River water flowed gently, following the simple embankment forward. Near the embankment and fields, houses and small threshing grounds appeared, interspersed with trees. Not far away, pedestrians passed by the road leading to the market, occasionally glancing in this direction. Ning Yi led He Wen, walking towards the small courtyard by the riverbank.

"...Using commerce and war to promote the development of Gewu (the study of things), using the advancement of productive forces to allow people all over the world to begin reading, this is definitely the first step to take. And the ultimate goal of this path is to hope that the people can master reason and logic, make up for the shortcomings of top-down reform, and enable bottom-up supervision to digest the solidified interests and negative factors that this society constantly produces. Of course, there are many, many roads to walk in between."

Ning Yi smiled and said, "My wife, Liu Xigua, greatly admires the concept of returning power to individuals. She tries to enable the people of the Badao (霸刀) Camp to control their own destiny through self-selection and rational voting. Of course, after so long, everything can only be said to be in its infancy. The people of the Badao Camp trust her and follow her whims, but she herself is not confident whether this kind of choice can lead to good results, and the result may be the opposite. I don't advocate voting autonomy at this stage. I often argue with her. If she can't win, she will hit me... Of course, she can't beat me, but this is not good either, it affects... family harmony."

Ning Yi's words were humorous, and He Wen also smiled. Having been in the Black Flag Army for three years, he naturally understood what kind of skills that Liu Xigua of the Badao Camp possessed.

"The key to enabling people to make the right choices lies not in reading, or even in knowledge. Even if a person can recite all the knowledge in the world backwards, it doesn't mean that he is a person who can make the right choices. The key to making the right choices lies in logic. Confucianism... or rather, all learning in its early stages, because it is impossible to explain everything to everyone clearly, it is more about forming conventional concepts. You have to be a good person, you have to be moral. 'After losing righteousness, then comes ritual. Ritual is the beginning of the thinness of loyalty and trust and chaos.' Good person, morality, is this ritual or righteousness..."

As Ning Yi spoke, He Wen's face had already darkened: "Mr. Ning, you are being too heretical! Morality is the foundation of establishing a person. Without morality, how would a person be different from a beast! Your words..."

"Why should people be different from beasts!?" Ning Yi glared at him. "I want to be a beast today, not a human being. Will the sky send down lightning to strike me! Why be a good person, why have morality? You say it's a matter of course, then can't you really ask! This is the last question leading to logic! If morality is really a matter of course, then it is born with us, so why learn it, why teach it, and why seek it in ritual!"

He Wen's face was gloomy, and his brow furrowed. He stopped in place: "Then I would like to ask Mr. Ning for guidance!" He knew when he came to the Black Flag Army that it was almost impossible to persuade Ning Yi with words alone, and after three years of getting along, he also had some admiration for Ning Yi in his heart. At this time, he was unwilling to confront him with words. As Ning Yi said, Confucianism is powerful, but after all, problems have arisen, so no matter how he describes the greatness of Confucianism, he cannot touch the other party's core. He Wen knew that he was going to leave, so he wanted to understand Ning Yi's thoughts before leaving. His mind was not so enthusiastic about debate, but Ning Yi's sentence "Why be a good person, why have morality" truly touched his bottom line, and at this time, he also became tough.

Ning Yi turned his head and stood there, word by word: "The ultimate purpose of being a good person and having morality is because doing so can maintain the long-term interests of everyone, and prevent the cycle of interests from collapsing."

He Wen was silent for a moment, then sneered: "There is only interest in this world."

"Since Mr. He is wary of interests, we might as well replace them with needs. People in the world need not only money, but also peace of mind and the realization of self-worth. Since ancient people formed societies and began to cooperate, the essence of cooperation lies in meeting various human needs. Needs are short-term and long-term. In order to make cooperation between people last for a long time, the sages you think of summarized various rules that need to be followed when people get along, and in later development, people gradually recognized more and more rules that need to be followed by convention, which we call morality."

"In the past of Confucianism, not everyone could read, and there was no way to explain the principles to this step, so these were spread down as things that did not need to be discussed, only needed to be followed. For thousands of years, people really felt that these did not need to be discussed. But the problem that arises is, if one day, I don't want to be a good person, I don't have morality, will God punish me? I may even gain short-term, more benefits. Gradually, I feel that benevolence, righteousness, and morality are all illusions."

After Ning Yi finished speaking, he turned and walked forward: "Past morality taught many people to be good people. Okay, now it is a matter of course to be a good person. Ordinary people, if they see a little 'bad', will immediately deny everything. It's like what I said, two interest groups are fighting against each other, and they both say that the other is bad and wants money. Can ordinary people make the best possible choice in the middle? The paper mill is polluted, and someone comes out and says that pollution will cause big problems. We say that this person is a bad person, so what the bad person says is naturally bad, so we don't need to think about it. As I said before, ordinary people who are so wrong in their basic understanding of the world, their choices are actually up to fate."

"When we can start asking this question, and let the relationship between morality and good people be tied back to each individual, then of course they can make more correct choices. Under the existing conditions, the better choice is to make the interests of society turn longer and longer. At least they won't be confused by those dismissive nonsense."

While saying this, the two walked into the courtyard by the riverbank. He Wen knew that this courtyard belonged to the Jishan Merchant Guild, but he had never been here. After entering, it was an ordinary three-entry courtyard. Several clerks-like staff members were walking outside. There seemed to be a conference room in the courtyard, and several work rooms.

Ning Yi pointed to the conference room and said, "Several discussions have been held here, talking about the principles of game theory in market development. A big concept of game theory is that in a market composed of countless people, when everyone can consider the industry itself, the average value that everyone obtains is the highest. The same is true for society. When everyone in a society tries to abide by morality as much as possible, the most benefits that each person can obtain is the most. In the later stage, we hope to prove this with mathematical methods, which is enough to become the foundation theory of a society."

As Ning Yi said these words, He Wen had not been able to understand them clearly, but he saw him shaking his head: "However, the development of society is often not the optimal system, but the sub-optimal system. For the time being, it can only be regarded as an illustrative theory. It is not easy to achieve. Mr. He, go inside..." These words sounded like a soliloquy, and he didn't seem to intend for He Wen to understand them.

Passing through the middle courtyard and entering the innermost courtyard, the afternoon sun was quietly shining down. This courtyard was quiet, with few people. Ning Yi opened the middle house. The room was full of bookshelves, with three tables placed together in the middle. Several stacks of manuscripts were pressed on the table with stone weights, and there were some pens, inkstones, and other things next to them, which looked like an office place.

"Sit wherever you like. Not many people come to this place. When I came back last autumn, every time I came to Jishan, I would also call some trustworthy and intelligent young people here, let them think, and then write down some exam questions..."

Ning Yi pointed to the manuscripts on the table, and He Wen picked them up to read.

"As I said, I don't trust the choices of the people now because they don't understand logic, so I promote logic. The Confucian way of the gentleman, and what we now call democracy, are ultimately to enable people to be autonomous. All learning actually leads to the same goal. Ultimately, the brilliance of human nature is the greatest. What my wife Liu Xigua wants is to hope that in the end, the people can actively choose the emperor they want, or even set aside the emperor and choose the prime minister they want—it doesn't matter, those are all details. But the most crucial thing is, how to achieve it?"

"Then let's have an exam." Ning Yi raised his hand. "What you have in your hand is the pass to citizenship... its waste products and prototypes. The questions we put out are required to be relatively complex, dialectical, and able to relatively accurately point out the laws of social operation. Here I will not say that shouting slogans is a good person. We don't need such a simple good person to participate in the operation of the country. What we need is to understand the complex laws of the world's operation, and be able to not be discouraged, not be extreme, and seek moderation in the questions... Of course, it is impossible to achieve it at the beginning."

He Wen flipped through the manuscripts and saw the description of "pollution." Ning Yi turned around and walked to the door, looking at the light outside: "If we can really defeat the Jurchens and the world can be stabilized, we will build many factories to meet people's needs, let them read, and finally let them start voting. It doesn't matter what they participate in. Before voting, they must take an exam. The exam questions... let's say ten for the time being, are these complex questions. Those who can't answer them don't have the right to vote as citizens."

He turned his head and looked at He Wen: "This exam can be discussed, can be copied, and the questions can be released a year before the exam, so that they can discuss them. In this way, the first batch of people, as long as they can write numbers, can have the power of citizens, make their voices heard to the country, and then every five or ten years, replace these questions with a few according to the development of society, so that everyone in society understands the complexity of these questions, try to understand the basic model of the country's operation, let it penetrate into the classrooms of every school, infiltrate every aspect of culture, and become the foundation of a country."

"Then, these questions need to be tempered thousands of times, discussed and refined hundreds of millions of times, and need to condense all the wisdom and the sparks of culture..."

He Wen clenched those manuscripts, raised his head, and gritted his teeth: "These questions will make all the people talk about interests, will cause all morality and etiquette to be out of balance, and will become the cause of chaos!"

"Yes, of course it will be chaotic." Ning Yi nodded. "Confucian society is based on emotion, reason, and law, which has long been deeply rooted in everyone's heart. However, the truly great harmonious society must be based on reason and law, supplemented by emotion. If people all talk about short-sighted interests, then it will definitely be chaotic beyond control, but if each of these questions talks about long-term interests, its core will be reason, law, and emotion! 'Four classes of people', 'equality', 'Gewu (the study of things)', 'contract', their common point is that they are all based on reason. Every bit and every ounce can be clearly analyzed, Mr. He. Defeating the emotion, reason, and law in everyone's heart is my real purpose."

"The world will be in great chaos, there will definitely be great chaos..." He Wen said in a deep voice, "It's obvious, why do you..."

"Of course it will be chaotic." Ning Yi nodded again. "If I fail, it will only be a country that rises and falls for one or two hundred years, what a pity. However, the yearning for people's autonomy will be engraved in everyone's heart, and the Confucian castration will never be completely possible again. They will burn like sparks from time to time, and people's desire for autonomy can only be based on reason. Whether it succeeds or fails, I will leave behind the starting point of the transformation. As long as the study of Gewu is left behind, this transformation will not be a castle in the air."

"In the past, every generation wanted to make changes, but they were all from top to bottom. To go from top to bottom, there must be partisanship and exclusion. Only by tying the interests themselves to every member of the people, so that they can effectively defend the rights and interests of each of them, will the so-called gentlemen be able to unite without forming factions will truly appear. At that time, as an official, if you want to do things, they will lend you strength, and they will become a part of your correct propositions, lending you strength to defend their own interests, without pursuing excessive returns. All of this will only be possible when the base number of people who understand reason reaches a certain level."

He took a breath: "He Wen, it is of course good that you can see clearly the complexity and chaos in the middle. However, is the path of Confucianism really going to continue? Walking out of this mountain range, you will see an increasingly large dead knot. Confucius said to repay resentment with uprightness, and said that the ruler is a ruler, the minister is a minister, the father is a father, and the son is a son. He criticized Zilu for receiving cattle. He said that everyone understands the truth and speaks reason, and the world will become better. When the productivity is not enough, it has been expedient for almost two thousand years. Gewu will promote productivity, giving a possibility that is no longer expedient. It's time to come back."

"My students are very good at practical learning, but they are still lacking in deeper knowledge. These questions are not well thought out by them. If one day we defeat the Jurchens, I can convene great Confucian scholars to participate in the discussion and set questions, but we can also start doing it first. Some Confucians in the Huaxia Army are already doing this, mostly in Hedaeng, but it is definitely not enough. After ten or twenty years of refinement, I require ten questions. If you can figure it out, you can stay and set questions. If you can't figure it out, but are still willing to stay for Jingmei, you can do everything in your power to argue and oppose them, and defeat all these question setters."

"If neither of these possibilities is there." Ning Yi paused, "Then go home. I wish you find the path of Confucianism."

He Wen held the manuscript in his hand and shook it in the air, his eyes stern. Ning Yi smiled: "Before you leave, you just want to know what medicine I am selling in my gourd. I have told you sincerely. Think about it more. If you want to refute me, you are welcome to come." After he finished speaking, someone at the door signaled him to attend the next meeting. "I have something to do, so I'll leave first. If possible... be good to Jingmei."

Ning Yi left from here. There were still members of the Huaxia Army waiting for He Wen outside the room. The afternoon sun shone in through the door and window, and dust danced in the light. He sat on the stool in the room and flipped through those rough and awkward questions. Due to the complexity required by Ning Yi, these questions were often obscure and awkward, and there were often various traces of revisions. There were also some abandoned texts in the manuscripts:

"...From the basic concepts of Gewu and the observation of the world and society in which humans live, we can know this basic rule: In the society in which humans live, all conscious and influenceable changes are generated by the behavior of each human being that makes up this society. Under the guidance of this basic rule, in order to seek the common fairness and justice that the human society can realistically achieve, we believe that people are born with the following reasonable and legal rights: 1. The right to survive..."

This piece of writing seemed to be written casually, and the handwriting was very scribbled. Perhaps because these things looked like awkward nonsense, the person who wrote it did not continue to write it. He Wen read through it and other abandoned questions in general, and his mind was in a mess. These things were obviously going to cause a huge disaster. He put down the manuscript and even felt that Confucianism might really be destroyed by it...

Walking out of this courtyard and returning to the school, he packed his things and did not plan to continue teaching at the school. When he was holding books and going home this evening, someone rushed out from beside him and punched him in the face. He Wen was highly skilled in martial arts, but he was distracted at this time and only blocked it slightly. The whole person was knocked to the ground.

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I looked at it, and the high order passed 60,000 with difficulty yesterday. Thank you all.

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