Nightwatcher

"Until this time, a scholar from Yunlu Academy took over the position of the chief assistant of the cabinet. He did not continue to adhere to the ideas of his predecessors, and resolutely devoted himself to Renzong's command. He solved the matter for Renzong despite the abuse. There was a lot of trouble The national struggle is finally over.

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

"And the decline of Confucianism also begins here."

This is the origin of the dispute between Yunlu Academy and Guozijian about Confucian orthodoxy.

Guozijian is a national university, and Yunlu Academy is a private institution, how can a private institution do better than a national institution Xu Qi'an suddenly realized.

After Xu Nian finished speaking, with the tone of a school exam, "What do you think, brother? Well, I mean the matter of fighting for the country's foundation, which has nothing to do with academics."

Is it because you feel that if it involves academics, a muddy leg like the elder brother can't answer it? Xu Qi'an complained in his heart, and said with a smile: "On the surface, it is a struggle for the foundation of the country, but it is actually a struggle for power."

"Scholars who want to display their ambitions must hold great power, and the amount of power in a country is fixed. When you hold more power, others will lose power. The highest state of party struggle is to stand on top of the emperor and become uncrowned Emperor."

Xu Nian was originally taking the school exam casually, but when he heard this, his face changed drastically.

Xu Qi'an glanced at him sideways: "Why, I'm not right?"

That's right, but you can't talk nonsense. Xu Nian took a deep breath: "Go on."

Xu Qi'an nodded: "No matter how powerful the Confucian dragon slaying technique is, the imperial power is still stronger after all. Learning literary and martial arts, you can buy it in the emperor's family. This sentence can explain everything. Since ancient times, no matter whether you are greedy or virtuous, as long as you are a powerful minister , there will be no good end."

Controlling the government is only for a while, and it will be liquidated in the end, because a courtier will always be a courtier. When Xu Qi'an studied history in his previous life, there were too many uncrowned emperors, which one would end well?

It doesn't matter if Cao A hides it, the war-torn era when the imperial power collapsed is another matter.

Xu Nian asked urgently, "Is there any way to crack it?"

What the elder brother told him, the academy would not teach.

"No solution!" Xu Qi'an shook his head, and sighed: "The court is like a battlefield, the party fights are fun for a while, and the family crematorium."

What he said was weird, but there seemed to be a thousand years of literature and history brewing in his eyes. Looking at these eyes, Xu New Year was stunned.

"But big brother has another idea here." Xu Qi'an changed the subject.

"Brother, please tell me."

"Qian Daru's deeds are a living example. When you can affect the luck of a country, you will change from a scholar attached to the imperial power to a strong man who can sit on an equal footing with the imperial power."

Xu Xinian's eyes lit up, and as soon as a look of joy appeared on his face, he heard Xu Qi'an say leisurely: "Erlang is extremely intelligent, and children can be taught."

"" Xu Erlang finally realized that it was obviously me who was taking the school exam.

Xu Qi'an didn't continue to speak, thinking about a question in his heart. Although Yunlu Academy's future in the officialdom has been cut off, it is still a holy place that controls the Confucian practice system.

The only thing that was cut off was his official career.

Although Xu Xinian didn't say whether it was the academy's official career that started to weaken or the entire Confucian system began to weaken, Xu Qi'an felt that it was the latter.

Because of what Xu Erlang said in conjunction with the waterfall: For two hundred years, the highest level of Confucianism has only been three grades.

Is it because after the third grade, the Confucian system must enter the arena as an official? Or does it involve something like Confucian luck?

"Then what does this tablet mean? Why is it standing here." He asked.

Xu Nian stared at the words in the stele with complicated eyes, and sighed, "This is the follow-up, or part, of the Confucian orthodoxy."

"That Cheng Yasheng is amazingly talented. After he established the Imperial Academy, he knew that if he wanted to surpass Yunlu Academy, he must have his own education system. Otherwise, the students of the Imperial Academy would still be the students of Yunlu Academy.

"So he devoted himself to studying the classics of sages, refocusing on them, and incorporating his own thoughts. After thirteen years, he finally created an education system in which the blue is better than the blue."

"Preserve the laws of nature to destroy human desires?" Xu Qi'an's heart moved.

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

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

"All things rely on reason to flourish. But people will lose themselves and lose reason in the turmoil and intertwining of all things in the world."

"So it is necessary to preserve the laws of heaven and destroy human desires?" Xu Qi'an said.

Preserving the principles of nature and destroying human desires is the outline of the Guozijian school of thought. Xu Qi'an is waiting for Xu Xinian's explanation on how to operate it.

Xu Nian continued: "Cheng Yasheng set up a set of rules for the sages to collect annotations. If scholars follow this set of rules, they will not make mistakes, it is correct, and it conforms to the laws of heaven and earth.

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

Xu Xinnian sneered: "If the king wants his ministers to die, the ministers have to die; if the father wants his sons to die, the sons have to die; for righteousness, he should sacrifice his life; for the sake of festivals, he should die."

Xu Qi'an listened silently, and suddenly asked: "What do you think about resigning from the past, is this right or wrong?"

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

Xu Qi'an understood that this kind of power is called "thought imprisonment".

"That's why there is this tablet?" Xu Qi'an turned his gaze back to the inscription.

"Yes." Xu Erlang nodded: "The dispute between Yunlu Academy and Guozijian is a dispute between academics and ideas. But this monument has stood in Yasheng Academy for two hundred years, and it has never fallen. Otherwise, Yunlu Academy will not be able to defeat Guozijian in one day."

"The dean has been sitting in the academy for more than ten years, with a lot of experience, trying to refute what is recorded on the inscription, trying to create a more mature and correct concept, but he failed."

"Because it represents the truth and correctness." Xu Qi'an said.

"Yes." Xu Nian sighed: "Not only the dean, but all the great Confucian scholars and gentlemen of the Academy have been competing with this inscription, but no one has succeeded. How can ordinary people refute Yasheng's thoughts."

"That blank tablet over there..." Xu Qi'an had a guess in his heart.

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

"Later, some students and Confucian scholars tried to write inscriptions on the stele to compete with Cheng Yasheng's inscription, but they would all be wiped off the next day. However, the pen and inkstone on the table remained. Perhaps the dean also had a glimmer of expectation." .”

"Because of this, whenever the students have a sudden whim and feel good about themselves, they will come here to write inscriptions. It's a pity that the person the dean is looking forward to has never appeared."

"I thought I could do it, and I also inscribed on the stone tablet." At this point, Xu Xinian didn't continue, obviously because he didn't intend to tell his cousin about his youthful frivolity, so as to avoid another social death.

Facing the inscription, Xu Qi'an was silent for a moment and said in a deep voice:

"Farewell to the old days, my eldest brother asks you, the king is more important, or the people of the world are more important."

Xu Nian didn't hesitate: "Naturally, it is the common people in the world."

Xu Qi'an asked again: "Then why are you studying?"

Xu Nian subconsciously said: "Loyal to the emperor and serve the country"

After speaking, he was stunned.

Xu Qi'an didn't care, and continued to ask: "Is being famous in history really the lifelong pursuit of a scholar?"

Xu Nian didn't answer, his silence said everything.

What the two great Confucians of Yunlu Academy did to rub poetry also explained everything.

Xu Qi'an sighed quietly.

The king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die, why?

If the father wants the son to die, the son has to die, why?

Can't this shitty society have more human rights? Xu Qi'an smiled and said: "I'm not a scholar, but I also want to write something, say goodbye to the old, and grind for me."

Xu New Year frowned.

Xu Qi'an said: "Anyway, the brush and ink are placed here, isn't it just for people to write, if the elder brother writes badly, someone will erase it tomorrow."

After Xu Nian finished listening, he went to grind ink. Suddenly, he stood in front of the monument with a pen in his hand and asked, "What do you want to write, brother?"

"This time I want to write it myself." Xu Qi'an grabbed the pen and stared at the blank stone tablet.

Suddenly, the face of the stall owner who ate breakfast this morning appeared in his mind. He was so painful that he was dying, but he didn't dare to ask for money. Poor as a dog.

The issue of subordinate officials in the Dafeng Dynasty has been a problem for a long time. The whole palace is full of clothes and beasts, and everyone is loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but they have never lowered their eyes of pity to the people at the bottom.

He thought of Zhou Li's arrogant and domineering posture when he rode his horse in the street. I thought of the record of rampant in the government office in the capital.

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

In his previous life, he knew at least a few vigorous peasant uprisings, but in this world, peasant uprisings were quickly extinguished without even a chance to take shape.

Xu Qi'an took a deep breath, exhaled heavily, and picked up a pen to write:

"Set up a heart for the heaven and earth, a life for the living and the people, a legacy for the saints, and peace for all generations!"

After finishing writing, Xu Qi'an only felt refreshed, let out the depression in his chest, threw away the pen, and said loudly: "Let's say goodbye to the old, this is what a scholar should do."

Boom!

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

He stared blankly at his cousin, wondering if it was an illusion, Xu Erlang seemed to see the dense purple air on his cousin's head disappearing in a flash.

Click!

The stone tablet next to it suddenly cracked, and a huge crack appeared from top to bottom.

The two brothers were taken aback. Before they could react, the entire Yasheng Academy trembled, the dome rustled and the candlesticks fell over.

A gust of fresh air burst from the Yasheng sculpture, breaking through the white clouds on the top of the mountain, and visions could be seen dozens of miles away.

Xu Qi'an was stunned, and his face was extremely ugly: "What's going on? Seems like something happened."

"What's the trouble, what's the trouble?" Xu Xinian was emotional and said loudly: "What does this have to do with us, we have never been to Yasheng Academy before."

After finishing speaking, he rushed out the door with his head in his arms, and fled.

"Scholar, wait for me." Xu Qi'an ran after him, thinking that at critical moments, scholars still have strong adaptability.

PS: The Neo-Confucianism in the book is an academic school that I diverged and reformed based on "Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism". It is quite different from the Neo-Confucianism in reality, so don't take it seriously.

This is based on realistic materials, and then I will modify it myself. After all, you asked me to make an academic school by rote.

The reason for the explanation is mainly that "Cheng-Zhu Confucianism" is polarized in praise and criticism, which easily leads to unnecessary war of words, so I have to make a statement.

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