I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 14: Lu Zhi's End
Lu Zhi watched helplessly as Yuan Shu was adored and surrounded by his disciples like the moon surrounded by stars. They were filled with gratitude and were sincerely convinced of him. Even no matter what he said, he would be cheered.

With this kind of reputation, one could say that he could rebel with just a wave of his hand, right?

But if you say that Yuan Shu was just trying to win people's hearts, Lu Zhi didn't think so.

Although Yuan Shu was very close to his disciples and seemed very cruel to them, he treated with courtesy those disciples who could debate with him and had acceptable personal character.

When Yuan Shu displayed his prowess and bombarded the mansion, many disciples felt that Yuan Shu could be very kind to his disciples, but was merciless to them. Isn't this different treatment?
What is your intention in doing this?
Is he trying to win people's hearts? Is he plotting something bad?
Then Yuan Shu severely criticized this group of people, saying that they were shameless.

A grown man was bombarded by a little kid and had the nerve to explain after losing. If I were you, I would just dig a hole and bury myself to avoid embarrassment!

He bombarded these shameless people and caused secondary harm to them. Many people even developed psychological trauma towards Yuan Shu and dared not meet him again.

Zhao Jun and Deng Ying from Nanyang, Luo Yi from Guiyang County, and Zhang Jie from Shu County, who were of good character and studied hard, also asked Yuan Shu the same question.

They did receive patient answers from Yuan Shu.

"My students are generally from humble backgrounds. They do not have the wealth and family background of yours. There are few or no books at home. Even if they have talent, without books and teachers, they cannot make progress. It is normal for them to be born with or have acquired deficiencies.

We have been living a life of luxury since childhood, with many books read and many friends. Our elders are all scholars, and we have been learning since childhood. When we grow up, we have famous teachers to teach us. We have excellent conditions. If we do not learn as well as their disciples, shouldn't we commit suicide out of shame?
Therefore, we should not be harsh on our students just because of their humble origins and lack of knowledge. On the contrary, when we meet diligent and motivated students, we should praise them greatly, because they have the courage to climb up even in the face of adversity, and do not sink into despair or give up on themselves.

For such people, Shu believes that we should not mock them for their humble origins, but should praise them for their courageous struggle. These people are unwilling to give up on themselves even in adversity, and they are determined. As long as there is an opportunity, they will definitely achieve something. "

After saying all this, Yuan Shu said with great emotion - it is not a shame to be born in a humble family. Only those who can bend and stretch themselves are real men.

After hearing this, the disciples who had talked with Yuan Shu were very surprised. They thought it was amazing that Yuan Shu could have such a view given his background.

As a result, these disciples, whose backgrounds were not as good as Yuan Shu's, looked up to him.

Therefore, among the disciples, Yuan Shu was not just an evil ghost. Some people thought that Yuan Shu was indeed extraordinary.

Although Zhao Jun, Deng Ying and others were completely defeated by Yuan Shu's defense, their views on Yuan Shu were different from those of Li Quan, Zhao Xing and others.

So after a comprehensive judgment, Lu Zhi believed that Yuan Shu was really doing what he thought was right. He was a very rare person who was of noble birth but had a sense of justice.

After reaching this conclusion, Lu Zhi told Ma Rong everything he had seen.

After hearing this, Ma Rong felt mixed emotions.

"Zi Gan, I said before that Shu might be able to accomplish great things, but now I want to revise my opinion. Shu will definitely be able to accomplish great things, and given his background, what he can accomplish must be something of great magnitude."

Lu Zhi was silent for a while and nodded.

"That's what the disciple thinks."

"Have you changed your mind about him?"

"Yes."

Lu Zhi nodded and said, "I thought he only had some talent, but he was arrogant and looked down on others, which would eventually harm him. However, I never expected that he would be so friendly and gentle in front of so many disciples, and that he would have such a good reputation among them.

So the disciple observed carefully and found that those who were treated harshly by him were those who did not make progress or had bad character, while those who were treated kindly by him, without exception, had something worthy of praise. The disciple then realized that he was not arrogant, but had a good sense of judging people and was humble. "

"You finally found out."

Ma Rong nodded: "Shu is precocious, and the name of a child prodigy is well deserved. However, I never thought at the beginning that he could even understand human hearts. Human hearts are fickle, which is the most difficult thing to understand throughout the ages. However, Shu, who is only ten years old, has already glimpsed the way. How shocking..."

Ma Rong sighed endlessly.

Lu Zhi also had similar feelings.

Ma Rong always commented that he was too upright. He could accomplish things, but he would also inevitably suffer setbacks because of his uprightness. His inflexibility was his biggest flaw.

And now, a person who is good at adapting appeared before him. In just a few months, he changed his opinion of him many times. From being condemned by everyone in the beginning, to now, he has the support of almost all of Ma's disciples.

This child prodigy who actually appeared before his eyes greatly stimulated Lu Zhi's heart.

Ma Rong sighed as he looked at Lu Zhi's expression, which seemed unchanged but actually changed slightly.

"Zi Gan, why don't you go and debate with Shu, test his ability, and see with your own eyes how Shu gets along with you. Hearing from others is unreliable, and seeing with your own eyes may not be true. Get close to him, get close to him, listen to what he says and watch what he does at the closest place to him, so that you can understand a person to the greatest extent."

Lu Zhi was stunned and looked at Ma Rong for a long time.

After a long while, Lu Zhi nodded.

"Disciple, please obey Master's teachings!"

Thanks to Ma Rong's secret promotion, after the expulsion incident, when Yuan Shu's reputation soared, Lu Zhi, as the strongest disciple of the time and the representative of Ma's top students, officially stepped forward and chose to debate with Yuan Shu.

The news of Lu Zhi's official death shocked the entire Ma mansion.

Many students wandering around the county were very surprised to hear that Lu Zhi was going to have an academic debate with Yuan Shu, and they rushed back to the county, hoping to witness this fierce battle with their own eyes.

In terms of age, Lu Zhi was sixteen years older than Yuan Shu, so it was not a fair fight.

But the knowledge and courage Yuan Shu had shown in the past few months had made people forget that he was not even eleven years old.

No student treated Yuan Shu as a child anymore, but treated him as a senior, a predecessor, or even a respected elder, and regarded him as an important guide and idol. In this case, Lu Zhi's choice to face Yuan Shu in a fair duel was a respect for his knowledge and courage, rather than an insult.

Anyway, Yuan Shu was very happy.

The fact that Lu Zhi was willing to take the initiative to step down shows that Ma Rong must have been pushing him behind the scenes.

The fact that Ma Rong was willing to push forward meant that he did not hate Yuan Shu because of the expulsion incident. On the contrary, Ma Rong had thought it through and was willing to help Yuan Shu, giving him a chance to gain further fame.

How could I waste Lao Ma's kindness?

At the beginning of September in the eighth year of Yan Xi, when the hot summer was about to pass, Yuan Shu and Lu Zhi formally made an appointment to compete under a big tree in the Ma mansion and began an academic debate.

Both sides asked questions to the other side and engaged in an in-depth debate.

Many of the questions they asked each other had no definite answers. After more than a hundred years of research, Han Confucian scholars have not yet come up with a clear and convincing answer. Each school has its own opinion.

But it's still the same as before.

Debating is not just about debating out a truth; the key is to debate out a winner and a loser.

The theme of the duel between the two was still Zuo Zhuan, and the first battle was [The Record of the Third Year of Duke Xiang: Deng and Liao were sent with 300 armored troops and 3,000 trained soldiers to invade Wu].

This passage records a war between the states of Chu and Wu. Zi Zhong, the prime minister of Chu, sent Deng Liao to lead an army to attack Wu. The Wu army set an ambush on the way, defeated the Chu army, and captured the commander Deng Liao.

Zi Zhong was defeated in the battle, but he returned to his country to offer sacrifices in the ancestral temple as a token of consolation. However, the Wu army did not give up and launched a counterattack, occupying a city of the Chu State, causing the Chu State to suffer heavy casualties and lose territory.

The forces in the Chu State that were dissatisfied with Zi Zhong launched severe attacks on him. Zi Zhong could not withstand the unanimous criticism from both home and abroad, and his mentality collapsed. He suffered a heart attack and died.

Of course, the focus of the debate between Yuan Shu and Lu Zhi is not on these characters, but on the two elements of [forming armor] and [being trained].

"The armor is made up of armor, and is worn by the nobles. The training is made up of armor, and is worn by the humble."

This is Lu Zhi’s opinion.

To put it bluntly, Lu Zhi felt that the group armor was a high-level armor that only high-level noble warriors could wear, while the trained armor was an ordinary armor that only ordinary soldiers could wear.

Yuan Shu actually feels speechless about this topic.

In fact, only people who study history would delve into the root of this kind of question, but the Ancient Text Confucian School fully developed the spirit of interpreting the scriptures for the sake of interpreting them, and found ways to do it in history books.

What is armor, what is it trained for, and who wears it?
The original text of Zuo Zhuan does not have detailed records.

But we can understand with simple imagination that the former is advanced armor and the latter is general armor, similar to the difference between heavy armor for cavalry and light armor for infantry. Historians will study it, but what are you, a group of Confucian scholars, arguing about here?
Yuan Shu knew about this dispute.

Before this, during the reigns of Emperor Ming and Emperor Zhang, Jia Kui, an important figure who connected the ancient text Confucian classics school, had explained this.

He believed that the armor was worn by charioteers, that is, the armor worn by charioteers who were popular at that time. Then as for "bei" and "lian", he believed that these were two words. "bei" refers to a kind of fabric called lianbo, and the armor made of lianbo was supplied to ordinary infantry.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, chariot soldiers were generally of higher status, while infantrymen were more likely to be of civilian origin. It was normal for the two to have different equipment.

Lu Zhi's views came from Ma Rong's teachings.

Ma Rong's view on this point is basically the same as Jia Kui's, but Ma Rong went a step further and believed that high-level armor such as group armor could only be worn by high-ranking soldiers from royal families, while beilian was worn by ordinary soldiers of low status. There was a slight difference between the two sides in the identities of the wearers of the armor.

But in Yuan Shu's opinion, is this important?
Neither Zuo Zhuan nor the main text of the Spring and Autumn Annals has it clearly stated. Do you think it is fun to guess here?

"As for who wears the armor and the training, there is no clear statement in the scriptures and legends. Everything is just one person's opinion. What Mr. Lu said is a bit rash. It is enough to know that they are all battle armor and are worn by soldiers."

Lu Zhi was not satisfied with this.

"As scholars, we study the teachings of our ancestors and follow the path of the saints. We should know that every word and sentence has a profound meaning and should not be spoken carelessly. This is the foundation of academic research. Mr. Yuan is young and may not understand it!"

Wow, you’re directly questioning my attitude towards academic research?

You are so good, Lu Zigan!

Look at me scolding you!

Yuan Shu then straightened his clothes and said slowly: "Although I don't agree with what Mr. Lu said, I can also try to say it. Judging from what is said before and after, the armor can refer to elite soldiers, and the trained can refer to ordinary soldiers. In the Spring and Autumn Period, chariot soldiers were the main force and infantry soldiers were the auxiliary, so the armor may be worn by chariot soldiers and the trained by infantry soldiers.

At that time, chariot soldiers needed to study hard and practice diligently. It would take time to master the many tactics of driving a chariot, long and short weapons, etc. Therefore, chariot soldiers must be of extraordinary origin. However, it is not necessarily the case that they must be members of the royal family. It may be more appropriate to be dukes, ministers, or scholars. As for the infantry, except for the generals, they should be common people. "

A hint of appreciation flashed across Lu Zhi's eyes and he nodded.

"What Yuan Jun said makes sense."

The first debate went on like this, with both sides agreeing that the game was a draw and there was no heated dispute.

Yuan Shu also realized that these were just small questions that Lu Zhi used to warm up and test himself. The truly meaningful ones were still to come.

Old Biden clenched his fists—the big one is coming!

(End of this chapter)