Speaking of the queen, the prince stopped abruptly: "Brother, I can't say anything about this matter."
Xu Zhiqiong didn't ask any more questions. He himself had no interest in royal disputes. He was more interested in the blood tree.
But the prince didn't know the purpose of the blood tree: "What is the purpose of turning people into trees? To this day, I still don't understand. There are very few cultivators of the Four Evils, and very few cultivators of chaos. Almost no one knows
The skills and methods of chaos cultivators."
Lin Qianniang looked at the engraving next to her and reminded her, "Your Highness, Gongsun Bingdu is coming."
The prince's reading companion, a seventh-rank official, is nominally the person who accompanies the prince to study, but is actually the prince's teacher and the person who teaches the prince to study.
Isn’t the prince’s teacher a senior member of the first rank—the prince’s young master?
The Prince's Young Master is only a teacher in name, usually held concurrently by princes or important ministers, and is an official position without actual duties.
The prince's young teacher at that time was King Huai. How could he enter the palace every day to give lessons to the prince?
Liang Yuyang didn't like reading very much. It is said that he changed dozens of reading companions before and after, and this Gongsun's reading companion was named Gongsun Wen. He started teaching the prince to read last year, so he persisted for a relatively long time.
"Among the many companions, this person is the most annoying. I have chased him away several times, but he just refused to leave."
Xu Zhiqiong said: "Your Highness, just think of a way and embarrass him a few times."
The prince shook his head: "Don't say it's embarrassing, I've scolded him many times. This guy has a thick skin, but he doesn't take it seriously."
"Then beat him!"
"This is the teacher invited by the emperor. How can we beat him just because he wants to?"
Xu Zhiqiong shrugged his eyebrows: "Then there is nothing we can do."
"There is a way. He made a bet with me. If I ask a question and defeat him in debate, he will never come to the East Palace again!"
Xu Zhiqiong said in surprise: "This is not easy. Who can defeat Qian Niang in a debate?"
Lin Qianniang shook her head and said: "This man has unbeatable debating skills, but I can't compete with him."
"Is there any undefeated argument?"
Lin Qianniang lamented: "His debate skills are called the theory of two minds, one is the heart of a fool, and the other is the heart of a wise man. According to his remarks, common sense in the world is all the arguments of fools, but he can interpret them as the wise man's.
He speaks the opposite argument, his mind is extremely quick, and he can explain the most ridiculous things with reasonable evidence, which even puts me to shame."
What is the heart of a fool or the heart of a wise man? Xu Zhiqiong was confused when he heard this.
He was originally a seventh-grade official who taught the prince, but he still dared to provoke the prince repeatedly. Was he dissatisfied with his long life?
After a long silence, Xu Zhiqiong laughed loudly: "I have a plan to make His Highness invincible."
The prince looked surprised: "Tell me about it!"
"Your Highness, don't argue with him, naturally you won't lose to him!"
"Bah!" The prince spat at Xu Zhiqiong and said with a sad look on his face, "I really don't want to see this guy!"
Lin Qianniang urged: "Your Highness, please go quickly. Don't keep Gongsun Bingdu waiting for a long time and have to talk endlessly. Xu Lang and I are waiting for you here."
Xu Zhiqiong nodded and said: "Your Highness, don't be impatient, and deal with him slowly."
The prince smiled and said: "I will deal with him slowly, and you two will do things slowly!"
Xu Zhiqiong said: "We can also do it faster!"
"If you want to go, go together! How can I suffer and you enjoy the happiness? Qianniang hides behind the screen, and Zhiqiong studies with me."
Xu Zhiqiong looked confused: "What's the use of me going..."
The prince forced Xu Zhiqiong and Qianniang to go to the study. Qianniang hid behind the screen, and Xu Zhiqiong sat next to the prince.
The chamberlain took Gongsun Wen into the study. He looked to be in his fifties, eight feet tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, regular features, and dressed as a Confucian.
Xu Zhiqiong took a look with the pupil of sinful karma, and found that there was only one-third of the sinful karma on his head, and there was no cultivation level.
If you don't have any cultivation, you don't need to take it seriously. He's just a chatterbox.
Gongsun Wen saluted the prince, but the prince did not respond.
Gongsun Wen looked at Xu Zhiqiong: "I wonder who this young man is..."
The prince said: "This man is my best friend, and I will listen to your lectures together today."
Gongsun Wen frowned and said, "I'm afraid this is inappropriate. I am giving lectures to the prince. Every word and every word is the words of a wise man. How can it be listened to by fools?"
Call me a fool?
Xu Zhiqiong's face darkened.
The prince’s face also darkened!
"I have said that this person is my best friend. You say that he is a fool, but you are not looking down upon me?"
Gongsun Wen said with a smile: "Your Highness is serious. I am also thinking of this young man. A wise man's argument cannot be understood by a fool. Listening to the lecture here is also a torment. Why should we embarrass him?"
The prince said angrily: "But you humiliate my friends again!"
Xu Zhiqiong advised from the side: "Your Highness, please calm down. He is a warrior in his humble position. He came to the East Palace as an errand under His Majesty's order. In the final analysis, he is just a bodyguard."
Gongsun Bandu said that I am a fool, which is true. However, due to my responsibilities, I am always by His Highness’s side. Even if there is suffering, I can only endure it despite my humble position.”
The prince snorted coldly: "That's all, stop chatting, just give lectures."
Gongsun Wen opened the book and began to lecture: "The chapter I learned today is that the kindness of the emperor is better than the kindness of one's own."
When Xu Zhiqiong heard this, he opened the book. It turned out that it was a classic written by Gongsun Wen, called "The Words of Wisdom and Heart". What he just said, "Kindness from a king is better than kindness from a relative" is one of the chapters. The main theme is
Your kindness is far better than the nurturing kindness of your parents.
The prince looked through it again and sneered: "This is all fallacy!"
Gongsun Wen said with a smile: "Why did your Highness say this?"
"If you don't have parents to support you, where does your life come from? If you lose your life, how can you receive the kindness of the king?"
Gongsun Wen said with a straight face: "According to a fool's heart, one's life comes from one's parents; according to a wise man's heart, one's life comes from the king."
Xu Zhiqiong was shocked: "Are you born to His Majesty?"
The prince also smiled: "So, I should call you brother!"
Gongsun Wen smiled calmly: "Your Highness, there is no need to sneer. This body of flesh and blood was given by our parents. However, it is possible to stand between heaven and earth because of your Majesty's kindness.
A country cannot live without a king for a day. If the king is not there, then the Great Prosperity will not exist. If the Great Prosperity does not exist, what will the thousands of people do for a living?
Whether our fathers can live to adulthood is a matter of doubt. Even if they live to adulthood and give birth to me, where will my clothes come from? Is there anyone who wants to be a weaver? Where is my home? Is there someone who is willing to be a craftsman? Where will my food come from?
Where did it come from? Is there anyone in this world who cultivates fields? Where does the road under my feet come from? Is there anyone who is willing to build roads and bridges?
The way of a country, orderly from top to bottom, depends entirely on the king. If the country does not have a king, we will have no clothes to cover our bodies, eat in the wind and sleep in the open air, drink blood with our hair on our backs, unable to move even an inch, and live in the wilderness, competing with animals for food, without the strength of our claws, and without the power of our claws.
His muscles and bones are strong, but his life is worse than that of an animal!
What makes a human being depends entirely on the king of a country working hard at night and working hard at politics. Only then can the people of the world perform their duties and prosper, and can stand with their heads held high between heaven and earth. I can be a human being for this whole life.
Your Majesty’s kindness is far greater than personal kindness. What objections does Your Highness have?”
The prince curled his lips and was speechless for a long time.
Xu Zhiqiong did not listen carefully to Gongsun Wen's words and kept reading his book. This chapter is called King's kindness is better than personal kindness, and the next chapter is called King's kindness is better than Heaven's kindness. The whole "Zhixinyan" has only one main theme,
The monarch's kindness is more important than anything else.
In Daxuan, especially among Confucian practitioners, such remarks are not uncommon, but such explicit remarks as what he said are unique.
No wonder the prince hates Gongsun Wen so much. His thoughts are extremely inconsistent with the prince's.
The prince shook his head repeatedly and said: "This is all fallacy, all fallacy!"
The prince thought this was a fallacy, which proved that Xu Zhiqiong was not wrong about him.
Gongsun Wen sighed and said: "Your Highness said this is a fallacy, and I would like to ask Your Highness, what is the right argument?"
"The people are the most valuable, the country is the second most important, and the king is the least important. This is the right theory!"
Gongsun Wen shook his head and said with a smile: "This fool's theory is only for fools. How can your highness believe it to be true?"
The prince said angrily: "You said a wise man is a wise man? You said a fool is a fool? Why? I have to argue with you today about right and wrong!"
Gongsun Wen nodded: "Your Highness wants to argue about right and wrong, so I will accompany you. Let me first ask Your Highness, what is right? What is wrong? Can Your Highness give me some advice?"
The theory of two minds came out, Gongsun Wen opened the topic, and he was provoking the prince.
The prince did not give up, and accepted the move on the spot: "It is wrong to kill someone, how can you still come up with such nonsense?"
Gongsun Wen laughed loudly: "Your Highness has made an arbitrary decision. According to the wisdom of a wise man, there is nothing wrong with killing someone!"
The prince said: "How come there is nothing wrong? Just tell me!"
Gongsun Wendao: "According to a fool's mind, killing someone is wrong. According to a wise person's mind, killing a heinous thief is wrong. Not only is it not wrong, but it is meritorious!"
The prince said angrily: "Don't be chatty, I say it is wrong to kill innocent people!"
Gongsun Wen shook his folding fan and took a sip of tea: "This is still a fool's opinion. If a foreign enemy attacks our grand propaganda, each of the two armies is their own master. What crime is there? Is it wrong for our army to kill the enemy and perform meritorious service?"
"
The prince gritted his teeth and turned to look at Xu Zhiqiong.
Xu Zhiqiong lowered his head and said nothing.
Gongsun Wen lowered his face and said: "According to the wisdom of a wise man, there is nothing wrong with killing people! If there is anything wrong with killing someone, it is only because of the actions of a fool! What else can you say, Your Highness?"
The prince was silent.
Gongsun Wendao: "Your Highness, are you admitting defeat?"
"What happens if we lose?"
"I have something to say first. If Your Highness can't argue with me, I will never come to the East Palace again in the future. Your Highness lost today, and you will go to Tianzhang Pavilion tomorrow to listen to my lectures."
The prince said angrily: "Will I still listen to your lectures tomorrow?"
Gongsun Wen put away the folding fan and said, "Your Highness, don't you admit that you lost?"
The prince was speechless again.
"Since I have admitted defeat, I will wait for His Highness at Tianzhang Pavilion tomorrow, but Your Highness cannot break the appointment."
After finishing speaking, Gongsun Wen picked up "The Words of Wisdom and Heart" and continued his lecture.
The lecture lasted for two hours. The prince's veins popped out and Xu Zhiqiong fell into a drowsy state.
After finally sending Gongsun Wen away, Lin Qianniang walked out from behind the screen and sighed softly: "This person is really good at eloquence!"
The prince got angry at Xu Zhiqiong: "Besides, you are my brother, why don't you help me vent my anger?"
Xu Zhiqiong shrugged his eyebrows: "How do you express your anger?"
"If you can't defend him, you can just scold him!"
Xu Zhiqiong shook his head and said with a smile: "This man is thick-skinned. I won't hurt him if I scold him again and again."
The prince looked frustrated: "Tomorrow I will go to Tianzhang Pavilion to be humiliated by him."
"He still dares to humiliate His Highness?"
The prince gave a bitter smile: "Why do you think he forced me to go to Tianzhang Pavilion? He lectures at Tianzhang Pavilion once a month. Princesses, princes, princes, and princes all come here. He will definitely come to me to argue again. I don't know how to accept it by then.
How sarcastic he is!"
Xu Zhiqiong frowned: "Does this guy not know whether to live or die?"
"Of course he has his father's instructions behind him."
The prince sighed and did not want to say more. Xu Zhiqiong said with a smile: "Your Highness, there is no need to worry. If he dares to humiliate Your Highness again tomorrow, I will make him lose face and never dare to come to the East Palace again."
The prince was shocked: "Is this true?"
"really!"
Lin Qianniang whispered: "There is no flaw in his two-minded argument. Xu Lang cannot bring shame on himself."
Xu Zhiqiong said in Qianniang's ear: "Let me kiss your dimples enough, and I will make him completely naked tomorrow!"
Lin Qianniang lowered her head, her face flushed with shame: "Dimples are easy to say..."
Gongsun Wen must be kept away from the crown prince, otherwise Daxuan will be doomed.
…
In the secret pavilion, Emperor Zhaoxing woke up, looking very good, and casually opened the book on dream interpretation.
Chen Shuncai asked someone to bring the Ruiming Tower. Emperor Zhaoxing casually touched the top of the tower, and the Ruiming Tower lit up on the third floor.
He has returned to the seventh level of cultivation.
Chen Shuncai was very happy and praised repeatedly: "Your Majesty is so blessed. The Minister of Sui Dynasty is really a god."
Emperor Zhaoxing sneered: "What do you mean by a god? After all, he is just a human being, and everyone has his uses. After using them, he is still an ordinary man. Let Gongsun Wen give advice."
Chen Shuncai ordered people to remove the Ruiming Pagoda and led Gongsun Wen into the secret pavilion.
Emperor Zhaoxing asked: "Have you met Xu Zhiqiong?"
"I've seen it."
"How is he?"
"Incredibly stupid."
Emperor Zhaoxing shook his head: "This man is quite scheming, so don't be careless."
Gongsun Wen said with a smile: "Tomorrow, I will let him show his stupidity in anger and humiliation. The royal family's bad breath will be settled. The injustice suffered by the royal family should be brought to justice."