Bai Lang, who walked out of the village, was in a very low mood, the young woman's expression just now was obviously extremely resentful of him, and Bai Lang also knew that he had failed him.

"General." Several Qin State sergeants waited at the entrance of the village for a long time, and they were a little worried when they didn't see Bai Lang's figure, but after thinking about it, it was just a small village, how could there be a danger that could threaten Bai Lang? Seeing Bai Lang walk out, they were also relieved.

Bai Lang quickly wiped away the melancholy look on his face, nodded indifferently, and got on the horse.

Just as he was about to leave, Bai Lang suddenly stopped: "The security here is not good, go back and call a few people to come over and take care of it." ”

Several soldiers were stunned, Luoyang's public security was still nominally in charge of Zhou Tianzi's officials, but in fact it had been taken over by Bai Lang, but Bai Lang had never been in charge of these things, not to mention that this was only a suburb of Luoyang. Puzzled, they nodded.

Bai Lang finally looked back at the village behind him, and quickly turned his head again, his eyes resolute.

......

Qin State, Xianyang.

Zhuge Jing and King Qin sat facing each other, still waving the black feather fan in their hands.

Since Bai Lang went to Luoyang, King Qin has come to Zhuge Mirror more and more frequently, and almost every three or four days, he will secretly leave the palace and come to this inconspicuous courtyard.

King Qin respectfully saluted Zhuge Mirror and said, "In this Confucian exchange meeting, can my Qin State come out on top?" I also hope that Mr. Zhuge will show it. ”

Zhuge Jing smiled and said: "The king seems to be very concerned about this matter, and the scale of the scholar group going abroad this time is unprecedented. ”

King Qin nodded and said: "Yan Ziyuan is old, sooner or later he will have to find a successor, the forty-nine disciples under the door are all in various countries, and they have definitely not gone back to inherit the mantle, even Ran Qiu, who has been suspicious before, is said to have left Qufu, so it seems that there is no one under Yan Ziyuan's sect who is worthy of heavy responsibilities." ”

Zhuge Jing nodded and said, "The king thinks that Yan Ziyuan wants to take advantage of this Confucian event to find another closed disciple so that he can inherit his mantle, so he sent almost all the famous Confucian students in my country. ”

"Yes." , King Qin continued, "Whoever can be accepted by Yan Ziyuan as a closed disciple is very likely to be the head of the next generation of Confucianism." ”

Zhuge Jing shook his head noncommittally and said, "What if Yan Ziyuan doesn't have this idea at all?" ”

King Qin looked at Zhuge Mirror in confusion: "Although Yan Ziyuan is old, he is still sober after all, and he always has to take care of what is behind him." ”

Zhuge Jing smiled and said: "Yan Ziyuan accepts apprentices, the first look at the heart, and the second look at the talent. But to polish a person's heart is by no means something that can be done in ten years, even if Yan Ziyuan has the heart to accept apprentices, he has no time to polish it. I once thought that Ran Qiu would be the next head of Confucianism, but it turned out that it was not. ”

King Qin frowned and asked, "According to what Mr. said, if Yan Ziyuan doesn't find a successor for himself, what will Confucianism do in the future?" Isn't it a group of dragons without a leader? ”

Zhuge Jing didn't answer this question, but asked, "Does the king know which first-class sect he is from?" ”

King Qin said with a smile: "Mr. Zhuge is proficient in ten schools such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Mo, which is really unfathomable. ”

Zhuge Jing laughed, seemingly satisfied with King Qin's praise, but he narrowed his eyes instead and said, "Actually, I admire the Legalists the most. ”

King Qin was stunned: "Legalist? The gentleman didn't look like such a rough man. ”

Zhuge Jing smiled more and more unbridledly.

"Don't think so, the king, although the Legalists are rude, they are the most effective. The law is a good thing, not only to maintain the stability of society, but also to promote the development of the country. Confucianism is the way to govern the world, but Legalism is the way to save the world. The minister dared to guarantee that within five years, it would be the era when the Legalists were prevalent among the princes. The king should take this opportunity to preemptively collect the talents of the Legalists and reuse them, so he will naturally be one step ahead of the vassal states. ”

After listening to Zhuge Jing's words, King Qin fell into deep thought, and then asked, "Can the Legalist have a master now?" Since Shen Buhong's death, it seems that he has not heard of it. ”

Zhuge Jing narrowed his eyes and said with a slight smile: "It is true that the Legalists have no masters now, but the talents who can really promote the Legalists are not necessarily the people of the Legalists. ”

King Qin's face was full of confusion, and he was about to open his mouth to ask again, but Zhuge Jing got up and said, "I'm tired, let's ask the king to come back early today." ”

King Qin got up helplessly, bowed, and left.

After King Qin left, Zhuge Jing did not go to rest, but walked outside the courtyard alone and walked leisurely.

"Confucianism has flourished for a hundred years, and it has prevailed among princes, even the Son of Heaven is worshiped as Guiquan, and it is time for a different school to come to power. The words full of benevolence and morality are already impatient to listen. Yan Ziyuan, you have maintained the peace of this troubled world for nearly twenty years with your own strength, and the Confucianism at your helm cannot be pushed down by the collapse of the three families, and it is indeed an opponent that gives me a headache. But so what? You don't have a few years left to live, and the last one to come to power has to be a Legalist. ”

In later generations, this school struggle, known as the Confucianism dispute, often started with Ran seeking to enter the Qin Dynasty, taking the way of Confucianism as a Confucianist as a starting point, and ending with Yan Ziyuan's illness and death, but in fact, it was Zhuge Jing who personally opened the prelude to the Confucianism controversy and fueled the flames behind the scenes, but these will not be written into the history books.

In any case, the struggle between Confucianism and Legalism began at this moment, and officially began.

......

Lu State, Qufu, Qufu Academy.

At this moment, several scholars guarding the door of Yan Ziyuan's small courtyard were a little panicked, they had served Yan Ziyuan for more than ten years, but it was the first time they had encountered such a situation today.

At this moment, there are exactly seventy-two people sitting in the small courtyard, which corresponds to the seventy-two academies in Qufu City. In the past, even if the previous Confucian exchange meetings were held, the number of college presidents attending the meeting was only 36 at most, and only 12 at the time, but today the scholars were shocked to see those deans of various colleges who had been in the past and did not see the end of the dragon entering the small courtyard one by one.

Did the preparations for the Confucian exchange meeting actually have to work for the directors of the 72 academies?

The house in the small courtyard is a little crowded, the hut is not big, but it is crowded with the most famous Confucianism in the entire Qufu City, it can be said that these seventy-two people are the backbone of the entire Confucianism. Because there are really not so many tables and chairs, some deans can only stand, and these deans are relatively young and have a low seniority.

Yan Ziyuan, who was sitting in the middle, looked at everyone and smiled: "Everyone is here, the incident happened suddenly, and I urgently summoned everyone before I had time to prepare, and I wronged you." ”

Everyone hurriedly said politely: "It's okay, it's okay." ”

An elderly man spoke first: "I don't know why Dean Yan summoned us this time?" The letter said that it was to discuss the preparations for this year's Confucian exchange meeting, but it was more than that, right? ”

This old man's name is Song Qunshan, and he is the dean of the Qunshan Academy among the seventy-two academies in Qufu City, and he looks almost the same age as Yan Ziyuan, but he is actually more than 20 years younger than Yan Ziyuan.

Yan Ziyuan nodded, put away some smiles, and said: "The Confucian exchange meeting is about to be held, and it is indeed true that the preparations should be discussed, and it has always been handed over to the scrupulous over the years. ”

Several young deans whose names were mentioned hurriedly bowed slightly.

Yan Ziyuan continued: "But this year is a little different. What I am going to talk about today may have a bearing on the life and death of Confucianism. ”

As soon as Yan Ziyuan's words fell, everyone was shocked.

Immediately, a dean in his forties couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, what do you mean by this?" Confucianism has flourished for a hundred years, from the princes of the Son of Heaven to the common people, they are all worshiped as gods, and there is no trace of decay! ”

Yan Ziyuan looked sideways at the dean who was standing, this dean was already very young among the crowd, and he was also Yan Ziyuan's apprentice, named Liu Shizhen, the current dean of Liushui Academy.

Yan Ziyuan smiled and said, "Dean Liu, it's been ten years since you came out of my sect, why are you still so frizzy?" ”

After Yan Ziyuan finished speaking, Liu Shizhen hurriedly lowered his head, the meaning of the teacher's words is very clear, in private, the two of us can be commensurate with master and apprentice, but at the moment sitting is the dean of the seventy-two academies, discussing official affairs.

This little episode passed quickly, and everyone's hearts were still immersed in what Yan Ziyuan said just now, and they were all looking forward to it, waiting for Yan Ziyuan's next words.

Yan Ziyuan looked around at the people around him, for a long time, and said: "The world is in chaos, the etiquette collapses, since the three families have been divided, the etiquette system on which Confucianism depends has been shaken, a few years ago, Bai Lang entered Luoyang, coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and the princes shouted King Qin, but in fact, they were red-eyed. We often say that we want to be a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, but now there are many unrighteous wars in the Great Zhou, which is enough for the princes to have no faith in Confucianism in their hearts. The decline of Confucianism is a matter of time, and I have called you here today, not to discuss the resurgence of Confucianism, but to discuss how Confucianism can continue. ”

After listening to what Yan Ziyuan said, there were no words for a long time, they are all great Confucians, and they are people who can see through the situation in the world, so they naturally know that what Yan Ziyuan said is true, on the contrary, they have long been worried about the future of Confucianism, but for decades, although Confucianism has seen signs of decay, it is still alive, everyone knows that this is the credit of Yan Ziyuan, so they have never really thought about the future.

Yan Ziyuan looked at everyone's expressions, guessed in his heart, and said with a slight smile: "I'm old, I don't have a few years to live." ”

Liu Shizhen hurriedly spoke: "Dean Yan must not say these words. ”

Yan Ziyuan looked at the filial apprentice and smiled without saying a word.

Song Qunshan frowned and looked at Yan Ziyuan: "Dean Yan, it is true that Confucianism has gradually declined for decades, but which school will have the ability to replace it?" The prestige of the Mohist Taoism is second only to my teaching, but the Mohist creed talks about love and non-aggression, and it is also to persuade the princes to fight less, and it is not the answer that the princes want. In addition, Taoism is pure and inactive, and it is difficult to be adopted by the princes. The Zongheng family is not empty, and they mediate among the princes and play with right and wrong, so it can be said that the world is in chaos, and they have a share of the credit. ”

Yan Ziyuan smiled and said: "Dean Song has already seen the length and weakness of the various schools thoroughly, Confucianism, Taoism and Mo are across the four schools, which can be regarded as four parts of the world, but those who really want to subvert the world have not yet emerged, they have been lurking for fifty years. ”

Everyone on the field thought about it carefully, and when they thought of the word fifty years, they suddenly understood, and for a while, no one spoke on the field.

Yan Ziyuan stood up, with an extremely solemn expression on his face: "They are like a fire, trying to ignite the dry wood of this Huaxia Continent." Wherever the war goes, there is no grass, my days are numbered, and in the darkness of Confucianism for decades in the future, I hope that you here can become a few stars. ”