Many students in the school agree with Liu Junsheng's point of view, believing that only by repaying evil with kindness can you show your gentlemanly demeanor and embody your virtues.
As a teacher, Kong Sheng smiled at this moment. After a quick glance, he finally looked at Li Xiuyuan and said, "Li Xiuyuan, do you think so too?"
Li Xiuyuan, who was sitting upright and calm, spoke slowly at this moment: "The student thinks this is a big mistake."
"Repaying evil with virtue, why is it wrong to say so? Even the princes of the imperial court nodded in agreement." Liu Junsheng smiled softly: "Besides, the son of a merchant has the smell of copper all over his body. How can he know what virtue is, what knowledge is, let alone what a gentleman is?
virtue."
After saying that, he looked at Li Xiuyuan with some contempt, as if he looked down on this lowly merchant's son.
"Other people's consent is their business, not mine. Although the sons of merchants are full of copper odor, they are still hard-earned. They are not as good as some official families. When new officials take office, they can't help but increase taxes and plunder the people's wealth."
Li Xiuyuan saw that this person seemed to be targeting him intentionally, and immediately retorted.
Liu Junsheng said angrily: "You said my father is a corrupt official?"
Li Xiuyuan laughed: "If it weren't for the corrupt officials who used your father's salary as tens of taels of silver a year, why would Mr. Liu be allowed to live in fine clothes? This jade belt on Mr. Liu's body is worth at least hundreds of dollars, even if your father doesn't eat or drink.
I can’t even afford it in three years.”
He looked down upon his own businessman's son, and how could he ever look down upon these corrupt officials who broke their bones and sucked their marrow out of them?
Besides, the Li family's business is so big that it covers the entire Guobei County. It has blessed so many people, provided jobs to so many people, and indirectly supported countless people. But what did the county magistrate do when he took office? He just increased taxes and plundered the people's wealth.
"You..." Liu Junsheng immediately stood up angrily.
"You dare to slander the innocence of my Liu family and ruin the reputation of my Liu family? Do you know that I, Liu Junsheng, am already a boy and a scholar with a good reputation? By slandering a scholar, you have violated the laws of the imperial court and are a guilty person.
Why dare you speak of virtue here?"
Li Xiuyuan laughed: "If I am guilty, you Liu Junsheng are also guilty as me. You are Tong Sheng, so am I."
Is he also a child?
Liu Junsheng's face immediately turned red with embarrassment, but he turned around and said, "My dispute with you is just an academic dispute, but you insult my father's innocence. What's the point?"
"You seem to be the one who started this matter. You insulted me first, and I fought back later." Li Xiuyuan said calmly: "We are just polite to each other."
"A gentleman is tolerant. Why do you need to be so fussy about it? Just now the teacher said, repay evil with kindness. It seems that you were away just now and didn't listen." Liu Junsheng said.
The students next to him all nodded when they heard this and said: "That's right, Brother Li, Brother Liu, although your words are a bit unethical, you shouldn't worry about it. You should turn big things into small things."
"Yes, we are all classmates. Why are we arguing? Why don't you apologize to Brother Li and let the matter end?"
"Repaying evil with kindness is the virtue of a gentleman. Brother Li should learn the style of a saint."
When Li Xiuyuan heard the words of these students, he immediately smiled and said: "It's my fault that the trouble has happened now? Shouldn't I argue with Liu Junsheng? Should I repay evil with kindness and apologize to Liu Junsheng? It seems that
You students have read too much, and your brains are a little unclear."
"Brother Li, these words are a bit harsh." A scholar immediately said displeased.
Not only him, but also some scholars who agreed with the previous views looked at Li Xiuyuan with some annoyance. Unexpectedly, Li Xiuyuan, who was usually very talented in literature, was also a vulgar person who always scolded. It seemed that a merchant's house was a merchant's house after all.
No slenderness.
"Don't be angry. Let me ask you one question. Since you agree to repay evil with kindness, I would like to ask, how can you repay kindness with kindness?" Li Xiuyuan said calmly.
Why repay kindness?
Liu Junsheng smiled scornfully: "Of course we repay kindness with kindness."
"Repay kindness with kindness, repay kindness with kindness. If this is the case, who is willing to extend kindness? If this way is widely practiced, and the world is not full of people who seek kindness with resentment, how can there be people who repay kindness with kindness?
"Li Xiuyuan shook his head: "Don't look at what I said to Liu Junsheng just now. Liu Junsheng immediately became angry and wanted to accuse me of slander? Is this repaying evil with kindness?"
All the scholars were shocked and speechless.
Yes, even Liu Junsheng, who said that repaying evil with kindness, can't do it, how can he ask others to do it?
Thinking that Li Xiuyuan had scolded him and others for not being smart, didn't he and others get angry and want to argue with him?
After being exposed, these people all turned pale.
Wrong, totally wrong.
Reading has gone astray.
Li Xiuyuan saw that everyone was silent, and then said with a faint smile: "Repaying evil with kindness is just the dream talk of an idiot. A saint would never say this."
"Then what is Brother Li's advice?" Zhang Wen, the scholar next to him, raised his hands.
Li Xiuyuan glanced at everyone, and then said calmly: "From my perspective, it should be like this: Why complain? Why repay grievance with straightness, how can we repay kindness, and repay kindness with kindness."
What everyone heard was a sudden realization, like waking up from a dream.
"Absurd." However, at this moment, Liu Junsheng said with a blushing face, "Even if you are right in what you say, are the Dukes above the imperial court unreasonable?"
"Haha, who are Lord Gonggun? People who live in high places in temples will naturally hope that the people below will repay evil with kindness, so that they can sit back and relax and have their country forever." Li Xiuyuan said calmly: "This is the method of fooling the people, and it is the most common method in the world.
evil,"
"The people are ignorant, even if they are ignorant, they only want the stability of the world. If the concept of direct retribution is spread, then there will be fights everywhere, which is a great evil." Liu Junsheng was also a little quick-witted and immediately retorted.
Li Xiuyuan laughed again: "The people are ignorant, how can we blame the officials for being stupid? We should open up the people's wisdom."
"How to open it?" At this time, Kong Sheng, a teacher, couldn't help but ask.
Li Xiuyuan pointed at his feet and said: "Set up a school and admit young children from all over the world. In less than twenty years, there will be people everywhere studying, and in less than fifty years, the people's wisdom will be enlightened."
"Okay, this is a wonderful statement." Kong Sheng was extremely excited and nodded repeatedly.
Teaching children to read is like nurturing young shoots, which will eventually grow into towering trees. When the time comes, the world will be filled with pillars and knowledge everywhere, and won’t the people’s wisdom be greatly broadened?
"Although this is a good statement, it is just a castle in the air. It should be noted that there are so many people in the world. To set up a school that can accommodate the children of the world, it is difficult to do it even if the court taxes are exhausted. If the court really does this, I am afraid it will be exhausted.
Countless money and food will eventually cause chaos in the world." Liu Junsheng said at this time.
Li Xiuyuan added: "Beilin College has been established for only ten years, but it has educated more than a hundred people. Regardless of whether they are successful or not, more than a hundred people can read and write. If these more than a hundred people are all teachers, teaching and educating people, ten years later
So what?"
"At least there are tens of thousands of people studying." Zhang Wen murmured next to him.
Li Xiuyuan smiled again and said, "How about another ten years if we have ten thousand people as our teachers?"
"Hundreds, millions of scholars." Zhang Wen shuddered.
"A school can produce millions of scholars in twenty years. There are more than a thousand schools and academies in the world. If there is a will, how can the people's wisdom not be opened up?" Li Xiuyuan said.
When Liu Junsheng heard this, he suddenly felt dazed and speechless after being refuted. No matter how hard he racked his brains, he could not think of any rebuttal.
"As you said, it stands to reason that the people's wisdom has been enlightened for a long time. Why is it still like this for hundreds of years?" Zhang Wen asked again.
Li Xiuyuan said: "Here it comes back to what I just said, the method of fooling the people. It's not that the Lords of Gungun have not thought of this, but they are unwilling to do it. They think that farmers will be farmers from generation to generation, and merchants will be from generation to generation.
They are merchants, craftsmen, craftsmen, and officials from generation to generation... and they are officials from generation to generation. Only in this way can high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the imperial court be hereditary and irreplaceable, and be rich forever."
After saying these words, all the scholars in the academy, including Kong Sheng, were stunned in place and remained silent for a long time.
These words were deafening and impacted their thoughts and insights.
It was like a meteor piercing the dead sky, allowing people to see the most real side of the world.