As soon as Liu Bei said this, Liu Hong and Zhang Rang were a little surprised.

They didn't expect that Liu Bei's evaluation of scholars was not much better than theirs.

Liu Hong became more and more interested in Liu Bei.

"Xuande, your opinion of scholars is beyond my expectations."

"Your Majesty, the ministers have gone all the way from weaving mats to the present, and there are too many people who have seen them, slaves, Hu people, peasants, craftsmen, scholars, officials, heroes, and ministers, and scholars are not more noble than others."

"So, you are planning to help the scholars stop me, but for me? Are you disgusted with scholars? ”

"I am very disgusted with certain scholars."

Liu Bei nodded and said, "Your Majesty, the minister's dislike for some scholars will not be less than these eunuchs around Your Majesty. ”

Liu Hong looked at Zhang Rang when he heard this, and saw Zhang Rang's face full of surprise.

"So what? You are now a scholar, but you say that you hate scholars? ”

Liu Bei shook his head.

"If you don't be a scholar, how can a minister stand in front of Your Majesty and deal with Your Majesty justifiably? Only relying on the identity of the Han family, the minister can only be a local tyrant at most, if he does not become a scholar, the minister will not be able to come to Luoyang at all, and the minister will not have the rank of entering the body.

Moreover, if you really want to talk about it, the ministers are not disgusted with the group of scholars, but disgusted with those villains who are full of benevolence and morality, but behind them are all bad things, they are lenient with themselves, strict with others, and demand benevolence and morality from others, but they are full of malice when it is their turn.

But the minister has not never seen noble scholars, they insist on their virtues, do not do things against their hearts, have noble morals, promote the backwards, and will sacrifice themselves in order to protect the backwards, such scholars, the ministers have also seen. ”

Liu Hong was silent for a long time, and then looked at Liu Bei.

"When I say this, I feel as if I have never really known scholars, so Xuande, what kind of people are scholars?"

Liu Bei thought for a moment.

"Scholars are human beings, there are noble and despicable, this group of people is no different from any group of people, there are noble people, there are despicable people, but scholars control most of the advanced steps of the Han Dynasty, so there are fewer noble people and more despicable people, but to say that they are all thieves of the country, it is not true."

"So you think my party's strategy is wrong?"

Liu Hong's sharp eyes locked on Liu Bei.

Zhang Rang was even a little afraid to breathe.

"It's not all wrong, but it's also biased."

Liu Bei's answer made Zhang Rang feel a little offended and shocked.

Publicly criticize his actions in front of the emperor, you kid is bold enough.

Liu Hong stared at Liu Bei and didn't speak for a while, but soon, he laughed.

"Say I did something wrong in front of me, Liu Xuande, you are so bold."

"Your Majesty has a question, but the minister does not dare not answer, nor does he dare to bully the king."

Liu Hong nodded.

"Okay, don't count your crime of deceiving the king, then you say, where did I go wrong?"

"Your Majesty should not regard the scholars as a whole, but should find ways to divide and rule the scholars and divide them."

Liu Bei said: "From a large range of perspectives, the Great Han scholars are currently mainly divided into the modern Wenjing school and the ancient Wenjing school.

However, there are many people in the ancient Wenjing school, but the background is shallow, not as deep as the current Wenjing school, and it started late, and the level of power and control is far less than that of the current literary school, and it is faintly suppressed and excluded, so when treating scholars, His Majesty should treat the two separately and treat them differently. ”

Liu Hong had obviously never heard of such a strategy.

Of course, he is aware of the dispute between ancient and modern scriptures, and he has a certain understanding of it, but he lacks the means and opportunities for how to intervene.

Moreover, in these years, the ancient and modern scholars have been friends with each other, and the relationship is hot, so it doesn't look like the kind that can provoke disputes.

Liu Hong was silent, but Zhang Rang took the initiative to speak.

"No matter what school they are, they have all offended Your Majesty, Your Majesty appointed us, and they wantonly slaughtered our people, relatives and friends in the locality, and those who did things for Your Majesty were exterminated by them, and it was they who acted first to force us to counteract!"

"Then it should be even more divide-and-conquer."

Liu Bei looked at Zhang Rang and said: "As far as I know, the ancient Wenjing school and the modern Wenjing school have been fighting openly and secretly, and they have always been at odds, and the reason why there have been signs of convergence in recent years is because you have been hit too hard.

You treat scholars without distinguishing whether they are the ancient Wenjing school or the modern Wenjing school, and you can only force the two to stay together, and you can't make full use of the contradictions between them to achieve the effect of divide and rule, you are too rude.

And it is said to be a fusion, and there are many Confucians who study the modern scriptures and the ancient scriptures at the same time, but the valve reading family with a large number of protégés and former officials is all a family of the inheritance of the present scriptures, and the so-called integration is just a disguise, and the face and heart are not in harmony. ”

Zhang Rang opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, hesitated, and said, "Isn't that still the same now?" There are scholars who are close to us and driven by us, and scholars who are also dog-eat-dog within themselves, what is the difference? ”

"That's because of the fear of power such as Er, and doing so cannot really divide the scholars, it can only accelerate the convergence of ancient scriptures and modern scriptures, and the core interests of scholars are not whether to submit to Er, but to advance to the level."

Liu Bei opened his mouth and said: "You don't need to fabricate all kinds of crimes to attack scholars, you only need to change one of the five classics and fourteen family laws to ancient scriptures, and you can watch the play, and you can see how the scholars eat dogs."

Most scholars don't care about what they learn, what they read, what they inherit, they only care about the level of advancement brought to them by the classical family law, if the level of advancement is gone, they will go crazy, they will be really angry, this is the key point of scholars. ”

"It's not easy."

Liu Hong's eyes lit up, and he said: "I have ordered the official to establish the Stone Scripture, the Ming Zheng scriptures are different, and the Five Classics will be unified, but the obstacles are too great and it is difficult to carry them out. ”

"Of course, it can't be in the name of His Majesty."

Liu Bei said with a smile: "Your Majesty's intention to do this is too obvious, it is easy to be boycotted by the other party, and leaving this kind of thing to the scholars to do, is like letting a cat take care of the fish caught, not to mention that it is useless, it can be regarded as a wasted effort."

Since the eunuchs are so lawless, they simply continue to be lawless, and use the eunuchs to support the weak school of ancient scriptures and fight against the strong school of modern scriptures.

At present, the confrontation between the ancient literature school and the modern literature school is not sharp, mainly because the implementation of the party's policy makes the scholars have to unite, if the suppression of the party's policy is lost, and the imperial court deliberately supports the study of ancient literature and scriptures, the situation will be different immediately. ”

"Really?"

Zhang Rang remained skeptical.

"Are you a scholar or am I a scholar? And I am a member of the Ancient Classics School, and my teacher is one of the leaders of the Ancient Classics School, so I still don't understand the long-cherished wish of the school? If there is really hope, even if you are eunuchs, the ancient school of literature and scriptures will definitely cooperate with you, even if you don't say it. ”

Liu Bei replied.

Zhang Rang was annoyed for a while, pointed at Liu Bei and said angrily: "You are really seeking personal gain for yourself, right?" If we support the ancient school of literature and scriptures, aren't you the one who directly benefits? Won't you be able to ascend to a high position through the study of ancient scriptures? ”

Liu Bei spread out his hands.

"The biggest profit is obviously Your Majesty and the court, I'm just seeking some convenience for myself by the way, why not?"

Liu Bei looked at Liu Hong.

"Your Majesty, is the minister wrong?"

Liu Hong lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and looked at Liu Bei with a smile.

"Everyone seeks to improve, and so does Xuande, if it is really the best of both worlds, why not? I am not a person who does not know the reward and punishment, meritorious service must be rewarded, fault must be punished, Xuande meritorious service, what does it matter if rewarded? ”

"Your Majesty is wise."

Liu Bei bowed.

Liu Hong smiled and went up to hold Liu Bei's hand and helped him up.

"Don't be in a hurry to make me happy, you said this thing, but how to do it, you have to give me a way, I want talents who can do things for me, not mediocre people who can only say that they can't do it, talents can be rewarded, mediocre talents...... It's time to think about it. ”