Li Si's teacher is Xun Kuang, the last great scholar in the Warring States Period. Biography of Historical Records and Lisi records a passage he said when he said goodbye to being a teacher:
Once I heard it, I didn't hesitate. In today's crowded world, tourists have the final say. Today, the king of Qin wants to swallow the world and rule it by the emperor. This cloth is sometimes the autumn of lobbyists. If you are in a humble position and don't do it, this bird and deer will be forced by meat and face. Therefore, shame is greater than meanness, and sorrow is greater than poverty. It is not a gentleman's love to be in a humble position and a place of hardship for a long time, for evil interests and inaction. Therefore, Si must talk about the king of Qin.
This difference happened in Li Si's "learning from Xun Qing's imperial art was good, but the king of Chu was weak, and the six countries were weak, and he wanted to go west to Qin". From the background of Historical Records, there is no doubt that what Li Si learned from Xun Kuang, a great scholar, was actually the imperial art of Confucianism. Moreover, at this time, Li Si has been "learned", that is, he has completely mastered the essence of Confucianism taught by Xun Kuang.
Then, after Li Si entered the center of the political stage at that time-the Qin Dynasty, did he put the imperial skills he learned from Xun Kuang into his political practice?
People who are used to studying history from the perspective of the opposition between Confucianism and Legalism hold a negative or indifferent attitude towards this. However, if we objectively examine Li Si's political strategy of assisting Qin Shihuang to achieve the imperial career, it is not difficult to find that Li Si still implemented the Confucian strategy of governing the country to a great extent, that is, the so-called "imperial technique."
In the book "Study on Bureaucracy in China", Wang Yanan has a discussion on the relationship between Reese and Confucianism:
Li Si studied under Xun Qing and originated from Confucius and Mencius. His suggestion is largely based on the Confucian spirit. However, he refused to openly advocate Confucianism and left it to Dong Zhongshu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, not to avoid it, but because he lacked ruling experience. ①
We are not sure whether Reese's subconscious has considered advocating Confucianism. But it can be said that Li Si's political "proposal creation" and "basic Confucian spirit" can be said to be the secrets of previous rumors.
We will not discuss the relationship between Li Si's political views and his Confucian education here, but only examine the influence of Confucianism on his literary creation.
As Lu Xun said, "Li Si is the only one in Qin literature." (2) As one of the great writers in Qin Dynasty, Li Si. His works are divided into two different periods with Qin Shihuang unifying the world as the boundary. His most influential work in the history of literature, Exhortation to Expulsion, was written in the tenth year of Qin Dynasty (the first 237 years). At that time, it was 16 years since the Qin dynasty unified the world. Strictly speaking, it can't be regarded as Qin dynasty literature. Judging from its style, it also has the distinctive color of the articles of strategists in the Warring States period, and its literary talent is brilliant, full of momentum of strategists. But as far as its core idea is concerned, the trace of Confucianism is still very obvious. The summary part of the article has a cloud:
It is said that the land is vast and there are many people, and there are many people in big countries. A strong soldier is brave. It's the mountain ether that won't let the soil, so it can become bigger. Rivers do not choose streams, so they can be deep; The king is not the public. Therefore, we can understand its virtue. There is no good place in the old land, no foreign country for the people, beautiful seasons and blessings for ghosts and gods. The reason why these five emperors and three kings are invincible is also.
This statement can be said to be the theoretical cornerstone and purpose of the full text. Among them, the ideas of "a gentleman is not just a man's heart, so he can understand his virtue" and "the land has no four sides, the people have no foreign countries, the four seasons are beautiful, and ghosts and gods have good fortune" obviously belong to Confucianism. The flag of the monarch here, Five Emperors and Three Kings, is undoubtedly the name of the sage in Confucian ideal. From this point of view, Sima Qian's statement that Lisi learned from Xun Qing the skills of emperors is by no means nonsense.
Judging from the existing works of Li Si, in terms of quantity, most of them are later works. The later works are obviously divided into two stages. The works in these two stages show two different styles.
The first stage was the reign of Qin Shihuang. Li Si's works are mainly carved in stone. Li Si assisted the first emperor to pacify the heroes and unify the whole country. Both of them are proud of their success and worry about how to consolidate it. In order to declare the majesty of the son of heaven to the subjects all over the country shortly after reunification, Qin Shihuang traveled around the country many times with Reese and set up stone carvings in many places he visited to "praise Qin De and be proud". All the words carved on the stone were written by Reese. Almost all of these stone carvings are four-character rhymes, and there are many cases of three sentences and one rhyme. It can be seen that the author is quite ingenious and intends to be unconventional in writing. For example, in the twenty-eighth year of the first emperor's accession to the throne (2 19 BC), he traveled to Mount Tai for a moment:
The emperor acceded to the throne, formulated the Ming law, and his ministers revised it. Six times in 20 years, the first time I integrated into the world. Pro-people who travel far away, climb Mount Tai and travel to the East Pole. Thinking from the minister, the reason, only reciting merits. Treatment operation, properly made, there are laws to follow. The righteousness is clear and clear, hanging over future generations. The emperor bowed to the saints, which not only calmed down the world, but also made unremitting efforts to govern the country. Can't sleep at night, build long-term benefits, and be good at teaching. Trained by the government, it is both far and near and successful. Divide the noble and the humble, treat men and women with courtesy, and keep your duty. Zhao's internal and external separation, impurity, applied to the heir. Become infinite, obey the testamentary edict, and always bear the ring.
Liu Xie commented on this stone carving in "Wen Xin Diao Long Shen Feng", saying: "The first emperor Deming learned from Li Si. Legalists resigned, lacking vitality, but sparse and strong, which was unique at that time. " This evaluation should be said to have a profound and pertinent side. There is no quotation, and there is no saying that it is a sacrifice to heaven. It only directly promotes the emperor's literary martial arts, but its tone is extremely confident and beyond doubt. "Physical deficiency" and "sparse but strong" really dialectically summarized the artistic style of this inscription. However, from the perspective of political ideal, the Confucian spirit that Lisi inherited from Xun Kuang is still clearly reflected in this article. Such as "showing off inside and outside", "comity between men and women", "distinguishing between nobility and inferiority", "specializing in education", "unremitting governance", "self-understanding" and even "understanding the law" all evolved from Confucius' thoughts. Legalists preach Confucianism.
There are many inscriptions on the stone tablet handed down by Li Si. Generally speaking, the six stone carvings on Mount Tai and the six articles of Langxietai, nirvana in fire, Dongguan, Jieshi and Huiji cited above are the most reliable in Historical Records. Although these stone carvings exaggerated the achievements of the first emperor, their political views rarely contradicted Confucianism. For example, The Engraving of Langxietai is one of the long stone carvings of Li Si. In the article, "Five Emperors, Horses and Horses" are regarded as honorific terms, which are rare in other ancient dynasties, but similar words of virtual beauty still exist in official documents of other dynasties, but the tone is not that big. Some people criticized this article for "beautifying the tyranny of Qin State and becoming the laughing stock of history", which seems to be meaningless entanglement. In any case, it is worth noting that, compared with the Five Emperors and Three Kings who were regarded as the flag of the monarch in Reese's early books, the language of "making contributions to the Five Emperors" here is disrespectful to the Five Emperors, but it does not deny their status as a model monarch, otherwise it will not be compared with the first emperor. Thus, the influence of Xun Qing's imperial art is deeply rooted in Reese's heart. It is particularly noteworthy that the moral norms such as "being virtuous, wise, benevolent and righteous", which Confucianism attaches great importance to, have also received great attention here.
The second stage of Reese's later creation is the reign of Qin Ershi. His works are mainly written for Qin Ershi. In the thirty-seventh year of the first emperor (2 10 BC), Qin Shihuang died during his last outing. Under the threat of eunuch Zhao Gao, Reese made Hu Hai, the youngest son of the first emperor, become emperor with Zhao Gao. Hu Hai is an immature teenager, so that Zhao Gao dares to play tricks in front of him. For Li Si, a prime minister who lived in peace with Qin Shihuang for a long time, how to deal with this little emperor who was born in the palace and was longer than a woman's hand was really the biggest political problem he encountered in his life. Hu Hai's closest friend is Zhao Gao, who used to meet frequently. He has no contact with Reese and other court ministers, so he certainly has no trust. Once a person who has been trusted by the monarch for a long time loses this trust and is unwilling to quit the power stage because of "once every emperor and courtier", he will definitely completely deny his past in order to win the trust of the new monarch.
In order to cater to Hu Hai's arrogance and cheating, Reese wrote to Hu Hai about "the art of supervising responsibility" when Chen Sheng and Guangwu rebels swept across the Central Plains. In this last book, Li Si, contrary to his previous rational and calm demeanor, unilaterally suggested to Hu Hai the art of applying righteousness and the responsibility of supervising the country, and for the first time explicitly challenged the moral concepts advocated by Confucianism, such as benevolence, righteousness and chastity. The article says:
And the frugal and virtuous people stand in the court, then the desolation is over; If the admonishers and debaters are around, they will be full of ambition; The martyrs' trip to the Day of the Dead is obvious to all, so the danger of prostitution and health will be abolished. Therefore, an enlightened master can only exercise the master's skill to control the submission of ministers and practice the Ming method, so he is respectful and powerful. He who has wisdom and a master will be able to brush the world and grind the customs, get rid of its evils and do whatever he wants. Therefore, life is respectful and death is wise. Because the monarch is arbitrary, the power is not in the minister. Then you can destroy the painting of benevolence and righteousness, cover up what you say, and get trapped in the trip of martyrs. Sai Cong kept his eyes open, but his eyes were open. Therefore, we should not take the trip of the righteous outside, but we should not take the admonition theory inside.
This is the most critical passage in theory in the whole memorial. Li Si believes that only by doing this can we "understand the skills of God and Korea and practice the laws of Shang Jun". In Reese's view, the method of harmony between God and Han is completely opposite to Confucian ethics. Whether this view is correct or not, we will ignore it. According to Records of the Historian, the result of Li Sixin is that "the punishment is half in the Tao, while the deceased accumulates in the city, and the murderer is a loyal minister". There is no doubt that Reese doesn't want to see this chaotic situation, which is also contrary to his view of political achievements advocated in stone carvings. Therefore, Lisi's book with the theme of "valuing righteousness over capacity" not only fails to represent Lisi's consistent ideas, but also reveals an important message: Although Lisi adopted some methods of legalism to highlight the power of the monarch in order to safeguard the absolute imperial power of Qin Shihuang, and made the stone carvings made by Zunming have what Liu Xie called "legalism", its internal thoughts are typical of Shen, Han and others. In other words, in Reese's mind, he strongly leans towards Confucianism and is quite dissatisfied with Shen and Han theories.
This kind of political speculation has not changed Reese's political doom. Framed by Zhao Gao, Reese was put in prison. He sighed in prison and said, "Oh, sad husband! What can you do if you don't know the way? " Complain and sigh, and compare himself with Guan Longfeng, Prince Bigan, Wu Zixu and other loyal ministers in the past. At the same time, out of political despair, he criticized Hu Hai II's political ideas:
And the law of seconds is not chaotic! The Japanese killed their brothers, stood on their own feet, and killed loyal ministers and nobles. As Epang Palace, they have enriched the world. I don't want to give advice, but I don't want to hear it either. Every ancient sage had a proper diet, a proper number of vehicles and equipment, and a proper palace. Chargers who order trouble and do not benefit the people are prohibited, so they can maintain public order for a long time. This trip is retrograde, regardless of its blame; Assault and kill loyal subjects, without thinking about * * *; The grand palace, generous to the world, does not love its expenses: three has done, the world will not listen. Today, the rebels have gone halfway around the world, but their hearts are not satisfied. With Zhao Gao as the supplement, you will see the coach arrive in Chengyang, and the elk swim towards the DPRK.
This passage is full of emotion, and the critical standard of Hu Hai II has returned to the track of Confucianism. But since this passage was not written by Li Si, it is not certain that it has not been processed by Sima Qian. However, we can believe that it reflected the real thoughts of Reese at that time. After this passage, Historical Records recorded the last letter of Reese's life in prison:
I am the prime minister, and I have governed the people for more than 30 years. Catch the narrowness of Qin land, which is only a thousand miles away, and the former king has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. I try my best to serve the law. I am a counselor in the dark, so that I can lobby officials from all walks of life, repair armor in the dark, decorate politics and religion, be an official fighter, respect heroes and hold his title. Therefore, in the end, Han was threatened to weaken Wei, break Yan, Zhao, Chu and die, capture his king and make him the son of heaven. One sin. The land is not vast, with Hu and Shu catching up in the north and its capital in the south, depending on the strength of Qin. Sin 2. Respect the minister, hold the title of minister, and be strong. Sin 3. Build a country, build an ancestral temple, with a wise Lord. Sin 4. More grams of painting, fighting, and testing. The world of cloth, in the name of Qin Shu. Sin 5. Governing chi Dao, advocating the concept of behavior, in order to see the Lord's pride. Sin 6. Make up the punishment, pay a small sum of money, let the Lord win the hearts of the people, and all the people will wear the Lord and never forget it. Sin 7. If you are a minister, your sin is enough to die for a long time. Fortunately, I have tried my best, so far, I hope your majesty will inspect it!
In this last book, in the name of repentance, Rees listed his seven most proud contributions. Of these seven contributions, except the first and sixth, the other five can be said to be the embodiment of Confucian governance. In the Analects of Confucius, Mencius and other books, Confucius and other Confucian scholars have clearly expounded these principles. That is to say, the issue of unified measurement in Article 5 is generally considered to be the pioneering work of Li Si, but the Analects of Confucius already contains the words "measure your power and judge your statutes" (4). When people are dying, their words are also sad. There is no doubt that Li Si is loyal to Confucianism.
At this point, it seems necessary for us to go back and discuss the confession made by Reese when he bid farewell to Xun Kuang. This confession was criticized by later Confucian scholars because Reese unabashedly expressed his desire for fame and fortune. In fact, from the perspective of Confucius' thoughts, the Confucian ideal of personality is not opposed to fame and fortune. Confucius once said: "Wealth is self-seeking. Although you are a whip, I will do it for you. If you can't get it, just do as I say. " 5 also said: "the state-owned road is extremely vicious and shameful; The country has no choice but to be rich and expensive, which is shameful. " When politics was clear, Confucius thought poverty was a shame. Confucian scholars in later generations simply denied wealth in order to seek fame and reputation, which is not in line with Confucius' truth. Moreover, from the historical situation, people who are insincere are precisely those who want to cultivate their hearts. The difference between Lisi and later Confucian scholars is that he didn't tell a lie in this respect. Because of this, his works, such as admonition and marching orders, are more powerful than later Confucian articles, and Liu Xie simply called them "Legalist Ci".
Hope to adopt, thank you.