Chapter 287 The Temptation of a Grand Master
Speaking of the history of Hongwen Hall, it is actually quite long. The earliest appearance was in the Wude period of the early Tang Dynasty.
At that time, the original intention of setting up the Hongwen Museum was to correct illustrations and books and teach students. When the imperial court had institutional changes and the importance of etiquette, it had to be discussed with the counselors.
However, with the development of Hongwen Hall, Hongwen Hall gradually became a place dedicated to recruiting relatives of the emperor and the children of high-ranking officials, and these people no longer had the ability to concentrate on learning after entering Hongwen Hall. Perseverance, all thinking about gilding here, and then getting a more powerful official position.
So, in the end, Hongwen Hall was naturally abandoned and became a third-rate place. Although there were resets in subsequent dynasties, it ultimately failed to give Hongwen Hall a clear and certain development direction.
Therefore, in the four eras of Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, the fate of Hongwen Museum was also extremely twists and turns. It was always abandoned and abandoned. It has never been taken seriously again.
This time Emperor Jiajing once again issued an order to reset the Hongwen Hall. To be honest, when this order first came out, no matter it was the cabinet, the Hanlin Academy, the Imperial College, etc. In fact, no one is optimistic about the reset of Hongwen Museum.
Had it not been for the words "the king and the leader shall be rich" at the end of the decree, it is estimated that Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang would not have been willing to come to Qingshui Yamen, which was destined to be sidelined.
Now the two of them came to Prince Yu's Mansion to meet the leader. They originally wanted to go through the motions and transform themselves into subjects of Prince Yu's Mansion and direct descendants of Prince Yu in the future.
But they never expected that Prince Yu would take Hongwen Hall seriously, so their mood and attitude were really awkward at this moment.
Zhu Zaijing looked at Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang, who were already under his control. Zhu Zaijing said gently: "The two of them were arranged by His Majesty to come to the Hongwen Hall. They must have been a little confused and excited at the beginning. I didn't understand. What is the significance of reestablishing the Hongwen Hall? I am excited to think that I will be lucky enough to be my husband or minister."
"Actually, these two points are correct, and it is not correct to say they are not. Well, being appointed by His Majesty to lead the Hongwen Hall requires some new actions and achievements to be worthy of His Majesty's grace, otherwise the Hongwen Hall is destined to be a Qingshui Yamen that will not last long."
"So. , what the king hopes is that the two of you can clear your mind and obey the king's dispatches and instructions. Let's work together to build this rebuilt Hongwen Pavilion, so that the court and the world's scholars can see what you two are capable of. "< br>
“If you two can do this well, no matter whether you work under my command or not, your future will be bright. Not only will you be highly appreciated by His Majesty, but you will also be sought after by scholars all over the world. "
As soon as Zhu Zaijing said these words, Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang also showed a look of shock, and they couldn't help but look at each other. So Prince Yu still has such ambitions?
Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang bowed to Zhu Zaijing honestly again, "I am ashamed. Your Majesty, I can't understand this. Please punish me."
Zhu Zaijing said: "Punish for what? We haven't punished you yet." Things are about to get started. After the Hongwen Hall is put up, I won’t punish you if you cause problems again. Now let’s talk about the new responsibilities and new ways out of the Hongwen Hall, and make plans for the future development of the Hongwen Hall. A clear goal."
Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang looked at each other awkwardly again. Meeting Yu Wang for the first time today really gave them a lot of surprises.
At the same time, they couldn't help but imagine that Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were also in such a mess when they taught Prince Yu.
But fortunately, although Prince Yu was merciless in his words, he at least talked about the matter and did not mess around. This fact made the two of them quite happy. After Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang gathered their thoughts, they bowed to Zhu Zaijing again: "Please give me your instructions."
Zhu Zaijing took a sip of tea and said, "When you received the order, did you notice the difference in relocating the Hongwen Hall this time?"
Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang thought for a while. Replied: "I discovered that after your Majesty resettled the Hongwen Hall this time, he also set up a Daming Bookstore under the Hongwen Hall. However, the decree did not clearly state the specific powers and responsibilities of this bureau. Therefore, I and the others thought that the focus this time should be On top of the Daming Bookstore."
Zhu Zaijing nodded and said, "That's right. The focus of this reset of the Hongwen Museum is on the Daming Bookstore. This is the core of the museum.”
“Since the Han Dynasty, our Chinese culture has included Han poems in the Han Dynasty, Tang poems in the Tang Dynasty, and Song lyrics in the Song Dynasty. It proves that the evolution of literature in the past dynasties is not an immutable knowledge, and there will be new changes according to the changes of the times."
"It has been two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Taizu. Although there are countless famous people, in terms of poetry, except for a few sporadic works, there is no one who can catch up with the talent of his predecessors? Is it because of the literary talent of our Ming Dynasty? Are people inferior to the ancients? "
As soon as Zhu Zaijing asked this question, Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang suddenly became serious. When it comes to reading and writing, they are both outstanding, especially Li Chunfang. Talent, if anyone says that his writing is not good, he will definitely be laughed at.
However, even if his articles can be written beautifully, there is still not one that has reached the standard of being handed down from generation to generation.
So, after Zhu Zaijing asked this rhetorical question, they both couldn't help but ask themselves, are people today really inferior to the ancients?
Although some schools of Confucianism worship the ancients, people's hearts are full of pride. Except for some old academics who have become stupid from reading, who else with some ambition and ambition will really respect the ancients? Is the practice regarded as an unchangeable standard to be worshiped?
Most people still want to base themselves on the present, and then learn some wisdom from the ancients, and then integrate their own thoughts and learnings to open up a new thought and height.
Otherwise, after Confucius, there will be Dong Zi, and after Dong Zi, there will be Cheng Zhu?
And there was a Confucian master named Wang Yangming very close to them, who developed the power of mind science based on Neo-Confucianism.
So Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang absolutely cannot accept or admit that today's people are inferior to the ancients.
But if Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang were asked to tell how today's people can compare with the ancients, they couldn't help but be speechless. For a while, they really couldn't think of a literary method with the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty. The literary characteristics of the era are comparable to Han Fu, Tang poetry, Song poetry, Yuan opera, etc.
But precisely because of this question, the eyes of Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang became brighter than ever before. If they can really find the literary characteristics of the Ming Dynasty in the Hongwen Museum, then they are likely to become Gangyu As the prince said, he became a great master and was sought after by scholars all over the world.
(End of this chapter)