"... Let's first imagine a cage for ourselves. We are upright, just, smart and selfless. Whatever situation we encounter, we will inevitably fall..." In the room, Ning Yi spread his hands and said, "Someone puts a knife on your neck.

Go up? We will not give in. Bad people are powerful and we will not give in. If someone tells you that the world is bad, we will even slap you back. But imagine, your relatives want to eat, drink, and occupy...

...It’s just a little bit cheaper. My father-in-law wants to be a small official, and my brother-in-law wants to run a small business. People like this and that want to survive. You want to eat pig’s trotters from outside today, but around you, there are countless examples to tell you.

, In fact, it doesn’t matter if you reach out and pick it up, because it is actually very difficult to check it from above... Mr. He, your family also comes from a wealthy family, so these things are obvious to you."

He Wen looked at him, and Ning Yi smiled: "These close relationships are more powerful than life and death, but can they really defeat an upright person? No!"

"There is still a way. If I really pursue integrity as my life pursuit, I can turn against my relatives, I can suppress my selfish desires, I can be unreasonable, and I can behave in a well-behaved manner. It's just a bit uncomfortable to feel uncomfortable. Can't you do it?

?That’s not necessarily the case. Confucianism has lasted for thousands of years, and there are many Confucian scholars who can endure this kind of depression. Even if we face only such enemies, people will regard this kind of suffering as a part of the noble. It seems difficult, but in reality

There is still a narrow road to walk on, but the real difficulty must be more complicated than this..."

"So I continued to read, continued to improve these ideas, and pursued a cycle that would trap myself in it and make it impossible to escape no matter what. Until one day, I discovered something, which was an objective rule. At that time

, I have almost completed this cycle. In this sense, no matter how upright and hard-working I am, I will inevitably become a corrupt official or a bad person..."

"What's the point?" He Wen asked.

Ning Yi looked calm and tilted his head: "All changes in the world are caused by the party uniting to defeat those who are different."

This sentence made He Wen silent for a long time: "How can I see it?"

"Because the world is made up of people." Ning Yi smiled, with complicated eyes, "When you are an official, you don't have to interact with your family, you don't have to accept bribes, and you don't have to sell anyone's face. Then when you want to do something

, Who should you rely on? You have to fight the bad guys, the government officials have to help you do things, you have to make innovations, the superiors have to endorse you, the subordinates have to strictly implement it, and when the implementation is not smooth, you have to have trustworthy assistants to punish them. The world looks at

It sounds complicated, but in fact, it is just a variety of competitions. Those with greater strength are defeated by those with less strength. The so-called evil cannot defeat the good is always just the good wishes of foolish men and women, and the driving force is the essence. Evil prevails over the good.

, because the power of evil prevails over good, and good prevails over evil. Many people think that it is God's will, but no, someone must have done something and gathered strength."

"I don't agree with this." He Wendao said, "The law of officialdom includes checks and balances in addition to party unity and opposition."

"There is such a method in the emperor's art." Ning Yi nodded, "There are checks and balances between the two factions and the three factions in the court to make them suspicious of each other. If one party benefits, it will harm the other party. But throughout the ages, I have never seen a truly honest person.

The emperor may have no desires or desires, but the royal family must be the biggest interest group, otherwise do you think he can really play with various factions?"

He Wen thought for a while: "A gentleman is a group but not a party; a villain is a party but not a group."

"There is also such a saying." Ning Yi smiled approvingly, "But this is a perfect state. The current situation is that a gentleman who is a group but not a party will never be able to defeat a villain who is a party but not a group. Why? Gentlemen gather in groups.

It's because they have the same ideas. Villains form a party because they have similar interests. Ideas can be all kinds of strange. The gentlemen who gather together today will be on opposite sides tomorrow. Villains will always be together, forming a group, cooperating with each other, and sharpening each other.

Mr. He, have you ever seen an assembly line? The efficiency of workers who have been trained for half a year and a year is more than ten times that of a mob. Soldiers with strict military discipline can defeat ten times the rough guys who have not been trained. All the blood here is useless."

Ning Yi paused: "In the eleventh year of Jinghan's reign, I was in the Youxiang Mansion to assist in disaster relief. The big landowners in the disaster area have become one. This is the power of the family accumulated over the past two hundred years. In order to contain them, how can we

What to do? Introduce landlords and businessmen from other places to the disaster area with slogans and benefits. In this process, the Right Prime Minister's Office put pressure on many local governments. In the end, the landlords on both sides made a fortune, but they would have otherwise

The large-scale land annexation that has occurred has been contained and reduced in scale... This is a competition. Without power, there is no point in shouting slogans no matter how loud you are. With power, you can take away as much as you are higher than others. You have the power.

Throw away whatever you have, the world is fair and just."

"If the Right Prime Minister's Office itself had no power, it would not even be able to achieve this kind of vertical and horizontal cooperation. But how about talking to the gentlemen about this kind of thing? The Prime Minister's Office shouted disaster relief, but in fact they took the money.

, People who work with the Prime Minister actually make money. We call people to the disaster area and say it is for disaster relief. In fact, they are selling food at a higher price than usual. What should we do? Is this doing a good deed? Gentleman probably

It will float on the sea, and there will be one more level of dead people and people with grievances."

Ning Yi put his hands together: "Only when the power of good really overwhelms the power of evil, and evil cannot prevail over good, will it appear. The party agrees but opposes differences. This is the essence of all changes. If you want to do things, you must be satisfied.

In the end, your strength becomes stronger and stronger, you defeat the bad guys, and your subordinates have to give you what they need. After that, with all kinds of temptations and relatives who cannot refuse, you can't help but step by step.

I retreated, and finally there was no way to retreat. This is how I became a corrupt official and a bad person. Of course, after long-term observation and improvement, during this process, I saw various flaws and flaws in people, and saw some of the essence.

Something undeniable..."

"So Mr. Ning is called the inner demon?"

"So I ask your disciples. Why can't people like Mr. He get out of the Confucian circle? There is only one such outstanding person in the world? He Wen, Qin Siyuan, Li Pin, Yao Zunian, Zuo Duanyou..." Ning

Yi smiled and said, "Frankly speaking, I killed the king and threatened to be anti-Confucian. Many young people here are full of contempt for Confucianism. The better you perform, the more you can explain to them what they are facing."

How big the problem is. For thousands of years, all kinds of outstanding people have had to deal with the problem. If an arrogant heart can solve it, it is really a joke... I hope they can be humble."

"Humility..." He Wen smiled, "Since Mr. Ning knows that these problems have not been solved for thousands of years, why is he so arrogant? He thinks that he can build a new framework by overthrowing it completely. Do you know the consequences of being wrong?"

"The sun is very nice, Mr. He, let's go for a walk." The afternoon sun shone in from outside the house. Ning Yi spread his hands. After He Wen got up and went out, he said as he walked: "I don't know if I am right or not.

But I know that the Confucian path is wrong, and it has to be changed."

When the two walked out of the room, they saw Ning Xi, and Min Chuyi and others were looking towards here from the corridor not far away. Both of them were skilled in martial arts, so they naturally knew that Ning Xi and other children were eavesdropping outside the house just now——

They were rendered speechless by He Wen in the morning, and in the afternoon they wanted to hear how Ning Yi regained his position. Ning Yi patted Ning Xi on the head: "Go back and finish recording what Mr. He said in the morning." Send them back.

.

He Wen saw the child go in and said: "Confucianism may have problems, but what's wrong with the way? Mr. Ning is really ridiculous."

As the two talked, they left the house and walked to the streets and fields outside. Ning Yi said: "Mr. He talked about the etiquette in the Book of Rites this morning, talked about Confucius, Lao Tzu, and the world of great harmony. Mr. He

Do you think Confucius and Lao Tzu are saints or great men?"

"The most holy teacher is naturally a saint."

"I think he should be a great man." Ning Yi smiled and shook his head.

"Then I have to ask, what is a saint and what is a great man?"

"Saints, people descended from heaven, speak the Dharma, and are teachers of all ages. They are existences on two levels with us. What they say is the truth and must be correct. But great men, when the world is in trouble, are unyielding and unyielding.

Those who seek a way out with wisdom and make great contributions to the development of this world are great people. Mr. He, do you really believe that they are fundamentally different from us?" Ning Yi finished speaking and shook his head, "I

I don’t think there are any gods or saints, they are just two ordinary people, but they have undoubtedly made great explorations.”

These things were extremely difficult for He Wen to respond to. He wanted to sarcastically say, "How can you be sure?", but finally just shook his head. Ning Yi had already spoken again: "I, Confucius, lived in the Warring States Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, people at that time

Only then came out of the primitive state of ignorance, people began to interact with each other, ideas began to collide, and the world was in chaos. In that era, wheels were not well built, writing had just broken away from oracle bones, and wooden slips had begun to be used. Faced with such troubled times, all

People began to look for a way, and hundreds of schools of thought contended, and the fittest survived. As for the Zhou Dynasty, Xia Dynasty, and the ancient times before that, there are no written records. People are in troubled times, imagining that everything was fine in the past. Is it really good?

Of course it’s hard to say…”

"In the process of finding the way, Laozi and Confucius were naturally the best. There was no writing before this, and even the legends of the past were not true. Everyone was looking at the world. Laozi wrote five thousand words about morality. Today, Mr. He is here

It was mentioned in class, and I like it very much. "If you lose morality, you will be virtuous. If you lose morality, you will be benevolent. If you lose benevolence, you will be righteous. If you lose righteousness, you will be polite. Those who are polite will be loyal and trustworthy." Mr. He, you can see

It turns out that the social state, or the state of human beings, that Lao Tzu most admires is in line with the Dao, but cannot be in line with the Dao, so we seek virtue. Losing virtue is followed by benevolence, and losing benevolence is followed by righteousness. All righteousness is gone, so we can only seek

Ritual, when you ask for rites, the world will be in chaos. The rites at that time are actually equivalent to our current laws. Ritual is what you should do, and righteousness is what you agree with. Mr. He, can you give me a rough explanation?

?”

He Wen thought about it: "It makes sense."

"Lao Tzu's greatest contribution is that he explained what a perfect society is in a society with almost no cultural foundation. When the great righteousness is abolished, there is benevolence and righteousness; when there is wisdom, there is hypocrisy; when relatives are in discord, there is filial piety and kindness; when the country is in chaos, there is filial piety and kindness.

There are loyal ministers. There are also echoes of being virtuous after being dishonest. Lao Tzu talked about the clues of the deterioration of the world, the levels of the world, morals, benevolence, justice and etiquette. People at that time were willing to believe that in ancient times, people's lives were in line with

The great road, the carefree one, of course, we don’t argue with Lao Tzu about this..."

Ning Yi smiled: "You can follow your own way, and in the end, the way of heaven is beneficial without harm, and the way of the saint is done without fighting. The five thousand words of morality all discuss the basic laws of the world. It talks about the state of perfection.

It also talks about the state of each level. As long as we reach the Tao, everything will be fine. But how do we get there? If there really was an ancient world where people's lives were in line with the Tao, then of course, they

All their actions will be within the scope of the Dao. How could they damage the Dao and seek virtue? "When the three kings ruled the world, the Dao in the world was gradually disappearing, so they had to use wisdom." The Dao was gradually disappearing, why was the Dao?

Will you go? Didn’t the road fall from the sky? Get up and then leave again?”

"There is no other meaning in saying this. Lao Tzu is great. He saw perfection and told everyone in the world the basic principles of heaven and earth, so he is a great man. As for Confucius, he found more detailed standards and preliminary methods. He told

People, we must restore the Zhou rites. The king must be like a king, the ministers must be like ministers, the father must be like father, and the son must be like son. As long as this is done, the world will naturally run smoothly. He respects the principles and tells

People should repay grievances directly and repay kindness with kindness. He learned from the Great Way at every turn. Eventually, when he was seventy years old, he followed his heart's desires without going beyond the rules."

"The teacher at that time told you to do this, and also explained the basic principles. Why should you do it? Because it is in line with the Dao. But if you can't do it, that's your problem... Confucius never achieved his ideals and ambitions in his life.

, we can only think that by the time he reaches seventy, he may have become more open-minded, and he is also an amazing great man."

A group of people walked through the fields and walked to the river, where they saw the Taotao River flowing by. Worldly sounds were coming from the market not far away and the waterwheels and workshops in the distance.

"This is also your personal inference, Mr. Ning."

"Yes, it's just my personal inference. Mr. He can just refer to it." Ning Yi didn't care about his response and tilted his head, "Disregarding justice before following propriety. Lao Tzu, the world where Confucius lived has already compromised justice before propriety.

How to reverse from etiquette to righteousness? Everyone thought of various ways, and even after deposing hundreds of schools of thought to only respect Confucianism, a narrow path came out. It integrated the strengths of many people and could operate politically. The king, the king, the minister, the father, the son, the son.

, this is very useful. Confucius said this, everyone should have his own appearance. The country said this, ministers should be like ministers, and sons should be like sons. These can all be supervised by people, and the king should have his own.

Look, who will supervise it? The upper levels have more room for maneuver, and the lower levels, we have slogans and programs to control it. These are the words of the sage. If you don’t understand, it doesn’t matter, but we are teaching you based on the words of the sage.

Yes, just do it."

"No matter how well Lao Tzu describes the perfect state, he has to face the fact that society has actually resorted to rituals. Every generation of Confucian scholars after Confucius and Mencius, who want to educate the world, have to face the fact that the power of education cannot be universalized.

Reality, reality must pass. You cannot float on the sea on a boat if things go wrong. Then... you don’t understand why you have to do this. You just have to do this. The progress of Confucianism from generation to generation has set a certain standard for the ordinary people at the bottom.

There are various regulations, and the regulations are becoming more and more detailed. Are they considered progress? According to expediency, it seems so."

Ning Yi smiled and shook his head: "Up to now, before Lao Qin died, he annotated the Four Books. Based on his experience in looking at society, he found more detailed laws. Based on the principle of harmony in time, he made clear all aspects of what is needed.

The details of optimization. These principles are precious. They can make society better, but they face a current situation that is impossible for most people to explain clearly. So what should we do? Let them do it first, Mr. He,
To be continued...