Yang Zhen's name may have become unfamiliar, so unfamiliar that in the entrance examination for graduate students in the history department of a certain university, some candidates actually confused his name with scientist Yang Zhenning. But in the two thousand years of vicissitudes, Wei Zheng painted his portrait for self-reflection, Bao Zheng went to his former residence three times to pay respects, Wen Tianxiang angrily denounced traitors with his famous words, and Hai Rui read his biography in prison until tears rained down. Alive, he is a "real swordsman", an indomitable minister. Behind him is a monument, a monument of the sage agitated and the traitor trembling.

Chapter 160: Yang Zhen and his people

Yang Zhen was born in the Eastern Han Dynasty Yongping three years, his family "Hongnong Yang", in the Han Dynasty is quite big: the eighth ancestor Yang Xi is the founder of the Western Han Dynasty, was named "Chiquan Hou" by Liu Bang, Gaozu Yang Changguan to the prime minister, because of the support of the Han Xuan Emperor meritorious service, was knighted "Anping Hou". But when it came to Yang Zhen's generation, it was "hard".

The Yang family began to fall apart from the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and Yang Zhen's grandfather Yang Tan and father Yang Bao were both teachers who had never been officials. Yang Zhen later said in his autobiography that his grandfather was "willing to stay poor" for two generations, which shows that life is hard. And when Yang Zhen was in his childhood, it was even worse, Yang Zhen's father Yang Bao left three orphans and widows, Yang Zhen and his younger brother, and died young.

Bitter children are in charge early, and Yang Zhen is no exception, picking up the burden of family life at a young age. Farming, raising grain, carrying water and chopping firewood, supporting his mother, taking care of his younger brother, and also opening a few acres of wasteland to grow herbs in exchange for money to supplement the family. Hard work inside and out.

But he also eats a lot of food, and it is said that when he learned to steam steamed buns, he ate them while watching the fire, and he ate them all before he could steam a basket of steamed buns. But when he saw his mother and younger brother starving because of this, he was very remorseful, and he actually picked his throat and eyes with his hands on the spot, and even vomited bitter bile water, and never ate it again. This story is in local folklore. They all praised him for being sensible. But when he was a teenager, Yang Zhen worked hard, and he also thought about his mother and younger brother first, and he often fell hungry, but it was the truth.

But with such family conditions, there is no opportunity to study. But Yang Zhen has a good condition, that is, his father Yang Bao is a famous Confucian, and he paid very close attention to Yang Zhen's homework when he was alive. So later, although he suffered his father's funeral. But my mother is coarse and well-versed in righteousness. not only took over the educational task of Xiao Yang Zhen, but also often taught him with the great achievements of his ancestors, asking him to always remember the glorious court. Therefore, Yang Zhen also "rarely has great ambitions".

Yang Zhen's own talent is also very good, he reads and forgets and has a very high temperament, and he can often draw inferences from others. I also studied very hard.

Behind his village is a mountain, and there is a valley called "Lingyu" over the mountain road. It is the place where Yang Zhen reads every day. Despite the hard work, his studies never stopped. Keen and studious, he stepped out of the mountains and mountains for several years.

This difficult childhood had an important impact on Yang Zhen's life. The family is poor. It is necessary to work hard, and as the eldest son, he must take responsibility. A day of hunger and a full meal. Grit your teeth and get through. If you have been hungry, you will know what it is like for others to starve. The warmth and bitterness of the grass people. I have tasted it all at a young age. It is conceivable that he later worried about Li Min in the officialdom, tenacious and tenacious, and dared to take responsibility, all from this. What's more, no matter what happens in his life, his parents always ask him to "have big ambitions". Therefore, in his later days, no matter what kind of blows he suffered in life, he never abandoned one thing ——— ideal.

But the ideal can't be eaten, the mother is just a rough writer, although the son is smart and studious, but there is no famous teacher to guide him is still not enough, to hire a teacher, the family has no money, and it is difficult to become a talent. Although he said that he had "great ambitions", he was still confused about the road ahead. Mother and son are staying up in these hard days, and I don't know where tomorrow will be.

When Yang Zhen was fifteen years old, a person took the initiative to come to the door, and he was too often depressed.

Taichang is the official position in charge of the temple rituals and court ceremonies. But Heng Yu also has another important identity, he is the emperor, and he is also the master of Confucianism at that time, his life is full of peach and plum, he has taught both Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty and Liu Zhao. It is two generations of emperors, and it can be described as a sub-saint.

Hengyu came to the door, but it was not a whim, he was a close friend of Yang Zhen's father Yang Bao, this time he came to visit, and then he met Yang Zhen. Heng Yu's vision is naturally not bad, and after a conversation, he was greatly admired, and decided to accept Yang Zhen as an apprentice on the spot, and ordered Yang Zhen to go to Luoyang with him to study.

The Yang family was overjoyed with such a good thing, and his mother ordered Yang Zhen to pack up immediately. The mother of the child is worried, and when she leaves, she will be reluctant to give up, and she will tell her thousands of instructions. But Yang Zhen's mother was very calm, and just said a word, as all expectations for her son.

"If you bear the name of your father, you will never recognize each other."

Yang Zhen said goodbye to his mother with tears, this sentence, word by word, was remembered in his heart.

Yang Zhen followed Hengyu in this way and became a student in Luoyang, the capital, which was a turning point in his life. As a disciple of Hengyu, he had a strong understanding and studied hard, and soon became an excellent student. Heng Yu not only taught him Confucianism, but also taught him to learn from the strengths of others. Yang Zhen kept them all in mind, and all kinds of Confucian classics not only read through, but also became familiar with them, and also extensively involved in astronomy, calendar, mathematics, medicine and other disciplines. He is also a decent person, with a very good reputation, and within a few years, there are comments of "standing upright" and "Mingjing Expo".

But Hengyu's more important influence on Yang Zhen is to be a man. Hengyu this person, in addition to being a well-known scholar at that time, is also a well-known minister, his official position is "too often", in charge of the country's temple sacrifices and etiquette norms, the biggest feature of life is to admit death, such as the court etiquette has non-conformities, even if it is a trivial problem, he has to fight for reason. Big things are even more ambiguous, the emperor wants to be extravagant and wasteful, or he wants to take advantage of the ceremony to get some benefits, and he will always make a mess in his hands, and he will argue with the emperor in the court at every turn.

For example, once Emperor Zhang spent a little more money on his patrol, Hengyu was furious on the spot when he found out, and he had to admit that Emperor Zhang of Han had to admit that he had used it wrongly, so angry that Liu Wei ordered the guards to pull him out, and he went on strike at home in a fit of rage. Afterwards, Han Zhang had to visit him in person, and he had to say good words and comfort him before it was over.

In terms of teaching and educating people, Hengyu is also unambiguous, not only strict in academics, but also meticulous in life. There are strict regulations on how students get up, eat, and sleep every day. For example, no leftovers are allowed during meals, and no leftovers are allowed. When you go to bed, you are not allowed to sleep in, and you must get up when the time comes. Whoever violates the rules will be hit with the board. Even Liu Zhao, who studied with him. His hands were swollen all day long. tossed the students so hard that they didn't dare to have the slightest resentment, because of Hengyu himself. That's how it works.

But Yang Zhen did not complain, since he studied under Hengyu, he has always been conscientious, has excellent studies and a better life style. And Hengyu is simply like a gathering. Such a student Hengyu naturally likes it very much, and not only often explains more knowledge to him. He also promoted him to be his assistant and ordered him to assist in handling some daily political preparations, especially later, Lian Hengyu gave the emperor a twist. is often handed over to Yang Zhen for polishing, and the daily work plan is also ordered to participate in the planning. If you attend various social gatherings. also brought Yang Zhen to attend.

Yang Zhen followed the teacher to do learning and learning politics. He has experienced all kinds of beings in the officialdom of the Han Dynasty for several years. And Heng Yu's upright quality, he is even more familiar with it, compared to this in his heart, right is right, wrong is wrong, right must be adhered to, wrong must be corrected, if not corrected, it will be struggled, even the fate of the Son of Heaven can not be stopped.

However, the "right" that Hengyu taught Yang Zhen is a special knowledge, Ouyang School's "Jinwen Shangshu".

Ouyang School's "Jinwen Shangshu", founded by Ouyang Sheng in the Western Han Dynasty, is a special branch of the Confucian school in the Han Dynasty. When Qin Shi Huang burned books and pit Confucianism, he also burned the Confucian classics "Shangshu", and sorted out the classics in the Han Dynasty, and the fragments of the "Shangshu" were dictated by Dr. Qin Fusheng, and transcribed in the official books of the Han Dynasty, so it was called "Jinwen Shangshu". Since the Han Dynasty, the "Jinwen Shangshu" has been divided into the large and small Xia Hou factions and the Ouyang faction. Confucianism Zong Hengyu is the successor of the Ouyang faction's "Jinwen Shangshu".

And it was this knowledge that gave Yang Zhen a sword that he would never abandon and hold on to for a lifetime - the sword of incorruptibility.

Because the Ouyang School's "Jinwen Shangshu" is really different, other schools are all studying theories, but the Ouyang School is more important to integrate theory with practice, and the important ideas in "Shangshu" are not only annotated and studied, but also self-summarized, but the core idea is one sentence: the descendants of Confucianism should be known for their honesty.

Therefore, since the Western Han Dynasty, this school has been inherited from generation to generation, not only from Confucianism, but also from Qing officials, such as Mao Jie, Ouyang Gao in the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Xuan, Zhi Hui and others in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, which can be described as a gathering of heroes and heroes, and Yang Zhen has also become the inheritor of this school.

Looking for this school, Yang Zhen is naturally no stranger, his father Yang Bao is also a disciple of the Ouyang School, and his teacher Hengyu is a master of the Ouyang School. So the progress is extremely fast, and when Yang Zhen was twenty years old, an incident happened that made Hengyu believe that Yang Zhen could successfully complete his studies.

Here's the thing, one day Hengyu opened a class and gave a lecture, telling the story of Ouyang Diyu, a sage of the Ouyang faction in the Western Han Dynasty and a famous minister in the era of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty. This official and servant of the great Confucian was poor all his life, and when he died, his family had no money to spare, and he left a last word to his children and grandchildren, and he did not accept the reward of the government when he died. Such a great sage naturally made all the students admire, and they all expressed their desire to study, but when it was Yang Zhen's turn, he let out a long sigh.

Heng Yu was strange, why did this good student who usually heard about him be disrespectful to the sages and just opened his mouth to reprimand him, but he heard Yang Zhen bow his head and say with emotion: "Teacher, although he is honest, but at that time, the officialdom and the people were corrupt and corruption was rampant, is there no fault for him?" ”

Dare to talk about the "first teacher", it's too crazy, Heng Yu was angry from his heart, and was about to roll up his sleeves and take the ring ruler for corporal punishment, but he saw Yang Zhen raise his head, staring at the teacher with bright eyes, and rubbing the ground and saying loudly his lifelong ideals.

"Confucian disciples should be honest and self-disciplined. It is also necessary to eradicate the evil and help the community, so as to live up to the teachings of the saints! ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the audience was shocked, and Heng Yu was stunned for a long time, serious, as if he had only known him as a student for the first time. Finally, a relieved smile appeared on his face. He let out a long breath and said to Yang Zhen happily, "It's good that you have such ambitions, but you have to go through more things and observe the people's feelings before you can get your wish." ”

Yang Zhen completed his studies in this way. Originally, Hengyu had recommended Yang Zhen to enter the court as an official, but Yang Zhen refused, he gave up his good future in the capital, and returned to his hometown in Huayin, while teaching his younger brother to his old mother, and on the other hand, relying on what Hengyu had learned, the son inherited his father's business, and also set up a school, and taught seriously at the foot of Huashan Mountain, which taught for more than 20 years.

Yang Zhen felt that there were many bad habits in education in the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as being a student not only had to serve the teacher before and after the saddle, but also had to help the teacher's family carry water and grow vegetables, both as a student and as a long-term worker. Yang Zhen abolished all these, he never asked his students to do private work, and treated every disciple more leniently, but he was extremely rigorous in his studies, and taught them to read and behave. Soon, Yang Zhen's school was like a market, and children from all over the country came to sign up, and the entrance of Niuxin Valley was squeezed into a market, and the local area was named "Yangmenhuai City". Within a few years, the number of students exceeded 1,000, so Yang Zhen successively set up Shuangquan School in Huayin, and Henan Lingbao Yu Town also opened classes to teach apprentices, and a teaching was more than ten years.

He does not charge high tuition fees, treats students from different families equally, and works tirelessly, traveling back and forth between several major branches of the university in order to do one thing, preaching, and spreading the way of saints.

So he finally got a lofty nickname: Confucius of Kansai. But all this he did for one thing, he was sharpening his sword! (To be continued)