Chapter 52: Untie the old shackles of the past, and now you know that I am who I am!
The fireworks in the sky have long since burned out, and the air is filled with the smell of gunpowder. In the smoke-filled Donghua Gate, the atmosphere is extremely solemn.
Not at all relaxed.
Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyes and glanced at Zhu Biao.
He was very satisfied with his eldest son and believed that Zhu Biao could become a qualified emperor in the future.
But he really didn't dare to believe the emperors of the Zhu family who followed him. He hated Mencius very much, because many of Mencius's views made him unhappy.
There is such a sentence in it: The glory of a gentleman will decline in three generations and be cut off in five generations.
He was afraid of seeing such a scene.
So what I have been pursuing these years is the stability of the Ming Dynasty.
He doesn’t ask for much.
I just want future generations to be happy emperors.
He never thought about how much merit he would let his descendants do for the world, or even how promising they could be. As long as they could honestly guard the foundation they had laid, that would be enough.
But this Xia Zhibai told him again and again to oppose him and remind him that everything he did was deceiving himself.
It simply cannot be achieved.
He was very angry and extremely angry.
It's just that Xia Zhibai is different from other officials who are admonishing. He doesn't just say it, but uses various "reasonable" things to verify his own words.
Although many things sounded out of tune, absurd, and could even be called nonsense to him, he had to pay attention to them.
Because this matter concerns the Zhu family's world.
What will happen to the future generations of the Ming Dynasty?
Will the world really go as you envision?
Even if you can get what you want within the Ming Dynasty, what about outside the Ming Dynasty? Are those foreigners really so honest?
He has read many books.
We know that foreign troubles have occurred in all dynasties.
Never cut off.
Bei Yuan is now in front of him.
The Northern Yuan Dynasty was still a refugee from the Yuan Dynasty. They had the possibility of counterattacking the Ming Dynasty at any time, and they never gave up this ambition and idea.
Two years ago, Ming Dynasty organized the second Northern Expedition, but it ended in failure.
In addition, there were other vassals around the Ming Dynasty, which were equally ambitious, and Japanese pirates also intruded from time to time.
Relying on perseverance and relying on the solutions it provides, can the Ming Dynasty really be so stable?
Zhu Yuanzhang was shaken for the first time.
Those who are not of my race must have different minds!
Xia Zhibai saw Zhu Yuanzhang's wavering, but he did not engage in the so-called strike while the iron was hot. He just returned to the bullock cart and took out another book.
See this.
Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyelids.
He was also quite speechless and annoyed. He was already considered a knowledgeable person in the world, but in the end, Xia Zhibai seemed to be a non-reader, and he gave him books again and again.
Do you really think he is still that common man? !
Xia Zhibai patted the cannon fodder on the book, sent the book to Zhu Yuanzhang, and said: "Your Majesty, you can read this book when you have time."
" "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"!" Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the book cover.
Xia Zhibai said: "This book was written by Luo Guanzhong, a student of Shi Naian. Compared with other book titles, I still prefer "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"."
"The World" Farmers have a farmer’s choice.”
"The literati and officials in the world also have the pursuit of literati and officials, and this pursuit can be summarized in eight words in the book."
"Dedicate yourself to the end of your life!"
" When a person reaches a certain height, he is no longer just an individual. The rest of his life is only left with these eight words."
"With these two books, I think. I have clearly expressed their pursuits and visions for the farmers and literati in the world."
"As for the rest, it is up to your Majesty to decide." Xia Zhibai stood upright and then respectfully faced Zhu Yuanzhang. He saluted, but this salute was very heavy in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.
It seemed to carry the farmers and scholars of the world, as well as the expectations and longings of the world, which made him a little afraid to accept it for a moment.
"Are you threatening us?" Zhu Yuanzhang took half a step back, with a cold face and extremely cold eyes.
Xia Zhibai shook his head.
He raised his head, his eyes like stars, and said: "In the past, Your Majesty let the people of the world make choices, but this time, Xia Zhibai wants to let Your Majesty make a choice on behalf of the people of the world."
"What if we don't even choose." Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Xia Zhibai. He hated this feeling of not being under his control.
How can you be bound by the people?
Xia Zhibai smiled and said: "Then your Majesty has already made his choice."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.
Xia Zhibai saluted Zhu Yuanzhang again and said slowly: "A gentleman should be like a dragon or a snake."
"When he becomes a snake, he leans down in the grass, waits for the time to move, and does not complain when he is defeated."
"When he becomes a dragon, he soars thousands of miles, travels in the sky, is arrogant but not anxious, a gentleman stands in the world, can bend and stretch, and has What you do is what you don’t do.”
“I, Xia Zhibai, understand the truth and dare to stand in front of Your Majesty and say these words.”
“Because I don’t want to. Always, as a reptile dormant in the dark, a man is born in the world, but he should stand upright and travel across the nine states."
"If the world is full of corruption and corruption, wouldn't this book of my sage be in vain? Read it? Then the pile of books I read will become a pile of waste paper.”
"I have already passed on what I said to Your Majesty on behalf of the people, and I will also tell it to Your Majesty in the future. After reading it and pointing it out, I will not disturb Your Majesty."
"The common people retire."
Xia Zhibai saluted Zhu Yuanzhang, then saluted Zhu Biao, and then strode out of the palace.
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was livid, and he stared at Xia Zhibai's leaving figure with annoyance. He wanted to immediately give an order to kill Xia Zhibai.
Just when he spoke, the book in his hand fell. Zhu Yuanzhang looked down and saw a sentence in it.
He was stunned.
Zhu Yuanzhang froze on the spot, staring closely at these words, but he staggered. In the end, Zhu Biao quickly caught him with his eyes and hands.
Zhu Yuanzhang ignored Zhu Biao, but directly rummaged around on the ground, hoping to see those words again, but he couldn't find them again.
Zhu Yuanzhang just read it over and over again, but he never saw it. He only saw the words of Lu Zhishen when he passed away in the book.
But that's not what he saw.
What he saw was clearly a few other sentences: "I Guanyin Guanyin Guanzi."
"I see the true martial arts and see the true self."
"Untie the old shackles of the past."
"Today you know that I am me."
He had heard these words before, in Huangjue Temple, on the night he left Huangjue Temple, he remembered it very much clear.
Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction away from Donghua Gate. Xia Zhibai could no longer be seen.
"Father?" Zhu Biao asked worriedly.
Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the book on the ground and held it tightly in his hands, but this solemn Sanskrit sound was always echoing in his mind.
It was difficult for him to calm down.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little stooped. He broke away from Zhu Biao's support, walked to the Ancestral Temple with two books and one rice seedling given by Xia Zhibai.
The next day.
The Ming Dynasty stopped.
The imperial examination was postponed.
(End of this chapter)