Chapter 71 The second section deletes "Mencius" to prevent the spread of poison

Sharing has been restored, but Zhu Yuanzhang still feels that the large amount of poison in "Mencius" cannot be allowed to pass on. After much deliberation, I came up with a good solution, which is to order my ministers to "delete Meng", to delete all the "reactionary words" in "Mencius" that I find unpleasant, and cut off a total of 85 articles in the original text of Mencius. There were more than one hundred articles left, and a "Mencius Jiewen" was compiled, and it was specifically stipulated that the deleted articles should not be used in the imperial examination.

So, what are the contents of the deleted eighty-five articles that Zhu Yuanzhang hates so much? The first category is of course those words that advocate "the people are more important than the emperor" and "ministers can disrespect the emperor".It is ridiculous to delete these words, but it is understandable after all. But there is another kind of abridgement, which at first glance is not easy to understand.For example, Mencius's famous saying "There is perseverance and perseverance" that reveals the rule of law, Zhu Yuanzhang could not tolerate it, and deleted "The people are the way. Those who have a permanent property have perseverance, and those who have no permanent property have no perseverance. If you have no perseverance, let go to ward off evil spirits." Extravagance, everything is done. As for being caught in a crime, and then punishing it, it is the words like "Wang Min Ye" and "a house with five acres".

In addition, many articles advocating that the emperor must practice "benevolent government" were also deleted.For example, this sentence: Therefore, the benevolent should be in a high position.To be in a high position without benevolence is to spread evil among others. There is another category that is even more strange, that is, Mencius' words attacking King Zhou of Shang were also deleted.for example: Jie Zhou lost the world and lost his people; those who lost their people lost their hearts.If you get the Dao in the world, you get the people, you get the world; if you get the people, you get the heart, you get the people;The return of the people to benevolence is like water flowing down and beasts running away.

The ancients were happy with the people, so they can be happy.Tang swears: "The time will kill (曷) mourning, and my daughter (you) will die together." If the people want to die with them, even if there are birds and beasts in the terrace, how can they be happy alone? Why is this?