Chapter 12 1. Dong Zhongshu: The Three Strategies of Heaven and Man

In 141 BC, Liu Qi collapsed, and Prince Liu Che became emperor.This year, Liu Che turned seventeen.As soon as he came to power, he was ambitious, ready to implement the first emperor's plan in his life: to overthrow Huang Lao and respect Confucianism alone. The old man's politics in the Han Dynasty, since Cao Shen set the line of Huang Lao's rule of the country, has never moved his buttocks for decades like an old cow lying in his nest.So until now, Empress Dowager Dou is still tirelessly believing in this set. However, in Liu Che's view, Empress Dowager Dou is old and blind, and the Han Dynasty can no longer be trapped by a body with excess hormones.If the windows were not opened to let air into the house, perhaps the first one to be suffocated would be him, the emperor.

Lao Tzu said that the highest goodness is like water, and water benefits all things without competition.Liu Che also told Lao Tzu that he doesn't like to be a low-browed water, he wants to live with his noble head held high.This emperor who advocates promise, he is sure to be. Promising is positive action.In Western philosophical terms, this is called activism.Pragmatism has always been the good brother of activism.Therefore, the first thing Liu Che did when he ascended the throne was not to be busy appraising his father's title, affirming his merits, or cultivating his morals, but to hold a talent selection meeting with great fanfare.

Have you ever remembered that when Cao Shen ruled the Han Dynasty, whoever recommended virtue to him, he was the first to destroy him.Thus, Cao Shen opened the first era of lazy people ruling the country in Chinese history.A good eloquence is not as good as a dull one; a good job is not as good as a good drink.As a result, Liu Ying, the young emperor at the time, was at a loss, and finally tried to persuade him, but was refuted by Cao Shen with the excuse that Xiao Gui had to follow. Now, Liu Che is going to tell the old people of the Han Dynasty: The era of lazy people is coming to an end, let Cao Shen's national policy of drinking and doing things, go to hell.

The first year of Han Wu (140 BC), winter, October.Liu Che issued an announcement, recruiting people from all over the world who are virtuous, upright, outspoken and extremely admonishing.After layers of selection, more than 100 experts from all over the country were recruited into Beijing for the exam. For this exam, Liu Che personally served as the examiner.At that time, the Han Dynasty was far from inventing the imperial examination system.Therefore, the written test is waived, and those who are recommended will go directly to the interview.The way of the interview is that the interviewer and the emperor face to face, one question and one answer, or submit the answer in written materials, which is called countermeasure in history.

That was the first large-scale talent recruitment conference held since the founding of the Han Dynasty.Looking at the list of talents in Liu Che's hand, many people turned out to be famous figures in the Han Dynasty at that time.Among them are Sima Xiangru from Shu, Dongfang Shuo from Pingyuan, and Dong Zhongshu from Zhao.And in this splendid list, the most eye-catching one is Dr. Dong Zhongshu. Dong Zhongshu, a native of Guangchuan (now Jing County, Hebei).In the early years, he was famous for his treatment of "Spring and Autumn", and Xiaojing was a doctor.According to Sima Qian, there were only a handful of national treasures who studied Confucian classics at that time.However, those Confucian classics masters are mostly old antiques in their eighties or nineties.If the emperor wants to invite them out of the mountain, it is estimated that they will have to be carried out to give lectures.

Dong Zhongshu didn't have to lift it.Because, when he was as famous as those Confucian classics masters, he was only a young man in his thirties.And what made those old guys admire even more was that Dong Zhongshu, who was just in his prime, had already recruited disciples in a decent way, teaching karma and solving doubts. No one in the world, including Dong Zhongshu's students, knew what kind of academic dream Dong Zhongshu had in his heart.This dream, if you don't talk about it, it will definitely frighten a group of old people: to dominate the world and dominate the world. There are rivers and lakes in martial arts, and there are rivers and lakes in academics.In the academic rivers and lakes of Chinese history, there has never been a scramble for the right to speak.However, in the long course of development of ideology, scholarship and national history, such an unbalanced relationship often appears intermittently: the country is unlucky, but academics are lucky.

Don’t you see, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes competed for hegemony, and the people were in dire straits.However, ideas of various schools have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.As a result, the first spring in Chinese history in which a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend has been achieved.Later, Qin Shihuang ruled the world, burned books and buried Confucianism, all schools of thought withered like flowers, and only Legalism survived in the world. The days of Confucianism in the pre-Qin period were not easy at all.Recalling that time, Confucius ran among the princes, the world was mourned, but he still had dreams in his heart, and said in a mournful voice: "Knowing that you can't do it, do it."

Since then, this remark has become the motto of Confucianists in pursuit of ideals.Finally, when the Qin Dynasty collapsed, the Confucians seemed to see hope in the cracks of history.Confucian schools and elites from all walks of life packed their bags and set off on the road, riding the strong wind to chase their dreams. In the early Han Dynasty, among those Confucians who dared to pursue their ideals, Shusun Tong, Jia Yi, and Chao Cuo were the representatives.However, in Dong Zhongshu's view, Shusun Tong is just a fool who keeps pace with the times, and Jia Yi and Chao Cuo are just short-lived saviors.What he wants to do is to be an eternal thinker.

Every thought has a source.The source of Dong Zhongshu's thinking is the Five Classics, and the main course in the Five Classics banquet is "Spring and Autumn".If you use Jianghu's argument, "Spring and Autumn" is the main secret book of Dong Zhongshu's practice. Reading Jin Yong's novels, we can all find that the so-called martial arts masters all have an old-fashioned success process: if you want to succeed, you must first retreat. The same is true for doing academics and practicing martial arts. Only by enduring great loneliness and loneliness can one cultivate superior kung fu.Like all masters, Dong Zhongshu also chose to retreat in order to practice academic magic.

His retreat record is three years. Three years without peeking into the garden, let spring come and go in summer, the grass grows long and the wind blows in winter.So, what about the work of teaching and solving doubts? Dong Zhongshu has already thought of a good way: to teach a few disciples, and then let the disciples accept disciples for him, and preach for him.The wonderful method in this method neither misses career nor practice, it can be said to kill two birds with one stone. So, disciples took disciples, and disciples took disciples again, one took ten, and ten took a hundred. As a result, Dong Zhongshu didn't know how many disciples there were outside; the disciples behind him didn't know what the master looked like.

Some disciples came to have a glimpse of the master's demeanor under the name of the master, but when they came to Dong Zhongshu's door, they were greeted with a closed door: during the practice, it is inconvenient to see guests, please do not disturb! ! Do Not Disturb for three years, three years passed in the blink of an eye.At this time, Dong Zhongshu finally came out of the mountain. After three years of retreat, Dong Zhongshu wrote a masterpiece of thought: "Spring and Autumn Fanlu". Schopenhauer said that when desires are satisfied, people tend to become bored.Therefore, when a master of martial arts practiced peerless martial arts, perhaps he had only one feeling in his life: pain. The pain is all because there is no opponent.Just like the lonely seeking defeat in Jin Yong's novels, he spends his whole life looking for an opponent in pain. However, at this moment, for Dong Zhongshu, there is no pain, only fighting spirit.The dream is like a stimulant, urging him to go down the mountain with pride. He has every reason to believe that his time is coming. In that exam, Dong Zhongshu only had three strategies, and he got Liu Che out of the way.In order to be more clear and understand the content of the fight between them, I have organized the content of their countermeasures as follows: [first policy] Liu Che: What is the root cause of catastrophic changes in nature?What should I do to let God bless me? Dong Zhongshu: Does Your Majesty want to know the answer?Unfortunately, I don't know either.However, "Spring and Autumn" probably knows a thing or two.Please allow me to answer your question by citing the viewpoints in "Spring and Autumn". "Spring and Autumn" believes that heaven and man can communicate with each other.If something contrary to common sense happens in the world, the sky will issue a warning with a strange phenomenon.If the people on earth do not repent, then the heavens will have no choice but to show mercy. Therefore, if you want to be blessed by the heavens, the best way is, as an emperor, first take care of yourself, and then take care of the officials. The officials take care of the people, and the people take care of their children.I believe that heaven will see it, and it will let you enjoy his spiritual blessing. [Second policy] Liu Che: I heard that Yao and Shun advocated doing nothing in order to manage the world, and they were at ease all day long, and the country had no major affairs. King Wen of Zhou was busy all day long, and he didn't even have time to eat, and the country was well managed.So, which of the two should I learn? Dong Zhongshu: Actually, whether it was Yao and Shun or King Wen of Zhou, their methods were correct.As for which one you want to emulate, everything must proceed from the national conditions.I think, judging from the current situation in our country, we have to do our best.If you want to be successful, you have to do something practical for the country. To do practical things, we must start from the following aspects: First, establish the concept of governing the country.The two former emperors have already done a good job on this point, please continue to work hard; secondly, pay close attention to ideological construction and determine the idea of ​​national unity.In layman's terms, it is to depose a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone.Please note that it is dismissal, not burning; again, pay close attention to education.Looking up the world, what is the most expensive thing?talent.Where do talents come from?educate.Therefore, if you want to rejuvenate the country, you must first rejuvenate education.If education cannot develop, it is nonsense to seek development and plan for the future. [Third Policy] Liu Che: The theory of interaction between heaven and man you mentioned earlier seems a bit mysterious. Please explain it to me again. Dong Zhongshu: Actually, it’s not mysterious at all.When Confucius wrote "Spring and Autumn", he especially recorded many catastrophic changes.It is to tell us that we all live under the eyes of the sky, and if we do not do well, we will be punished by it.To put it more bluntly, I just want to emphasize the glorious tradition of the divine right of kings, combined with the idea of ​​great unity emphasized in "Spring and Autumn", to establish human relations, where the ruler guides his subjects, the father guides his sons, and the husband guides his wife. In short, the three cardinal guides and five constant principles are still king.The Tao comes from the sky, and if the sky does not change, so does the Tao.These are the theoretical foundations that governing a country must have. The above three strategies can be summed up as follows: interaction between heaven and man, great unification, respect for Confucianism and teaching. What a dazzling temptation. However, the relationship between heaven and man is the idea of ​​the yin and yang family Zou Yan; academic monopoly, one family grows bigger, that is what Li Si once did; respecting teachers and teaching is what Mencius said to King Hui of Liang many years ago .The unification of the country is the original intention of Confucius when he wrote "Spring and Autumn". After three years of practice, Dong Zhongshu just invented a new technique.That is, he cleverly blended Yin-Yang School, Confucianism and other schools of thought into a new product. According to market principles, where there is demand, there must be supply, and where there is supply, there may not necessarily be demand.At that time, Confucius and Mencius went all over the world and failed to promote Confucianism because the products were out of date, and the princes did not believe that it could save the country and the people.As for Dong Zhongshu's success in sales, he can only say that he had a good luck. That is, at the right time and at the right place, he met a big customer who was in urgent need of Confucianism products——Liu Che. Liu Che is satisfied with this set of Confucian products developed by Lao Dong.But unexpectedly, the buyer Liu Che offered such a price to Dong Zhongshu: to worship Dong Zhongshu as Jiangdu Yi Guoxiang. Yi Wang Liu Fei is the product of love synthesis between Liu Qi and a woman named Cheng Ji.This guy doesn't have any specialties, the only specialty is that he has inexhaustible strength all over his body.At the age of fifteen, when Wu and Chu were in chaos, Liu Fei took the initiative to write a letter to fight.Unexpectedly, Emperor Jing agreed and gave Liu Fei a general seal. What was even more unexpected was that Liu Fei was brave and good at fighting and made great contributions.Therefore, Liu Qi arranged a good job for him: move Jiangdu to rule Wu. Wu Guo used to be a good place for King Wu Liu Bi to make a fortune.Later, when Liu Fei heard that the Xiongnu had marched into the border, he volunteered to write a letter, saying that he was willing to serve the country and beat the Huns back to their hometown.However, Liu Jing told Liu Fei to squat on your territory and not move around.It is not your turn to worry about the Huns. It should be said that Liu Qi still dotes on this child.Sure enough, Liu Fei later recruited heroes from all over the world, walking the white ways during the day and the underworld at night.He has made the princes of the world, and there are few who do not fear him.As a result, Liu Fei became more and more proud, arrogant, and no one looked down upon him. It is precisely because Liu Fei is so powerful that someone has to be sent to cure him.As the saying goes, companionship with a king is like companionship with a tiger.Liu Fei is not a tiger, but he is several times worse than a tiger. Can Lao Dong handle this talking beast? To be honest, Liu Che has no bottom line.Old Dong also has no bottom line.However, Liu Che had no choice but to go to the doctor in an emergency.Old Dong is a great Confucian, he can't handle Liu Fei, and I'm afraid no one will be able to handle it in the future.Old Dong had no choice but to accept the order, and bit the bullet and went. In fact, Liu Che really found the right person.