Chapter 483: Young China

It was early summer in April, and the room was not particularly hot. Faced with Zhao Jun's gaze, brother Su Shi's palms were sweating.

It’s not that I feel stressed and sweat profusely.

In fact, Zhao Jun has friendly eyes, an elegant face, and a slight smile, which makes people feel an indescribable sense of intimacy, and does not make him feel oppressive at all.

But Brother Su Shi was still very nervous, not the kind of nervousness when seeing a big shot, but the excitement when seeing the object of admiration.

It's like if many people in later generations traveled to the Republic of China, they would have to crawl to Yan'an.

If he could see the teacher and Wu Hao, he would probably be as excited as Su Shi.

Now Zhao Jun is a legend.

His prestige among the people is very high. For more than ten years in power, the people of the Song Dynasty cannot be said to be rich, but they can also be said to have no worries about food and drink.

Being able to feed the people was already a great achievement in ancient times. Especially during times of famine, the imperial court was able to deliver disaster relief food to every victim in a timely manner without starving to death.

In the event of a particularly severe famine, Zhao Jun would personally go to the scene to guard the area, giving the people an extremely strong sense of security.

People in ancient times were simple to a certain extent.

They have their own small-farmer cunning, they know how to lie and play rogue, they are also more superstitious, they follow what others say, and rarely have their own independent thinking.

But equally, they also have their own simplicity.

Whoever keeps them fed and clothed, they believe in and love, and are willing to sacrifice their lives for the one who keeps them fed and clothed.

This is a truth that has remained unchanged since ancient times.

And Zhao Jun did just that.

Caring about the lives of the people and actively seeking welfare for the people.

This shows his prestige among the people.

Now I have seen this legendary figure with my own eyes.

For the Su Shi brothers, it was naturally full of excitement and tension.

certainly.

It would be even better if he could meet Mr. Lu Xun, whom he admires more.

"Mingyun, you came back at the right time this time."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Now that the country is prosperous, it is the time to rise. Talents are needed in all aspects. If you don't come back, it will be a loss for the country."

"Thank you, Zhiyuan, for my thoughts."

Su Xun hurriedly said: "Xiaguan was at home observing filial piety to his father and wasting his time, but the magistrate could remember Xiaguan, making him unforgettable."

Zhao Jun waved his hand and said: "Keeping filial piety for your father is what you should do. Filial piety is a traditional Chinese virtue."

"only."

As he spoke, he said with a serious face: "I traveled around the world several times and went deep into the people, but I found that many people are not worthy of being parents. In the south of the Yangtze River, the practice of infanticide is prevalent, and some even enshrine their children to cults, which is despicable. In I'd like to hear your opinion on this."

Su Xun is a smart man. After thinking about it for a while, he knew that Zhao Jun should have something new to introduce, so he said: "I personally believe that filial piety can be divided into supreme filial piety and stupid filial piety. In the most filial person, parents love their children, and their children also respect and love each other." Parents, this is the happiness of a family. If parents are vicious, abuse their children, or even sell their children, why should their children be filial to their parents?"

"good."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Historical Records records that Shun's father, stepmother and stepmother's half-brother Xiang wanted to harm him, but he always maintained his filial piety to his parents and his love for his younger brother. This is probably a story made up by Sima Qian. , because the Han Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, but it also gave rise to many foolish filial piety, such as "Lying on the ice to ask for carp", "Lao Lai entertaining relatives", "Guo Ju burying his son", etc. "

"In my opinion, these are all problematic. Treating "sickness as fun" and "taking ruthlessness as a moral code has slandered the ancients and taught the future generations bad." Is it necessary to kill the son for the sake of his parents? ?”

He shook his head and said: "Propaganda like this is full of hypocrisy and cruelty of feudal filial piety. In my opinion, true filial piety is anything but."

Su Xun continued what he said: "There is a saying among the people, "If you are born but not nourished, you will be punished by cutting off your fingers; Hard to repay. "This is the ultimate principle of filial piety."

"Um."

Zhao Jun looked at him with satisfaction and said, "Ming Yun seems to have never left behind his knowledge at home these years."

Su Xun said hurriedly: "It's all the teachings of Zhiyuan. At that time, Zhiyuan said that we should put aside the surface and see the essence of things. Xiaguan has studied scriptures over the years, and under the guidance of this sentence, he has understood a lot reason."

"very good."

Zhao Jun smiled and said to Su Huan: "It seems that Ming Yun has indeed been reading poetry, books and classics all these years, and has not forgotten his homework."

Su Huan smiled and said, "Ming Yun has always loved learning. While keeping filial piety for his father, he should also increase his knowledge."

"Um."

Zhao Jun pondered and said: "In fact, I have been thinking about whether to completely abolish Confucianism in these years."

As soon as these words came out, Su Huan and Su Xun's expression suddenly changed, and even the young Su Shi and Su Che took a deep breath.

However, they didn't say anything when they heard Zhao Jun continue: "The reason why I think so is because Confucianism mainly focuses on thoughts and codes of conduct."

"Confucius, in his time, put forward some rules that people should abide by, such as benevolence, etiquette, restraint of one's desires, monarch, minister, father, son, a hierarchy of etiquette."

"His thoughts lie in political systems and moral norms. It is precisely because he emphasizes loyalty to the emperor, patriotism, and observance of order that he has been respected by rulers of all generations, and has been gradually promoted and strengthened."

"But more than a thousand years have passed from the Spring and Autumn Period to the present, and times are changing. Confucius's methods were advanced in his time, but in today's era, they have become feudal ethics and binding people. Thoughts and Actions.”

"So at the beginning, when I saw many people being oppressed because of this so-called phenomenon of father being the guide for the son and husband being the guide for the wife, I felt very angry and thought that its existence hindered social progress."

"So later on, I thought that one day I would have to abolish Confucianism, let science replace Confucianism, and let new ideas take root in the Song Dynasty."

"But now that we are at this age, when we think about problems, we are no longer as extreme as before."

He looked around and said: "I will think about it, what is the meaning of Confucianism? Is it feudalism and oppression? No, that's just the bad side I see. It also has a good side, and the good side is far worse than the bad side. The other side is more important. This side is to shape the traditional virtues of China, to shape the ideological concepts of the Han people, and to educate people's moral character. Virtue is important whether you have talent or not, and even more important if you have talent but not virtue. If science is talent, then Confucianism will This is virtue. Only by combining it in this way can we have both virtue and talent!”

This is what Zhao Jun has realized in recent years.

Affected by the May 4th Movement, young people of later generations have not been very interested in Confucianism, and even feel that they should criticize it because "Down with the Confucian Family Store" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

But when I reached Zhao Jun's status and age, I gradually came to understand that the era of the May Fourth Movement was an era where overcorrection must be corrected.

In order to complete the revolutionary transformation, the feudal revolution must be completely revolutionized, so the Confucius Family Store became the first target.

But is Confucianism really so bad?

Not necessarily.

"Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, trust, generosity, shame, faith, sensitivity, benefit, gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and yielding" are all excellent traditional virtues that can well help people shape their outlook on life, worldview, and values.

The West does not have this kind of thinking, and the result is the development of a pirate civilization and a robber civilization.

Some people used the excuse of developing the New World to enslave black people, trade people as commodities, and engage in massacres of indigenous peoples, but decades later they branded themselves freedom and democracy.

Some people publicize the events of October 7 every day, portray themselves as victims, and publicize their historical victim image in front of the media, but they never think about the decades of blockade, invasion, oppression, and killing of others. .

There are even people who are dumping industrial products under the banner of free trade. Later, they find that finance is more profitable, so they engage in de-industrialization. After de-industrialization, they use the slogan of environmental protection to force other developing countries to give up development, and they focus on finance. Harvest the whole world.

As a result, the financial game bubble burst, and after the financial crisis occurred, they immediately looked for ways to transfer the crisis to the outside world, and even started a war, using the military-industrial complex to promote manufacturing to ease the domestic economy.

In this comparison, it is actually clear who is moral and who is not.

Therefore, the existence of Confucianism is not a bad thing, but there is indeed a lot of dross in it, and what Zhao Jun has to do is to "remove the dross and take the essence."

Just like in the new era of future generations, we will carry forward China's excellent traditional culture and establish a correct outlook on life, values, and world view.

We once abandoned Confucianism, but eventually we slowly picked it up again. The reason is that the Western bandit logic itself is contrary to morality and is not suitable for Chinese people who are born with a sense of morality.

Therefore, Confucianism is the body and science is the application. Combining correct ideology and morality with scientific development is the correct ideological concept.

After hearing Zhao Jun's words, Su Huan and Su Xun agreed. Su Huan said: "What Zhiyuan said is that Confucianism is a theory of thought. Benevolence is the human heart. Yi is the way of a person. Without Confucianism, how can morality be achieved? In people’s hearts?”

"But I still say what Confucianism needs is a correct norm. To establish correct ideas, there must be no fallacies and heresies that misinterpret Confucianism."

Zhao Jun said: "So I plan to set up a Ministry of Culture to promote and protect our traditional virtue culture, and to identify the bad culture, and eliminate the dross culture from school textbooks and books circulating on the market. I think Mingyun should be able to We have identified which cultural contents are harmful and which are beneficial, so we decided to let you take on this responsibility. Ming Yun, do you have the confidence?"

Ministry of Culture?

Su Xun was stunned at first, then he was surprised and happy. He stood up and said, "I will definitely live up to the trust of the magistrate."

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Go ahead and do it with confidence. The books on the market now are of mixed quality and full of all kinds of messy ideas. There are many books that promote the ideas of ignorance, filial piety, oppression, and exploitation. Among the national primary and secondary school textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education , many of them are based on some ancient articles, which may contain some bad content. I hope you can cooperate well with the Ministry of Education and be sure to establish correct ideological concepts for the next generation of students in the Song Dynasty. "

"yes."

Su Xun stood up straight and responded loudly.

Even Su Huan looked at Su Xun with a hint of envy.

He was a Jinshi in the second year of Tiansheng. He passed the exam at the age of twenty-four. He was on the same list as the current prime minister Zeng Gongliang. Although he was about the same age as Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, and Han Qi, his qualifications were older than these people.

Because there was no one to support him in the officialdom before, he had only been floating up and down in the ranks of county magistrate and prefecture magistrate. He had been up and down in the officialdom for almost thirty years without becoming a high-ranking official.

Now that I have finally arrived at the Academy, I have slowly climbed to my current position. As a result, my younger brother only passed the exam in the first year of Kangding. His qualifications are sixteen years less than my own, but now he is lucky enough to be at the same level as me. .

After all, you can tell with your toes that the Ministry of Culture is probably a third-level department, and the chief officer should be a fourth-level official.

Su Xun was only from the fifth rank to know the state before, and there was still a five-year gap in seniority, which meant that he had been an official for only seven years in total, and his promotion speed was the envy of even his brothers.

"Of course, your promotion this time is an illegal leapfrog promotion, which is originally inappropriate in the officialdom. However, I only look at talent, not seniority."

Zhao Jun finally warned: "I trust you, and I hope you won't disappoint me. In the next ten years, I will work hard in the position of the Ministry of Culture. I must refresh the moral atmosphere of the Song Dynasty. I can't say it everywhere." Gentleman, moral education must be done properly, you know?”

"I understand."

Su Xun's heart trembled. He knew that the Zhiyuan promoted him illegally this time in the hope that he could shoulder the heavy responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, so he knew how heavy the burden was on his shoulders.

And Zhao Jun also said it clearly.

After this illegal promotion, he will work in the Ministry of Culture for the next ten years, probably for two terms.

Firstly, it is a matter of seniority. Seniors like Su Huan and others basically work step by step for five years, and then continue to be promoted. The next Yang Chayang will tell them to enter the Constitutional Yuan. Those with more seniority, such as Su Huan and Chen Xiliang, can be promoted to the first-level departments as chief officials. Those with less qualifications, such as Wang Anshi and Li Xiaoji, will go to the second-level departments and will probably be able to enter the Constitutional Yuan in more than ten years.

As for Su Huan, he had been absent for five years and was promoted like this. Naturally, it was impossible for him to continue to rise like this. After working through the qualifications in the Ministry of Culture, he was naturally the first choice.

Secondly, Zhao Jun gave him ten years to refresh the atmosphere of the Song Dynasty.

If he cannot correct the bad trends in society and establish correct ideological and moral concepts for the next generation in ten years, then he will no longer be a minister of the Ministry of Culture, and he will naturally forget about promotion.

Therefore, being in the Ministry of Culture is not only an arrangement, but also a test.

Test whether Su Xun has the ability to meet Zhao Jun's requirements.

Regarding the future, the joy of promotion that Su Xun had just felt suddenly disappeared, leaving only a sense of pressure.

"Well, sit down."

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

"yes."

Su Xun sat down again.

"You must be brothers Su Shi and Su Che."

After admonishing Su Xun, Zhao Jun looked at Su Shi again.

"Yes, Zhiyuan."

Su Shi and the other two also stood up quickly.

"You came by train from Xiangyang, right?"

"Yes."

“Aside from seeing the application of science along the way, what else did I see?”

Zhao Jun asked.

Su Shi was thinking about how to answer.

Su Che was an honest boy and said honestly: "I saw the people and the scenery along the way."

"How are the people doing?"

"Not great, but not bad either."

"What about Bianliang?"

“Very busy.”

"Is that all?"

"Pawns wear uniforms like soldiers, and farmers wear silk shoes."

"How do you compare with the people along the way?"

"It's too much."

"Yeah, it's much better."

Zhao Jun nodded: "But compared to before, the people outside will only be worse off. You don't know that more than ten years ago, people in many places in the Song Dynasty did not even have enough to eat, and even starved to death."

The Su brothers were born in the Jingyou period and grew up in the period of rapid prosperity of the Song Dynasty. By analogy, it is equivalent to the 1980s and 1990s in later generations.

During that period, the country had completed the agricultural revolution, and the great famines like before no longer existed.

So they don't feel what it's like to be hungry.

But Zhao Jun knew it.

Because he had traveled all over the world when he came, he knew the sufferings of the people, and he also knew that at that time, the heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes, coupled with all kinds of exploitation, natural and man-made disasters, and people starving to death were common.

Just like when he handled the Huainan disaster relief food case, he killed so many corrupt officials, but was unable to save so many victims who died.

Nowadays, the Song Dynasty is booming, and there is also a new agricultural revolution. Grain production has increased greatly, grain prices are low, taxes are low, and a large number of fields are distributed, and the court will recruit workers for major infrastructure construction.

Basically, as long as you are not a lazy person, do not cultivate the land, and do not go out to work, you will not starve to death.

However, Zhao Jun was still dissatisfied. He looked at the two of them and continued: "Compared to the past, the people of the world now at least have enough food and clothing. But I won't say that it is good for the people to have enough to eat now. Do you know why? ?”

"have no idea."

"Because I will only say that their life is not good enough. The good level must be continuously improved. This is for the country and the people."

"I see."

"So the prosperity of Bianliang now, but I don't think it is because of how strong the Song Dynasty was. The real prosperity is when every place is like Bianliang, and every place is prosperous. Only in this way can they be truly good. You Do you understand now?"

"Zhiyuan has great ambitions and is admirable."

Brother Su Shi was in awe.

Zhao Jun smiled and said, "I shouldn't have told you these things. Do you know why?"

"Boy I don't understand."

"I'm telling you this because you are young people."

“Are young people any different?”

Su Che asked.

"Of course there are differences, such as your wisdom."

"wisdom?"

"Yes, your uncle has already told me your thoughts on the train. It's very good. You have never taken science, but you can be so creative. This shows that you are very smart."

Zhao Jun looked at them with admiration and said, "What I like most are smart young men like you."

"Xie Zhiyuan praised me. We two brothers are just having random thoughts, and we can't come up with a practical solution. We really don't dare to take credit."

Su Shi said quite maturely and modestly.

"There are many people who have ideas but don't dare to realize them. The vast majority of people don't even have ideas. They just see it but never think about how it will change. They live such a mediocre life."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "What I hope is that everyone in the Song Dynasty will be wise, and everyone will have ideas and dare to realize them, so that the Song Dynasty will become the best era. But unfortunately it is still too far away now, but I firmly believe that the next generation will The power will be better with each generation.”

Both men listened carefully.

"You, the younger generation, are the future of the Song Dynasty."

After finishing speaking, Zhao Jun looked at Su Shi and said: "This world belongs to you and us, but in the final analysis, it still belongs to you. Young people are full of vigor and vitality, so they should face difficulties and use them to realize their ideas and dreams. What do you think?"

"yes."

The two responded.

"I heard that you are very interested in science?"

"Yes."

"Then just go and learn with confidence."

Zhao Jun laughed and said, "It's very interesting for you, Su Shi, to study science."

"Forehead"

Su Shi didn't know why, so he had to say: "Follow the teachings of Zhiyuan."

"I heard from your uncle that you like Mr. Lu Xun very much? Hope you can meet him?"

"Yes."

"I've asked your husband about this for you. He likes to travel and hide in the world. He left for Hangzhou today and is no longer in Bianliang."

Zhao Jun didn't even blink when he told lies.

Su Shi was immediately disappointed and said: "It seems that my luck is not very good."

"But before he left, he left me a manuscript, which was an article he planned to publish."

Zhao Jun clicked on the article he had read before on the table and said: "This manuscript will be published in Bianliang Daily tomorrow. After hearing your story, Mr. decided to give this manuscript to you. I hope you will not let Mr. expectations.”

After finishing speaking, Zhao Jun smiled again and said: "Take it."

"Thank you, Zhiyuan, thank you sir."

Su Shi suddenly became excited again, walked up in small steps, and picked up the article from Zhao Jun's table.

Then as soon as I saw it, I saw the line above.

"The people of the Liao Kingdom also call us China. One is called the Southern Barbarians, and the other is called the Manzi Kingdom."

This manuscript.

It is "Young China Theory" that has been improved by Zhao Jun!