Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"At the beginning of man's life, his nature is good..."

Lu Tixue read it carefully, nodded in agreement from time to time, and finally said: "This Mongolian text is indeed excellent and is conducive to children's learning, but it cannot be called a classic. Let's change its name to "Three Character Classic"."

Zhu Ming didn't care about this, he raised his hand and said, "Thank you for the scholarship and the name."

Lu Tixue smiled and nodded: "Li Tong judged that you have mastered the Three Classics. I will give you a test now."

As soon as he said this, the twenty scholars from Xixiang County who were accompanying him all turned their attention to Ju Ming. There is doubt, disdain, jealousy...all kinds of emotions.

Understanding the Three Classics is not something that can be said casually!

A young man who has mastered the Three Classics can basically be judged to be bragging.

Lu Tixue then said to Professor Qian and the scholars: "You can answer my questions."

"Please give me some advice without hesitation!"

Everyone bowed and bowed.

Lu Tixue stood with his hands behind his hands, looking at the mountains and rivers in front of him: "What is Tao? What is a tool?"

A scholar surnamed Yu rushed to answer: "What is metaphysical is called Tao, and what is metaphysical is called weapon."

Before the man could finish speaking, the other scholars were filled with regret.

What I regret is that I reacted too slowly and missed the opportunity to perform. This is the original sentence in "Yi Zhuan" and it is very famous. Even if you don't study "Zhou Yi", you can answer it.

Lu Tixue looked at Ju Ming: "What do you think of success?"

Ju Ming understood what the other party meant. In the past, Bai Chongwen, Li Hanzhang, and Xiang Zhixian all used the content of the imperial examination as their starting point, and just asked Ju Ming to explain the scriptures.

Lu Tixue in front of him had already skipped the imperial examination and wanted to discuss theory with Ju Ming directly.

Ju Ming replied: "The Tao is the principle, and the implement is the matter."

This answer is similar to that of the scholar named Yu, but more specific.

Lu Tixue asked again: "What are the Taoist tools for?"

"For Taoist weapons!"

"The Taoist weapon is indistinguishable."

"The Tao is also a tool, and the tool is also a Tao."

"..."

The accompanying scholars rushed to answer, and this time they had to seize the opportunity to talk about mainstream views that were big but empty.

Zhu Ming thought carefully and did not speak. He was guessing Lu Tixue's thoughts.

Candidates who are good at reading comprehension all know that only by understanding the intention of the question maker can they get infinitely close to the standard answer.

Lu Tixue asked Ju Ming: "Why don't you say anything?"

After contacting Lu Tixue’s words and deeds before contacting him, he seemed to respect miscellaneous studies very much. Ju Ming gave the answer: “Governing tools reveals the way.”

Lu Tixue was startled when he heard this. After thinking about it seriously, he laughed happily: "What a man who shows his mastery of tools, he is truly one of the best in our generation!"

This is not only a standard answer, but also exceeds the expectations of the questioner.

"Governing weapons to show the way" is the thought of the meritorious school of the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, the imperial court experienced a series of disastrous defeats, and many scholars began to reflect. Therefore, it was proposed that we should apply what we have learned. The pursuit of learning is to make the country rich and the people strong. We should abandon those false and empty principles and seek truth from facts in doing things. They advocated equal emphasis on agriculture and business, equal emphasis on justice and interests, and equal use of kings and hegemons.

The environment in which the Shigong School of the Southern Song Dynasty was born, as well as the content they advocated, were exactly the same as those of the Practical School in the late Ming Dynasty. All are due to the weakening of the country, abandoning empty talk and pursuing practicality.

Of course, Lu Tixue was not a staunch scholar, but he admired miscellaneous studies and they were compatible with each other.

Seeing that Lu Tixue had been scratched, Zhu Ming took advantage of the victory and pursued it, saying: "What fills the universe is nothing but things, and what is used in daily life is nothing more than things."

Lu Tixue tasted this sentence carefully, and he actually felt like a confidant, and at the same time he was a little jealous: I thought so too, why didn't I sum it up?

This sentence comes from the words of Chen Liang in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Zhu Xi and Chen Liang were good friends, and both were fanatical militants, but their academic ideas were incompatible. They both tried to convince each other, but they couldn't do anything about each other, so they had to fight to decide the outcome.

"Come forward successfully!"

Lu Tixue was so happy to see Hunter Xin that he completely ignored others and asked Ju Ming to move forward with him.

After walking for a while, the field ridge was slightly wider and there was a mulberry tree.

Lu Tixue didn't mind that the ground was dirty. He sat down under the mulberry tree and waved, "Come and sit."

Then, Zhu Ming became more relaxed and relaxed and sat down next to Lu Tixue.

Such a situation made the accompanying scholars go crazy with jealousy, wishing they could kick Ju Ming away and replace him.

Who told them not to examine questions? As soon as my mind gets hot, I start rushing to answer.

For this kind of test, it doesn't matter whether the answer is correct or not. The main thing is whether the person who asked the question likes it or not.

"Bring the wine!" Lu Tixue shouted.

The two soap officials quickly came forward, set up wine cups, filled them for the two of them, and spread the silk cloth on the floor and sprinkled them with preserved fruits.

Lu Tixue chewed the preserved fruit and took a sip, then asked: "Er Cheng said, 'Preserve the laws of nature and destroy human desires'. How do you view success?"

"The principles are good, and there is nothing to criticize," Ju Ming said. "Eating well, wearing warm clothes, marrying a wife and having children are the laws of nature. Overeating and eating too much, concubines in groups are the laws of man. The laws of nature should be preserved and destroyed. Human desire.”

Lu Tixue was unhappy: "How can one destroy human desires?"

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "So the truth is right, and we should advise the world in this way. But in practice, we can only abide by it ourselves and cannot force it on others. There are even hypocritical people who treat others harshly and are lenient to themselves. You only let others destroy human desires, but your own human desires do not reject anyone who comes."

"Well said, there are such hypocritical people," Lu Tixue raised his wine cup and said, "Here, drink!"

Ju Ming added: "This has to do with temperament. Nature is the unexpressed emotion, while emotion is the expressed nature. Everyone has evil thoughts and malignant thoughts, and he who can control them is a gentleman. Those who have the right emotions, anger, sorrow, love and hate, are Tao, those who lose its integrity are desires.”

Lu Tixue felt strange. What Zhu Ming said was exactly what he thought, and he could explain it accurately.

It's very simple. What Ju Ming just said combines the best of the enemies, Zhu Xi and Chen Liang. Why didn't the ideas of the two great Confucians of the Southern Song Dynasty crush Lu Tixue?

Lu Tixue seemed to hate Taoism very much. He drank another bowl of wine and continued to criticize: "To study things to achieve knowledge, the second process is also wrong. What kind of numerology is there? Since we are studying things, we have to do things, things. How can we study things if we don't do things? "

Ju Ming deliberately followed the other person's intention and said: "Of course. To gain knowledge by studying things, one should act according to the circumstances and seek the truth based on things."

"A good man who follows his own example and seeks the truth based on circumstances," Lu Tixue liked what he heard, raised his wine cup and said, "Have another bowl!"

Ju Ming smiled and clinked his glasses. He had already figured out how to propose a scholarship.

The current mainstream official thinking is Wang Anshi's new learning, which was promoted by Cai Jing and later inherited by Qin Hui. The new learning was eventually abandoned, and it was inseparable from Cai Jing and Qin Hui. What kind of good knowledge could the two traitors admire?

At the same time, although Taoism was suppressed, it still had great influence among the people.

Lu Tixue, on the other hand, has a bit of "Song Gong School" thought and has nothing to do with New Learning or Taoism. Being able to serve as an envoy to promote learning is nothing more than being closer to the new learning, and he is a mortal enemy of Taoism, which is why he was promoted by Cai Jing.

The meritorious sect has not taken shape at all, and there are only scattered scholars of this kind. Lu Tixue felt depressed. He couldn't find anyone to communicate with. He wanted to do things seriously but was hindered, so he simply spent the whole day traveling around and playing ball games.

Today, Ju Ming's brain waves actually matched his!

Confidant, absolute confidant!

But where can I have any close friends?

You talk to people when you see them, but you talk to ghosts when you see them.

No matter who comes from any school, as long as he is a scholar, Ju Ming can match the brain waves.

Under the mulberry tree, the two of them chatted more and more.

Drink and talk.

Officials, scholars, squires, farmers... all stood there stupidly, watching them talk nonsense.

Even Xiang Zhixian, a Jinshi in the second subject, had no room to interrupt.

Xiang Zhixian is not knowledgeable enough. Although he can understand it, he can't pick up the topic and speaking carelessly will make a joke.

The main reason was that the content of the conversation between Zhu Ming and Lu Tixue was very different from the mainstream thinking. Xiang Zhixian thought it was the unique opinions of some school of thought.

Professor Qian asked in a low voice: "Brother Weitian, what is the origin of Zhu Chenggong? What he and Lu Tixue said seems to be unjust."

Xiang Zhixian didn't understand either, but he pretended to understand: "Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there have been countless academic factions. Where did the orthodox heretics come from? Since Lu Tixue regards Mr. Anding as the founder, he must be a branch of the orthodox path."

As the principal of a county school, Professor Qian is also a Jinshi - the requirements for county schools are not high, only the principal must be a Jinshi, and ordinary teachers can hire candidates.

Professor Qian thought carefully, nodded and said, "I am ignorant, but I didn't expect Zhu Chenggong to be able to answer questions fluently."

After a long time, Bai Zongwang felt that his pigs should have been killed, so he couldn't help but said: "Lu Tixue, it's getting late, how about you go to my house and talk about it?"

"Noisy!"

Lu Tixue was unhappy that the communication was interrupted, but he stood up and said, "We'll talk tomorrow. I'll cook the pork first, and you all can come and try the craftsmanship."

When discussing Tao, we should not forget Dongpo Rou.

The scholar was escorted to Bai's house. He went straight to the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves and started cutting meat.

Moreover, his movements are extremely quick, and his knife skills look like he graduated from New Oriental, as if he majored in cooking courses.

The scholars in this county could only stand and watch dumbly, with mixed feelings in their hearts. How could the academic envoy in charge of education on Lizhou Road look like this?

Shouldn't the envoys who are teaching students along the way behave elegantly and look serious?

I'm afraid this is just a false statement!

Zhu Guoxiang finally had the opportunity to communicate with his son: "What's going on with this man?"

Ju Ming whispered: "The mainstream schools now are Xinxue, Luoxue and Shuxue. He is not from any school, but his work is close to Xinxue and his life is close to Shuxue. I guess I can't find anyone to communicate with, so I will join them." Okay, we enjoyed chatting with him. I think we will continue chatting tomorrow. Today we only talked about the general direction, and we haven’t talked about the details yet."

"Being in sync with one's thoughts is more advanced than giving gifts. Once the leader is happy, things will definitely get done," Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Ming suppressed a smile and said: "I'm afraid if we chat for a few more days, he will introduce me as a confidant. Dean Zhu, you can also join in. This person's thoughts are very... well, modern."

"Modern?" Zhu Guoxiang didn't understand.

Ju Ming said: "He does not value etiquette and only pursues practicality. If this school of Confucian scholars continues to evolve, they will even have 'non-Confucian' ideas. You can simply understand that they are the predecessors of Wang Fuzhi and Huang Zongxi, but Due to the background of the times and personal qualifications, I haven't gone that far into my knowledge. You only need to talk to him about agriculture, and he will definitely like it."

Zhu Guoxiang looked at Lu Tixue who was cutting meat, nodded and said, "Then let's wait and eat the meat."

(Chapter 2 may come later in the afternoon.)