Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1298: Northern Confucianism

"Your Highness, I, Xiong Ansheng, the Junior Minister of the Imperial Household, kowtow to the Supreme Being and wish the Emperor a long life!"

Xiong Ansheng was over sixty years old, his hair and beard were all gray, but he was still in good spirits. After he entered the palace, he meticulously bowed deeply to the emperor who was sitting at the top of the hall.

Seeing Xiong Ansheng, who looked old but still called himself Shaoqing, Li Tai couldn't help but laugh. Then he straightened his expression and said with a smile: "Don't be polite, Xiong Ansheng. The wise man's coming to the court makes my steps fragrant. It makes me feel sad that the wise man is not appreciated!"

There were many tribute scholars from Hebei who entered the court, including both the wise and talented people in the opposition, as well as the talented people from famous families and the old officials of the previous dynasty. Xiong Ansheng was also a very prominent one among them. He was known as the Confucian Master of Hebei. He had profound attainments in Confucian classics and many disciples. His entry into the court this time was also one of the most anticipated.

In order to show his respect for this northern Confucian scholar, Li Tai even exempted Xiong Ansheng from taking the imperial examination to prevent him from feeling embarrassed by competing with a group of young upstarts. Shortly after he arrived in Beijing, he was awarded the position of Doctor of the Imperial College.

"Zhou was tyrannical, and Yuangui was not a fortune teller. I dare not pretend to be a virtuous person, I just know a little about etiquette and morality. The Qi family is in decline and there is no governance. I am just a rotten tree in the wilderness. Now the Supreme Lord is in power and has sent an order to summon me. I have come here with a red letter."

After hearing this, Xiong Ansheng quickly bowed and said, "I used to live in Hebei. It's not that I didn't meet anyone, but that people didn't recognize me. Now that I'm in the court, it's because the Holy Emperor looks at everyone with virtue and sees everything clearly. It's not just my good fortune!"

Li Tai had heard too much flattery over the years, and he didn't expect to hear something new when he summoned this northern Confucian master today.

King Zhou of Shang was so tyrannical that even the heavens refused to give him a revelation to predict good and bad luck. Who among those morally corrupt people of Northern Qi could recognize my virtuous nature? If the Supreme Ruler is wise, I will transform into a white bird and bring a red letter to you.

This statement not only belittled the ruler of Northern Qi, but also flattered the current supreme ruler, and did not forget to praise himself. Perhaps this old gentleman was thinking about how to flatter when he was not studying and lecturing at home. In history, when Emperor Wu of Zhou, Yuwen Yong, met with him after he conquered Qi, Xiong Ansheng's flattery was extremely disgusting.

Li Tai smiled and raised his hand to signal the old gentleman to take a seat. Looking at the man's respectful expression, his mind was filled with thoughts.

Xiong Ansheng has become a legendary figure in Beijing in recent days. He has been promoted to high positions in a very short period of time. At first, he was just a doctor of the Imperial College granted by the emperor. Soon after, he was promoted to a doctor of the Imperial College. A few days later, he was promoted to the director of the Imperial College. Now he is directly appointed as the junior minister of the Ministry of Rites.

This series of promotions was to commend him and his disciples for their recent criticism of the human resources problems in Northern Qi. Although it was not convenient for the court to lead the pace, it could still use its own way to guide everyone onto the right path.

Xiong Ansheng and Zhao Yanshen have similar backgrounds. Both are from poor families without any family heritage. However, due to their different choices, their life trajectories are very different. They can be said to be the representatives of frustration and success.

Zhao Yanshen was smart and capable since childhood. He was keen on moving around in powerful and wealthy families. Eventually, he was recommended to Gao Huan by Sima Ziru because of his talents, and from then on he began to rise rapidly.

Xiong Ansheng, however, lacked social skills, but was devoted to learning. Although he became a Confucian scholar who was well-read in poetry and books and had a deep understanding of classics, and had many disciples and a high reputation, he was never very successful in politics.

Historically, it was not until the Heqing period of the Northern Qi Dynasty that his talent was recommended by Yang Xiuzhi to be a doctor of the Imperial College. However, before the Heqing period came, the Northern Qi Dynasty was destroyed, so Xiong Ansheng lived in seclusion and did not serve in the government until he arrived in Guanzhong.

There was originally little interaction between Xiong Ansheng and Zhao Yanshen. The two had different talents and areas of expertise. One was a high-ranking official in the court, and the other was a Confucian scholar in the opposition, so it was rare for them to have any conflicts.

However, as public opinion in Chang'an heated up the personnel problems in Northern Qi, Xiong Ansheng, as the leader of the opposition, naturally had sufficient reasons and legitimacy to attack Zhao Yanshen, a high-ranking official of the old Qi.

Therefore, in this public opinion storm, Xiong Ansheng lived up to everyone's expectations and directly pointed the finger at Zhao Yanshen, denouncing him for being jealous of talented people. Then his disciples also targeted Zhao Yanshen.

People have a certain filter for learned people, especially scholars like Xiong Ansheng, and are used to linking virtue with knowledge. But it is hard to say that Mr. Xiong Ansheng has a high moral integrity. It can be said that under the background of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Confucian classics that he is good at are difficult to realize politically, which makes him feel clumsy and at a loss in his actions. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Confucianism was an opposition school. No matter how much the rulers of the north and south respected Confucianism and Taoism on the surface, they did not agree with it in their hearts. Although there are many Confucian clans from the north and south serving as officials in the court, upon closer examination, the reason why they are officials lies in their own family background, rather than their expertise in classics and academics.

The Lu family of Fanyang in the Northern Dynasties was very famous for their scholarship, and Wang Zunye of the Wang family of Taiyuan was also a Confucian master at the time, but their careers were mainly due to their origins from the Five Surnames. For poor scholars like Xiong Ansheng who had no family background or inheritance, no matter how profound their academic knowledge was or how famous they were in the academic world, they could not directly exchange it for political resources, and it was normal for them to be old in the countryside.

There are many stories about Xiong Ansheng. One of them is that someone deceived Xiong Ansheng and said that there was an ancient tomb in a village where General Xiong Guang of Henan in the Jin Dynasty was buried. It was 72 generations ago. There was a stele to record the event, but it was hidden by the villagers. Then Xiong Ansheng believed it and dug the ground to look for it but couldn't find it, so he filed a lawsuit for years.

The Chief Secretary of Jizhou was annoyed by him and made a verdict, saying: "The seventy-second generation is the descendant of Emperor Xi, the General of Henan, and there was no such official title in the Jin Dynasty." He believed that Xiong Ansheng's lawsuit was really without common sense and reason, but Xiong Ansheng still refused to wake up and still led his family to cry towards the ancient tomb.

In this matter, Xiong Ansheng was pedantic and stubborn, even stupid. He believed whatever others said and had no common sense at all.

But in fact, this is a true portrayal of the importance of family background in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Even though Xiong Ansheng was a Confucian scholar in the north and had a high academic reputation, he was still not as helpful as digging out an official ancestor who had been dead for who knows how many generations. Personal efforts were extremely pale and powerless in an era when the beauty of dead bones in tombs was considered.

Do those who mock Xiong Ansheng really believe that the ancestors of the Zhaojun Li family can be clearly traced back to Li Mu and Li Zuoche, and that the Longxi Li family is the undoubted blood descendant of Li Guang of the Western Han Dynasty? But even if this is the case, what great gifts and talents can these ancient people, whose bones have rotted into mud, pass on to future generations?

Xiong Ansheng's farce of searching for his ancestors was nothing more than a struggle of a poor man who had no way to advance in the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when class distinctions were strict and class solidification was rigid. Rather than saying that Xiong Ansheng believed it, it was more likely that he hoped to use this incident as an opportunity to trace his family history back to the past, thereby raising his family status, based on his social influence and reputation accumulated over the years.

In short, this old gentleman is by no means a hermit who is indifferent to fame and fortune, but a fame-seeker who is full of worldly feelings and eager for career advancement.

This is not a moral flaw, but the normal mentality of talented and ambitious people in the world. Even because the opportunities and resources available to everyone in the Northern and Southern Dynasties were inherently unfair, when the opportunity came, even if a person did something that broke the bottom line and hurt others, it cannot be said that his character was inferior to those of the children of the aristocracy.

Li Tai used Zu Ting's "On the Fall of Qi" to stir up a wave of public opinion. Except for the issue of Cui Jishu of the Boling Cui family, which was a little off topic, other aspects were generally under control. This was because this was not a fair and open debate, but a speculative statement by a group of people who had lost their country and were competing for political resources.

Opposition figures such as Xiong Ansheng would undoubtedly strongly criticize Zhao Yanshen and others, whether to cater to the wishes of the court, criticize the remnants of the fallen nation, or to prove that the Northern Qi Dynasty was indeed blocked from finding talented people.

Such criticism is valuable, not only in killing people with words, but also in conducting a public opinion reckoning with Northern Qi politics. After Xiong Ansheng and others made this political statement, they can only stand more firmly on the position of the Tang court in the future, otherwise the old abuses of the Qi family mentioned today can be imposed on them next year.

Li Tai summoned Xiong Ansheng today. In addition to commending him for his active performance in this wave of public opinion, he also hoped that he could bypass those Hebei tribute scholars and recommend some talents to the court: "Now that all the territories in Guandong have been pacified, it is especially necessary to establish governance as soon as possible. People and land are the basis of governance. The court will send envoys to various places in Guandong to register households and pacify the people. Because of the fear that the people are disturbed and the people do not understand the purpose of the court's benevolent governance, it is necessary to assist with talented people who are deeply aware of the local conditions and people's sentiments in Guandong. I wonder if Mr. Xiong has any good talents to recommend to the court?"

After the Guandong War came to a temporary end, the next step was to register the people and rest and recuperate. Although the prefecture and county officials who had remained in the Northern Qi Dynasty also presented household registration maps and other information, these were obviously not reliable. Li Tai needed to have a more comprehensive and detailed grasp of the household registration information in Guandong. The household registration and equal distribution of land was the basis for the implementation of all government orders.

At present, the military offices in various places in Hebei have been established, which can maintain a basic stability in various parts of Hebei. However, the problems of the dispersal of refugees and the protection of powerful people still need to be sorted out and controlled by special envoys. Even if Li Tai sent envoys from Guanzhong, he would need people who are familiar with the local conditions and situation as guides to dig deep into the households.

The Guandong nobles were the main force in protecting the population, so they were naturally untrustworthy. And those Hebei tribute scholars were all recommended by the locals, so it was hard to say how many of them were honest and selfless.

Now Xiong Ansheng and his students have proved their enthusiasm for Tang politics with practical actions and criticized the various malpractices of Northern Qi. They can be used to cooperate with the envoys from various routes to check the household registration. Even the long-term governance of Hebei in the coming year can rely more on these Hebei sages who are not in the right time but have pragmatic talents.