Liu Sanwu looked solemn and immediately knelt down. Xia Xun said: "The emperor said that if you are willing to admit your mistakes and make concessions, and let the court resolve this dispute between the north and the south in an honorable manner, your sins can be pardoned."
Liu Sanwu has been an official all his life. After experiencing the Yuan and Ming dynasties, he has become a mature man. Why can't he understand what Xia Xun said? He suddenly laughed: "Forgive me for my sins? What crime did Liu Sanwu have?"
He stood up and laughed and said: "Haha, you call me Liu Sanwu, who admits to cheating for personal gain and favoring southerners? Liu Sanwu selects the best and appoints officials according to the merits of articles. He is loyal and loyal, and the world can learn from it. Liu Sanwu is pure and innocent. I will test it for you."
This list promulgated will never be changed!”
"Mr. Liu, you are not the only examiner. For the sake of academic success, you have put many lives at risk, and your family members, both old and young, are disregarded. This..."
Liu Sanwu said solemnly: "Who has never died in life since ancient times? Confucius said it is a man, and Mencius said it is justice. But for the sake of the truth in your heart, why should you cherish life and death?"
Xia Xun was angry and funny and said: "Tao? What is Tao? The vegetation on the mountains withers and flourishes every year, and the people in the world live and die from generation to generation. When we live, should we think about the people who live and die in succession from generation to generation, or for the eternity?
For the sake of the unchanging mountain road?”
Liu Sanwu said angrily: "Thousands of people will go to where the Tao is. If Liu Sanwu can die as a martyr, it will be my honor."
Xia Xun sneered and said: "It is respectable to die as a martyr! It is pitiful to die if it is not worth it. The ancients said that pitiful people must be hateful, and it is true!"
Liu Sanwu shouted angrily: "You're just a kid, how do you know where the great road is? You know nothing."
Xia Xun was also annoyed and said sternly: "I don't understand. I only know that the north has been ruled by foreigners for many years. The education has declined, wars have been frequent, and the people have become poor. If the northern citizens are properly taken care of, it will encourage the north to learn more."
The trend has allowed more scholars to learn more profound Confucian classics and more and more scholars in the north.
I only know that during the Song Dynasty, most of the outstanding people, civil and military officials in the court came from the north. Now it is not that the northerners are stupid, but because of the influence of many factors such as geography, wealth and poverty, and war over hundreds of years, the northerners are inferior in culture and education.
Yu Nanren, your fairness only ensures fairness for some people. Your fairness only allows some people who are blessed to occupy the official career forever. From then on, the strong will become stronger and the weak will become weaker, laying the foundation for disaster for the imperial court.
Root seedlings.
All I know is that even if northerners are not as good at eight-part essays as southerners, if the northern and southern positions are appropriately balanced and the southerners do not take over all the positions of officials in the government, it will also contribute to the stability and justice of the world and prevent the gentry group from the south of the Yangtze River from being monopolized
Government affairs. Why the imperial court opened subjects to recruit scholars is to attract the attention of scholars all over the world.
It is fair and fair to select the best candidates, but it is a fact that there is a gap between the north and the south. Is insisting on fairness and fairness in the imperial examination beneficial to the country and the people, or is it more conducive to the stability of the country and the people's return to the country and the people's return to give appropriate care to the northern candidates?
Which is more important, the fairness and justice of scientific examinations, or the stability and peace of the people?"
Xia Xun's words seemed to move Liu Sanwu. He lowered his head and didn't speak for a long time.
Selecting the best, being upright, and having a clear conscience. Selecting talents based on the time, place, circumstances, and this has never happened since ancient times! Ridiculous!"
Xia Xun was very angry and said: "What has not happened since ancient times? If everyone had thought like you since ancient times and had to follow ancient rules in everything, you would still be chewing bark and piercing leaves. At least you would have no paper to use.
, take a knife to carve bamboo and teach! Fairness, what is fairness? If you want to be fair, why should your family have money to study, while some people’s families cannot afford to hire a husband or buy books? There is no absolute fairness, only the best possible outcome.
As reasonable as possible.”
Liu Sanwu closed his eyes and never looked at him again. He only said coldly: "Let you talk sweet words, don't even think about impressing me with your sophistry!"
There was a loud thunder in the sky, and Xia Xun said loudly: "Continuous rain, sudden floods, and turbulent rivers are about to break through the city. Millions of residents in the city are in danger. What should we do now? There is no time to dredge, no time to block, no time to notify.
The people fled. If an official ordered the dikes to be blown up and the water released into the countryside at this time, many villages would be flooded and many people would be drowned. But is he a coward or a hero? Flooding the city is also flooding, flooding the fields is also flooding, only
Weigh the pros and cons and keep the biggest one.
Is it wrong for you to only protect the fairness of this scientific examination? No! But for the sake of the stability of the country, for the sake of the stability of the country, for the sake of preventing war between the north and the south, and for the common people of the world, is it wrong for you? No! But you must make mistakes before you can correct them.
? Since the two are in conflict, why can’t we abandon the small and preserve the big? Expedient measures are just expedient measures!”
Liu Sanwu sneered: "You don't have to say it. I admit that you are very eloquent. However, I am a scholar. I only know that in ten years of hard work, every student wants to stand out. Your favoritism may kill a person.
His talent has ruined his life. Fairness, justice, nothing wrong! No matter how brilliant your tongue is, you can never convince me that the army can seize the commander, but the ordinary man cannot seize the will. Don't waste your efforts!"
It turns out that it is just as unreasonable for a scholar to bully someone as it is for a woman to bully someone. Xia Xun was so angry that he couldn't make sense, so he had to be moved again: "Mr. Liu, in this life, the past is over, and it will never come back again.
.In the past and the future, no matter what you do, it will only rise up a small wave and quickly disappear. At such an old age, you cannot understand the difficulties of the court and the emperor's painstaking efforts. For the sake of yourself and your family, let
Take the next step?"
“Does life matter?”
Liu Sanwu looked at him with disdain: "For women, chastity is more important than life; for warriors, bravery is more important than life; for us scholars, integrity is more important than life! This is the teaching of the sage, Uncle Boyi
Qi, if you don’t eat Zhousu, you would rather starve to death on Shouyang Mountain. This is integrity, the integrity of literati, you don’t understand, you don’t understand at all!”
Xia Xun was so angry that he uttered incoherently: "I think if my uncle and uncle picked up swords and guns and fought to the death with the Zhou people, that would be called integrity. Starving to death on Shouyang Mountain without doing anything, just to fulfill their own reputation, that would be called lack of integrity."
Mind-set!"
Liu Sanwu was furious: "Who are you? You dare to insult a saint?"
"I'll just make some soy sauce."
After Xia Xun finished speaking, he turned around and left. He knew that Liu Sanwu's beliefs formed since he was a child would never be changed by his own few words. He is a pragmatist, and Liu Sanwu is suitable for learning and living in his spiritual world.
He will never be the one who can guide the world and benefit the people.
Liu Sanwu sneered behind him: "This time, even if you use your power to forcibly tamper with the list, what about the next time? Unless the imperial court cancels the imperial examination, otherwise, there will be a cycle of three years, and scholars with integrity will be killed endlessly. Dao Dao You can't change justice!"
Xia Xun stopped and turned back coldly: "You are wrong, you don't know how to adapt, and the emperor knows it. The emperor has decided that candidates from the north and the south will be ranked separately in the imperial examination in the future. Mr. Liu, your death is worthless. No, it is still worth it, you have achieved something Your famous name has been made possible by the blood of your colleagues and the suffering of your family, which will last forever!"
Liu Sanwu stood there, a little dazed for a moment.
Xia Xun felt very depressed, but there was nothing he could do about it. The words of others were so gentle that they could not play any role in it. If he were not careful, he would be turned into dust in the collision between the king and his ministers.
After killing millions of soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, the sword on his waist was still bloody! Lao Zhu, who had always killed people without blinking an eye, may have become a little soft-hearted when he was getting old. When the murderous intention was already there, he still showed loyalty to Liu Sanwu, but he was a bit stupid and corrupt. His ministers offered him an olive branch, but he was Zhu Yuanzhang after all, a far-sighted politician and a peerless hero who was decisive in killing.
After leaving the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, Xia Xun saddled his horse, raised his whip and galloped away. He had done his best, and Zhu Yuanzhang was still waiting for his reply. After this confrontation, Xia Xun finally understood the real scholars of this era. With an understanding, they maintain the world, but sometimes they become the shackles of the world.
Liu Sanwu and others may be benevolent, but Xia Xun does not think their death is valuable. They only consider the social credibility of the exam from the perspective of fairness and justice. This kind of paranoia makes people both respect and pitiful. Literature, art and After all, science and technology are only partial, while political direction represents the overall interests, but they just refuse to break out of their small circle.
Liu Sanwu and others insisted on the universal values of justice, fairness, and rigor, while Zhu Yuanzhang considered the stability of the north and the security of the country; an examinee, if he was from the south, would definitely praise Liu Sanwu and other examiners, but he What if he suddenly becomes a northerner? Then he will cheer for Zhu Yuanzhang's North-South ranking. If you stand outside the counter, you will scold the people inside the window for being bureaucratic. If you sit inside the counter, you will scold the unruly people outside for making trouble. .
People sitting in different positions naturally value and consider different things. Liu Sanwu insists on his way and does not allow anyone to infringe and blaspheme. So is Zhu Yuanzhang the same? Liu Sanwu would rather die than give in or smear his name. Can. How could Zhu Yuanzhang be soft-hearted if he could exchange dozens of heads for the hearts and minds of millions of people, for political stability, and for peace in the world?
Xia Xun was a little tired. Starting from Qingzhou, then to Peiping, and then to Jinling, he had dealt with all kinds of people, but when faced with these unarmed and iron-clad scholars, he was helpless and helpless.
The horse's hooves as big as a bowl stepped on the stone road with deep water, causing a splash of water. There were few pedestrians on the road, but in such heavy rain, there was a beggar trudging in the rain. The wind and rain were so strong that he couldn't open his eyes. , Xia Xun rode by and splashed him with water. Although the man was already soaked to the skin, he was still very angry and couldn't help but curse.
But when he cursed, Xia Xun had already run dozens of feet away. It was raining so hard that it was impossible to hear his curse.
The beggar wiped the rainwater from his face bitterly and said: "Damn it, I never thought that Wansongling would have such a miserable day. It's so damn unlucky!"
