A great event happened. Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly made a will to blow up all the scholars.
The words on this imperial edict are concise and have two meanings:
First, the release of Confucius Temple in the Spring and Autumn Period stopped in Qufu;
Second, there is no need for worship in the world.
As we all know, it is a great event for literati to worship in Confucius Temple. Zhu Yuanzhang's intention is to announce to the world that he will no longer respect Confucius.
So, was Zhu Yuanzhang's move a whim?
Of course not.
On one occasion, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen talked about The Analects of Confucius, and Liu Bowen expressed his views. In his view, how could Confucius come up with a "way to be an official" without being an official properly? Further, what about the "way of governing the country"? Those words in the book are just "talk" between teachers and students.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Liu Bowen's words were so right that he was very interested. Because, Zhu Yuanzhang also thought so, saying: I read the Analects of Confucius just to see if there is a prescription for governing the country. And I didn't find them. Therefore, the high degree of unity between monarch and minister on this issue made Zhu Yuanzhang begin to "demote Confucianism".
First of all, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the Duke of Feast to come to Nanjing to meet him. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the descendants of Confucius have been treated with very high standards. "Duke of Feast" is a hereditary title that has never stopped. Even the Yuan Dynasty, which scoffed at Confucianism, was dubbed "imperial academy offered wine". However, during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the "Duke of Feast" was nothing.
At that time, the "Duke of Feast" was Kong Kejian, the head of the Confucius family, who was physically ill. When Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he couldn't go to Chaohe, so he sent his son to see Xu Da, explaining why he couldn't go to Nanjing. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was very unhappy about this, and he also wrote a handwritten letter saying that he "can't say that he is sick."
It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't care whether he is really ill or not. He can't come to Nanjing because he is "ill". Therefore, Kong Kejian could only drag his sick body to Nanjing. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang really sympathized with Kong Kejian and asked him how old he was, saying that he was in such poor health when he was young that he should not be an official again. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang only gave some rewards, but did not give them to officials.
Zhu Yuanzhang not only tried his best to suppress the descendants of Confucius, but also directly swept Confucianism such as The Analects of Confucius into "heresy". Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang's move was strongly opposed by ministers. These people grew up reading The Analects of Confucius, but Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude was firm. Later, it was his own words that made Zhu Yuanzhang change his mind. He said that he would rule the world with "benevolence and righteousness", but his decision violated this sentence, so he gave up his previous decision.
So why did Zhu Yuanzhang look down on Confucius?
In fact, the dialogue between Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen has already revealed his thoughts. He believes that there is no "way to govern the country" in the Analects of Confucius. And this is just a rhetoric. If not, why did so many dynasties admire Confucianism, and only Zhu Yuanzhang had his opinion? Confucianism talks about "ruling by virtue", and some of Zhu Yuanzhang's practices are very rude. He mainly disdains this "virtue".
There were several innovations in the Ming Dynasty, such as the Royal Guards. The emperor governed the country by "small report". It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang is quite disdainful of "morality" in his heart. All he wants is the stability of his own power, and everything else can be compromised. Even the hypocrisy on his face gets in the way. So Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Confucianism didn't match what he wanted at all.
However, people all over the world still respect Confucianism. What should we do?
We can only try our best to suppress it.
In fact, some people will use "ruling unity" and "orthodoxy" to analyze Zhu Yuanzhang's move. Take a closer look, since the Qin Dynasty, "governing reunification" has been playing a huge role. However, from the beginning of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was another revision, which raised the status of Confucianism. And this is only to make people's thoughts tend to be consistent, and the purpose is naturally to consolidate political power.
Zhu Can yuan Zhang don't understand this?
He knows it very well.
However, if he continues to be like his predecessor, many of his practices will be criticized. Therefore, in order to clear these obstacles, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally started with ideology to suppress Confucianism.
In fact, there is no difference between Zhu Yuanzhang and Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted the whole country to speak with one voice, while Zhu Yuanzhang wanted some behaviors that violated Confucianism to be aboveboard. It can be seen that the practices of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Zhu Yuanzhang all lead to the same goal, all in order to consolidate their own rule. Because of their different goals, they went to two extremes.
In a word, everything will only revolve around safeguarding one's own power when the royalty is doing things. What did Zhu Yuanzhang despise Confucius? He found it an eyesore. He wrote so many rules and regulations about how to behave and do things. How can he "do whatever he wants"?