Sorrow and Sorrow: How the Western Han Dynasty was Destroyed by Confucianism

20 17-02- 15 Wei tianying source reading 1 14 turn 1.

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Confucianists

Wasn't the demise of the Western Han Dynasty due to Wang Mang? How can it be because of Confucianism? It seems that this answer is too confusing. Below, the author will take you to browse the history of Confucianism in the Western Han Dynasty and see how Confucianism destroyed Liu Jiangshan.

The first stage: worshipping Confucianism-the vertical and horizontal strategies in the Confucian scholar era

Liu Bangxi entered the customs to destroy the Qin Dynasty and passed through Liu Chen. Qi is a famous crazy student in Chenliu County. Li Shiqi heard about Liu Bang's character and was willing to help him. One of Li's fellow villagers is a soldier of Liu Bang, so he said to him: Liu Bang doesn't like Confucian scholars. Every time he sees a Confucian scholar, he takes off their Confucian scholar crown and urinates in it. Even when it comes to Confucian scholars at ordinary times, it is also swearing. Don't call it a Confucian scholar when you go.

So Shi Li went to see Liu Bang. At that time, Liu Bang was letting two maids wash their feet, so Shi Li was allowed to come in. After Shi Li came in, he didn't pay homage to Liu Bang, so he said, "Do you want to help Qin fight the princes? Or do you want to help the ministers fight Qin? "

Liu Bang was angry and swore: "Vertical Confucianism! The husband is suffering all over the world, and the ministers attacked Qin at the same rate. What does it mean to help Qin attack the princes? "

Li Shiqi said: "You are Juyi, a vassal who attacked Qin, so you should not be rude to your elders."

So Liu Bang stopped washing his feet, put on his clothes and received Shi Li. Liu bang asked Shi Li about the strategy of attacking Qin.

Li Shiqi said: If we gather our troops and retreat, the total number will be less than 10,000. If we want to go straight to the pass, it is simply a sheep entering the tiger's mouth. Might as well attack Liu Chen. Liu Chen has a lot of food and is also a transportation hub. I know Sheriff Liu Chen very well. I'm going in to persuade him to surrender. If he doesn't surrender and you attack the city again, I'll be the inside man.

So, Li sent him and persuaded the county magistrate to surrender to Liu Bang. The magistrate doesn't know him, so he naturally doesn't surrender. Shi Liqi killed Liu Chen county magistrate with one knife, and Liu Bang easily won Liu Chenjun.

At this stage, Confucianism used the strategy of vertical and horizontal cooperation to gain the reuse and trust of the king, but its own Confucian knowledge was completely useless.

Confucius

The second stage: rule the world at once-when the new Confucianism gained national influence.

Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu, and how to govern the world naturally became the possibility for hundred schools of thought in the Warring States period to realize his idea of governing the country.

Therefore, Lu Jia of Confucianism often talked about the Book of Songs and the Book of History in front of Liu Bang, with the intention of influencing Liu Bang and governing the country with Confucianism.

Liu bang still has great respect for the Confucian scholars who helped him spread the world. Later, he couldn't resist Lu Jia's mouthful of poetry books, so he cursed: "It was obtained immediately by the public house, and it was a Taiping poetry book!"

Lu Jia rudely replied to Liu Bang: "Since I got it right away, why not treat it right away?" And Tang Wu did the opposite, naturally, both civil and military, is also a long skill. Fu Cha and Zhi Bo, former kings of Wu, died of extreme violence; The criminal law of Qin people remained unchanged, and Zhao was killed. Xiang Shi Qin has been integrated into the world, acting in righteousness and righteousness, and the law has become a saint. Is your majesty safe? "

Although Liu Bang was unhappy, he said politely, "Think of Qin for me, so what I lose is the world, what I get, the country that succeeded or failed in ancient times."

So, Lu Jia wrote twelve "bureaucratic jargon"

Lou Jing, a Confucian, came out to help Liu Bang after he defeated Xiang Yu. Liu bang was in Dingtao, the seat of the emperor, and asked the ministers and military commanders where their capital was.

The princes and military commanders all said that Zhou ruled the world for 800 years, Qin Ershi died, and Luoyang became the capital of Zhou.

So Lou Jing asked Liu Bang: Does Your Majesty want to compare Luoyang to Zhou?

Liu bang said yes.

Lou Jing said: Since Hou Ji, the ancestor of the Zhou Dynasty, he has accumulated virtues for more than ten generations before he can be king of the world and live in Luoyang. Luoyang is a world where only the virtuous can live. And your majesty, you led 3000 soldiers to revolt in succession, fighting 70 wars and 40 wars. Because of your majesty's rule over the whole country, people all over the world are exposed to corpses and rivers of blood. Widows' voices are still crying at night, and wars are everywhere. Your Majesty, do you think your virtue can be compared with that of Zhou? But the land of Qin is different, fertile and surrounded by passes. Even if it changes, Guanzhong can always have millions of good soldiers available. Your Majesty's entry into Qin Dou is to hold the world by the throat and restrict the world.

Uncle Sun Tong, a Confucian scholar, was a doctor of the State of Qin and left his job in Qin Ershi. When Liu Bang attacked Pengcheng, he surrendered to Liu Bang.

Uncle is a master of Confucianism-otherwise he wouldn't be Dr. Qin, unlike those Confucian scholars in Lu Jia, who treated Liu Bang in a vertical and horizontal way. Lou Jing balanced the world with the experience of rise and fall and assisted Liu Bang with practical knowledge.

Uncle Sun knows all about Confucian knowledge. At first, he could only help recommend some brave people to Liu Bang and gradually gain Liu Bang's trust. None of his 100 Confucian disciples was recommended to Liu Bang.

Disciples didn't understand, so Uncle Sun Tong explained, "Hanwang can win the world war, but can all students fight?" "I won't forget all the students who treated me."

In the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu, Liu Bangding ruled the world and proclaimed himself emperor in Dingtao. Ministers often drink and strive for merit, either shouting when they are drunk or slashing people with knives. Uncle Sun Tong saw that Liu Bang hated this kind of behavior, so he took the opportunity to say: A Confucian is hard to make progress, but it can be preserved. I used to be a Confucian scholar, and I can help your majesty create a set of etiquette with my disciples.

Liu bang said: but etiquette should not be too troublesome, otherwise I can't do it.

Uncle Sun Tong replied, "Five emperors have different pleasures, and three kings have different gifts.". Etiquette is also formulated according to the situation at that time and people's wishes. Therefore, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties also have different etiquette because of different times. I want to create a set of etiquette for your majesty with ancient etiquette and Qin etiquette.

Liu bang said, then do it. See if I can do it.

Shu summoned more than 30 Confucian scholars from Shandong to create etiquette. Two Confucian scholars refused to come. They believe that the creation of rites and music needs a hundred years of accumulated virtue. It is against the ancient system to make etiquette for Han now. They refuse to communicate with Uncle Sun.

Uncle Sun Tong responded: You are a "contemptuous Confucian", and you don't know how things have changed.

So Shu brought more than 30 Confucian scholars and more than 100 of his disciples, and based on the etiquette of Qin Dynasty, simplified the complicated and added some ancient rituals. After the creation, Shu and others rehearsed in the wild for more than a month, and then invited Liu Bang to see it.

Liu bang saw it and said, I can do this etiquette. Therefore, Liu Bang ordered his ministers to implement this set of etiquette created by Shu.

So in the seventh year of Emperor Gaozu, the Changle Palace was newly built, and ministers attended the meeting for the first time and began to use the etiquette created by Uncle Sun Tong. Later, Liu Bang sighed: "I am called the emperor's treasure today."

Shu was the most influential master of Confucianism in the period of Emperor Gaozu. He is different from Confucianism in the Warring States period. He is "aware of the changes of the times" and does not stick to Confucian classics. He adopted a flexible method combined with the current situation, gained the trust of Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, and recommended more than 30 Confucian scholars and 100 followers as Langguan in the Western Han Dynasty, which made Confucianism occupy a powerful position in the early Western Han Dynasty. Therefore, when evaluating Shu, Sima Qian praised him for "seeking secularism, making etiquette advance and retreat, changing with the times, and dying as a Han Confucian"

Therefore, Confucianism represented by Shu is called "Neo-Confucianism"-one that keeps pace with the times and does not stick to Confucian classics; Correspondingly, it is the "classic Confucianism" that Shu called "frivolous Confucianism"-sticking to the classic words of poetry and books, refusing to be flexible, and taking the rule of retro as the ideal.

Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism, followed by Jia Yi. Although the scholar-centered school was not in a dominant position before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it also had a strong influence. Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty was ruled by Taoism, Legalism and Confucianism, and it was impossible to distinguish between primary and secondary. Most emperors and ministers believe in Taoism; In Confucianism, new learning occupied the position of imperial officials; Legalist school made great efforts in counties.

Respecting Confucianism alone

The third stage: exclusive respect for Confucianism, ousting hundreds of schools, exclusive respect for Confucianism-the ultimate victory of the new Confucianism!

After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he asked the policy minister how to govern the world permanently. Although 100 ministers put forward countermeasures, only Dong Zhongshu's countermeasures were most recognized by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty.

Dong Zhongshu is a master of the new school. From Shu to Dong Zhongshu, Neo-Confucianism is nothing more than slightly adjusting Confucianism according to the current situation, not sticking to the classics.

Dong Zhongshu is different. He greatly reformed the contents of Confucianism, added a lot of non-Confucian contents, and merged them together, which contributed to the "exclusive respect for Confucianism, the ousting of hundreds of schools, and the exclusive respect for Confucianism", which made the new Confucianism win the final victory in the Western Han Dynasty.

Dong Zhongshu's Confucianism is: taking heaven as the core, always driven by five virtues, and implementing the four Confucian ways of governing the country, namely, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and joy, to ensure the eternal rule of the country.

Dong Zhongshu combined the theory of Yin and Yang with Zou Yan's theory, and formed his own Confucianism, making Confucianism the exclusive theory of the Western Han Dynasty. In 136 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty decided that doctors in the Han Dynasty could only learn the five Confucian classics (poetry, calligraphy, ceremony, music, spring and autumn), giving up the practice of learning from hundreds of doctors in the Qin Dynasty and the early Han Dynasty. Only five classics doctors have been established, and those who don't study five classics are not allowed to be doctors. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also established the imperial academy, and officially opened the Confucian official school.

Furthermore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty added Bai Di, Di Qing, Yan Di and Huangdi, who had been sacrificed by the Qin State, and Liu Bang, who was sacrificed by the Qin Dynasty, as Hei Di, the representative of Heaven, Taiyi Tiandi, to resume the sacrificial ceremony.

From then on, the imperial rule mode with mysticism as the core and the Confucian Five Classics as the shape began. After Confucianism gained the status of governing the country, Neo-Confucianism declined because it completed the mission of Confucianism.

Official school

The fourth stage: the dispute between government and learning-the dispute between classics and various factions on the right to speak.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty stipulated that doctors can only study the Five Classics-so people with independent knowledge and aspirations can only express their knowledge and aspirations in the form of notes on the Five Classics. To a certain extent, this is a disguised release after a hundred schools of thought contend and are ousted. These are all in the name of studying the Five Classics of Confucianism, but in fact they are studying hundreds of academics, so they are called schools.

Confucianism originally had three schools: Qi, Lu and Han. Dong Zhongshu studied the Spring and Autumn Period of Ram, and gained the Confucianism of Heaven. Therefore, Ram School became an official school. When Emperor Xuan Di arrived, eight other Confucian schools were officially recognized as official schools. By the time of Emperor Han Ping, the officially recognized schools of Confucianism had reached 2 1.

The Gu Liang School, which is famous for its study of Gu Liang's Spring and Autumn Period, has sprung up suddenly. There is a debate between Gu Liang School and Ram School represented by Dong Zhongshu. In 5 1 year BC, under the auspices of Xuan Di, the emperor gaozu of Han Dynasty, 23 Confucian officials started a debate in Shiqu Pavilion of the Palace.

Of course, no one can convince anyone in this argument, and the only result is that the number of doctors has increased.

Among hundred schools of thought, the most famous are the Yin-Yang School and the Five Elements School and the development of divination (the evolution of alchemists and sorcerers in pre-Qin). As mentioned earlier, Dong Zhongshu's Confucian content is to add heaven and the five elements of Yin and Yang. Studying how and why heaven appeared is divination, which provided the emperor with instructions and warnings from a god. Five virtues are always the exertion of yin and yang and five elements.

There are too many hundred schools of thought, and there are only five classics, so many words. I've studied everything that can be studied. So some Confucian scholars began to accuse the Qin Dynasty-because the Qin Dynasty burned books to bury Confucianism, and now the Five Classics are all forged, and only the Five Classics of China ancient literature are the real Five Classics.

After studying for a long time, I actually studied a broken apocrypha. The blackening of the Qin dynasty is estimated to be the same. After scolding Qin Shihuang and Li Si, a large number of Confucian scholars wasted so many years to dig the corner of their ancestral home for archaeological activities.

Extra! Extra! Major archaeological discovery of the Western Han Empire: Dr. Kong Anguo, a descendant of Confucius, discovered the ancient Five Classics of China in his ancestral home.

The Five Classics written by Confucius himself-Shut up. So the classic won a great victory.

Confucian dream of restoring ancient ways

The fifth stage: Confucian governance-Confucian retro ideal since Confucius.

After the classic faction won, the momentum of each faction was low. The classic holds that governing the country should be governed by the ancient classics, and words must be kept-is it necessary to question the words of saints?

Therefore, the Confucian School began to examine whether the Han Empire met the requirements of ancient classics according to Confucian classics. The classic party pays attention to two points: the emperor's morality and the extravagance and waste of the empire.

In the early Han Dynasty, Lou Jing could not make Luoyang his capital because of Liu Bang's immorality. Now the classical school thinks that the Han Dynasty should move its capital to Luoyang and inherit Zhou De, instead of setting the capital in Qin's hometown, a place without morality.

Emperor Hanyuan was criticized by the classical school every day because he put too much energy into music and some interesting things-because saints didn't do these things, which was not in line with the behavior of saints.

The classical school dealt with land annexation and advocated restricting land-later Wang Mang changed from Shang Yang's political reform to Qin's prohibition of land sale.

In addition, the waste of palaces is also one of the focuses of classical schools. Classic cut the daily expenses of the court, cut institutions and personnel, advocate thrift and oppose waste, and abolish Yuefu. The emperor's entertainment activities were greatly reduced.

The representative of the classical school proposed to sacrifice the heaven and earth in the north and south of Chang 'an City with simple rites, instead of going far away to sacrifice, in order to achieve the purpose of frugality of the classical school.

Classically examining the Han empire, many reforms were made. Later, they found that the emperor's moral character was not enough to be an emperor. What should we do?

Then change it to the emperor-only the wise are superior, which is what the China classic says.

But after several emperors, I still feel that I am not virtuous enough-Liu's descendants are really immoral! It's all the fault that ancestral graves don't smoke.

At this time, Wang Mang, who has the reputation of a saint, became the target of the classical school. Wang Mang is a brilliant sage of contemporary Confucianism-he is the most suitable candidate to be emperor.

Wang Mang fully meets the standards required by the saints described in the classic scriptures, and none of Liu's descendants are qualified to be emperors.

So, driven by the fanaticism of Confucian classics, people wrote in succession at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, asking Wang Mang to be emperor.

Wang Mang himself is the representative of Confucian classics, and he thinks it is ok. Moreover, Dong Zhongshu's rule mode of "Heaven and Five Virtues" has always said that emperors can also change their surnames.

So for the long-term development of the Han Dynasty, Wang Mang accepted people's demands, ascended the throne and changed his name to the new dynasty-meaning: the era of Confucian classics governing the country was opened! Confucius' unsuccessful dream has finally come true.

The fanaticism of Confucian classics destroyed the Western Han Empire and began the realization of their dream of restoring ancient ways.

In Confucianism, the new school has achieved the status with Shu and the exclusive status with Dong Zhongshu. After the struggle between Confucian officials and Confucian scholars, Confucian classics won, ruled the Han empire with fanatical ideals, and finally destroyed the Western Han Dynasty, realizing the ideal of governing the country by Confucian classics.

How would Liu Bang and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty feel if they saw that the Confucianism they chose eventually destroyed the empire they wanted to unify forever?