Song Lian smiled bitterly: "I have received dozens of letters from my old friends in the past two days. Among them, there are eight people who want to sever their ties with me. These are only those who are close to me."
Zhu Biao thought for a moment and said, "Master Song, tell me the truth. Do you have any other ideas?"
Song Lian shook his head: "More than 20 people from Qintian Prison will be beheaded tomorrow. What else can I think of? I can only give daily persuasion."
Song Lian looked at what Zhu Biao wanted to say but still held back. Zhu Biao said calmly: "Master Song wants me to persuade him, right?"
Song Lian felt a little embarrassed and sighed: "I don't want His Highness to be involved in these things, but at this time, no one except you and the Queen can persuade His Majesty."
Zhu Biao looked at his husband and said, "Does Master Song want Mencius to return to the Confucian Temple?"
Song Lian nodded. Yasheng was expelled from the Confucian Temple, and apparently it was because he didn't answer the question. This naturally made Mr. Song very worried. Don't talk about old friends in a while. I'm afraid the students he accepted in the early years were
I have to sever ties with him.
Zhu Biao slowly opened his mouth and said: "What the emperor is angry about is not Mencius, but the discordant remarks in Mencius, which he wrote. If it can be deleted, perhaps I can ask the emperor to send Mencius back.
Confucian Temple.”
Song Lian looked shocked and said in panic: "How can this be done? How can the works of the sages be deleted at will? No, Mencius has been passed down for thousands of years and has not been changed. How unethical is this? This will leave a bad name in history."
Zhu Biao waited quietly for Song Lian to calm down before speaking: "This is not asking you to do it alone. Besides, compared to Mencius' tablet being blown by the wind outside, deleting some content is nothing."
Song Lian leaned back on the chair tiredly: "Who else have you told this to, Your Highness?"
Zhu Biao shook his head: "I only told Master Song."
Song Lian smiled bitterly: "It seems that this is what you and the Holy One have agreed upon. As expected of the Heavenly Family, once the example of deleting the works of the sages is revealed, from now on the scholars in the world will only read what the imperial court wants them to read."
Zhu Biao did not deny that he still had feelings for Song Lian. Song Lian thought for a while and said: "You can't get too involved in this matter. In a few days, the eyes of scholars all over the world will be focused on this place. The Holy Emperor was born in Cao Mang and has reopened the sun and the moon."
No one can blame him for his great achievements."
"But His Highness has had a literary reputation since childhood. If you are involved in this matter, it will be a huge blow to your reputation. You will be an eternal sage king in the future. Leave the infamy to the old minister. It is my idea to delete "Mencius"
, I will go to Qian Tang and others to discuss, Your Highness should not speak during this period, and you will beg for mercy after the deletion is completed."
This is the same as Zhu Yuanzhang not letting him get too involved in this matter. The writing is as sharp as a knife. The reader may not be able to kill you, but it is enough to disgust you to death.
They would make up some random things and write them down, and then spread them secretly, or just hide them at home. After a few hundred years, no one will know whether what they wrote is true or false, and the world will just eat the melons with relish.
There are countless such examples. Although Zhu Biao does not pay much attention to his posthumous reputation, there are too many others who do. Just like Zhu Yuanzhang will never tolerate the slightest stigma against Zhu Biao.
Zhu Biao looked at Song Lian who was about to sacrifice his life for him and said: "Master Song has misunderstood. You are my husband. Naturally, this matter should be left to others. I just want to calm down with you first."
Song Lian took a sip of tea and said: "The qualifications of other people are not enough, and the old minister has awakened a lot after this. To put it shamelessly, I consider myself a great scholar in the world, and have taught His Highness the Crown Prince, so it is normal for Qing Shi to leave his name.
But the letters I received in the past few days have reduced me to nothing."
Song Lian sighed and said: "I really didn't expect that Qingming, who has worked hard all his life, would be so fragile. If so, what is left for me to pursue in this life?"
Song Lian looked at Zhu Biao who was aside: "If you let other people mention it, you will definitely be besieged. Only the old minister's reputation is big enough. Now the old minister only hopes that His Highness can create a prosperous age, so that I will die without regrets."
Zhu Biao helplessly began to comfort Song Lian. He had suddenly received too much stimulation, which made him feel like he was breaking the pot. This was not okay.
Zhu Biao finally said: "The imperial examination has been completed. Master Song will go home to recuperate for a few days. I will ask for leave for you. As for the matter of deleting "Mencius", don't worry. The Confucius family has not responded yet."
Zhu Biao asked Liu Jin to lead people to send Song Lian home safely, and also told his son not to let Song Lian suffer any more stimulation.
After sending Song Lian away, Zhu Biao smiled and shook his head. Of course it would be good for Song Lian to do this, but he would have to carry this big pot for the rest of his life.
Other civil servants would only scold Song Lian for daring to propose deleting the works of sages, and then happily take the credit for sending Mencius back to the Confucian Temple on his own head.
Zhu Biao narrowed his eyes. Wouldn't it be better if Yan Shenggong proposed this matter? In this case, the sanctity of the Kong family in the hearts of scholars would be reduced, and the remaining Yan Shenggong's mansion would be just a piece of meat under the knife.
.
Zhu Yuanzhang had already arranged for Mao Xiang to go to Shandong to make arrangements. He must use public opinion to force the newly appointed Duke Yansheng to come to the capital. The Kong family is the spiritual leader of the world's literati, but there are gains and losses.
Presumably, by this time, the Confucian family had received many letters from famous Confucian scholars. Who could agree if the Confucian family didn't come forward?
Zhu Biao said softly: "If Yan Shenggong doesn't come out, what will happen to the people in the world?"
After saying this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but laugh. As long as Yan Shenggong arrived in the capital, it would be a sheep in the tiger's mouth. How did the last Yan Shenggong Kong Kejian die?
Wasn't it because he was forcibly invited to Nanjing by Zhu Yuanzhang last year, but Kong Kejian died of illness on his way back to Shandong. The current Duke Yansheng is his son Kong Xixue. He would not dare to come to the capital again unless it was absolutely necessary.
After all, Mencius was not Zhu Yuanzhang's goal from the beginning to the end. What he planned was the Confucius family, the most famous family in the world. Zhu Biao had already figured this out, so he wasted his time just to give Mao Xiang
Create conditions.
The purpose of mentioning this matter to Song Lian just now is to see how much impact this matter has on scholars. Now Zhu Biao can be sure that if Yan Shenggong took the initiative to mention deleting the works of sages, the Kong family would be in a state of eternal disaster.
.
Because he himself denied his own sanctity, and even the Confucian sub-sage Mencius’s handed down works were wrong. What about Confucius? Of course, if Kong Xixue has no problem with his brain, he will not agree. It will depend on the means at that time.
For a traditional farming society, in order to maintain its stability, an extremely strict hierarchical system must be established from top to bottom.
Only in this way can the stability of agricultural production be ensured, thereby ensuring the economic and social security of the entire country. Confucianism, represented by Confucius, is an advocate of such an orderly order of respect and inferiority.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang had to use Confucianism, but he could not bear that the spiritual leader of Confucianism was not him, but a perfect saint. This was an alternative kind of struggle between imperial power and religious power.