Chapter 360 Let Everyone in the World Wear Chapter (Thanks to Boss Nuan Yang for the Silver Alliance Reward)

In August, the temperature in Yujing Mountain instantly cooled down even without the divine dragon controlling the clouds and raining rain.

It was raining heavily in the mountains at this time, and each autumn rain brought a chill.

The drizzle of rain fell from the sky, and the newsboys cursed their bad luck inwardly. At a time like this, they could only try their luck in crowded places like novel buildings and casinos.

In the past, places like casinos would never allow newsboys and other children who had no money to collect to run around. However, after a silent collision with the upper class, the casinos were completely open to newsboys.

Because now standing behind the newsboy is not only Zhou Tieyi, but also various philosophers of Daxia.

Several big shots from the Hundred Schools just coughed slightly, and the people below knew what to do.

Although it was raining heavily today, the newsboys were still enthusiastic about selling newspapers, simply because today was the first issue of Mohist Newspaper, which not only contained news about Zhou Hou, the most respected person among the people of Tianjing who had been away from Beijing for half a month, but Mohist News also said that for every newspaper sold by the newsboys today, Mohist News would give them an extra penny as a subsidy.

This method of boosting sales is simple, yet fair and peaceful, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Siminfu.

After Dong Xingshu got up and washed, he began to deal with state affairs. Although many political affairs were decided in the court, they had to be sent down to officials in various provinces through the court in Tianjing, so that local officials and aristocratic families would act according to Tianjing's wishes. This required him, the Simin, to mediate the government affairs.

Before dealing with state affairs, Dong Xingshu developed a new habit of reading the newspaper while having breakfast.

The chief steward of the Siminfu would iron the newspaper in advance to ensure that the ink on the newspaper was dry before presenting it to his master.

There is no way around this. In order to reduce the cost of newspapers, the ink used in newspapers is getting worse and worse, and many of them have a pungent smell of coal smoke.

Dong Xingshu took a look at the newspapers that were sent to him. Now hundreds of schools of thought had started publishing newspapers. In addition to Zhou Tieyi's "Tianjing News", there was the Confucian "Xingshi News", the Legalist "Fazhi News", and the Imperial Academy's "Xinxue". In the half month that Zhou Tieyi was away, the rest of the schools had already been ready to go online in newspapers. Soon the entire Tianjing's newspaper industry would prosper unprecedentedly.

Dong Xingshu glanced at the newspapers handed over by the steward and saw a new newspaper. He asked, "Who has a new newspaper today?"

The chief steward replied, "My lord, it is the Mo family."

Dong Xingshu nodded slightly. The Mohist School has always been the most powerful school among the three schools, so it is normal for them to be one step faster.

He first picked up the Confucian "Awakening News" and started reading. After reading article after article denouncing Zhou Tieyi and articles about the righteousness of saints, only the novel story at the end made him feel a little relieved.

He had known before that the "Xingshi Newspaper" could not compete with Zhou Tieyi's "Tianjing Newspaper", so he thought of letting Wang Mingyi run "New Learning". In the past half month, even though Zhou Tieyi was not in Tianjing, the sales gap between the "Xingshi Newspaper" and the "Tianjing Newspaper" was getting bigger and bigger, which proved that his idea was correct.

Even he, a citizen, could not stand the quibbling over words and phrases, let alone ordinary people?
He picked up "New Learning" again, and when he saw the ancient Chinese literature movement in "New Learning" and the new research and understanding of ancient Chinese literature by various students, his eyes lit up.

He praised it, saying, "Although it talks about the past, it is applicable to the present."

Moreover, Zhang San had a little trick in running this newspaper, which was to stagger the morning edition and change it to the evening edition. At first, everyone thought it was just a trick, but according to the statistics of the Siminfu, it was this little trick that enabled "Xinxue" to not be powerless in front of the "Tianjing Daily" which was far ahead.

Now the only doubt was that Dong Xingshu read "New Learning" and then looked through "Tianjing News", especially the two columns "Tianjing Affairs" and "Business".

After comparing them, he quickly realized where the two gaps needed to be filled.

Novels, beautiful prostitutes, and treasures are, after all, just pastimes after dinner.

The real difference between "Xinxue" and "Tianjing Daily" lies in their attention to and guidance of people's lives.

Through the Tianjing News, people can find out where new stores are opening with discounts, which factories are hiring, which restaurants are cheap, and it can connect people to their joys and sorrows.

However, the New Learning could not do this. It could only be limited to the Imperial Academy and could not move from "governing the classics" to "governing the world", just like the students of the Imperial Academy.

Dong Xingshu spoke, as if he was talking to himself, or as if he was asking the manager, "I heard that the Tianjing Newspaper specially trained a type of person called 'reporters' to collect rumors in Tianjing."

The chief steward bowed and said, "Yes, and I heard that the Queen intends to follow the plan Zhou Tieyi proposed last time and let the ghost soldiers patrol Tianjing, and the God-Slaying Department Inspection Office has already begun to want to let the ghost soldiers act as 'reporters' as well."

Dong Xingshu laughed and said, "He takes advantage of every opportunity, and his apprentice also takes advantage of every opportunity, it's really the same."

Then he frowned. This wouldn't do. Confucianism also had to have its own 'reporter'. He thought for a moment and told the steward, "Send my post to the novelist and ask the novelist to come over."

"Yes."

The chief steward bowed in response.

Then Dong Xingshu looked at the Legal Daily again.

The recent issues of Legal Daily seem calm, but there are undercurrents. In addition to discussing the establishment of a "luxury tax", Legal Daily has already started to spread the word about interpreting the Great Summer Constitution in vernacular Chinese.

There was also fierce debate within the Legalists on this matter.

Everyone knows that the reason why Mei Juncang and Zhou Tieyi, the master and disciple, parted ways was because they had different paths and could not work together.

What can the Legalists teach Mei Juncang?
The natural way is to re-establish the "Daxia Constitution". Only this irresistible benefit can make Mei Juncang completely break away from Zhou Tieyi.

Everyone has seen Mei Juncang's abilities. Whether it is the power he holds now or the means to restrain Zhou Tieyi, they all play a vital role. Even the Emperor of Daxia has begun to bet on Mei Juncang, so the Legalists naturally cannot fall behind.

But "interpreting" "The Xia Tian Constitution" is a matter of great importance, and theoretically it is beneficial to the spread of Legalist knowledge, because the struggle between vernacular and classical Chinese during this period has been vividly demonstrated through the differences between "Tianjing News" and "Awakening World News". Unless someone uses extraordinary means, even if Zhou Tieyi is no longer in Tianjing in the future, "Awakening World News" will never catch up with "Tianjing News".

This shows that the people are indeed more receptive to vernacular Chinese rather than classical Chinese.

However, what is good for the doctrine may not necessarily be good for the learner.

The power of laws in the hands of a few is naturally greater than in the hands of the majority.

Therefore, the various factions within the Legalists were fighting endlessly and no unified opinion was reached for the time being.

This is also what Zhou Tieyi said to Mei Juncang.

Only when "The Xia Tian Constitution" was interpreted in vernacular Chinese did the vernacular movement achieve a fundamental victory. Before that, it would have been met with strong backlash.

After finishing the Legal Daily, Dong Xingshu picked up the last newspaper, the Mohist Daily, and started reading it. However, when he read the beginning, his expression became serious.

"On Wealth", Zhou Tieyi, Tianfu.

The entire article is written in vernacular Chinese, but it is interspersed with a large amount of classical Chinese, making it appear semi-vernacular and similar to novels and operas.

But it was precisely this that made Dong Xingshu understand that this article was indeed the conclusion reached by Zhou Tieyi and the Mohist leader, not the conclusion reached by one person.

The argument of this article is indeed worthy of the names of the two men.

Starting from the question "Is there a fixed number of wealth in the world?", it was determined that "the core discussion of wealth should be placed on human society, rather than the empty universe." Then, the system of "production, distribution, and reproduction of wealth" was proposed, and finally the conclusion was derived that "the process from production to distribution of wealth should satisfy the continuous liberation and development of productivity to meet the people's growing material and spiritual needs."

After reading the whole article carefully, Dong Xingshu felt as if he had suddenly become enlightened, as if he could find new solutions to many problems he had encountered before in handling government affairs.

But following this solution...

Dong Xingshu read it again.

"Human desires are like deep ravines, with no bottom to be seen. People all over the world regard them as great harm, but I regard them as great good. Only when one's heart is as deep as the ravines can one perceive the infinity of the universe. Otherwise, one will be like an ant, wandering in the fields, hunched over meals, and what is the point of using the spirit created by God."

This sentence must have been said by Zhou Tieyi.

He affirmed in his heart.

Acknowledging that human hearts are as deep as a ravine, instead of correcting this "error", we should use money to fill this "error".

Dong Xingshu's face showed anger, and he said to himself, "Mistake upon mistake!"

Confucianism also has a school of thought that acknowledges the "theory of human nature being evil", and that school is the ancient Confucian sage Xunzi. However, Confucianism itself is very secretive about Xunzi, not only because Xunzi taught two founders of the Legalists, but also because if the "theory of human nature being evil" is taken as the core, many Confucian doctrines cannot be explained.

Zhou Tieyi's theory is even higher than Xunzi's theory of human nature being evil!
Xunzi simply believed that human nature is evil and can be improved through morality, which is considered "an extremely serious crime" by Confucianists.

While Zhou Tieyi affirms the evil of human nature, he not only does not regard it as ugly, but instead regards it as beautiful, and believes that the ever-growing desires of human nature should be continuously satisfied. How is this possible? !
"Master, master!"

Dong Xingshu read the newspaper for a long time, and was completely oblivious to it. When he calmed down a little, he realized that a lot of time had passed. Not only was the food in front of him completely cold, but the steward also came and went, "Master, Minister Tang, Zhang Jijiu, Wang Shilang, Zhao Jingwei... Greetings."

Dong Xingshu came back to his senses and glanced at the Mohist Newspaper in his hand. He understood why they came to see him in such a hurry. He said expressionlessly, "Take them to the study."

Inside Simin's study, the rain outside had subsided a little, and the rain curtains like falling beads were dripping on the grass and trees, making the air seem fresh and pleasant, but the officials in the study had no mind to appreciate the early autumn scenery.

Wang Jizhen, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Elephants, was holding a newspaper and sighed to Tang Anshi, the Minister of Education, who was standing beside him, "He was not at peace when he went down to investigate a case. How come he ended up in Mo City while investigating?"

His tone sounded a little sad. In the core Confucian power circle in the court, Wang Jizhen considered himself not to be a radical but a moderate who could tolerate all schools of thought as long as they could recognize Confucianism as the leader of all schools of thought.

But driving Zhou Tieyi out of Tianjing was actually a good thing, and the Confucians even spent so much effort on this matter.

But now it seems like letting the tiger return to the mountains.

In Tianjing, with the pressure from the emperor and the three officials, Zhou Tieyi did not dare to "let loose". At most, he could "stick to the facts". The rules were still the rules set by Confucianism and the emperor. But after leaving Tianjing, once this "On Wealth" was published, it would not only establish a new foundation for the Taoist tradition, but more importantly, the Mohist giant and Zhou Tieyi would become famous for this article.

There are so many implications here.

"Don't worry, this fake theory of his may not even pass the test of Mohism."

Minister of Education Tang Anshi spoke in a cold voice.

Although he was a Confucian, as the Minister of Education, supervising all the schools of thought in the world, he could read more information from this article.

For example, the leader of the Mohist school was obviously hesitant in writing this article, and many core issues were not made clear. Considering the information he obtained about the changes in the celestial phenomena above Mohist City, the Mohist school's own orthodoxy is not even stable!
"Ping An is right."

Dong Xingshu's voice came in through the sound of rain outside, and then he walked into the study.

Ping An is the name of Tang Anshi.

"Simin."

Many Confucian officials stood up and bowed.

Dong Xingshu nodded in response, then walked to the main seat and sat down.

He first picked up the newspaper in his hand and sneered, "Tian's father is a man of few words and a man of few rules. If he agrees with the theory that 'human hearts are like a deep abyss, and wealth can fill it', is there any need for them to build Mo City?"

Many Confucian officials who had not yet understood the article picked up the newspapers beside them and read them again. They indeed realized that the article felt incomplete, as if some deletions had been made.

"What does Simin mean?"

Dong Xingshu pointed at the newspaper and said, "The whole world is white, but I am the only one who is black. Once this article is published, not only our Confucianism can no longer teach people, but also Mohism, Legalism, Taoism, and Buddhism can teach people?"

Everyone nodded slightly, it was indeed the case.

Even the Legalists, who were the most vocal advocates of the theory of human nature being evil, believed that laws should be used to limit human greed and rules should be used to constrain human behavior, rather than constantly satisfying the so-called "growing material and spiritual needs."

A Confucian official sighed in a low voice, "If we use the wealth of the world to satisfy people's selfish desires, it would be like adding fuel to a fire. The fire will not go out unless the fuel is used up. Such heresy is not reasonable and is nothing but a fool's dream!"

"Indeed, although we know Zhou Tieyi's ability, to abolish the goodness of human nature with one's own opinion is like a firefly competing with the sun and the moon."

One by one, Confucian scholars recovered from the initial shock of the alliance between Zhou Tieyi and the Mohist giants, and immediately began to find loopholes in the article.

"To meet the people's growing material and spiritual needs, what if the people want to wear twelve chapters? Are we going to make everyone in the world wear twelve chapters? This is ridiculous!"

(End of this chapter)