Song Gexing

Chapter 133 Two sons are thick
Zhang Dun trembled all over, took out his hand and bowed his head respectfully to the ground: "Your Majesty's fist is for the people's heart, how can I dare to disappoint you? I am stupid and only care about my own face, forgetting to achieve the goal of benefiting the world. This is what a gentleman should do." As you should, I have ordered you to stop worrying about gains and losses."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fang happily grabbed his hand again, shook it repeatedly and said, "Great! I will wait for you in the future... No, you can't say this, otherwise I will be admonished again."

Zhang Dun finally realized another side of the prince, and muttered to himself: "This man is a bit unstable. I don't know whether it will be a blessing or a curse in the future."

But I couldn't go back on my word after I had already agreed. After I resigned, I went to find my nephew who was the number one scholar.

Zhao Fang approached Zhang Zai again, laughed loudly and pulled him away and said, "Zihou, it seems that your body is not in good shape. You should pay attention to your health. If you want to come to my house tomorrow, I will give you some guidance." The art of attracting?"

Yes, both Zhang Dun and Zhang Zai are named Zihou, one is Zhang Zihou and the other is Zhang Zihou. Fortunately, the Mandarin used in the Song Dynasty was not mainly the Beijing dialect, but the Henan dialect.

The pronunciation of Zhang and Zhang are somewhat different. Zhang has a Z sound, but Zhang has a D sound, otherwise there would be confusion. (This is made up by the author based on the pronunciation of his hometown dialect, but the Hokkien dialect itself is a legacy of Tang and Song Mandarin, so it may be true.)
Zhang Zai couldn't refuse, but he didn't want to get too close to the prince, so he hesitated and replied: "I don't dare to be your highness's student. Teaching skills is like a master and a disciple, so I don't need it."

Zhao Fang laughed and said: "Zi Hou's words are wrong! Brother is the disciple of the emperor, Gu is the son of today, we should be senior brothers, senior brother can't ask junior brother for advice, this goes against the sage's words not to be ashamed to ask! "

Zhang Zai's eyes almost bulged out. This was completely sophistry, but he couldn't refute it. What others said was reasonable and well-founded, not nonsense.

Starting from Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, those who achieved Jinshi rank were called disciples of the emperor. This is known to the whole world and cannot be denied.

Since he is the disciple of the current prince, he and the prince are the same generation. There is nothing wrong with him being older than Zhao Fang and his senior brother.

It is not shameful for a senior to ask a junior for advice, and Sage Kong did require his disciples that if they don’t understand knowledge, they should ask someone who understands, and they should not be proud of themselves because of the other person’s status.

The helpless Zhang Zai had no choice but to agree that he would visit him tomorrow. Zhao Fang immediately denied, "It's not a meeting but a visit. We already said that we are brothers."

"Well, I was wrong."

"Hey, that's right, but you shouldn't call yourself a minister when you're not in the court, you should call yourself a brother."

Zhang Zai left, and he didn't understand why his crown prince clung to him shamelessly. Although he had a good reputation, he wouldn't make the prince look at him differently.

"No! I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince has a very good relationship with Prime Minister Fan. Could it be that Prime Minister Fan mentioned me to him?"

When Zhang Zai returned to the hotel, it suddenly occurred to him that this was really possible.

Zhang Zai became famous very early. In the first year of Kangding, Fan Zhongyan was in charge of the Yongxing Army. When he heard Zhang Zai's name, he specially invited him to meet and talk about Confucian classics.

The two met, and Fan Zhongyan was full of praise for his talents. In the first year of Qingli, Zhang Zai wrote to Fan Zhongyan "Nine Articles of Border Discussion", suggesting the Northwest Army's strategic countermeasures against Xixia.

Although Fan Zhongyan appreciated his suggestion, he advised him not to focus on military strategy. He should focus on classics now.

Because Fan Zhongyan believed that Zhang Zai had the hope of becoming a Confucian, so he should not lose the big by petting the small.

Zhang Zai, who followed the advice, stopped talking about military strategies from then on, but devoted all his experience to the study of Confucianism.

Later generations may think that Fan Zhongyan's advice is pedantic. Zhang Zai clearly has the qualifications to be a commander, so why not let him continue to study military affairs and read Confucian works.

Little did they know that in the eyes of ancient scholar-bureaucrats, any achievement in opening up new territories was inferior to the achievement of inheriting culture.If you look at the three immortals of Taishang, you will know that the highest is establishing virtue, followed by establishing words, and the last is meritorious service.

In fact, our ancestors' thinking is correct. No matter how great a feat is, it is only a moment of prosperity, while cultural inheritance is a matter for generations to come.

If a country dies, there is still a chance for revival, but if a nation's culture is gone, it can only become a vassal of others, and its descendants will not be able to stand out.

This truth is best reflected in the Middle East. With the Persian culture gone, Iran is no longer that powerful nation and can only become a member of the Arab countries.

Israel is destroyed, but the Jewish culture remains, and a state of Israel can be established again. This is the importance of cultural inheritance.

And China has been pushed to the ground and rubbed again and again, but it can still stand up again and again. Isn't it because Confucian culture has always been there?

Future generations can question the shortcomings of traditional culture, but they cannot deny it completely, otherwise India and Persia will be our fate in the future.

That night at the Wen Mansion, Wen Yanbo called Zhang Zai and said thoughtfully: "Zi Hou still has to wait in Beijing to be a candidate for imperial edict. It is better to lecture on the Book of Changes to the scholars at Xiangguo Temple."

Wen Yanbo knew about Zhang Zai, of course from Fan Zhongyan. Zhang Zai also visited him when he was in Beijing to take the exam. The two sides only talked about academic issues.

Wen Yanbo admired Zhang Zai's research on "The Book of Changes" very much. As soon as the imperial examination was over, he couldn't wait to call him over to discuss letting him give lectures.

Naturally, Zhang Zai would not object. This is a time to not only promote his own scholarship, but also help others.

There is a very good tradition in the Song Dynasty, that is, lectures, and this lecture is completely different from that of later generations, who still speak incomprehensibly when they ask for money.

However, celebrities in the Song Dynasty gave lectures for free, and the listeners felt that their ideas were different from their own, and they could argue with them.

There were no self-centered Confucians in the Song Dynasty, and there were no Confucian scholars who could not be refuted. Every scholar who founded a sect won by arguing with those who had different opinions.

People in the Song Dynasty called this debate, and it was the same with Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which was criticized by later generations. Both Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao and later Zhu Xi participated in the debate.

Argument is naturally not the kind of rhetorical nonsense of later generations, but a theoretical refutation of doubters. Victory is achieved only when others are convinced.

Those who make trouble without reason will be despised and thrown out by everyone without you arguing. Therefore, it can be said that the Song Dynasty was an era with an extremely excellent academic atmosphere.

In Chinese history, I am afraid that there is only a hundred schools of thought contending in the Spring and Autumn Period, which can compete with the Song Dynasty, and the rest are jokes.

Of course, this joke refers to cultural tolerance and freedom of speech. There is no literary prison and no need for harmony.

As long as people do not exceed the moral limits of the public, they can say whatever they like, and in this atmosphere, the emperor of the Song Dynasty can be criticized and deal with it calmly, never blaming his subjects with speech.

"By the way, Prime Minister Wen, His Highness the Crown Prince asked me to go to the Crown Prince's Mansion tomorrow and ask him for advice on how to lead. What do you think about this?"

(End of this chapter)