Chapter 14 The Mastermind [Read More]
Chang'an County Government Office.
Li Nuo looked at the two lines of words on the code and was extremely excited.
"Name: Li Nuo."
"Lifespan: 26 days."
This morning, he had only ten days left to live, but now it has increased to nearly a month.
Six of these days were due to Cui Ze's three-year prison sentence and exile of 3,000 miles. The presence or absence of 100 strokes of the cane had no effect on the increase or decrease of his lifespan. As for the death sentence of the woman who killed her husband, it added a full ten days to Li Nuo's lifespan, which was the sentence that increased the most lifespan so far.
The punishments in Daxia were divided into five categories: flogging, caning, imprisonment, exile, and death.
So far, according to Li Nuo's experiments, only imprisonment or above can increase his lifespan. The maximum imprisonment in Daxia is three years, and the maximum exile is three thousand miles. Therefore, imprisonment and exile can increase his lifespan by three days at most, while the death penalty can increase it by ten days.
In this way, it is actually more cost-effective to sentence them to life imprisonment or exile ten thousand miles away. However, since prisoners also need to eat, it is a waste of food to keep them for a long time. The maximum prison sentence in Daxia is three years. If you feel that three years of prison sentence is not enough, then add exile. If exile is still not enough, it is better to just behead the prisoner.
As for why the farthest exile was only three thousand miles away, it was because any farther would no longer be the territory of Daxia.
Pei Zhe had been standing beside Li Nuo, watching him write different judgments. The sentences in each judgment were different. Although he didn't know why he did this, this was not the only thing about Li Nuo that he couldn't understand.
No wonder his handwriting is so good since he loves writing so much.
The strange thing is that he writes well but doesn't know many words - some of the fool's behaviors are really hard for normal people to understand.
Writing with a brush is really an tiring task. Li Nuo put down the brush and was about to rub his sore wrist when he suddenly heard a melodious sound of music.
The music was melodious and plaintive. No one knew what instrument was playing it. It reached its climax and then stopped abruptly. The listeners were neither in tune nor in tune. Li Nuo walked to the door and looked around. Pei Zhe asked, "What are you looking for, young master?"
Li Nuo asked in confusion: "Someone was playing the piano just now, didn't you hear it?"
Pei Zhe smiled and said, "Of course I heard it. The man was playing Yunmen, one of the Six Musics. The passage just now was from the seventh section of the ninth chapter of Yunmen. It was played with the Confucian Haoran Qi. The music was very penetrating. Sometimes it sounded close to my ears, but in fact it was miles away. However, the music sounded a little unfamiliar. I wonder which Confucian student at the beginner level was learning the Six Musics to prepare for the imperial examination. Qi music is not allowed in Chang'an City. He must have been careless..."
Li Nuo was slightly surprised: "Master Pei also understands music?"
Pei Zhe stroked his beard and said with some pride: "I am also a Confucian disciple. I have studied the six arts since I was young, and I also know a little about music."
In fact, "having a basic understanding" was just his humble statement. The imperial examination tests the "Six Arts". Not all Confucian disciples are proficient in music, but Confucian disciples who pass the imperial examination and are on the list of successful candidates must be proficient in all six arts, including rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy and mathematics.
The imperial examinations at that time were more competitive than they are now. There were hundreds of thousands of candidates, but only dozens of them could actually become Jinshi and obtain an official position. Only one person out of ten thousand was chosen, truly one in ten thousand. Any one of these people might not be able to master each of the six arts to the top, but they would definitely not have any obvious weaknesses.
It’s just that these things will rarely be used after the imperial examination, and will gradually become obsolete due to lack of practice.
When mentioning the Chang'an County Magistrate, the first impression that came to Li Nuo's mind was that of a cowardly and unreliable person.
Although he was not very reliable, he knew the "Daxia Code" very well. He could read the precise provisions by just flipping through it. He could know the chapters of a piece of music by just listening to the sound of the piano, and infer the identity and realm of the player, and even what he was about to do, which made Li Nuo look at him with admiration.
Li Nuo remembered that Wu Guanjia once said that the Confucian way of cultivating oneself, managing the family, governing the country, and pacifying the world can cultivate a great spirit and be fearless of everything, but he had never seen it, so he asked the Chang'an County Magistrate: "I wonder what level of great spirit Master Pei has cultivated?"
Confucianism cultivates the Six Arts, and abilities are also related to the Six Arts.
The first three realms are still in the stage of nourishing Qi, and have no offensive power, but strong defense. The Haoran true Qi protects the body and is immune to the power of various schools.
When one reaches the fourth level, a qualitative change will occur, and one will be able to condense into a cloud of righteous energy and fly in the sky, which corresponds to the "control" in the Six Arts.
When one reaches the fifth level, one can comprehend the majestic sound and, by playing it with ordinary musical instruments, can cause large-scale group damage, which corresponds to the "music" in the six arts.
The sixth realm is already a semi-saint in Confucianism, and can condense arrows of righteousness in the void, which corresponds to the "shooting" in the six arts. Warriors in the sixth realm have to retreat when seeing it.
I heard that the Confucian cloud of righteousness can fly in the air for a long time, and can make rapid progress every day. Even the warriors at the level of controlling objects cannot do this. At most they can fly in the air for a quarter of an hour before their true energy is exhausted.
Hearing Li Nuo's words, Pei Zhe was stunned, then lowered his head silently.
Li Nuo looked at him and said, "Master Pei, don't be stingy. I just want to see it. Master Pei has been practicing for so long, you should have reached the fourth level of Confucianism. Condense a cloud of righteousness and let me open my eyes..."
…
A moment later, at the gate of Chang'an County Government.
Before getting on the carriage, Butler Wu coughed lightly and reminded Li Nuo, "Young Master, when you meet a Confucian in the future, it's best not to ask them what level of Haoran Qi they have cultivated. This is very rude..."
Li Nuo was puzzled. "Why?"
Butler Wu explained helplessly: "The Confucian way is to cultivate oneself, manage the family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. These nine words are easy to say but difficult to do. Young people are fearless and uphold justice in their hearts, so they can naturally cultivate a sense of righteousness. But once they enter the court as officials, after a long time, few people can stick to their original intentions. If their original intentions are gone, it will be difficult for their righteousness to advance, and they may even regress. Some people have been officials for a long time and cannot even gather a trace of righteousness..."
“…”
It turns out that in this world, both Confucianists and Legalists are subject to some invisible shackles.
Objectively speaking, Legalism is not allowed to be practiced. Practicing Legalism will offend many powerful people and encounter obstacles from outside.
Confucianism cannot be cultivated subjectively. It is easy to maintain one's original heart for a period of time, but it is difficult to maintain one's original heart for a lifetime. Especially after entering the officialdom and facing all kinds of temptations, how many people can maintain their pure original heart?
Cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the country, and pacifying the world are the highest ideals of Confucian disciples. The ideals are very full, but the reality is very skinny. Those who recite these sentences every day, once they enter the officialdom and become vested interests, it will be difficult for them to go back to their original ways.
This manifests itself in cultivation, where there is stagnation or even a significant regression.
While other schools of thought became stronger and stronger, Confucianism became weaker and weaker.
However, as a stepping stone to enter officialdom, even though Confucianism has become weaker and weaker, countless people still flock to it.
Steward Wu sighed and said, "The fifth realm of martial arts is not rare, but if one cultivates the Haoran Qi to the fifth realm, he can become a great scholar and be admired by thousands of people. Unfortunately, there are not many such people in the whole of Daxia, and even the fourth realm is rare..."
Li Nuo thought to himself, although Confucianism and Legalism are considered to be very powerful among all schools of thought, the conditions for practicing are so harsh. Compared with martial arts, they are not very competitive. How could they not decline?
No wonder the Chang'an County Magistrate did not answer his question and seemed to be in a bad mood afterwards.
Thinking of something, he suddenly asked, "Isn't my father also a Confucianist? What level has he reached in his practice?"
Butler Wu smiled, but did not give a direct answer. He just said, "I don't know the answer to this question either. Young Master, go ask the Master yourself later..."
Li Nuo shook his head. To be honest, he was not very familiar with the father. Even if he met him, he could not ask these questions.
Just as Li Nuo's carriage was slowly driving towards the Li Mansion.
Chang'an County Government Office.
Pei Zhe had just sent Li Nuo away and hadn't had time to breathe a sigh of relief when the jailer came running over in a panic and whispered in his ear, "Sir, this is bad! Zhang Xiaoyun committed suicide in prison!"
(End of this chapter)
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