Chapter 354: Heart is Reason, Conscience, Unity of Knowledge and Action
When Mr. Song was led away from the bustling street and walked to a quiet alley next door, he saw Zhao Duan lazily half-leaning and half-lying in the carriage.
The carriage stopped quietly on the cobblestone road.
The windshield curtains were lifted wide. Zhao Duan was still flipping through a few Confucian books annotated by Mr. Zhengyang. He put the books down and smiled.
"Mr. Song, how are you?"
The moment he saw this empress's favorite who was known as the "Little King of Hell", Mr. Song, who was about fifty years old, shuddered all over, and the passion in his heart suddenly cooled.
It's like being stripped naked and having a bucket of water poured over your head in the dead of winter.
He opened and closed his lips, and stammered, "Imperial Envoy Zhao..."
Zhao Duan raised his hand and said with a smile:
"Don't call me an imperial envoy. After I return to the capital, I am no longer an imperial envoy. Well, how is Taicang after I leave?"
Mr. Song finally came to his senses, calmed himself down, and began to tell the story of what happened next.
It's not too surprising. After Zhao Duan left, the prefect Sun Xiaozheng took control of the overall situation.
The other criminals involved in the silver mine case were interrogated one by one, and the case was gradually investigated in depth. The entire government prison was overcrowded for a while.
As one of the people involved in the case, Mr. Song was also called in for questioning by Sun Xiaozhun several times. Although he returned safe and sound every time, Mr. Song witnessed with his own eyes that several families in the city with deeper roots than Songjiazhuang were thrown into jail by the prefect and their property was confiscated.
This caused a huge shock to the old scholar who had lived a peaceful life for most of his life.
Afterwards, his mentor Zhengyang passed through Taicang, and he went to escort him.
He entered the city in a daze and learned the news of Gao Lian and Wang Chusheng's death.
"As long as everything is stable," Zhao Duan nodded, as if chatting with an old friend, but suddenly changed the subject and said:
"I heard that you followed Mr. Zhengyang to the capital. Did you just come back from the Imperial College?"
Mr. Song suddenly looked a bit shorter and nodded reluctantly:
"Master has come to the capital, and as a disciple, I should serve him..."
He is very panicked!
Although he had the protection of the "Zhengyang School", he knew that it would be effortless for this man to kill him after seeing Zhao Duan's methods.
"Haha, don't be nervous," Zhao Duan said as if to reveal his thoughts:
"Mr. Zhengyang has come here to issue a declaration of war to the imperial court. However, although I am a military man, I have always respected scholars with great learning. Mr. Zhengyang's name is also well-known to me.
I wanted to visit you in person, but it's not convenient after all. Oh, I happened to see you here, Mr. Song. It's just right. I have some doubts in my studies. Could you please help me solve them? "
He shook Mr. Zhengyang's representative work "Collected Commentaries on the Six Characters" in his hand.
Mr. Song was stunned. This King of Hell stopped him just to ask for advice?
"I am not very knowledgeable and I wonder what doubts Lord Zhao has."
Zhao Duan asked with a smile:
"What is the correct path for scholars to follow in their studies and conduct?"
That's it? Mr. Song was surprised. This question was exactly the topic of the academic discussion four days later, so he was naturally familiar with it. He said:
"The sages say that to investigate things and attain knowledge, to be sincere and upright in heart... is virtue. To investigate things should mean to thoroughly understand the principles of things and to achieve the highest level of understanding..."
As a disciple of Zhengyang, this set of theories is naturally the typical concept of the Zhengyang school, and is also the more orthodox theory in the Confucian academic circles of the Dayu Dynasty.
The so-called "upholding orthodox learning" is not about being new and innovative, but about tracing back to its origins and bringing out the theory anew.
Zhao Duan showed a look of sudden realization, then frowned and said:
"I read in this book that this is what it says. But a few days ago, I heard a different story that contradicts this book, so I'm confused."
Mr. Song asked curiously, "May I ask what you heard?"
Zhao Duan said calmly:
"Oh, something like 'the heart is the principle,' 'reaching conscience,' 'unity of knowledge and action,' or something like that."
Seeing that Zhao Duan had no intention of killing him and the conversation had entered the area he was most familiar with, Mr. Song also relaxed a lot. He couldn't help but laugh when he heard this:
"This statement is truly...novel."
He deliberately used the neutral word "novel", but he felt disdainful in his heart.
There are too many scholars in the world who are unconventional and like to come up with new words. At first glance, their words may sound mysterious, but their purpose is nothing more than to show off themselves and seek fame.
Mr. Song had been studying for decades and was accustomed to such things. He instinctively looked down on them, thinking that they were just some crazy student who was deliberately making weird remarks to attract attention.
But due to Zhao Duan's status, it is not easy to belittle him.
"Sir Zhao, I can only say that in all my years of reading, I have never heard a saint say something similar," he said tactfully.
"Is that so?" Zhao Duan said with a smile, a little disappointed.
"I understand. Haha, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."
"Uh... I dare not waste your time, sir." Mr. Song bowed and watched the carriage rumble away.
…
After making sure that the carriage had left, he stood there blankly, frowning, feeling that something was very strange.
Am I overthinking it?
Could it be that they really just met me by chance and chatted with me for a while?
Yes, what could a small local scholar like me do? Was he worthy of being targeted by the empress's favorite minister?
Thinking of this, his brows relaxed, and he felt relieved. He started walking back, but after only a few dozen steps, his brows furrowed again.
"The heart is the principle, the conscience is the truth, and knowledge and action are the unity..."
"This... seems..."
When I first heard it, I thought it was nonsense, but now when I think about it, it is like a ten-year-old tea, which gradually reveals its flavor.
Mr. Song was thinking about this sentence, and unknowingly walked back to the inn where he was staying.
More than one hundred disciples of the Zhengyang School entered the city, and naturally one inn could not accommodate them all, so they were dispersed to live in several inns.
Mr. Song was unable to live with his mentor, and had to live in the same house with several of his fellow apprentices.
He went upstairs in a daze, and suddenly a door on one side opened and he accidentally bumped into it.
"Ah, Junior Brother Song, were you hit? Are you hurt?"
The person who walked out of the room was a middle-aged man with extraordinary bearing and spirit, about thirty or forty years old, but he called the older Mr. Song "Junior Brother".
This person's name is Lu Cheng. He is one of Mr. Zhengyang's most proud students. He is the "senior brother" of all the disciples and the only disciple in the Zhengyang school who has truly received the "true teachings".
As the saying goes, there is no age limit in learning, the wisest one can be the teacher, so the term "junior brother" is not abrupt.
"Senior Brother Lu, I'm fine, just thinking about something." Mr. Song came back to his senses and waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.
Lu Cheng smiled and said, "Hey, you came back alone?"
"Well," Mr. Song briefly explained how his team was kicked out of the Imperial College.
Then, he said almost in a mysterious way:
"Brother, there's something I'm confused about. When I came back, I ran into a... uh, someone I knew. We chatted and mentioned Zhengxue, and he brought up a point that I can't understand."
Lu Cheng smiled and said, "Oh? Tell me about it."
"The heart is the principle, which leads to conscience, and knowledge and action are unified."
"...This is...interesting. Let me think about it."
"Okay, I'll go back to my room first and come back to ask for advice from my senior brother later."
Mr. Song said goodbye, knowing that matters like learning must be carefully considered.
…
Lu Cheng returned to the room, closed the door, and chewed over these words.
At first I didn't care much, but gradually, my brows began to furrow.
He sat for a while and felt his mouth was dry. He stood up, picked up the teapot and poured himself some water. But while he was pouring the water, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed through his mind.
It was like being struck by lightning!
The mind is the principle...
To Conscience...
Knowledge and action...unity?
Lu Cheng was struck by lightning, his brain was suddenly frightened and he entered a state of deep thinking. His eyes were dull, but countless thoughts were floating in his mind.
“Huahua…”
The tea overflowed from the cup, but he didn't notice it. He let the whole pot of water flow onto the table and then drip onto the ground.
Completely unaware!
"That's not right...that's not right...that's a heresy, how can that be possible!?"
"But...if that's really the case, then how do we explain the concept of "investigating things to attain knowledge"? Isn't my teacher's explanation completely wrong? Was the fundamental direction wrong from the very beginning? How is that even possible?"
"But, if you think so, isn't it..."
Thoughts are like swimming fish, leaping up and falling in the sea of mind, creating ripples and brewing storms.
I don’t know how long it took.
"Brother... I want to ask you a question..."
Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and it was Mr. Song who had returned.
He was talking, but he was stunned the next second, staring blankly at the tea flowing freely in the room, the wet books, and the teapot that was casually thrown on the table and almost rolled on the edge of the table.
And Senior Brother Lu, who was pacing back and forth in the room, muttering to himself, as if possessed by a demon.
"Senior brother, what are you doing..." Mr. Song was stunned.
However, Senior Brother Lu, who had always been well-rested, had a gentlemanly demeanor, and treated others gently and politely, had a distorted expression and was obviously not in a good state.
Hearing the noise, Lu Cheng turned around, revealing his slightly red eyes.
"Ah..." Song Juren was shocked, "Brother, what are you doing..."
Lu Cheng took a deep breath, and the confusion and madness in his eyes receded, returning to clarity. He smiled apologetically, rubbed his face, and said:
"I thought of something and lost my composure a little."
Lu Cheng thought for a moment, then said to Mr. Song, who was still bewildered:
"I'm also confused about what you're asking me. How about this, I'll go out and ask my mentor for advice."
Mr. Song was taken aback. His knowledge was not solid enough, and he only felt that these words seemed mysterious, but he had not yet fully appreciated their deep meaning.
He was shocked to see that even his fellow students in the school, whose knowledge was second only to his teacher, could not answer the question.
"But it's already dark..." He stuttered slightly, "At this time..."
But Lu Cheng didn't listen at all and walked out. The sound of his footsteps coming down the stairs could be heard:
"It's still early. There's still time."
"Brother Lu? Where are you going?"
At this time, at the door of the inn, the disciples of the Zhengyang School who had gone out happened to come back and couldn't help asking.
Lu Cheng just waved his hand, without any detailed explanation, and ran out of the inn, leaving a group of people looking at each other in confusion.
…
Dusk has arrived and the capital city is shrouded in darkness.
Lu Cheng continued on his way and arrived at another more magnificent inn. He found that the guests outside the building were gradually dispersing. They had all come to visit Mr. Zhengyang after hearing the news.
Just to avoid disturbing the master, almost all the guests were stopped by the disciples at the door.
"Senior Brother Lu? You're here?" a disciple asked in surprise.
Lu Cheng nodded and said, "I have something to ask you, sir."
"The gentleman is in his room at the inn."
"good."
Since they are family, there is no reason to stop them.
Lu Cheng walked through the crowd and arrived at the backyard of the inn, where he found a private room specially reserved for Zhengyang to live in.
At this moment, the lights in the house were on.
After Lu Cheng knocked on the door and entered the room, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a Confucian robe, a square hat, and a beautiful beard sitting behind a desk, flipping through books, preparing for the debate in a few days.
"Lu Cheng," Mr. Zhengyang raised his head and smiled, "Why are you here at this time?"
Lu Cheng bowed respectfully, observing the etiquette of a disciple, and then said:
"Sir, I have a question about something I don't understand, so I came to ask for your advice."
(End of this chapter)
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