Old Zhu smiled and explained, "What your father meant was that martial arts should be valued, that all scholars should be martial. Only when you have a sword in your hand will others fear you. Only by studying and understanding principles can you know whether people are on the side of the people. If you were an ordinary person, it would be best if you were both literate and martial. But you are the emperor, so it's different."
Little Zhu was even more confused. He knew that if he didn't understand, he should ask, "Then why did Dad say all that? We're not scholars!"
"You mean that if you were the emperor, you should employ both scholars and military men?" Old Zhu said earnestly. "Emphasis on scholars might lead to the weakness of the Song Dynasty. Relying solely on military men makes it difficult to govern the country and can easily lead to chaos caused by military men. Use scholars to restrain military men, and use military men to limit scholars. Scholars govern the country, and military men bring peace to the country."
Seeing that little Zhu looked like he understood but not quite, old Zhu continued, "Your father has never believed in Confucianism. One person's opinion is not to be trusted. Whether it's Confucianism, Taoism, or even Legalism, as long as it can govern the country well, that's fine. But never rely solely on Confucianism. Think about it, the court is full of Confucius's disciples, and all those people are thinking about Confucius's teachings."
Little Zhu nodded again, seemingly understanding, but that didn't mean he comprehended it. The nod simply meant he thought it made sense, but he still needed to digest and carefully consider it.
Seeing little Zhu's expression, Old Zhu smiled but didn't say anything, letting the child figure it out on his own. If the child didn't understand, he would teach him slowly.
However, there were some things that Lao Zhu didn't say, namely that if some people or things are too old-fashioned, that obviously won't work.
When it's time to clean things up, we need to do so. Only by eliminating the drags that can't keep up can we move forward more effectively.
The Ming Dynasty cannot stop; the Ming Dynasty must keep moving forward.
Whether scholar or military officer, those who fall behind must be eliminated. Emperors, however, must be ruthless and decisive!
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