Finding Yu Zhining is not very difficult for the imperial court.

Especially after knowing the news that Yu Zhining was going to meet friends, he only needed to know where Yu Zhining was by monitoring the secret guards of the Confucian Sect.

Moreover, Yu Zhining's status in Confucianism is not low, and there are only a few people who can let Yu Zhining visit.

On the third day after the order was issued, Ma Zhou and others got news from Yu Zhining.

At this moment, Yu Zhining is visiting Kong Yingda, a contemporary Confucian who is idle at home in Luozhou.

Who is Kong Yingda?

The thirty-first grandson of Confucius, born in the Northern Qi Dynasty after the fifth year of Wuping, eight years old, once from Liu Zhuo to learn, in the early years of the Sui Dynasty, elected as the 'Ming Jing', awarded the Hanoi County Doctor, supplement Taixue assistant teacher, the end of the Sui Dynasty chaos, into the Tang Dynasty, as the son of the country to supervise the sacrificial wine.

Guozijian, that is, Taixue, the highest institution of learning in the country, from the crown prince of the royal family to the children of high-ranking officials and nobles, will come here to study.

To explain simply, if you come here to go to school, as long as you are not particularly bad, in the future, you can mix up an official and a half-job, have a flexible head, and do things spiritually, and it is not a problem to be knighted and worshipped.

The sacrificial wine is the teacher who teaches directly, and he is also the person in charge of the country, which is equivalent to the level of the president of the university in later generations.

After Li Yuanji ascended the throne, Kong Yingda could not accept Li Yuanji's suppression of Confucianism, so he sued the official and left, but did not return to his hometown in Hengshui, but settled in Luozhou.

Maybe he has already seen that he still has a chance to make a comeback, or maybe he is unconscious.

But now, the opportunity has really come.

To put it more simply, Kong Yingda is the current leader of Confucianism, no matter what the reality is, spiritually.

The identity of the thirty-first grandson of Confucius is enough.

Moreover, Kong Yingda has been in Guozijian for so many years, and the contacts he has accumulated are not something that a certain group can compete with.

……

Is Confucianism really useless?

Of course not.

If you really think that Confucianism is useless, then as early as the beginning, Li Yuanji did not suppress this move, but directly burned books and pit Confucianism like Qin Shi Huang.

suppression, I just don't want to see their family dominant, without competition, and the burning of books is complete destruction.

Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took two completely different extremes, and the final result, on the surface, was very different, but in fact, there was no difference between the two.

The Qin Dynasty then died, and although the Han Dynasty continued for hundreds of years, it never recovered to its former prosperity, and even within a few decades after the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was a serious talent gap.

There are no absolutes in everything, and what appears is reasonable.

This is Li Yuanji's feeling about all things in the world, reasonable, not necessarily a good thing, and a bad thing may not be able to become a good thing.

A large amount of Confucianism was banned, but some of it was also retained.

Therefore, Li Yuanji chose the path between Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, not to kill or admire.

However, Li Yuanji's attitude has brought considerable confusion to the officials below.

Although it is not said that it is talking about Confucianism, at least most officials will choose to avoid it when talking about the topic of Confucianism, and when they are also officials, when discussing together, no one will take the initiative to bring up this topic.

In governance, some things with strong Confucian ideas are also deliberately ignored.

Although some things can't be erased at all, but now there is such a strange appearance, and everyone is trying to erase the traces left by Confucianism in the land of China in the past hundreds of years.

"Xuan!" Li Yuanji did not refuse, and he directly agreed to Kong Yingda and Yu Zhining's request to meet.

He wanted to see what the hell these two people were up to? Hatred can't be talked about, in them, you can see something that makes you happy, and you can also see something that you dislike, to put it simply, it is a combination of love and hate.

"Grass people Kong Yingda and Yu Zhining meet Your Majesty~~~" The posture of the two is very low, compared with the previous contemporary Confucianism, it is completely one heaven and one underground, and people can't find the slightest similarity between the two.

"What's the matter with the two Aiqing who are in a hurry to see me?" Talking about the feeling, Li Yuanji still gave the two the greatest courtesy.

They did not treat ordinary people the same way they did because they resigned and returned to their hometowns, but still regarded them as officials.

Perhaps, Li Yuanji saw something from the letter to all his compatriots.

This time, it was not Li Yuanji, nor Ma Zhou and others who summoned them to Chang'an, but they went to Chang'an on their own.

As soon as the dark guard sent the news back, before Ma Zhou made a decision, he received the news that the two of them stepped on the train to Chang'an.

Both of them have some of their own connections in the court, and they have recently made such a big move outside, even if they don't take the initiative to come forward, sooner or later, the emperor will want to see them.

Therefore, when the two found Fang Xuanling and asked to see Li Yuanji, Fang Xuanling came directly to report.

"Xiaomin is here to apologize to His Majesty......" Kong Yingda pursed her mouth, lowered her head, her body trembled slightly, she broke free from the rejection in her heart, put down her arrogant head, and said this sentence with difficulty.

And for him, this sentence is tantamount to being difficult to get to the sky.

This is not a simple apology, but a resignation of the dignity and status of a contemporary Confucian, the dignity, arrogance and pride of Confucianism.

This is not that he is bowing his head alone, but it is equivalent to the entire Confucian sect bowing his head.

This is not an apology for something he has done, but an apology for all the actions of Confucianism for thousands of years.

How much courage does it take to apologize for what tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of Confucian people have done over the centuries to make this decision?

Are they really doing something wrong?

It is impossible for anyone to be without a trace of fault in a lifetime, so does this negate the contribution they have made to this nation for so many generations and their lives?

Kong Yingda himself is unwilling to apologize, nor is he willing to make such a compromise, he is not denying himself, but the entire Confucianism, but the entire Confucianism's ancestors.

Judging from the ideology of Confucianism, this can probably be regarded as a deception of teachers and ancestors, right?

But what if you don't?

People are selfish, and Kong Yingda is no exception.

Yu Zhining is a good lobbyist, and he explained the ins and outs of the whole thing, as well as the general trend in the future, including their own problems and advantages.

If this compromise is not made, Confucianism will be extremely dark for at least a hundred years.

And a hundred years is enough time for Confucianism to change from the largest faction in contemporary times to a small sect that does not enter the stream.

And at that time, if Confucianism wants to rise, how easy is it?

Besides, who can guarantee that even after a hundred years, the imperial court's attitude towards Confucianism will change?

Under the premise that all this is unknown, the only thing they can do is to give up the unrealistic dreams, lose the past glory, forget those so-called ideals, be down-to-earth, and go on step by step.

The book-burning pit did not bring Confucianism to the downfall, and Confucianism was able to stand out from the contention of a hundred schools of thought and become the ruling school in China for hundreds of years.

Now, too, they have the confidence to get back on their feet.

In the end, Kong Yingda was persuaded, or rather, Kong Yingda was only half persuaded.

He will come forward to apologize, but after the apology, he will not care, and after this matter, he will return to his hometown in Hengshui to live in his old age and never ask about the world again.

"Your Majesty, the fault of Confucianism lies in short-sightedness, in arrogance, and in the inability to truly recognize one's position. His Majesty's love for Confucianism, Xiaomin is very grateful, if it weren't for His Majesty to break this basin of cold water for Confucianism, I'm afraid that until now, Confucianism would not be able to recognize his position.

Since His Majesty succeeded to the throne, he has repeatedly mentioned the phrase that the capable live in it, and before, the Confucian sect still fantasized about the glory of the past without that ability, and forgot the position that should have belonged to them.

Xiaomin wants to wait for the Confucian students in the world to say thank you for Your Majesty, if it weren't for Your Majesty to save Confucianism in dire straits, I'm afraid that Confucianism at this moment would have long since ceased to exist.

But His Majesty inadvertently caused another question for the sake of Confucianism, for which Confucianism felt deeply guilty, and for this matter, it was actually what Confucianism was best at.

Therefore, Xiaomin implored His Majesty to authorize the Confucian Sect to assist the imperial court in resolving this matter! Yu Zhining stood up, Kong Yingda had already done what he promised, and the rest was Yu Zhining's business.

Yu Zhining is not a person who likes flattery, but at this moment, he has to flatter a few words.

Although it makes people blush, if you think about it carefully, you will find that these words are not simply flattery, but really exist.

Li Yuanji was also thinking about it, in fact, when he saw the letter to all his compatriots a few days ago, he was thinking about a question.

Are you really wrong?

However, now Lee Won-gil has the answer.

I am not wrong, there is nothing wrong with suppressing Confucianism, even now, I still have to suppress Confucianism.

The problem did not arise in the suppression of Confucianism, but in his choice to retain Confucianism.

Moderation is a good science, but when it is used to assist in governing the country, this study is not suitable, and it will even do the opposite.

I am not a Confucian student, and I don't know much about Confucianism.

But I also know that the greatest advantage of Confucianism lies in the guidance and control of thought.

Yu Zhining didn't say it explicitly, but the previous letter to his compatriots, coupled with the current words, made Li Yuanji understand a truth.

The reason why Datang has such a problem now is because of its own suppression of Confucianism.