In front of Minglun Hall, two hundred students listened to Hai Rui's solemn speech:

"Second, we must not 'turn a deaf ear to what is happening outside the window'. If you only study and write for the sake of reading lectures and writing, even if you can write beautiful and neat articles, it will not benefit your country and your body and mind. Such nerds who only know how to read books are even more harmful to the country than the above-mentioned people!"

The students were secretly shocked. It was the first time they heard that nerds were more harmful to the country than corrupt officials.

Li Zhi's eyes lit up again. Hai Rui's point of view coincided with his own.

"This is unscientific, it must be a coincidence..." Jealousy made Li Zhi lose his mind and he was unwilling to admit it.

"Therefore, our college requires that schools at all levels should vigorously encourage students to go out of school and learn more about social realities beyond books. In combination with livelihood issues such as farmland water conservancy, industry and commerce, we should use discussion methods to encourage students to speak out about world affairs, so as to improve their ability to analyze and solve practical problems!"

Hai Rui concluded by saying, "This court would like to give you eight words: 'cultivate yourself internally and serve the people externally'. Learn skills well in school, and when you leave school, you must personally engage in worldly affairs and use the knowledge you have learned to solve practical problems for the people. Don't become a useless person who only talks empty words but does not act on them!"

~~

After Prime Minister Hai Zhong had finished his speech, Prefect Cai respectfully invited Mr. Hai to set questions to test the students' knowledge.

This was implied in the question, and Hai Rui readily agreed.

The clerk immediately brought the desk, and Hai Rui picked up his pen and wrote a line of large characters in silver and iron strokes.

'It is the desire of the rich and the noble'!

"Hiss..." Everyone gasped when seeing this title.

No one expected that Hai Rui would come up with such a topic.

Doesn't he hate the rich? Doesn't he regard wealth and honor as nothing? This is unscientific...

After receiving the topic, the students returned to their respective classrooms and began to rack their brains to write their essays. Although Hai Zhongcheng was not the Imperial Censor, if he could be appreciated by him, not only would he become famous throughout Jiangnan, but he might even be exempted from the test and participate in the autumn examination next year.

In front of Minglun Hall, Hai Rui said to Cai Guoxi, Li Zhi and others, "Let's not sit idle. Let's all write an article and demonstrate it to the students."

"We are sorry to show off our skills." Cai Guoxi and others naturally did not dare to refuse.

Everyone entered the Minglun Hall, and the clerk quickly set up tables and desks for the adults.

Hai Rui took the lead in the important case and started writing without hesitation. It was obvious that he had already prepared a draft in mind.

Cai Guoxi and others also hurriedly sat down, each of them was even more nervous than the students.

This is just an exercise for the students, but it is an exam for them, which concerns the Lord Zhongcheng's opinion of them.

If the opinions expressed were contrary to those of the Prime Minister, then those three years would be no different from being in prison.

The officials were all educated people, or at least old scholars, so they naturally knew that this title came from "The Analects of Confucius - Li Ren".

'The Master said, 'Riches and honor are what men desire, but if they are not obtained by the proper means, they should not be kept. Poverty and low status are what men hate, but if they are not obtained by the proper means, they should not be abandoned.'

Simply put, everyone wants to be rich, but if they cannot get it through legitimate means, a gentleman cannot enjoy it in peace. Everyone wants to get rid of poverty, but if they cannot get rid of it through legitimate means, a gentleman cannot enjoy it in peace.

Cai Guoxi thought about it and felt that this was a trap set by the governor. The title he gave was "The desire for wealth and nobles", but what he really wanted to express was the second half of the sentence "If it is not obtained by the right means, it should not be kept."

It means to crack down severely on those who take things by unscrupulous means and get something for nothing.

The more Prefect Cai thought about it, the more he felt that he had guessed right. He was a well-educated and famous official in the School of Confucianism. He finalized his idea and quickly conceived a harshly worded manifesto to crack down on local tyrants and evil gentry.

Putting down the pen, Magistrate Cai rubbed his wrist gently, thinking that he could finally leave a good impression on the Minister this time, right?

Niu Chenshi, who was standing beside him, was still biting his pen with a gloomy face. Niu Chenshi's result of reviewing the topic was the same as that of Cai Zhifu, but he had a dirty bottom and did not have the confidence to call for war and killing, so it was naturally difficult to produce the article.

~~

On the other side, Li Zhi also finished writing his article. He looked up at the desk and saw that Hai Rui had already put down his pen and was sitting upright, looking at him.

"Has Professor Li finished writing?" Hai Rui asked calmly.

"That's not difficult." Li Zhi chuckled.

"Bring it up here, I'll read it for you." Hai Rui waved his hand.

"Yes." Li Zhi then placed the wet-inked article on the table, glanced at Hai Rui's article, and asked with a smile, "May I also read the great work of the Minister of Justice?"

"Why not?" Hai Rui nodded, picked up his article, and motioned Li Zhi to take his.

The two of them sat and stood beside the large desk, reading each other's articles.

Li Zhi's approach was different from Cai Guoxi's. He did not try to please Hai Rui in a roundabout way.

Instead, he started with the topic of "the desires of the rich and the noble", openly defended his personal desires, and mercilessly criticized Zhu Xi's "eliminating human desires and preserving heavenly principles".

He said, "Privateness is the human heart. A person must have privateness before his heart can be seen; if he has no privateness, he has no heart."

He believed that selfishness is human nature, and it is this selfish nature that makes people pursue progress.

For example, farmers work hard in order to produce more food and satisfy their appetite; the business class works hard to produce more products in order to satisfy their own selfish desires; and scholars study hard in order to satisfy their selfish desires of getting promoted and making money.

From this, Li Zhi put forward the view that "human desires are the laws of nature."

In addition to whipping the old man who was cheating on his wife, whom he hated the most, Li Zhi also did not forget to provoke Hai Rui, whom he envied and hated.

In his article, he also said "Heaven's end is the world's order through communication", elevating the exchange relationship between people, that is, commercial transactions, to a level that is in line with the laws of nature.

So what should the government do? Li Zhi proposed the political proposition of "the highest way is to do nothing, the highest governance is to be silent, and the highest teaching is to be silent." He believed that the reason why the country often experienced unrest was the result of the rulers' excessive interference in social and economic activities.

He hoped that the court and government would only maintain national peace and social stability, and would not interfere or interfere less with the economic life of society. If everyone is allowed to act freely in his own way, people's nature of pursuing wealth and free trade would establish a self-regulating, harmonious and long-lasting social and economic order.

That is, "following people's nature without changing their customs and following their nature without hindering their abilities" is his ideal "rule by the most perfect man".

~~

Hai Rui was stunned after reading Li Zhi's article. He never expected that the prefect Cai, who was so Confucian, could tolerate such a rebellious madman to be the principal of his prefectural school.

Hai Rui was not very angry about Li Zhi's proposal of "rule by the most perfect man", which implicitly criticized Li Zhi as a governor for not disturbing the normal economic order of the local area.

Firstly, as a governor, he would not get angry with a prefectural school principal. Secondly, Li Zhi's thoughts were quite similar to those of his spiritual teacher Qiu Jun.

However, unlike Qiu Jun who fundamentally denied the traditional idea of ​​"giving priority to agriculture and suppressing commerce" and advocated giving equal importance to agriculture and commerce, Hai Rui was not so radical. He believed that "agriculture should be the basis, with industry and commerce as the supplement".

P.S. Hai Rui's educational view and this article "The Desire of Wealth and Noblemen" were written by himself. After reading it, I can refresh my three views. How has the Sea Warrior been smeared? Is this a distortion of human nature or a decline of morality?