Master Kong Zhongni

Chapter 124

Zaiyu, Zigong and others walked into the gate of the academy talking and laughing, and heard the master's talking and laughing just after entering the door.

Everyone turned their heads to see that the little Mengsun with two braids was standing next to his master with a copy of "Renbao", pointing to the lines on it to ask questions.

"Master, how do you explain the phrase 'Everyone has died since ancient times, and the people cannot stand without faith'?"

Confucius heard this, and while stroking his beard, he answered him with a smile.

"This sentence cannot be taken apart and asked separately, it must be understood in context.

The above is a question from your senior brother Zi Gong. He asked me: There are three conditions for governing a country, sufficient food, sufficient armaments, and the trust of the people.If one of them must be removed, which one should be removed.

I answer: remove armaments.

He asked again: What if one more piece is removed?

I replied: remove the food.Since ancient times, people are always mortal, but without the trust of the people, the country cannot stand.

Can you understand now? "

Meng Sunzhi nodded half-understood, and then asked with his head tilted.

"Master, among the senior brothers, who is the best at winning the trust of the people and being honest?"

Confucius replied with a smile: "Probably Hui? When it comes to honesty, even I can't compare with him."

When Yan Hui, who was sitting in the front row, heard this, he quickly got up and said, "Master, you are so humble. How can I compare to you?"

Meng Sunzhi turned his head to look at Yan Hui, and suddenly found Zaiyu and others standing in front of the school door, so he asked again.

"Then what do you think of Senior Brother Zigong's behavior?"

Confucius replied: "Zigong is better than me in intelligence."

"How is senior brother Zilu?"

"Zilu is stronger than me in courage."

Meng Sunzhi asked again: "How is my senior brother?"

Confucius heard this, looked at Zaiyu, and said with a smile: "I am better than me in contingency."

Hearing this answer, Meng Sunzhi was puzzled and said, "Master, since the senior brothers are all better than you, why do the four of them worship you as their teacher and learn from you?"

Confucius laughed when he heard the harmony, and he said to Mengsun: "Hey! Sit down, and I will tell you the reason.

Back, honesty but not flexible enough.

Give this person, who is very smart but cannot be wronged.

Zhong You has courage but cannot show weakness.

As for Yu!He is indeed flexible, but unfortunately he always likes to play tricks.

With these shortcomings, even if I exchange the strengths of the four of them with me, I am not willing.

This is why they want to learn from me! "

Zai Yu and the others were all smiling when they heard the master's praise, but when they heard this, their expressions froze. The three of them looked at each other, knowing that they were too proud, and they were beaten by the master again.

The three of them were honest, but Gao Chai who was following them muttered dissatisfiedly.

"Zitun, why did you ask all of you, but not me?"

Zaiyu comforted him in a low voice: "Maybe I didn't see you?"

Gao Chai beat his knee hard: "You started again, right?!"

Seeing the two of them fighting, Confucius immediately coughed and said, "Yu! Chai! What are you doing?"

The two of them were shocked when they heard the words, and hurriedly bowed and apologized honestly: "Master."

Confucius said unhappily, "Since you're here, why don't you sit down and study? Don't tell me you've mastered all the knowledge you've learned?"

After hearing this, everyone hurriedly took their seats, took out bamboo slips and books from their pockets, and began to review their homework.

Driven by them, it didn't take long for the sound of reading aloud to resound in the academy.

When Meng Sunzhi saw this situation, a smile suddenly appeared on his childish face, he turned his head and said to his master.

"No wonder all the seniors have to learn from you."

When Zigong heard this, he nearly choked to death, and under the cover of the sound of reading, he muttered in a low voice.

"This brat, Zitun, has only been studying with Master for a few days, and his skills are improving!"

Zaiyu imitated his master's tone and replied in the gap between flipping through the book: "Give this man! He is very smart but he can't be wronged."

Zigong stared, and replied, "Yu! Are you playing tricks again?"

The two of them were bickering, when suddenly they heard the teacher on the stage cough, and the sound of reading in the academy immediately fell silent.

Confucius glanced at the students present, and said with a smile: "This time our army attacked Ju, and the kings won a big victory and returned. I wonder if you have gained anything from this battle?"

Hearing this, Zilu laughed and got up and said, "Master, I have it!"

Confucius nodded slightly: "Speak."

Zilu laughed very happily: "I was promoted to be a sergeant, and I was also a pawn commander!"

As soon as Zilu said this, Zaiyu and others sitting in the front row obviously felt that the air around Master seemed to freeze.

"Zhong You! You..."

When Zaiyu saw that his master was angry, he hurried up to cover Zilu.

"Master, I have it too."

When Confucius heard it, he could only temporarily swallow the breath that came to his throat.

"Yu! Tell me."

Zai Yu saluted respectfully and said: "I heard that countries go to war not out of liking, but to kill cruelty and crusade against rebellion.

Fighting against injustice with justice is like trying to drown a small torch with the water of a river, like pushing a crumbling person down beside a bottomless abyss, its victory is inevitable.

So this time our army attacked Ju, although it seemed that the outcome was still unknown before the army set off, in fact, the result of victory was already doomed. "

Confucius heard the words, his anger was half gone, he nodded with a smile.

"Yu! You have understood the truth of defeating the enemy! It's just that you only understand one part of it, but you don't understand the whole picture of the war!"

After hearing this, Zaiyu knew that the Master's addiction to imparting truth had come up again, so he passed the words to him very sensiblely.

"Please advise."

Confucius said: "In the past, I taught you that there are three kinds of affairs that must be treated with caution.

One is the fasting before the sacrifice.

Second, for relatives, friends, family members and their own diseases.

The third is the war between countries.

War is for justice, not fighting for war's sake.

When I was in Qi State, I once heard Sima Rangju say a word: Stop war with war, even if you fight.

If the purpose of waging war is to prevent war, then even waging war is okay.

I have also told you: If you do not teach the people to fight, it is called abandoning them.

To fight with an untrained populace is to throw away their lives.

I also said: A good man can teach the people for seven years, and he can be a soldier.

A good person educates the people for seven years, which can make the people have the determination to defend the country, let them have the desire to live and die with the country, and in this way, they can also go to the battlefield to fight.

In this attack on Ju, the soldiers of the Lu State had the desire to regain their homeland, they had unremitting training, and they also had legitimate reasons for attacking. Therefore, as you said, the victory of the Lu army is inevitable. "

　"Brother...this...recommended ticket...for you...please eat...don't you think it's too hard? A monthly pass, it's so delicious..."

　　"Setsuko! Setsuko! Damn it! If I had more referral tickets and monthly passes, Setsuko wouldn't be... Setsuko, Setsuko!!!!"

　　——Excerpt from "Zaiyu's Diary"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)