Chapter 472: Zhaocheng has been opened and the road has appeared!

Good and evil.

In other words, is human nature good or evil? Since Luo Minggong wrote those two essays at the same time, there has been a thousand years of discussion, and countless sages have constructed their own thoughts on them.

Taoism believes that there is no good or evil. Mainstream Confucianism inherited the goodness of human nature from Mencius, while Legalism and Xunzi inherited the evil of human nature.

There is evil but no good.

What else needs to be explained? This is how various schools of thought have always criticized the Legalists.

Everything in the world is evil, only the law is good!

This is the creed and belief of the Legalists, so students of the Legalists never care about these criticisms. If the foundation of their thoughts is shaken and the idea of ​​human nature being good is accepted, then the Legalists are equivalent to starting over. Who can accept that?

"The world is all evil, only the law is good. It is believed that all people in the world are evil and have no good. Then, strict laws like a net are used to verify the correctness of the theory, so that everyone in the world is convicted, to declare the correctness of the world's evil, and finally to establish a country of criminals.

There is really only evil and no good!"

Liu Xiang's few words easily broke everyone's defense, and they argued: "Isn't it because of ill intentions that those who are punished are punished? No matter how dense the net is, as long as you are careful to avoid it, how can you be punished?"

Finally, it was the leader of the Legalists, Chen Gong, who stopped the anxious crowd and looked at Liu Xiang seriously and said, "Zi Zheng did not come here to refute us completely.

You were born in the Legalist school. Although I don't know whose disciple you are now, people don't change. You are not the kind of person who becomes arrogant when you are successful. You must have something to say when you come here."

Liu Xiang's voice seemed to be as firm as iron and stone, and he said decisively: "A fruit with rotten skin, but sweet flesh, and dead core inside, this is the current situation of the Legalists.

The great principle of governing the world and being useful should not be abandoned like this. After experiencing the incident of Sang Hongyang, people in the world have lost patience with the Legalists.

I will peel off the rotten outer skin, remove the dead core, take the most essential practical teachings of the Legalists, integrate them with the teachings of Taoism and Confucianism, change its appearance, and make the Tao flourish again.

I came here to take away the young disciples in my school and teach them new knowledge. These people are talented and should not be affected by the mistakes of their predecessors and the reputation of their school.

Xinzheng Hou's third son Tang is on good terms with me and is willing to recommend me. This is a great opportunity!"

At this moment, even Mr. Chen's face changed drastically. Liu Xiang was really going to eradicate the foundation of Legalism. No matter if it was integrated into Taoism or Confucianism, the name of Legalism would definitely be gone.

This is even more terrifying than Duke Zhao's practice of law.

The most important thing is that Liu Xiang already had a high reputation among the Legalists. If he did this, it would really deal a fatal blow to the Legalists. The disciples of the Legalists were not the kind who valued inheritance. For example, Li Si and Han Fei were brothers from the same school. Han Fei was the culmination of the Legalists of the Three Jins, but Li Si framed Han Fei to death out of jealousy.

When Liu Xiang raised his voice among the Legalists, the Legalists would definitely follow him without hesitation in order to get the opportunity to become an official.

Chen Gongqiang laughed to himself and said, "Zi Zheng is really joking. It is so difficult to reopen a school, especially a school that values ​​pedigree. Although the Legalists are weak, they are at least a school that is engraved in the sect records, and the classics they study are qualified to be officials.

If you reopen a school, but fail to gain the approval of the imperial court, you won’t even be qualified to be an official.”

Door record.

It was a restriction set by Emperor Xiaowen when he established the Imperial Academy. It was equivalent to a status for officialdom. With this status, one could be recommended as a scholar or a filial and honest official. If one was not on the list, like Wei Qing, one would have to take the path of recommendation based on military merit, or the rarest path of being a miscellaneous person, but there were too few vacancies.

Liu Xiang bowed in the direction of Zhaocheng and said in a loud voice: "Duke Zhaowuwei passed away, Zhaocheng has been reopened, the Temple of the Philosophers is open to the world, and everyone can go there to make a pilgrimage. The Luo family's academy is reopened, and the world's great talents are selected as the chief priests. As long as the great talents have great words, they can exchange books with the Luo family.

Luo Zi is the most gifted person in the world. Any talented person can debate with him. With his many experiences, he can even become a saint right away and be called a saint.

I assert that all the families in the world will definitely gather in Zhaocheng. As long as you can make a name for yourself in the Zhaocheng Grand Theory, why would you worry about not being listed in the family records?"

Zhaocheng finally opened to the public after a hundred years.

For students all over the world, it is like a long-forgotten road begins to push the world's rules to revive, and the golden age is coming!

The classics that were once sought after but could not be obtained are now scattered among the people.

The noble scholar whom I had tried every means to meet but failed was now in the post station on the way to Zhaocheng.

The great men of various schools will appear and engage in the most brilliant debate in Zhaocheng. This is an opportunity to become a saint, which the Supreme Academy cannot provide.

Young talents from all walks of life will also collide here, creating a completely free debate environment.

With Luo as the referee, this debate is absolutely fair. The sophistry of famous scholars who claim that a white horse is not a horse is useless. What matters is who has deeper knowledge.

The Legalists never expected that Liu Xiang was thinking about this, and one of them exclaimed, "Go to Zhaocheng to debate?

The Legalists were weak and alone, but it was not something that ordinary people could do to debate with a group of people. Since ancient times, only a few saints such as Lao Tzu had done it!

Do you have this confidence? "

Liu Xiang said proudly: "When I was in the Legalist school, I was considered the most gifted among my schoolmates. The Mengru Jia Sheng also invited me to join the Mengru school. No matter how many mediocre talents there are, how can they compare to a person with natural talent!"

This time everyone was stunned by Liu Xiang. After all, they hadn't seen him for several years. With Liu Xiang's talent, it was hard to say how much he had improved.

In fact, although Liu Xiang looked confident, he was actually worried in his heart. How could he dare to underestimate the heroes of the world? After traveling for these years, he felt that there were endless geniuses in various factions.

Although he does not underestimate himself, he also knows that he is not a sage like Luo Sheng, Laozi, and Confucius who appear once in a thousand years.

If he was really sure, he would have rushed into Zhaocheng alone, used his lips and tongue as swords to defeat all the enemies, and then be crowned as Jijiu in Zhaocheng and called himself Liu Zi.

"Do you really want to kill them all?"

Chen Gong took a deep breath and asked. Liu Xiang felt relieved and said with a smile: "Xiang remembers that Chen Gong's son also failed to become an official. The ancient sage Xunzi of the Legalists once said, 'If you improve yourself every day, you will improve yourself every day.'

To bring forth the new through the old is the great way of the Legalists. We must discard the old shell, eliminate the tyrannical past, and establish a new school of thought. Only then can the world belong to us."

When everyone heard Liu Xiang directly call Xunzi a Legalist sage, they couldn't help but curl their lips, but no one refuted.

Liu Xiang bowed to everyone, then turned around. Everyone was a little confused, and then they saw Liu Xiang opening the door.

There was a huge group of people standing outside the house!

All of them are still alive students of Legalism.

When everyone in the room saw this, their faces turned pale and they immediately stared at Liu Xiang. They never expected that he would play such a trick.

Liu Xiang walked to the door and said in a loud voice: "I believe you all know the conversation I had with you elders just now.

If you are willing to go with me to Zhaocheng, let’s go now, and learn as we go. In a year or so, we will arrive in Zhaocheng and let the world see our style!”

There was a commotion among the crowd, and someone immediately stepped out, raised his head and said with emotion: "I have heard that the ancestors protected the younger generations, so the younger generations can grow up healthily.

Looking at the various schools of Confucianism, if the predecessors are prominent, the successors will also have a reputation, be able to travel the world and be respected.

But my Legalist ancestors were all people like Shang Yang, Li Si, and Sang Hongyang, who only sought wealth and honor and ignored everything else.

What am I waiting for?

They don't even get a fair chance to rely on their talents.

How innocent he is! He has talent and knowledge but is held back by his predecessors. He cannot enter the officialdom and suffers great humiliation. He wastes his time here.

Is this correct?

Now we have Brother Zi Zheng who is willing to pave the way for us. If we don’t follow him now, do we really want to spend the rest of our life regretting it when we are old and gray?

My fellow students, what I said may be a little bit wrong.

Yes and no? Right and wrong?"

These words were even more eye-opening, directly piercing the dissatisfaction deeply buried in the hearts of the people, a dissatisfaction with the entire Legalist ecosystem.

Confucianism is like the famous and upright sects in fantasy novels. No matter what sinister schemes and endless infighting there are, it has a well-functioning system.

The Legalists are like the Demonic Sect. Once those geniuses become famous, they become unscrupulous and don't care about their sect at all. They have a feeling of "after I die, even if there is a flood, there will be disaster". Moreover, they usually create powerful enemies for their sect. Once they die, the sect will suffer crazy revenge, and those innocent people in the sect who have not done any evil will be implicated.

"Brother Sun is right!"

"The fact that Xunzi of the Confucian school was able to teach the Legalists shows that Confucianism and Legalism are from the same family. What's wrong with returning to the origin now?"

"Innovation is the key. Since the shell is rotten, we should create a new path. A name is not important."

Voices of discussion were heard one after another, instantly igniting everyone's thoughts. They took off their old clothes and put on new clothes, and they became heroes again.

People's hearts are scattered!

Looking at the scene before him, Mr. Chen could only come to this sad conclusion.

If Liu Xiang knew what he was thinking, he would tell him that the Legalists had never been able to unite the people, and that everyone was arrogant and thought they were invincible.

Everyone holds a book of criminal law in his hand. Not only does he have to bring peace to the world, but he also has to send his fellow disciples and even teachers to jail, and finally die by law. This is the life of a Legalist student.

Most people are now tired of this feeling of having everyone against them.

"Let's go to Zhaocheng, wash away our shame, and spread our ideas to the world.

The Dharma also has goodness!"

Everyone shouted in unison: "The Dharma can also be good!"

————

In the process of a dynasty's decline and rise, ideological changes always accompany it. The rulers of the Han Dynasty chose a unified governance strategy that allowed the existence of opposing ideas. However, the Three Jin Legalists who once built the empire gradually died out. The process of the Legalists' demise was actually a reflection of the gradual improvement of the nobles' self-consciousness. The nobles of the Han Dynasty strongly opposed extreme monarchy, so the most extreme Three Jin Legalists were abandoned. - "Chronicle of Ideological Changes in the Qin and Han Dynasties"

(End of this chapter)