Some people say that Zheng Xuan was the first person to study in the Han Dynasty. However, his academic "madness" period was in the Three Kingdoms period.

When Zheng Xuan was born, three generations worked as farmers in the countryside, and his family lived in poverty.

Zheng Xuan has been gifted and intelligent since childhood, likes to read, and is diligent and studious. He studied mathematics from an early age, and by the age of eight or nine he was proficient in arithmetic. At the age of twelve or thirteen, they will be able to recite and narrate the Confucian "Five Classics". At the same time, Zheng Xuan also liked to study astronomy, and mastered the method of estimating good luck and evil based on changes in weather and wind direction.

When Zheng Xuan was sixteen years old, he was not only proficient in Confucian classics, familiar with ancient classics, but also proficient in proverbs

The study of weft magic, and the ability to write good articles, is well-known in the local area.

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Although Zheng Xuan is determined to devote himself to studying scriptures and has a certain degree of scripture attainment, due to his poor family and poor life, he has no conditions to continue to study, and his parents and brothers are forced to stop studying for many years without doing business. At the age of eighteen, he had to go out of office and serve as a townsman, Zheng Xuan was diligent and serious in his office, and he was very good at caring for the orphans, and he was praised by the villagers, and he was soon promoted to become a townsman.

At that time, Du Mi, a famous scholar who served as Taishan Taishou and Beihai Xiang, saw Zheng Xuan when he went to Gaomi County to inspect and thought that he was a rare talent, so he was promoted to the county as an official, so that he could get the opportunity to study and further his studies.

Since then, Zheng Xuan has ended his career as a village official.

Soon after arriving in Beihai County, Zheng Xuan resigned from his position as an official and entered Taixue to teach. His teacher, the fifth Yuanxian, was the surname of Jingzhao Pingling (now Chang'an, Shaanxi) at that time, and was a very learned doctor of scripture.

Zheng Xuan studied under the fifth Yuan Xian, and successively learned "Jingshi Yi", "Ram Spring and Autumn", "Three Unified Calendars", "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", etc., all of which reached the level of proficiency. In the next ten years or so, it was the era of Zheng Xuan's study.

Later, he learned "Zhou Guan", "Book of Rites", "Zuo's Spring and Autumn", "Han Poems", "Ancient Wenshangshu" and other books from Zhang Gongzu of Dongjun, and learned "Law Order" from Chen Qiu. By the end of his life, Zheng Xuan had become a scholar with deep attainments.

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Although Zheng Xuan has learned five cars, he is not satisfied. When he felt that there was no one to consult with the scholars of Kanto (referring to the east of Hangu Pass), he left his homeland through the relationship of his friend Lu Zhi and traveled thousands of miles west to enter Guanzhong, where he became a teacher and sought further study.

Ma Rong was the most famous master of scripture at that time, and he was very knowledgeable. He studied the Confucian classics all over the world, and brought the study of ancient scriptures to a mature state. He had thousands of disciples, and more than 400 of them had been with him for many years, and more than 50 of them were excellent.

Ma Rong is more arrogant and exquisite, although there are many disciples, he only personally teaches a few high-achieving students, and the rest of the students are transferred to teach by these high-achieving students. After Zheng Xuan joined the school, he was not valued by Ma Rong for three years, and he never even met him, so he could only listen to the lectures of his high-level disciples.

But Zheng Xuan did not relax his studies because of this, and still studied and recited day and night, without slackening.

Once, Ma Rong and some of his high-level disciples were calculating the problem of the heavens together, but they encountered difficulties and could not solve them by themselves. Some people said that Zheng Xuan was good at mathematics, so they summoned him to meet him. Zheng Xuan quickly and satisfactorily solved the problem on the spot, which made Ma Rong and the disciples present shocked, and Ma Rong said to Lu Zhi, "You and I are not as good as him!"

Since then, Ma Rong has attached great importance to Zheng Xuan, and Zheng Xuan has sought advice from Ma Rong one by one on the difficult problems found in his usual study but not solved.

Zheng Xuan studied under Ma Rong for seven years, and because his parents were old and needed to be raised, he said goodbye to Ma Rong and returned to his hometown in Shandong.

At this time, he has become a well-known master of modern and ancient literature and classics in the country, and he knows everything in the study of hundreds of schools. So hundreds of people from near and far threw themselves into his disciples, worshipping him as a teacher and listening to his lectures.

In the first year of Emperor Jianning of the Han Dynasty (168), the second "disaster of the party" occurred. Zheng Xuan was once Du Mi's former official, and was appreciated and promoted by Du Mi, so he was also regarded as a member of the party, and more than 40 people including Sun Song, a native of the same county, were imprisoned in the fourth year of Jianning (171).

Zheng Xuan was not granted a pardon until he was 58 years old, and it lasted for 14 years. During this period, he broke the family law of scripture, commented and wrote "more than a few million words", and founded "Zhengxue", its appearance made important changes in the development of scripture, and it made scripture enter a "unified era".

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After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, the imperial court was forced to grant amnesty to the party. After the party ban was lifted, the rulers of the imperial court had already heard of Zheng Xuan's name, so they vied to hire him to serve in important positions. However, Zheng Xuan sought fame rather than officialdom, was ashamed to be with his relatives in the temple, and never wanted to get involved in the official career, but repeatedly refused to recruit and devote himself to the academic work of writing books and lecturing.

In the second year of Zhongping (185), He Jin, a general of his relatives who held the authority of the imperial court, first recruited Zheng Xuan to enter the court as an official in order to win the hearts of the people. The state and county officials coerced him to go, and Zheng Xuan had no choice but to enter the court to see He Jin.

He Jinwei expressed his courtesy and respect Zheng Xuan. Zheng Xuan, in order to protect his celebrity and celebrity temperament, refused to wear court clothes, and only wore ordinary Confucian civilian clothes to meet He Jin. Only one night later, he fled without waiting for the official position.

In the fourth year of Emperor Ling's reign (187), the three mansions (Taiwei, Sikong, and Situ) had conquered Zheng Xuan twice, but he politely declined on the pretext of excuses.

Zheng Xuan repeatedly refused to conquer, and most of them lived in seclusion in his hometown, gathering disciples to give lectures, concentrating on scriptures, and writing books and sayings.

His disciples were all over the world, and many of them came to him from afar, and his students often exceeded a thousand, which was a momentary prosperity.

The Yellow Turban Army captured Qingzhou, and Zheng Xuan had to flee to Xuzhou to avoid chaos. Xuzhou Mu Taoqian once broke the Yellow Turban Army, the territory is relatively stable, he heard Zheng Xuan's arrival, very welcome, with the gift of teachers and friends. Zheng Xuan settled himself in a stone house under the Chiyan Rock in the mountains of Nancheng, and rarely showed up, still working day and night, tirelessly studying the Confucian classics and commenting on the Book of Filial Piety.

Zheng Xuan lived in Xuzhou for five or six years, when Kong Rong was the minister of the Beihai Sea, and he had special respect for Zheng Xuan.

In the first year of Jian'an (196), Zheng Xuan returned to Gaomi from Xuzhou.

In this way, at the age of 70, Zheng Xuan ended his exile from his homeland, and he continued to study the classics all day long, learn the six arts, and often see the secretarial weft technique.

In the third year of Jian'an (198 years), the emperor Zheng Xuan was the great Sinong, which was a high-ranking official in Jiuqing, and he gave an car to take a ride, and the county magistrates who passed through greeted him. After Zheng Xuan paid homage at home, he took a train to Xuchang, but immediately asked to return to his hometown under the pretext of illness.

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At home, he also remembered the scriptures, not only himself, his disciples, but also his handmaiden.

Once, a maidservant did things that did not suit Zheng Xuan's intentions. Zheng Xuan is strict with others and shows no mercy, so he will beat the servant.

Not to be outdone, the maid argued with Zheng Xuan, and Zheng Xuan was angry and pulled the maid into the mud as a punishment. After a while, another maidservant passed by, saw this scene, and asked with a poem from the "Book of Songs": "Hu Wei's hands are in the mud?" ”

Meaning: Why are you in the mud?

The servant girl also replied with a verse from the Book of Songs: "Thin words are angry, and they are angry." ”

Meaning: When I was discerning, I was just in time for him to be angry.

The two maidservants use sentences from the Book of Songs to make this situational dialogue, which shows the degree of familiarity with the Book of Songs.

Later, the allusion of "Zheng Xuan's poetry and maid" was used to describe the poetry heirloom and the family style was elegant.

Zheng Xuan, a master of Eastern Han Dynasty classics, was knowledgeable, and his home was completely bookish, not only his children were reading, but his maidservants were also reading, and he was very familiar with Confucian classics such as the Book of Songs.

It can be seen that Zheng Xuan's education has really reached a state of "madness".