I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 16: The First Punch That Shocked the Eastern Han Dynasty

As soon as Lu Zhi finished speaking, everyone at the scene started talking.

Lu Zhi admitted defeat voluntarily.

There is still no definite answer as to what the Three Tombs, Five Classics, Eight Suos and Nine Hills are, and no one thinks that what Yuan Shu said is the correct answer.

But in a debate, it is enough for one side to admit defeat.

Losing is losing, it has nothing to do with right or wrong.

It has been confirmed that Lu Zhi, Ma's strongest disciple after Zheng Xuan, lost to Yuan Shu in a debate.

Yuan Shu looked at Lu Zhi admitting defeat, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, as if he noticed something.

Then he returned the greeting to Lu Zhi.

"Mr. Lu has the demeanor of a gentleman, but the tree is not as good as his."

Lu Zhi raised his head, looked at Yuan Shu in surprise, and then smiled.

Sure enough, his actions were completely different from the Yuan Shu in his previous impression. All the previous ones were fallacies. The Yuan Shu in front of him was the real Yuan Shu.

Lu Zhi kept sighing.

Then, he put 100% of his energy into preparing to continue a fair, open and upright confrontation with Yuan Shu.

Losing a debate does not mean you have completely lost the debate.

He had no intention of giving up in the debate.

Sure enough, in the third debate, Lu Zhi asked Yuan Shu if he was interested in discussing some more interesting topics. Yuan Shu said yes, and then Lu Zhi started to talk a lot.

Discuss whether there is a ceremony for the emperor to welcome his son personally when he gets married.

When this question was asked, Yuan Shu knew that Lu Zhi was serious. This was not just a debate limited to Zuo Zhuan, but a serious debate among schools of thought.

Zuo Zhuan and the Ancient Text School of Confucian Classics have a clear attitude on this point: [The Emperor is supreme and invincible, so there is no ceremony to welcome him personally].

Lu Zhi first took up this point and expressed his own opinion on Zuo Zhuan's position, believing that the emperor was the supreme ruler of the world and that there was no ceremony of personally welcoming the emperor to his wedding.

The opposing argument is naturally that the emperor has the ceremony of personally welcoming the emperor.

This is the view of the New Text School of Confucianism represented by Gongyang Zhuan, and it is the integrated view of the entire New Text School of Confucianism on the issue of ritual system.

[From the emperor to common people, all brides must be welcomed in person].

There has always been a crucial link in the dispute between the New Text School of Confucianism and the Old Text School of Confucianism, and that is the issue of "Emperor's Rites".

One of the greatest weaknesses of the New Text School of Confucianism was that it never came up with a conclusion that satisfied the Han royal family on the crucial issue of the Eastern Han Empire's constitution, namely, "ritual."

The New Text School of Confucianism inherited the Confucian literature passed down orally by the old Confucian scholars who survived the Qin Dynasty. There are many omissions and doubts in the literature. The "Yili" that they reluctantly recognized was the rites for the nobles and the scholars, but not the rites for the emperor.

In the Zhou Li, what are the etiquettes that are exclusive to the emperor?

There are different opinions.

Without detailed records, people can only find clues about the emperor's rituals in ancient texts, which has caused many controversies.

The New Text School of Confucianism had no other choice but to come up with the idea of "extending the rites of scholars to the emperor" in order to consolidate its position. That is, it wanted to unify the rites of the emperor and the rites of scholars, adding some sporadic embellishments at most, without going beyond the scope of "Yili".

This is beneficial for the modern literary school.

But this was not a good thing for the Han royal family.

As Liu Bang said, I became emperor for pleasure, to be the supreme ruler of the world, and for unparalleled honor.

Not to be like you.

Before I became emperor, I used the same etiquette as you do. Now that I am emperor, I still use the same etiquette as you do. Then, didn’t I become emperor in vain?
Can this be tolerated?
Successive Han emperors discussed this issue with their ministers many times, but the Modern Literature School was never able to come up with a result that satisfied the Han royal family.

This was one of the biggest points of disagreement between the Han royal family and the New Text School of Confucianism, and it also became a key point for the Old Text School of Confucianism to make a comeback.

They launched a book called "Zhou Guan Li" under the banner of Zhou Gong to compete with "Yili".

Their view is that the emperor is supreme and cannot be restricted by the etiquette of scholars. The emperor should have all the most honorable things that belong to him.

Among them, they directly confronted the New Literature School on the issue of whether the emperor needed to personally welcome the bride when he got married.

The emperor is an invincible person, there is only one in the world. Why does he need to personally welcome the bride when he gets married? That doesn't make sense!
"The Rites of Zhou Officials" thus became the token of allegiance submitted by the ancient Confucian classics school to the Eastern Han royal family, and was therefore favored by successive emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Based on this point of view, Lu Zhi asked Yuan Shu whether he agreed. If Yuan Shu said he agreed, there would be no need to continue the debate and the issue could be dropped as if it had never happened. If Yuan Shu disagreed, then there would inevitably be a fierce battle.

Moreover, Lu Zhi had a great advantage.

To be honest, if this era was the time of Emperor Ming, Emperor Zhang, and Emperor He of Han, Yuan Shu would not have dared to argue with Lu Zhi on this issue, because at that time the imperial power of the Eastern Han Dynasty was still on the rise and was quite strong.

But when is this time?
The emperors changed like a passing fancy, one after another like cutting leeks, one died and another was replaced. The emperor's majesty declined greatly and the dignity of the emperor was no longer there.

After much difficulty, Liu Zhi emerged, who overthrew the foreign relatives, restricted the eunuchs, and greatly strengthened the imperial power. It seemed that the emperor of the Eastern Han Empire would soon be able to rise again, but Liu Zhi also came to the end of his life.

Next came the Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong, who was far inferior to Liu Zhi. After Liu Hong, it was the era of the complete collapse of the central authority of the Han Dynasty.

Collapse does not happen overnight; it is a long and complicated process and the result of multi-party game-playing.

At this moment, the Eastern Han Empire is in the process of losing the emperor's majesty and declining the emperor's sacredness.

The imperial power remains, but the emperor is no longer.

Discussing the emperor's etiquette at this time gave people a sense of Confucius's self-discipline and restoration of etiquette, and a sense of déjà vu of the royalists, which Yuan Shu found quite funny.

Therefore, following the trend of the times, Yuan Shu really would not be afraid of him.

Moreover, on the issue of "ritual", Yuan Shu rarely appreciates the Modern Literature School.

Although the current modern literature school is a bunch of insects, the seniors among this group of insects still have some spirit.

They were very bold. They gave the emperor the rituals of scholars, which was actually an attempt to limit the emperor's power. Combined with the "Heavenly Prisoner" theory they proposed later, it was a complete combination of measures to restrict the emperor and imperial power.

It seemed that they had no intention of creating a special imperial ceremony for the Han emperor. They still insisted on the idea of "the emperor and the literati ruling the world together" and had no intention of kneeling down and becoming the emperor's slaves.

Unfortunately, their boxing skills were not good enough and they failed to beat the emperor into a panda eye. Instead, they were pinned to the ground and rubbed hard by the emperor, and they even lost their lives.

Yuan Shu felt quite regretful about this.

It just so happened that the Eastern Han Empire was in decline, and the thoughts of Confucian scholars were in a period of great confusion. No one knew what to do next. This was the time for new ideas to shine.

In that case, let me, Yuan, deliver the first punch that shocked the Eastern Han Dynasty!
Look at the punch!

"Both the Dai family's "Li" have a consistent attitude towards this matter, that is, the emperor personally welcomes the bride, and Gongyang Zhuan also says that from the emperor to the common people, everyone should personally welcome the bride. Therefore, Shu believes that the emperor personally welcoming the bride should be included in this ritual."

Lu Zhi became excited.

He shook his head repeatedly.

"Zuo Shi said: The emperor is supreme and invincible, so there is no ceremony to welcome him personally. In the past, Ji Gong welcomed the queen, but she was called the queen before she came to the capital. Also, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, the crown prince got married. At that time, Shusun Tong made a ceremony, which was followed by Zuo Shi, so the crown prince did not personally welcome him. These are all examples of the emperor not personally welcoming his daughter."

Yuan Shu shook his head and refuted.

"When Tai Si married King Wen, her family lived on the bank of the Wei River. King Wen went to the Wei River to marry Tai Si in person. This was the ceremony of the emperor personally welcoming her. Although the emperor was supreme and invincible, he and the queen were still like ordinary couples. When a couple gets married, the ceremony is the same. Why should the so-called supreme and invincible be reflected in such a place?"

Lu Zhi took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"When King Wen married Tai Si, King Zhou was still the king sitting in the south. King Wen was Xibo, a minister of Yin, so it was only right for him to personally marry Tai Si. How can it be said that this has anything to do with the etiquette of the emperor? Even when King Wu got married, he was still a minister of Yin, not the emperor. I cannot agree with what Yuan Jun said."

What Lu Zhi said was indeed reasonable and true. He used it to refute Yuan Shu's point of view, which was indeed well-founded, so there were many people who supported Lu Zhi.

But Yuan Shu hasn't finished his boxing skills yet.

Look at the fist again!
"Duke Ai of Lu once asked Confucius that he wanted to go out and marry his queen in person, but as a monarch, it seemed a bit disrespectful for him to go out in person, so what should he do?

Confucius said that marriage between two surnames is a good combination for the whole family and is used to inherit the legacy passed down by ancestors to future generations. The offspring born can be the heirs of the ancestral temple and the country. What could be more important than this?
Confucius was from Lu, and Duke Ai was the ruler of Lu. Lu was the closest vassal state to Zhou, so Lu was the most familiar with Zhou rituals. Confucius still said this to Duke Ai, which is enough to prove that Zhou rituals support the ceremony of the emperor personally welcoming the emperor.

Lu Zhi thought for a moment and felt that he could still refute it.

"The conversation between Confucius and Duke Ai was about the affairs of the State of Lu. The State of Lu inherited the Zhou rituals and could offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. They were discussing matters of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, not the rituals of the emperor. Moreover, Duke Ai was still a minister to the Zhou emperor and should have been welcomed in person. This does not mean that the emperor had the ritual of welcoming in person."

The defense is pretty good.

But when I throw the third punch, can you still handle it?

Taking a deep breath, Yuan Shu threw a third powerful punch at Lu Zhi.

"According to the etiquette, only concubines do not need to be personally welcomed, but concubines come to the door on their own, which lowers their status. The emperor did not personally welcome the mother of a country to the capital to marry as if he were taking a concubine. Is this what the emperor should do?
With the honor of being the mother of a country and the importance of the country and the ancestral temple, she can only marry the emperor as a concubine. Does the emperor's supreme power need to be reflected at this level? If the emperor treats the queen like this, if the queen gets pregnant and gives birth to a legitimate son, where will he put the legitimate son? "

(End of this chapter)