Chapter 350: Theoretical Debate that Caused a Public Outcry
Chapter 350: Theoretical Debate that Caused a Public Outcry
far away.
After leaving the prince's residence, Xue Shence and others went ahead, leaving Zhao Duan behind to deal with the follow-up.
"A bunch of idiots! If it weren't for my lord coming today, you would have suffered." The marquis took a few quick steps, waving his scabbard and hitting the three men in brocade clothes.
Zhao Duan raised his hand to stop him, and said calmly: "Forget it, if you hit anyone again, you will be really useless."
"Bah, it's better to destroy it!" Hou Renmeng was still furious and shouted at the three people: "Why don't you thank the adults?"
The three of them woke up as if from a dream, with red eyes like children who had made mistakes, and they admitted their mistakes after being beaten.
Zhao Duan did not look angry, and said calmly:
"This won't happen again. Old Hou, take them back to the government office first and apply the medicine on their wounds. I'll go back for a meeting this afternoon. It seems that I have been too indulgent towards you. This incident should serve as a lesson for you."
Hou Renmeng looked ashamed and nodded in response.
I no longer have the face to stay here any longer and I wish I could go back immediately to restore discipline.
"Oh, there is one more thing," Zhao Duan suddenly stopped him and ordered:
"When you go back, find someone to investigate. Did Xu Zudi and that Madam Xiao set out from Qingzhou Road together, or did they bump into each other halfway?"
Hou Ren was stunned: "My Lord, what do you mean..."
Zhao Duan glanced at him and said, "Do you think that the Prince of Heng is making such a scene just to support Li Lang and vent his anger? To cause trouble? To humiliate me?"
In his mind, he kept reviewing everything that had happened before by recalling it.
In the room, Xu Zudi scolded Li Lang several times, and the last game...
Zhao Duan looked away and said quietly, "It seems that we have won a battle and have not lost face today. We have concluded the matter, but how do we know that Xu Zudi's most important goal has not been achieved?"
Hou Renmeng finally came to his senses:
"Sir, are you saying that the prince arranged this for you? The focus is not on Li Lang at all, but on Madam Xiao? He deliberately let us see that he treats the head of the Donghu Xiao family like a slave? Is this his real purpose?"
Zhao Duan nodded and said with a smile: "You have made progress by being able to guess this."
Hou Renmeng laughed and flattered:
"We are following you, sir. We can learn something from you. People say you are a thousand-year-old fox. We are far behind you."
“…If you don’t know how to flatter, don’t force it.” Zhao Duan glared.
He drove a few of his men away, sorted out his thoughts, and then rode his horse to catch up with the large force in front.
Xue Shence smiled and said, "Have you arranged it?"
Zhao Duan said gratefully: "Thank you, sir, and all your colleagues for supporting us."
Xue Shence had no intention of going into more depth on this topic. He laughed loudly and said, "How do I thank you? How about you treat me to a drink at the lunch banquet?"
Zhao Duan also laughed and said, "That's right. Then we have to get drunk before we go home."
All the generals looked at this scene and laughed in tacit understanding. Then they put this episode behind them and headed straight for the restaurant with murderous intent.
The entire second floor of the restaurant was reserved, and all the generals took their seats, eating and drinking in a harmonious atmosphere.
However, only halfway through the banquet, a commotion was heard coming from downstairs, accompanied by heated discussions, and the words "Zhengyang School" were faintly heard.
In order to attract the attention of the military officers, Xue Shence ordered someone to inquire about the situation.
After a while, the military officer who had asked the question returned and said with a serious expression:
"Something happened. Mr. Zhengyang wants to debate with Master Dong!"
Zhao Duan stopped holding the wine jug in mid-air and narrowed his eyes: "What's going on?"
All the military officers pricked up their ears.
Soon, they found out what had happened.
It turned out that there was no morning court today. In the morning, Mr. Zhengyang came to the palace to pay his respects. The empress and scholars such as Dong Xuan welcomed him to show their respect for this great southern scholar.
However, Zhengyang issued an invitation to fight in the palace, saying that he came here because he could not bear to see the saints' teachings being distorted and the righteous path being lost.
Therefore, he came to the capital to "rectify learning and reshape etiquette and laws" and to debate with the mainstream school of thought in the capital.
As a senior and master, Grand Tutor Dong Xuan accepted the challenge on the spot and agreed with him to have a debate in the Plum Garden in the capital five days later.
By this time, the news had gradually spread and public opinion was in an uproar.
The reason for the commotion downstairs was that two groups of scholars were arguing fiercely and almost came to a fight.
"boom!"
Shi Meng pounded the table with his fist and said in a deep voice: "This Zhengyang is here to cause trouble."
The other generals also looked indignant, trying to make a political statement, and some even shouted that they wanted to kill the scholar.
Xue Shence listened with an expressionless face and worried eyes. He certainly understood that such a great scholar of the "quasi-sage" level who was the focus of the world should never be touched.
Therefore, the military attachés were just talking nonsense. It would be easy to kill him, but after killing him, it would cause a national uproar and the consequences would be difficult to estimate.
There is no smoke of gunpowder on this battlefield, and we need to use our words, tongues, and pens as swords to fight back.
Immediately, the generals lost the mood to eat and drink and ended the party hastily.
Zhao Duan went downstairs and rode his horse straight to Xiuwen Hall. He needed to know the situation!
……
……
Xiuwen Hall.
When Zhao Duan arrived at the door, he vaguely sensed that the atmosphere was wrong.
"Master Zhao!" The clerk guarding the gate was cheered up when he saw him coming.
"Is the Grand Tutor here?" Zhao Duan dismounted from his horse and asked anxiously.
"Yes, they are all here."
"it is good."
Zhao Duan threw away the reins and walked in. The clerks knew his identity and did not stop him.
As soon as I entered the yard, I heard a heated discussion coming from the room.
Zhao Duan pushed the door open and saw all the scholars sitting neatly around a long table in Xiuwen Hall.
Dong Taishi, who was in his 80s, wearing a university scholar's robe and with a face as red as a date, sat in the main seat with no expression. Next to him, on the left, was Han Zhou, the most talented scholar in the capital, and Han Banshan.
On the right is the big ice block Mo Zhaorong.
"Mr. Zhao? You're here!" Everyone stopped talking, turned around and saw that it was him, and greeted him.
Zhao Duan nodded solemnly, wearing armor and walking to the middle of a group of scholars, frowning and asking, "What's going on? I heard that the Grand Master wants to discuss academic matters with Zhengyang."
Mo Chou's face seemed to have the word "sorrow" written on it. She motioned for him to sit down, then nodded and said:
"That's right. Zhengyang is coming with great force. He must have been sent by King Mu to come to the capital to attack the orthodoxy of rites and laws."
No, do you all speak so directly?
Not hiding anything at all... Zhao Duan complained. Seeing that the scholars looked normal, he realized that the conflict with the Eighth King had already been exposed in Xiuwen Hall.
The empress came to power in an illegitimate way, which has always been the biggest weakness of the legitimacy of Xu Zhenguan's regime.
Regardless of the distorted rhetoric promoted by the Kuangfu Society, even if we take a step back, the whole world knows that it was the Second Prince who staged the coup, and the Empress was the one who put down the rebellion.
But if he followed the etiquette, Xu Zhenguan should have looked for the remaining heirs of the royal family, adopted them or whatever, to support a new male emperor.
But she chose to proclaim herself emperor, which gave scholars the opportunity to criticize her on the basis of etiquette and laws.
Over the past three years, northern scholars led by Dong Xuan have managed to gain legitimacy by citing classics.
But outside the capital, especially in many places in the south, voices criticizing the empress for usurping the throne never ceased.
Now, perhaps because of the implementation of the "New Deal", the eight kings have become anxious.
Finally, one by one they began to fight back.
Prince Huai'an sent his daughter to test the situation, and Prince Jing used the Taicang Silver Mine as a pawn to force the Li Party to split.
Prince Heng sent his son with unclear intentions, but Prince Mu asked Zhengyang to come out and fight back with courtesy and law.
Zhao Duan sighed in his heart, understanding that etiquette, although seemingly intangible and invisible, was extremely crucial.
"If the name is not right, the words will not flow; if the words are not flowing, things will not be accomplished." This is the reason.
Han Zhou said in a deep voice:
"The other party came well prepared this time. He had not left the mountain for ten years. Once he left the mountain, he attracted the attention of the nine provinces and eighteen prefectures of Dayu. He came all the way from the south. He seemed to be low-key, but in fact he was ostentatious and made the news of his visit to the capital known to everyone.
When he entered the city, he brought more than a hundred students with him. He has been making a name for himself in the city these days. Now that he has issued a challenge, the Grand Master has no choice but to accept it. Only the Grand Master is qualified to take on this challenge."
Zhao Duan asked curiously, "Is Zhengyang's slogan just about academic discussion?"
Mo Chou glanced at him and explained:
"It's just a matter of academics. Zhengyang is very smart. He didn't directly criticize Your Majesty's ascension to the throne, but kept saying that the matter was just an 'academic dispute'. This made it even harder to touch him. But people are not fools. This academic debate, in the final analysis, comes back to etiquette and law. If he wins the debate... it will be very troublesome."
Zhao Duan turned his head and looked at Dong Xuan who remained silent, and said seriously:
"Master, how sure are you?"
Dong Xuan's aura was very cold today, or rather, very heavy. His face, which was already full of wrinkles, had particularly deep wrinkles, and his eyes were heavy:
"If we compare the debate to playing chess, in terms of chess strength, I think I am one point stronger, but the opponent has the first move, so it is hard to say."
Zhao Duan understood.
This is a euphemism. In a debate, victory or defeat is never determined solely by the debater's eloquence; the topic of the debate is more important.
The cards Dong Xuan was dealt were not good.
"Five days later, what will be the topic?" Zhao Duan asked again.
Master Dong said calmly, "What is the correct learning?"
Fortunately...it’s not the worst situation...Zhao Duan breathed a sigh of relief.
The banner of Zhengyang was "correcting learning and reshaping etiquette and law." The empress was afraid of etiquette and law, but Zhengyang did not directly criticize etiquette and law because doing so would only force the court to go to extremes.
Although Zhengyang has come out of seclusion, it seems that he does not intend to seek death... If Zhengyang starts criticizing etiquette after arriving in Beijing, there will be only one result.
He used his own death to arouse the anger of scholars all over the world and to fuel Zhuang Xiaocheng's war of public opinion.
But he did not choose this extreme route. Instead, he took a roundabout approach and only discussed "orthodox learning". This was more tactful, giving the court the option of accepting the challenge and also leaving himself some room for survival.
After all, if we talk about the orthodox science, there is still a chance of winning. Even if we lose, the damage will not be fatal.
Of course, it is not fatal. Orthodox learning and etiquette are one and the same. If the former is established, the latter will also benefit.
"We were just coming up with ideas and discussing Zhengyang's possible moves, how to win, or end up in a draw," Han Zhou explained.
"You guys continue." Zhao Duan said he came here to listen.
No one was too surprised. They all knew that Zhao Duan had unique insights in state governance and seemed to have a certain level of poetry and prose.
But when it comes to the fundamentals of Confucianism, the teachings of saints, the many classics, picking out sentences... the pure accumulation of knowledge, this is not something that "genius" can explain at all.
Dong Xuan and Zhengyang are both geniuses in this field and have accumulated academic knowledge over decades of study.
How old is Zhao Duan?
If statecraft strategies can be gained from practice and observation, and poetry and prose can be acquired through talent, then the learning of sages depends purely on decades of hard work.
This is also the reason why only Dong Xuan dared to accept the challenge, and the so-called talents like Han Zhou did not dare to show up at all.
Logically, no one thinks that Zhao Duan can surpass these two people in academic accumulation. The most people are looking forward to whether he has some "ghost ideas" or "tricks".
Seeing that he had no suggestions, the scholars were a little disappointed, but they started discussing actively again and talking loudly. The whole Xiuwen Hall was filled with noisy voices and a tense atmosphere.
Zhao Duan was alone again, sitting quietly aside.
Listening to everyone's discussion, it was as if he was entering Xiuwen Hall for the first time.
Amid the noise, he reached out and took a thick document from the table.
Open.
These are obviously the many academic insights of the "Zhengyang School" compiled by scholars, including many quotations from Mr. Zhengyang when he lectured in Yunfu and answered his disciples, as well as some articles published by Zhengyang.
They are all insights and views on Confucianism, or more accurately, analysis of the words of ancient sages.
Zhao Duan didn't know what it meant at first, but gradually, his expression became a little strange:
"This theory...why does it look familiar? Is there a hint of psychology mixed in with the science of reason? No...this Zhengyang's theory seems to have...big loopholes."
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I'm procrastinating again. It's a little late.
(End of this chapter)