"Fourth brother, are you nervous?"

King Su followed behind Zhang Zongnian and asked King Yu in a low voice.

King Yu nodded: "Naturally nervous, the imperial grandfather, the imperial grandfather and the teachers of the father are all disciples of Mr. Dongli, if you want to see him, can you not be nervous?" ”

While leading the way, Zhang Zongnian glanced at the four teenagers behind him with his spare eyes, with a smile on his face.

In recent years, Mr. Dongli has become older, and his academic path has encountered a bottleneck, and he has rarely asked the world, even in this debate.

This time, Mr. Dongli took the initiative to invite Xu Rui, and Xu Rui insisted on bringing the other three teenagers, looking at the dragon and phoenix among these four people, the appearance of young youth, Zhang Zongnian always thought that they might be able to bring a little vitality to the twilight old man.

Turning a path, Zhang Zongnian took the four of them to the door of a small courtyard, and the plaque read the word "Warm Pavilion".

"It's here, let's go in, the family teacher is waiting for you inside."

Zhang Zongnian pointed at the warm pavilion and said with a smile.

Xu Rui nodded and walked in casually, but the other three glanced at each other, took a deep breath, and stabilized their minds before daring to go inside.

The small courtyard is fresh but not elegant, except for the two green brick houses, it is full of withered melons, fruits and vegetables, and I think that when the spring comes, it will become a field here.

In this withered field, an old farmer with a hat silently shoveled the snow, sweating profusely, and from time to time wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with the sleeves of his worn cotton coat.

"Old man, may I ask where Mr. Higashiri lives?"

Xu Rui walked behind the old man and asked.

The old man turned his head and looked at Xu Rui with a smile, his wrinkled old face was full of wrinkles, his teeth had probably fallen out a lot, and his shriveled lips were turned in, but he looked energetic and had a lot of strength.

Yuwang and the three of them just entered the door, and Huang Zhengyuan immediately knelt on the ground with a "poof" when he saw the appearance of this old man.

"Student Huang Zhengyuan, I have seen Shizu!"

Shizu? This old man is Mr. Higashi?

Xu Rui was shocked, it was really difficult for him to associate the image of this old peasant with the first person in Confucianism.

The old man was also stunned, and said with a smile: "It turned out to be the new champion in person, yes, yes, how do you know the old man?" ”

Huang Zhengyuan kowtowed and said: "The student inherited Xinfeng Hongru Liu Ziguang, seven years ago, the family teacher entered Beijing to worship the birthday of the teacher, and the student had the honor to meet the ancestor with the family teacher. ”

Mr. Dongli nodded slightly: "It turned out to be Ziguang's disciple, and it was really extraordinary." ”

As he spoke, the old man threw down the snow shovel in his hand and said to King Yu and King Su: "The two are Lord Yu and King Su, right?" I haven't seen you for a few years, but I've grown so big. ”

The two princes hurriedly knelt down and said, "Student Zhao Heng (Zhao Rong) has seen the ancestor!" ”

Although the two princes have noble statuses, they are both apprentices and grandsons of Mr. Dongli, not to mention them, even if Emperor Hongwei sees Mr. Dongli, he has to make this great gift.

I didn't expect Mr. Dongli to have such a high status, and the three people present knelt on the ground as soon as they met, and only Xu Rui was still standing, not a little embarrassed.

Seeing that Xu Rui scratched his scalp and looked embarrassed, Mr. Dongli smiled and said, "You are not an old apprentice, so you don't have to be embarrassed, the children should get up, let's go into the house and talk." ”

As he spoke, Mr. Dongli stepped forward to help him, and the three kneeling people dared to accept the salute, and hurriedly jumped up from the ground.

Mr. Dongli smiled: "Sure enough, being young is a blessing, my old man really envy you." ”

A joke instantly dissolved the restraints, and the four young people, you look at me, I look at you, and they can't help laughing.

If Changqingzi Zhen Zhuli is like a bright sun, which makes people see the extraordinary at a glance, then Mr. Dongli is an ordinary grit, back to basics, and approachable.

Although it was only a quick glance, Xu Rui had a strong affection for these two grandmasters, in contrast, he preferred Mr. Dongli, after all, no matter how gentle the sun was, it would always give people a sense of alienation.

An old man and four young people came to the house, and the furnishings in the house were surprisingly simple, except for the book mountain, there was only a pot of seedlings, a long table, and even a carbon stove for heating.

Perhaps seeing the surprise on the faces of the four teenagers, Mr. Dongli said apologetically: "The old man is seventy out of ninety this year, and his hands and feet are not profitable, and he is afraid that the fire will light this room full of books, so he has to wronged you to accompany the old man to suffer from the cold." ”

How dare the four teenagers be aggrieved, they shook their heads again and again, saying that it didn't matter.

At this time, Zhang Zongnian came in with the hot tea that had just been brewed, and the two princes were his students, so they didn't dare to let the teacher pour tea and water, so they hurriedly got up to help.

The prince was not embarrassed to sit, Xu Rui and Huang Zhengyuan were naturally even more embarrassed, and they were also busy with their work.

For some reason, Mr. Higashili has an indescribable sense of affinity, which makes people feel like a spring breeze, relaxed and natural.

After a strange courtesy, the six people sat down again, and the previous restraint was gone, but it was a bit like an old friend meeting, which was extremely warm.

"By the way, Master, today is the period of debate, and the student saw that you didn't change into a defense uniform at all, did you already expect that Master Zhen would not be able to pass the test?"

Seeing that Mr. Dongli was wearing a shabby cotton jacket, Huang Zhengyuan couldn't help but ask.

Mr. Dong Li and Zhang Zongnian looked at each other, smiled bitterly and shook their heads.

"It's not that Master is clever, it's that his old man doesn't plan to participate in this debate at all."

Zhang Zongnian said with a wry smile.

"What?!"

The four teenagers were all shocked, and King Su couldn't help but ask: "The debate is about the fortune of the country, and it is also about the future and destiny of Confucianism, why doesn't the ancestor plan to participate?" ”

"Why do you need a teacher to do this......"

Zhang Zongnian was about to answer for Mr. Dongli, but Mr. Dongli patted him on the shoulder and said: "There is no need to hide it, the spirit of the old man has become more and more poor in recent years, and the only little effort he has has been used to do learning, and he has no energy left to debate on stage."

What's more, Confucianism has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is actually harmless to argue or not, don't look at Zhen Zhuli's menacing, in fact, he didn't want to confirm his knowledge through debate, and those false names no longer mean anything to him. ”

"This ......"

The four teenagers looked at each other, all a little gloomy.

Birth, old age, sickness and death are human nature, even the great sage of Confucianism is no exception, Mr. Dongli is ninety-seven years old, and he can still have such a strong physique, such a clear thinking, it is already God's favor for him, what else can he ask for?

"I heard that Mr. Higashili has encountered a bottleneck, could it be because this matter involves too much energy?"

Xu Rui asked suddenly.

Mr. Dongli smiled bitterly: "Yes and no, manpower is sometimes poor, and it is inevitable that he will be stubborn and sway from side to side at this age, but he will be unable to extricate himself from the painting, in fact, he is just a cocoon." ”

Zhang Zongnian sighed and added: "What the family teacher has learned in his life has reached the point of half-step sanctification, but this last hurdle has not been able to break through. ”

"What is the problem that makes the master so difficult?"

Yuwang asked.

Mr. Higashi stretched out a finger and pointed to his nose and said, "It's me!" ”

"Yourself?!"

Seeing that the four teenagers were surprised and surprised, Zhang Zongnian explained: "In fact, Shizun reached the bottleneck ten years ago, and the inability to break through is not because there are no ideas, on the contrary, because there are too many ideas. ”

"Too many ideas?"

Mr. Dongli nodded and said: "Yes, the development of Confucian theory has been very brilliant so far, and there are two roads further down, both of which are reasonable and disadvantageous, and the old man can't make up his mind after studying it for ten years." ”

"Dare to ask the ancestor what are the two paths that make you so difficult?"

Huang Zhengyuan asked eagerly.

Mr. Dong Li said: "One is for the object, and the other is for the heart." ”

When it came to the matter of studying, Mr. Higashiri suddenly became interested, like an old professor, talking endlessly about the research results of his life.

At first, a few people could still interject a few words, but after saying two sentences, Xu Rui began to be unable to answer, and said a stick of incense, and the two princes also fell silent, only Huang Zhengyuan could occasionally interject a sentence.

Later, even Huang Zhengyuan began to listen attentively, and it became Zhang Zongnian and Mr. Dongli to discuss, and in the end, Zhang Zongnian couldn't interject, leaving Mr. Dongli alone.

Regarding theoretical knowledge, Xu Rui seemed to be listening to a book from heaven, but he still listened to the general situation and seemed to understand it.

In the esoteric Confucian philosophy, Mr. Dong Li found two diametrically opposed ways out, one is similar to Zhu Xi's Gewu Zhili, and the other is biased towards Wang Yangming's psychological theory.

Mr. Dongli wandered back and forth on these two roads, and he never really drilled through these two roads, as if he was looking at flowers in the fog and looking at the moon in the water, and he was plausible about these two roads, so he never broke through.

Although Xu Rui did not study Confucianism in depth, he still knew something about Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming, especially Wang Yangming, a great military strategist, Xu Rui had systematically studied his military thinking.

The bloodless conquest of Lingdong is to learn from his classic example of breaking through Nanchang, King Ning's nest.

In fact, in Xu Rui's view, whether it is Zhu Xi or Wang Yangming, they are both Confucian saints, and Mr. Dongli will inevitably turn into a butterfly and become a generation of saints no matter which path he takes.

But he saw the scenery on the two roads at the same time, so that his heart was so undecided that he was indecisive, and a delay was ten years.

Thinking of this, Xu Rui suddenly became worried, although Zhu Xi has made significant contributions to Confucianism, his so-called theory of "preserving heavenly principles and destroying human desires" is really contrary to human nature.

Although the essential difference between humans and animals is that they can control their desires and instincts through moral etiquette, they are too much.

The excessive oblivion of human desire led to the abnormal development of mainstream values in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the social atmosphere was closed and conservative, making it difficult to accept new things, thus becoming self-contained and hindering human progress.

Under the high-pressure social atmosphere, the more oppressive and resistant, it has bred countless dirty male thieves and prostitutes.

What's more important is that Zhu Xi himself proposed "saving heavenly principles and destroying people's desires", but he himself did not abide by it at all, what persecution of Yan Rui, a woman in the Qinglou, taking nuns as concubines, and even "picking up ashes", those black histories are simply inferior to beasts.

It can be seen that the so-called "preserving heavenly principles and destroying human desires" is more of an ethereal moral benchmark than an advanced philosophy that leads social progress.

If Mr. Dongli is unable to break through this bottleneck in his life, it is fine, but if he falls to Cheng Zhu Lixue, with his status and fame, it is likely that the Great Wei will return to the old path of modern China.

And in an era of division, if you embark on a conservative path that refuses to change, you are not far from extinction......

Thinking about it, Xu Rui couldn't help frowning, and began to worry about the future of the Great Wei Kingdom.