Father can be an enemy to the country

It was freezing cold in Nanjing in the early morning. The first thunder of this spring hit last night, and the icy rain continued to fall, with no sign of stopping until the fifth watch.

At this time, the people pouring night fragrance had finished their work, and the people who had gotten up early to work had not yet gone out. There were only poor civil servants and generals on the street, riding horses and carriages to the palace gate to wait for the court.

But unlike the usual traveling in separate directions from all directions, the civil servants gathered in front of the Confucius Temple at the fourth watch today. Together with the Confucian scholars who had fasted all night in the temple last night, they kowtowed to the memorial tablets of Confucius and Mencius, and then went around. A strong young official stepped forward respectfully and slowly raised the two-foot-seven-inch high, nine-dragon-wrapped, black and gold-lettered tablet of 'Dacheng Supreme Saint Wenxuan King'.

Then four more people came forward, raised the sub-sage Mencius tablet among the four pairs on the side, and accompanied the saint Kong to appeal together to boost his momentum.

So, nearly a hundred officials in the front led the way, eight people in the middle carried the tablets of the two saints, and hundreds of officials came to the back. After that, there were Confucian scholars like Wu Zhuangyuan who were not qualified to go to court followed, and they came in a mighty and solemn way. Go outside the right gate of Chang'an.

This trouble came too late. Cao Guogong, Song Guogong and other distinguished military ministers, as well as Hu Weiyong and other senior Zhongshu officials, had already arrived first.

The Duke of Song and other distinguished nobles naturally watched the excitement and did not mind the matter, pointing and gloating at the misfortune.

Hey, I brought out the ancestral tablet.

Good guy, you have to fight hard. This is it.

Two gentlemen, are we not allowed to help out? All these nobles were resentful towards Boss Zhu, and many took the opportunity to make noises and raise rice.

Stop making noise here, Cao Guogong put his hands in his sleeves and said expressionlessly: Don't you want to go to Yunnan?

What do we think is the use? Mu Ying and Zhu Liangzu drank the first soup. The nobles muttered unhappily, but they still kept their mouths shut.

Boss Zhu first decided on the coach and deputy coach just to facilitate preparation for the game. But it is impossible for the army to be deployed early, so it has not yet been announced whose army will be sent to the war.

The nobles don't want to be like Fei Ju and Lu Zhongheng's gang, who stood aside early and couldn't even drink soup. Their brothers will hate them to death.

There is little room for improvement for them, but the brothers below still need to make contributions and find as high a hereditary official position as possible for their descendants.

What are you doing?! Hu Weiyong shouted loudly. Are you going to force me into the palace?!

The civil servants carried the two huge tablets to the entrance of the palace. The leader, Zheng Jiucheng, the Minister of Rites, said solemnly to Hu Weiyong:

Since Prime Minister Hu is unwilling to make the decision for Shilin, we have no choice but to ask two saints to take action!

Nonsense! Hu Weiyong said angrily: The tablet is placed in the temple for worship. Do you know how dangerous it is to carry it outside?

The civil servants understood what he meant, it was just that it would give the emperor an excuse to deal with the two saints.

But they still didn't believe that Boss Zhu dared to risk the disapproval of the world and poke out the tablet for the saint.

Alas, Mr. Hu, we have no choice but to do this. Zheng Jiucheng sighed and said, Don't worry, we will live and die with the position of saint.

You... Hu Weiyong was still trying to dissuade him, but the irritable official shouted angrily: Please get out of the way!

As he said this, a group of young officials who were not afraid of heaven and earth carried the memorial tablets and threw them in front of Hu Weiyong's face.

Hu Weiyong was about to kiss Confucius, so he had to quickly step aside...

~~

On the tower of the right gate of Chang'an, Boss Zhu was wearing a black cloak and had a panoramic view of the scene below.

Mr. Yansheng, have you seen it with your own eyes? He sneered at the middle-aged man wearing a Confucian robe standing aside: Who is harming your ancestors?

Yes, I understand. The middle-aged man with a tired look on his face is none other than Kong Xixue, the fifty-sixth generation grandson of Confucius and the first Duke of Yansheng in this dynasty.

He would go to Beijing every year to greet the emperor on behalf of the Confucius family, and then return to Qufu to guard the temple of Confucius after the new year.

This year he also followed the old practice of resigning as soon as the first lunar month came out and took a boat across the Grand Canal back to Shandong. Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in Huai'an, he was chased back by the emperor's eight hundred miles.

And it’s a 800-mile rush to get back. This journey on horseback disrupted the pampered Yan Shenggong. The skin on the inner thighs has been completely worn away...

At this time, he stood behind the emperor. He wiped his sweat and said angrily: How could they do this? Who gave them the power to dare to touch the tablets of my ancestors?!

In fact, those scholars were at least nominally safeguarding the status of his ancestors. Ordinarily, even if he didn't mix in, he shouldn't be in a hurry to draw a clear line with them.

However, Kong Xixue knew his own family affairs. He knew that although his family was in this dynasty and continued to inherit the title of Duke Yansheng, they did not please the emperor. If you don't cooperate honestly, you will definitely be beaten.

~~

As mentioned before, the reason why Boss Zhu dislikes Confucius is because he was influenced by Liu Bowen.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a lying meeting. The emperor and his ministers talked about Zhao Pu's allusion of ruling the world with half of the Analects of Confucius.

Boss Zhu, who had little education, was naturally fascinated and said that he would focus on studying The Analects of Confucius in the future.

Liu Bowen disagreed. In his opinion, Confucius did not serve as an official well. How could he understand the way of being an official? It is even less possible to truly understand the ‘way of governing the country’.

Therefore, those words in the Analects are nothing more than discussions by teachers and students. It is okay to use them to improve personal cultivation, but to govern the country according to them is purely to seek fish from a tree and ask questions blindly.

Moreover, whenever Liu Bowen speaks, the evidence must be conclusive and indisputable. He told Zhu Yuanzhang that the so-called half of the Analects of Confucius governs the world could not be found in the official records of the Northern Song Dynasty, official records, and literati's notes.

Its prototype first appeared in On the Origin of Ancient and Modern Times·Confucian History written by Lin Jun of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Liu Bowen, who was knowledgeable and memorized, recited to Boss Zhu on the spot:

Zhao Pu is an honorable minister of his generation. He has conquered east and west without any dissatisfaction. He has learned what he has learned and has nothing left to do except the Analects. After a pause, he added: The following is a small note. Zhao Pu said: The Analects of Confucius II Of the ten chapters, I will use half of them to help Taizu rule the world.

This statement began to be seen in later Southern Song notes. Liu Bowen continued: And how did the people of the Northern Song Dynasty record their founding prime minister. They said that he had 'little practice in official affairs, little scholarship, and little ability to serve as prime minister. Taizu often encouraged him to study. In his later years, he never let go of the scrolls, so he could read twenty chapters of The Analects of Confucius. In other words, he relied on his skills as a grammarian to assist Song Taizu in conquering the country and establishing a kingdom. It was not until his later years that he began to come into contact with the Analects of Confucius. It’s not that you become a good candidate only after reading The Analects of Confucius.”

After speaking, he teased: As for the later statement, it is not surprising. Because the Confucian scholars in the Song Dynasty have been sparing no effort to improve the status of Confucianism and completely trampled the grammarians into dust.