Chapter 354: Heart is reason, leading to conscience, unity of knowledge and action
When Song Juren was led away from the bustling street and walked to a deserted alley next door, he saw Zhao Duan lazily half-reclining in the carriage.
The carriage stopped quietly on the stone road.
The windshield curtain was raised wide. Zhao Duan was still flipping through several volumes of Confucian books annotated by Mr. Zhengyang. He put down the books and smiled:
"Mr. Song, you are fine."
The moment he saw this popular empress known as the "Little King of Hell", Song Juren, who was about fifty years old, trembled all over, and the hot blood in his heart suddenly cooled down.
It's like stripping someone naked in the middle of winter and pouring a bucket of water on their pocket.
He opened and closed his lips and muttered slightly: "Qin Envoy Zhao..."
Zhao Duan raised his hand and said with a smile:
"Don't call me an imperial envoy. After I return to Beijing, I will no longer be an imperial envoy. Well, how will Taicang be after I leave?"
Song Juren finally woke up, calmed down, and began to tell the follow-up story.
It's not too surprising. After Zhao Duan left, the prefect Sun Xiaozhun took control of the situation.
Other prisoners involved in the silver mining case were interrogated one by one and gradually dug deeper. The entire prison was overcrowded for a while.
As one of the people involved in the case, Song Juren was also called by Sun Xiaozhun for questioning several times. Although they all had to come back, Song Juren witnessed with his own eyes that several families in the prefecture with deeper backgrounds than the Songjiazhuang all reported to the prefect. He was thrown into jail and his property was confiscated.
This had a great impact on Lao Juren, who had been stable for most of his life.
After that, his mentor Zhengyang passed by Taicang, and he went to escort him.
He entered the city in confusion and learned about the deaths of Gao Lian and Wang Chusheng.
"As long as everything is stable," Zhao Duan nodded, as if chatting with an old friend, suddenly changed the subject and said:
"I heard that you followed Mr. Zhengyang to Beijing. Did you just come back from the Imperial College?"
Song Juren suddenly dwarfed himself and nodded bravely:
"When my mentor comes to Beijing, as a disciple, he should serve him..."
He is panicked!
Although he was protected by the identity of the "Zhengyang School", he had seen Zhao Duan's methods and understood that it would be effortless for this person to kill him if he wanted to.
"Haha, there's no need to be nervous," Zhao Duan said, hinting at his thoughts:
"Mr. Zhengyang came here and issued a declaration of war to the imperial court. Although I am a warrior, I have always respected knowledgeable scholars. Mr. Zhengyang's name is also known as thunder.
I thought about going to visit in person, but it was inconvenient after all. Oh, I happened to see you here, Song Juren. It just so happens that I have some doubts about my study. Can you please help me clarify my doubts? "
He shook his hand, Mr. Zhengyang's masterpiece "Collected Commentary on Six Books of Chapters and Sentences".
Song Juren was stunned for a moment. This Prince of Hell stopped him just to ask for advice?
"I am an old man with little talent and little knowledge. I wonder what Mr. Zhao has any doubts about?"
Zhao Duan smiled and asked:
"What is true learning? What is the true path for scholars to follow as a scholar and as a human being?"
That's it? Song Juren was surprised that this question was the topic of the discussion four days later. He was naturally familiar with it and said:
"The sage has a saying that studying things to gain knowledge, being sincere and upright... is a virtue. Those who study things should study the truth of things and reach the ultimate understanding..."
As a disciple of Zhengyang, this theory is the typical concept of Zhengyang School, and it is also a relatively orthodox theory in the Confucian circles of the Yu Dynasty.
The so-called "Kuang Fuzheng Xue" is not something new or different, it is simply tracing back to the source and re-presenting this theory.
Zhao Duan looked stunned, and then said with a sad face:
"This is what I read in this book. But a few days ago, I heard some other words that conflicted with this book, so I was confused."
Song Juren asked curiously: "May I ask what you heard?"
Zhao Duan said calmly:
"Oh, it's probably something like 'the heart is reason', 'leading to conscience', 'unity of knowledge and action'."
Seeing that Zhao Duan had no intention of killing him and that the conversation had entered the area he was most familiar with, Song Juren also relaxed a lot. Hearing this, he couldn't help laughing and said:
"This statement is really... novel."
He deliberately used the neutral word "novel", but he was disdainful in his heart.
There are too many scholars in the world who are unconventional and like to come up with some new words, which may sound mysterious at first glance, just to express themselves and gain fame.
Song Juren had been studying for decades and was used to seeing this kind of thing. He instinctively looked down on it and thought it was another crazy person pretending to make weird words to attract people's attention.
But due to Zhao Duan's status, it's hard to belittle him.
"Master Zhao, I can only say that based on what I have seen over the years of studying, I have never heard a saint say anything similar." He said euphemistically.
"That's it." Zhao Duan was a little disappointed and said with a smile:
"I know, haha, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."
"Uh... I don't dare to waste your time, sir." Song Juren cupped his hands and watched the carriage rumble away.
…
When he was sure that the carriage and horses had left, he stood there blankly, frowning, always feeling weird.
Are you overthinking it?
Could it be that they really just met me by chance and chatted for a few words?
That's right, what does it matter if you are a small official in a certain place? Is it worthy of being specifically targeted by the empress's favorite?
Thinking of this, he relaxed his brows, felt relieved, and walked back. After only walking a few dozen steps, he frowned again:
"The heart is reason, it leads to conscience, and knowledge and action are unified..."
"This... seems..."
When I first heard it, I just thought it was a lie, but now that I think about it, it is like ten-year-old tea, and the flavor gradually develops.
Song Juren thought about this and walked back to the inn where he was staying without knowing it.
More than a hundred disciples of the Zhengyang School entered the city, and naturally there was no room for them in one inn, so they were divided into several inns to live in.
Song Juren was not able to live with his mentor. He only chose to live in the same house as a few senior brothers.
He stumbled upstairs, and suddenly the door on one side opened, and he accidentally collided with it.
"Ah, Junior Brother Song, did you get hit? Are you injured?"
The person who walked out of the room was a middle-aged man with extraordinary bearing and spirit, about thirty or forty years old, but his name was the older Junior Brother Song Juren.
This person's name is Lu Cheng, and he is one of Mr. Zhengyang's favorite disciples. He is the "senior brother" of many disciples, and he is also the disciple of the Zhengyang School who has truly received the "True Inheritance".
As the saying goes, there is no age in learning, and those who have mastered it are teachers, so the words "junior disciple" are not out of the ordinary.
"Senior Brother Lu, I'm fine, I'm just thinking about something." Song Juren came back to his senses and waved his hand to show that he was fine.
Lu Cheng smiled and said, "Hey, you came back alone?"
"Well," Song Juren briefly explained the matter of driving his group out of the Imperial Academy.
Then, almost as if by chance, he said: "Brother, I have something to puzzle over. When I came back, I met a... uh, acquaintance. I chatted with him and mentioned Zhengxue. The other person put forward a point of view that I couldn't think of. clear."
Lu Cheng smiled and said, "Oh? Let's talk about it."
"The heart is reason, which leads to conscience and the unity of knowledge and action."
"...This is... interesting, let me think about it for a while."
"Okay, I'll go back to the house first and come back later to ask senior brother for advice."
Song Juren said goodbye. He knew that learning should be considered carefully.
…
Lu Cheng returned to the room, closed the door, and chewed on these words.
At first, he didn't care much about it, but gradually, his brows tightened.
After sitting for a while, he felt his mouth was dry. He stood up, picked up the teapot, and poured water for himself. As he was pouring water, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed in his mind.
It's like five thunders striking the top!
The heart is reason...
To conscience...
Knowledge and action...unity?
Lu Chengru was struck by lightning, his brain was suddenly frightened, and he entered a state of deep thinking. His eyes were lifeless, but countless thoughts were floating in his mind.
"Wow..."
The tea overflowed from the cup, and he didn't notice it. A pot of water flowed on the table, and then splashed along the table and onto the floor.
No clue!
"That's not right...it's not right...it's nonsense, how can it make sense!?"
"But... if this is really the case, how can we understand the question of knowing things? Isn't my teacher's explanation completely wrong? From the beginning, the fundamental direction is wrong? How is it possible?"
"But, if you think so, wouldn't it be..."
Each thought is like a fish, jumping up and down in the sea of mind, creating ripples and turning into a storm.
I don’t know how much time passed.
"Senior brother...I'm here to ask you about that question..."
Suddenly, the door of the room was pushed open, and it was Song Juren who left and returned.
He was speaking, but he was stunned for the next second, staring blankly at the tea flowing freely in the room, the wet books, and the teapot carelessly thrown on the table, almost rolling on the edge of the table.
And Senior Brother Lu, who was pacing back and forth in the room as if possessed, muttering to himself.
"Senior brother, what are you..." Song Juren was stunned for a moment.
However, he saw that Senior Brother Lu, who had been recovering well in the past, had a gentlemanly demeanor, and was gentle and courteous to others, had a distorted expression, and his state was obviously not right.
Hearing the movement, Lu Cheng turned his head, revealing his somewhat red eyes.
"Ah..." Song Juren was startled, "Senior brother, what are you..."
Lu Cheng took a deep breath, the confusion and madness in his eyes receded, and he regained clarity. He smiled apologetically, rubbed his face, and said:
"I thought of something, and I lost my temper."
Lu Cheng thought for a while and then said carefully to Song Juren who was still at a loss:
"I'm a little confused about what you're asking me. So, let me go out and ask my teacher for advice."
Song Juren was taken aback. His knowledge was not solid enough. He only felt that these words seemed to be mysterious, but he had not yet fully appreciated their profound meaning.
I couldn't help but be a little shocked when I saw that even the seniors in the school who were only as knowledgeable as their mentor couldn't answer the question.
"But it's already dark..." He stuttered slightly: "At this hour..."
Lu Cheng didn't listen at all, he had already walked out, and the sound of his footsteps going downstairs spread:
"It's still early, there's still time."
"Senior Brother Lu? Where are you going?"
At this time, at the entrance of the inn, the disciples of the Zhengyang School who had gone out happened to come back and couldn't help but ask.
Lu Cheng only waved his hand and ran out of the inn without explaining in detail, leaving only a group of people looking at each other.
…
Dusk has arrived, and the capital city is covered with night.
Lu Cheng kept running, and when he arrived at another more grand inn, he found that the guests outside the building had gradually dispersed. They all came to visit Mr. Zhengyang after hearing the news.
Just to prevent the teacher from being disturbed, almost all the guests were stopped by the disciples at the door.
"Senior Brother Lu? Are you here?" A disciple asked in surprise.
Lu Cheng nodded and said, "I have something to talk to sir."
"Sir is in the hotel room."
"good."
Of course, my family has no reason to stop it.
Lu Cheng walked through the crowd and arrived at the backyard of the inn, a private room dedicated to Zhengyang.
At this moment, the house was already lit with lights.
After Lu Cheng knocked on the door, he entered the room and saw a middle-aged man wearing a Confucian robe, a square hat, and a beautiful beard sitting behind his desk, reading classics in preparation for the debate in a few days.
"Lu Cheng," Mr. Zhengyang raised his head and smiled, "Why are you here at this time?"
Lu Cheng bowed his head respectfully, held the disciple's ceremony, and then said:
"Sir, I have something I don't understand, so I came to ask for advice."
Thanks to: Crow Feather wd’s 500 point coin reward support!
(End of chapter)