Chapter 1281 Parenting and Children

Chapter 1281 Parenting and Children

Chapter 1281 Parenting and Children
It’s already May 20th, and the debate at the Academy of Universal Studies is still going on.

On the 17th, Shao Xun went there again, sat for half a day, and left in the afternoon. He did not go there again for the next three days, leaving the prince to stay behind to preside over the meeting.

This is a good opportunity for him, I hope he doesn't waste it.

As for the debate itself, in fact, it has completely changed now. It has started to expose negative information and make personal attacks, and many old stories have been dug up.

On the 17th, the reason why Shao Xun stayed for half a day was purely because of the gossip. There was nothing exciting in the afternoon, so he took the opportunity to go to the toilet and left.

At this point, the logic is basically clear.

Shao Xun himself did not force these people to do anything, it was just that some of them came forward on their own initiative.

They may be motivated by political speculation, such as wanting to turn the tables;
Or for possible commercial interests, such as Sun Xi's case;
Or it may be out of personal interest or pure emptiness in life, for example, you are tired of playing with women and want to do something else.

In short, there are many reasons.

Shao Xun was sitting in the Dragon Scale Hall today. After reviewing the memorials, he remembered the admiring look in Eleventh Son's eyes that day. He sighed in his heart and felt some pity, so he asked someone to call him over.

After a long time, rustling footsteps and the scolding of the guards were heard outside the hall.

The Imperial Guards are Tong Qianjin's troops, which have just been renamed. There are currently 3,000 people, all wearing Ming Guang armor. They are very eye-catching in Bianliang and are considered the coolest guys.

They were Shao Xun's most trusted soldiers, and were often rewarded. Many of them were sent to serve as officials in other places, and they even ate and lived with him when he went out hunting. They were his last line of defense.

From an institutional perspective, let alone the King of Han, even if the Crown Prince was so unruly as to ram the guards, he would be reprimanded, otherwise it would be their own dereliction of duty.

After Qu Ji entered, Tong Qianjin stretched out his hand to stop the soldier who had chased him to the steps in front of the palace. After giving a few instructions, he went inside to apologize.

"Qu Ji, look, you're so reckless that you've implicated General Tong. Grandpa is going to punish him now." Shao Xun said.

The happy smile on Qu Ji's face suddenly disappeared. He immediately turned to look at Tong Qianjin, bowed and said, "This is all my fault."

After saying that, he looked at Shao Xun again and said, "Grandpa, can you please not punish General Tong? I know I was wrong and I won't do it again next time."

"Then why are you so rash? You didn't even wait for the message." Shao Xun asked.

"Because... because this is the first time Grandpa summoned me to ask questions." Qu Ji said.

Shao Xun was silent.

"Please sit down next to grandpa." Shao Xun waved his hand and asked his son to come over.

The female officials Yan and Li stood up together, bowed to the King of Han, and sat behind another desk diagonally opposite.

Qu Ji walked over happily, looking back at Tong Qianjin as he walked.

Shao Xun also looked at Lao Tong and said, "You will be fined 50 households of food and go reflect on your mistakes."

"Yes." Tong Qianjin took the order and retreated.

He was the Duke of Yuanling County, with a fief of 1,600 households.

Fifty households is a small matter, maybe he can find a reason to add it back after a while. The emperor did this just to warn him, the rules are like this, rewards and punishments must be clear.

"Quji, take a look at this." Shao Xun handed a memorial to his son.

The handwriting on the memorial was beautiful, but it was not my father's handwriting. His was not so beautiful. It seemed that it was recorded by a female official.

The first sentence is "Since the end of the Jin Dynasty, all matters have been finalized."

Looking more carefully, it turns out to be "Since Taikang, the world has been unified, and scholars have nothing to do but talk about competing with each other, so they compete to pursue the mysterious, which has led to the decline of benevolence and righteousness, the obscurity of Confucianism, the collapse of rituals and music, and the collapse of the country..."

After reading it, Quji looked at his father and said, "Grandpa, I've finished reading it."

"How?" Shao Xun asked.

"What...what is it?" Qu Ji blinked and asked.

Shao Xun laughed.

When Shiyilang came over, he started laughing, this silly boy.

Shao Xun patted his shoulder affectionately and said, "Do you know what this is?"

"All the debaters in Wanxiang Academy are listed above." Qu Ji said.

"That's right." Shao Xun said, "This is the first resolution debated by the Wanxiang Academy, and the names of all the participants are listed."

Although everyone is talking about different things so far, they have to admit that the Jin Dynasty really went too far and almost led to the destruction of the country.

This is like an international negotiation. The two sides have huge differences, so they first write a joint communiqué on the parts that can be discussed and unified.

Since the prosperous Taikang period of the Jin Dynasty, scholars have been "too extravagant", which has had a bad impact on the country, and to this day "the bad habits have not been completely eradicated."

As for whether to follow the requirements of "New Theory of Chongyou" in the future, there is still debate. But that is no longer important, because admitting that the Jin Dynasty was wrong means that changes should be made, and the debate now is just about the extent to which it should be achieved.

Shao Xun explained all this to his son in detail, and Shao Wo (Qu Ji) suddenly understood.

Seeing him like that, Shao Xun was also very happy and said, "Your third brother and sixth brother all understand this principle, and now you understand it too, which is very good. If you encounter such things in the future, you should know what to do."

"I will persuade my brother." Shao Wo nodded.

Shao Xun glanced at his son and said with relief: "He is truly my son!"

******
At noon, people from the Imperial Household Department delivered the meal. After the Shang Shi inspected it, he brought it to the Dragon Scale Palace.

The father and son finished their meal happily. After a short rest, Shao Wu stood up and bowed, saying, "Grandpa, I'm leaving now."

"Where are you going?" Shao Xun asked in surprise.

"Mother will check the Guanzi in the afternoon. If you don't go, you will be punished with a ruler." Shao Wo said.

"I've read all those books to pieces." Shao Xun said disapprovingly, "Didn't you memorize them by heart last year?"

"Mother said that I should recite it repeatedly and check it from time to time," Shao Wo said.

"Don't go." Shao Xun waved his hand and said, "You'll become stupid if you keep reading. Grandpa will accompany you to ride horses and shoot arrows in the afternoon."

"Okay..." Shao Wo responded reluctantly.

"I will talk to your mother, don't worry." Shao Xun stood up and said.

"Good! Good! Good!" Shao Wo responded three times with a smile on his face.

Shao Xun couldn't help laughing, and at the same time felt a little guilty because he had spent too little time with Qu Ji in the past.

Yan watched silently from the side.

The King of Han had been here for half a day and had already coaxed the emperor into a frenzy, with the emperor smiling much more often.

Yan was Li Shou's wife, and she often discussed palace affairs with her husband.

Li Shou was full of complaints and told many secrets of the palace, which made Yan Shi particularly sensitive to such things.

He didn't know whether the King of Han was truly innocent or just pretending to please the old emperor. But in any case, in her opinion, the King of Han's status had greatly improved.

And the emperor was really tolerant of him.

If the prince had rushed in as hastily as he did just now, he would have been severely scolded, but the King of Han was fine.

Of course, this may not mean anything.

Being a crown prince means that the requirements are very strict. There are some things that the kings can do but the crown prince cannot do.

"You two come with me." Shao Xun waved his hand, and then he and Eleventh Son walked out of the Dragon Scale Hall one after the other.

They soon arrived at a training ground, where many straw men and archery targets were placed, and a pile of weapon racks filled with various long and short weapons were placed beside the wall.

The ground was trampled firmly, and the sound of horse hooves could be heard from time to time.

After seeing Shao Xun arrive, dozens of young men who were practicing horseback archery dismounted and bowed to the ground: "Greetings, Your Majesty."

"Get up and continue practicing." Shao Xun said with a serious expression.

"Yes!" Dozens of young people shouted in unison.

"I heard that you had an archery competition with Chi Gong?" Shao Xun asked.

"Yeah." Shao Wo replied.

Shao Xun turned over his son's palm, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Can you ride and shoot?"

"meeting."

"Let's go and get on the horses." Shao Xun asked someone to bring two horses, one for him and one for Shiyilang.

Before mounting their horses, both men put on a set of leather armor.

"This armor is made of three layers of deerskin, and the skin has been carefully washed with alkali. Do you think it is very clean?" Shao Xun asked.

Shao Wu looked down and said, "Grandpa, I know this. When Sun Xi was standing outside Chengtian Gate, I looked carefully and saw that there were no oil spots and the smell was not pungent. I heard it is very expensive?"

"That's because Sun Xi took into account all the money he spent and even squandered before." Shao Xun smiled and said, "To be honest, it is more expensive than ordinary leather armor, but it is only about 10% or 20% more expensive. In time, it may be cheaper."

"Can it be cheaper?" Shao Wo asked curiously.

"Of course you can." Shao Xun said, "Since everything in the universe exists, there are laws governing it. If you study the laws thoroughly, you will find endless good things."

"Grandpa, I've seen that craftsmen rely on word of mouth to pass down their skills in making tools, and they don't study the principles involved," Shao Wo said.

"Well, it's good to understand the principles." Shao Xun asked his son to mount the horse. He jogged a few steps to familiarize himself with the temperament of the warhorse under his crotch, and said, "The craftsman knows the results but not the reasons. His teacher taught him to do it this way, and he does it this way without changing anything. Or he wants to change it but doesn't have the confidence. Only a very small number of smart people who dare to break through the shackles dare to make a small change, but they don't quite understand the reason behind it. It's just that experience tells them that they should do it this way."

"But if you understand the principles, it's different. The principles tell us what will happen if we do this, and what will happen if we do that. This is knowing the facts and the reasons behind them. We can often innovate and come up with something that has never been seen before."

"Grandpa, mother never said these things. I don't understand. Please teach me." Shao Wo leaned over, blinking his eyes and said.

Seeing Qu Ji's eagerness to learn, Shao Xun was very pleased and said, "Take the grass alkali made by Sun Xi as an example. If this thing is given to the craftsmen, they can only use the grass alkali to wash leather armor step by step. But if you know the nature of grass alkali and understand its principle, you will instantly think of several ways to blend and combine grass alkali with other things to make new things. Such new things have never appeared before, and you don't even know what you will make, but if you are lucky, you may make a good thing that benefits the country and the people."

"Is this the principle of applying the great Dao?" Shao Wo asked.

"That's right." Shao Xun paused, then said, "Quji, how many kinds of things do you think there are in the universe?"

"I don't know." Shao Wo shook his head.

"Then do you think it's possible for new things to appear? For example, after people understand the truth, they can use it to create new things?"

"Isn't that what potash is?"

"Good." Shao Xun smiled and said, "This is why I value principles more than things as a father."

After saying this, he kicked the horse's belly and rushed forward.

The war horses galloped as fast as lightning, and the sound of whistling wind filled my ears.

After running dozens of steps, Shao Xun's waist suddenly leaned back, with his back almost touching the horse's buttocks.

The warhorse neighed loudly, but its four hooves continued to gallop along the straight track. The intelligence it had acquired over seven or eight years of training let it know that it could not deviate even a bit at this moment.

"Hit!" Shao Xun shouted.

The sound of the bowstring drowned out the sound of the wind, and the moment the arrow flew through the air, he stood up, leaned on the saddle, and turned his horse around.

Thirty steps away, a white-feathered arrow on the target was still trembling, its tail feathers pointing in the direction he was rushing towards.

There was a burst of loud applause in the parade ground.

Turn around and shoot!
They had just begun to practice this skill, but the emperor had already mastered it with ease.

Shao Wo was also stunned.

He had also practiced horse riding and archery for several years. Others said that he was talented. His foot archery was comparable to that of his fifth uncle (Yu Yi), and his horse riding archery was also okay, but he just rode a horse and shot forward in a very disciplined manner.

He knew very well that turning around and shooting might seem fancy, but sometimes you were forced to use this skill on the battlefield; it was fancy but practical.

Thinking of this, Shao Wo also rode forward, aimed at a straw man in front of him, and shot an arrow according to traditional techniques.

The arrow pierced through the straw man and fell to the ground.

There was nothing outstanding about it, but it was not bad at all to get a kill.

The father and son played for the whole afternoon.

It was as if Shao Xun wanted to make up for the lack of fatherly love in the past to his son. After playing archery on horseback, he took his son to archery on foot. He even had someone bring him a piece of iron armor. He laughed out loud when he saw Qu Ji struggling to shoot the arrow while holding up the Ming Guang armor.

Shao Wo was also very excited. He had never tried shooting while wearing armor. It was really a different experience and very difficult.

When the sun set in the west, Quji was sweating profusely, but he felt refreshed all over. The only discomfort was that his hands were shaking slightly.

His father called him a "thin dog". He didn't understand what he meant, but he laughed heartily.

When the father and son left the parade ground, the meeting at Wanxiangyuan had also ended.

Crown Prince Shao Jin arrived in a sedan chair. When he saw Shao Xun from afar, he immediately dismounted and saluted.

"Sixth brother." Shao Wo wiped the sweat from his forehead and stepped forward to salute.

Shao Jin frowned and looked at him.

The day was rather hot, and the prince wore his robe meticulously, even though it was extremely hot inside.

On the other hand, the King of Han changed into a short hemp shirt, his hair was a little messy, and he looked shabby.

He sighed inwardly. He could enjoy himself like this before, but now he has to be careful about the impact. After all, he is the prince, and his every move will be noticed by people with ulterior motives.

"How was your day?" Shao Xun asked.

"Today we had a heated debate on 'losing life for the sake of enriching life' and refuted many actions that were not in line with etiquette." Shao Jin said: "The records can be sent to you tonight--"

"Send it to Fanghuayuan." Shao Xun said.

"Yes." Shao Jin replied.

After he finished answering, his eyes vaguely fell on his eleventh brother.

"After seven days of debate, there is finally some effect." Shao Xun said, "Let's debate for a few more days and finish it before June. After this, the morale of the scholars has improved to some extent. Do you have anything to say?"

Shao Jin sorted out his thoughts and said, "During the grand court meeting on the first day of June, father may announce it to the world and ask all scholars to get rid of the old bad habits and implement the new law. If this is done persistently, the new trend will flourish and the country will be well governed."

Shao Xun nodded.

This can be considered as Daliang's version of the Rectification Movement in the Middle Ages, and it's a good thing.

"You draft the imperial edict and hand it over to me for review." Shao Xun said.

Shao Jin was delighted, his face calm as water, and said, "As you wish."

Shao Xun also patted Liuzi's shoulder affectionately. This was both an exercise for him and an opportunity to establish his prestige.

(End of this chapter)