Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was the official orthodox thought of the Ming Dynasty.
It was founded by the great Confucian brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty, and matured during the reign of Zhu Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is not a new school of thought or ideology, but rather a further processing of traditional Confucian ideology.
Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism believes that the principles of heaven are the origin of all things, emphasizes the order between father and son, the respect between ruler and subject, preserves the principles of heaven and eliminates human desires, and advocates the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues.
Historically, Wang Fuzhi believed that the principles of heaven are contained in human desires, and that one cannot talk about the principles of heaven without considering human desires.
At the same time, he also put forward the viewpoint against imperial autocracy that to pacify the world is to make the world equal.
In addition, there are also philosophical thoughts such as qi monism and the debate between mind and matter.
Looking at Wang Fuzhi's frightened face, Chongzhen knew that he did not dare to answer his questions.
Wang Fuzhi was only a 27-year-old young man at the time, and most of his ideas were just flashes in his mind and had not yet formed a complete theory.
It was not even written down and printed into a book.
However, this did not affect Chongzhen's plan. He had a way to speed up the development of this Ming Dynasty thinker.
"Wang Fuzhi." Chongzhen tried his best to smile.
"The students are here!" Wang Fuzhi lowered his head and dared not look at Chongzhen.
"I know you have some thoughts in your head, which may be insignificant or even outrageous in the eyes of ordinary people."
Wang Fuzhi felt cold all over, and he quickly bowed his head to the ground and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Those ideas were just random thoughts that I came up with after school. They are not only extremely wrong, but also not my original intention."
"I don't mean to blame you," Chongzhen first gave Wang Fuzhi a reassurance, "Whether those ideas are right or wrong, it's not up to you to decide, and it doesn't matter what I say. Future generations will have their own justice."
“Thoughts precede actions, and actions are the embodiment of thoughts.”
“Thoughts do not necessarily translate into action, but actions must be guided by thoughts to be successful. This is the importance of thoughts and thinkers.”
Not only Wang Chengen could not understand what Chongzhen said, but even Wang Fuzhi only had a vague understanding of it after hearing it.
Looking at Wang Fuzhi, who was full of questions, Chongzhen laughed and said, "Don't pay attention to what I just said. The next part is the key point."
Wang Fuzhi bowed deeply and respectfully: "Your Majesty, please let me know."
"After the Qionglin Banquet tonight, I will have you go to the six ministries and nine ministries as well as the prefectures and counties under Shuntian Prefecture to observe government affairs. After a few years in Beijing, I will arrange an important mission for you to go to the local areas to show your talents."
"When you arrive at the local area, you must love the people like your own children, govern with benevolence, and serve the public with self-denial."
"The Ming Dynasty already has a Saint Wang (Wang Shouren), and I hope you can become the second Saint Wang."
Wang Fuzhi almost shed tears after hearing this.
To become a saint, one needs to meet three criteria: establish virtue, establish merit, and establish words.
Also known as the Three Immortals.
To establish virtue means to establish good moral conduct and become a role model for the world.
To make merit means to establish achievements and have great performance and contributions in military affairs.
To establish a name means to write a book and establish a theory, so that one's knowledge can be passed down and become a school of thought.
Everyone wants to be a saint, but there are only a handful of saints.
Chongzhen's words not only showed his high expectations for him, but also gave him a bright future.
"Student obeys your order." Wang Fuzhi kowtowed to Chongzhen from the bottom of his heart.
Chongzhen went on to say: "Among the three immortals, achieving merit is relatively simple, while achieving words and establishing virtue are both very difficult. Especially achieving words, original thoughts and theories are difficult to be accepted and passed on by scholars."
"So whether you are in Beijing or in other places, you should take time to study the ideas in your mind. After you have studied them clearly, write them down and print them into a book to spread them."
Hearing this, Wang Fuzhi's face froze slightly, "Students... are afraid of being punished for their words."
"Don't worry," Chongzhen gave Wang Fuzhi another reassurance, "No matter what you said or wrote, I will not punish you. It is better to guard against a river than to guard against the people's mouths. When a river bursts, it hurts the most."
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."
After sending Wang Fu away, Chongzhen ordered someone to summon Huang Zongxi to his presence.
Although the words are different, the principles are basically the same.
Before leaving, he asked Huang Zongxi: "I heard that you and Gu Yanwu are good friends?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, yes."
"Go back and tell him that I know him and hope he can pass the imperial examination and become an official as soon as possible."
"The students will definitely pass it on."
After watching Huang Zongxi leave, Chongzhen also stood up and walked towards the Qianqing Palace.
He did not expect Wang Fuzhi and Huang Zongxi to become saints like Wang Shouren, and the probability was that they would not become such.
If saints could be artificially created, the Confucius Temple would have been too large to accommodate them.
(In ancient times, there was a tradition of great sages and scholars being worshipped in the Confucius Temple. By the time the Qing Dynasty fell, there were 172 people worshipped in the Confucius Temple.)
But he can make these people famous quickly, thus achieving the goal of spreading ideas and knowledge.
The longer their ideas spread, the more people will accept them, and their wisdom will gradually be awakened.
When all people become enlightened, that will be the day when the Ming Dynasty truly rises.
On the afternoon of the eighth day after the Qionglin Banquet, Fan Jingwen asked for a meeting outside the Qianqing Palace.
Chongzhen was taking a nap. He washed his face with cold water and then went to the front hall.
Although Fan Jingwen stood there expressionless, he gave people a mysterious feeling.
"What is the purpose of Minister Fan's visit this time?" Chongzhen asked.
"Your Majesty, two important matters!" Fan Jingwen took out two official documents from his sleeve and handed them to Wang Chengen beside him.
Chongzhen took the document from Wang Chengen and opened it to read.
Fan Jingwen stood there and summarized orally: "Your Majesty, Li Gelao's imperial envoy team for disaster relief and tax collection has left Nanzhili and arrived in Zhejiang."
"As soon as they reached Zhejiang, they received a secret letter from Huang Daozhou, the vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing. In the letter, he said that Zheng Zhilong was secretly communicating with the Jiannu, not only selling them food by sea, but also cotton, ironware and gunpowder."
Chongzhen frowned and stood up, "Is the news true?"
"Huang Daozhou is from Fujian, and the news was told to him by his fellow townsman. In order to verify the authenticity of the news, he sent people to investigate secretly, and indeed found out the problem." Fan Jingwen frowned as he spoke.
Chongzhen stood there with his hands behind his back, thinking for a while, and then asked, "Does the Crown Prince and the Nanjing court know about this?"
"You should have known that. This official document has the seal of the crown prince on it."
Chongzhen gritted his teeth and pounded the table with his right fist: "Hey! You don't care about the things you should care about, and you care about the things you shouldn't care about!"
He had long learned through the Embroidered Uniform Guards that Zheng Zhilong was secretly communicating with the Jian Nu, but for the sake of overall stability he had not dealt with it for the time being.
Originally wanted to deal with this matter after eliminating Li Zicheng and other internal enemies, but unexpectedly it was exposed by the Nanjing court in advance.
These people in Nanjing seem to have done a good thing, but in fact it was a bad thing.
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