From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Zhou Yuan's speech made the scholars present feel ashamed, and many boudoir girls blinked their eyes and looked at Zhou Yuan, their eyes were bright and gentle, and their tenderness was overflowing.

In terms of talent, he wrote "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and caused a sensation in the south; in terms of martial arts, he took up a sword to suppress riots and protect the people; in terms of identity, he boldly admitted that he was a son-in-law, expressing his love for his wife; in terms of appearance, he was dignified, although not white, but with clear contours, quite masculine.

Moreover, he was not panicked at all in the face of criticism, but calm and composed, and fought back forcefully one by one, which was simply a strange man!

These boudoir girls were just beginning to fall in love, and they were shocked by Zhou Yuan's move, and their eyes were full of strange colors.

The change in atmosphere made Shen Qiaoshan a little depressed. When he heard Zhao Cheng just now, he remembered that this seemed to be his disciple at the beginning. He had corresponded with him over the years. After all, he was on the list of successful candidates.

But he never expected that this Yuanyi Zhenren Zhou Yuan was actually the son-in-law of his own disciple.

He became even more angry and shouted: "Nonsense! Nonsense! You are Zhao Cheng's son-in-law, but you don't even understand the basics of Confucianism!"

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "It seems that Mr. Qiaoshan knows that Jia Yue is his disciple."

Everyone looked at each other, not expecting that the two had this relationship.

Shen Qiaoshan said loudly: "Zhao Cheng is also smart, how could he accept you as his son-in-law? I really don't know what he likes about you!"

Zhou Yuan said: "Maybe I am still excellent?"

Shen Qiaoshan glared and said: "How can I be excellent! Military generals stabilize the country, and civil officials govern the country. The former uses military force to stabilize the country, and the latter uses civil officials to stabilize the people."

"The pride of scholars is not in fighting, but in the discipline of the people!"

"You don't even understand this principle, and you dare to talk about excellence and the pride of scholars!"

Zhou Yuan looked at Shen Qiaoshan and said slowly: "According to seniority, I should call you Taixian. Taixian, are you going to discuss the Tao with the younger generation?"

Shen Qiaoshan snorted: "I can't bear this Taixian, and I can't even talk about Tao. You are not worthy of discussing Tao with me!"

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "So Taixian has to look at the other person's age, fame and reputation before discussing Tao with others?"

Shen Qiaoshan didn't dare to respond to this sentence.

Zhou Yuan said, "In that case, let's all participate in the discussion. Gathering on the West Lake to admire the lotus is the right time to discuss the Tao."

"For example, Mr. Tai said that literati and scholars should be the rules and regulations for the people. At least I don't see much of the rules and regulations. So far, it is of no benefit to the country and the people."

Li Yunhua immediately changed color and said, "Zhou Yuan! You are too arrogant to say this! Literati and scholars are of no benefit to the country and the people. Are you denying all scholars? If you can't explain it clearly, everyone present will not forgive you."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "Brother Li, are you going to discuss the Tao?"

Li Yunhua said proudly, "I am not afraid! As a literati and Confucian scholar, I will never accept such insults."

"Literati have been ruling the world since ancient times. If there is no Confucianism, how can the world know virtue? How can we know loyalty and filial piety? How can we know the principles of human relations!"

The people around also nodded secretly, indicating that Li Yunhua was right.

Zhou Yuan said: "But what does that have to do with you? Morality, loyalty, filial piety, and human ethics are the achievements of the ancient sages. Where is the achievement of contemporary literati?"

"You are nothing more than literati, talking about everything, scolding the court, criticizing the dog officials, and then writing some poems and songs to entertain yourself, that's all."

"You scolded the defeat of Liaodong, the rebellion of Shanxi and Shaanxi bandits, and the rebellion of Guangxi Tusi, but... did you do anything about it?"

Zhou Yuan looked at everyone and asked in confusion: "Have you really understood these things? Have you analyzed and thought about these things? Have you made suggestions to the court? You haven't done anything!"

Li Yunhua opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say for a while, and stared: "We are not officials, why should we do that? "

Zhou Yuan chuckled and said, "On the one hand, you say that scholars rule the world, but on the other hand, you feel that you are not an official, and the disaster of the country is not your responsibility. Is this your pattern? Is this your governance?"

Luoxue Layman stood up and bowed, saying, "Mr. Zhou, I am not talented, but I want to say a few words."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "Please speak."

Luoxue Layman said, "We are not officials, and we don't understand these specific affairs, so we can't make suggestions. This is understandable."

"At the same time, we denounce the national disaster just because we care about the people. What's wrong with that?"

"As scholars, we can't analyze specific affairs, but we can grasp the root and urge the saintly monarch to be wise and the ministers to be honest and pragmatic. What's wrong with that?"

The people around him quickly echoed.

"Yes! What's wrong with us expecting the saintly monarch to be wise?"

"We scold the treacherous ministers and hope that the court will become better, and the officials will be honest and pragmatic.The governance is clearer, what's wrong with that? "

Zhou Yuan smiled slowly and said, "Mr. Luoxue said it well, there is nothing wrong with what you did!"

"It's just that it didn't work."

"Nothing is wrong, it doesn't work, it's just for self-entertainment, that's what you do."

"I don't think you are mean, I don't think you are ignorant, I just say you are useless."

Mr. Luoxue got angry and frowned, "Do scholars have to kill enemies like you to be useful? Must they be officials to be useful? This statement is too narrow."

Others spoke out in agreement. When they were maintaining the dignity of the group, they didn't care about being afraid of Zhou Yuan.

And Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "Mr. Tai also thinks so?"

Shen Qiaoshan said coldly, "Of course!"

Zhou Yuan looked to the left and sighed, "Do Lord Li and Lord Xu think so too? ”

Li Zhaolu was very calm and said slowly: "Scholars and Confucian scholars supervise national policies and criticize current problems, which is of course useful."

Xu Cunzhong smiled and said: "It is because scholars care about national affairs that they can influence the people to care about them. This is a guiding role."

Luoxue looked at Zhou Yuan and said softly: "What else do you want to say?"

Zhou Yuan said: "Both adults are right, but they only say nice things."

"You affirmed the positive role of scholars, but did not explain that those roles are actually insignificant."

"In other words, scholars don't know what they want to do or what they should do."

Luoxue said: "Master Yuan Yi might as well speak frankly, what do you think should be done?"

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "Huzhou has been suffering from drought for three years, and the fields have no harvest. The people beg for a living and countless people starve to death. Where did the Confucian scholars go? Why didn't anyone speak for them? If your influence is used to raise funds for disaster relief, do you know how many lives can be saved? ”

“You all know about the Yunzhou riot, right? Why didn’t anyone stand up to speak for the people of Yunzhou? Help them appeal to the court for relief and help them rebuild their homes?”

“Confucian scholars do have influence, but you don’t know what you should do at all, and you don’t use your influence well at all.”

“To put it bluntly, you are not doing practical things at all. You just hope that your influence will be greater and more promising. In essence, you only care about yourself.”

The sound was like a bell, which stunned everyone.

Zhou Yuan pointed at the crowd and said, “Whatever topic can make you famous, you will talk about it, and whatever can increase your influence, you will do it.”

“You are all revolving around yourself, revolving around fame and fortune, and the so-called influence is not used in practice at all.”

“Discipline and ethics? Confucian scholars governing the country? It’s all bullshit, all for their own future!”

“Have you ever cared about the victims? Have you ever cared about the people? Do you know that many people are poor and have no books to read? Have you ever thought about opening a charity school? "

"When it comes to business, it has nothing to do with you. You just talk about morality and righteousness and praise yourself highly."

"But don't forget that the higher you stand, the farther you are from the people on the ground."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan took a sip of tea, and finally grinned and said: "I don't want to hit you, but you still think you are noble. Are you satisfied now?"