There are definitely problems with The Doctrine of the Mean.

But it is definitely not 'beyond recognition'.

Of course Cui Xian was exaggerating and said this on purpose.

As a modern man, he stood on the shoulders of giants and was fully aware of all the errors and loopholes in the Four Books and Five Classics.

But when it comes to scripture debate, it is difficult to simply explain "right" or "wrong".

Just as Mr. Dong Lai said: On the debate stage, those people are more eloquent than each other, and can even make the dead come alive.

So, right or wrong doesn’t matter!

What’s important is that you have to be firm in your beliefs, convince the other party, fool the other party, and defeat the other party!

After Cui Xian used his ultimate move, he looked at his teacher.

Pei Chongqing, Master Wu and others also looked at Mr. Donglai with pale faces and anxious expressions.

How could "The Doctrine of the Mean" be fake!

How ridiculous!

But Cui Xian's arguments and evidence were so sufficient that they couldn't think of how to refute them for a moment.

From this we can see that the literary circle and the imperial examination circle are two different circles.

In the imperial examination circle, don’t worry about anything else, just study hard and take the exam, and you’ll be fine!

In the literary circle, one must be dialectical, do textual research, raise questions, quote classics and debate frequently, and practice verbal skills.

This is also the reason why since ancient times, few people have been able to achieve great success in both the literary and official circles.

As for Cui Xian, he is about to take the path of 'cultivating both scholars and officials'!

so.

He tentatively chose to challenge his teacher today in order to find out what the level of the literary circle in the Daliang Dynasty was like.

This concerns what strategy he will use when he goes to the Kaifeng Gaotai to debate in the future.

Facing everyone's gaze, Mr. Dong Lai was not panicked.

He looked at Cui Xian and said with a smile: "When a sage expounds on the truth, how can he be obsessed with the number of words? The Book of History - The Canon of Yao says: 'Harmony among all nations.'"

"The same track for all vehicles is a metaphor for the return of government orders to the center, not for objects! Confucius edited the Book of Songs and the Book of History to establish education, and the Han Confucianists compiled the Doctrine of the Mean in line with this intention - to simplify and preserve the main ideas. How can this be false?"

Hear this answer.

Mr. Wu, Pei Chongqing and others suddenly realized and breathed a sigh of relief.

Exciting, so exciting!

If it can really be proven that "The Doctrine of the Mean" is false, then they don't need to study it and can just go home!

The teacher's answer made Cui Xian raise his eyebrows.

In fact, he was raising questions from the perspective of historical evidence.

But Mr. Donglai avoided this angle.

He chose to use mythical saints and quoted "The Book of Documents" and "The Analects of Confucius: Shuer" as rebuttal.

Cui Xian understood.

In fact, the ancients also discovered that there were problems in the Four Books and Five Classics. However, they were educated and had to follow these "textbooks" as principles.

Therefore, they have to try every possible means to justify these mistakes.

To put it bluntly, the world lacks a 'Zhu Xi' to provide new annotations to the Four Books and Five Classics.

Of course, we must also remember that the world is a huge makeshift team.

Even as great as Zhu Xi, there were some messy errors and loopholes in his annotations.

But it doesn’t matter!

As Cui Xian is standing on the shoulders of giants, when he goes to the high platform to debate and sort out the theories of hundreds of schools of thought in the future, he will surely bring some shock to the world!

Re-write and annotate the Four Books and Five Classics for them!

But now, it's still early.

He still needs to accumulate knowledge and experience.

Facing Mr. Donglai and everyone's gaze.

After a brief thought, Cui Xian continued to question: "The Yunmeng Qin Bamboo Slips "Working Law" records that 'the wheels should be on the same track' as the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's decree. The distance between the wheels and the tracks in the Chu tombs of the Warring States period is very different from the Qin system. If Zisi really said 'the wheels should be on the same track', isn't that a confusion of time and space?"

"This is similar to the fact that the astronomical phenomena in the Book of Rites and Monthly Ordinances do not conform to the Zhou calendar. Both prove that when Han Confucianists integrated the pre-Qin literature, there was a suspicion of mixing and fabricating!"

Hearing Cui Xian's words.

Mr. Wu and others, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly began to doubt their lives again.

This...seems to sound reasonable?

Could it be that "The Doctrine of the Mean" is really fake?

Mr. Dong Lai belongs to the "old dialectic".

Hearing his apprentice's words, he did not answer, but asked: "What is the difference between the distance between the chariot and horse pits in the Chu tombs of the Warring States period and the Qin system?"

Cui Xian said: "The distance between the chariot tracks in the Chu tombs of the Warring States period is 39 inches, while the Qin system is 54 inches."

This time it was Mr. Donglai’s turn: ???

No, may I ask?

Everyone looked at Mr. Dong Lai expectantly.

Zhou Yong, who had been very calm, suddenly tensed up.

Careless!

The apprentice is not only a genius, but also a researcher!

As we all know, the textual research party is the most difficult to deal with. Even when Zhou Yong was debating on the high platform in the past, he was most afraid of such opponents.

This time he was obviously much more cautious. After thinking for a while, he said, "The Book of Changes says: The metaphysical is called Tao. 'The wheels are on the same track' does not refer to the wheels, but to the unification of rituals, music, laws and regulations!"

"When Duke Zhou established the rituals, the Qin system had not yet been implemented. However, the Book of Songs says: 'All under heaven is the king's land', isn't this the forerunner of the kingly way of unification? The words of the sages are to clarify the principles of heaven, not to be limited to the Kaogongji!"

This is to suppress Cui Xian's research from the perspective of profound meaning.

In modern times, this would be nonsense.

But this was in ancient times, and etiquette and laws were more important than anything else!

These words helped Master Wu, Pei Chongqing, Cui Zhongyuan, Cui Boshan and others regain their collapsed spiritual faith.

Listen to me, thank you!

Fortunately, I have you, who allows me to confirm that "The Doctrine of the Mean" is true!

But Cui Xian only asked a question in return, which broke their hearts again: "If 'the same track for all vehicles' is just a symbol, why does the Doctrine of the Mean follow with 'no system without the Son of Heaven'?"

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