Zheng Xuan looked at the manuscript in his hand.

My head hurts a little.

After arriving in Chang'an, something happened, which made Zheng Xuan feel somewhat uncomfortable.

The manuscript in front of Zheng Xuan is "Li" that Zheng Xuan annotated some years ago.

As a great Confucian in the Han Dynasty, he was keen on teaching literature, so the so-called "annotations" are Zheng Xuan's understanding of the original text. Adding annotations to these ancient scriptures is of course not done casually, and not everyone has it.

To be qualified to add annotations to scriptures, you must at least be recognized by the majority of people...

Zheng Xuan annotated many scriptures, but he did not expect that his old annotations encountered new problems in Chang'an.

Zheng Xuan's original annotation on "The punishment of a doctor is not good enough" is, "The courtesy cannot be given to the common people, because they rush into things and cannot prepare things. If the punishment is not good enough for a doctor, they will not break the law with the sage. The violation of the law will be based on the eight opinions on the severity.

"Not in the punishment book"...

Now it seems that there are some problems.

A very difficult question.

In fact, not everything Feiqian said at Qinglong Temple is correct.

Zheng Xuan actually knew this in his heart.

In fact, in the "Book of Rites", there is not so much additional understanding as in later generations. The "Book of Rites" is just a pure record of the etiquette of the ancient Zhou Dynasty...

Just like the articles written by a tree planter often appear in the reading comprehension of later generations. Sometimes his articles may not have that much meaning. If they are written lyrically, they are mainly lyrical; if they are written sarcastically, they are mainly lyrical.

Sarcastic means accusatory, that is, the main accusation. It is impossible to be lyrical, sarcastic, accusatory, enlightening, etc. in one sentence. The power of words is indeed powerful, but it is limited to a certain paragraph and is sincere.

too busy.

Articles serve the purpose of the text.

The Book of Rites, or Rites of the Zhou Dynasty, was written to record the "rituals" of the Zhou Dynasty, that is, the rules. In the understanding of later generations, they added their own ideas, resulting in various interpretations.

For example, Zheng Xuan's annotation, and the description of General Fei Qian's visit to Qinglong Temple...

In fact, Fei Qian and Zheng Xuan's annotations on "Execution cannot reach a doctor" represent two different directions of understanding.

And the direction that the two people understood was inevitably taken out of context.

This is "private goods".

Zheng Xuan sighed, turned out the original copy of "Book of Rites" on the side, and then found the sentence "The doctor cannot be punished"...

It is written in "Book of Rites", "...the king of the country cares for the officials, the officials care for the officials, and the etiquette for the officials is not the same as for the common people. The punishment is not for the officials. The punishment is not on the king's side. The chariot is not equipped with military chariots, Suijing, and the chariots are tied..."

Well, there was no sentence to read in ancient times.

Zheng Xuan's annotation connected the privileges of scholar-officials during the Qin and Han Dynasties with "the courtesy cannot be extended to the common people, and the punishment cannot be extended to the officials", indicating that if the "officials" break the law, there are "eight opinions" that can reduce the severity and severity, and are not included in the punishment book.

This is a fact, and this is indeed the privilege obtained by "doctors" from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States to the present day.

When Zheng Xuan annotated this section, he also referred to some other people's annotations, such as Jia Yi's annotation on this sentence. In addition, Zheng Xuan himself was also a half-literary official. He enjoyed some privileges as a "literary official", but he also

The higher and more corrupt "scholar-officials" expressed hatred and shame. Therefore, under such circumstances, it is naturally understandable that Zheng Xuan made the previous comment on "the punishment cannot be punished for the officials".

but……

Anyone who has studied some literature, excluding Gang Jing, generally knows that "contacting context" is a very important prerequisite for reading comprehension.

So, this original text in the "Book of Rites" actually only records the specific etiquette of riding in a car.

Because according to the context, "Etiquette cannot be extended to common people, punishment cannot be extended to officials" should actually be divided into two sentences, and the commas should be changed to periods. These are two sentences, not meant to be juxtaposed for comparison, that is to say

"The king caress you like this, and the great ministers do it. The great man caress you like this, and the scholars do it. The etiquette is not the same as for the common people." This is connected together, and it talks about the general etiquette of riding in a car.

During the Zhou Dynasty, all those riding in the carriages were "scholars" or above, so when two carriages met, they had to show respect to each other.

That is "ritual".

When superiors meet subordinates, they don't have to get out of the car, but they have to hold on to the crossbar in front of the carriage and nod to salute; when subordinates meet superiors, they have to get out of the car and salute. This is "the king caressing you, the doctor caressing you. The doctor caressing you, the scholar caressing you."

』

right?

This is the original meaning.

Very Zhou Dynasty meaning.

As for common people, hehe, common people have carriages, they are just mud-legged, and naturally they don’t have this set of clothes, so they don’t have to abide by this set of etiquette patterns, so it’s called “courtesy is not inferior to common people.” It’s like

It is an internal rule of some companies that when subordinates see their superiors, they must stop and salute, and the superiors will nod and walk straight past. But can the etiquette within the company be used outside the company, so that people outside the company can follow suit?

"The punishment does not go to the doctor, and the person who punishes is not at the king's side." is a complete sentence. It is still talking about driving etiquette, indicating the punishment for violating the driving etiquette. If it is a relatively high-ranking doctor, the monarch cannot simply use

The punishment was humiliating, and at the same time, the king could not bring the executioner with him to intimidate his subordinates into bowing.

Because in the ancient Zhou Dynasty, at the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, the authority of the "jun" was not very great, and sometimes it was even less powerful than the "literary officials", especially the new monarch...

Just like a new manager in a company cannot wear HR on his belt and force old employees to salute respectfully when they meet, otherwise they will make a fuss about firing the old employees and punish them?

As for the following "Military chariots are not in style, Wu chariots are in Suijing, and German chariots are in knots", they are still talking about driving etiquette, and are alternative methods of riding etiquette for special vehicles.

Therefore, it is obvious that in the Book of Rites, there is no so-called "class oppression" or "class privilege" from beginning to end. This passage is just talking about the etiquette of riding in a car. This is also in line with the "Book of Rites"

The positioning of "Ji" itself is that it only talks about the etiquette and norms of the Zhou Dynasty...

As a result, later generations mixed "the courtesy should not be extended to the common people, and the punishment is not to the officials" into one sentence, which separated the specific context of riding etiquette in the "Book of Rites", and believed that "the courtesy should not be extended to the common people" refers to being rude to the common people, "

"You can't punish a doctor" means that nobles can be lawless. This is like calling out the "Primary School Student Code" and saying that it is class oppression of primary school students and condones the class privileges of adults.

Therefore, it can now be said that there is something wrong with Zheng Xuan's annotation.

Similarly, Fei Qian's annotation is also problematic.

Adding the original meaning of "Book of Rites", there are three explanations...

Watching and thinking about it, Zheng Xuan's head hurt even more.

This is the trouble with a king who is too smart and cannot be fooled! If he is a fool who does not understand the scriptures, he will just say whatever he says, even if he knows it is wrong, he will not even let out a fart!

The scriptures are normal, but the annotations are hidden secrets.

At present, Zheng Xuan's own original annotation conflicts with the annotation of General Hussars at Qinglong Temple. If he continues to use his own annotation, the consequences may not be very good. After all, if an employee blindly confronts the boss and does it unreasonably, there is probably nothing wrong with it.

Good ending.

But Zheng Xuan would not be willing to change it to Fei Qian's set of annotations.

Because of the "Eight Discussions".

In other words, it is "Eight Pi", which means the same thing.

"Eight Yi" refers to the eight types of people who commit crimes and must be handed over to the emperor for judgment, or the punishment can be reduced according to the law. There are also many privileges for the royal family, such as Yiqin, which is the emperor's relatives; Yigu, which is the emperor's past; Yiyi

Guests, that is, descendants of the previous monarchs are honored as state guests. On the surface, it seems to be protecting the imperial power, but in fact, the "Eight Discussions" are not to respect the imperial power, but to restrict the imperial power.

Because the authority to propose the "Eight Discussions" is not in the emperor's hands!

Will the emperor personally conduct trials and pronounce judgments? Obviously, most of the trials and pronouncements are done by ministers.

Having said that, does the emperor need "eight discussions"?

Among the royal relatives and old relatives, once a crime involving the imperial power occurs, it is almost certain to die, or at least life imprisonment, and there is no such thing as eight discussions.

Let’s take a look at the other contents of the Eight Discussions…

Yixian refers to a person with high moral character;

Yi Neng, that is, a person with outstanding talents;

Yi Gong, that is, a person with outstanding merits;

Yigui refers to officials of third rank or above and people with first rank title;

Yiqin, that is, a person who is diligent and hardworking...

That’s right, even “hard work” can be discussed!

Of course, the contents of the Eight Discussions were slightly different in each dynasty, but on the whole they were similar. The "scholar-officials" kept these contents in tacit agreement with each other so that they or their friends could open a discussion if something happened.

Backdoor, big things become trivial.

No matter whether they are ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign, those who serve as officials in the court are not worthy of being called bosses if they cannot account for more than four of these five. Ordinary officials can also have two or three, and at the worst, they can just grab a straw.

Take a deep dive.

Therefore, even though all the big scholars who studied scriptures in the past dynasties clearly knew that "the punishment is not good enough for the doctor" was problematic according to the explanation of the eight chapters, but no one would poke holes in the window paper.

not a single one.

And now he was stabbed out by the hussar general Fei Qian, and Fei Qian not only stabbed him, but also gave him a stick along the way.

"The courtesy cannot be extended to common people, and the punishment cannot be extended to officials!"

"Punishment" is used to regulate the common people, and "officials" cannot just use the "punishment" of the common people as the standard of conduct, but also go a step further and require "rituals" as their daily rules!

This is quite troublesome...

According to Fei Qian's explanation, the same two sentences have almost completely opposite meanings!
To be continued...