Chapter 352: Han Ting Asks for Books
Zhaocheng.
A delegation of hundreds of people stopped outside Zhaocheng, waiting for news from inside Zhaocheng. The leader of the delegation was Jia Yi. In recent years, he has been promoted to the position of Chief Censor and officially began to take over the work of Prime Minister. Only one step is left to achieve his life goal of becoming a marquis and a prime minister.
As for the position of prime minister, it would be very difficult to hold the position again after Luo Xin became regent.
Jia Yi looked at the city with countless legends in front of him with curiosity, with a hint of passion hidden deep in his eyes. Although he was an official recommended by the Luo family, he had never been to Zhaocheng.
The Lord of the Four Seasons lives here!
The only god on earth.
Moreover, since he was the one who crowned both Xiang Yu, the Lord of War, and Emperor Gao, in folk legends, Luo Ling is also a deity in charge of the throne of the world. His image and power have gradually shifted towards the Emperor of Ziwei in the North Pole of the Central Sky in Ji Zhao's memory.
This is also the cultural center of the entire Xia Dynasty. Although the Mausoleum of King Su is in Guanzhong, sacrifices are held here. The control here is very strict. To enter here, you need a document issued by Zhaogong Mansion, and it is divided into levels and types. Different types of documents go to different areas.
However, the emperor's envoys are naturally an exception. The Luo family is not so arrogant as to ignore the emperor.
"Where is the messenger from Chang'an?"
A group of knights rushed out from Zhaocheng and asked loudly. From their attire, they were obviously brave warriors. They were all Luo Ling's personal guards. As a duke, he had a guard of 1,500 people.
Then, seeing Jia Yi's carriage at a glance, the brave warrior leader rode forward and bowed, saying, "The noble Han minister is here to see you. I wish you good health. The foreign minister is polite."
This peculiar way of greeting made Jia Yi stunned for a moment, and then he realized that although Zhaogong and Qigong were both duchies, Zhaogong was a vassal state of the Xia Dynasty, while Qigong was a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, just like the vassal kingdoms and Chegong.
On the surface, there was no superior-subordinate relationship between the ministers of Zhaogong State and the ministers of the Han Dynasty.
"Please follow me, my dear. The master has been waiting for you for a long time."
The huge delegation followed the brave warriors into Zhaocheng, and they immediately felt the prosperous scene as soon as they entered Zhaocheng.
The most important thing is that the city is very clean, much cleaner than Chang'an City. Jia Yi immediately determined that this must be because Zhaocheng has a better supply and drainage system.
"At least half of the people in this city are Shi Luo, and the other half are relatives and old friends."
Relatives and old friends, such as Han Xin and Luo Cai's daughter Han Yan, and Xiang Yu's descendants, all lived and multiplied in this city.
However, the Luo family strictly controls the population size here.
The group walked through the outer city, the inner city, and then arrived at the Luo Palace. Jia Yi thought that he was finally going to meet the mysterious big man.
He felt even more nervous than when he first met the Regent Prime Minister Luo Xin. His hands were shaking. When he thought about the task assigned to him by the emperor, he became even more nervous.
Walking into the room, Jia Yi saw at first glance an old man with white hair and beard. He was wearing a simple white robe with gold silk embroidered on the collar and cuffs. His face was plain and expressionless. He looked up at Jia Yi, which made Jia Yi feel like he was looking at a piece of wood.
Jia Yi hurriedly bowed, and Luo Ling said calmly, "Sit down."
Jia Yi sat down in a somewhat reserved manner, reached out and took out a scroll of bamboo slips, presented it to Luo Ling and said, "Sir, this is the concubine that your majesty has chosen for the Marquis of Dong'e. Please take a look. If you disagree, cross out her name."
Luo Ling slowly raised his head upon hearing this, unfolded the scroll and saw that it was filled with names. He pondered for a moment before saying, "The emperor is truly a wonderful man. Ah Jing is blessed. Let's do as this is said. Zhaocheng will give each of these noble ladies an appropriate betrothal gift. Please tell the emperor."
Jia Yi could only respond, "I know, Your Majesty, please rest assured."
After talking about this matter, Jia Yi finally told the real purpose of his visit. He bowed heavily, prostrated himself on the ground, and kowtowed three times.
The ceremony was extremely grand and rare. Jia Yi raised his head and said, "Lord Zhao, your majesty's envoy has something to say to you.
Since ancient times, has there been any country that prospered without employing talented people?
Since ancient times, there have been talented people selected from slaves, talented people coming from the market, meritorious officials of the Han Dynasty included dog butchers and clerks. However, when I look at ancient and modern times, there are very few people who have become talented without studying.
When the Han Dynasty was first established, the country was still in a state of decline, so culture and prosperity were in decline. After several generations of emperors as regents, it has finally entered a prosperous era.
If a prosperous age does not have brilliant culture, it is like a person wearing gorgeous clothes but only going out at night. I think this is wrong.
I wish to promote culture and also to establish a great cause, so that the Chinese people will prosper forever. I want to build a Great Han Academy in Chang'an modeled after the old Luoyang Academy, so as to train talents for the Great Han.
I have allocated royal land and gold and silver and entrusted them to your noble nephew, the Marquis of Dong'e. However, the classics of hundreds of schools of thought are in a mess and contain many errors.
If we cannot understand the thoughts of the ancient sages, how can future generations gain insight into the wisdom contained therein?
I know that all the books in the world are in Zhaocheng, so I sent my ministers here to ask for books. I am willing to devote all my country's strength and sincerity to obtain the collection of books. "
After Jia Yi finished speaking, he waited quietly. The Luo family had collected books for a whole thousand years. Many people speculated that many of them were lost in the turbulent times, but the final result was that they were all intact!
It is amazing that the First Emperor, who was such a powerful man, was unable to cause any serious loss to Luo's collection of books!
If Liu Heng wanted to build a school, he had to gather people from all schools of thought in the world, but it was extremely difficult to gather these people.
In order to get closer to the imperial power, various schools of thought would indeed try their best to cater to it, but at the same time, these schools would in turn influence the policy implementation of the dynasty and even use their own ideas to transform the entire world.
For example, the Qin Dynasty was the product of the practice of penalists. Shang Yang and others used their ideas to transform the entire Qin State.
That cannot be achieved simply by suppressing it with imperial power; the most crucial thing is to obtain the right to interpret the scriptures.
This power lies in Zhaocheng, and all you need to do is get the source of the classics.
But the key question is, is the Luo family willing to share this power with the royal family?
It is impossible to take them all away. The depth of Luo's involvement in the Hundred Schools of Thought is unimaginable to people in the world. All the schools of thought that still exist in the world can be attributed to the Luo family.
However, many of them were abandoned by Luo, such as many servile factions within Confucianism, which were all rejected by Luo.
Luo Ling pondered and said, "I know what the emperor said. The Luo family is willing to provide the Han Dynasty with its collection of books.
Jia Qing only needs to reply to the emperor and ask him to send palace maids to Zhaocheng. Luo will display the books and have them copied and then brought back to Chang'an.
Luo's request was that the Han Dynasty should keep these books well and circulate them among the Chinese people. It would be bad if they were spread into the hands of barbarians.
When the army passes by and wants to educate them, we can spread culture to the barbarians."
Jia Yi did not expect Luo Ling to agree so readily. He was overjoyed and said quickly, "I will return to Chang'an to inform Your Majesty of the good news.
Lord, you are indeed a descendant of the Su King. You always care about the Chinese people in your heart. You are so noble and upright that I admire you very much."
Luo Ling looked at Jia Yi quietly without saying anything. When Jia Yi left the room, Luo Chen walked in from behind and asked, "Brother, is it so easy to hand over the collection of books to the Han court?"
Luo Ling changed his indifference and smiled softly, "These books are useless if they are simply kept in Zhaocheng. The Han court has been extremely wealthy in recent years and can afford to open a school. It is a good thing to use these books to cultivate talents.
Besides, we have to give the books to the Han court, but we have the final say on what to give.
Nowadays, the world is full of treacherous things. Let's give more books on the kingly way. Regardless of whether the Han court uses them or not, it's time to let the Mengshi Confucianism, the Spring and Autumn Confucianism and other schools of thought return to the center of the world."
Luo Chen suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity for the Luo family to influence the world again. The Han court wanted to expand its influence, and the Luo family wanted the school it was close to to occupy the mainstream of the world. This was a good opportunity for a win-win situation.
Luo Ling smiled softly and said, "Achen, do you think the emperor in Chang'an doesn't know about these things?
Don't you think he doesn't know that Luo would do this?
He knew it very well, but he was truly an outstanding king.
He is willing to rely on the reputation of the Luo family to make the world prosperous. He does not reject the strength of the Luo family, and does not think about getting rid of the Luo family to prove himself all day long. Instead, he trusts the Luo family and then uses the Luo family's foundation to achieve greater achievements for him.
This point alone makes him better than countless emperors in the world.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Ah Xin's life is that he trained a great king. I wonder if I will have the chance to see his achievements in the future."
Luo Chen was somewhat shocked by Luo Ling's high evaluation of Liu Heng, which was almost reaching the level of Emperor Taizu of Han, Liu Bang.
But thinking back on the brief time he had with the emperor, it was indeed extraordinary.
(End of this chapter)
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