The debate in Fengzhou Academy became more and more intense, Liu Zongzhou brought most of the scholars from Nanzhili and Zhejiang, among which there were many members of the Fushe who were known as "Xiaodonglin", and Sun Qifeng as a Confucian master in the north, naturally there were also scholars from Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shaanxi to support the scene, and the Ming generation, especially after Zhang Juzheng destroyed the world's academy, so many scholars from the north and south sat together to discuss learning.

The scholars first characterized Fengzhou as a salvable object, and then talked about the Huayi debate, severely criticized Fengzhou's erroneous line, and accused the "same race and different customs" as the Hu of the people, as evidenced by shaving their hair and wearing Hu clothes, and preaching that "no father and no king, not killing the father and killing the king" is the act of beasts, and if it is not educated in time, it will definitely become a barbarian. Of course, Fengzhou officials did not accept the accusation, but their academic foundation was too poor, and they were often scolded in disgrace. After the defeat of Toyoshu, there was another quarrel among the scholars, and it seemed that under the influence of the liberalization of Toyoshu, the words that Kannai did not dare to say and the opinions that he did not dare to make public were thrown out in one go. For example, Gu Jiang, a scholar from Kunshan, publicly said that through his years of research on phonology, it has been confirmed that there are indeed a large number of apocryphals, such as the "Book of Shang", Zhu Zi's science will naturally be full of errors based on the apocrypha, science is the study of scriptures, and the true meaning of learning can be obtained by examining the "Six Classics"; Huang Zongxi proposed that industry and commerce should be the foundation, and the Confucianism would not notice it, and he also shouted that "the world is the master, the king is the guest, but it is the great harm of the world, and the king is the only one." Liu Zongzhou and Sun Qifeng not only couldn't hold down the scene, but their own doctrines were also questioned - the scholars believed that the mind was external to Confucianism and internal interpretation, and their doctrines were based on "Shen Du", which was also in danger of sliding into Zen.

The Mongolian liberal Ortai, Li Fugui of the Kaoji faction, and Yunrong of the republican faction immediately made a comeback, and Han Lin also packaged the Westernization theory as "attracting Ye to supplement Confucianism" and fishing in troubled waters. The two sides quarreled with you and me, and Liu Zongzhou and Sun Qifeng didn't care about founding Shixue, and went into battle shirtless to advocate their own doctrines.

By the end of August, when the quarrel among the scholars came to an abrupt end, Liu Zongzhou and Sun Qifeng told Ortai and Li Fugui that their comrade Zheng Zheng had died, and that he had been scraped alive by order of the emperor. Who is Zheng Zheng, I haven't heard of it, Ortai and Li Fugui are arguing vigorously, and they are very unhappy to be interrupted, and they feel that Sun Qifeng, a group of northern scholars, is pretending to be grieved.

Liu Zongzhou was heartbroken that the people of Fengzhou did not know Zheng Zheng's name, and he endured his grief and told the life and deeds of this comrade: Zheng Zheng is a native of Changzhou Mansion, with a prominent family background, his father and uncle are both Jinshi, and his stepmother is the sister of Wu Zongda, a former university scholar, and he is rarely famous, at the age of eighteen, at the age of twenty-nine, he entered the Hanlin Academy as a Shu Jishi, and had a resolute struggle with Wei Zhongxian and a group of eunuchs, and was therefore demoted to return to his hometown. However, he was impeached by the first assistant Wen Tiren for "confusing his father and shaving, forcing his father to stick his mother" and went to prison for the crime, and was later accused of "adulterous sister" and "adulterous daughter-in-law". The case has been unresolved for a long time, Zheng Zheng has squatted in the Criminal Department and Jinyiwei Prison for more than four years, during which Liu Zongzhou, Huang Daozhou and others have rescued in many ways, and even dredged Jiading Bo Zhou Kui secretly made Queen Zhou ask the emperor to please, but to no avail, not long ago was executed by the emperor's edict Lingchi.

Zheng Zheng has nothing to do with Fengzhou, and no one is interested in him, but seeing Liu Zongzhou's crying and weeping eyes, Ortai and Li Fugui still comforted him very considerately and comforted a few innocuous words.

"Qianzhi was killed by the traitorous party, Wen Tiren is the culprit, the so-called 'mother of the cane is not filial', 'adulterous daughter-in-law', 'adulterous sister' is purely a false accusation, the emperor is so confused, this is a blatant enemy of the corporal of the world!" Liu Zongzhou cried again as he spoke.

"Wen Tiren has already gone home, and the person has been dead for several years, so it seems that it is none of his business." Li Fugui looked suspicious, how can outsiders figure out such things as "cane ***** daughter-in-law" and "adulterous sister", Zheng Zheng was scraped and said that the emperor looked at him unpleasantly, why blame Wen Tiren.

"It's just that Wen Tiren is evil, Xue Guoguan is the person he recommends, and he can't get rid of it even if he dies." Liu Zongzhou shouted with red eyes, Ortai and Li Fugui had nothing to say, they all closed their mouths, Liu Zongzhou wiped a handful of tears and said, "Duxing, Nianfeng, the emperor has killed the red eye, Ling Chi stopped in a month, and punished 35 wrecked civil and military officials who were captured and plundered, the government is unpredictable, Fengzhou's behavior is many, it is very important to obtain the recognition of the corporal of the world, we must make a big plan early, we can't delay it any longer!" ”

It can't be delayed any longer, and it's annoying to quarrel with these guys every day, Ortai glanced at Li Fugui and said categorically: "Since this is the case, then make a big plan early, according to the rules of Fengzhou, everything must be put on the table and say, three days later, people from all parties will discuss major matters." ”

There is a barren hill not far from the south bank of the Black River, the Mongolians call it "Iron Base", every late autumn the grass and trees are withered and yellow, but the grass is green here, so it is also called "Green Mound", the local people say that the princess of the Han family Wang Zhaojun is buried here, when the people of Hu and Han commemorate this strange woman, they built up this Zhaojun tomb with the cloth and wrapped the soil, it is difficult to verify whether this thing is true or false, this tomb has been lying quietly here for thousands of years. After the rise of Fengzhou, people hold a public sacrifice here every year in order to carry forward the "same race and different customs", and the cemetery is also constantly repaired, the original deserted tomb is not what it used to be, the sacrificial hall is repaired in front of the tomb, the stone tablet is erected, the sacred beast is erected, the pine and cypress are surrounded by a piece, and the pavilion flying corridor is faintly revealed. Fengzhou Academy will be moved out of naturalization this year, and the newly established government school will be built nearby, the deep meaning of which is self-evident, if this Han princess has a spirit in the sky, it must be very gratifying to see the people of all ethnic groups happy.

Early this morning, Zhaojun's tomb suddenly became lively, first a large number of Fengzhou officials arrived on horseback, and soon after, dozens of four-wheeled carriages carrying Guannei scholars also came - the lawn in front of the sacrificial hall is today's venue, tables and chairs have been arranged, the host and guest are seated separately, Guannai scholars want to be happy when they see their opponents, Fengzhou is short of talents, for this big debate almost poured out of the nest, not only the head of the officials appeared at the same time, even Du Wenhuan, Mao Yuanyi and other generals in the army also came, it is said that there are also Baoketu prefect Li Huai, Xinghewei commander Cai Ruxun, but you can't get together a hundred people when it's full, so it's easy to deal with these goods.

Liu Zhilun was elected as the host of today's meeting, cleared his throat and said: "You all know that the official science of the Ming Dynasty is the science of Zhuzi, but the time has passed, the science has stagnated and gradually declined, and Mr. Yang Ming's creation of the mind of the style of learning, but also because of the tendency to Zen to the outside Confucianism and internal interpretation, people of insight have felt that today do not do practical things and empty talk about the heart of the style, have created doctrines to make up for the disadvantages of the time, but the study of each family is not difficult to determine for a while, today we only talk about practical learning, that is, the policy of governing the world, please you or on food and clothing, or on government affairs, or on military affairs, or talk about the people's feelings, only talk about the truth and not the false, and don't talk about it again. ”

The scholars were dissatisfied, and immediately burst out into a burst of boos - Liu Zhilun is obviously biased towards Fengzhou, and if he doesn't talk about it, he seems to be knowledgeable and scares the people of Fengzhou. Liu Zongzhou immediately said: "Governing the world will make the officials honest and the people's customs pure, and governing the heart is not empty talk." ”

Ortai then said: "Gentlemen, today please go to the tomb of Zhaojun for a meeting, its intention is self-evident, the weak woman more than a thousand years ago still knows the truth of Hu and Han compatibility, all of you are full of scriptures and books are naturally not confused, my Fengzhou ethnic group is complex, and it is not easy to maintain a stable situation, so I can only seek enlightenment gradually and dare not seek enlightenment, there are four things that must not be discussed, the first "Naturalization Oath", the second is the same race, the third is the Lamaist Sect, and the fourth is the "Statute of the Great Commander Succession", in addition to this, you can speak freely. ”

"It's not fair, you draw the line in advance, and you're embarrassed to say what you want." The scholars were even more dissatisfied, and shouted in protest, but Ortai didn't care, and continued to look at everyone with a smile.

A handsome young man stood up and waved his hand to stop the commotion, and said to Liu Zhilun with a smile: "In the lower return to the Dehou Fangyu, the governor is reasonable, let's talk about the truth, now it is rumored that the government and the opposition are naturalized and colluded with the East to betray Liaoxi, can this matter be true, please clarify!" ”

Liu Zhilun was most afraid of talking about Liaoxi, and he was a little speechless for a while, and a person from the Fengzhou officials immediately pointed at Hou Fangyu and shouted: "Nonsense, why doesn't our family know about this?" The emperor is aware of everything, if there is a matter, it will be investigated and dealt with according to the law, which round will you worry about indiscriminately, are you more holy than the emperor? ”

Fengzhou is too shameless, in order to quarrel, not only did he bring in military generals to make up the numbers, but even castrations were used, Hou Fangyu glanced at Liu Wenzhong with disdain, and continued to Liu Zhilun: "Naturalization is easy to shave and obey customs, this is immoral; Acting on one's own and resisting the orders of the court is disloyal; Putting the cart before the horse, mercenary, this is not right; It is lawless to trample on the laws of the Ming Dynasty and to contain the wicked. What is the explanation for the naturalization of the governor? ”

"Hou Gongzi said, the Ming country is only one-tenth of Asia, Asia is only one-fifth of the world, the world is not only the Ming country, the world's etiquette is not only the Ming country's etiquette law, Fengzhou has always been self-reliant, has its own laws, customs, why do you have to listen to you? We have already expressed enough respect for the Ming Kingdom, and the Ming Kingdom should also respect our choice. Yun Rong replied before Liu Zhilun.

"That's it, Fengzhou is about your, our family is ordered to supervise the naturalization of the army, so I think it's good everywhere here, you don't spend all your time drinking in Nanjing, what are you doing here? When you've had enough, go back! Liu Wenzhong continued to mess with Hou Fangyu.

The scholars couldn't listen to it anymore, and they accused Fengzhou of splitting the Ming Dynasty, and they also played tricks, quarreled but couldn't quarrel, and deliberately sent a castration to make trouble, and the Fengzhou officials immediately refuted it on the basis of reason, accusing the Guannai scholars of holding on to the inadequacy and stubbornness, and their own country was a mess and embarrassed to point fingers at others.

"Lord Governor, what do we scholars have to do with the palace officials debating knowledge? If you want to suppress public opinion in the world with this, I am afraid that it is not far from eunuchs and chaos! Hou Fangyu twisted Liu Zhilun with anger on his face and said.

Liu Wenzhong was annoyed and ashamed, God testified, he has been busy doing business and making money since he arrived at naturalization, and he ignores other things, and he is just making fun today, and the affairs of the chaotic government have nothing to do with him, this guy is an illiterate rough man, and the most vicious words came out casually: "The surname Hou, I know you, your Laozi Hou Sui is still in prison in the Criminal Department, I heard that Hou Lao'er and the general Zuo Liangyu are not clear, should you call Zuo Liangyu's father or mother?" ”

According to the Ming military system, women are not allowed in the army, and the generals are good at Xinglongyang, so that the young and handsome sergeant accompanies the wine and serves as a common thing, when Hou Sui served as the governor of Changping, Zuo Liangyu threw himself under him as a petty official, and was often called by Hou Sui to "order the wine", thinking of Hou Sui's repeated overpromotion of Zuo Liangyu, the Jingshi is rumored that the two have a leg, but they just talk about it privately, Liu Wenzhong said in front of everyone today is tantamount to publicly insulting the Hou family, Hou Fangyu couldn't bear it, screamed, and then, and then covered his face and cried. The scholars were furious and demanded that Fengzhou officials immediately expel Liu Wenzhong, a dead eunuch, and that it must be clarified whether they had betrayed Liaoxi.

It's no good, it's better for you to fight than to cry, Li Fugui waved his hand and drank back the triumphant Liu Wenzhong, and said to everyone: "The Ming army in Liaoxi is not less than 100,000, and the high walls of Ningjin are sticking to it, if you fall into the hands of the enemy, you can only blame yourself for not being angry, and you can't talk about being betrayed, don't be suspicious." ”

"The naturalized army also belongs to the Ming army, and has repeatedly defeated the strong combat power of the Eastern Captives, in order to see and hear the world, why not go straight to Shenyang to solve the difficulties of Liaodong? You and the others hooked up with the Dongyu, eyebrows, how can you blame the world for being suspicious! A middle-aged scholar said sharply - Yang Tinglin, edited by the Hanlin Academy, once praised the painting of military affairs in Lu Xiangsheng's army, and Lu Xiangsheng was also impeached after his defeat and death, Yang Sichang couldn't forget that he said, "Including Nanzhong, Li Gang is useless; Qianshan upheld, Zong Ze hated", sent him to be sent to naturalization, the Prime Minister's Office was not interested in this kind of people who did not understand practice, but Sun Qifeng thought that talents were rare, and asked him to teach scripture and history at Fengzhou Academy.

Du Wenhuan shouted angrily when he heard this: "Ignorant and rebellious, do you know how many capable banners and aha there are in Dongyu?" How many soldiers, horses, ordnance, and food are required for naturalization to send troops? What about the mountains, rivers, and roads in Liaodong? What about the cold, warm, rainy and snow? Fighting a war requires death and money, and if you don't know about military affairs, don't talk nonsense about war. ”

"The eldest husband would rather be a jade crush than a complete tile, Du Taowu, the Du family has been blessed by the country for generations, you should ask the court for orders to lead the naturalized people to fight to the death with the Eastern Captives, even if you die, it will go down in history, and you have to use clever words to avoid fighting." Yang Tinglin exclaimed angrily.

Batu was furious, pointed at Yang Tinglin and shouted angrily: "Shut up, I hate a self-righteous person like you the most, I want to die to give you a knife to find the Qing army by yourself, and don't want to burden others." ”

Yang Tinglin was so angry that he wanted to jump up, Sun Qifeng grabbed him, and said loudly to everyone: "Gentlemen, my Ming Dynasty has a vast territory and a large population, and the national strength is not only a hundred times that of the east, but it has been defeated repeatedly, if you suspect that naturalization will betray Liaoxi, then who betrayed the official army from the border wall of Liaodong all the way back to Jinzhou?" Don't be suspicious anymore, today's world is in danger, we and other scholars can not be exempt from their crimes, rather than complaining about the heavens and people it is better to introspect and be angry, Mr. Yu and Mr. Yushan thought that there must be a problem with the policy of governing the country, so he wanted to create a practical school in order to correct the state affairs, and asked the gentlemen to help, the Ming Dynasty can die and the world can not die! ”

"Brother Qitai, I studied under Mr. Qishan, the two gentlemen have the heart to correct state affairs, how dare they disobey each other," Huang Zongxi stood up and bowed to Liu Zongzhou and Sun Qifeng, and then turned his face and asked Gu Jiang with a smile, "Zhongqing, you have always had great ambitions, are you willing to do a big job." ”

"Those who protect the country, their kings and their ministers, those who eat meat, those who protect the world, the cheapness and responsibility of the husband, Brother Taichong has a life, dare not obey it, Gu is not talented, and he is willing to do his meager strength." Gu Jiang replied with a smile.

The scholars were in a commotion for a while, and soon parted ways, most of them just wanted to show their faces at this rare meeting of scholars in the north and south to make a name for themselves, and they didn't want to make trouble for themselves, some went to visit the tomb of Zhaojun in groups of three or five, and by the way, they recited poems to express their feelings, and some rushed back to China with Hou Fangyu to pack their luggage and prepare to go home, leaving only Huang Zongxi, Gu Jiang and other forty or fifty people, gathered in a circle and Liu Zhilun, Liu Zongzhou, Sun Qifeng discussed how to establish Shixue. Fengzhou officials were left to the side and ignored, Yun Rong and Chang Shu listened to it for a while, and when they came back, they said that the big thing was not good, and people thought that we were too domineering to bully customers, and we wanted to put aside us and do it alone, and it was none of our business to establish Shixue.

How can this be reasonable, more than 200 people came to eat and drink, and pointed fingers, but they dumped us at a critical time - Ortai and Li Fugui refused to suffer in vain, and squeezed into the circle with a large group of Fengzhou officials, and the hippie smiling faces also had to discuss practical learning. Liu Zhilun, Liu Zongzhou, and Sun Qifeng glanced at each other expressionlessly, but they were secretly happy in their hearts, looking greedy, just to let these people take the initiative to come over - how easy it is to create a new generation of learning, Chongzhen two years Taicang people Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai to "rejuvenate retro learning" as the idea of contacting people from all over the world to establish the Restoration Society, the momentum is very big, but the internal sloppy, good and bad, after ten years of nothing, it is not too much to say that they are a group of rabble who have not achieved enough and have more than enough failures, Huang Zongxi, Gu Jiang and which Hou Fangyu are all leaders in the Restoration Society, and they know the truth best, if Shixue can merge with Fengzhou, a force that is on the rise, not only will it create a new school and get twice the result with half the effort, but the future prospects will also be bright.

"We must abandon the disadvantages of Zhu Xue and Wang Xue in the establishment of Shixue, and should worship the truth and discuss the source of the country's chaos and the fundamental plan of the people, not for the benefit of one family and one party, but for the peace of the world......" Gu Jiang stood in the middle of the circle and talked eloquently, Liu Zongzhou and several other elders nodded frequently, looking at this young man with great appreciation, Li Fugui and others quietly sat down in front of the crowd, Gu Jiang's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stepped forward to give a salute and said: "Seniors, students have always thought that Confucianism in the heart is in the interpretation, but they don't know much about the Taizhou doctrine in the mind. Please ask your seniors for advice. ”

"Zhongqing is a young talent, then Li is better to be respectful than to obey his fate." Li Fugui smiled and nodded.