Chapter 57 Advocating Neo-Confucianism and wantonly recruiting prostitutes

Although Song Lizong reused courtiers to make the country weak, the official history "Song History" gave him a high evaluation.This is because Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty strongly admired Neo Confucianism during his reign. In this way, the "History of the Song Dynasty", which takes the recognition of Neo Confucianism as its top priority, will try its best to speak well of him.His temple name after his death is the word "Li", which is said to be related to his admiration of Neo Confucianism.It can be seen that this admiration of Confucianism is really a major event in the Lizong dynasty.

When it comes to Neo Confucianism, people may think that it is "the reactionary thought of the decadent feudal ruling class".But things were not that simple. Neo Confucianism certainly had the side of maintaining feudal rule, but it also played a significant role in the integration and maintenance of civil society.In fact, since the Southern Song Dynasty, Confucianism has had an all-round impact on society, and its long-term and profound aspects may not be ignored even now.Neo-Confucianism, also known as Taoism, was founded by Zhou Dunyi in the Northern Song Dynasty, and was carried forward by Cheng Hao and Chengyi brothers. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was assembled in the hands of Zhu Xi.Neo Confucianism was not an official school at the beginning, but only spread among the people, and its influence was limited; after the Song Dynasty went south, it gradually spread.Zhu Xi, in particular, played a great role in increasing the influence of Neo-Confucianism. His "Four Books Collected Notes" later gradually replaced the status of the Five Classics and became the scope of questions for the imperial examination.

Han Tuozhou's arrogance and extravagance made Confucianism look down upon by "destroying human desires" because he formed a party for personal gain, so he designated Neo-Confucianism as a "pseudo-learning".It is stipulated that anyone who is a member of the "false school" cannot be an official. When officials of all sizes write their work reports, they must add an additional sentence "not a member of the party with a fake school". This matter is called "Qingyuan party ban".Later, Han Tuozhou was designed to be killed by Shi Miyuan.Shi Miyuan didn't have much experience in Neo-Confucianism, but based on the principle of "support whatever the enemy opposes", he took good care of Neo-Confucianism and promoted many people to serve as officials in the court.But later he abolished King Ji and killed him again. These Neo-Confucians refused to buy his account and wrote letters to avenge King Ji.Seeing that they were so ungrateful, Shi Miyuan was very angry and kicked them out of the court again.When Shi Miyuan died and Emperor Lizong took charge, he recalled these Neo Confucianists back to the imperial court in order to make great efforts to rule the country.For those late masters of Neo Confucianism, such as Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhu Xi, etc., they were given posthumous titles, please enter the Confucius Temple.The emperor himself also studied the classics of Neo-Confucianism very seriously. For a while, "Zhou Cheng Zhang Zhulu said that it was passed down from family to people and people recited it", and Neo-Confucianism suddenly changed from "pseudo-science" to a highly respected "orthodox learning".

It's just the essence of Neo-Confucianism's learning, which is to "preserve the principles of nature and eliminate human desires", not only to the common people, but also to the emperor, and they are also required to "sincerely".And the so-called "human desire" is naturally "the head of all evil and adultery".So if Cheng Yi knew that there would be a kabuki at the banquet, he would leave without even looking at it.Hu Quan, a righteous man, was demoted to Hainan because he wrote a letter to impeach Qin Hui. When he came back in his later years, he once saw a cute dimple on the face of a singer. "Ten years of floating in the sea and a light body, but returning to Liwo has love. Nothing in the world is as dangerous as human desires, and a few people come here and miss their lives." It is really true that loyal ministers and righteous men have come to fall in love with a singing girl, forgetting about state affairs and the righteousness of the monarch and ministers. Insufficient self-cultivation, "human desire" is not completely eliminated.Since Emperor Lizong advocated Confucianism, he should set an example in this regard.But he was lucky. Not only did he not "purify his heart and asceticism", he also called prostitutes into the palace.

This incident was instigated by the traitor Dong Songchen.Song Lizong liked female sex in his later years, and the Sangong Sixth Court could no longer satisfy his selfish desires. Dong Songchen, a servant who was good at flattering, saw it and thought of a way for him to have fun.So, during the Lantern Festival, Tang An'an, a famous prostitute in Lin'an City, was summoned. Since Tang An'an is a famous prostitute in Lin'an, her singing and dancing looks are naturally wonderful.So when the emperor saw it, he was reluctant to throw it away, so he left Tang An'an in the palace, and he was very favored.Tang An'an also lived a luxurious life relying on the emperor's favor.Household utensils, from makeup and wine sets to basins and fireboxes, are all made of gold and silver.The curtains and mattresses are all silk and brocade.There are countless rare treasures to play with.Since then, Emperor Lizong often summoned some kabuki dancers, puppet performers and the like into the palace.Some ministers saw that he was too shameful, so they wrote a letter to advise him, saying that such unreasonable behavior would ruin the effect of His Majesty's thirty years of "self-cultivation".After reading it, Li Zong knew he was embarrassed, so he asked him not to show the memorial to other ministers again, but he was not willing to let the beauty go just like that.The minister knew that Dong Songchen had brought the prostitutes into the palace, so he presented a picture of Gao Lishi taking off his boots to the emperor.Dong Songchen was furious when he saw it, and sued in front of Lizong, saying that the minister had slandered the emperor.Li Zong was not annoyed, and said with a smile: "This is scolding you, not me." Dong Songchen quickly explained: "This guy compares the emperor to Minghuang, and the concubine Yan to Yang Guifei. Comparing the minister to Gao Lishi, he himself regards himself as Li Taibai, which is really arrogant." Concubine Yan is the emperor's favorite person, so Lizong became unhappy and alienated the minister.

It is not a decent thing for the emperor to hang out with prostitutes, and it is even more shocking to call them into the palace openly.Song Lizong's ancestor, Emperor Huizong, was famous for being a romantic and mischievous person, but when he fell in love with the prostitute Li Shishi, he only dared to dig a tunnel to her house, sneaked around, and didn't dare to call her into the palace. It seems that Song Lizong's courage is really Much bigger than Song Huizong.It's just that when Emperor Huizong is mentioned, everyone knows that he is a prodigal son of heaven, who lost his country in a mess; but for this Lizong, it is really ironic to praise him for advocating Neo Confucianism and correcting people's hearts.However, later generations also saw through it coldly, and wrote poems: "Song Shi high-ranked the scientific name of Taoism, but the romantic emperor was passionate. An An Tang and his teacher Li, all had to be kind to enter the Forbidden City." Then he pointed out the essence of this emperor who admired Neo Confucianism. It's no different from his ancestor who committed mischief and subjugated the country.

It can also be seen from this that Emperor Lizong didn't really believe in the Neo-Confucianism, but just used it to cover his eyes and ears. Even Song Shi, who said good things about him, pointed out that he "talked about life in Jingyan, It's just empty talk, and it's of no use." He was willing to listen to Neo-Confucianists talk about morality, just to show his sageness, so when those Neo-Confucianists really taught him, he was quite impatient. .But he is also smart, knowing that these people have a great reputation, and if they belittled them, it would cause great reactions from the government and the public. Wouldn't it be even more annoying if the memorials to dissuade him would come to him like a snowflake.So instead, he promoted those people to officials, but didn't let them take care of things, so as not to keep nagging in his ears all day long.And these Neo-Confucians, when it comes to honesty and sincerity, self-cultivation and self-cultivation are one set, but when it comes to governing the country and the world, they can't come up with any decent strategies.The famous Confucianist Zhen Dexiu had a high reputation in the court and the public. When Li Zong called him into the court, everyone listened to his major policies, but he persuaded the emperor to be sincere in his memorial, which was ridiculed.For the lack of finances and military retreat at that time, these Neo-Confucianists had no way to deal with it.So much so that the actors at that time laughed at them: what a mediocre university is, but a lot of food and drink for nothing.Zhu Xi once said a very profound sentence: "There are heroes who are not sages, and there are no sages who are not heroes." When the situation is critical, it is necessary to have heroes who are like heroes to vigorously rectify the state affairs. None of the Neo-Confucianists can do it.Most of their advice to Li Zong was to make a fuss about small personal matters, and such "sage" efforts were too vain.It's a cliché and the same, no wonder Lizong is annoyed, thinking that these "sages" are not as good as his cricket-fighting brother-in-law Jia Sidao, who can still find ways to get money for him to spend.