There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 283 Chu Nan Deng Xianhe

"Students at Jingzhou University are fighting in private?" Nie Yu asked, quite surprised.

Zuo Guanlan understood what the question meant and quickly replied, "It was indeed a private fight between students. The Jingzhou government intervened in time and found no one instigating it. The cause of the fight seems to be an article in the last issue of the official gazette. This official has also read it, and I can only say that it is really hard to comment on it."

“If even you can’t give a proper evaluation, then I’ll have to take a look.” Nie Yu smiled, reached out and took the issue of the official gazette that Zuo Guanlan handed over, and directly flipped to the article that had been specially circled.

Upon reading the beginning, Nie Yu was equally startled.

Good grief, he came right off the bat, attacking Zhu Xi's doctrine of preserving heavenly principles and eliminating human desires as fallacies. No wonder those students couldn't stand it.

As Nie Yu read on, he became increasingly alarmed, with a strong sense of déjà vu. In particular, the theories of Qi and the fickleness of human nature almost placed him in opposition to traditional Confucianism.

After carefully reading the entire article, Nie Yu quickly looked down at the signature: "Deng Xianhe?"

He hadn't heard of this person before, and he probably wasn't very famous, but he could roughly recall which school the person studied under based on the academic ideas the other party was promoting.

This is clearly Wang Fuzhi's academic thought, and Deng Xianhe has studied it very thoroughly.

Not only did it provide evidence for each of the core ideas, but it also innovated and adapted to the reforms of the Han Dynasty, providing a further dialectical interpretation of Wang Fuzhi's academic theories.

The current debate in the official gazette revolves around the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues.

The two sides, both renowned scholars, quoted extensively from classical texts and engaged in a heated debate.

The phrase Nie Yu initially used to start the group, "Starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's integrity is a great matter, and even a sage cannot prohibit it," has long been overturned by the famous Confucian scholar from Hunan.

It's not about completely overturning it, but rather first agreeing that this statement is the word of a sage, and then using the words of the sage to dismantle this statement again.

Zhu Xi said that even sages cannot forbid widows from remarrying, so there is no need to force ordinary people to uphold chastity.

This is certainly true; a sage is never wrong. But don't forget that the preceding phrase to "losing one's integrity is a great matter" is "starving to death is a small matter."

What does that mean?

The sage meant that if a widow is destitute and on the verge of starvation, then of course she can remarry. This is out of necessity, for the sake of raising children, and it is a breach of moral principles.

Yes, she still lost her integrity, but it can be forgiven for the sake of raising her children.

However, if one does not starve to death, or has no children to raise, one should insist on remaining a widow; otherwise, one is considered unchaste and a promiscuous woman.

This traditional, even outdated, debate topic has actually garnered a considerable amount of support.

Luo Dian was unable to refute this, and that's where he lost. The sage's words only said that those without the means could choose not to remain widows, but they didn't say that not remaining widows didn't constitute a loss of chastity.

Moreover, if we only look at the surface, Zhu Xi, this Confucian sage who was considered disreputable, actually supported widows remaining chaste.

Therefore, it can be argued that Zhu Xi always insisted that a widow remarrying meant losing her chastity, but the sage made some personal concessions out of compassion for the suffering of the people, which is the virtue that a sage should have.

At this point in the debate, even the Confucian scholars who supported the new "Admonitions for Women" were somewhat at a loss.

As a result, Deng Xianhe suddenly emerged as a dark horse and published an article. Instead of focusing on whether a woman's remarriage constitutes a loss of chastity, he went straight for the jugular and completely overturned the original argument.

First, regarding the loss of integrity, he directly stated that the common understanding of loss of integrity and the understanding of loss of integrity by Zhu Xi, the Confucian sage, are completely different concepts.

The world considers a woman's remarriage to be a loss of chastity, a conclusion drawn by Zhu Xi from combining his previous and subsequent statements, and also a result of long-term political propaganda after the Southern Song Dynasty.

However, Deng Xianhe believes that Zhu Xi was using this incident to satirize the Southern Song court at the time, arguing that the Southern Song court's submission to the Jin dynasty and the surrender of Song officials to the Jin state constituted a "loss of integrity" by the civil officials and the court.

How could someone from the Central Plains, a legitimate and orthodox lineage, serve as an official for the Jurchen Jin people? Isn't that a "loss of integrity"?
Deng Xianhe either doesn't speak at all, or he speaks bluntly and decisively. He's too young, and the books he's read the most are Wang Fuzhi's banned works. So he simply brought up the Han Dynasty and the puppet Qing Dynasty, arguing that if the Han Dynasty ever submitted to the puppet Qing Dynasty and made peace, then the Han Dynasty would be "disloyal," and all the Han officials and literati of the puppet Qing Dynasty would also be "disloyal" traitors.

By elevating the debate to the level of the imperial court, the opposing debaters, including renowned scholars, were caught completely off guard.

Taking advantage of the other party's lack of reaction, Deng Xianhe then put forward Wang Fuzhi's core theory. He opposed the asceticism of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, believed that Qi (vital energy) is an objective existence, denied that one is born with knowledge, believed that the classics of sages should not be immutable, and believed that human nature has no distinction between good and evil, but only changes according to actual needs.

After this theory was published, Deng Xianhe, who had just gained the support of the affirmative side for his "righteous speech," immediately became the target of public criticism.

Originally, the two debaters were still arguing over the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues, and female chastity. Now they've simply stopped arguing and joined forces to take down Deng Xianhe, this Confucian heretic.

Deng Xianhe was actually quite conservative, because according to Wang Fuzhi's overall ideology, that could escalate to anti-emperor.

To unify the world and oppose autocracy—that's far too radical.

So radical was the Qing dynasty's policy of suppression and banning of Wang Fuzhi's ideas that they could not be allowed to see the light of day again. Historically, Wang Fuzhi's academic thought did not truly rise to prominence until after the Opium War.

Nie Yu put down the official gazette: "Leaving aside this person's talent, he certainly has quite the nerve!"

Upon hearing this, Zuo Guanlan immediately understood. The king only said that Deng Xianhe was quite bold, but did not say that the other party was rebellious, nor did he show any anger or resentment. This meant that the king was at least not opposed to Deng Xianhe's theory.

As expected, Nie Yu's next words were: "Have the Ministry of Rites investigate this Deng Xianhe to see where he is from. If there are no problems, he can be recommended to study at Jingzhou University, and the entrance exam will be unnecessary."

Zuo Guanlan raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. The king actually valued Deng Xianhe so much?
The King of Han personally issued an edict ordering the Ministry of Rites to recommend the candidate to study at the Jingzhou University. The candidate would not need to take the entrance exam, and even if he failed the graduation exam after three years, he would still be guaranteed an official position.

Because this is a university, and Jingzhou University at that, it's equivalent to getting into Tsinghua or Peking University, but even more prestigious. Even if you don't graduate, you can still get an official position.

Zuo Guanlan felt envious. The king had already given him a hint that once Nanchang was officially captured, he would take up his post as the prefect of Nanchang.

Why not give it to the prefect of Jiujiang first?

First, it was too fast, and Jiujiang was not completely captured; it was still on the front lines of the war.

Secondly, Nanchang Prefecture is nearby, and future promotions to Provincial Treasurer or Governor of Jiangxi will require them to work in Nanchang.

Nie Yu's promotion process was somewhat influenced by the filter of historical figures, but it must be said.

Historical figures are generally considered to have certain abilities; they are unlikely to be too outrageous.

Zuo Guanlan composed himself and asked again, "Then what about the fight among the students of Jingzhou University?"

"Is anyone alright?" Nie Yu asked.

Zuo Guanlan shook his head: "Most of them are just students scrambling together, at most they just get a few scrapes, no one gets seriously injured."

Nie Yu laughed and said, "Then we don't need to worry about it. It's always good for young people to stretch their muscles. If they stay cooped up in the academy studying all day long, their bones will probably become stiff."

Nie Yu was mentally prepared for this situation. Historically, the most heated and contentious places during ideological reform movements have always been schools.

Because the school has a large number of young people, they are bound to act impulsively in the heat of the moment. As the third-party judge in this debate, Nie Yu's job is simply to keep the situation under control.

As for whether the argument can reach a result that satisfies all parties?

Nie Yu was not optimistic about this. Judging from the articles published in the official gazette so far, they were not exactly diverse, but they were certainly a mixed bag.

The idea that someone can convince everyone is basically wishful thinking.

However, this had nothing to do with Nie Yu and the Han Dynasty; what the Han Dynasty needed was the process of scholars arguing.

Who wins or loses is not important; what matters is that the intellectuals argue endlessly, allowing the topics of their debate to spread and even become fodder for conversation among ordinary people.

These are the key points!

(End of this chapter)