The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"If I can't answer, does that mean I'm not qualified for this position?" Chen Huai'an found it amusing.

What kind of ridiculous online novel formula is this?

You pose the question, I answer it—isn't that childish?

Lu Yanqing nodded slightly: "Of course. If you can't even answer one of the questions I ask, how can you be competent for this position?"

Wei Zheng frowned deeply and shook his head slightly at Chen Huai'an, signaling him not to agree.

Lu Yanqing clearly came prepared; who knows what questions he'll ask or what the answers will be?

These things are entirely up to him to decide, aren't they?

Li Shimin sat in the head seat, saying nothing, while Zhang Anan, who was closest to him, was trembling slightly.

As Li Shimin's personal eunuch, he knew that every time Li Shimin showed such a calm and unwavering look in his eyes, it proved that he had murderous intent!

The person who harbors murderous intent at this moment is self-evident.

"What, does the Duke of Anguo dare not?" Lu Yanqing asked casually.

Chen Huai'an laughed, tapping his head with his finger: "Hey Lu, are you out of your mind? Don't you have a brain disorder? Should I ask His Majesty to summon the imperial physician to take a look at you?"

"May I ask you, who do you think you are?!"

"You dare test me? You think you're worthy?"

"Who gave you the confidence to think that I'd be foolish enough to agree to your proposal just because you say a few provocative words?"

Is it childish or not?

Lu Yanqing was taken aback, never expecting Chen Huai'an to react this way.

Just as he was about to speak, Chen Huai'an waved his hand dismissively: "Alright, I don't have time to play these childish questions with you. I'm very busy."

"Of course, if you want to play, I can keep you company. Consider it my good deed of playing with a child."

"However..." Chen Huai'an said sarcastically, "It's not you asking me, it's me asking you."

"Do you dare to say yes?"

Arrogant!

Disdain!

This was Chen Huai'an's first impression of Lu Yanqing!

How dare he do that?

Ask me a question?

Lu Yanqing's face flushed red, but she didn't lose her temper. She forcibly suppressed her anger: "Why should I agree to your request?"

"You think you can just ask a question like that?"

"Then why should I agree to your request?" Chen Huai'an retorted. "I really don't understand, who do you think you are? First you questioned me, then you tried to test me. Do you really think I'm incapable of handling important matters?"

"No matter what I'm like, who gives you the right to question me?"

"You..." Lu Yanqing's anger was barely contained, and he was on the verge of exploding. He laughed angrily, "Fine, fine, what can you do if I agree?"

"I've lived all these years and read more books than you've walked the roads. You think you can compete with me in terms of knowledge?"

"Bring it on!"

Cui Shanwei and Zheng Yuanzhu frowned slightly. Lu Yanqing was acting irrationally. How could he agree so easily?

However, neither of them said anything.

They weren't worried that Lu Yanqing would lose.

Chen Huai'an idly toyed with the wine glass in his hand, and amidst the curious or inquisitive gazes of the crowd, he slowly uttered a sentence:

"The mind is principle; extend innate knowledge; unite knowledge and action!"

Answer it.

When Chen Huai'an asked the question, Lu Yanqing looked confident and said, "That simple?"

"The so-called mind is principle, leading to..."

At this point, Lu Yanqing suddenly changed his expression and realized that something was wrong.

"Mind...mind is principle, extend innate knowledge, knowledge...unity of knowledge and action?"

"Unity of knowledge and action?"

Lu Yanqing's pupils shrank suddenly, as if he had seen a ghost. He kept repeating these three sentences to himself, and his mind raced through the Four Books and Five Classics and the works of various philosophers, but he couldn't recall a single related record.

He had been immersed in Confucian classics since childhood, and over the past fifty years he had read no less than a thousand volumes of classics, commentaries, and fragments of hermit’s writings. Yet, he had never heard of these three sentences before!

Not to mention the source or allusion, there isn't even a similar saying.

Lu Yanqing had considered that Chen Huai'an's question might not be simple and might contain hidden traps, but he did not expect that just three seemingly short sentences would stump him in an instant.

"..."

Almost everyone in the court had the same expression as him.

The moment Chen Huai'an raised this question, everyone was thinking.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that this statement is not simple.

Even Li Shimin sat up straight, his eyes flashing.

Chen Huai'an scoffed, "What, can't answer?"

The mind is reason; extend innate knowledge; unite knowledge and action.

This is the core of Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind; it's not something you can answer so easily.

It should be noted that Wang Yangming's enlightenment at Longchang was a truly spectacular event, even by later standards, surpassing the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

If you can answer this question easily here, Chen Huai'an will have nothing to say; you'll be considered impressive.

If someone can understand the philosophy of mind, everyone will respect him.

If you can put the philosophy of mind into practice, well, you are a sage of this world!

Lu Yanqing actually thinks he can answer this?

You're dreaming.

"You...you're making this up!" Lu Yanqing blurted out instinctively, his voice trembling slightly. "These statements don't exist in Confucian classics at all. What kind of skill is it to use fallacies and heresies to confuse people?"

After these words were spoken, a person who had been resting with his eyes closed throughout the entire ordeal opened his eyes in the imperial court.

"Nonsense and heresy?" Chen Huai'an raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. "You just said you've read more books than I've traveled, what, you can't even recognize the wisdom of sages now?"

His gaze swept over the many ministers, and he said, enunciating each word clearly: "The purpose of the sage's teachings is to teach people to understand their own hearts, to know good and evil, and to put their words and deeds into practice."

"There is no principle outside the mind, no thing outside the mind; this is the mind itself being principle. Eliminating selfish desires and cultivating one's original mind is the attainment of innate knowledge. Knowing without acting is simply not knowing; true knowledge must be put into practice, and only this practice constitutes true knowledge; this is the unity of knowledge and action!"

"These three sentences are all rooted in the essence of Confucian and Mencian teachings. How did they become heresies and fallacies in your mouth?"

"Or is it that in your eyes, Lu Yanqing, only those few commentaries you hold in your hands can be considered orthodox Confucianism?"

"So the original intention of the sage is no longer valid?"

Upon hearing this, the hall fell completely silent.

Everyone could tell that Chen Huai'an wasn't debating with Lu Yanqing at all; he was directly exposing the true nature of the aristocratic family.

You keep saying that you want great Confucian scholars to take the lead in unifying the interpretation of the classics, but what you really want is to seize the right to interpret the classics. But you can't even answer the core principles of Confucianism, so how dare you talk about unifying the interpretation of the classics?

Lu Yanqing's face turned pale and then red, and his lips trembled as he couldn't speak for a long time.

Just then, the person who had opened his eyes earlier slowly spoke up: "Minister Chen's words make sense."

"There is no principle outside the mind, no thing outside the mind. Eliminate selfish desires, preserve your original mind. Knowing but not acting is not knowing at all. True knowledge must be put into practice. Only this practice is true knowledge."

"ah......"

Kong Yingda sighed deeply, his tone full of astonishment: "I have never heard of such a stunning insight... no, it can no longer be called stunning, but rather an insight that sends chills down my spine!"

"..."