"Since your Confucius once killed Shao Zhengmao, which classic records this?" Shi Bufan asked.

Laiji replied very familiarly; "This story comes from "Xunzi", Xunzi once said that Confucius was the great secretary of the Lu State, temporarily photographed Lu Xiang, and punished Shao Zhengmao for seven days."

Shi Bufan replied: "It seems that you are well-read and strong, and you even remember the article "Xunzi", which is biased towards Legalism? ”

Shi Bufan deliberately emphasized that Xunzi is a person who favors Legalism, Xunzi is actually a person who advocates Legalism, and the incident he wrote about Confucius's killing of Shao Zhengmao is actually a work of Legalism, not a work of Confucianism. And it is worth saying that Confucianism and Legalism have always been relative, Confucianism advocates the use of moral reform, but Legalism advocates the use of severe punishment. The conflict between them has been looming since the Spring and Autumn War and into the 21st century, so there is nothing dirty between the writings of these two opposing ideas? It's hard to say! After all, the historical distance is too far, but as long as you think about it, you know that it is common for people of different schools of thought and different political views to criticize each other and write articles to criticize and slander. As for the matter of Confucius killing Shao Zhengmao, this was also quite controversial after the Song Dynasty, so Shi Bufan also had a way to refute it.

Shi Bufan thinks that Xunzi actually claims to be a Confucian and claims to be the successor of Confucius, but he agrees with Legalism more in his bones. Xunzi advocated the inherent evil of human nature, and believed that Confucius killed Shao Zhengmao, but in fact, his thinking was already biased towards the rule of punishment, not completely relying on moral probation. Even his apprentice Han Fei has completely become an out-and-out Legalist, is this an accident? Maybe Xunzi himself doesn't know, and his heart is biased towards Legalism, but he can't see his thoughts clearly at all.

Many people don't know what they think at all, just like some men are faced with different women, but they have difficulty deciding. Maybe he never knew who he really loved, and his whole life passed in such a blur. Therefore, Xunzi may claim to be a Confucian, but several special signs have shown that his thinking has a tendency to be biased towards Legalism.

In this regard, the Confucius I remember killing Shaozheng Mao was first introduced in Xunzi, a person who is biased towards Legalism, and is not a thorough Confucian. And the era in which Xunzi lived has passed more than a hundred years since the time of Confucius, and it can be said that they are not a generation. And those works of the same period as Confucius, such as the Analects and other Confucian works, do not record the fact that Confucius killed Shao Zhengmao. The books of other schools of thought that also slander Confucianism are also arranged, but they do not mention it. So, I don't judge the authenticity here. Of course, I have also studied the matter of Confucius's killing of Shao Zhengmao, so I will analyze it again. ”

"Oh? What do you have to say? Kong Yingda is quite interested.

Kong Yingda, as a descendant of Confucius, of course knew about Confucius's killing of Shao Zhengmao. Regarding Confucius's killing of Shao Zhengmao, this is a very complicated evaluation of Confucius. This incident of Confucius killing Shao Zhengmao has always been regarded as a situation where praise and stain coexist with Confucius. Some people think that Confucius was right to kill Shao Zhengmao, which is a very correct thing, and even many later generations of Confucians used this reason as an excuse to ask for the so-called "gentleman's punishment" to kill those who have different academic opinions, and it is a reasonable reason, that is, Confucius killed Shaozheng Mao.

However, some people are dissatisfied with this, because it is a stain on Confucius. The use of administrative and judicial power in his hands to kill people with different political and academic views must have made many scholars dissatisfied. Therefore, the public said that the public was reasonable, and the mother said that the mother was reasonable, but this controversy has not been resolved until later generations. Some people even criticized this Confucius as using his power to suppress academic disputes, and even did not hesitate to use butcher knives to kill people with different academic opinions. This is a very filthy person, so this has caused an indelible stain on Confucius.

Kong Yingda is also very concerned about this stain of Confucius, because his ancestor is Confucius. Kong Yingda was also very embarrassed by Confucius's practice of killing Shao Zhengmao. Kong Yingda's identity as a scholar is far more than that of scholars and officials, so as a scholar, he naturally does not like this kind of use of power to interfere in other people's academics, and even kill those who have different academic opinions. But this person is his ancestor, which makes Kong Yingda very embarrassed and helpless. So now I hear that someone has new insights on this matter, which makes Kong Yingda quite interested.

"Master Confucius, I have some opinions about this Confucius killing Shao Zhengmao. I will not force you to believe because you don't believe it, and I will not use the so-called butcher's knife to kill those who don't believe. Shi Bufan added.

Lai Ji's face was dark, and Shi Bufan was obviously sarcastic about him.

"Actually, I don't think Confucius really killed Shao Zhengmao!" Shi Bufan replied.

"What?"

Everyone was shocked when Shi Bufan said this, but Shi Bufan actually denied that Confucius killed Shao Zhengmao? This is simply too strange, because this incident of Confucius killing Shao Zhengmao is recognized by history, and even many Confucian scholars have used this as an excuse to criticize academic opponents, and then ask to use this as an example to kill. But now Shi Bufan actually denied this statement. Although Shi Bufan only said his personal opinion, and said that Confucius may not have killed Shao Zhengmao, this is tantamount to a major earthquake in the academic world!

If Shi Bufan's words are confirmed, it means that in the future, the academic community will not be able to use this excuse as a reason to demand killing, and demand the use of administrative violence to kill people with the same political and academic views as themselves. If Shi Bufan's opinion can be recognized by everyone, won't this make no one be able to kill people on this basis in the future? This is subverting the historical views of the past, subverting the past views on Confucius's thoughts, and even enough to cause a huge earthquake in history and Confucianism!

Shi Bufan hurriedly said: "Everyone should know that although Xunzi is a self-proclaimed Confucian, he taught Han Fei of the Legalists. And the views of Confucianism and Legalism are almost incompatible, so will there be anything between them...... Well, I'm not sure about this, but isn't it unreasonable to let an opponent's article be used as evidence? ”

Shi Bufan's words were also a reason, but Laiji said coldly: "This reason is not enough!" ”

Shi Bufan then added, saying: "Of course, I also know that this reason is not enough, so I will analyze it slowly. Confucius paid attention to Confucianism and morality, but Confucius actually killed people if he disagreed with his remarks, which is obviously not in line with Confucius's consistent academic thoughts, let alone the benevolence of ordinary people. Confucius has always advocated punishment without teaching, and punishment without teaching is abuse, but why did Confucius kill people within seven days? Moreover, the so-called things gather by like, and people are divided by groups. Let me say something unpleasant, if Sage Kong is such a person, will his apprentice still follow him? Ladies and gentlemen, would you like to learn from a man who killed innocents indiscriminately? ”

Many people also nodded, obviously everyone is not willing to learn from a teacher who kills innocents indiscriminately, what can you learn from this kind of teacher? If Confucius was such an indiscriminate person who killed innocents, then his students would have left him, and naturally they would not follow such a person.

However, Laiji obviously said: "These are all your speculations, not enough!" ”

Shi Bufan nodded again and said: "Let me say another one of my speculations, Confucius belonged to the Qing doctor, Shaozheng Mao was also the Qing doctor, and Shaozheng's Shaozheng came from an official position, and his status was not low. And Confucius's surname was Zi back then, and the people of that year were separated by surnames, and the clan is the surname now. Back then, it was inherited from the clan, and Confucius's clan was a son, and it was from the Yin Shang and Miao descendants, which I think everyone knows. However, Yin Shang has been destroyed for many years, and although Confucius has a good status, his power position is not necessarily much higher than that of Shao Zhengmao. So is it so easy to kill a famous person? The difference in their identities is not big, and maybe even Confucius is even lower, so if he kills someone, he has so much power? ”

This remark has attracted everyone's attention, because both sides have good identities, if Confucius killed people so easily, is it too powerful? It's like trying to kill another prime minister easily, and it's not so easy.

This is explained from the scope of Confucius's power, so it makes them all feel refreshed, because Confucius's power is too great? At that time, Confucius was just a great priest, although he was an official who managed punishments, but like this kind of world-famous Shao Zhengmao, even if he managed punishments, it was impossible to kill him casually. So this is quite a bit inexplicable, and everyone is suddenly in doubt.

Lai Ji immediately added: "Confucius was a temporary photographer of Lu Xiang back then!" The prime minister of a country, that complete power is not small! ”

"Hehe, it seems that you are not very proficient in historiography! Although Confucius is the so-called prime minister, this phase does not mean the later prime minister and prime minister. This prime minister is not a prime minister, and his power is much smaller than that of the later prime minister. As far as I know, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the first person to establish the official position of prime minister was Qi Jinggong. Qi Jinggong is the king of Qi, and the era of Qi Jinggong is almost the same as that of Confucius, they are the same people. And Qi Jinggong's establishment of the left and right ministers was the beginning of the appearance of the official position of the prime minister. And the Qi and Lu countries are very close, so the descendants use Qilu as a parallel name to describe a place. So it's not surprising that they influence each other. But we must first judge from the official position of the prime minister. Xiang, in fact, was the first to be the princes and kings of various countries as the person who managed the affairs of the palace, the minister, the prime minister, the three positions, originally for the princes and kings to manage the affairs of the palace, to put it mildly, the status is actually the current head of the eunuchs. At that time, the prime minister was actually an official position in charge of court etiquette. The earliest prime minister was not a prime minister, but an official position that managed court etiquette. When Qi Jinggong set up the left and right ministers, he was responsible for managing the affairs of the court. And Confucius and Qi Jinggong are people of the same era, and Qilu is very close to each other, even if they affect each other, their official positions and powers are probably the same. ”

"In Confucius's time, the official position of Xiang was a position in charge of court etiquette, and it did not have much power. And Confucius temporarily took Lu Xiang, which was also a good use of his talent. Confucius was good at etiquette, so it made sense for him to temporarily act as an official of court etiquette. Therefore, the prime minister of that year was not the prime minister, and the real power was not great, so naturally he could not be compared with the prime minister of the later prime minister. Therefore, the prime minister of the year was nothing more than the current Guanglu Temple, and even the real power was not as good as the current Guanglu Temple, after all, the Lu State was only a small country back then, and the officials in charge of palace etiquette did not have much real power. You say that an official in charge of etiquette can have the right to kill others, and he is also a person of the same status as Confucius, this is obviously unreasonable, right? ”

After hearing Shi Bufan's explanation, everyone suddenly realized that the "phase" of the year was not the later prime minister. In fact, at first, they were only officials in charge of court etiquette, but later as those vassal states became stronger, they became more and more powerful, and then gradually evolved into an official position above 10,000 people under one person.

The first person to establish the official position of "Xiang" was Qi Jinggong, and Qi Jinggong was born in almost the same year as Confucius, who was only one year older than him, and was a person of the same era. And the Qi State and the Lu State are very close, even under the influence of each other, the difference in the functions and powers of official positions should not be much different. At that time, the prime minister was only an official in charge of etiquette, and he did not have as much real power as later, so he could not be compared with the later prime minister.

This is a historical evolution, but when many people see this "phase", they subconsciously think that it is a position of real power, and that it is the power above ten thousand people under one person. But this is actually evolving step by step, and the phase of Confucius was not the head of the hundred officials later, but just a minor official, a ceremonial official with little real power. Letting Confucius act as a temporary agent also took advantage of Confucius's ability to be familiar with Zhou Rites back then, which is completely normal.

"Yes! If this is really the case, then Confucius really didn't have so much power to kill people casually! This phase is not the meaning of the prime minister, so his rights are very small, and if you say so, it can't be explained clearly! "That's right, not to mention just a ceremonial official, even if it's really the prime minister, it's difficult to kill someone of the same status as yourself within seven days of taking office." "Yes! I'm afraid we are all at odds with each other, this phase is not the meaning of the prime minister and the prime minister, the official position of 'prime minister' has just been established, and it cannot be equated with the later prime minister! ”……

Many people also nodded in agreement with Shi Bufan's point of view, and that Laiji was even darker, and the excuse he had finally found was actually "drawn from the bottom of the kettle" like this. Laiji is also a kind of inertial thinking, he still subconsciously saw the word "phase", that is, he thought that he was the kind of prime minister who was under one person and above ten thousand people, but he seriously neglected that the real power of the "phase" was not great. In fact, many official positions have been gradually expanded from a small amount of real power to a small number of official positions, and there is a historical basis for this. In fact, Shangshu Province, Menxia Province and Zhongshu Province did not have much power during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and they were just secretarial institutions. However, it later evolved into a central organization and became the prime minister. There are many such things, even if the real power of the cabinet during the Ming Dynasty was not big at the beginning, but later the power became greater and greater, and this is also based on history.

Therefore, the statement of Shi Bufan has been recognized by everyone, because the increase in the power of this "phase" also has a historical context. However, at the time of Confucius, the power of the "prime minister" was very small, and it could not be compared with the later prime minister.