Chapter 354: Heart is reason, conscience, knowledge and action are combined 1

Chapter 354: Heart is reason, conscience, knowledge and action are combined 1

Chapter 354: Heart is reason, conscience, unity of knowledge and action
When Mr. Song was led away from the bustling street and walked to a quiet alley next door, he saw Zhao Duan lying lazily in the carriage.

The carriage stopped quietly on the cobblestone road.

The windproof curtain was lifted up. Zhao Duan was still flipping through a few Confucian books annotated by Mr. Zhengyang. He put the books down and smiled:
"Mr. Song, how are you?"

The moment he saw this female emperor who was known as the "Little King of Hell", Mr. Song, who was about fifty years old, shuddered all over, and the hot blood in his heart suddenly cooled.

It was like being stripped of your clothes and having a bucket of water poured over your head in the dead of winter.

He opened and closed his lips, and said with a slight stammer: "Imperial Envoy Zhao..."

Zhao Duan raised his hand and said with a smile:
"Don't call me an imperial envoy. After I return to Beijing, I am no longer an imperial envoy. Well, how is Taicang after I leave?"

Mr. Song finally came to his senses, calmed himself down, and began to tell the story that followed.

It's not too surprising. After Zhao Duan left, the prefect Sun Xiaozheng took control of the overall situation.

The other criminals involved in the silver mine case were interrogated one by one, and the case was investigated in depth. At one time, the entire government prison was overcrowded.

Mr. Song, as one of the persons involved in the case, was also called in for questioning by Sun Xiaozhun several times. Although he returned safe and sound each time, he witnessed with his own eyes that several families in the city with deeper roots than Songjiazhuang were thrown into jail by the prefect and their properties were confiscated.

This caused a great shock to the old scholar who had lived a peaceful and stable life for most of his life.

Afterwards, his mentor Zhengyang passed through Taicang, and he went to escort him.

He entered the city in a daze and learned the news of the death of Gao Lian and Wang Chusheng.

"As long as everything is stable," Zhao Duan nodded, as if chatting with an old friend, but suddenly changed the subject and said:
"I heard that you followed Mr. Zhengyang to the capital. Have you just returned from the Imperial College?"

Mr. Song suddenly looked shorter and nodded reluctantly:

"Master has come to the capital, and as a disciple, I should serve him..."

He is panicking!
Although he had the protection of the "Zhengyang School", he had seen Zhao Duan's methods and understood that it would be effortless for this man to kill him.

"Haha, don't be nervous," Zhao Duan said as if to reveal what he was thinking:
“Mr. Zhengyang has come here to issue a declaration of war to the imperial court, but although I am a military man, I have always respected scholars with great learning, and Mr. Zhengyang’s name is well-known to me.

I wanted to go and pay you a visit in person, but it is inconvenient. Oh, I happened to see you here, Mr. Song. It just so happens that I have some doubts in my studies. Can you help me solve them? "

He shook the masterpiece "Collected Commentaries on the Six-Character Classics" in his hand, which was Mr. Zhengyang's representative work.

Mr. Song was stunned. This King of Hell stopped him just to ask for advice?
"I am a man of limited talent and knowledge, so I wonder what doubts Lord Zhao has?"

Zhao Duan asked with a smile:

"What is the correct learning? What is the correct path for scholars to take as learners and as human beings?"

That's it? Mr. Song was surprised. This question was exactly the topic of the discussion four days later. He was naturally familiar with it. He said:
"The sage said that to study things and to acquire knowledge, to be sincere and upright in mind... is virtue. To study things should mean to thoroughly understand the principles of things and to achieve the utmost intellect..."

As a disciple of Zhengyang, this set of theories is naturally the typical concept of the Zhengyang School and is also the more orthodox theory in the Confucian circles of the Dayu Dynasty.

The so-called "upholding orthodox learning" is not about being original, but about tracing back to the origin and bringing out the theory again.

Zhao Duan showed a look of realization, then he frowned and said:

"I read in this book that this is what it says. But a few days ago, I heard something else that contradicts what the book says, so I am confused."

Mr. Song asked curiously, "May I ask what you heard?"

Zhao Duan said calmly:

"Oh, probably something like 'the heart is the principle', 'to follow one's conscience', 'the unity of knowledge and action'."

Seeing that Zhao Duan had no intention of killing him, and the conversation had entered the area he was most familiar with, Mr. Song also relaxed a lot. Hearing this, he couldn't help but laugh and said:

"This statement is indeed...novel."

He deliberately used the neutral word "novel", but he felt disdainful in his heart.

There are too many scholars in the world who are unconventional and like to come up with new words that may sound mysterious at first glance, but their purpose is nothing more than to show off themselves and seek fame.

Mr. Song had been studying for decades and was accustomed to such things. He instinctively looked down on them, thinking that they were just some lunatic who was deliberately making weird remarks to attract attention.

But due to Zhao Duan's status, it is not easy to belittle him.

"Sir Zhao, I can only say that in my many years of reading, I have never heard a saint say something similar," he said tactfully.

"Is that so?" Zhao Duan was a little disappointed and smiled:
"I understand. Haha, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

"Uh... I dare not waste your time." Mr. Song bowed and watched the carriage rumble away.

……

After making sure that the carriage had left, he stood there blankly, frowning, feeling that something was very strange.

Are you overthinking it?

Could it be that he really just met me by chance and chatted with me for a while?
Yes, what could a minor scholar like me do? Was he worthy of being targeted by the empress's favorite minister?

Thinking of this, his brows relaxed, he felt relieved, and walked back. But after only a few dozen steps, he frowned again:
"The heart is the principle, the conscience is the truth, and knowledge and action are the unity..."

"This... seems..."

When I first heard it, I thought it was nonsense, but now that I think about it, it is like a ten-year-old tea, which gradually reveals its flavor.

Mr. Song was thinking about this sentence, and unknowingly walked back to the inn where he was staying.

More than one hundred disciples of the Zhengyang School entered the city, and naturally one inn could not accommodate them all, so they were scattered across several inns.

Mr. Song was unable to live with his mentor, and had to live in the same house with several of his fellow apprentices.

He went upstairs in a daze, and suddenly a door opened and he accidentally bumped into it.

"Ah, Junior Brother Song, did you get hit? Are you hurt?"

The person who walked out of the room was a middle-aged man with extraordinary bearing and spirit, about thirty or forty years old, but he called the older Mr. Song "Junior Brother".

This man's name is Lu Cheng. He is one of Mr. Zhengyang's most proud students. He is the "senior brother" of all the disciples and the only disciple in the Zhengyang school who has truly received the "true teachings".

As the saying goes, there is no age limit in learning; the wisest can be the teacher, so the term "junior fellow student" is not abrupt.

"Senior Brother Lu, I'm fine, just thinking about something." Mr. Song came back to his senses and waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.

Lu Cheng smiled and said, "Hey, you came back alone?"

"Well," Mr. Song briefly told how his team was kicked out of the Imperial College. Then, he said in a way that seemed to be incomprehensible:

"Brother, there is something I don't understand. When I came back, I met a... uh, acquaintance. I talked to him and mentioned Zhengxue. He raised a point that I don't understand."

Lu Cheng smiled and said, "Oh? Tell me about it."

"The heart is the principle, the conscience is the knowledge, and the knowledge and action are unified."

"... This is... interesting. Let me think about it."

"Okay, I'll go back to my room first and come back to ask for advice from you later."

Mr. Song said goodbye, knowing that matters like learning must be considered carefully.

……

Lu Cheng returned to the room, closed the door, and chewed over these words.

At first I didn't care much, but gradually, my brows began to furrow.

He sat for a while and felt his mouth was dry. He stood up, picked up the teapot and poured himself some water. However, while pouring the water, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed through his mind.

It was like a bolt from the blue!

The heart is the reason...

To Conscience…

Knowledge and action...unity?

Lu Cheng was struck by lightning. His brain was suddenly frightened and he entered a state of deep thinking. His eyes were lifeless, but countless thoughts were rising and falling in his mind.

"Wow..."

The tea overflowed from the cup, but he didn't notice it. He let the whole pot of water flow onto the table and then drip onto the ground.

No clue!
"No... No... That's wrong... This is a heresy. How can it be possible!?"

"But...if that's really the case, then how can we explain the study of things to gain knowledge? Isn't it that Master's explanation is completely wrong? From the very beginning, the fundamental direction was wrong? How is that possible?"

"But, if you think like this, isn't it..."

Thoughts are like swimming fish, leaping up and falling in the sea of ​​​​mind, creating ripples and brewing storms.

I do not know how long it has been.

"Brother... I want to ask you a question..."

Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and it was Mr. Song who returned.

He was talking, but he was stunned the next second, staring blankly at the tea flowing freely in the room, the wet books, the teapot that was thrown on the table and almost rolled on the edge of the table.

And Senior Brother Lu, who was pacing back and forth in the room, muttering to himself, as if possessed.

"Senior brother, what are you doing..." Mr. Song was stunned.

However, Senior Brother Lu, who used to have good rest, be a gentleman, and be gentle and polite to others, had a distorted expression and was obviously not in a good state.

Hearing the noise, Lu Cheng turned around, revealing his slightly red eyes.

"Ah..." Song Juren was shocked, "Brother, what are you doing..."

Lu Cheng took a deep breath, the confusion and madness in his eyes faded away, and he regained clarity. He smiled apologetically, rubbed his face, and said:

"I thought of something and lost my composure a little."

Lu Cheng thought for a moment, and then said to Mr. Song, who was still confused:

"I am also confused about what you asked me. How about this? I will go out and ask my teacher for advice."

Mr. Song was taken aback. His knowledge was not solid enough and he felt that these words seemed mysterious but he had not yet fully appreciated their deep meaning.

He was shocked to see that even his fellow students in the school, whose knowledge was second only to his teacher, could not answer the question.

"But it's already dark..." He stuttered a little, "At this time..."

But Lu Cheng didn't listen at all and walked out. The sound of his footsteps going downstairs could be heard:
"It's still early. There's still time."

"Brother Lu? Where are you going?"

At this time, at the door of the inn, the disciples of the Zhengyang School who had been out happened to come back and couldn't help asking.

However, Lu Cheng just waved his hand, without any detailed explanation, and ran out of the inn, leaving a group of people looking at each other in bewilderment.

……

Dusk has arrived and the capital city is shrouded in darkness.

Lu Cheng continued on his way and arrived at another more grand inn, where he found that the guests outside the building were gradually dispersing. They had all come to visit Mr. Zhengyang after hearing the news.

Just to avoid disturbing the master, almost all the guests were stopped by the disciples at the door.

"Senior Brother Lu? You're here?" a disciple asked in surprise.

Lu Cheng nodded and said, "I have something to ask you, sir."

"The gentleman is in his room at the inn."

"it is good."

Since they are family, there is no reason to stop them.

Lu Cheng walked through the crowd and arrived at the backyard of the inn, where there was a private room reserved for Zhengyang to live in.

At this moment, the lights in the house were on.

After Lu Cheng knocked on the door and entered the room, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a Confucian robe, a square hat, and a beautiful beard sitting behind a desk, flipping through books, preparing for a debate in a few days.

"Lu Cheng," Mr. Zhengyang raised his head and smiled, "Why are you here at this time?"

Lu Cheng bowed respectfully, performing the etiquette of a disciple, and then said:
"Sir, I have a question that I don't understand, so I came to ask for your advice."

(End of this chapter)