"The test paper is good." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "What will the test be this afternoon?"

"Your Majesty, the test this afternoon will be on policy essays," said Shen Tingyun.

Zhu Youxiao nodded.

This was not unexpected. Zhu Youxiao looked up at Shen Tingyun and asked with a smile: "What is the topic?"

This was the question that Zhu Youxiao was concerned about. He wanted to know what questions they had.

"Your Majesty, the title is 'The laws of nature are constant; they do not exist for the sake of Yao, nor do they perish for the sake of Jie.'" Shen Tingyun said slowly.

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was stunned.

He raised his head in disbelief and looked at Shen Tingyun intently.

Is it such a big deal?

Zhu Youxiao asked again, "Who came up with this question?"

"Your Majesty, it's Feng Congwu, Lord Feng." Shen Tingyun said.

In fact, Shen Tingyun was very dissatisfied with this topic, but this topic was proposed by Feng Congwu, and it was supported by Han Yu and Huang Kexun, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, so it was passed.

Zhu Youxiao was naturally familiar with this sentence.

This sentence comes from Xunzi's "On Heaven", which means: The operation of nature has its own laws, and this law will not change because of Yao's wisdom or Jie's tyranny.

This is also a very important point in Xunzi's thought. Even many of his thoughts are derived from this idea. It can be said to be the foundation of Xunzi's thought.

This sentence is the first sentence of Xunzi's book. Its significance is like that of the sentence in the Great Learning: "The Way of the Great Learning is to manifest the illuminating virtue, to love the people, and to rest in the highest good. Knowing the limit leads to determination; determination leads to tranquility; tranquility leads to peace; peace leads to consideration; consideration leads to achievement. Everything has its root and its end, every matter has its beginning and its end. Knowing the order of precedence is the path to success."

This sentence can be said to be the general outline of Xunzi's thoughts. Zhu Youxiao did not expect that Feng Congwu would use this sentence as a test question.

It seems that Feng Congwu and his colleagues are determined to promote Xunzi's ideas, and they also regard the Royal Academy as their base for promoting Xunzi's ideas.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Xu Guangqi and Shen Tingyun, and asked with a smile, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

This sentence is actually asking Xu Guangqi.

Zhu Youxiao's attitude was also very clear. He was not asking why Xu Guangqi did not report to him, but why Xu Guangqi did not object.

In Zhu Youxiao's opinion, Xu Guangqi should not agree.

Hearing Zhu Youxiao's question, Xu Guangqi quickly said, "Your Majesty, I think this question is very appropriate."

"There's a lot of turmoil in the court right now, and there's a lot of debate among the scholars. Some want to promote Xunzi, some want to learn from the Han and Tang dynasties, and some even want to abolish Song Confucianism. It's so chaotic that it's hard to tell the way forward."

"In that case, let's test the scholars and see what they think and say. It would be good to let them speak freely."

After hearing what Xu Guangqi said, Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly, then said with a smile: "My dear minister, you really do have an idea. That's good. Then I will see what they say."

As for how the final score would be, Zhu Youxiao did not ask.

There are actually two answers to this question, one is in favor and the other is against.

If you agree, you should write down why you agree, and then you should look for the answer in Xunzi's thoughts.

If you are against it, you may have to look for the answer in Mencius's thoughts.

As for how the final evaluation would be made, Zhu Youxiao knew without thinking that those who sought answers from Mencius' thoughts would definitely be abandoned in the end, because this principle did not work here.

However, Zhu Youxiao remembered another thing and asked, "I remember that Emperor Taizu also had a high opinion of Mencius. Does anyone remember what that evaluation was?"

At this time, Zhao Bingzhong stood up. As a die-hard fan of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, he felt that he should speak at this time.

Zhao Bingzhong then took a step forward and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, then smiled and said directly: "Then tell me about it."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Zhao Bingzhong agreed, saying, "Emperor Taizu compiled the 'Mencius Excerpts,' deleting passages from the Mencius such as 'The people are most important, the state is second, and the ruler is least important,' and 'A cruel and treacherous person is called a 'man.' We have heard of the execution of 'Man Zhou,' but we have never heard of the regicide.'"

"Emperor Taizu once said, 'If this old man were alive today, would he be spared?' He also issued an edict to the world, stating that many of Mencius's remarks were 'unsuitable for a minister to speak,' and ordered his expulsion from the Confucian Temple."

"The next day, Qian Tang submitted a memorial urging a dissuasion. Furthermore, the astronomical officials also reported that the celestial star was dim. So Emperor Taizu issued another decree: 'Mencius argued against heresy, refuted evil doctrines, and developed the teachings of Confucius. He deserves to be honored as before.' This restored Mencius's status in the Confucian Temple."

Zhu Youxiao smiled and nodded, saying, "My dear, you remember it clearly."

After hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, the expressions on the faces of several people present were different.

This is already a statement.

Because before the literati, Emperor Taizu's thoughts were rarely mentioned.

There are two reasons for this. One is that Emperor Taizu's theory is different from theirs. According to Emperor Taizu's theory, everything they are doing now is against the ancestral system, and they should all be executed and their skins peeled off and stuffed with straw.

Another reason is Emperor Taizu's background. No one thinks he is a great scholar. It's just that because he is Emperor Taizu's face, they can't openly refute some of his statements.

At that time, some people wanted Emperor Taizu to recognize Zhu Xi, a great Confucian scholar in the Song Dynasty, as his ancestor, but in fact they were setting a trap for Emperor Taizu.

Zhu Youxiao knew about this. If Zhu Yuanzhang had done this, the consequence would have been that the Ming Dynasty would have been unable to get rid of Zhu Xi's teachings. After all, you can't oppose the teachings of your ancestors, right?

Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was quite witty and did not fall for it. Instead, he said something very domineering: "I am a commoner from Huaixi. What can the world do to me?"