Chapter 1587 Example
Are there no shortcomings today?
Of course there are, a lot of them, otherwise Wei Zhi wouldn't be scolding him every other day.
In order to set a good example for the emperor, Wei Zhi had no more than five servants in his household. Although he was a prime minister, he lived a life poorer than the average wealthy family.
However, Confucianism emphasizes that a son should not speak of his father's faults, so it is impossible for Confucius to teach the prince by using the examples of the current emperor and the previous emperor when he taught him the "Book of Filial Piety".
Most of the explanations of the "Book of Filial Piety" are based on the background of Emperors Wen, Jing and Wu of the Han Dynasty, or even earlier, talking about the Warring States Period, the Spring and Autumn Period, and the reign of the two Zhou dynasties.
If the prince was just an ordinary prince, he would definitely attend classes obediently, and maybe even become as filial as the emperor.
But this prince is not ordinary. He has a knot in his heart, and the emperor has not set a good example. Not to mention how he came to power, most recently, didn’t he ignore the empress dowager’s wishes and kill his own brother, the King of Yizhou, last year?
Don’t talk about dying on the battlefield. Others may not know, but how could the prince not know why?
It is said that parents' behavior is the easiest way for children to learn how to deal with things, and the prince is no exception.
The emperor always said that Prince Gong was most like him, but Mr. Zhuang felt that the crown prince was the one who most resembled the emperor.
It's just that one is introverted and the other is extroverted.
Both father and son had many faults, but Confucius was teaching the Book of Filial Piety and could not use the emperor as an example, so he could only keep admonishing the prince. One was earnest and sincere, while the other was full of annoyance. The teacher and student who had gotten along well before became at loggerheads with each other.
Mr. Zhuang did not treat the prince as an ordinary student, but more as a crown prince.
He had been thinking about what kind of prince he hoped the crown prince would be in the future, what kind of emperor he hoped he would become...
He thought about it for two months before deciding to be more relaxed in teaching the prince, and then to restrain himself a little when teaching him.
Not only did he speak out the mistakes of the present emperor without hesitation, but Mr. Zhuang also pointed out the bad things done during the reign of the previous emperor.
Then he asked the prince, do you want to make the same mistakes your parents made again, do you want to repeat what your parents regretted?
Mr. Zhuang said, "Your Highness is different from Your Majesty. I remember that court officials petitioned four times to depose the Crown Prince, but Your Majesty suppressed them all. Your Majesty's fatherly love still surpasses that of the late emperor."
This time, the prince no longer had a sarcastic look in his eyes, nor was he distracted. Instead, he remained silent for a long time.
Mr. Zhuang was talking until his mouth was dry. When he picked up the teapot to pour water, he found that there was no water. He looked outside and realized that time had passed very quickly. It was obvious that the sun outside was past noon.
Mr. Zhuang said, "Your Highness, let's end today's class here."
The Crown Prince stood up to leave, but Mr. Zhuang suddenly stopped him, "Your Highness, every relationship in this world requires interaction, even between father and son, and mother and son. You and Prince Gong are both His Majesty's legitimate sons, and you are the eldest. Have you ever thought about why His Majesty favors Prince Gong so much?"
The prince said directly: "Because the third child will cry."
Mr. Zhuang, who had already prepared his words, choked. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Manbao. He paused for a long time before finding his voice, "Your Highness, when you see His Majesty again, why not pour him a cup of tea, or ask about his health?"
The prince left immediately.
Eunuch Wu had been guarding outside the door. The two people spoke in voices that were not loud, but not low either. Moreover, as a eunuch, having a sharp ear was a basic element of survival, so he heard everything.
It was precisely because of what he heard that Eunuch Wu did not dare to let outsiders come and disturb them. He felt deeply that it was no wonder that Mr. Zhou and Mr. Bai were so bold, because the teacher who taught them was also very brave.
How dare you say these words to the prince?
No, how dare you say these words.
Even Kong Jijiu scolded the prince a lot, but he never dared to use His Majesty as a counterexample to the prince.
As soon as the Crown Prince came out, Eunuch Wu immediately trotted after him. After he had walked a distance and slowed down, he dared to catch up and whispered, "Your Highness, it's past noon. Would you like some food?"
The prince was still thinking about the class he had just attended, and responded halfheartedly. Instead of returning to the West Palace, he went directly to the Zhanshi Mansion.
Yang Heshu had not only eaten lunch but also taken a nap. He was currently enjoying afternoon tea. Seeing the Crown Prince enter, he immediately stood up and saluted. Then, he picked up the three memorials on his desk and presented them to the Crown Prince. "Your Highness, these are the memorials Zhou Man, Bai Shan, and others sent today. They're about the Imperial Hospital distributing anti-heat medicine. I've taken a look and think most of them are feasible. Would Your Highness like to take a look?"
The prince took the memorial, threw the other two on the table, and then opened one to read. As he looked at it, he felt something was wrong and asked, "The handwriting on these two pages is similar, but why do I feel like they don't seem to be written by the same person?"
Yang Heshu had been looking at their memorials all morning and had figured it out by now. He smiled and said, "This must have been written by Yin Huo and Bai Cheng. They both imitated Zhou Man's handwriting."
The prince turned to the end and read the signature. He saw four names on it. After a long silence, he closed the letter and asked, "What's the point of imitating? Can you write faster?"
Yang Heshu said, "Your Highness, look, the handwriting of their signatures is not exactly the same."
The prince looked at it carefully, then reached out and took the other two memorials to read. Yang Heshu introduced them to him, "This one should be written by Zhou Man himself, and this one should be written by Bai Shan himself. Your Highness can take a look at their suggestions. These four children are good, and even the expenses are listed one by one, but it's not complete."
These children obviously forgot that officials would incur losses and expenses when they went to the countryside to provide disaster relief.
The prince scanned it quickly. The memorial written by Bai Shan was quite concise, while the one written by Bai Cheng and Yin Huo was mostly statistical data. The prince only paid attention to the specific numbers when scanning them and then skipped over them. After scanning them once, he realized that their writing was not complete.
But they are all very practical suggestions.
The prince pondered for a moment, then tapped the table and asked, "Isn't Zhou Man the imperial physician of the Imperial Hospital? The Imperial Medical Bureau was her idea. Why didn't she give the memorial to Xiao Yuanzheng?"
Yang Heshu smiled and said, "Your Highness, I am currently in charge of the establishment of the Imperial Medical Bureau, and Your Highness is overseeing it. There will be no problem submitting the memorial to the Imperial Household Department."
The prince raised his head and glanced at Yang Heshu. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Send Zhou Man here. I will ask her."
Yang Heshu agreed and turned to ask a eunuch to go find someone. However, the eunuch soon returned to report, "Master Zhou went to Daming Palace and hasn't returned yet."
The prince was catching up on his lunch at the moment. Upon hearing this, he looked at the water clock in the corner of the room and immediately knew that Zhou Man was playing in the Daming Palace again.
He had seen Zhou Man taking the Crown Princess's pulse. Basically, he just felt her pulse, touched her belly, and talked to her. It would take at most fifteen minutes.
The rest of the time is basically spent playing.
The prince felt a little unbalanced when he thought that he was so busy that he had to squeeze out time even to eat, and she, as his subordinate, was so idle.
(End of this chapter)
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