Do you know that my grandfather was entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple?

Chapter 45 Ancestral Instructions

"The real partisan struggle is a struggle of ideas, just like the Hundred Schools of Thought in the pre-Qin period."

Hai Wenqing said, "Perhaps it started as a debate about reform, but as the debate went on, it evolved into a debate between old and new ideas."

"But the court has many accumulated problems that can only be solved through reform. Moreover, with so many people in the court opposing it, are there not any people among them with selfish motives, and is it all just a clash of ideas?" Wang You did not quite agree with this view.

"Then how can you guarantee that all those who support the new law are selfless? There will definitely be some who are taking advantage of the situation for their own selfish reasons."

But in essence, it is a struggle between old and new ideas.

Ideological disputes are more dangerous than political disagreements. Political disagreements may only involve differing viewpoints on a particular aspect and do not necessarily escalate to a black-and-white situation.

"But ideological debates are either one or the other; there is no other possibility," Hai Wenqing said solemnly.

Wang You remained silent for a long time, pondering Hai Wenqing's words.

Suddenly, he thought of two people.

Wang Anshi and Sima Guang.

Wang Anshi's reforms did indeed create chaos, but they were not entirely without merit.

However, after Wang Anshi was demoted and Sima Guang came to power, he rejected all of Wang Anshi's reform policies.

Even if Sima Guang was rigid, he could still at least distinguish between good and bad, right?

He opposed Wang Anshi's reforms, but there was no need to abolish all of Wang Anshi's policies, regardless of their merits.

Historical records about Sima Guang also state that he advocated gradual change and opposed the complete abandonment of the old laws.

Simply put, he is more conservative than traditional.

They believe that some systems should be corrected and modified gradually, rather than undergoing radical reforms.

This further demonstrates that Sima Guang had no reason to completely reject Wang Anshi's policies.

If others acted out of self-interest, what about Sima Guang?

Sima Guang was an upright, honest, and incorruptible man who was indifferent to fame and fortune.

To say that he opposed the reforms for personal gain is simply untenable.

However, his actions after taking power differed from his ideological beliefs.

If we follow Hai Wenqing's view, ideological debates are either one or the other, and are extremely brutal.

Then his actions become understandable.

But why are ideological battles so brutal?

Wang You pondered for a long time and then came to an answer.

Hai Wenqing said that ideological debates are just like the Hundred Schools of Thought in the past.

However, the contention of a hundred schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods was indeed exclusive.

The so-called debate was not about vying to speak out, but about persuading the rulers to govern the country using their own ideas.

To put it bluntly, it's about vying for the right to speak and suppressing other schools of thought.

Different schools of thought do have similarities.

Even so, other doctrines were not tolerated simply because they were similar.

Because ideological disputes must exclude other ideas, there can be no tolerance.

Otherwise, if other ideas are suppressed and excluded, what justice is there to speak of?

Having figured these things out, Wang You gained a deeper understanding of the failure of the reform.

He had always believed that the reform failed simply because many people's interests were harmed, which was why the opposition was so fierce.

As long as the interests affected are minimal, or if other means are used to compensate those whose interests have been harmed, the reform can be carried out.

Only now do I realize that this idea was completely wrong.

Since it has escalated to the level of an ideological debate, unless those people's minds can be changed, there will still be many people who oppose it, even if no one's interests are harmed.

However, he still didn't understand Hai Wenqing's purpose in telling him all this.

"You're still young and your thinking isn't mature yet. You should focus on your studies. When you're more mature in the future, you'll be able to figure out what you want to do," Hai Wenqing said.

"Does Scholar Hai disagree with the reform?" Wang You asked.

"It's not that I disagree, but that reforms will lead to factional strife, which in the long run will be very detrimental to the stability of the court and the country."

"The court's long-standing problems are not without solutions; we cannot afford to lose sight of the bigger picture for the sake of short-term gains," Hai Wenqing said.

Wang You understood. Hai Wenqing meant that if factional strife were stirred up and the two sides continued to fight, it would be too harmful to the court.

Regardless of which side wins, they will do everything in their power to suppress the other side and will not give the other side a chance to make a comeback.

No one knows how effective the reforms will be, and it's not worthwhile to let the court be constantly embroiled in infighting over something whose effectiveness is uncertain.

Therefore, the best approach for reformers is to back down, avoid partisan strife, and find other ways to address the deep-seated problems.

Wang You wanted to ask why the conservatives didn't back down.

However, he quickly realized that the question was a bit silly.

The reformists failed and withdrew from the central leadership.

Even now that the government has reinstated him, his influence is limited.

Moreover, the number of reformers is small, while the number of conservatives is large.

In fact, Wang You did not agree with this theory.

He acknowledged the existence of a debate between old and new ideas.

But there are definitely many people on both sides who are taking advantage of the situation for their own selfish reasons.

Not only reformers, but also conservatives.

There must be many conservatives who are unwilling to suffer losses and therefore side with the conservatives.

Are all reformers truly selfless?

There are certainly many among them who simply want to climb to higher positions through innovation.

These people will manipulate the thoughts and will of others during the struggle.

If the conservatives win, their thinking will become increasingly closed-minded under the influence of those who are driven by self-interest.

Many of the rules are not ancestral rules at all, but were formed by the victors in repeated struggles.

Take the Song Dynasty's rule of not killing scholar-officials as an example; Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong never left behind such an ancestral instruction.

The version that has been passed down to later generations also says that a stele was erected in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, on which were inscribed the three ancestral precepts left by Emperor Taizu, which could only be read by successive emperors after they ascended the throne.

One of these rules was to not kill scholar-officials.

However, this so-called stone tablet is not clearly recorded in historical records.

If it were true, its purpose would be to appease the civil officials. Why would it be placed in the Imperial Ancestral Temple instead of being made public?

Moreover, this rule differs from the practices of previous emperors.

As far as Wang You knew, Emperor Taizu had executed many corrupt officials during his reign.

Both Emperor Taizong and the late Emperor Taizong had records of killing civil officials.

Only the current emperor, during his decades on the throne, has never killed a civil official.

The emperor did indeed consider killing him, but was opposed by Grand Chancellor Fan and many other ministers.

At the time, there were still many people who supported him, but they were persuaded by Fan Da Xiangong's reason of feeling sorry for his own kind.

So everyone joined together to submit a petition against it, and even offered the officials a way out—ancestral precepts.

Does the Emperor not know that this ancestral precept simply does not exist?

But he couldn't withstand the pressure and let go of an official who should have been executed.

If this got out, it would damage the imperial dignity, so using ancestral precepts as a cover-up would be acceptable.

After all, the country has always been governed by filial piety. It's not that I don't want to kill, but that I want to uphold the ancestral teachings.

But now it's just an excuse to create a stepping stone; later it will become a shackle restricting officials and the emperor.

Once the emperor accepted this ancestral precept, he could no longer kill civil officials.

When the new emperor ascended the throne, the ancestral precepts that had not existed before became the true ancestral precepts.