A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 95 Benevolence and Righteousness

The young lady looked Wang Dou up and down, saw that he was dressed as a warrior, and the corners of his eyebrows were raised slightly, so she stood there silently.

She has a plump figure with the charm of a young woman. She is wearing a deep purple gown, and she is holding a bun with a goose gall heart, a cloud bun and a hazy bun. A golden jade step is inserted in it, and the pendant beads vibrate when she walks and stops.

This young lady has an elegant and noble temperament in her gestures and actions. Women from official families like them pay the most attention to demeanor, and will not show any emotions easily.In Wang Dou's view, this young lady is a very scheming person.

The young lady Ji wore a plain white silk dress with exquisite patterns and textures, a slender waist and snow-skinned skin, bright eyes and longing eyes, and the skirt dragged six pieces of water from the Xiangjiang River.She looked at Wang Dou, as if she recognized the man she had seen a few months ago, a trace of surprise flashed in her eyes, and then she smiled.

Fu Mingqi also heard Wang Dou's shout, he turned his head to see Wang Dou, and laughed: "It's you kid."

He said: "Wait a while, wait for me to see off the guests."

The young lady and Miss Ji were even more surprised when they heard what Fu Mingqi said to Wang Dou, and their pretty eyes were only focused on Wang Dou.

Fu Mingqi sent the two daughters out, and there was a gust of fragrant wind, gracefully, and the two daughters passed by Wang Dou's side.

At the gate of the courtyard, Fu Mingqi bowed to the two daughters and said goodbye, and the young lady Ji bowed again: "Thank you, sir."

Fu Mingqi smiled and said, "Say hello to your lord for me."

……

Fu Mingqi turned around and smiled at Wang Dou, "Did you look stupid?"

Wang Dou shook his head and said, "Old Fu, what are they doing?"

The appearance and temperament of the two daughters are extremely outstanding, especially that young lady Ji, who is even more charming.It's rare for a commoner to have such an elegant woman. Wang Dou knew the identity of the young lady, but the young lady Ji didn't know which family she came from.

Fu Mingqi said: "The older one is the young wife of Zhizhou Mansion. Alas, Wen Jun is a new widow, and he is also a hard-working person."

Wang Dou also heard that the young lady married the son of Li Zhentong, the Zhizhou two years ago, and her husband died not long after.However, this woman is quite shrewd and capable, and manages the house in an orderly manner, and is highly regarded by the Zhizhou adults.

"The young one's surname is Ji. Her identity is not simple. She came with the young lady to ask me a question."

Fu Mingqi didn't talk about the identity of Miss Ji, but recited: "There is a beautiful person, clear and graceful. When you meet each other, you will be with your son."

He looked at Wang Dou: "Brother Wang, just now I saw that you looked sober, and you didn't seem to be fascinated by the beauty. Not to mention Miss Ji, even the Young Madam, many people are full of ugly behaviors, but you can control it. Look You are only in your twenties, but your mind is probably older than me."

He shook his head, as if he regretted not seeing Wang Dou's ugliness just now.

He said: "For a friend, how about I introduce that young lady Ji to you?"

"She looks like a man, and she is charming inside. She will definitely give you seven or eight sons by then."

Speaking of this, he laughed out loud, looking at his smiling face, how can he still look dignified and upright?

Wang Dou just smiled and shook his head.

Fu Mingqi snorted: "I'm still putting on airs. To be honest, the two of you are far apart in status and status, and you have a wife again. With her body, it is impossible to be your concubine."

The two chatted and laughed, and entered the inner room. Wang Dou saw that Fu Mingqi's wife Tian was not there, and asked, "Where is Mrs. Sister-in-law?"

Fu Mingqi said: "Go back to my mother's house."

The two of them sat down, and said with their names: "Brother Wang, I've always been curious. It's said that people who are not flirtatious are in vain for young people, but you don't seem to even have the intention to appreciate beauty."

"You are not greedy for money, you are not lustful, you are kind to the people, no one is perfect, why are you doing this?"

Wang Dou sat quietly for a long time, and he said: "There is a saying in the ancients, self-cultivation, governance of the country, and peace of the world!"

"But I think I haven't even reached the stage of self-cultivation. Everything I do now is nothing more than to survive."

"In troubled times, struggling hard!"

Fu Mingqi sighed deeply, and after a long time, he sang a sad song, but it was a song he heard among the victims that day.

……

Shun Xiangbao opened a children's school in April, which is divided into several large and small classes.

There are about dozens of children in each class, and even Dongjiazhuang has children who go to Shunxiangbao to go to school.Dongjiazhuang is not very far from Shun Township Fort, and it is very common for students to walk a few miles to go to school even in later generations.However, going to school from Jingbian Fort to Shunxiang Fort is a little farther away.

学堂孩童每日的口粮，都是由堡内提供。舜乡旧堡内有13岁以下的男孩女孩130多人。舜乡新堡内有13岁以下的男孩女孩近300人。董家庄内也有60多人。

Due to the current financial constraints, Wang Dou can only choose some children who are brighter or who have been literate before to enter the school.There are more than 100 people, and they are all boys. In this era, girls cannot go to school with boys.

It is very enviable to be able to enter the school to study.

According to the ancient concept, everything is inferior, and only reading is high, especially in Daming, where scholars are given preferential treatment.As long as you are a scholar, you can avoid the burden of taxes and food, and you can also parade with your sword.Changing to ordinary civilians, even if they are hundreds of miles away, they still need guidance.

Moreover, the school in Shunxiang Fort also provides daily rations to feed the children without having to work, which makes the military households in the fort compete for the places to study.As long as the military households in the fort have their own children studying in the school, speaking to the outside world, their faces are extremely radiant.

The teaching in the school is temporarily assigned to a few scribes in Shunxiangbao. Baoanzhou Confucianism is well-known, and they often come to Shunxiangbao from Zhoucheng to teach a few lessons.

There are so many students in Shun Xiangbao, which makes him very interested. He has promised Wang Dou that he will select a few teachers from the Security School to teach in the future.

As for the current textbooks of Shunxiangbao Academy, they still use some textbooks and poetry collections commonly used in Ming Dynasty.Although it is true that the implementation of ideals starts with children, but first of all, we must let them know how to read and understand some principles, right?In the health schools of various places in the Ming Dynasty, the common courses were rites, music, archery, imperialism, calligraphy, and counting. Wang Dou mainly asked a few scribes to teach the two subjects of calligraphy and counting.

Several scribes have different teaching styles. Although Feng Dachang, the official, is gentle with others, he is more rigorous and orthodox in teaching.

Wang Dou's uncle, Zhong Zhengxian, also took turns teaching the children. He said it was quite realistic.

There is a big class in Shunxiangbao Academy, with more than 13 students, most of whom are older schoolchildren aged [-] to [-]. There were also a few children who were able to read and write in their hometown.

This day, Zhong Zhengxian was teaching a big class. He talked about the textbook for a while, and then asked the students to read it by themselves. To achieve fame, you can at least be like me, have a bowl of rice to eat, support yourself and your family."

A naughty student below said loudly: "I heard that the master got the present bowl of rice by defending the adults. So, even if you don't study, you can still support your family."

All the children laughed loudly.

Commander Feng Dachang stood outside the classroom, his expression was a bit ugly, he said: "How can these students say such things about Mr. Zhong? Wait for me to go and scold them."

Wang Dou said: "Forget it, Tong Yan Wuji, don't take it too seriously."

Fu Mingqi also shook his head with a smile.

But hearing Zhong Zhengxian's voice, he was not angry, but just smiled and said: "It is my ability to have a good nephew, sir. But if you don't know how to read and count, no matter how good your nephew is, he is still not qualified for the job of a clerk." Errand."

He said to the naughty student before: "Wen Jinghe, your homework after you go back is to copy today's text three hundred times."

……

On the second day, Fu Mingqi was in class for the big class. He wrote down the word "benevolence and righteousness" on the paper and hung it up high.

He said to the students: "Do you know why you read the books of sages and sages?"

All the students shook their heads.

The name of the talisman said: "It is the word benevolence and righteousness in my book."

Fu Mingqi said: "Confucius said to achieve benevolence, Mencius said to obtain righteousness, only when righteousness is exhausted, so benevolence is supreme. Knowing loyalty, benevolence and righteousness, one is not a walking dead. Only when one can do it by oneself, can one be worthy of no shame, and be passed down in history."

His voice became impassioned: "In the past, Prime Minister Wen studied the books of sages and sages hard, and finally understood the principle of benevolence and righteousness. The Yuan army was trapped in Ezhou, the capital was shaken, and the generals from all over the country waited and watched. Said: "Now the Yuan army is marching in three directions. If you meet the enemy with mobs, it is no different from driving a flock of sheep to fight a fierce tiger." Prime Minister Wen replied: "I also know this. But the country has raised its subjects for more than 300 years. If there is an emergency, recruit soldiers from all over the world. I was extremely sad that no one person and one rider answered the call. So I overestimated my strength and took the risk myself. I hope that the loyal and righteous people in the world will rise up upon hearing the news and gather everyone's strength, so that the community may be preserved." He also said: "By the grace of the king , to eat the country's wealth, one should serve the country with death'."

"After Prime Minister Wen was defeated and captured, the Lord of the Yuan Dynasty persuaded him to surrender with high-ranking officials and rich salary, and also lured him with family affection. Prime Minister Wen would rather die than submit, and went to righteousness calmly. His integrity and loyalty were sung by later generations, and his name will be left in history!"

Fu Mingqi looked at the students and said, "I don't ask you to be as strict as Prime Minister Wen, but I want you to know that the principles of benevolence and righteousness are so important to read sage books."

All the students nodded with a vague understanding.

Suddenly a student said: "Received the kindness of the king, eat the riches of the country, should serve the country with death. If the king surrenders, what should we ministers do?"

Fu Mingqi saw that it was the Wen Jinghe who was punished by Zhong Zhengxian for copying textbooks 13 times yesterday. He is [-] years old this year, with good looks. He is the most naughty and smartest in the big class, but he is not from Shunxiangpu , but from Dongjiazhuang.

Fu Mingqi couldn't help but nodded, and he smiled and said: "Good question, in the past, Emperor Song Gong surrendered Yuan Lord, and Yuan Lord sent him to persuade him to surrender, but Wen Chengxiang replied, "Your surrender is a minister." Don't surrender', the country is more important than the king! I have been in China for thousands of years, and there have been countless dynasties, but the king can surrender, but the morality of us scholars cannot be lost."

Wen Jinghe said: "Sir, the students understand."

Fu Mingqi touched his head and said softly, "Good boy."

The clear and clear voice of children reading can be heard in the school: "Confucius said to achieve benevolence, Mencius said to obtain righteousness, but only when righteousness is exhausted, so benevolence is supreme."

"Reading the books of sages and sages, what do you learn? From now on, you have nothing to be ashamed of!"

Listening to the sound of reading aloud, Wang Dou outside the window felt a kind of trembling from his heart. This is the real scholar, the real way of Confucius and Mencius.

True benevolence!
(End of this chapter)