Chapter 383 Pre-war preparations, sudden changes before the war!
Chang'an City.
It was noon, and the blazing sun was baking the earth recklessly. Some of the soldiers on duty were already sweating profusely. From time to time, their colleagues would complain, "This damn weather is getting hotter and hotter, and it's only been a few months."
But no one dared to relax, because the place they were guarding was called the Imperial Academy, and there were students inside who were studying the classics of sages and would become officials in the future. If they relaxed now and offended those students, they would surely suffer the consequences in the future.
With the death of Emperor Xiaowen, the knights-errant who had disappeared seemed to have some signs of revival near Chang'an in recent years. In the countryside, there were people carrying swords and claiming to be so-and-so knights. Among these people, there were good and bad people. Although there were some who were indeed very righteous and quite similar to the Mohists of the past, there were more who were not up to the standard and had turned to the evil way of bandits. These guards were there to guard against these people.
Imperial College.
One of the holy places in the hearts of all those who aspire to conquer the world in the Han Empire is the Luo Academy in Zhaocheng. These two academies, one in Guandong and the other in Guanzhong, are two pearls in the hearts of scholars all over the world.
However, there are still some differences between the two. Taixue is used to study classics, and with the status of Taixue students, one can enter officialdom more quickly, while Luo's Academy is more like a place for further study, because it has the most complete classics in the world, the most annotations by sages, and the lectures of Luo's disciples who have devoted their entire lives to studying classics. In the past, when King Luo Wen returned to Zhaocheng to worship his ancestors, he gave several lectures, and the streets were deserted at that time.
There has always been a legend circulating in the world that the doctors who can give lectures in Zhaocheng Academy are at least at the level of eminent scholars of various schools, and even the best among them can be called "Zi".
If he could replace Luo's son in taking charge of the academy and serve as the chief priest, he would become a saint instantly, just like Laozi, Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, etc. in the past, who are all recognized saints, one level higher than other sages called "Zi".
In simple terms, the Luo Academy was used to prove the truth, and its status was extremely high. Its position in the hearts of the people could not be shaken by the Imperial Academy at all.
However, the Imperial Academy also has its own advantages, that is, the emperor often pays attention to it. The Imperial Academy's chief academic officer is a higher-ranking official than the two thousand stone official. Although Luo Jing currently holds the position concurrently, his status can be seen from the level of the official position.
In the Imperial College, a group of young people were standing scattered in a very large open space. These young people were basically dressed in literati attire. Except for the Mohist, the others' attire was similar. These young people were naturally the students of the Imperial College, and they were gathered here having a heated debate.
However, as the debate progressed, many people's hands had gradually been placed on the swords at their waists, and some even began to look for relatively empty places around them. Then, these people's behavior was discovered.
After all, it is too obvious. You are debating with someone, and he suddenly stares at you fiercely without saying anything, with a murderous look on his face and ready to draw his sword. How can you not know that he is going to draw his sword and stab you to death?
"Why are you drawing your sword? Are you planning to commit atrocities in this holy land of Taixue? Don't think that I, Huang Lao, am afraid of you Confucians!"
He spoke very firmly, but he still felt a little uneasy in his heart. There was something wrong with the Confucian scholars in the Imperial Academy.
There were also some very tough Confucian scholars in the past, such as Mengru, who dared to call the emperor a tyrant in the face of the knife of the First Emperor. He was also tough in the face of Emperor Gaozu who did not like Confucian scholars very much. However, that kind of toughness was mainly directed at the emperor and the powerful, and it was a kind of unyielding spirit in his bones.
But since the new doctor Dong Zhongshu entered the Imperial College, the atmosphere changed suddenly. Instead of arguing, they would just go straight to fighting. It was really outrageous. The debate is about reason, and the one who has reason should win.
Even many Confucianists thought that these people were mentally ill. They even said confidently: "This is the teaching of the saints. Without generations of sages holding swords, how could the Chinese nation have its current vast territory and prosperous society!"
The situation was not improved until Luo Jing stepped in to stop it. The debate was indeed about principles, and physics could be used to promote principles to the barbarians, but one still had to debate principles among one's own people. After all, the more one debated, the clearer the principles became, and the more one debated, the more progress one made. Just like during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the reason why progress was so fast was largely because each school of thought attacked each other's weaknesses every day, forcing them to make progress.
Even within the Luo family, there are debates from time to time. Sometimes the Luo family doesn't know which direction to go, and needs to gather everyone's wisdom to jointly identify and fill in the gaps.
"Now is the heyday of the Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu are powerful and have repeatedly invaded the borders of the Han Dynasty and plundered the people of the Han Dynasty in recent years. How can such a humiliation be tolerated?
The Hu people are strong and this is a danger to all of China. If we don't get rid of them soon, they will become a threat one day. In such a great era, you Huang Lao are still clinging to the old ways, saying things like "small countries with few people will bring order to the world" and "wealth will be stored in the people, and the court will not interfere, and the country will naturally become prosperous." Even a wise ruler like Emperor Xiaowen used Confucianism to govern the country, but you still don't think about making progress. Now you are still here debating with me. Leave immediately, I won't say any more to you."
The barrage of words made the Huang-Lao students on the opposite side blush. After Liu Heng established the Imperial Academy in the later period, the Han court not only used Confucian scholars as officials, but also began to gradually abandon the Huang-Lao philosophy of governing the country and began to use the Confucian philosophy of governing the country.
Although it did not reach the point of abolishing all schools of thought, other doctrines were already in a subordinate position. The only thing to be thankful for was that Liu Heng consciously balanced the number of officials from various schools in the court. This meant that other schools did not need to disguise themselves as Confucian scholars to become officials as had been done in history, but could still enter the court with the identity of Huang-Lao students, or even Legalist or Mohist students.
But the problem is that there are endless Confucian talents who value education, especially in the interpretation of classics, who have gradually surpassed other schools of thought.
Then the Confucian scholars of the Spring and Autumn Period began to actively build momentum for the war, but some schools of thought lagged behind, and naturally declined even more. In the Imperial Academy today, it is the Dong family of Confucian scholars who are debating with each other, while other Confucian schools are following behind and stabbing from time to time. The Mencius scholars are firmly occupying their own position, always preaching the concept of the kingly way, and preventing the various schools from going to extremes.
"That's really alarmist. The Han Dynasty is the ruler of all the Chinese people, and it is the destiny of the country. In the past, the territory of the Chinese people was only a thousand miles, the population was only a million, and the barbarians were everywhere. Yet, we were able to survive at that time and have the foundation we have today.
Now the Xia have thousands of miles of territory and tens of millions of people, while the Hu people are only in the millions, a ten-fold difference. Can they still pose a threat to the Han Dynasty?
Once a war breaks out, corvée labor and military service will be imposed, and countless grain, cloth, weapons, and people will be wasted. What good will this do for the Han Dynasty?
Is it to let some people dye his seal and red robe red with the blood of the people? "
As soon as these words came out, even his companions pulled him back and told him to stop talking. Through the continuous publicity in the past few years, a trend has gradually emerged among the people, and now people have to fight even if they don't want to. It is no longer something that can be controlled by one person.
Upon hearing this, the scholar put away his sword and sneered, "Foolish, I don't want to talk to you any more. Your Majesty's decree will tell the world what the general trend is."
…
In Changle Palace, Liu Che was looking at the feedback submitted by the governors and ministers from all over the country with great interest, and said excitedly: "This is the people's hearts. With such people's hearts, how can we fail?"
The human heart is the most tenacious and easiest to change thing in the world. In recent years, through the continuous advocacy of the Confucian scholars of the Spring and Autumn Period, the idea of incompatibility between the Han Dynasty and the Huns has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Coupled with the constant small-scale harassment by the Huns, the theory of the Spring and Autumn Confucians' theory of "only one king" has been verified. Everyone firmly believes that if the Huns are not eliminated, then it will be the Han Dynasty that will be eliminated in the end. Fighting the Huns has gradually become politically correct, and more and more people have written to the emperor. Liu Che has not expressed his position or spoken, but this attitude is a hint, so more and more people have written to the emperor.
"Report!"
A loud report was heard outside Changle Palace. Liu Che's face tightened when he heard it. This kind of news that was not announced in advance was military intelligence. The attendant hurried in, holding a battle report and said urgently: "Your Majesty, the Huns have invaded the northern border in small groups again, killing thousands of people in the counties and states. Nearly fifty Han soldiers were killed, and thousands of people were looted."
Liu Che's face was instantly filled with anger. Thousands of people were killed or injured, and thousands were looted. This was a slap in his face. Moreover, fifty Han soldiers were killed. Those who were recorded in the book must be regular Han soldiers. There were only 20,000 to 30,000 Han soldiers like this in the whole Chang'an City. They were the foundation of the Han court's deterrence to all directions. How could fifty of them be injured in this incident?
"What about the Huns?"
Liu Che forced himself to suppress his anger. What if the Huns suffered greater casualties? He couldn't issue an edict based solely on the casualties on his own side.
The attendant knelt on the ground. He was so close to Liu Che that he could clearly feel the emperor's anger. He was afraid that the emperor would kill him if he was in a bad mood. A eunuch had no status, so he said tremblingly: "Reporting to your majesty, behead thirteen people."
This sentence instantly made Liu Che burst into anger. Even if the casualties were one to one, it was normal, but one to five, wasn't that embarrassing?
"What do Captain Yanshan and King Yanshan do for food?"
Liu Che drew out the sword beside him and shouted, "It is my duty to defend the land. Is this how these two losers defend the land for me?
Convey my decree, strip King Yanshan of his title, and make him come to Chang'an to apologize. Captain Yanshan will escort him directly to Chang'an. I will ask him whether he wants to go to Lingnan or Qiongzhou.
In addition, immediately summon the general, the prime minister, the Marquis of Dong'e, and Dong Zhongshu. We have been preparing for war for so long, I can no longer endure it. I will make the Xiongnu pay with blood!"
(End of this chapter)
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