OBS Chapter 350 A nation has no treasures, only goodness is a treasure.
Chapter 350 A nation has no treasures, only goodness is a treasure.
Park Sung-sung felt as if his memory was becoming confused.
The village north of Penglai County should be called Laowangzhuang. Yesterday, I and Park Deok-hwan passed through this village before entering Dengzhou Prefecture.
But the old, worn-out plowshare with a chip in it didn't match the shiny plowshare I'd seen yesterday at all.
What Park Sung-sung found even more incomprehensible was that it was already November, and although the temperature in Deungju was slightly warmer than in Korea, who would be farming in November?
Just as Park Sung-sung was completely confused, Xu Jingyu, the magistrate of Penglai County who had been summoned by Yang Shaofeng, sighed and said, "Envoy Park, Deputy Envoy Park, this is Lao Wang Village, the closest village to Penglai County."
Park Sung-sung nodded, looked at the people plowing the fields for a while, and suddenly asked, "Magistrate Seo, it's already winter, so plowing must be much more difficult than in the fall, right?"
Xu Jingyu nodded and replied, "Vice Envoy Park is right. Winter plowing is definitely more difficult than autumn plowing. If possible, I would actually prefer that the people under my jurisdiction plow the land at this time."
At this point, Xu Jingyu's face suddenly filled with pain. After another long sigh, he said, "But there's nothing we can do. If they don't take advantage of the current off-season to clear the land and plow the fields, how will they have a harvest next year?"
Yang Shaofeng coughed and added, "I suppose Ambassador Park and Vice Ambassador Park should also know about Hu Yuan's land grabbing for horse breeding. At that time, many farmlands were seized and turned into horse farms. The harvest from the few acres of land in the hands of the people was not enough to support their families, let alone pay taxes to the Tartars."
"There was no other way, so I wrote a memorial to His Majesty, requesting that His Majesty issue an edict allowing Dengzhou Prefecture to allocate land to the people on its own."
"Fortunately, His Majesty is benevolent. He not only approved my memorial but also issued an edict to exempt Dengzhou Prefecture from taxes for the next three years."
"What Ambassador Park and Vice Ambassador Park are seeing now is the land that I asked Magistrate Xu to allocate to the people. As long as the people can reclaim a few more acres of wasteland before the land freezes completely, they will be able to harvest more grain next year."
"As the saying goes, 'With grain in hand, one has nothing to fear.' If the people of Dengzhou can harvest a few more pounds of grain, their lives will be better next year. If I allow their children to attend school, the people will not resist too much."
"..."
As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, half boasting and half stating his opinion, Park Sung-sung immediately said thoughtfully, "Therefore, Goryeo should now learn from the Ming Dynasty and distribute those wastelands to the people to cultivate, so that they can have enough to eat first."
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "That's right. Before people have enough to eat, it's useless to talk to them about grand principles. Whoever can feed them will be the one they listen to. This has been the truth since ancient times."
Watching the farmers, one after another, sincerely smile and bow to Magistrate Xu Jingyu, while Xu Jingyu's face showed a hint of impatience, Park Sung-sung felt he had finally understood.
Yes, what people care about most is how to have enough to eat; everything else can wait until they have enough to eat.
Thinking of this, Park Sung-sung bowed directly to Yang Shaofeng and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Your Highness. I understand."
Yang Shaofeng smiled, but Park Deok-hwan frowned slightly and said, "Your Highness, I have a question in my mind."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement and looked at Park Deok-hwan, asking, "Governor Park must be very curious as to why I advised you to buy books like the Four Books and Five Classics, but then advised you to distribute land to the people first, right?"
Park Deok-hwan nodded, while Yang Shaofeng slowly took two steps and smiled, "I once heard a wise man named Lu say that a knife in the hands of a cook can be a kitchen utensil for cutting vegetables, and in the hands of a soldier can be a sharp weapon for killing enemies and serving the country. But if it is in the hands of an evil person, the knife will become a murder weapon."
The Book of Chu says: "The State of Chu has nothing to treasure but goodness."
"When the people of Goryeo are able to fill their stomachs, I will eventually petition His Majesty and the court to sell books such as the 'Agricultural Treatise' and the 'Building Standards' to your country's merchants."
"However, these books can be both good books that enable people to harvest more grain and evil books that allow some wicked people to amass wealth and then oppress the people."
"Therefore, I advised Ambassador Park and Vice Ambassador Park to buy more books such as the Four Books and Five Classics. After returning home, they should first have those literate scholars study them more and guide them to love the people. This way, when they become officials in the future, they can prevent people from using books such as the Agricultural Book and the Architectural Standards to do evil and benevolent."
Park Deok-hwan still felt that something was wrong.
Yang Shaofeng didn't give Park Deok-hwan time to think, and continued, "I have already discussed this with my colleagues in the Ministry of Rites, and we will have someone prepare more copies of the Hongwu Zhengyun and the Hongwu Dictionary."
"There are also books like the Book of Poetry, the Book of Documents, the Rites of Zhou, the Book of Rites, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, the Guliang Commentary, the Erya, the Classic of Filial Piety, the Songs of Chu, the Analects, and the Mencius. These books were all allowed to be purchased by Goryeo merchants."
"Especially the Analects, so Zhao Pu, the founding prime minister of the Song Dynasty, once said that 'half of the Analects can govern the world,' which shows how profound the Analects is and that it should be studied from time to time."
"And the Classic of Filial Piety, Ambassador Park and Vice Ambassador Park should know that all dynasties in the Central Plains have ruled the world with filial piety. How can those who are unfilial and disrespectful to their elders know the principles of loyalty to the emperor and love for their country? If they are not even willing to be filial to their parents, how can they be benevolent to the people?"
As for the remaining books like the Gongyang Commentary and those in the History and Philosophy sections, forget about them.
The Gongyang School's theory of great revenge requires a very high level of morality to learn, and the Koreans do not have the conditions to learn this stuff.
The history books include fifteen major categories: official histories, annals, chronicles, miscellaneous histories, unofficial histories, imperial edicts and memorials, biographies, historical excerpts, records, seasonal records, geography, official titles, political treatises, catalogues, and historical commentaries. These things are too complicated, and the Koreans don't have the brains to study them.
Of the books included in the Zibu (子部) category, such as Confucianism, military strategy, Legalism, agriculture, medicine, astronomy and mathematics, divination, arts, genealogy, miscellaneous schools, encyclopedias, novels, Buddhism, and Taoism, only the four categories of arts, genealogy, novels, and Buddhism are relatively suitable for Koreans to study.
However, books like the "Chu Ci", "Sima Xiangru Ji", "Yuefu Xin Ge", and "Nü Jian" in the Anthology section can be vigorously promoted and studied by Koreans.
That's settled then. I'll write a memorial to Lao Deng later, asking the Ministry of Rites and Duke Yansheng Nan Zong to study it together and print more books that can be sold to the Koreans. If the Koreans can't afford them, we can sell them to Annam or those short and ugly Japan.