My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 17 There are mountains beyond the mountains
Liu Chounu smiled and saw Li Xuanba to the door, waving to him warmly.

“My friend, if you want to invite your friends over in the future, just come. There’s no need to be so formal.”

Li Xuanba was taken aback, then seemed to understand something and nodded with a smile.

"Thank you, sir!"

When Li Xuanba emerged with a bundle full of dates, Li Yuanji was already snoring in the carriage. Upon seeing his third brother, he quickly jumped off, complaining, "Were you caught? Why are you so late? My legs are numb from waiting!"

But when he saw the dates that Li Xuanba had brought, he immediately beamed with joy and stuffed a few of the biggest ones into his mouth.

Li Xuanba seemed to be in a good mood at the moment. The two brothers got into the car and happily drove back.

By the time they arrived at the mansion, it was almost dark.

Just as Li Yuanji was about to say goodbye to his third brother and return to his residence, he suddenly remembered something.

"broken!"

"I have to go to school tomorrow! I haven't finished the essay that Old Man Zheng asked me to write yet!!"

How much did you write?

I wrote my own name.

That day, Li Yuanji stayed at Li Xuanba's place. The two sat in the study, Li Xuanba patiently explaining, while Li Yuanji scratched his head and wrote, on the verge of tears. He had finally paid a heavy price for his carefree days.

The next day.

Outside the side gate of the Li residence, Li Shimin was still standing with his hands on his hips, talking loudly to the coachman.

Li Shimin enjoyed talking to different people. He could chat with anyone, regardless of their background, and he could chime in on any topic. There was nothing he wouldn't discuss.

"It's indeed too rushed. The roads need to be completed in three months, the irrigation canals in four months, and the palace in five months. Even if that's achievable, how can the quality be guaranteed?"

"If it has to be repaired, it's better to use fewer people and spend more time."

“If the number of laborers were limited to 100,000 and the construction took four or five years, I don’t think the cost would be as huge as it is now. The construction is fast now, but there are already a million people involved. How many people died on the way? How many of them will be able to come back? If something happens again after the construction is completed, will we have to start construction again?”

"Where did all these thieves come from? Aren't they all fugitives? With tens of thousands of people piling up on the road, it's no wonder they're running away. Now that we've created so many thieves, we'll have to expend a lot of energy to quell them."

"Grandpa will probably have to expend a lot of effort to quell these bandits this time."

As Li Shimin was speaking, the third son pulled the weary fourth son out of the door and walked quickly toward them.

Seeing the fourth prince's expression, Li Shimin immediately understood and couldn't help but laugh.

I told you to go play again, now you know?

"Yuanji, did you not sleep well? Or were you studying too hard?"

Li Shimin joked that if it were any other day, Li Yuanji would definitely argue with him, but today he was too tired to even bicker. He casually waved his hand and climbed into the carriage. He fell asleep before the carriage had gone far.

Looking at his sleeping fourth son, Li Shimin couldn't help but shake his head.

"That brat!"

He looked at Li Xuanba, a hint of smugness in his eyes.

"Third brother, your article must be quite good, right?"

Li Xuanba nodded. "I think it's pretty good."

Li Shimin laughed, "My writing is also excellent! I am quite confident. If you feel that your writing is not good enough, you can take a look at mine and then make improvements!"

This guy had an air of confidence on his face, and he really believed that his writing was the best, the best in the world.

Li Xuanba shook his head, "It's too late now. I'll ask my second brother for help after I finish my studies today."

When they arrived at their destination, Li Xuanba woke up Li Yuanji.

The three got out of the car and had just entered the courtyard when everyone noticed them. This time, they didn't stare at the three Li brothers with any malice. Instead, they greeted them with smiles and bows. Li Shimin was taken aback and quickly returned the greeting. Only Li Yuanji remained in a daze and ignored them completely.

Zheng Yuanrui walked up to the three men with a smile, looked at Li Xuanba, and said, "Li Jun, you look much more energetic than I have in the past few days."

"Thank you."

"I drank too much at the banquet that day and didn't see Mr. Li leave. I was unable to see him off in person, which was really impolite."

"No problem."

Li Shimin was taken aback. After Zheng Yuanrui left, he asked in a low voice, "You went to their banquet?"

"I went once."

"They consulted you?" "Yes, they discussed classical texts together."

"Ha, what talk? What can these people say? They're just using you. Stay away from them in the future."

"only."

When the teacher arrived, the group entered the courtyard in a grand procession and sat down on their own.

Zheng Faxian's complexion was not good at all. He looked a bit like Li Yuanji, as if he hadn't slept well and was not as energetic as usual. He frowned and was in a bad mood. His eyes swept over the many disciples in front of him, but only lingered on Li Xuanba for a moment before quickly moving on.

"Submit the completed document."

One by one, the students stepped forward and submitted their essays. Zheng Faxian would have them write these essays every so often to assess their academic progress.

After submitting his assignment, Zheng Faxian began to ask questions about the topic he had been taught last time.

"Telling without doing."

As soon as he opened his mouth, almost everyone in the audience looked up at him, hoping that he would call on them.

Um? ?

Zheng Faxian sensed that something was wrong.

These brats, who used to be afraid of being woken up by me, and wished they could bury them in the ground, why are they all so eager today?
Li Shimin originally intended to be the first to get up and answer, but seeing everyone's reaction, he was unwilling to rush ahead. He wanted to wait until everyone had finished speaking before speaking last.

Zheng Faxian hesitated before calling out the first person sitting in front of him, who was none other than Zheng Yuanrui.

After Zheng Yuanrui stood up, he confidently began to talk about 'telling without creating'.

"The Great Way exists between Heaven and Earth; the sages merely describe the principles contained within it, they did not create it themselves."

Therefore, the sage merely discovered the principles that exist in heaven and earth.

Zheng Yuanrui spoke with great confidence, just waiting for the teacher to praise him.

Zheng Faxian was indeed surprised at first, but he quickly realized what was going on. They must have consulted Li Xuanba. In fact, Zheng Faxian had never objected to them asking for advice. He even hoped that someone could ask him for advice directly.

But these fools would rather ask their classmates than ask themselves.
However, being able to ask others for advice and exchange academic ideas is already a step forward, and he had no intention of scolding them.

After Zheng Yuanrui finished speaking, he softly said "okay".

This already made Zheng Yuanrui extremely excited. After so many years of schooling, this was the first time he had been praised. After him, the other disciples stood up one after another, and what they said was basically the same, all revolving around nature and the existence of the Great Dao. It was clear that they were all copying the same person.

Li Shimin raised his head, his eyes showing a hint of disdain.

Zheng Faxian was quite lenient with these people and did not reprimand them. Everyone finished speaking quickly, leaving only the three members of the Li family. Zheng Faxian automatically skipped over Li Yuanji, whom he considered an incorrigible disciple, and looked directly at Li Shimin.

"Shimin, you speak."

"I'd like to say this last."

"Say it now!"

Li Shimin sighed helplessly. He looked at everyone and cleared his throat. “Since the sage expounded the principles, people in every dynasty have made improvements to them, because everything changes. Principles cannot remain unchanged. Only principles that can be adapted to the present and applied are true principles.”

"The reason why sages transmit knowledge but do not create it is because they know that their principles cannot be applied for thousands of generations, and that there will always be people in the future who will continue to develop their learning."

After hearing more than a dozen repeated answers, Li Shimin's answer instantly energized Zheng Faxian.

Last time, he managed to step outside the mountains and rivers to see wisdom and benevolence, and this time, he has gone even further, understanding how to interpret knowledge in his own way.

Whether the sage actually meant it or not is not important; what is most important is to make the sage's words seem reasonable according to one's own understanding.

Li Shimin, focusing on the improvement of knowledge throughout the ages, distorted the sage's meaning to suggest that renewal should occur with each generation and that death was not a necessary condition.

"Good, good, good, good!"

A smile appeared on Zheng Faxian's face. He patted his knee and said "good" several times.

Li Shimin breathed a long sigh of relief; he felt great.

He wasn't jealous of his younger brother; he just wanted to prove that his older brother would always be his older brother, and the younger brother should study hard!
The classroom was completely silent. Zheng Yuanrui pondered Li Shimin's answer, hesitating to speak.

How come these young warriors from the borderlands are all so formidable?

Zheng Faxian finally looked at Li Xuanba. He narrowed his eyes, and when he recalled what Li Xuanba had said that day, his face showed some anger.

"Xuanba, you tell us."

(End of this chapter)