Chapter 145 Mencius
Mencius was sent to Luo State by several great Confucian scholars, from which we can see how much importance Confucianism attached to Mencius.
Many Confucian leaders believe that Mencius is one of the key figures in the revival of Confucianism.
In the past hundred years, no one has had a deeper understanding of the kingly way than Mencius. The Luo family likes the kingly way, so the appearance of Mencius will enable the Luo State to increase its support for Confucianism.
Luo Hong finally met this genius whose works he had only seen but not his real person.
He was indeed very young. Different from those Confucian scholars who followed rules and etiquette, Mencius walked with high spirits, as if he had the world in his palms.
Luo Hong was very satisfied. He thought that the person who could write about the great way of righteousness should be such a person. The moment he met Mencius, Luo Hong began to think about which noble lady from the royal family to marry him.
The previous sages were all too old, and now when they met Mencius, who was not yet married, they would definitely take him in and then start to promote Mencius' status in Confucianism.
"Prince, may you live forever, be happy and healthy."
Mencius bowed to Luo Hong from the bottom of his heart. Many of his theories were completely based on Luo State. What he wanted to do was to spread Luo State's teachings to the world.
Luo Hong helped Mengzi up, held his hand and said with a smile: "May the Su King be with you!"
This was the highest level of blessing from the royal family of Luo State. Meng Ke felt warm in his heart and felt quite flattered.
At present, he was just an ordinary Confucian scholar with some talent. Although he knew that his articles were valued by the royal family of Luo State, he still did not expect such courtesy.
In fact, with Meng Ke's character, even if a king of a country stood in front of him, he would still criticize him if he did not do what he wanted. But Luo Kingdom was different. It was his dream paradise, so he was naturally cautious.
"Prince!"
Luo Hong pulled Mencius to sit down, and did not directly talk about the ways of governing the country, but smiled and asked: "Mencius is very talented, and my father likes your articles and talents very much.
I heard that you have not married yet and your mother is the only one at home. I have a cousin who is a gentle and virtuous woman in the government office. She can be a good wife and I believe she is a good match for you.
My father is willing to marry her to you. If you are willing, you can ask your mother for permission after you leave the palace and ask a matchmaker to propose marriage."
boom!
The sudden happy event made Meng Ke completely stunned. There was only a buzzing sound in his head. He couldn't believe what he heard.
What is pie in the sky? This is it!
What is a surprise?
The surprise was that the Prince of Luo said he wanted to marry his cousin to him!
The Princess of Luo State. Even hundreds of years ago when the Zhou royal family was still extremely powerful, the kings and princes of various countries still took pride in marrying a Princess of Luo State.
Look at the royal family of Qi now. They can sit safely in Qi. Isn't it because of the good relationship with Luo and the marriage of so many Luo princesses? Therefore, Luo has been supporting the royal family. Otherwise, when the ministers rebelled in the past, Qi would have followed in the footsteps of Jin.
Meng Ke bowed down and said, "My mother cares most about teaching by example. When I was young, my family was poor, but my mother attached great importance to my studies. She moved three times and finally lived next to the academy.
The royal family of Luo State is well-known throughout the world and is the most polite among all the states. The noble ladies and princesses in your royal family must be ladies who know etiquette. Ke is just a commoner. It is a grace bestowed by God that I can be favored by Marquis Luo and you. How can I go against it?
Ke returned home and told his mother, she would be delighted.
Seeing Meng Ke agree, the smile on Luo Hong's face became even more sincere. Although there are many weird relatives in this world, it is impossible to accomplish anything without relying on the power of clan relatives and in-laws.
Besides, Luo Hong really likes Meng Ke, so it would be a good thing for his sister to marry such a wise man who is destined to go down in history. As for whether she will be bullied after marrying him, it depends on whether her neck is too stiff or the dark warrior's sword is too sharp.
After establishing this relationship, Mencius obviously put aside all his worries and told everyone everything he knew. The Confucian leaders could never have dreamed that Mencius, whom they had tried so hard to win over, would be easily abducted by the Luo royal family.
Mencius was a rookie at the time and not mature enough in many aspects, but as a genius he was able to make extraordinary statements. Not only did he have very classic conclusions on the debate between righteousness and profit, he also had in-depth thoughts on other aspects.
The most important thing is that Mencius's words are sharp and his writing style is vigorous. Almost every sentence he says is like an article, and he can fully express his own ideas.
If you don't understand the thoughts of the two sages by reading their books alone, then you can fully understand them by listening to Mencius's narration. This is what Luo Hong values most about him.
This is the person God has given to preach Confucianism!
"King Su once said that the monarch and his subjects should respect and value each other. If the monarch does not care about his subjects, or even treats them like pigs, dogs, cows, or horses, then the subjects should take revenge on the monarch.
Based on this, I summarized the relationship between the monarch and his subjects to refute the Legalist theory of the monarch's supremacy, which would bring disaster.
Because no dynasty in this world will have a sage king forever, so ministers must have the means and morality to counter the monarch to prevent the chaos caused by tyrants like King Li and King You. "
Mencius's ideas were very radical, and he even directly proposed to limit the power of the monarch.
This is the influence brought by Ji Zhao and the Luo family. Starting from Ji Zhao, the Luo family alone served as regent three times. There was also the republic during the reign of King Huang, and then there was the story of Duke Huan of Qi letting Guan Zhong govern the country and thus dominating the world.
All these have had a profound impact in a subtle way. Mencius even wanted to find a moral necessity for the existence of ministers' power that even the monarch could not take away, just like the divine right of kings.
But he has not found it yet. It seems to be an iron rule that the power of ministers is granted by the monarch.
Luo Hong was quite surprised just by listening to this. He did not expect Mencius's thoughts to be so radical. However, he liked it very much and said cheerfully, "You are right. You and Li brought disaster to the country. Duke Wen and Duke Xuan were both wise ministers, but they could not stop them. It was because the emperor was supreme. If he did not accept the advice of loyal ministers, it would lead to irreversible consequences."
Luo will be a minister for many years in the future, and of course he does not want the emperor to make decisions on everything. After 900 years of the Zhou Dynasty, Luo has had enough of those incompetent and mentally retarded emperors who insist on being at the forefront of everything.
In a dynasty, there are not many wise and powerful emperors, and many of them are not even average. Almost 90% of the responsibilities for the operation of the dynasty fall on the shoulders of the ministers.
It can be seen from the fact that all countries are now building counties directly under the management of the monarch that counties will probably be the real trend of the world in the future, which will certainly greatly enhance the power of the monarch himself.
The worst possible outcome that the Luo family was worried about, that is, no fiefdom would be granted, would most likely occur. This would be very bad for the Luo family who wanted to prosper forever.
"King Su drew a natural barrier between the barbarians and the Chinese, and established fiefdoms, ordering the princes to build ancestral temples in their respective countries to worship their ancestors.
Over the past nine hundred years, countless vassal states have been destroyed, but some of them have entered other countries as ministers and officials and still retained the sacrifices in the ancestral temples.
The world of the Xia Dynasty is more important than the country and altar of the dynasty, the country and altar of the countries are more important than the relocation of the ancestral temples, and the ancestral temples of the ancestors are more important than the reigning monarch.
The state of the country is nothing more than the support of the people. If all the countries in the world could serve their people with the kingly way like Luo State did, how could they not be strong?
Value the people in the country and cherish them as you would your own brothers and sisters. If the monarch cannot do this, he should be replaced by a monarch who can implement the kingly way. For the country, the people are important, and the monarch is not important.
This is the reason why the people are more important than the king.
You are the prince of Luo State, so you must be very clear about this."
Of course it is clear that this is what Luo State has been doing all along, and the effect is indeed very good. Without using harsh laws and punishments, Luo State's mobilization capabilities are still very strong.
Mencius's thoughts pierced the problems that the ruling classes of various countries might encounter from a long-term perspective, but just like what happened to Confucius in the past, now all countries want to prosper in the short term, so Mencius is also an untimely person.
But there was brilliance in his thoughts. Confucianism imagined an ideal country based on Luo State, and Mencius tried to realize this ideal country in reality in his own way.
The people are more important than the king!
This was the path he found. Naturally, this path was not to be implemented in Luo State. He wanted to go to other countries to lobby the monarchs of various countries.
Luo Hong shook his head and laughed, "In the past, Confucius traveled around the countries but could not be used. Was it because Confucius's knowledge was not enough?
This is because the monarchs of various countries only wanted to dominate, so they did not use Confucian teachings.
Now you want to lobby the monarchs of various countries. Do you think they will accept your knowledge?
The kingly way is so difficult that it took Luo State hundreds of years to achieve results. I’m afraid they can’t wait any longer.”
Meng Ke smiled and said, "Prince, if the monarchs of the countries only want to dominate for a while, they can use harsh laws and cruel methods to oppress the people.
Just like the various countries today, the nobles wore exquisite clothes and ate delicacies from the mountains and the sea, but the common people lived in hardship, working all day without food, and had to go to the battlefield before they even reached adulthood.
Over the past two hundred years, the population of the Xia states has not only not increased, but has become even smaller. Isn't this due to the prevalence of magic and frequent wars?
It can be seen that harsh laws and punishments have become a scourge to the world, and the people of the world must have hated it very much. If at this time there is a monarch of a great country who practices the kingly way and treats his people well, wouldn't the hearts of the people of the world go to him?
If Wei was willing to practice the kingly way, then the neighboring Han people would certainly rush to Wei, and the Qin people, who had the most severe laws and punishments, would probably climb over the high mountains and cross the turbulent rivers with their families to come to Wei.
Is it possible that Wei will still lose to Qin?"
Mencius's words are like this, always convincing others. Luo Hong laughed loudly and said, "It seems that you are going to Wei State. Please wait until you get married. Your father will give you books, guards to protect you, and people from Luo to record your words and deeds."
——
Mencius was good at speaking, eloquent and able to debate. After the two sages, Confucianism became clear. - "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Mencius and Xunzi"
(End of this chapter)
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