Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 485 Who is the opponent?

In the fourth year of Zhenguan, the weather was favorable and the Tang Dynasty was peaceful and prosperous.

This year was the most ordinary year and also the most unusual year. According to the records in "Book of Tang", this year was called "the glorious year" or "the brilliant year".

Because in this year, the only person after the Qin Dynasty who could be called a "son" or even a "sage" came to the Tang Dynasty and shone with his own light.

No one can deny this person's brilliance, and no one can deny this person's wisdom.

He was called "Yu Zi" and also called "Chen Sheng".

This is a reputation that even the founder of Confucianism, "Confucius", has never received since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and even the ancestor of the Chen family, "Chen Ye", has never received, but it has fallen on such a junior.

but.
No one dared to refute this man's reputation.

There are many records about this person in later generations, including official history, unofficial history, strange novels, and dramas. Even in the postmodern era, when entertainment became popular on a large scale and TV series and movies began to appear widely, "Chen Yu" became a name that countless movies and TV series wanted to get a piece of.

After the emergence of the Ming Republic and the Thirteen States Federation Empire, the first TV series was called "The Biography of Chen Yu", and the first movie was called "The Great Tang Dynasty". The male protagonist of the first TV series was undoubtedly Chen Yu.

Although the first movie is called "The Great Tang Dynasty", it depicts "The Zhenguan Chronicle", the first part of the Great Tang Dynasty. The Zhenguan Chronicle is a group portrait drama and does not have a fixed male protagonist. However, according to the analysis and dissection of "star chasers" in later generations, in the total 100 episodes of the TV series, Li Shimin appeared for 536 minutes, while Chen Yu appeared for 758 minutes.

This is undoubtedly the absolute male protagonist.

However, the director and producer of Zhenguan Ji both stated righteously that they definitely did not secretly increase Chen Yu's running time out of idol worship.

However, this "Zhenguan Chronicle" did not start from the first year of Zhenguan, but rather from the brilliant "farce" of the fourth year of Zhenguan.

In the book "History of Chinese Culture", the focus is on introducing several ideological trends that have influenced China for five thousand years. The five schools mentioned most frequently, from least to most, are "Mohism", "Legalism", "Confucianism", "Politicians" and "Scientists and Realists".

Among them, Mohism was mentioned 3,584 times, Legalism was mentioned 4,380 times, Confucianism was mentioned 7,893 times, politicians were mentioned 9,001 times, and scientists and realists were mentioned a total of 38,453 times.

The other three schools combined are not as many as those mentioned by the pragmatists.

The inheritors of the Legalists and Mohists also said, "This is what should be done." However, the inheritors of Confucianism, the descendants of Confucius, expressed great dissatisfaction, but they had no reason to refute it.

As for politicians?
The representatives of the politicians all smiled awkwardly and did not comment on it at all.

Not to mention that Chen Yu, who created the concept of "scientific realist", was himself a direct descendant of the Chen ancestor who created the concept of "politician", which means that the scientific realist himself was derived from the thoughts of the politician.

How could a father scold his son for being too successful?
There is no such saying.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan, beside a road.

Several old men were sitting there, with many servants standing behind them, their eyes sharp and angry, waiting for the young challenger to slowly come from the distant road.

In the distance, among the carriages and horses.

Chen Yu sat there with his eyes closed, his expression very calm. There were too many people who challenged him along the way, and he would not accept everyone's challenge. He had to defeat the disciples he sent first, and only after defeating these disciples would they be qualified to fight him.

Yes, disciple.

Although Chen Yu is not very old, he has already started to accept disciples and impart his "scientific and realistic" ideas.

In fact, Chen Yu was very dissatisfied with the name circulating in the outside world. He felt that he was not a "scientific and realistic person", but compared to this name, he could not think of a more suitable name.

Chen Yu has always felt that "scientists" and "realists" are two different schools of thought.

Although some scientists also study "theoretical" knowledge, most of them are exploring the fixed, material, and unchanging principles of heaven and earth. This is a material existence, and they do not exist just because Chen Yu suddenly slapped his forehead.

Even if Chen Yu hadn't brought these up, they would still exist and would still be discovered by others - it's just a matter of sooner or later.

But the "realists" are different.

"Seeking truth" is a kind of thought, which refers to the truth that Chen Yu realized from many books and from the classics of the Chen family's predecessors. The core of this truth is only four words.

"Seek truth from facts."

This seems to be a very simple truth, but it is something that many people cannot do. It is also something that many people understand but cannot express out loud. When Chen Yu put forward these four words, these four words truly existed.

From then on, anyone who wanted to refute those fraudulent things could accuse that person by saying "You must seek truth from facts!", and after these four words were blurted out, people would understand what they meant.

This is Chen Yu’s contribution.

This contribution is enough for him to become "Chen Zi", but it is not enough for him to become "Chen Saint".

If he could not become the "Saint Chen", many plans of the Chen family and the emperor would not be implemented, so Chen Yu took the opportunity to propose the "scientific" wave of thought.

In fact, he was not the first to propose this wave of thought. Chen Ye and the predecessors of the Chen family all proposed the general meaning of the concept of "science", but they did not systematically summarize and conclude it, so they had no way of becoming "sages" by relying on this.

This is a pity.

Chen Yu believes that the induction and conclusion of the word "science" and the many principles therein are not his own credit, so he should not enjoy all the "benefits", but at least people should know the contributions of Mohism and many of Chen's predecessors.

However, the descendants of the Chen family, as well as the Mohists, the Gongshu School, and even the craftsmen of the Tiangong Bureau all refused. They believed that this was Chen Yu's credit, and they were just walking on this unnamed road.

And they are also willing to let Chen Yu get this "benefit".

Chen Yu sighed again, but Chen Mo, who came back with him, smiled and said, "Yi Guang, you are not still thinking about your fame, are you?"

"Didn't I tell you? We don't care about the so-called reputation."

“We’ve got more than enough.”

Chen Yu said somewhat dissatisfiedly: "I have gained enough! Even if I give you some of this fame, I will be able to become a so-called "saint", and this will not have any other impact on our plan!"

“I just don’t understand why it has to be done this way.”

"There are too many unknown craftsmen who need such a reputation."

Chen Mo looked at Chen Yu and said seriously: "But what we need is not the reputation of becoming a 'saint', what we need is someone to clear our name for us." "Prove that we are not 'craftsmen' but 'scientists', so that we can become the representatives of 'academics' from now on, instead of being the representatives of the 'lower class' when ordinary people mention us."

He smiled and said: "Of course, maybe some craftsmen are engaged in those tedious, simple and repetitive tasks, and they can only remain craftsmen, but so what?"

"As long as our overall reputation rises, their reputation can also rise."

"Yi Guang, this is not just a plan, it is also the common wish of many Mohist disciples and craftsmen. You can't let them down just because of your own ideas."

"The higher your reputation, the stronger it is, the less likely anyone will question you, and the more likely they will be able to stand in the light cleanly and uprightly!"

Chen Yu was silent, but he also clearly understood that what this person said was indeed true.

That is why he appeared here. Although he was not very willing, he still accepted the glory.

"Uu——"

The attendant driving the carriage pulled the reins, then looked at the many elderly people sitting in front of him, and reported to the carriage in a low voice, "Sir, someone has come to challenge you again."

Chen Yu then calmed down and asked, "Who is it?"

The driver asked the same question.

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The old men sitting in the middle of the road heard the question coming from the carriage and slowly stood up. The old man in the lead slowly said, "I am the head of the Xun family, Xun Jie!"

Another old man introduced himself: "I am the head of the Meng family, Meng Yun!"

Then the elderly people next to them also introduced their names one by one.

"Yan Ting!"

"Ran Ze!"

"Duanmu Xi!"

"Shu Zhongping!"

As the names of these old men were announced one by one, the motionless carriage began to move slowly, and a young man stepped out of it. He was wearing a green robe with a few bamboo sections embroidered on it.

The man had a handsome face and a peaceful expression on his face. He did not look like a reckless person, but rather a modest gentleman.

It was Chen Yu.

Just as Chen Ruohan said, Chen Yu was not a reckless person. He was so reckless this time just to cooperate with the plan of Li Shimin and others. It was also partly because he listened to Li Shimin's words and felt that "young people should be full of vigor and vitality."

"I've met a few old gentlemen."

These people are all great Confucian scholars, and their surnames are also very particular. There is no need to say much about "Yan", "Meng" and "Xun". One is the descendant of Yan Hui, who was "happy with a bowl of rice and a jug of water", one is the descendant of the famous "Mencius and Mencius", and the other is the descendant of Xunzi, who challenged (scolded) all the saints in the Warring States Period.

The rest are also descendants of the "Seventy-two Sages of Confucius".

Except for the previous head of the Kong family "Kong An", the current head of the Kong family "Kong Yingda", and the head of the "Dong family" "Dong Wusheng", all the great Confucian sages of the time are gathered together!

Although part of the Confucianism in the world came from Chen's disciples, and even the original "Mencius" classics were preserved in Chen's family, they still came.

They are not here for any political struggle - political struggle is the business of those young people and people in Kyoto. They are just fighting for the orthodoxy!

Even among these Confucian disciples, some were descendants of the Chen family.

But they still came.

The reason is very simple, it’s still those four words.

"The dispute over the orthodoxy".

However, their purpose of coming here was different from that of the others. The others came with the purpose of defeating Chen Yu, but they came with the purpose of defeating Chen Yu, thinking that if they could defeat him, it would mean that Chen Yu's knowledge was not yet complete, and if they couldn't defeat him, it would mean that they were really no good. They also came to improve Chen Yu's reputation.

Everyone greeted each other, then sat down on the street and began their debate.

The sun was shining high here, and everyone was covered in sweat. Chen Yu sat there and talked eloquently, citing classics and the teachings of various philosophers to argue with these Confucian sages.

The first ones who couldn't hold on were the others except Meng, Xun and Yan. After they retreated, Chen Yu didn't chase them, but instead tried his best to deal with Meng, Xun and Yan.

At the end of his speech, Chen Yu almost stood up, one finger pointing to the sky and the other to the ground, his expression indifferent yet filled with the arrogance unique to the Chen family.

"Just like this heaven, just like this earth, just like this man."

"If Confucius hadn't talked about this heaven, would this heaven not exist? If Mencius hadn't talked about this earth, would this earth not exist? If Xunzi hadn't talked about this man, would this man not exist?"

"Do not."

"Just as Xunzi said, Heaven did not perish because of Jie and Zhou, nor did it exist because of Yao and Shun. The "scientific" principles between Heaven and Earth will not cease to exist because of the refutation of you few people."

"Just as politicians replaced Confucianism, just as Xunzi replaced other Confucian scholars, just as Confucianism wanted to survive, so it followed the reform of "Dong Zhongshu" and absorbed the thoughts of many schools such as Taoism, Legalism, Yin-Yang School, Famous School, Five Elements School, etc., everything that exists has its reason."

“Everything that is to be used is useful.”

“This is the idea of ​​seeking truth.”

After Chen Yu finished speaking, he looked at Meng Jie and the other two who had been sitting there in silence for a long time and asked, "Don't you three think the same way?"

"Do you think that in order to solve a problem, we can avoid using the method that can solve it?"

"Don't you think you can open a lock without a matching key?"

"If you think it is right, then you are already a practitioner of the 'realism' ideology!"

(End of this chapter)