Dafeng Night Watchman

Chapter 43: Inscription



"Until this time, a scholar from Yunlu Academy took over the position of the cabinet's chief minister. He did not continue to adhere to the ideas of his predecessors, but resolutely joined Renzong's army, and despite the abuse, he solved the matter for Renzong. The heated dispute over the national foundation finally ended.

"Yunlu Academy was hated by Renzong because of this incident. He realized that the existence of Yunlu Academy was not conducive to the rule of imperial power. At this time, Cheng Hui proposed to establish the Imperial Academy, and the court would train talents by itself."

"And the decline of Confucianism also began from then on."

This is the origin of the dispute between Yunlu Academy and the Imperial Academy over the orthodoxy of Confucianism.

The Imperial Academy is a national university, and Yunlu Academy is a private one. How could a private one be better than a national one... Xu Qian'an suddenly realized.

After Xu Xinnian finished speaking, with a tone of examination, "Brother, what do you think... Well, I mean the dispute over the national foundation, which has nothing to do with academics."

Do you think that a peasant like my brother can't answer academic questions? Xu Qiyan complained in his heart and laughed: "On the surface, it is a struggle for the foundation of the country, but in fact it is a struggle for power."

"If scholars want to realize their ambitions, they must hold great power, and the power of a country is fixed. When you hold more power, others will lose power. The highest level of party struggle is to override the emperor and become the uncrowned emperor."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Xu Xinnian was originally testing casually, but when he heard this, his face changed drastically.

Xu Qiyan glanced at him: "Why, am I wrong?"

Very right, but this can't be said casually... Xu Xinnian took a deep breath: "Go on."

Xu Qiyan nodded: "No matter how powerful the Confucian dragon-slaying technique is, the imperial power is stronger after all. Learn the arts of literature and martial arts, and sell them to the emperor's family. This sentence says it all. Since ancient times, no matter whether it is greedy or virtuous, as long as a powerful official is, there will be no good end."

Controlling the government is only temporary, and in the end, everyone will be liquidated, because the ministers are always ministers. When Xu Qiyan read history in his previous life, there were too many uncrowned emperors. Which one had a good ending?

Cao Aman does not count, the war-torn era when the imperial power collapsed is another matter.

Xu Xinnian asked anxiously: "Is there any solution?"

What his elder brother told him, the academy will not teach.

"No solution!" Xu Qiyan shook his head and sighed: "The court is like a battlefield, party disputes are fun for a while, but the whole family is in the crematorium."

What he said was strange, but it seemed that there was a thousand years of literature and history brewing in his eyes. Looking at these eyes, Xu Xinnian was stunned.

"But elder brother has another idea here." Xu Qiyan changed the subject.

"Brother, please speak. "

"Qian Daru's deeds are a living example. When you can influence the fate of a country, you will change from a scholar who depends on the imperial power to a strong man who can stand on equal footing with the imperial power."

Xu Xinnian's eyes lit up, and as soon as a look of joy appeared on his face, he heard Xu Qian'an say leisurely: "Erlang is extremely intelligent, and the boy is teachable."

"....." Xu Erlang finally realized that I was testing him...

Xu Qian'an did not continue to speak, thinking about a question in his heart. Although Yunlu Academy's future in the officialdom was cut off, it was still a holy place that mastered the Confucian practice system.

It was only the official career that was cut off.

Although Xu Xinnian did not specify whether the official career of the academy began to weaken or the entire Confucian system began to weaken, Xu Qian'an felt that it was the latter.

Because combined with what Xu Erlang said by the waterfall: For two hundred years, the highest Confucianism has only been the third rank.

Is it because after the third rank, the Confucian system must enter the field to serve as an official? Or is it related to Confucian luck and the like?

"Then what does this monument mean? Why is it erected here?" he asked.

Xu Xinnian stared at the words on the monument with a complicated look in his eyes, and sighed: "This is the follow-up of the dispute over Confucian orthodoxy, or in other words, it is a part."

"That Cheng Yasheng was a brilliant man. After he established the Imperial College, he knew that if he wanted to surpass Yunlu Academy, he had to have his own education system. Otherwise, the students of the Imperial College would still be students of Yunlu Academy. "So he devoted himself to studying the classics of the saints, re-annotated them, and integrated his own thoughts. After thirteen years, he finally created an education system that was better than the original."

"Preserve the principles of heaven and eliminate human desires?" Xu Qiyan's heart moved.

Xu Erlang nodded. With the conversation just now, he began to be willing to explain academic issues to his rough cousin and said:

"Cheng Yasheng believes that all things in the world follow a certain law. This law is called "reason". Reason is the most essential thing in the world and the most correct."

"All things depend on reason to flourish. But people will lose themselves and reason in the chaos and entanglement of all things in the world."

"So we must preserve the principles of heaven and eliminate human desires?" Xu Qiyan said. Preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires is the outline of the school of thought in the Imperial Academy. As for how to do it specifically, Xu Qian'an waited for Xu Xinnian's explanation.

Xu Xinnian continued: "Cheng Yasheng compiled a set of rules for the saints. If scholars follow this set of rules, they will not make mistakes, they will be correct, and they will correspond to the laws of heaven and earth.

"This set of rules raises loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness to the height of heavenly principles."

Xu Xinnian sneered: "If the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects have to die; if the father wants his son to die, the son has to die; for the greater good, one should sacrifice his life; for the sake of chastity, one should die."

Xu Qian'an listened silently, and suddenly asked: "What do you think of Cijiu? Is this right or

wrong?"

Xu Xinnian was stunned. He stared at his cousin blankly and opened his mouth to speak, but a mysterious force choked his throat, making him speechless.

Xu Qian'an understood that this force is called "thought confinement."

"So, there is this monument? "Xu Qiyan turned his gaze back to the inscription.

"Yes." Xu Erlang nodded: "The dispute between Yunlu Academy and the Imperial College is an academic dispute and a dispute of ideas. But this monument has stood in the Yasheng Academy for two hundred years, and it has never fallen. As long as it does not fall, Yunlu Academy will never be able to defeat the Imperial College."

"The dean has been sitting in the academy for more than ten years, studying hard, trying to refute what is recorded in the inscription, trying to create a more mature and correct concept,

but he failed."

"Because it represents truth and represents correctness." Xu Qiyan said.

"Yes." Xu Xinnian sighed: "Not only the dean, but in fact, the great scholars and teachers of the academy have been struggling with this inscription, but no one has succeeded. The thoughts of the Yasheng are not something that can be refuted by ordinary people."

"That blank monument over there..." Xu Qiyan had a guess in his mind.

"It was the dean who put it there, but for more than ten years, he has never written on it. "Xu Xinnian pointed to the table next to the blank stone tablet and said:

"Later, some students and great scholars tried to write inscriptions on the stone tablet to compete with Cheng Yasheng's inscription, but they were all wiped off the next day. However, the pen and inkstone on the table were left, perhaps because the dean also had a glimmer of

hope. "

"Because of this, whenever students suddenly have a whim and feel excellent, they will come here to write inscriptions. Unfortunately, the person the dean expected never showed up." "I once thought I could, and I also wrote on the stone tablet..." Having said this, Xu Xinnian did not continue, obviously not intending to tell his cousin about his youthful frivolity, so as not to die socially again.

To repay the emperor's kindness with righteousness and die for his loyalty, and to leave a name for eternity... Xu Qian'an faced the inscription, was silent for a moment, and said in a

deep voice:

"Farewell to the old, my brother asks you, which is more important, the emperor or the

people of the world."

Xu Xinnian did not hesitate: "Of course it is the people of the world."

Xu Qiyan asked again: "Then why do you study?"

Xu Xinnian said subconsciously: "To be loyal to the emperor and serve the country..."

After saying that, he was stunned.

Xu Qiyan didn't care and continued to ask: "Is it really the lifelong pursuit of scholars to be

famous in history?"

Xu Xinnian didn't answer, his silence said it all.

What the two great scholars of Yunlu Academy did to get the poem also said it all.

Xu Qiyan sighed quietly.

If the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects have to die. Why?

If the father wants his son to die, the son has to die. Why?

Can't this shitty society have more human rights? Xu Qiyan smiled and said: "I'm not a

scholar, but I also want to write something. Say goodbye to the old, grind it for me."

Xu Xinnian frowned.

Xu Qiyan said: "Anyway, the pen and ink are here, isn't it for people to write? If the eldest brother doesn't write well, someone will naturally erase it tomorrow."

After listening to this, Xu Xinnian went to grind ink. After a while, he stood in front of the stele with a pen in hand and asked, "Brother, what do you want to write?"

"I want to write it myself this time. "Xu Qian'an snatched the pen and stared at the blank

stone tablet.

The face of the stall owner who had breakfast this morning suddenly appeared in his mind. He was obviously in pain, but he didn't dare to ask for money. He was as pitiful as a dog. The problem of clerks in the Dafeng Dynasty has been a long-standing problem. The beasts in

the palace kept saying that they were loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but they never looked at the people at the bottom with pity.

He thought of Zhou Li's arrogant and domineering attitude when he rode a horse in the street. He thought of the records of the rampant yamen in the capital.

The existence of extraordinary military force made the ills of the feudal dynasty more vivid; it also made the people at the bottom have no courage to rise up and resist.

In his previous life, he knew at least a few vigorous peasant uprisings, but in this world, the

peasant uprisings did not even have a chance to take shape and were quickly extinguished. Xu Qian'an took a deep breath, exhaled heavily, and wrote:

"Establish a mind for the world, establish a destiny for the people, inherit the lost knowledge of the past sages, and create peace for all generations!"

After writing, Xu Qian'an felt refreshed, and he let out the anger in his chest, threw away the

pen, and said loudly: "Say goodbye to the old, this is what a scholar should do."

Boom!

In Xu Cijiu's mind, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck, splitting the chaotic spiritual consciousness and the shackles of the soul.

He stared at his cousin blankly, not knowing whether it was an illusion, Xu Erlang seemed to

see a flash of thick purple air above his cousin's head.

Crack!

The stone tablet next to it suddenly made a cracking sound, and a huge crack appeared from

top to bottom.

The two brothers were startled, and before they could react, the entire Sub-Sage Academy trembled, the dome "rustled" and fell, and the candlesticks fell.

A clear air rushed out of the statue of the Sub-Sage, breaking through the white clouds on the

top of the mountain, and the strange phenomenon was seen dozens of miles away.

Xu Qian'an was stunned, his face was extremely ugly: "What's going on? It seems that I'm in

trouble." "What trouble, what trouble?" Xu Xinnian was emotional and said loudly: "What does this have to do with us, we have never been to the Sub-Sage Academy."

After saying that, he ran out of the door holding his head and fled. "Scholar, wait for me." Xu Qian'an ran after him, thinking that at critical moments, scholars are more capable of responding.