A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 895: Father and son study the Five Classics together, and their sectarian views help the world

Inside the Hedong Guild Hall, Li Peng and Bai Juyi were toasting each other over cups, expressing their deep indignation over the current government affairs, and talking loudly about the demeanor of the early Tang Dynasty, which drew applause from fellow scholars.

"Thinking of Emperor Taizong, he repelled the Turks in the north, captured the barbarians in the south, and brought his power to the whole country, enriched the people, and ruled the country during the Zhenguan reign. Why is there a disaster now?"

Li Peng was already drunk. He raised his glass, stepped on the tables and chairs, and spoke loudly to the diners around him.

This caused grief and indignation throughout the room, and everyone rolled their hands and sighed, wishing they could take the place of the dignitaries in the court, drive out the barbarians, eliminate the eunuchs and the warlords, and revive the glory of the Tang Dynasty.

"Brother Li is drunk!"

"No, I'm not drunk. You all are just sitting there doing nothing but eating and drinking. I'm really ashamed of you."

Just as Bai Juyi kept persuading Li Peng to go back and rest, many students ran downstairs and left.

Seeing this, Bai Juyi pulled the waiter over and asked what was going on.

"The great scholar Bai Bing from Hedong is giving lectures in the West Courtyard of the Bai Mansion. All students in Chang'an can go and listen to the lectures."

After hearing this, most of the people in the building immediately stood up, called their friends, and crowded downstairs. Even the people on the third floor stopped feasting and walked out quickly with red faces.

"Hurry up, or you won't be able to get a good seat if you're late."

After hearing this, Bai Juyi looked at the drunk Li Peng, pulled the waiter over, gave him the money for the wine and a tip, asked him to help him go to the guesthouse to rest, and then he followed the crowd.

Because it was close, Bai Juyi quickly arrived at the west side of the Bai Mansion, where there was also a side door, but it was wider than the main doors of other people's houses.

After a brief identity check, Bai Juyi entered the courtyard.

Hundreds of students were already standing in the courtyard. At the head of the courtyard was a two-person platform, on which an old man was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. He was none other than Bai Bing, a great scholar from Hedong and a great Confucian sage.

As a member of the Songxi Bai clan, Bai Juyi knew that Bai Bing was the son of Bai Tong, the third son of Bai Qing, the previous head of the Bai clan. He was famous in Hedong and was also one of the teachers of Songxi Academy.

All the noble families in the world use the study of classics to help the world, and they regard high salaries from generation to generation as the foundation of their family. Each family has classics passed down from generation to generation.

After the Han Dynasty abandoned all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone, the Eastern Han Dynasty established the Five Classics of Confucianism at the White Tiger Temple Conference.

That is, Confucius's "Book of Changes", Mao's "Book of Songs", Fu's "Book of History", Bai's "Book of Rites" and "Spring and Autumn Annals".

But during the course of hundreds of years, the Mao and Fu families declined, and the classics were passed down to various families, thus giving rise to the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats.

Only the Kong and Bai families are still prosperous.

Among them, the Kong family relies on their ancestors, and the Bai family relies on their clan.

Bai Tong and his son Bai Bing are the great sages who study the Spring and Autumn Annals today. They have students and apprentices all over Hedong, Hebei, and even from other regions who come to study with them.

Therefore, although Bai Bing taught at Songxi Academy, she rarely appeared in public in recent years because of Bai Tong, so Bai Juyi had never met her.

Bai Juyi squeezed into the crowd, and like everyone else, he stretched his head to catch a glimpse of Bai Bing's true face as if he was chasing a star.

It was about time. At the reminder of the people in Bai Mansion, Bai Bing opened his eyes, looked at the dense crowd of young students below the stage, smiled slightly and said:
"All of you are outstanding students from all over the country. Most of you came to Chang'an today to participate in the Spring Examination. Instead of reviewing your studies, you came to listen to my class. This shows that I have made some progress in my studies. I would like to thank you all."

"Master Bai!"

Seeing Bai Bing salute, the students hurriedly returned the gesture.

"If you don't mind, please sit on the floor so that the people behind you can hear clearly."

The person in front was very obedient, not caring whether the ground was dirty or not, he just lifted his robe and knelt on the ground. In this way, the students standing outside the door and riding on the wall finally saw the figure of this world-famous scholar.

"If you students do not abandon me and regard me as your teacher, then I will boldly talk to you about the principles of Confucianism."

"You students must know that my knowledge comes from my father Bai Tong, my father's knowledge comes from my clan ancestor Kong, Kong comes from Wensheng, Wensheng comes from Ai Zhu, Ai Zhu comes from Cheng, and if we trace it back all the way, it all comes from our ancestors Bai Ting and Master Bai."

"And the teacher and the teacher were all disciples of Confucius, the sage who was the first sage. Therefore, Confucianism originated from Confucius. All the classics in the world originated from Confucius. There is no difference."

Hearing Bai Bing say this, the students in the audience nodded frequently to show their agreement.

"From this we can see that knowledge, principles, and classics are passed down privately since the Han Dynasty, from father to son, and from son to son, and so on endlessly. Therefore, there are endless people among the descendants who become officials. If there are no unexpected changes, the family's wealth and prosperity will continue for hundreds of generations. It is easy."

“That’s why the noble families kept the classics to themselves and rarely showed them to others, or only taught the basics to their children, thus maintaining their wealth and status.”

"But after reading all the history books, did he maintain his wealth and status? I don't think so."

"People today keep the classics to themselves, but the ancients did not. Therefore, the three thousand disciples and seventy-two sages after Confucius were not all descendants of Confucius. As a result, Confucianism flourished. Therefore, the classics are often lost today, while military men are prominent. Isn't this upside down?"

"Looking at the aristocratic families of today, among Confucius' seventy-two sages, how many of them have been passed down as wealthy and noble this year? Are they wealthy and noble? Are they selfish?"

When Bai Bing said these words, everyone in the room was shocked. Was she going to declare war on the aristocratic families?

The son of aristocratic family frowned and remained silent, while the rich and powerful man from a poor family was excited and looked at Bai Bing as if he were a saint.

Is it really because children from poor families are not as good as children from aristocratic families? As a result, eight out of ten prime ministers are from wealthy families.

This is because the nobles controlled the classics and never taught them privately to others, and even if the poor were intelligent, they could only borrow books from the rich or read, or copy them, and thus owed them favors.

This is one of the reasons why the aristocratic families today are becoming more powerful, building their own fortresses to protect themselves, arbitrarily interfering in state affairs, supporting local governors, and monopolizing local politics.

Having said this, Bai Bing stood up from the futon, walked to the edge of the stage, and said loudly:
"My father, Bai Tong, is a great scholar of the time, famous throughout the East China Sea, with thousands of disciples and countless people who have benefited from him. Why? Because he is not partial to anyone."

"Last year, my father unfortunately passed away, but he left behind an article called "Neo-Confucianism", which pointed out the great evils of culture and the old diseases of Confucianism. If they are not eliminated, China cannot be saved."

“That is why I am here to call for everyone to put aside their own prejudices and show the classics to the world, hoping that everyone can get the book and read it.”

"Therefore, the Bai family is willing to open up the Bai family's collection of books, release the thousand-year-old collection in Taiyuan, and establish the Jinbai Academy. Anyone who enters will be taught the true scriptures."

"Wow!" All the scholars present, whether they were candidates or officials and scholars who were here to join in the fun, were uproarious. This was really going against the aristocratic families.

Most of the people from the aristocratic families remained silent, and some even looked at the excited Bai Bing on the stage with a hint of resentment.

The sons of powerful families from humble backgrounds cried out loudly, saying that the Bai family was a true aristocratic family that had made great contributions to the country and to China.

Bai Juyi was also very excited. The family had originally opened up education to the middle and lower class members and even to the collateral relatives.

In the Bai family, as long as you have talent, the family will help you enter a better college, even the top Songxi Academy, regardless of blood relationship.

Except for the direct lineage, even the core members of the clan, if their children do not have the ability, they cannot be admitted to the five major academies of the Bai family, with Songxi Academy as the main one.

Bai Juyi was an ordinary member of the family who passed the family school examination and was able to study at Songxi Academy, where he was able to gain so much knowledge and talent.

Looking at Bai Bing on the stage with her arms outstretched, like a god with pity for the world, Bai Juyi murmured:
"If you are poor, you should take care of yourself; if you are rich, you should help the world. That's it."

(End of this chapter)