Fang Yingwu both understood and failed to understand the meaning of Mr. Shang's reply. What he understood was that Mr. Shang told him to use this matter to understand the principles of officialdom. What he didn't understand was that Mr. Shang wanted him to
Understand the truth.
People who are accustomed to exam-oriented education will always be at a loss when suddenly faced with heuristic education. Fang Yingwu, who has just been freed from the sea of eight-legged essay questions, is extremely distressed. Shang Xianggong's characteristic of never speaking clearly in key places,
It's really heart-wrenching.
Why are you kidding me at this time? Why don't you give me a clear stance? You suddenly authorize him to express your stance on his behalf. You call it actual combat training. Are you not afraid of being tricked?
Your old man is the first and assistant prime minister who has just taken office, so you can speak freely? You don't have to worry about overwhelming him if you ask him to be your spokesperson.
He is completely ignorant of the inside situation, so how can he tell the official? Are you saying that you are dissatisfied with what the official is doing, or are you just saying politely that you appreciate the integrity and selflessness of the official?
Although as a scholar, it is a habit to speak for others, and writing stereotypes is the so-called speech on behalf of the saint. But that is only nonsense after reading Zhu Xi's annotations. At this moment, he does not understand Shang Xianggong's thoughts, how can he speak for the prime minister?
With so many questions and the huge pressure of speaking for the prime minister, little boy Fang is destined to have insomnia tonight.
He lay on the bed, tossing and turning and couldn't fall asleep. He got out of bed and went outside, lit an oil lamp and read the scriptures. However, this tried and tested method failed and he still couldn't fall asleep. He walked out of the house again and walked around in the courtyard, falling asleep even more.
No more.
Finally, Fang Yingwu felt that he would not be able to sleep tonight, so he made up his mind and climbed up to the roof, sat on the ridge and stared at the moon, meditating hard.
All questions have rules, and the answer can only be found by solving the questions according to the rules. If this is regarded as an official question, what are the official rules it is based on? It seems that eight out of ten online official texts I read in my previous life said so.
Exchange of benefits.
When it comes to the word profit, we all know that everything in the world is about profit, and everything in the world is about profit, but there seems to be something missing. If we only talk about profit, it is a businessman, not an officialdom. There are other factors in officialdom.
What did the sage say? A flash of enlightenment suddenly flashed through Fang Yingwu's mind, and he somehow remembered a sentence he had read while studying recently.
In the Analects of Confucius, Zi once said, a gentleman is a metaphor for righteousness, a villain is a metaphor for benefit!
But Zi did not say that those who are concerned with righteousness must be a gentleman, and those who are concerned with benefit must be a villain.
So who is the gentleman and who is the villain?
In other words, who is a gentleman and who is a villain?
Fang Yingwu felt that he had grasped the key point, and became slightly excited. He devoted his whole body and mind to meditation, as if he had forgotten all the cause and effect in the outside world. After a quarter of an hour, he finally came to a conclusion——
You should treat yourself as a gentleman and treat others as villains, treat yourself as righteous and treat others as beneficial;
You should also treat yourself as a villain and treat others as gentlemen. Treat yourself as a benefit and treat others as a righteous person. This is officialdom!
The conversion process between being beneficial to others and being beneficial to oneself is the game of officialdom!
Maybe everyone has a set of rules in their mind, but the most common official rule is the conversion and game of justice and benefit!
In an instant, Fang Yingwu had an epiphany because of this sage's words. Immediately, the great pleasure of enlightenment washed over his body. He felt that his realm was truly beyond ordinary people!
No wonder you have to read the Four Books and Five Classics before becoming an official. The sages’ insights are indeed profound and meaningful. It depends on whether you can understand that the secret of luck lies in one mind.
For a moment, Fang Yingwu felt that everything in the world was transparent and transparent, and reflected in his heart as if he were standing on the sky looking down at all living beings. Although this was just an illusion and illusion caused by the expansion of self-confidence after enlightenment,
In fact this cannot be the case.
After cracking the question, Fang Yingwu felt relieved and couldn't help but stand on the roof and laugh heartily at the moon. The loud voice echoed in the silent mountain village late at night, almost waking up the whole village from their sweet dreams.
Seeing that it was Mr. Fang standing on the ridge of the roof, the villagers had no choice but to endure it. It was normal for gods and men to have their own way.
Since then, the legend of the child prodigy's enlightenment on the moon appeared in Shanghuaxi Village, and later spread to Chun'an County, and then to Quanyan Prefecture, and will continue to spread as Fang Yingwu's fame increases.
Sixteen years later, a whimsical young man surnamed Wang also learned from Fang Yingwu and realized Taoism by facing the moon. However, he was a little unlucky and accidentally fell from the ladder. When he was recovering from his injuries, he had to face the moon in the courtyard.
The bamboo in a daze created another mysterious and mysterious allusion.
Of course, enlightenment is just enlightenment, not ascension. He cannot go to heaven and has to return to the ground. Fang Yingwu began to think again, what are his benefits? What are the benefits of the great master? How does he deal with the great master?
His interests, in the near future, are to be admitted as a scholar, and in the long term, he will be successful in the examination. These are all within the scope of the Grand Master's authority. And the Grand Master's interest is to find out Shang Xianggong's attitude?
If you think about it carefully, this is actually not the case. This is the interest of his backstage, but not the interest of the Grand Master. It should be said that the interest of the Grand Master is to obtain continued support from the backstage through this matter.
So why does his backstage pay so much attention to a minister who has become an official? Now that he has become an official, he cannot exert any actual influence on the temple, and without deliberately paying attention, the influence of the official who became an official will gradually fade away. This is an irreversible natural phenomenon, so
What else is anyone worried about?
Thinking about it from another angle, how can a chief minister who becomes an official really affect the interests of another prime minister? It seems that there is only one possibility, that is, Shang Xianggong recovers and returns to the dynasty to continue to be the chief minister.
So that’s it, some people are afraid that Shang Xianggong will retaliate! After thinking through this point, all the mysteries that made Fang Yingwu inexplicable were solved.
Last year, Shang Xianggong's resignation was very sudden and looked very rash. But the more rashly he resigns, the easier it is to come back again, and there is a precedent for Shang Xianggong's resumption after being dismissed from office, so some people are bound to be worried.
In fact, Fang Yingwu knew that Mr. Shang returned home this time and never set foot in the court again, so there was no need to worry about his coming back again. But others did not have the experience of looking back and forth for five hundred years, so they naturally had to be afraid.
Regarding the question of who was afraid of Mr. Shang's revolt, Fang Yingwu guessed without thinking that it must be Wan'an, the current chief minister. Fang Yingwu just didn't think in this direction before.
There are three ministers in the cabinet, and only Wan, the first assistant, who came to the position by using the imperial concubine's back door, is most afraid of Shang Xianggong's rebellion. Once Shang Ren returns to the court, he will give up his position as the first assistant.
Fang Yingwu estimated that this Wan Shoufu was probably Li Tixue's backstage, and Li Tixue came to Chun'an County with a mission to investigate the situation of the retired senior Shoufu. In this way, all his seemingly strange actions
All can be explained.
No wonder Li Tixue wanted to test Shang Xianggong's reaction, but Shang Xianggong obviously saw through this and avoided him, leaving him unable to judge.
As a result, the academic officer went to Shanghuaxi, trying to use other sources to instigate the situation. He asked about the current situation of Mr. Shang Ge, and used this to guess whether Mr. Shang was plotting to retaliate.
Fang Yingwu let out a long breath. Yesterday he still felt strange, but once he saw the truth, it couldn't be simpler.
At this moment, he felt extremely anxious and wished he could rush to the county town right now to talk to the great master and sell what he had learned from his enlightenment.
Unfortunately, the fourth watch has not yet arrived, so I had to go back to the house to catch up on some sleep.
After waking up after dawn, Fang Yingwu walked out of the house after eating a few bites. Without talking all the way, he entered the county town from the west gate and went straight to the county school.
If it is a large place, there is often a Gongyuan or Examination Court built exclusively for examinations, and also as a temporary residence for the academic officials. But Chun'an County, a small county, obviously does not have this, so this time the academic officials suddenly came to the temporary residence.
Later, he only lived in the county school.
Fang Yingwu came outside the county school and saw a few people putting seals on the door. He stepped forward and asked, "How many of you have invited me? May I ask what happened and why the door was sealed?"
The handymen saw that Fang Yingwu had a good temperament, so they answered truthfully: "The Taoist examination will be held in three days. The grand master who will take the examination has already moved into the examination room in advance, and then sealed the courtyard and cut off the inside and outside to avoid suspicion!"
It was a step too late, Fang Yingwu was speechless.
In a major examination with strict procedures, there is indeed a requirement for the examiner to move into the examination room in advance and seal off the inside and outside to prevent collusion in cheating. But this is just a road test in the county, and who will be accepted and who will not be selected is at his whim.
As for being so pretentious!
His name was obscured and he was granted a title, but he used it to make a fuss over a county's Taoist examination. This great master is so pretentious!
What makes Fang Yingwu even more unhappy is that he has just cultivated to a new level in the night. Today he came to visit Li Tixue excitedly, but he encountered a closed courtyard. He really didn't have the skills to slay dragons, so he was disappointed!
The face was nowhere to be seen, the peach blossoms were still smiling in the spring breeze, and Fang Yingwu left the county school sadly. On the way, he remembered that since the exam was in three days, he would have to come to the county in advance, so he had to find a place to live today.
It's not a wasted trip.
He was thinking about where to rent a house when he walked to the crossroads of the county town and suddenly heard someone saying "Brother Fang Xian"!
Fang Yingwu turned around and saw that it was none other than Hong Song and Xiang Chengxian. He stepped forward and saluted: "I have met these two seniors, and I don't want to meet by fate today."
Mr. Hong smiled and said: "We are going to the county school. I see you are coming from there too?"
Fang Yingwu was a little surprised, "The county school has been turned into an examination room these days, and the grand master has also moved in. What are you going to do?"
Mr. Xiang explained: "Go and see if the doors and courtyards are closed today."
"You two don't need to go. I just went to see it below. The door has been sealed and guarded by guards. It is strictly forbidden to enter or exit inside and outside."
Xiang Chengxian was overjoyed and clapped the fan in his hand, "That's good! Brother Fang Xian, don't be in a hurry to go back and come with us!"
Hong Song was more mature and couldn't help but advise: "Brother Fang Xian will have a Taoist test in three days, so don't pull him around."
Mr. Xiang said indifferently: "It may be a nervous matter to others, but it may not be a matter of concern to my dear brother. It doesn't take more than half a day."
Then he turned to the other party and said, "The Grand Master is here to inspect the academic conduct. Naturally, we don't dare to make any mistakes and must abide by the rules. Now that the Grand Master has entered the academy and is blocked from the outside world, we should take the opportunity to have fun these three days." Ha. There is a new team here at Ximenwai, and there is a young man who is very good."
It turns out that the two of them went specifically to find out whether the great master was in retreat.
Drinking flower wine? Fang Yingwu felt itchy in his heart, but he still declined: "I am young and really not good at this, or..."
"Don't go!" Mr. Xiang grabbed Fang Yingwu without saying anything, "I must go with you! Brother, I have something to ask you. I want to take a concubine recently, but my family has a strong wife, but she is not allowed, and I still have to ask for a good wife. I took action to convince her."
Fang Yingwu was stunned, "How can you find me for such a thing?"
"Among the people I know, I am the only one who knows how to talk. If I don't ask you to lobby, who else can I ask?" Mr. Xiang said matter-of-factly.
Hong Song also smiled bitterly at Fang Yingwu and said: "I couldn't bear Brother Xiang Xian's request, so I went to say a few words, but was silenced by his wife. Brother Fang Xian might as well go and give it a try." (To be continued. Please. Search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)
