Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 327 Chen Qingsi’s fatal weakness

Master Xu Yu, who was originally watching the show, was suddenly dumbfounded.

The snipe and the clam are competing for the fishermen's profits. Master Xu Yu doesn't seek the fishermen's profits. How come the fish in the pond are still affected?

Xin Mao Jiangben was asked by Master Xu Yu and he didn't know how to answer.

He was originally from Xu Jingzong and was promoted by him, so he naturally favored Yuan Sijing.

However, the momentum set off by Chen Qingsi was too strong, and it pointed directly at the shortcomings of the temple and the hidden dangers of the gentry.

In terms of momentum, it is far better than the impeachment of Teng Wang Li Yuanying.

No one can predict the outcome.

but now……

Xin Maojiang chuckled and said: "Xiangong Xu, both Yuan Sijing and Gao Zhizhou are the immediate choices. There is only one vacancy, so it's hard to say, anyone can take the position. Now that there are two vacancies, there is no need to fight. "

Master Xu Yun smiled awkwardly, as if he was slapping his mouth. Although he felt uncomfortable, there was nothing he could do about it.

As far as the current control of the temple is concerned, let alone the removal of a minister, even if he is killed as the prime minister, it will not cause too much trouble.

Obviously, the external transfer of Xia Yu, the Minister of Rites, was to make way for Yuan Sijing and Gao Zhizhou.

In just three days, Li Zhi issued a new appointment as Minister of Rites, including Yuan Sijing and Gao Zhizhou.

Chang'an, Cui Zhai.

Cui Xinming was sitting elegantly in the hall, looking at the pile of confidential information compiled by his son Cui Dongri, and snorted: "Chen Qingsi has really stirred up trouble in Chang'an."

When he mentioned Chen Qingsi, a trace of resentment flashed in Cui Xinming's eyes.

As the proud son of the Cui family, Cui Xinming was born with a transcendent sense of superiority. He boasted that his articles were unique among contemporary writers, far superior to Li Baiyao, and outstanding.

In the past, the elites of the five surnames he led failed miserably in the imperial examination, so he thought that if the young ones were not good enough, he, the old one, would be the best rising star in the literary world after meeting him for a while.

Facing Chen Qingsi, a junior, he specially sent someone to invite him to have a gentleman's dispute in the literary world.

As a result, I got a "never heard of it".

The word Cui Xinming also became a laughing stock.

When he came back this time, he saw that Chen Qingsi was at the height of his power. Not only had he become a great scholar, but his position had also been promoted from a small official to a minister.

While he was full of dissatisfaction, he also felt a little bit envious, but it was this kind of envy that made him even more jealous.

If he were not a member of the Cui family, the Li Tang court would not dare to use him. How could it be Shuzi's turn to become famous?

He calmly took a piece of information and asked, "What's the current situation in the Ministry of Rites?"

Cui Dongri was handsome and steady. He raised his hands and said, "Yuan Sijing and Gao Zhizhou have already served in the Ministry of Etiquette. They are both talented people with more than 20 years of experience as subordinate officials. They took over their respective affairs very neatly..."

Cui Xinming's eyes were cold and he said, "Didn't Lu Chengqing do something?"

Cui Dongri said: "Lu Shangshu did not make any extra arrangements. He just asked Yuan Sijing to be in charge of the temple department and Gao Zhizhou to be in charge of the host and guest department, and they were used separately."

Cui Xinming said with a bit of ridicule on his face: "What an ungrateful old dog."

Lu Chengqing is naturally a member of Fan Yang's Lu family. Li Zhi suppressed the five surnames in Guandong in an all-round way. In addition to suppression and exclusion, there was also inducement and differentiation.

Lu Chengqing is one of them. He was born in the northern ancestor of the Lu family in Fanyang, but he abandoned the five surnames and became a lackey willingly.

When he learned that Yuan Sijing and Gao Zhizhou were both ministers of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Cui Xinming came up with a plan to ask Lu Chengqing to use his position to create conflicts between Yuan Sijing and Gao Zhizhou, thereby dividing Xu Jingzong, a big party member, and Chen Qingsi Qingliu Party relations.

Now Lu Chengqing arranged for Yuan Sijing to be responsible for the sacrificial rituals and Gao Zhizhou to receive the envoys from the barbarians.

They have no contact with each other at all, let alone conflict, obviously ignoring their arrangements.

In Cui Xinming's heart, the interests of the family are more important than anything else. Imperial power and other things are not worth mentioning compared to the interests of the family.

How can a dynasty that has lasted for hundreds of years be more noble than their thousand-year-old family?

Lu Chengqing's behavior is tantamount to betrayal.

"Ignore him for now!" Cui Xinming said immediately: "The right way is to suppress Chen Qingsi at the moment. Chen Qingsi must not be allowed to push this wave, and Li Tang cannot be allowed to succeed again."

The word "Zai" is used very expressively.

Many people think that Li Shimin did nothing for the five surnames, and even compromised with the aristocratic family for the sake of external expansion. But in fact, the person who stabbed softness the most was Li Shimin.

The biggest reliance of aristocratic families that focus on cultural inheritance is their control of culture. They control the right to interpret culture.

Ancient texts are profound and difficult to understand, and a few words in one sentence can have dozens of interpretations. If they are arranged maliciously, completely opposite meanings will appear.

The Classics and History can be interpreted as beneficial to the family, so that if you want to become a great Confucian, you must first be fully recognized culturally.

Faced with this situation, Li Shimin took the next step and asked Kong Yingda, a descendant of Confucius, to leapfrog the Guandong gentry and compile the "Five Classics of Justice", allowing the government to directly determine the right to interpret Confucian culture.

The Guandong nobles naturally did not recognize it, and even looked down upon it.

Li Shimin directly linked the "Five Classics of Justice" to the Imperial College and the Imperial Examination. You may deny it, but the Imperial Academy teaches "Five Classics Justice" and the imperial examination tests "Five Classics Justice". If you don't study "Five Classics Justice", you will not get the chance to be promoted.

As a result, the Kanto gentry lost the right to interpret Confucian orthodoxy...

This matter had a great impact on the Guandong nobles, so much so that they were suppressed by Guan Longxungui.

Cui Dongri is also aware of the threat posed by Chen Qingsi. Now Guan Longxungui has been overthrown by the current emperor because they took advantage of the opportunity of their rise. However, the cultural reform initiated by Chen Qingsi at this moment will be no less threatening than the "Five Classics of Justice" decreed by Li Shimin. "Five Classics of Justice" has shattered their orthodox Confucian right to speak, and now Chen Qingsi has come to challenge their most core thing, "fame."

Once Chen Qingsi becomes a Confucian leader, the hope of the scholars they rely on will converge on Chen Qingsi.

As long as there is one Chen Qingsi, there will be a second and third one in the future.

Cui Dongri looked at his father and catered to him: "Chen Qingsi will never be allowed to become a Confucian leader."

Cui Xinming looked at the information in his hand and said: "There are many people responding to Chen Qingsi, but Mr. Linghu also came forward to support?"

Cui Dongri knew that Mr. Linghu in his father's mouth was the Imperial Academy Jijiu, Linghu Defen, the oldest scholar in the world today.

"Shilang Chen once served under Mr. Linghu, so it's natural to help him."

Cui Xinming shook his head and said: "You don't understand Mr. Linghu. If Mr. Linghu really knew how to adapt, he wouldn't still be an Imperial College minister."

The imperial wine officer is not young, but for Linghu Defen, he is too young.

Literati are proud to compile the history of the country, but Linghu Defen majored in five historical books of Liang, Chen, Qi, Zhou and Sui, which shows Linghu Defen's status. It was just that he had no interest in politics and focused on studying and writing books, so he worked as an imperial minister for half his life.

Although Cui Xinming is arrogant and arrogant, he also has real talent and knowledge, and he knows what it means when even an old gentleman like Linghu Defen comes out.

This means that the atmosphere in the literary world is rotten to the core, and it is indeed time to change.

He continued to look down and found that in addition to Linghu Defen, there were many famous people, such as Kong Zhiyue, Yu Chang, Su Liangsi, Yan Yude, etc., all of whom were famous Confucian scholars in Chang'an.

Cui Dongri said: "The most troublesome thing is Kong Zhiyue. This person represents the Kong family and has a lot of supporters."

"Kong Zhiyue!" Cui Xinming read out the name with a somewhat mocking tone and said, "As a father, I have long been accustomed to it. Whenever there is a change, the Kong family will always be the first to kneel down. This time it is naturally the case..."

Besides Kong Zhiyue, after Confucius, his father was also Kong Yingda, who wrote the "Five Classics of Justice".

Cui Dongri was worried and said: "Shilang Chen has the support of so many great sages, and the imperial court is standing behind him. How should we deal with it?"

Cui Xinming said confidently: "Chen Qingsi is trying to please others. He talks nicely about the unity of literature and Taoism, but in fact he is just catering to the public. Reciting poems and composing essays is the most elegant thing done when celebrities gather and have banquets. Chen Qingsi But he simplified it, as if everyone in the world who can read and digit can write articles and poems..." He said with a mocking face: "He Chen Qingsi, I think everyone in the world is called Chen Qingsi? If he wants to promote it, let him Push, let's give him a hand. Isn't it the prosperous Tang Dynasty? As a father, you can also do one, two, three, four, five, six, seven or eight; roosters are flying and dogs are barking, and the sky is full of chicken and dog hair... …”

Cui Dongri understood instantly and said with a smile: "My child understands. It makes people compose random poems, and drives out good poems with bad poems, so that the entire Chang'an capital and even Shangluo are filled with all kinds of poems in the Tang Dynasty style. Let everyone Everyone, let’s take a look at what will happen after the implementation of the Tang style.”

Cui Xinming nodded approvingly and said: "My son can be of great use. Since Chen Qingsi doesn't dare to fight head-on, we let him know that he is not good at poetry, let alone other things."

Cui Dongri frowned and said: "This method can make people feel disgusted with the Tang Dynasty style, but I think it treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. In terms of poetry, in a hundred years, has anyone been able to compare with "Yellow Crane Tower"? And which essay can do it? Compared with "Shi Shuo"? If the source is not suppressed, even if the Tang Dynasty style is full of bad trends, it is possible for him to turn decay into magic."

"Ha ha……"

Cui Xinming raised his head and laughed, slapping his thigh, as if he heard a big joke, and said: "You, you are fooling me. It is undeniable that Chen Qingsi is indeed smart and talented in poetry. If he had been born into our family, he would have been Cao Zijian. It's a pity that he is a farmer who is not even from a poor family."

He looked at his son and said proudly: "In the past, my father invited him to compete in poetry, but he refused. What did my son think?"

"..."

Cui Dongri didn't dare to speak. This matter was the most taboo thing for his father. When he learned that Chen Qingsi refused as if it was almost humiliating, he still remembered that his father was so angry that he almost fainted. He, who was always gentle and gentle, rarely used several swear words in a row. , it has not slowed down for a long time, why did you bring it up today?

Cui Xinming asked and answered his own questions and said: "As my father, I got to know Chen Qingsi deeply. This person is quick-thinking, responsible and courageous, decisive in dealing with problems, and has the courage to work hard. Such a person is indeed rare. It is not surprising that he has achieved what he has today." . But he has a fatal weakness, his knowledge is not deep. Even if he learned a little bit of literature and calligraphy in the Xiao family school, it is difficult for him to be refined. From his speech and behavior, it can be seen that the knowledge he possessed in his early years was not comparable to that of his father. In comparison, even my son can beat him."

"The reason why he is called a great Confucian is because of the Three-Character Classic. The Three-Character Classic is the crown jewel of Mongolian studies and can be said to be a must-read for children all over the world. But after all, it is a children's book. It is better in its exquisite conception and does not require advanced writing. polish."

Cui Xinming said excitedly: "The world thinks that Chen Qingsi created a revolution in poetry with the Tang Dynasty style, but in my father's opinion, it was because of his own lack of writing and he could only use the simple Tang Dynasty style to gain fame and popularity."

Cui Dongri looked at his father blankly, which seemed to make sense.

The articles of the sages that I have read are all extremely mysterious and difficult to understand, and I often feel dizzy and confused after reading them.

Is it a problem with the sages?

Obviously not!

Obviously I am not knowledgeable enough to understand the words of the sages.

With Chen Qingsi's background and his experience of even going to the military camp to receive military pay in order to earn a living, how could he have time to study the knowledge of the sages?

The biggest feature of palace style poetry is its extravagant diction and its emphasis on formal beauty.

What is formal beauty?

Paying attention to the use of allusions, paying attention to rhythm and pursuing rhetoric, all three are indispensable.

If you don't read thousands of books, how can you quote scriptures?

If you don't know thousands of characters, how can your writing be transformed into a rhyme and sound that is as beautiful as an oriole's song?

If you don't have a complete literary mind, how can you pile up the most gorgeous words and sentences?

The reason why palace style poetry is elegant is not because you don’t have enough literary skills to even get started.

How could Chen Qingsi have a profound literary foundation given her background?

Seeing that his son had understood clearly, Cui Xinming smiled proudly and said: "We are all confused by Chen Qingsi's clever achievements. Only his father can see through the essence. His criticism of the Qi and Liang style of writing in the Southern Dynasties is not true hostility, but pure ignorance." He understands, but cannot understand the elegance in it. If he cannot do it himself, he will destroy it. He promotes the literature that he is good at and lets the world learn it. His heart is to be punished..."

Cui Dongri bowed excitedly: "Father, thank you very much."

Cui Xinming said: "We can start from these two aspects to make the stench of the Tang Dynasty invisible, and make Chen Qingsi's tricks and thoughts known to the public, so that the world can know his true face."

Cui Dongri said: "I'll make arrangements now!"

Cui Xinming emphasized: "Be quick. Especially the doubts about Chen Qingsi are the top priority. My father has learned about it deeply. Since marrying a girl from the Xiao family, Chen Qingsi's academic skills have become increasingly better. His conversation when he entered Chang'an is different from what he does now. They are completely different. He doesn't understand, not because he is unwise, but because he lacks opportunities. He cannot be allowed to continue to grow. It is best to persuade Shangguan Yi and Xue Yuanchang to take action. They have pedantic ideas and have the kindness of women, so they can be exploited. . It’s not that they disdain using underhanded tactics, then just have an upright fight.”

Cui Dongri said: "I'll deal with it now. I guarantee that within one day, all Chang'an will know Shilang Chen's intentions."

(End of this chapter)