then the misunderstanding was eliminated."

Gao Tao said: "I read it right. Zhang Yue is really a person who understands the general situation. If it were Lu Huiqing who came to confront Wang Anshi, he would definitely lose both sides."

Zhang Maoze said: "Zhang Yue is indeed a virtuous person, but I don't know if he will follow An Shi's views and continue the reform in the future!"

Hearing this, Gao Taotao was silent for a moment and said: "If selfish people dominate the country, the world will be selfless. Selfless people will dominate the country, but it will become selfish in the world. Let's take a look. If Zhang Yue were more worldly, he would be more selfish in the near future.
To be continued...