Chapter 72 Jiangning’s job assignment (1)

As we walked down the river, floods surged, and forests were everywhere on both sides of the canal, a scene of the bleak autumn wind that people could chant.

Several people in the boat had just had supper under the service of the servants and were sitting around drinking tea and chatting. The three of them could be called masters of Neo-Confucianism, but the ways they learned were different. Zeng Guofan was loyal to the Chengcheng and Zhu, which was the same as Shen Huai, while Sun Ruizhen's Neo-Confucianism was the study of Wang Yangming from Lu Xiangshan. Zhu and Lu each became the gateway, the famous "E Lake Meeting", and they distinguished each other with difficulty and were not inferior to each other. On this day, in the boat with the rustling autumn wind, the three people divided into two factions, excited and willing to give in, and were not inferior to their predecessors.

The Zhu Xi's learning that Zeng Guofan devoted to was focused on studying things and gaining knowledge. He believed that "the spirit of the human heart is known, but all things in the world are rational." Investigating things means exploring the principles of things, and to the extreme, to expand the knowledge of this mind. Once you suddenly understand it, "there will be the essence of the inside and the inside, and the whole of my heart is clear," which is the so-called "exploring the truth and exerting the nature."

But Lu Xiangshan has different views. He believes that "mind is reason", which is one and not two, which is a person's innate "conscience". If a person must study to have conscience; then Yao and Shun have never studied, how could he become a sage?

Wang Yangming, who developed into the Ming Dynasty, originally believed in Zhu Yuanhui's theory. He learned from the study of things. The object he was pursuing was a bunch of bamboo in the yard. Why were bamboos long green? How did bamboos grow bamboos? Why were bamboos eaten? Why were bamboos not eaten? Why were bamboo leaves different from leaves? After this, they could not make a name for themselves. But when they were struggling, they became sick on the seventh day. They were very sad and thought that without this great power, sages would not be able to do it!

So Wang Yangming thought: What better way to do a saint when he reached this stage? After thinking about it this way, when the moon was bright and the sky was clear, he suddenly realized that what he did was the way of the saint! He had a conscience in his heart; his conscience could be achieved by itself. There was no need to seek things through investigation. This was one step further than Lu Xiangshan's theory, and it was even further apart from Zhu Yuanhui's principles.

However, Zeng Guofan did not like Wang Yangming's theory of "reaching conscience" for another reason. The origin of Wang Yangming's "reaching conscience" was almost the "sudden enlightenment" of Buddhism; in his "Chuanxiulu", there was the Zen flavor of "superbing" in his "Chuanxiulu". What Zeng Guofan hated was this little Zen flavor; because in Confucianism, it was heresy!

"The two dukes are not overly in the opinion of the door!" Seeing the two people's arguments, Shen Huai hurriedly dissuaded: "From my opinion, the two dukes have very little differences, and there are many common people: First, they must be trusted in their words and respectful in their actions, and they are worthy of being true Confucians; Second, they are worthy of being beneficial to the people, regardless of personal honor, disgrace and safety; Third, they write books and advocate regular learning, and they are worthy of being great Confucians."

Zeng Guofan and Sun Ruizhen bowed and smiled at the same time: "I dare not, I dare not. Brother Dongchuan has been awarded."

After arguing, both of them temporarily lost interest in speaking. The cockpit was quiet, and only the sound of wind blew across the river whirred through their ears. Occasionally, waves slapped the hull, and the rhythmic sound made people drowsy.

"Brother Disheng, Brother Dongchuan, this time the task is extraordinary...," Sun Ruizhen raised the topic again: "...I, a commoner in the Qing Dynasty, have always been upset about the exchange of appointments in Jiangning, and have not forgotten for a moment. If the British Yi refused to bow his head this time, the public's grievances will be a trivial matter. If the emperor's wisdom of knowing people, I will die and cannot taste his fault."

"Your Majesty's words are great." Chen Huai nodded vigorously and agreed loudly: "If the envoy of the British refused to bow his head before the emperor, even if the emperor intends to allow him to enter the capital, we, as ministers, should be incited to speak out and resist with all our might."

"Well, what Brother Dongchuan said is worthy of being a proposal for the country. I should be the tail of the horse and report it together with Brother Dongchuan." Sun Ruizhen smiled with her short beard and turned her eyes from Chen Huai's face to Zeng Guofan: "What do you think Brother Disheng?"

When the other party asked him, Zeng Guofan had to speak, put down the teacup in his hand. He thought for a while and slowly spoke: "What Yinggong and Brother Dongchuan said is naturally the duty of our ministers. There is only one sentence, Guofan was suspicious and asked Yinggong for advice."

"I dare not, I dare not take it." Sun Ruizhen waved her hand quickly: "Don't mention the word "instruction". But if Brother Disheng has any questions, you might as well raise it. Let me discuss it together."

Zeng Guofan was not polite and asked directly: "Duke Ying, Brother Dongchuan, what is the original intention of the emperor sending us to Jiangning to do a mission this time? If we only want to explain the truth to the people of the Yi and make them realize that it was impossible to follow it, Zhang Fan returned to the south and only needs an edict to hand over the matter to the Governor Lu of Liangjiang and the Yi people of the Yi to understand it. That is. Why should we wait?"

Chen Huai and Sun Ruizhen frowned at the same time: "What about Brother Zeng's opinion?"

Zeng Guofan smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I am also confused about this matter and have never understood why the holy heart is. So I took it out and discussed it with the two adults."

Sun Ruizhen despised: Although he didn't know what the emperor summoned Zeng Guofan back to the hall that day, nor did he know that he had an imperial edict written by the emperor in his hand, he might not be able to guess when asked about the emperor's thoughts. Similarly, the three people who were traveling with him this time were probably aware of it, but this matter was also sympathetic to each other and could not be said.

After hearing Zeng Guofan's mention, Sun Ruizhen could not help but express her attitude: "In my opinion, the emperor's holy heart is his heart, and he has the intention of being far away from the British. We should be the best at understanding the heart of heaven and explain this section to the British. And the previous love as an example, we always force the British to perform great rituals before our emperor."

After Sun Ruizhen made such a statement, Zeng Guofan was satisfied and followed his appearance and smiled: "Your Majesty's words are great, and Guofan admires them."

The Treaty of Jiangning signed with the British in the 22nd year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty had very clear provisions on the British in China: ‘……The Emperor allowed the British people to bring their families with them to live in five ports along the coast of the Qing Dynasty, including Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai, with no obstacles in trade and trade; and the British monarch sent consulates, officials and other officials to station in the five cities…’

The treaty is clearly written, but in fact, the common people from the Shang Dynasty of China never refused to treat these red-haired and green-eyed barbarians with courtesy. Take the entry of the city as an example: Shanghai and Ningbo were better, and the British quickly achieved their goals; Xiamen was just a one-mile fort, and the British voluntarily gave up; as for Fuzhou, in 25 years, diplomats entered the city, and the British people entered the city at the beginning of the 30th year of Daoguang. What made the British most annoyed and helpless was Guangzhou, because the entry of the city almost once again triggered fierce battles between the two sides, and in the end there was no way, so they had to put the matter aside.

In fact, even if you enter the city, the British life in China may not be as free and smooth as you imagined. However, the curious or hostile eyes of the Chinese make the "family" living in the city like a thorn on their backs, and they must always pay attention to whether there are any movements from the Chinese behind them. Some consuls and wives in charge of the family members dare not even go out of the gate. They originally thought of this distant and unfamiliar ancient Eastern country to appreciate the original intention of the mysterious culture, but when they arrived here, they found that their daily life and way of action were incompatible with the culture they originally believed in.

Wenhan had no way to interfere in such matters, nor did he have time to interfere in this matter. This time, he submitted official documents from Hong Kong to Shanghai was not very reasonable. Since the middle of Daoguang period, the Qing Dynasty, under the influence of external forces, appointed the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi as the Minister of Commerce and Affairs of Wukou, and was responsible for contacting and handling related matters with the ambassador of Hong Kong in Hong Kong. However, Xu Guangjin, who was the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi at the time, was a scholar official who was 100% ignorant of foreign affairs. It can be seen from the fact that he and Ye Mingchen, who was the Governor of Guangdong, organized 100,000 people and brave people, and did not hesitate to go to war with the British because of entering the city.

Wen Han knew that he could not explain clearly to him, so he bypassed the Minister of Trade and Commerce and went directly to Shanghai and sent the interpreter Mai Huatuo to hand over the notes of British Foreign Minister Bamazun about the entry of Guangzhou to Lu Jianying. He also asked him to submit them to His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

This approach by the British is very unreasonable. Lu Jianying is finally not a fool. He knew that such a thing could not be easily agreed to. He asked through a general translation: "There are official documents that should be submitted by the five ministers of the Guangdong General Office. Why did he go to Shanghai to submit them?"

Mai Huatuo's reply was: "Mr. Xu is not in harmony with us and is inconvenient to submit it."

Lu Jianying knew that it was a controversy caused by the 29th year of Daoguang. He now advised him kindly and intended to send the British back to Guangzhou based on the limitations of his position and could not be transferred. Who knew that Mai Huatuo had a year in China and knew that these people were so fierce and weak on the outside. He said immediately: "If the adults don't want to, I can only go far to Tianjin and hand it over to the company to transfer."

When Lu Jianying heard this, he was a little scared. He now dissuaded on the grounds that "Tianjin is not in the Wukou Trade Port, so he should not breach the contract and go there. Moreover, civil and military officials along the way must interrogate and stop them." Who knew that Mai Huatuo was determined to go to Tianjin to submit official documents after eating a weight.
Chapter completed!