"Your Majesty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is at the front, and the Taiping Rebellion is at the back. If, as Your Majesty said, I caught the son of Hong Xiuquan when I was a minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I will definitely be executed by a thousand cuts. If I spare the child's life, it means that I admit the crime of the Taiping Rebellion, and I will not be executed. As a minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I cannot make such a judgment. "Shen Baozhen answered calmly.
"Oh." Vézé nodded slightly. Shen Baozhen's reasoning was quite reasonable.
Seeing that Vézé seemed to be persuaded, Shen Baozhen struck while the iron was hot. He continued, "The Min dynasty established by Your Majesty is different. The Manchu Qing Dynasty is at the front, and the Min dynasty is at the back. It is very easy for Your Majesty to kill the young emperor. But if Your Majesty does not kill the young emperor, the people of the previous dynasty will feel that Your Majesty is kind and have more confidence in Your Majesty. Not to mention the young emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, if the young emperor of the Taiping Rebellion Dynasty falls into Your Majesty's hands, will Your Majesty also kill him? "
"Haha... I see." Vézé smiled. He finally understood what the argumentative people in the history books were all about. It was true that they could come up with a plausible explanation for anything that came into their mouths.
The more Zuo Zongtang listened, the more he felt that something was wrong. When he followed Vézé, Vézé was already 32 years old. This 28-year-old Vézé, who had relied on his own power to separate the south of the Huai River and become the emperor, could not be a person without personality. Vézé was not stubborn, but he was very determined. The way he talked to Shen Baozhen now was not the way Vézé would talk to others. Zuo Zongtang had always thought highly of Shen Baozhen, which was why he hoped that Shen Baozhen would come out and serve the country. Up until now, Vézé was still willing to chat with Shen Baozhen, but Zuo Zongtang, who used to be Vézé's secretary, didn't see any signs of Vézé giving Shen Baozhen a chance.
Shen Baozhen was indeed educated by the Confucian School. Seeing that Vézé had the intention to continue listening, he continued in a righteous manner, "Your Majesty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has already been destroyed. There's nothing wrong with Your Majesty not using the Manchu Qing Dynasty's old officials. But I think Your Majesty is being too harsh by not using scholars. "
Hearing this, Vézé chuckled, "Our new government only uses people with knowledge and culture. Without the corresponding education, it is impossible to get the corresponding opportunities."
Zuo Zongtang sighed heavily in his heart. Vézé's words were actually the truth, but in the ears of the Confucian disciples, it was undoubtedly an expression of a guilty conscience. Faced with Shen Baozhen, a Confucian disciple, it seemed that Vézé hoped that Shen Baozhen would come out and join the fray. In fact, Zuo Zongtang was very clear that Shen Baozhen would definitely come out and join the fray.
The new government adopted a civil service system that was similar to the imperial examinations on the surface. When Zuo Zongtang obtained his current position, he was naturally aware of the provisions of the civil service system. "Those who have served as officials in the Manchu Qing Dynasty are not allowed to take the examination. Those who have direct family members who have served in the Manchu Qing Dynasty are not allowed to take the examination unless they voluntarily joined the liberated area government before 1858. "
This kind of explicit rule offended all the "scholars" in the world. But the Restoration Party was steady and steady, working hard to cultivate and implement education for all, and they did not violently expand the liberated areas. As a result, the lives of the scholars were not easy. The new government did not lack enough administrative personnel. The scholars were unwilling to serve as soldiers or workers. Although they were sloppy in farming, they could not compare to the peasants. These days, it was impossible to infiltrate the Restoration Party's labor system. The status of the scholars had plummeted, and even the peasants looked down on them. Shen Baozhen had been staying at home all this time, and presumably his days were very difficult. After seeing Vézé, it would be strange if he didn't say anything.
Sure enough, Shen Baozhen sternly said, "Your Majesty, I feel that it is very inappropriate for you not to use the Confucians at the moment."
"The Confucians you speak of are people who believe in the teachings of Confucius?" Vézé asked.
In any case, Shen Baozhen was still a person who cared about his face. After being rebuked by Vézé, his complexion immediately became unsightly. If Vézé had said the words of Confucius, "A small tube in the middle, my clothes in the left!", these scholars would not dare say that they were believers of the Confucians. From any point of view, Manchu Qing and Vézé's Min dynasty were out-and-out barbarians.
But Shen Baozhen did not completely choke. He replied, "Your Majesty, the Confucians speak of loyalty and patriotism."
"Oh? Loyalty and patriotism? If the Confucians were loyal and patriotism, then where would there be any Confucians now? Shouldn't they die for their country? "Vézé retorted with interest.
This time, Shen Baozhen did not get angry. He earnestly said, "There is no Dao, but there is a Dao. My father-in-law, Lord Lin Zexu, beat up foreigners, and His Majesty also beat up foreigners. My father-in-law, Lord Lin Zexu, forbids smoking, and His Majesty also forbids smoking. It's just that my father-in-law lost, and His Majesty won. But I don't think there is any difference between my father-in-law and His Majesty when it comes to enriching the country and strengthening the army, and resisting foreign invasion of China. It's just that His Majesty is wise and valiant, and has a way to win. We are incompetent, and the will is willing, but the strength is insufficient. Originally, I fought with His Majesty because I did not have the vision of His Majesty, and could not see reason clearly. But His Majesty has won today, and the truth has been revealed to the world. I feel that serving His Majesty is the right and proper thing to do. "
"Oh … that's interesting." Vézé did not dislike Shen Baozhen's words at all. Someone who could be valued by Zuo Zongtang was indeed not a pedantic scholar.
"I heard Brother Jigao say that His Majesty once said that people cannot live in the past, and cannot live in the future, but can only live in the present. When I heard this, I was extremely impressed. Zi Zai Chuan once said: Time passes like this! Day and night. His Majesty's words were no different from what Kong Sheng had said. There were indeed many degenerates in the Confucian school, and the scholars were naturally all kinds of scoundrels. But from what I saw in the countryside, the people in His Majesty's government may not be much better than the scholars. Since this is the case, I do not understand why, with His Majesty's intelligence, you would insist on abandoning the scholars. His Majesty is magnanimous enough to listen to this one say so much. I hope His Majesty will not be stingy in giving me advice. "Shen Baozhen spoke calmly, without any resentment. It seemed that he was speaking from the bottom of his heart.
When it came to people who were truly reasonable, Vézé would at most loathe their reasoning, but he would never loathe this kind of person. So he said slowly, "Our Min dynasty emphasizes science, and so we are popularizing the theory of evolution. Of course, this is a very complicated scientific system, and there are too many things that need to be researched. At present, we also lack a lot of evidence to support it. Science is the foundation of the Min dynasty. Simply put, science can be falsified. For example, our textbooks say that the moon revolves around the Earth, and the Earth-Moon system composed of the Earth and the moon revolves around the sun. Moreover, we also have a set of measurement methods to support our theory. If you can prove that our measurement method is wrong, our data is wrong. Then you can prove that our theory is wrong. Science is not about whether it is right or wrong, but the method in which it is put forward. Can you understand what I'm saying? "
Although Vézé's words were short, they contained a lot of basic principles. Shen Baozhen could understand every word, but he could not understand what it meant. The essence of science is to admit that it can be overthrown? Then what is the purpose of painstakingly establishing a theory that can be overthrown? For a scientist to be able to make things so complicated, he must have been well-educated. Shouldn't educated people pursue the title of Teacher of All Ages?
Listening to Vézé's last question, Shen Baozhen shook his head, "I am slow-witted, I do not understand."
"Very good, Mr Shen is very honest." Vézé praised. "I am not asking you to understand immediately, but this is the general principle. If I don't explain it at the very beginning, I can't explain the rest of the content. Then let me talk about the Manchus. In fact, the majority of the Manchus are Han. When Nurhaci rebelled, he seized a city in the far north and did something, which was to kill all of the local nobles and scholars. What did those Han commoners who could not read understand? They were educated to say that they were Manchus, and then they recognized themselves as Manchus. Thus, the Manchus were created. And the biggest theory that we want to overthrow Manchu Qing is to oppose ethnic oppression. Ethnic oppression is the division between different ethnic groups. In the era of Manchu Qing, the Manchus were respected, and the Han were inferior to the Manchus. In the current Min dynasty, everyone is Chinese, or Han. This Han is your self-perception of the government, and has nothing to do with anything else. We don't care what your ancestors did or where they came from. We only care whether you recognize yourself as a citizen of China, whether you are willing to accept the leadership of the government, and whether you can abide by the law. In a sense, this is the world of Great Unity. "
These words did not involve theory, but Shen Baozhen understood. Hearing the words "world of Great Unity," Shen Baozhen's eyes brightened, and he could not help but nod.
"Right now, the young emperor of Manchu Qing thinks he is a former Qing emperor. Since he wants to live in the past, I will send him on his way. Three armies can seize the commander, but an ordinary man cannot seize the will. " When Vézé talked about the reasons for killing the former Qing emperor, his tone was very relaxed. Under the influence of this tone, Shen Baozhen found that he could not help but somewhat agree with Vézé's theory.
"As for our government, I admit that there are many problems. A considerable number of civil servants are lazy, inexperienced, and unable to complete their work. These problems are also a headache for us. We are also working hard to correct them. "Vézé continued in his usual calm tone.
Hearing that Vézé did not argue that the current civil servants were better than the scholars of the past, Shen Baozhen was a bit surprised. When Vézé finished, Shen Baozhen could not help but say: "Your Majesty, in terms of work, these people are indeed much better than the Manchu Qing officials. I was impulsive just now, and I went too far. "
Vézé waved his hand to stop Shen Baozhen from interrupting. He continued: "But what is the purpose of the scholars to become officials? The core of the education that our civil servants receive is that we should serve the people. Whether they can do it or not, whether they believe it or not, this is the education that the civil servants have received. We not only say this to our team, but also to the people of the whole country. As for the scholars, they may be forced to serve the people, but what they want, and what they will strive for, is to become the masters of the people. From the perspective of political operation, without them, we will not be affected at all. But with them, we will have to pay a great price. So, I will not allow the former scholars to appear in the civil servants. "
Hearing Vézé's resolute words, which completely cut off the possibility of the scholars becoming officials, Shen Baozhen almost instinctively said: "Why? Why must it not be a scholar? "
"Because the people do not care about our theory. As long as they see the old scholars become officials again, they will feel that the old way has returned. The old scholars cultivate the land honestly, and the children of the people can go to school, join the army, enter the factory, and take the civil servant exam. Only in this way can the people know that the new government is different from the old court. This is not the reason of the scholars, but the reason of the people! "Vézé said coldly, and his expression was incomparably calm.
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