"Applying knowledge to the world and seeking truth through dialectics. Which school of thought is this?"

As soon as Shen Yichen finished speaking, he aroused doubts among everyone present. Because currently, no mainstream school of thought in the Ming Dynasty advocated this point of view, and even the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism dating back to the pre-Song Dynasty had never heard of this tune.

"Sir, do you know which school of thought Shen Yichen is talking about?"

Zhu Qizhen turned his head and asked Wang Zhen softly beside him.

What he learned during the banquets in the palace were all the techniques of imperial governance, and he had not had time to pay attention to the school of thought. Moreover, in order to maintain political balance, officials would not allow a certain official to bring private goods to the emperor. Instill your own academic opinions.

If the emperor is successfully "brainwashed", how can other officials who don't believe in this faction still hang out? Wouldn't the court become a single family?

Of course, this kind of thing is impossible to guard against. For example, Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen was tricked by Huang Zicheng, a rotten Confucian teacher. He obeyed his words and ended up playing a good hand of cards to pieces.

This is the disadvantage of trusting only one family's words, and now Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen are, in a sense, repeating history.

"Reporting to Lord Long Live, this sounds like the views of the Yongjia School of the former Song Dynasty, but it is very different."

After all, Wang Zhen was born in Juren, and he still had some academic skills. From the four words "managing the world and applying it", he felt that it was very similar to the Yongjia School's ideas, but it was not completely consistent.

As for the dialectical seeking truth that follows, that is even more unheard of.

"Mr. Yi's words, are these Shen Yichen's own ideas?"

"My servant is not sure. We will only know after Duke Zhuangyuan gives a lecture."

Now Shen Yichen has put forward an eight-character point of view. The content is still unknown, so it is too early to conclude that it is an original idea.

You must know that in ancient times, once you put forward your own ideas, if you can carry them forward, it is equivalent to establishing a sect and becoming a great master.

Shen Yichen is only eighteen years old now. Even with the rank of Third Yuan and Sixth Yuan leader, he is still far behind the great masters in terms of knowledge and accumulation.

Wang Zhen couldn't believe it no matter what, today's lecture was the day when Shen Yichen founded the sect!

"Um."

Zhu Qizhen nodded, and then silently recited the four words of Yongjia School in his heart.

In fact, not only Zhu Qizhen, but most of the Imperial Academy students and officials present were guessing whether the content Shen Yichen wanted to lecture was related to the Yongjia School of the former Song Dynasty.

The Yongjia School was an important Confucian school in the Southern Song Dynasty. The "School of Work" it advocated was in conflict with Zhu Xi's "Neo-Confucianism" and Lu Jiuyuan's "Xinxue" at that time.

The main point of view of this Yongjia school is to emphasize the importance of practice and the consistency of benefit and justice.

The importance of practice is simple, and many people can understand that the consistency between benefit and righteousness lies in "using benefit to harmonize righteousness, and not using righteousness to suppress benefit."

To put it simply, moralists cannot just rely on their words to ask everyone to meet the moral standards of "sages". They must make people profitable before they can be motivated to do good things. The pursuit of benefits does not violate morality.

In a sense, this view is a throwback to the ideological concepts of the pre-Qin period, that is, one can know honor and disgrace if one has enough food and clothing, and one can know etiquette if one has enough food and clothing.

As for the four words "managing the world for practical purposes", it is the result of the further development of the work theory by later Confucian scholars such as Mrs. Wang, Huang Zongxi and others.

It is more prominently expressed that knowledge must be beneficial to national affairs, and it must be pragmatic to govern the country and the people. Instead of being unrealistic like some Neo-Confucianists, thinking about pursuing so-called benevolence, justice and morality all day long, and ultimately harming the country with empty talk!

In total, the teachings of Confucius and Mencius of the ancient sages were passed down to the Zhengtong Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty for two thousand years.

In fact, seriously speaking, there is not much problem with Confucianism itself. On the contrary, it was an extremely advanced philosophical thinking two thousand years ago. Even two thousand years later, it still has many merits and blooms with the spirit of the sages.

Thoughts shine!

But the problem lies in the fact that later generations of rulers or careerists took control of the right to interpret Confucianism, and even revered it to the point of being an unchangeable "Bible" and regarded it as a scholar of state governance. This caused a big problem.

No idea can remain unchanged, no matter how advanced it was at the time, it cannot withstand the changes of time and times.

There is a famous saying in "Yan Zi's Envoy to Chu": Oranges grown in Huainan are called tangerines, and those born in the north of Huaibei are called tangerines.

Regional differences of just a few hundred kilometers can produce two completely opposite results. How can we ensure that it can be applied to every dynasty and every piece of land after thousands of years and time?

Shen Yichen originally did not want to get involved in the dispute between Confucian schools, for no other reason than lack of ability and time.

If you want to put forward your own academic opinions, you need an extremely solid academic foundation. Whether it is Neo-Confucianism or Xinxue, or even the thoughts of other schools of thought, there must be no obvious shortcomings.

Otherwise, how can you defeat your "enemies" in Bible debate and make the world believe in your academic opinions?

Shen Yichen was able to achieve brilliant results in the imperial examination because it was a purely exam-oriented education. To put it more bluntly, it depended on who had the best ability to memorize things by rote.

Putting forward academic claims requires innovative thinking. Without decades of study and accumulation, it will be difficult to improve one's own theory and it will be full of loopholes.

Shen Yichen is currently just a sixth-grade scholar, and he is still far away from the power center of the Ming Dynasty. Even if everything goes smoothly in the future, and he is in charge of the power of the world, he will have to face more pressing matters.

The threat from the Mongols in the north, the division of the chieftains in the south, the decay of the guard system, the annexation of the Ming Dynasty land...

All kinds of imminent crises go far beyond academic disputes. If you can't deal with immediate concerns, how can you have the energy to care about long-term concerns?

But now when the opportunity is placed in front of Shen Yichen, times make heroes!

He did not want to see that while the Western continent had already experienced a "Renaissance" and a "Technological Revolution", the Chinese land was still emphasizing the concept of "preserving natural principles and destroying human desires". In the end, the decadent Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was used by others.

Advanced technology is everywhere.

Even if you are unable to change your thoughts in the end, you still have a different voice and can give the world some inspiration!

Shen Yichen felt the doubtful eyes around him, took a deep breath, and began to give lectures and explain his concept of "applying knowledge to the world and seeking dialectical truth".

"Things must be done according to one's heart, and those who are kind in words will definitely be proven in things!"

"The law must originate from people, and those who are good at speaking the law must be qualified for the law!"

"The present must be based on the past, and those who are good at talking about the past must be proven today!"

"Everything must be my husband, and those who speak well of me will surely benefit from it!"

Managing the world for practical purposes is just a general pragmatic concept. If you want to have academic claims, you must put forward specific ideological content.

The first point of the four points put forward by Shen Yichen is to oppose empty talk about doctrines and doctrines. "Experienced in matters" means that subjective cognition must be tested by practice, rather than idealism, which echoes the emphasis on practice in the Yongjia School.

The "law" in the second point does not refer to law, but to rules.

Shen Yichen wanted to express that people cannot act completely in accordance with Confucian "benevolence, justice and morality", but should follow objective laws, otherwise they will fall into blind legalism.

The third point points out that the historical trend is constantly moving forward. Oppose admiration for antiquity. Don’t hold on to things from thousands of years ago, but keep pace with the times!

The fourth point is to talk about the thinking perspectives of individuals and groups, showing that we cannot be arbitrary, but must respect different opinions and brainstorm to create the cremation of ideas.

The last point is that Shen Yichen brought something private and vaccinated the Imperial College students and officials present here in advance. He was worried that his suggestion today would cause an uproar and be attacked by the group!

So here’s the ugly thing to say, if you want to oppose and attack me, you are unable to accept different opinions and act arbitrarily.

These ideas of Shen Yichen can be regarded as a combination of "jingshijiapong" and the Yongjia School. However, they do not break away from the scope of the ancient Four Books and Five Classics, and there are great limitations.

If you want to get rid of the limitations of the times, you can only rely on the latter sentence of "dialectical truth" and use the more advanced concepts of modern dialectical materialism to drive the development and expansion of ideas.

When Shen Yichen finished his lecture, he looked around and found that the entire auditorium was silent. Everyone looked at him with extremely shocked eyes.

Why is there no response? Is it because what I said was too good and I was still immersed in the impact of thoughts and couldn't extricate myself?

Just when Shen Yichen felt confused, the great scholar Wei Congwen stood up, pointed at him with an angry face and a trembling body, and said: "Such a heretical theory of merit is not tolerated by Neo-Confucianism!"

Wei Congwen had no experience of time travel in later generations, so he could only look for the source of Shen Yichen's theory from the previous dynasty.

Obviously, these contents are similar to the Yongjia School's "Shi Gong Xue". They are all opposed to the "cultivation" and "inner sage" of Neo-Confucianism. What is it if it is not a heresy?

As soon as this statement came out, the whole audience was in an uproar!

Although Shen Yichen did not directly attack Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, the meaning he expressed was almost completely different from the prevailing concepts in the Ming Dynasty.

Anyone who can listen to lectures here, whether he is a minister or a student of the Imperial Academy. As long as he does not come in through connections, he can be regarded as the best among the Ming literati. How could he not understand the meaning behind it?

It's just that Shen Yichen is a third-level candidate and his fame and reputation are too strong. Even if he feels something is wrong, no one dares to take the lead in opposing it.

Now that the great scholar of the day has stood up and said frankly that Shen Yichen's theory of merit is a heresy, many people now dare to speak freely.

"Every sentence Zhuangyuan Gong said refers to Neo-Confucianism, which is too bold."

"Bah, it's a shame that I admired Shen Xiangbei so much before. I'm really a traitor!"

"Why did Duke Zhuangyuan say such deviant words? Did he want to be disapproved by the world's literati?"

"For those of you who want to please the public, it's a good thing that the Holy Emperor is here. Shen Yichen should be dismissed from his official position on the spot!"

All kinds of offensive words came one after another in the auditorium, and many officials and Imperial College students supported Wei Congwen, filled with righteous indignation.

Because Shen Yichen's academic opinions are equivalent to denying the concepts they have learned through hard study all their lives. How can they accept it?

However, there were a small number of officials and students who did not follow the crowd in making accusations. They carefully reviewed Shen Yichen's ideas in their hearts and felt that many of them were quite reasonable and were not just sensational remarks.

But despite the general trend, no one dared to speak for Shen Yichen.

Li Shimian watched Shen Yichen being attacked on the teacher's table, with a solemn expression on his face.

He invited Shen Yichen to give lectures today, firstly to repay his kindness, and secondly to appreciate him. He thought that this son could show off his talents in front of the emperor, thereby gaining favor and starting his own path to success.

As a result, I never expected that Shen Yichen's talent was so "surprising" that he directly established a sect in the Imperial College and put forward his own academic ideas.

The problem is that you can start a sect, but your remarks are shocking. Such remarks are not tolerated in the current Neo-Confucian atmosphere. This has nothing to do with the level of knowledge, right or wrong, but only the different positions of the camps.

Anyone who challenges the established rules will inevitably be attacked by a group!

In today's situation, even if Li Shimian wanted to help Shen Yichen out of the siege, he would be unable to do so.

"Shen Yichen may be in trouble."

Zhu Qizhen, who was sitting high on the throne, looked at Shen Yichen being criticized by officials and scholars, with a playful smile on his face.

Unlike Neo-Confucianists and enthusiastic students, Zhu Qizhen had little interest in various theoretical concepts. He could even be classified as a "study-weary party" and did not even want to read the Four Books and Five Classics.
To be continued...