People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 205 Bold!

"Could it be that my elder brother has established connections in the imperial court?" Upon hearing Ju Shou's answer, Ju Zong immediately had a guess.

Although he didn't think much of Xuan Xia, he had to admit that his elder brother did have a special status in Xuan Xia today. As the secretary of the prime minister and the leader, although this position did not have any power in name, the reality was another matter.

In this position now, it is not difficult to use energy to achieve some goals.

If we follow the customs of traditional scholars, this is how things should be done: build up personal connections to gain benefits, and then use the same method to repay favors when necessary, supporting each other's development. This can be said to be the path dependence of the scholar group.

This was the first thing that popped into Ju Zong's mind.

Ju Shou knew what Ju Zong was thinking, so he coughed and said, "The army will soon purchase military supplies from the public in the form of open bidding. As long as our products are good enough, they will naturally be selected."

When Ju Zong heard this, he was stunned for a moment. Is there such a form?
There are always some strange rules and forms in Xuanxia, ​​such as this open bidding method, which I have never heard of before.

"Is this so"

Just think about the procurement of military supplies and you will know how huge the demand is. If you can successfully bid for them, you will definitely make money. Thinking of this, Ju Zong became tempted.

Ju Zong always felt uneasy just doing this matter in the form of competition.

If you don't compete with other businessmen, there will be no fun.

After thinking for a while, he turned around and asked again: "Did Big Brother make any arrangements for this? If he had opened up the connections in advance, this matter would be foolproof."

Ju Su's face darkened, he took a deep breath, and then said with a hint of reprimand: "Don't say such things again, it will kill me if you are not careful. And can you not compete with others if you do things uprightly? Don't think about these messed up things!"

After he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered the warning his master had given him a few days ago, and he felt uneasy again: "You and the other clan members should just do business honestly. You can make no money, or even lose money, but you can't break the rules. If something like this happens, I will be the first to send you to the government office to be executed!"

Ju Zong was a little stunned. Feeling the severity in Ju Shou's words, he could only nod in agreement.

Although he agreed, a boy of about twelve or thirteen years old beside him was not quite convinced. He was Ju Hu, the son of Ju Su.

"Father, why do you have to compromise here? The Yellow Turbans are just a group of lowly and vulgar people. In the past, they were not worth our attention. But now we have to be cautious with them. How can this be justified!

Now that we have handed over our property, we cannot get any preferential treatment from them. Instead, we have to compete for food with those lowly merchants. Are we going to lose all the dignity and respect of our scholars?

And there's Xu Chen, who pretends to be a prime minister, but in reality, he is no different from the monarch. He is so hypocritical!

The Yellow Turbans' evil deeds will end sooner or later. Father, don't be fooled. Let's go, let's go back."

Before Ju Hu could finish his words, he was greeted with a huge slap in the face. A loud noise appeared in the ears of several people. When they came to their senses, Ju Hu had been slapped to the ground, covering his right face with one hand, his face full of shock.

The slap was completely merciless. Ju Hu's face turned red visibly, and blood began to flow from the corners of his mouth.

"How many times have I told you that all people are born the same, there is no distinction between noble and humble. Why do you still keep talking about noble and humble? Is my discipline not strict enough?"

Ju Su's expression was cold, and the majesty that a father should have was fully reflected at this moment, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

This frightened Ju Hu, but then he became angry. "Father, have you really been bewitched by Xu Chen? You can fool others with such words, but how can you really believe them yourself!"

Ju Hu's tone was filled with confusion, pain, and resentment. He really couldn't believe that his wise father would be bewitched by such a thing.

Perhaps because he was afraid of Ju Shou's majesty, Ju Hu looked at Ju Zong again and said, "Second Uncle, don't you think the same way? Say something!"

Ju Zong was stunned for a moment, but then fell silent.

The uncle and nephew both looked at Ju Shou. Although they did not say anything, their attitudes were self-evident.

Ju Shou sighed. Of course he knew that they were not to blame for this. After all, from being a pampered aristocratic family to suddenly becoming the shabby one they are today, this huge gap would inevitably make people feel resentful, and now his own boy finally exploded.

He originally wanted to scold the two of them, but in the end he patiently persuaded them.

"Is it so important whether you believe it or not?" Ju Su said in a deep voice.

Ju Hu stood up immediately and said with his neck stiff, "Of course it's important. If you don't believe it, why bother to spread it?"

Ju Shou looked at him and said calmly: "If you don't believe this, then do you believe in Confucianism?"

Ju Hu didn't think twice and said, "Of course, father, do you think that this natural teaching is better than Confucianism?"

Ju Su shook his head: "I will not argue which is better, but if you do not believe in the basic rights of equality for all, then do you believe in Confucianism's benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness? Do you believe that you can uphold these, and do you believe that scholars in the world can follow these?"

Not only Ju Hu, but even Ju Zong was stunned for a moment. They were suddenly stumped by the question.

If they were dealing with outsiders, they could have agreed right away, but everyone present was family, so there was no need to be so hypocritical.

Who can really consider himself a moral gentleman? And no one is naive enough to think that all scholars are like this.

If all the scholars in the world respected benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, the Han Dynasty would not have fallen into this state today.

"Don't you understand? It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. What matters is that the world has reached a consensus on it, and it has become right. Once it becomes right, no matter whether you agree with it in your heart or not, your behavior must follow the social foundation constructed by this discourse, otherwise you will be excluded by society."

When Ju Su's calm voice came over, Ju Zong and Ju Hu seemed to be thinking about something.

“There are many vulgar people in the world, and we cannot ask them all to be moral gentlemen. As long as they follow this consensus order, it will be enough. This is true for Confucianism and naturalism as well.

The Prime Minister does not need me to agree with you on this, but you cannot try to challenge this order, otherwise there will be suppression!"

At this point, Ju Shou took a last look at Ju Hu and said in a cold voice, "Besides, I, your father, must also address him as Lord. How dare you call him by his name and offend him with your words? If you do it again, it won't just be a slap."

Ju Su turned away, and the remaining uncle and nephew looked at each other in silence for a long time.

Ju Zong felt even more awed. Although it was his elder brother who was teaching his son a lesson this time, he knew that he was also being taught a lesson.

(End of this chapter)