Plan to cut off the nine states

The prince of Jibei, Zhang Shiyu, has not completely forgiven his brother-in-law. This time he came to Siguo Valley mainly to accompany Kou Daogu.

Fan Guan was famous for being immune to recruitment. Even the emperor refused to invite him during his lifetime. His two most famous disciples, one Yin Fu, had already been an official, and the other, Kou Daogu, had always lived in seclusion. They were quite similar to their ancestors. If you can stay in Yecheng, even if you just get a noble idle position, you can win a lot of honor and support for the Prince of Jibei and his son.

For this reason, Zhang Shiyu had to lower his status and accept an eccentric scholar wholeheartedly.

After the first meeting, Zhang Shiyu didn't like this person very much. The more times he saw him, the less he liked him.

Kou Daogu was too arrogant, it was a kind of arrogance to the core. Looking down at all living beings, there seemed to be no difference between emperors and common people in his eyes. His face always had a confused expression, and no matter how lively the other party spoke, he would They were all indifferent, but occasionally they would sneer, look at them like lightning, point out mistakes without politeness, and then retreat into confusion, making the other party extremely embarrassed.

The group came to Fan Guan's tomb. Zhang Shiyu and Kou Dao stood alone in front of them, followed by more than ten disciples of the Fan family and more than ten senior scholars in Yecheng.

Zhang Shiyu, as the prince of Jibei, naturally could not kneel down and bowed his hands. He was about to praise Mr. Fan a few words when Kou Daogu, who was standing next to him, suddenly knelt down and cried loudly.

This cry came without any warning. Zhang Shiyu was so frightened that he almost jumped up. Although he steadied himself in the end, his expression changed and he felt embarrassed again.

All the scholars behind were also shocked. The grudge between Fan Guan and Kou Daogu, the master and disciple, had been forgotten. In the past few days, it was brought out again and everyone knew it. Therefore, no one expected that the disciple would actually Will cry in public.

Since Kou Daogu knelt down, others had to kneel down as well. Zhang Shiyu hesitated for a while and stepped aside. He couldn't laugh or cry in his heart. He hoped that his brother-in-law could win and kill Kou Daogu's arrogance.

Crying in mourning is an expression of filial piety. Many people cried in front of Fan Guan's tomb, especially Fan's disciples. They cried several times when they came to worship for the first time.

Kou Daogu's mourning was different. It was neither the wail of a mourning concubine nor a deep and affectionate cry. It was an uncontrollable cry, a little crazy, like a drunkard remembering sad things, like a child under ten years old being raped by his parents. The beating made ghosts cry and wolves howl, like a frustrated person hiding in a secluded place to vent his feelings...

In short, this was a very inappropriate cry. At first, there were people crying with him, but soon no one else could cry anymore. He looked at Guan Daogu in surprise, who was lying on the ground and crying heartily, feeling vaguely uneasy.

Zhang Shiyu was glad that he did not kneel down or cry.

An Chongqian was from Yecheng. Among the disciples of Fan Clan, he had no choice but to stand up and walk forward, kneeling next to his senior brother, extending his hands to support him and admonishing him: "Senior Brother Kou, my condolences, our master has passed away. These disciples..."

Kou Daogu shook off An Zhongqian's arm and cried: "Old sick man Fan, you died too late!"

Fan Guan sometimes called himself an "old and sick man", but his disciples never called him that, let alone the idea of ​​"dying too late".

Everyone was shocked, An Zhongqian reconciled and said: "Senior Brother Kou is too sad."

Kou Daogu stopped crying and did not wipe it away, letting the tears stick to his face. "Seven or eight years earlier, you would have been in the prime of your life. You knew what you should believe in and what you should learn. There was no doubt in your heart. You could pass away as a master and be remembered by others." , isn’t it better than today?”

An Chongqian no longer dared to answer the call.

Zhang Shiyu, who was standing aside, asked, "How are you today?"

"Fan Guan is no longer at his peak. He abandons the old theory but has not established the new theory. He is full of doubts and has no place to ask questions. He also has to hide it from outsiders. The grandmaster has become a deceitful person who steals his reputation. It is regrettable."

An Chongqian had to defend his master, "Senior Brother Kou is wrong in what he said. Master is getting older and stronger. He has not changed his teachings at all. He is becoming more and more skillful in teaching his disciples. He has no doubts. There is no need to ask, but many people come to ask him." When you ask questions, you always come in confusion and leave with satisfaction.”

Kou Daogu sneered - even if he was just listening, Zhang Shiyu hated this sneer - did not look at An Chongqian at all, his eyes stopped on the tombstone, "Your doubts are not real doubts, they are just short-sighted and cannot see the truth, or If you are not strong-willed and dare not see the truth, you will naturally be able to leave with satisfaction if you are enlightened by the classics. Only if you are a true scholar can you have real big doubts. You can argue for a day and a night, or even for a hundred or a thousand years, without achieving any results. At least you are a person who studies university knowledge. If you are addicted to small skills, how can you have big doubts? "

What he said offended everyone, and An Zhongqian blushed and was speechless. An old gentleman said angrily: "Crazy young man, what is your so-called big doubt? You might as well talk about it. In terms of knowledge, I and I Mr. Fan can’t compare, but it’s still enough to answer your questions and explain.”

Kou Daogu didn't seem to hear it, or he didn't bother to argue with this person. He pointed at the tombstone and said, "Who erected the tombstone? King Wu?"

An Chongqian said: "It's a few of our fellow disciples, we all pooled our money together..."

"Move it or smash it."

"Ah? Why?" An Chongqian's face turned redder.

"Fan Guan valued practical learning and disliked pretense. He seldom wrote in the second half of his life. It is said that he burned all Gu Zhong's articles. This shows that although he did not achieve great enlightenment when he died, he at least knew how to be humble, so he did not establish writing. You guys Since he was a disciple of the Fan family, why did he still carve the words on the stone for others to criticize? This is really unfilial. Alas, you were right when you said that Professor Fan Guan was a disciple. Fan Guan's knowledge has improved, but the selection of disciples is not as strict as before, and of course teaching is not tiring. "

"You...you..." An Zhongqian was so angry that he couldn't speak smoothly, "We invited you here to take back the orthodoxy from the king of Wu, not to insult the master and destroy the orthodoxy."

Kou Daogu sneered again.

Yan Wei had already publicly declared that he accepted Kou Daogu's teachings. At this time, he came up from behind and said, "Senior Brother Kou is right. One Fan disciple is indeed inferior to the other. The further we go, the worse our understanding becomes. We can say that we are the worst." A batch.”

"My understanding is poor, but at least I know how to respect the teacher."

Kou Daogu's sneer was like a round of long-range shots before the official charge of the army. One or two of them would always land in the enemy's formation, "Hey, look at this stone tablet. I know that you only recognize the word 'respected master' and don't understand its meaning." Righteousness has not entered its path.”

An Chongqian was so angry that he was trembling. Zhang Shiyu interjected: "When a master fights, he will win with one move. Everyone has seen Mr. Kou's ability, and Mr. An also learned it personally. That's enough, there is nothing to fight for here, really The opponent is over there.”

An Chongqian did not dare to refute the Prince of Jibei's face and bowed down. Kou Daogu didn't care at all, "Knowledge is not a fight. It can only be divided into early enlightenment, late enlightenment and unenlightenment. There is no master among them, and there is no single move to win. Even even There is no victory or defeat.”

Zhang Shi said with a smile: "I am an outsider in learning. I just talk nonsense. Mr. Kou doesn't need to use me to practice. Only by refuting Xu Chu can you be considered to be truly capable."

"Alas, if you want to show off your skills, you are not really knowledgeable."

"Hey, I made a mistake again. Anyway, since Mr. Kou is here, when will he go to see Xu Chu?"

"I want him to come see me."

"This is difficult. Xu Chu claims to be practicing. He will not get up without enlightenment, let alone leave the room. I can send someone to drag him out, but in that case, Mr. Kou will not be needed."

Kou Daogu took two steps, turned around and sat on the tombstone, looking at the houses in the distance, "I have worked hard to gain enlightenment, and I have touched the edge of university knowledge, but I can't get in. Yan Wei, go and pass the message for me."

"Yes, my disciple is willing to go." Yan Wei said he was a disciple and respected Kou Daogu very much.

An Chongqian and others all had angry faces. If the Prince of Jibei hadn't been standing nearby, they would have rushed up and pushed Kou Daogu off the tombstone.

Zhang Shiyu didn't care about these details. He originally just wanted to win over the scholars, but found that Kou Daogu offended more people than he pleased. He had given up this plan and just wanted to see how this debate would end.

"Go and ask King Wu, 'Can you see the Tao? Can you know it?'"

Yan Wei's eyes lit up, no matter what, the first question raised by Guan Daogu was grand enough, so he accepted the order, stepped back a few steps, turned around and left in a hurry.

Seeing his junior brother walking away, An Chongqian couldn't help but sneered, "Why go all the way to ask King Wu for such a question? I can answer it - it's not that I have a high understanding, but that the master has already explained it before his death, and all the disciples I know, Mr. Kou left early, so he probably didn’t hear about it.”

An Zhongqian no longer even called him "senior brother".

Kou Daogu glanced at him and said, "Fan Guan teaches students in accordance with their aptitude. Seeing that your qualifications are mediocre, he is worried that you will fall into confusion and be unable to extricate yourself, so he gives a simple answer. In fact, he wants you to shut up and stop thinking too much from now on."

"I haven't told you the answer yet." An Chongqian was really angry and insisted on challenging him.

Zhang Shiyu and others also hated Kou Daogu's arrogance and hoped to see someone destroy his prestige, so they did not stop him.

Kou Daogu raised his head slightly, "Fan Guan will definitely say: The Tao is visible and invisible, but it is visible, everyone can learn it, but it is invisible, no one can access the road, just like a mountain, everyone can enter and draw materials from it, but then No one can capture the whole mountain. He would also say: The Tao can be known or unknowable, just like a river. Everyone can drink from it and understand its taste, but no one can drink the water from a river.

An Chongqian stood stunned on the spot, and the other Fanmen disciples also looked the same as him.

No need to ask, Kou Daogu's answer was the same as Fan Guan's.

Others were not surprised, thinking that Fan Guan must have said something similar before and Kou Daogu just remembered it.

An old gentleman said: "Do you think Mr. Fan is right?"

"Of course it's not true. If everyone can just go into the mountains to get a piece of wood or go to the river to get a gourd to drink, what's the point of studying knowledge? Fan Guanzhi's statement is just to silence the question and does not solve the mystery."

"What a strong tone. If Mr. Fan is wrong, what is your answer?"

Kou Daogu sneered, "A summer insect cannot speak of ice. Even if I give you the answer, you can't understand it. Why should I waste my breath?"

The old gentleman who asked the question almost fainted with anger, "Okay. Is there no one in the world who can question you?"

"I came here to find an opponent. If Xu Chur answers well, I will continue. If his answer is wrong, I will leave immediately, just like before."

Naturally, it was referring to the sensational master-disciple debate. Kou Daogu left the meeting on the seventh day. There are different opinions on the reasons. According to his own statement, he actually felt that Fan Guan was not worthy of continuing the discussion with him.

Everyone shook their heads and couldn't tell who they expected to win and who lost.

Yan Wei ran back quickly, slowing down as he approached, with a happy face, obviously feeling that King Wu's answer was not satisfactory.

"Xu Chu has given up." Yan Wei said excitedly.

Everyone came here for this reason, but they were all disappointed at this time.

"What did he really say?" Kou Daogu asked.

"Exact words...Xu Chu said 'I don't know'."

A smile slowly appeared on Guan Daogu's face, "Well, it's not a good answer, but we can continue the discussion."