Congratulations to Qingshui Anliu for becoming the leader of Mingyang Tianxia. I bow to express my gratitude!
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Qin Mu had just returned to the Qin Palace from the Western Garden, and Sima Kai was already waiting for an audience in the Xiangyun Tower.
Qin Mu summoned him to the Huagai Palace and asked, "Why did Le Zhi ask to see me?"
Sima Kai replied with a cheerful face: "Your Majesty, I have revised the first drafts of Mathematics, Geography and History for enlightenment education according to your wishes. Please take a look at them."
Sima Kai has been editing books since he accompanied the emperor to Ningbo in the early spring of last year.
Qin Mu felt that the current enlightenment textbooks only include "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic", which he thought was inappropriate.
As Xu Guangqi said, mathematics is the mother of encyclopedias. How can there be no mathematics in enlightenment education
Another type of book is geography and history, which are for children in their teens. The purpose is to broaden their horizons and help them understand the world. They will know from an early age how high the sky is and how big the world is, and they will have a preliminary understanding of the cultural differences between countries.
Finally, the texts of "Physics", "Chemistry" and "Geometry" must also be compiled.
However, there are not many people who have a deep understanding of these subjects at present, so most of them still rely on Qin Mu himself to take time to compile them bit by bit based on his memories of his previous life.
Sima Kai may not have fully realized the significance of this matter, and just regarded it as a will from Qin Mu. Now that he can finally hand it in, he seems very relaxed.
Since returning to Nanjing, Qin Mu had asked him to read the draft and made many suggestions for revisions. After Sima Kai handed him the first draft, he carefully read it and said with a little satisfaction: "Not bad, Lezhi has worked hard."
"I dare not."
"Sit down, I have something to tell you."
"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions. I am all ears."
"The seven northern provinces are in decline, and the learning atmosphere is far inferior to that of the south. I feel sorry for them, and have decided to allocate two million taels of silver from the inner treasury to set up some elementary schools in the counties of the seven northern provinces, so that local school-age children can attend for free. This matter is too complicated, and I cannot take care of it personally. I need a capable and trustworthy person to preside over it. I am happy with it..."
"Your Majesty, I am willing to go."
"Can I trust you?"
"Your Majesty, I am willing to sacrifice my life to repay Your Majesty."
"Hahaha! Okay, I will appoint you as an imperial envoy to go to the northern seven provinces to take charge of this matter. When I was on the Northern Expedition, the Ministry of Personnel held examinations in various places, and many people who were not recruited as officials have been recorded. After you arrive in the northern seven provinces, you can follow the map. These people can be used as instructors, do you understand?"
"I understand, but Your Majesty, the amount of money invested this time is so huge. If we go through the local authorities..."
"No!" Qin Mu interrupted him and said, "As for the channel of funding, I will instruct Xu Yingjie to go directly through Huitong Bank in the future. It will not be handled by local officials. Local officials are only responsible for supervision."
"I understand."
The two of them discussed the matter for an incense stick of time, Qin Mu gave instructions in person, and Sima Kai wrote them down one by one.
After the matter came to an end, seeing that Qin Mu was in a good mood, Sima Kai could not help but say, "Your Majesty, I heard that everyone argued fiercely at the imperial lecture today. It was a pity that I was unable to attend. This is the biggest regret of my life. When I entered the palace, even the restaurants and teahouses on the street were arguing fiercely."
"If you have something to say, just say it."
Sima Kai glanced at him quickly and said, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, there is nothing to argue about Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism."
"Oh? Tell me, I want to hear what you think."
"Your Majesty treats me like a confidant, and I am completely loyal to you. There is nothing to be ashamed of. In my opinion, although the dynasties have only respected Confucianism on the surface, the three schools of Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism have all been used in their strategies for governing a country, but they are just used in different levels of priority."
"Hahaha... This is a secret that everyone knows, but cannot be told."
Sima Kai smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I will speak freely in front of you, and there is nothing secretive to tell you."
"Okay, show less loyalty, talk less and do more, that's true loyalty."
"Yes, yes, your majesty, I will definitely keep your teachings in mind. But..."
"Just what?"
"I just want to ask, Your Majesty, which of the three schools of Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism do you prefer... I have no other intentions. I just want to better understand Your Majesty's intentions so as not to mess up Your Majesty's work." Sima Kai asked carefully with a smile.
Qin Murang took the tea that Liu Rushi brought over, and while brushing away the leaves on top, he said, "Governing a country is most important for benevolence and education, so I naturally respect Confucianism."
When the Qin Dynasty was first established, Qin Mu would never deny Confucianism. On the contrary, he would use the Confucian principles of ruler-ruler, minister-minister, father-father, son-son, and superiors and subordinates to strengthen his own centralization.
Because only under a highly centralized state can his will be better implemented.
Sima Kai was a little discouraged when he heard this and asked, "Your Majesty, is there nothing else?"
"Of course, market economy."
"Market economy? Your Majesty, what kind of theory is this? Why haven't I heard of it?"
Qin Mu smiled but said nothing. Whether from ancient China or from the experience of various countries in later generations, one point has been fully confirmed, that is, if a country wants to prosper, it cannot do without one factor, that is, the market economy.
Later, China took the path of planned economy, but it turned out that this approach was not feasible in any country, and the only option was to adopt a market economy.
"The so-called market economy means respecting the natural laws of the market, allowing it to flow according to its own laws, with the survival of the fittest, and the government should not interfere too much."
"Ah!" Sima Kai exclaimed, "Your Majesty, isn't this the Taoist way of governing by doing nothing?"
Theoretically, the concept of market economy originated from Taoism.
The market economy must respect the laws of nature, which is basically the same as the Taoist principle of "following the laws of nature and governing by inaction". It emphasizes that the upper and lower parts should be like water, and should be allowed to flow according to their own laws. It also emphasizes respecting the market mechanism and that the government should not interfere too much.
Judging from the reigns of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing and Emperor Zhenguan in history, the “rule by inaction” adopted was precisely because they followed the rules of the market economy. Therefore, they were able to recover quickly from the ruins and make people’s lives very prosperous. Later China implemented a planned economy, and ended up taking a detour for decades.
"But your majesty, after the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, there was the Rebellion of the Seven Princes, and after the reign of Emperor Zhenguan, there was the Rebellion of the Wu family. These are all lessons from the past."
Qin Mu smiled faintly and said, "So the operation of the market economy must be based on personal morality and social ethics. On the one hand, we must emphasize the natural laws of the market economy, and on the other hand, we must emphasize that everyone must have higher moral integrity."
"Your Majesty. I understand. This is Confucianism."
"But it turns out that the so-called moral integrity is far from enough, apart from guidance, because there are always some people who are immoral for their own benefit. Therefore, detailed laws and regulations need to be formulated to rigidly stipulate a moral bottom line that must be followed."
"Your Majesty. This is the Legalist family."
Sima Kai exclaimed again, "The dispute between Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism has never been settled. Every dynasty has either emphasized one or the other. It is difficult to grasp the balance between them, and there are always many problems when they are implemented.
The Qin Dynasty, for example, was biased towards Legalism. As a result, the people could not bear their lot and rebelled everywhere. In the early Han Dynasty, it was biased towards Taoism. As a result, the order of things was lost and seven kings rebelled. The Zhenguan Reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, though seemingly prosperous, also left behind a lot of drawbacks.
According to Qin Mu's theory of governing the country:
Implementing the market economy with the Taoist principle of non-action,
Using Confucianism to establish social ethics,
Use legalism to establish a legal bottom line.
The three are no longer contradictory, but rather complement and benefit each other.
If a country wants to be prosperous and strong, it needs to adopt the Taoist approach of non-intervention and allow the market economy to operate freely.
But when people have money, they tend to become bad, so we also need Confucianism's propriety, benevolence, wisdom and trustworthiness to improve people's moral standards and avoid the society's materialism and moral degradation due to its wealth.
But Confucianism can only guide, not force people to behave in a certain way. No matter how you guide, there will always be some people who abandon basic morality for their own benefit.
This requires the Legalists to set a social red line that you cannot cross, otherwise it will not be morally condemned but punished.
The three operate in parallel, neither emphasizing nor abandoning any one, allowing them to form an iron triangle for the healthy operation of society.
After listening to this, Sima Kai felt that listening to the emperor's words once was better than reading ten years of books. He could not help but bow down solemnly and kowtow again and again.
"Your Majesty's words today are like a revelation to me. I thank Your Majesty for your teachings and your trust. I am willing to follow Your Majesty with all my heart and soul to accomplish this great cause."
"Remember what you said and get up." Qin Mu said calmly. He had been thinking about this issue for a long time.
The strategy for governing the country must be straightened out so that various policies can be formulated step by step within this framework.
Taoism, Confucianism, and Legalism, these three schools together can put a country's governance on the right track and make it prosperous and strong, but is this enough
If it were a closed-door country, that would be enough.
Qin Mu said slowly: "I want not only a prosperous country and a strong people, but also a Great Qin Empire that stands at the top of the world. I not only focus on the domestic situation, but also look at the world. Therefore, I also need people like Guiguzi, Su Qin and Zhang Yi to solve external problems with their strategies and vision."
Qin Mu spoke with such confidence that even Liu Rushi, who was serving beside him, felt an inexplicable urge to worship him.
Sima Kai, who thought that Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism were enough, lost his voice again and said, "Diplomat, Your Majesty..."
Qin Mu seemed not to have heard his scream, and continued: "Can you solve all problems with just your mouth? Obviously not. Good strategy and vision can give you the advantage and initiative, and can solve many problems, but definitely not all. In this world, many times, fists still have to do the talking."
Sima An exclaimed again: "Military strategist!"
Yes, no matter how good a strategist is, he cannot do without a strong army as a backing, otherwise you will just be walking on a tightrope.
"A brave and resourceful general coupled with well-trained soldiers will certainly make your army very powerful, but as the saying goes, if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your weapons."
Sima Kai no longer exclaimed, but said weakly, "Mohist!"
The Mohists focused on epistemology, logic, geometry, geometric optics, statics and other disciplines. Among all the schools of thought, the Mohists paid the most attention to natural sciences. To make good use of their tools, they needed their knowledge.
Taoism, Confucianism and Legalism are the three schools of internal governance.
The three schools of thought, namely, the School of Diplomacy, the School of Military Affairs, and the School of Mohism, are external.
The reason why Sima Kai screamed again and again was that although everyone was familiar with the various schools of thought, Sima Kai had never seen anyone who could sort out the relationships between them so smoothly.
If these six families can play to their strengths and complement each other, the power of the Qin Empire will make the world tremble!
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ps: Since many people don’t like these, let’s stop here. I sincerely ask for monthly tickets. I am exhausted and need your encouragement so that I can adjust. I shout again weakly: Please give me monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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