"I just want to ask you, why can't we practice both morality and utilitarianism?" Lu Benzhong replied stiffly. "From your tone, is it possible that morality and utilitarianism are in conflict?"

Li Dong was a famous scholar, so of course he had words to defend himself. In fact, since he had opened his mouth, he was going to speak. However, before he could open his mouth, someone suddenly sneered from below:

"The country is in ruins, the two saints are exiled to the north, and talking about nature and reason is useless to the country and the people."

Li Dong's face turned black. He turned around to look, but couldn't find the person who spoke. He could only turn his head to Lv Benzhong and said, "Mr. Lv, is this what you meant?"

Lü Benzhong had known about the Emperor Zhao's general intentions for a long time, and he had already boarded the pirate ship. He also had some thoughts in his mind, so he gritted his teeth and took the initiative to sneer at him: "Although this person's words are a bit too much, they do make sense after all... Mr. Yanping, let me ask you, four years ago, the country was almost in danger of extinction, and the Emperor was able to restore the old capital. Was it because of you guys who kept talking about nature and reason all day long? In my opinion, we scholars should promote the combination of kingship and hegemony, and the combination of righteousness and profit, so as to help the Emperor achieve a career like the Three Dynasties and the Han and Tang Dynasties!"

"How can you say that?" Li Dong's face turned pale. "How can the Han and Tang dynasties be compared with the Three Dynasties? How can the hegemonic way be compared with the kingly way?"

"How can they not be compared?" Lü Benzhong was really puzzled. "You must know that the Three Dynasties and the Han and Tang emperors all used both righteousness and profit, but the Three Dynasties were saints, with outstanding abilities, and their actions were in accordance with the principles of heaven, so Confucian scholars said they were the kingly way; while the Han and Tang emperors were not very capable after all, and their actions were not necessarily in accordance with the principles of heaven, and there were some things that were not right during the period, so Confucian scholars pointed to their achievements and said that they were the hegemonic way... But the kingly way and the hegemonic way are actually quite good, and they are all good things and good achievements that the emperor achieved after working hard and devoting himself to righteousness and profit."

"This is ridiculous!" Li Dong's face turned black, and he clenched his fists. He just held back and yelled at the other person. "The governance of the Three Dynasties was in accordance with the laws of nature and achieved the kingly way. When did they ever use utilitarianism and hegemony? And the scale of the Han and Tang dynasties, when did they ever do anything in accordance with the laws of nature? The Han and Tang dynasties were all selfish and sought utilitarianism..."

Lu Benzhong frowned when he heard this. Just as he was about to respond, he heard the person behind him asking again: "Is he saying that the kingly way and the hegemonic way are opposites? Is he saying that utilitarianism and righteousness are also completely opposites? If you choose one, you can't choose the other?"

Lu Benzhong could only respond, "Yes."

"And what he means is that history is from top to bottom, sinking down generation by generation? Hanzu and Tangzong are not even qualified to be compared with the three generations? The two sides are not even the same species?"

"I don't know what the species is, but that's roughly the meaning." Lu Benzhong once again responded with his hands down, which had already aroused the suspicion of many people in front of the hall.

"Forget it, let's go."

When Zhao Jiu heard this, he felt completely bored and kept shaking his head. Then he stood up and did not wait for Yang Shi to appear. He walked out of the room directly with a group of people and headed towards the gate of Wuyue Temple.

Lu Benzhong said nothing more and followed Zhao Jiu out. Countless students and scholars from Tokyo had probably met the emperor in the Imperial Academy, not to mention the officials. So they all stood up at once and bowed and greeted him like a wave. Only Li Dong on the steps in front of the hall was startled for a moment. He probably came down from the steps and saluted after being reminded by the students below.

"No need to be polite." Zhao Jiu felt bored and just raised his hand to signal everyone. "Don't forget to join in the fun in front of Xuande Building tomorrow..."

The emperor had issued an oral order, and countless imperial guards wearing soft armor rushed forward. Of course, most people stopped and said that they had received the order, but Zhang Jun and several officials who came to watch the fun followed.

A group of people came to the gate of Wuyue Temple, surrounded by the imperial guards, and then someone went to lead the horse. At this time, an official who had chased them carefully reminded them: "Your Majesty, Mr. Guishan is a famous scholar in the world, and he is also a retired important official of the country. He is nearly 80 years old. Since we meet in the temple now, we should meet each other, right?"

Zhao Jiu shook his head for a moment: "People with different ideals cannot work together."

The ministers who followed him out were all in awe - this was probably the first time that Emperor Zhao directly expressed his dissatisfaction with a certain doctrine in a semi-public setting, and this was enough to stir up a storm.

Sure enough, the next moment, one of the officials who followed him out, Chen Gongfu, the chief academician of the Imperial College, directly bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, Cheng Xue's lies are misleading the people. I request that Cheng Xue be banned!"

Zhao Jiu was stunned... He couldn't help but express his attitude publicly in advance. Of course, he knew that it would attract more speculators, but he didn't expect them to come so soon, especially Chen Gongfu, who always left a good impression on him and didn't seem like the kind of person who would speculate on the spot.

"To be honest, Your Majesty." Chen Gongfu laughed at this. "When Li Gongxiang (Li Gang) was in power, I was so angry that I wrote a letter to ask for the ban of Luoxue. I wonder if Your Majesty still remembers it?"

Zhao Jiu realized at this moment that it was this person who had previously mocked Taoism for "talking about nature and reason without doing anything". He immediately came to his senses and asked with a smile in front of the Taoist temple: "What did you say at that time?"

"At that time, I disliked Mr. Guishan." Chen Gongfu, who was dressed in his home clothes, was not afraid of the angry eyes of several Taoist officials beside him, and still smiled. "When the emperor first ascended the throne, he advocated fighting against the Jin Dynasty on the one hand, but on the other hand, he petitioned to abolish the tea and salt laws... I really don't know why there is still tax exemption when the country is overthrown and it is necessary to train troops? Therefore, even though I once wrote a letter in the Jingkang period, requesting that Wang Shuwang's position be quickly removed and the old party of Chengxue be quickly placed in his place, and regarded as a Taoist scholar, I still couldn't help but write a letter to impeach Mr. Guishan again."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!