"It's a couplet." Shang Cheng said, "The upper link is 'the sound of the wind and rain, the sound of reading, the sound of the ear', and the lower link is 'family affairs, national affairs, world affairs, everything in the heart'." ”

After hearing this, Pan Lian's expression was not so suspicious, and he smiled lightly and asked, "You wrote this couplet?" ”

"Not ......"

Pan Lian nodded, and didn't look at Shang Cheng, still with a casual expression, and said: "The couplet is neat, but it is suspected of being taken out of context, and the utilitarian heart is too heavy, but it is not beautiful." If a person only knows how to read and cannot cultivate his body with his heart, then even if he is 'in his heart', how can he be able to 'rule the country and level the world with his family'? ”

Shang Cheng didn't talk for a while. He lowered his head, frowned, and chewed Pan Lian's words in his heart repeatedly.

Pan Lian knew that he was thinking, so he put down the bowl, lowered his eyes and stared at the fine gauze lantern on the table, and sang in a low voice:

"The way of the university is in Mingmingde, in being close to the people, and in stopping at perfection. Knowing and then deciding; Calm and then be quiet; Quiet and then peaceful; Calm and then be able to think; Think about it and then you can get it. Things have a beginning and an end. If you know what to do, you will be short. Those who want to be clear and virtuous in the world will rule the country first; Those who want to rule their country must first gather their families; Those who want to gather their families must first cultivate their bodies; Those who want to cultivate their bodies must first correct their hearts; Those who want to correct their hearts must first be sincere; If you want to be sincere, you should know it first; Enlightenment is in Gewu. Character and then know; Knowing and then sincerity; Sincerity and then heart; The heart is upright and then the body is cultivated; Self-cultivation and then family Qi; The family is united and then the country is governed; The country is ruled and then the world is peaceful. From the Son of Heaven to the common people, all of them are based on self-cultivation. Its original chaos and the end of the rule will not be the same. What is thick is thin, and what is thin is thick, and there is nothing. ”

Shang Cheng read the Confucian classics such as "Analects" and "The Book of Rites" when he was in college, and now there are books and annotations made by several schools of Confucianism in the study room of his home in Yanzhou. He had read the article and understood the truth, but when it came to the understanding and perception of the subtleties and subtleties of the Chinese characters in the book, he was far less thorough and thoughtful than a reader like Pan Lian. In particular, Pan Lian's evaluation of Donglin Minglian was like pushing open a window in front of him, which made his mind suddenly open up......

"Yu Qinggong's words are really enlightening!" He sat up straight in his chair and respectfully bowed his hand to Pan Lian, "Thank you for your advice." Thank you one by one. ”

"What did Zida say?" Pan Lian hurriedly returned the salute in his seat. The look of surprise between his brows could not be concealed. Although he said that he did mean to remind and admonish, but the words were very vague, but with a paragraph that was repeated over and over again and was about to be overspoken for thousands of years, Shang Cheng seemed to have a deep understanding in the blink of an eye.

He picked up a dried jujube with the core of the jujube in the broken porcelain plate on several cases, but he didn't eat it, broke the jujube into pieces the size of a fingernail, and put them into the steaming tea together with the lotus seeds wrapped in the jujube, and said with a smile: "Zida also try." Soak the dates and lotus seeds in hot tea to make them soft, and the taste is different from before. ”

"Oh, and this way of drinking tea? Fresh! Shang Cheng also learned from him.

While waiting for the dried jujube lotus seeds to moisten, Pan Lian turned the topic to Shang Cheng. He asked, "Are you going to Beijing to report on your work this time?" ”

Shang Cheng nodded: "Yes." "He didn't go to Beijing this time to report on his work. But the military side of the matter is top secret, since Pan Lian did not participate in the central meeting a few days ago, then he obviously can't tell Pan Lian; Even if Pan Lian is still a servant of the ministry, he can't say it.

"How long have you been here?"

"Today is the tenth day."

"It's been ten years." Pan Lian said, "You've already seen Tang Xiang and Zhang Xiang, right?" ”

Shang Cheng nodded again.

"Your Majesty has seen it?"

Shang Cheng shook his head.

Shang Cheng hasn't seen the saint for ten years since he entered Beijing? Pan Lian was surprised. Historically, the admiral of the northern border Weizhen returned to Beijing to report on his work, and the holy monarch was summoned within three days to show his honor, which was a court practice formed since Emperor Gaozong, how could the rules be broken when he arrived in Shangcheng? In an instant, countless questions flashed through his mind. Is it because Shang Cheng is just a fake commander? That's impossible. The fake admiral is also a commander, and he is also responsible for the heavy responsibility of garrisoning the Central Plains of the Yanshan Barrier, and the main admiral of Shang Cheng and Beiwei is also a great Zhao Zhushi, and it is impossible for the saint to favor one over the other! Is it because of Shang Cheng's appearance? That's even more impossible, the emperor hasn't been deaf to that extent! Or is someone slanderous? It's possible. But the problem is that Shang Cheng's rise is very short, and he has never been out of Yanshan, who else can he make enemies with? Who would offend a young general who is the next Admiral of Yanshan nine times out of ten?

…… After making seven or eight ideas in a row, each of them had unjustifiable reasons, Pan Lian simply didn't want to, and simply asked Shang Chengdao: "Have you asked Your Majesty to see you?" ”

Shang Cheng smiled: "I handed over the cards twice in the door, but I didn't see them. He asked to see him twice, but both times he was blocked by the inner court, on the grounds that the Emperor of the Eastern Yuan Dynasty could not "meet the monarchs and ministers" because of "the lack of peace in the dragon body". On the one hand, the emperor hurriedly sent someone to summon him on the night of entering Beijing, and on the other hand, he repeatedly refused to see him, and the contrast between before and after was too great; And the excuse for refusing to see was so casual, which made him really a little confused about what the emperor had in mind. In addition, as far as he knew, several officials who came back from the south to report on their work had "resigned" before leaving Beijing, and the Quanzhou Ship Department was still an official of the City Yi Division, and was also summoned by the emperor. He really couldn't find any reason to explain these practices of the Eastern Yuan Emperor, so he had to attribute it to a sentence he often saw in novels. He even thought, this is probably a kind of ability that people who have been emperors in ancient and modern China and abroad have no teacher, one by one, emperors, they have to maintain a little sense of mystery, otherwise who will be afraid of them?

Pan Lian stopped talking. As a courtier who returned to Beijing to report on his work, he only had two opportunities to ask for His Majesty's meeting, and if the inner court refused to allow it one after another, it would be "perverse" to ask for another meeting. It seems that the saint really doesn't want to see Shang Cheng. I just don't know why the saint doesn't like this young general...... Thinking about it, he comforted Shang Cheng and said, "If you can't see your majesty this time, you won't see your majesty." If you don't see it, it must be a good thing, and if you don't see it, it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, as long as you do things in Yanshan, there will always be a day when you will be seen by the Holy Monarch. However, he saw that Shang Cheng didn't seem to have a look of loss or disappointment on his face when he mentioned this, so he asked again, "Then when are you going to go back to Yanshan?" Help me bring some gifts to Lu Bofu and them when I leave. ”

Shang Cheng said: "According to the regulations of the imperial court, I can only stay in the capital for fifteen days when I go to Beijing to report on my work. At present, the official affairs are almost done, but there is still a little bit of trouble with the officials. In addition, there are still two private matters at hand. When I'm done with all these things, I'll probably be going back soon. The two personal things he said, one was for Tian Xiaowu to propose marriage to Liao's house, and the other was for Chen Pu to ask him to bring gifts to congratulate Xiwen Mu on getting married. I don't know how, since he met with Chen Pu and Liao Pheasant outside the imperial city in the early morning of the fight, the two of them have not been heard from since; I don't know if Princess Changsha and her guards have forgotten about this. He had already made up his mind, if there was no news before Mu Xiu the day after tomorrow, he would be ready to go back to Yanshan.

"What's wrong with the ministry?" Pan Lian asked.

"That's it, the old prefect of Tao Qitao was transferred by the imperial court to Beijing to serve as the governor of the plain mansion, and the position of the prefect of Yanzhou has been vacant. Our Yanshan Health Department does not have any suitable candidates to recommend to the imperial court for the time being, so we want to ask the Ministry of Officials to select an agent for us. However, it seems that many people know about this bad thing in the Yanzhou prefect," he stopped talking and glanced at Pan Lian. Pan Lian smiled knowingly, he knew that Shang Cheng was talking about the contradiction between Lu Ji and Di Xu, and it was indeed not easy to deal with the two bosses Yamen who couldn't get their heads at the same time. Shang Cheng also smiled, and continued, "Yanzhou is a border state again, and the northern counties are the hardest hit areas for the southward invasion of the Tuqi people, so many people are not happy to go. I didn't like a few candidates recommended by the ministry, so they asked me to recommend one myself. He smiled wryly, "They don't want to think about it, if I have someone to recommend, will I come to them and beg them?" I'm just arguing with Yan Bosi for this. ”

"And what are you going to do?"

Shang Cheng said helplessly: "What else can I do? If you really can't do it, you can only pick up the tall one among the short people, and pull a prefect to do it first. He suddenly wanted to do something together, one by one, he wanted to keep Tao Qi at that time, the main reason was because Tao Qi could play a buffer role between Lu Ji and Di Xu, and the new prefect of Yanzhou he wanted to find also needed this ability, which could alleviate the conflict between Lu Di and the two Pan Lian in front of him didn't have a deep friendship with these two people? If Pan Lian can go to Yanzhou to preside over the government affairs of a state, won't he be able to worry?

But he quickly dismissed the idea. Just kidding, Pan Lian is a waiter, let a waiter be a state pastor, even if Pan Lian himself is willing, the court will not be able to agree!

But he realized that it was not impossible. The key is why Pan Lian didn't go to Jiangnan. Although he didn't know the reason yet, he dared to conclude that this matter must have something to do with the dispute between the northern and southern factions in the imperial court, maybe Pan Lian didn't go to Jiangnan because the errand of the Jiangnan and Jiangnan patrol envoys had been withdrawn, and he himself had been demoted, and the new position had not yet been decided. Maybe the court didn't want to arrange any position for him at all......

Thinking about this, Shang Cheng had some hope in his heart.

I just don't know where Pan Lian has fallen now, and I don't know if Pan Lian wants to go to Yanshan to be a prefect.

But it doesn't matter if he knows it or not, he can now ask Pan Lian himself directly.

"Yu Qinggong, I have a very presumptuous question for you: What happened to you recently, and why are you still stranded in the capital?"