Shu Li went to Qi this time for no other reason than to return to the hometown of her biological mother, whom she had never met.
I heard from her eldest brother that their father went to Qi State to study in his early years and met their mother here.
Their mother was born into a family of officials in the state of Qi and received a good education since she was a child.
Qi State implements the method of dividing the country and the countryside. The capital of the country is the country, and other places are the wilderness.
For the countryside, thirty families are considered as one town, and the town has a town commander; ten towns are one pawn, and each pawn has a pawn commander; ten pawns are a township, and a township has a township commander; three townships are a county, and a county has a county commander;
The county is a genus, and the genus has a doctor.
There are five vassal states in Qi, and the five vassals are governed by officials respectively.
At the same time, although Shuli's mother was extremely favored since childhood, the clan rules were also very strict and all clan members were treated equally.
Therefore, when Shuli's mother's father learned that his daughter had brought a wild boy with her when she came back from an outing, he was so angry that he straightened his beard on the spot.
Not to mention that after hearing that Shu Li's father was from Yanmen of Zhao State and was a military general, he was even more filled with contempt.
How could such a remote and impoverished place catch his eye? He had to drive Shuli's father out on the spot.
Qi, which has not had a war for decades, no longer believes in fighting with force, but rather believes in peaceful coexistence.
Therefore, the country does not attach much importance to generals, and even looks down upon them more or less.
However, Fan Shuli's father was a civil servant and aristocrat in the Zhao Kingdom. Even if his official position was not high, he could reluctantly accept it.
But after being a military commander, I live in such a remote place. I'm sorry, so I need to get out of here.
But Shuli's mother started to cry and angrily asked her father if he didn't want them to be together.
After getting the affirmative answer, I ran back to my room crying.
Her father watched his daughter run away with distress, so he drove Shuli's father away angrily.
So that night, the story in the poem happened:
Shuli's mother sneaked out of the house at night and came to the place where they first met. Sure enough, she saw Shuli's father lingering there for a long time.
She was secretly happy in her heart, and her love for Shuli's father became even stronger.
Until Shuli's father was about to return to the State of Zhao, Shuli's mother followed Shuli's father to the State of Zhao without a second thought.
So many years have passed, and although Shuli's mother sent messages to her family, she never came back.
Shuli didn't know if her mother wanted to go home and see her at the last moment, but she knew that her mother must love her father very much.
Not only did she elope with her father, she also committed suicide for her father.
That's right, the real cause of Shuli's mother's death was not due to dystocia.
But after giving birth to Shuli, she chose to commit suicide and go to Jiuyou to find her lover.
Following the route that the [Business Alliance] had inquired about, Shuli arrived at a mansion located by the lake.
A sharp-eyed servant saw Shuli standing in front of the door for a long time, and looked at her unusual dress. He cautiously asked, "Girl, seeing you standing in front of the house for a long time, is there something you have come to do?"
Shu Li was not sure how to ask, so she happened to meet this man asking. Seeing that his dress was different from other servants, but he was someone who could talk, so he thought for a while and said, "I dare to ask your master,
Is the doctor here?"
"My master is at home, who is the girl?"
Shu Li raised her head and looked at the mansion, not knowing how to explain her identity for a moment.
She wanted to come here on her own initiative to see the place where her mother grew up, but when she actually came here, she fell into confusion and became a little at a loss.
"Girl?" the servant called cautiously.
Although his tone was friendly, both his clothes and the temperament he exuded showed the noble status of the person in front of him.
Therefore, when the servant saw that Shuli was distracted, he only dared to call out cautiously, for fear of offending her.
After all, he is just a humble servant, or to put it worse, a slave. His master will not offend other nobles because he pities his life.
"Sorry." Shuli said subconsciously, "It's okay. I'm just here to check on someone else. Since everything is fine, that's enough."
After saying that, Shuli turned around and prepared to leave.
But just a few steps after Shu Li left, the door of the mansion suddenly opened, and an old man with white beard wearing a vermilion cloak appeared in front of the door surrounded by servants.
Some of the servants were holding umbrellas to protect the old man from the non-existent wind and snow, some were guarding the old man nervously for fear that the old man would accidentally fall, and some were following carefully behind him with small stoves in their hands.
I don't know what happened, but their old master was reading a book in the study today, but suddenly stood up and walked quickly out the door, faster and faster, without explaining why, which caught them off guard.
The old man stood at the door and looked out, as if looking for something.
Finally, he turned his attention to Shu Li who was leaving.
Just now, when he was reading in the study, a feeling urged him to rush to the door, as if he would be unable to catch up if he had been slower.
Although he didn't know what was going on, he still followed his intuition and hurriedly came to the door.
But in early winter, there are few pedestrians on the streets, and more are businessmen in a hurry.
He only saw the distinctive back among them, that was Shu Li.
Unlike others who walked in a hurry, Shuli's steps were steady and slow, as if she wanted to leave but couldn't bear to leave.
In a daze, the old man seemed to see his favorite daughter running towards him from a distance.
The old man instantly showed a surprised smile.
But after shaking his eyes, his daughter's face disappeared from sight again, leaving only the retreating figure.
The smile on the old man's face suddenly froze, and then turned into loneliness.
A long time ago, he had obtained the letter from Zhao State, which was a letter written to him personally by Li Mu.
In addition to the words of praise for him and his daughter, the letter also informed him of the unfortunate death of his daughter.
That night, he got angry for the first time in a long time.
But that's because he was angry with himself.
If he had not watched his daughter climb over the wall that night, but had stopped her and taken her back to her room and locked her up, would the outcome have been different?
Just why, when he looked at that back, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"Old Master." The servant who had been talking to Shu Li came to the old man's side and looked at him worriedly.
"Who is that?" The old man looked at Shu Li and asked subconsciously, but then he felt funny.
Why did he ask this question and how could he know.
"Back to my old master, I don't know which noble lady it is. It seems that she came to see you, sir. She also said that she came to see the place for someone, but she left without saying a few words."
"Looking for me?" The old man lowered his head and murmured. When he raised his head again, he found that the figure from before had turned around at some point.
Although he was a little far away and couldn't see the person's face clearly, he felt inexplicably warm for some reason, as if he had seen his daughter again.
Shuli saw the old man surrounded by servants looking at her, and bowed respectfully.
Hello, grandpa.
Goodbye, grandpa.
The old man suddenly smiled, and tears fell silently from his eyes.
Wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, Shuli stood up and left again.
The cold wind whistled through the streets. Pedestrians wrapped themselves tightly in thick clothes, blowing out streams of white smoke in their breaths. It passed through the condensed white ice on the dead branches and floated to the sky, turning into scattered dots in the air.
White catkins floated on the ground in dense masses like goose feathers.
The old man's vision was blurred by hot tears, and when he opened his eyes again, the familiar figure was gone.
After looking at the street where Shuli disappeared for a long time, the old man slowly turned around and headed back to the mansion after hearing a sigh.
"It's snowing. Stop guarding the door. It's snowing heavily. There won't be anyone around anymore. Let's go back to the house."
The servant thanked him for his kindness and closed the door.
After walking out of the street and completing the purpose of the trip, Shuli headed towards [Little Saint's Manor].
Songhai, Xiaoshengxianzhuang
"I take the liberty to come here today, and I ask for your forgiveness. However, what you have heard today, I hope you will not take out of this room. Otherwise, there will no longer be [Little Saint's Manor] in this world. This is not a threat.
But a warning."
Shu Li sat on the upper seat and looked around at everyone.
All the old men present are the most senior people in [Little Sage Village]. It can be said that those sitting in the room now are the decision-makers and helmsmen of Confucianism today.
Everyone looked at each other, and then turned their attention to the old man at the head. This was their senior brother, the head of Confucianism, Zhu Zhang.
Zhu Zhang pondered for a moment and then asked, "Confucianism has always abided by faith, so you can rest assured, little master uncle. Besides, I believe that little master uncle will not embarrass my Confucian family."
When Zhu Zhang arrived, he flattered Shu Li first.
After all, don't hit the smiling person with your hand, that's what everyone said, so Shu Li wouldn't be able to say harsh words anymore.
"Since Junior Uncle Xun asked Junior Brother Xun to summon us, there must be something important to discuss with my Confucian family. Junior Junior Uncle, feel free to speak up."
Shu Li spoke slowly and said, "In ancient times, those who wanted to bring clear virtue to the world should first rule their country; those who wanted to rule their country, had a righteous mind and then cultivated their body, cultivated their body and then maintained a harmonious family, established a harmonious family and then governed the country, and governed the country and then brought peace to the world.
How long will it take for Confucianism to realize its long-cherished wish of cultivating one’s moral integrity, managing one’s family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world?”
Not to mention it has been realized, it would be great if Confucianism can be adopted today.
Looking at the seven kingdoms of the world, how many officials and ministers studied Confucian classics, and how many came from Confucianism.
Perhaps there are many people who study Confucianism, but there are also many who abandon Confucianism and switch to other studies.
The Seven Kingdoms ultimately value the law.
If Confucianism and Mohism were the "outstanding schools" of ideological and academic thought during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, then Legalism was politically unparalleled at that time.
Before the Confucian could speak, Shu Li continued, "Maybe she knows very well in her heart that in this era of wars and the collapse of rituals and music, it has become impossible to pursue rituals blindly.
As the power of the princes grew stronger, the aristocratic patriarchal system based on clan blood began to disintegrate, and the rituals and music that maintained the hierarchical order of the patriarchal society also gradually lost their unifying power."
After a pause, Shu Li continued, "The reason why etiquette was so prevalent in the Spring and Autumn Period is because the Spring and Autumn Period was not as chaotic as it is now. The world only respected one person, the Emperor of Zhou, and gathered under the name of the Great Zhou. Instead of
Nowadays, princes are competing for hegemony and wars are constant.
That’s why people are more polite than blindly trying to solve problems with force.”
Everyone in the room heard that there was something behind Shu Li's words.
Of course they are aware of the bottleneck that Confucianism currently encounters, and they have an intuition that if this bottleneck is broken through, their Confucianism will continue to flourish.
So they once again turned their attention to the senior brother sitting in front, who was their common substitute.
Feeling the intense gazes, Zhu Zhang raised his hands and asked, "May I ask my uncle, if you are here to remind me of my Confucianism."
A smile formed at the corner of Shuli's mouth.
Sure enough, everyone has desires, regardless of age or character. Desires are always like maggots in the tarsus, and no one can get rid of them.
"Sure enough, dealing with smart people will save you a lot of trouble." Shu Li said, "I also mentioned a premise just now. In a big week, the society and the world will be stable, and there will be almost no major battles in the world."
Xun Kuang frowned slightly after listening to Shu Li's words. He seemed to hear some meaning from it, so he asked, "What the young master uncle means is that when this troubled world ends and the world is nominally unified again, I will
Opportunities for the development of Confucianism?”
Shu Li raised her eyebrows and looked at Xun Kuang. He was indeed a Confucian 'traitor' known as the 'Later Sage'.
"If you can end the troubled times, why are you satisfied with nominal unification instead of actual unification?" Shu Li looked at Xun Kuang with interest.
The inquirer was stunned upon hearing this.
Yes, since we have the ability to end troubled times, we certainly have the ability to achieve unification.
but
Confucianism attaches great importance to the patriarchal system, and Confucianism also emphasizes the basic spirit of kinship. The Doctrine of the Mean clearly states that for benevolent people, close relatives are the most important.
And the feudal system that was born together with the clan legal system means that even if it is unified in troubled times, it will eventually move towards fragmentation.
So this is what Xun Kuang is confused about.
He looked at Shuli with confusion.
Could it be that the unified world will not be enfeoffed in the future?
However, Shu Li did not answer this question, but turned to look at the head of the Confucian School, "I only ask one question, if there is such an opportunity, will the Confucian School be willing to seize it?"
Zhu Zhang's reason told him that this may be a poisonous fruit. Although it is sweet, it may also be fatal.
However, the leader's sense of mission forced him to nod and agree to Shuli. It is very likely that he would miss this opportunity and Confucianism would have no chance to turn around.
Under anxious thoughts, Zhu Zhang turned to look at his junior brothers.
The other junior fellow apprentices also looked directly at him.
No matter what decision he makes, they will support it unconditionally.
In desperation, Zhu Zhang turned to look at Xun Kuang.
My junior brother has always been very opinionated and has unique views on affairs.
Xun Kuang saw his elder brother looking at him and nodded to him after hesitating for a moment.
Seeing that Xun Kuang gave him a choice, and it was the same as his inner choice, Zhu Zhang finally chose to agree.
Shu Li smiled and said, "If you want Confucianism to be accepted by the world and kings, you need to make some small changes."
After a long time, Shu Li looked at Zhu Zhang, who was still digesting, and said, "The master's disciple Fu Nian is quite respectful, upright, and calm. He has a strong sense of mission for Confucianism and world affairs. The master should accept it."
I made an excellent disciple."
When Zhu Zhang heard Shu Li mention him, he subconsciously raised his head, met Shu Li's gaze, and nodded immediately.