It was freezing cold in Nanjing in the early morning. The first thunder of this spring hit last night, and the icy rain continued to fall, with no sign of stopping until the fifth watch.
At this time, those who pour night fragrance have finished their work, and the people who got up early to work have not yet gone out. There are only poor civil servants and generals on the street, riding horses and carriages to the palace gate to wait for the court.
But unlike usual, they traveled in separate directions from all directions. Today, at the fourth watch of the day, the civil servants first gathered in front of the Confucius Temple. Together with the Confucian scholars who had fasted all night in the temple last night, they kowtowed to the memorial tablets of Confucius and Mencius, and then went around.
A strong young official stepped forward respectfully and slowly raised the two-foot-seven-inch high, nine-dragon-circled, black and gold-lettered tablet of 'Dacheng Supreme Saint Wenxuan King'.
Then four more people came forward, lifted up the "sub-sage Mencius" among the four figures on the side, and accompanied the saint Confucius to appeal together to boost his momentum.
So, nearly a hundred officials in the front led the way, eight people in the middle carried the tablets of the two saints, hundreds of officials followed in the rear, and behind them were followed by Confucian scholars like Wu Zhuangyuan who were not qualified to go to court. They came in a mighty and solemn manner.
Go outside the right gate of Chang'an.
This trouble came too late. Cao Guogong, Song Guogong and other distinguished military ministers, as well as Hu Weiyong and other senior Zhongshu officials, had already arrived first.
The Duke of Song and other dignitaries naturally looked at the excitement and did not mind the matter, pointing and gloating at the misfortune.
"Hey, I brought out the ancestral tablet."
"Good guy, you have to fight hard. This is it."
"Two gentlemen, are we not allowed to help others?" These nobles were all resentful towards Boss Zhu, and many took the opportunity to make noises and raise a table.
"Stop making noise here," Cao Guogong put his hands in his sleeves and said expressionlessly: "You don't want to go to Yunnan?"
"What do we think is the use? Mu Ying and Zhu Liangzu drank the first soup." The nobles murmured unhappily, but they still kept their mouths shut.
Boss Zhu just decided on the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief first to prepare for the war. However, it is impossible for the army to be deployed early, so it has not yet been announced which army will be sent to participate in the war.
The nobles don't want to be like Fei Ju, Lu Zhongheng and the others, standing aside early without even being able to drink soup. That way their brothers will resent them to death.
There is little room for improvement for them, but the brothers below still need to make contributions and seek as high a hereditary official position as possible for their descendants.
"What are you doing?!" Hu Weiyong yelled loudly at this time. "Are you trying to force me into the palace?!"
The civil servants carried the two huge tablets to the entrance of the palace. The leader, Zheng Jiucheng, the Minister of Rites, said solemnly to Hu Weiyong:
"Since Prime Minister Hu is unwilling to make the decision for Shilin, we have no choice but to ask two saints to take action!"
"Nonsense!" Hu Weiyong said angrily: "The tablets are placed in the temple for worship. Do you know how dangerous it is to carry them outside?"
The civil servants understood what he meant, it was just that it would give the emperor an excuse to deal with the two saints.
But they still didn't believe that Boss Zhu dared to risk the disapproval of the world and poke out the tablet for the saint.
"Alas, Mr. Hu, we have no choice but to do this." Zheng Jiucheng sighed and said, "Don't worry, we will live and die with the position of saint."
"You..." Hu Weiyong was about to be dissuaded, but the irritable official shouted angrily: "Please get out of the way!"
As he said this, a group of young officials who were not afraid of heaven or earth carried the memorial tablet and threw it in front of Hu Weiyong's face.
Hu Weiyong was about to kiss Confucius, so he had to quickly step aside...
~~
On the tower of the right gate of Chang'an, Boss Zhu was wearing a black cloak and had a panoramic view of the scene below.
"Mr. Yan Shenggong, have you seen it with your own eyes?" He sneered at the middle-aged man wearing a Confucian robe standing aside: "Who is harming your ancestors?"
"Yes, I understand." The middle-aged man with a tired look on his face is none other than Kong Xixue, the fifty-sixth generation grandson of Confucius and the first Duke of Yansheng in this dynasty.
He would go to Beijing every year to greet the emperor on behalf of the Confucius family, and then return to Qufu to guard the temple of Confucius after the new year.
This year he also followed the old practice of resigning as soon as the first lunar month came out and took a boat across the Grand Canal back to Shandong. Who knew that as soon as he arrived in Huai'an, he was chased back by the emperor's 800-mile rush.
Moreover, it was an eight-hundred-mile rush to get back. This journey on horseback upset the pampered Yan Shenggong. The skin on his inner thighs was all gone...
At this time, he stood behind the emperor. Hearing this, he wiped his sweat and said angrily: "How could they do this? Who gave them the power to dare to touch the tablets of my ancestors?!"
In fact, those scholars were at least nominally safeguarding the status of his ancestors. Ordinarily, even if he did not get involved, he should not be in a hurry to draw a clear line with them.
But Kong Xixue knew his own family affairs well. He knew that although his family continued to inherit the title of Duke Yansheng in this dynasty, he did not like the emperor. If he did not cooperate honestly, he would definitely be punished.
~~
As mentioned in the previous episode, the reason why Boss Zhu dislikes Confucius is because he was influenced by Liu Bowen.
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a lying meeting. The emperor and his ministers talked about Zhao Pu's allusion of "ruling the world with half of the Analects of Confucius".
Boss Zhu, who had little education, was naturally fascinated and said that he would focus on studying "The Analects of Confucius" in the future.
Liu Bowen disagreed. In his opinion, Confucius had not been an official well, so how could he understand the 'way of being an official'? It was even less possible for him to truly understand the 'way of governing a country'.
Therefore, those words in the "Analects" are nothing more than "discussions" by teachers and students. It is okay to use them to improve personal cultivation, but to govern the country according to them is purely to seek fish from a tree, and to ask blindly.
Moreover, whenever Liu Bowen spoke, the evidence must be conclusive and indisputable. He told Zhu Yuanzhang that the so-called "half of the Analects of Confucius governs the world" could not be found in the official records of the Northern Song Dynasty, official unofficial histories, and literati's notes.
Its prototype first appeared in "On the Origin of Ancient and Modern Times·Confucian History" written by Lin Jun of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Liu Bowen, who was knowledgeable and memorized, recited to Boss Zhu on the spot:
"Zhao Pu is an honorable minister of his generation. He has conquered east and west without any dissatisfaction. He has learned what he has learned and has no career beyond the Analects of Confucius." After a pause, he added: "The following is a small note; Zhao Pu said: "The Analects of Confucius" 2
Of the ten chapters, I will use half of them to help Taizu rule the world."
"This kind of statement began to be seen in later Southern Song Dynasty notes." Liu Bowen continued: "And how did the Northern Song Dynasty people record their founding prime minister. They said that he had "little practice in official affairs, little scholarship, and little ability to serve as prime minister."
Taizu often advised him to study. In his later years, he would not let go of the scrolls, so he could read twenty chapters of "The Analects of Confucius". In other words, he relied on his skills as a grammarian to assist Song Taizu in seizing the country and becoming a king. It was not until his later years that he began to come into contact with "The Analects of Confucius".
It’s not that you become a good candidate only after reading The Analects of Confucius.”
After speaking, he teased: "It is not surprising that it became the later saying. Because the Confucian scholars in the Song Dynasty have been sparing no effort to improve the status of Confucianism and completely trampled the grammarians into dust."
