Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Spring Rain

Spring rain is like crisp.The entire city of Beijing is shrouded in a dense, pattering drizzle, and the distant mountains and trees, and the cornices and roof tiles all add a hazy beauty. The Forbidden City was brightly lit, and eunuchs, court ladies, and hundreds of female musicians were busy performing all-night slow singing and dancing for Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng, while the large number of official and private houses outside the city, because it was already late at night, , is gradually returning to silence, leaving only a few lights, shining brightly in the dark. The lamp in the study of Gu Xiancheng, who lived in the capital, is one of them. Since he was a boy, he read every night until the cock crowed, which made him develop the habit of going to bed late; Because of this, the habit of sleeping was barely changed; now, Emperor Wanli stopped the morning court, and the habit of reading and thinking has returned since he was sleepless in the middle of the night.

At this moment, he was sitting quietly in the study alone; he planned to read the scroll under the lamp and write letters to some friends who were far away, but somehow, his thoughts were taken away by the spring rain of the night, and his heart was full of troubles. What floated up was a poem he had read many years ago, and he began to chant unconsciously: "Good rain knows the season, when spring happens. Sneak into the night with the wind, moisten things silently. The wild path is dark, the river The fire on the boat is alone..." As he chanted, thousands of emotions surged in his heart; since he was a Confucianist, he didn't like ordinary poems and songs, thinking that they were just people's enjoyment after tea and wine. Even Li Bai and Wang Wei, who are admired by the world, after reading the works, think that this one who learns Taoism and escapes Zen is only pursuing ego, one's own happiness or detachment, It's just calm, and it's of no benefit to the national economy and the people's livelihood, let alone those other works that are so romantic and moaning without illness; only for Du Fu, he admires him very much and has a deep resonance.

In his mind, Du Fu is not a poet, but a Confucian—a Confucian with the same mind as him! The "hero" in Du's poems refers to Zhuge Liang who has worked hard, sacrificed, and dedicated his whole life for the country and the people; The first time I read Du Fu's poem "To the King, Yao and Shun, and then make the customs pure", the shock I received in my heart was many years ago. Du Fu actually has the same ideal as himself: he hopes to become a good minister, assist the king, and create a prosperous world beyond Yao and Shun... Since he was a child, he was a precocious child who showed extraordinary wisdom. He was intelligent, keen, studious, and good at thinking. Reading was not a rigid recitation or comprehensive acceptance, but repeated deliberation and thinking, so every time he could digest The words and sentences recorded in the classics are condensed into the learning in his chest.

When he was fifteen years old, he studied with Zhang Yuanluo; Zhang Yuanluo did not stick to the ancients' annotations when he gave lectures, but he often explained the principles according to his own experience, inferences by analogy, throughout the past and the present; this teaching method is very suitable for him. Therefore, he learned a lot in class and got a lot of gains. Once, Zhang Yuanluo told him a passage from the book "Mencius": "The best way to cultivate a person's conscience is to reduce one's desires!" But he put forward another point of view: "The best way to reduce a person's desires is to start from cultivating inner conscience!"

Zhang Yuanluo praised him very much for having his own unique insights at such a young age, so he said something to him: "Scholars in this dynasty have always only had the possibility of taking exams and becoming an official; It would be a pity if your endowment is buried in the study of essays for exams; if you are detached from the essays of the time, and can read the past and present, think carefully and distinguish clearly, you will become a great Confucianist!" For this reason, Zhang Yuanluo recommended him to learn from Xue Fangshan's school; Xue Fangshan also attached great importance to this intelligent young man. admonished him and said:

"The great Confucians of the Song Dynasty, from Zhu Xi to Mr. Wang Yangming in this dynasty, all the essence of Confucianism in this line are recorded in this book. You must study hard and strive for perfection. If you can understand Confucianism, you can 'build a heart for the world and a life for the people' Only by doing so can one expect to 'inherit knowledge for the past saints and create peace for all generations'!" Under such expectations and education, several years of hard work have enabled him to read many books, learn a lot about classics and history, and speculate in detail to establish a set of his own ideological system.

The knowledge he yearns for, is obsessed with, and pursues is a practical knowledge that contributes to the country, society, and people, rather than metaphysical philosophy or repeated textual research and proofreading in piles of old papers, or even writing gorgeous diction and poems. ——After years of thinking, the category of the word "learning" has been clearly defined, and it has become the direction he wants to pursue in his life. Therefore, as a result of his consideration, he still chose the path of taking the exam and becoming an official, because this is the only way for scholars in this dynasty to realize their ideals and develop their knowledge; Big contradictions and conflicts.

Confucianism has been governed for many years, and the political thoughts that have been condensed and produced in the heart are based on the people-oriented theory of Confucius and Mencius; The political theory of "the people are the foundation of the state, and the monarch is the group" is fundamentally opposite to the autocratic system and examination content implemented by this dynasty; Fang Xiaoru's words left in the article especially caused him pain for a long time ... In ancient times, officials were as good as things, but today's officials are as good as they are, and they are happy when they are good at things, and they are happy when they are good, and they abandon the shame of the people.

He originally felt the same about this passage—he didn’t know that people who used to study and become officials loved the people and benefited the society; Often unwilling to become an official. However, not being an official is contrary to his original ambitions - he also has the same ambition as Du Fu's "to the king, Yao and Shun, and then to make the customs pure", what he expects of himself is to be a member of the country Good Prime Ministers, like Yi Yin, Lu Shang, and Duke Zhou—dedicate themselves to the people of the world and create a prosperous world, instead of reclusive mountains and forests, burying their heads in writing!

And at such a time of repeated contradictions, Zhuge Liang's aspirations, which are admired in Du's poems, brought him great inspiration. What Zhuge Liang upheld throughout his life was the lofty ideal of the Confucians, who "know what can't be done". In this way, he embarked on an official career: in the fourth year of Wanli, at the age of 27, he won the first place in the provincial examination; at the age of 31, he became a Jinshi and served as the head of the household department. However, after becoming an official, what follows is not the realization of ideals and long-cherished wishes for the welfare of the people, but the dirty side of officialdom that is not recorded in the classics. Forming cliques, fawning on bribes, or taking bribes, or cheating—all the despicableness, ugliness, selfishness, and shamelessness of human nature are presented; all the presence of everything makes his heart miserable.

As a scholar, I have no way to survive in such an environment. Those few years were the era when Zhang Juzheng was in power. When he personally experienced Zhang Juzheng's political measures, he also admired Zhang Juzheng's super political ability in his heart; Big disapproval. Zhang Juzheng's method of governing the country is close to that of the Legalists. He restrained officials and the people with severe punishments and strict laws in order to achieve ideal political efficiency. The consistent way of "Qi, Zhi, Ping" is very different; Zhang Juzheng's use of autocratic means to monopolize power to make government orders unimpeded is basically the opposite of his "anti-authoritarian" and "people-oriented" ideas. The conflict and incompatibility between the two ideological trends of Confucianism and Legalism have existed since ancient times. Even a Confucian who is as knowledgeable as him cannot think of a compromise in such a conflict of different thoughts. Way to come! And the group of villains surrounded by Zhang Juzheng brought him more pain than Zhang Juzheng——Zhang Juzheng was a respected and high-ranking person, and the group of people who looked up to him and hoped that "chickens and dogs would go to heaven" desperately flattered and flattered him. In order to stabilize their own power and position; they act like gods and fathers in Zhang Juzheng, bragging and flattering horses and doing all kinds of nasty and ugly things. Zhang Juzheng's third son, Maoxiu, took the exam, and these people even summoned many well-known scholars to accompany him on the list, in order to increase Zhang Maozhong's momentum when he was the number one scholar; He came to pray for Zhang Juzheng through the ritual of heaven, and prayed for God to bless Zhang Juzheng for a speedy recovery. In his eyes, seeing such a stupid and absurd thing, he had no other feeling other than heartache. Unexpectedly, someone among his peers came to persuade him and invited him to sign together. The words "Gu Xiancheng" were dropped. So, an unpleasant thing happened, he ignored the faces of those peers, and obliterated his name in front of everyone... Every time he thinks about this period of the past, he can't help but feel thousands of emotions in his heart, which is both sad and self-pity; He thinks he is "the number one person in the world" and wants all other people to fall under his feet, to be controlled, controlled, and enslaved by him; Morality, character, and shame are all left behind. The self-pity comes from the helplessness and powerlessness in the heart - as a scholar, all he can do is such a small "self-cleaning". He can neither create an ideal world nor turn the tide, and even Everything around you can't be influenced or improved. It was out of such deep sorrow that he thought again and again, hoping that he could find a way to use the world as a scholar—however, five years have passed in a flash. In this regard, he has been thinking day and night, But did not get any results. But in the past five years, the current situation has gone from bad to worse——During Zhang Juzheng’s reign, although he was autocratic, he did something. After Zhang Juzheng's death, the dictatorship and dictatorship in the system were even better than before, but the people who seized power were a group of mediocre people. The political situation in the country is full of worry all the time! "Building mausoleums and setting up storage—the people complain, and chaos has arisen—this year is the year of the 'Beijing Cha', storms are inevitable, why not worry!" After a sigh, he muttered to himself unconsciously, and his brows were full of worry; "Jingcha" was originally set up by this dynasty to evaluate Beijing officials, and it is held every six years, according to the achievements of officials. Rewards and punishments such as promotion, demotion, or dismissal are given respectively; those who are dismissed in the "Jingcha" will not be used again for life, and they are regarded as a warning to those who become officials; It is a tool for power struggle and bribery for personal gain. Therefore, every "Jingcha" will cause quite a storm. "Ugh……" After thinking about it, I still let out a long sigh; I have been an official for the past few years, and I have long understood the fact that the taint of officialdom and the complex aspects of human nature cannot be improved by academics, and what is left to me is powerlessness Sense, in addition to sigh or sigh. However, looking at the misty spring rain outside the house through the window, the ideals and enthusiasm deep in his heart have not died out; there is still a faint voice speaking to himself, from weak to weak to strong, one after another Again and again, he expanded his obsession with being a scholar: "I would like to turn the blood of this body into a spring rain to nourish the earth—the spring rain penetrates into the soil, and can make the seeds hidden in the ground germinate..." Thinking about it, his eye sockets became wet unconsciously, and once again confirmed the direction he wanted to pursue in his life; so, he picked up a pen under the lamp and wrote a letter to his disciple Gao Panlong who was far away in his hometown , not only to tell him about his will, but also as an encouragement to himself... The current situation is getting worse and worse, and chaos is emerging; however, scholars of my generation always take "knowing what can't be done" as the foundation of life, and "doing what is in me" as the source of innocence; Wang Can climbed the tower in the past , observing the overstepping of the sun and the moon, waiting for the river to clear its end, is the leveling of the king's way.My younger brother is now an official in the capital, but I only hope that I will not be happy with things and not be sad with myself. What I think and worry about is nothing but life for the people, nothing but the way of the king... So, on the spring night of the fifteenth year of Wanli, he stayed up all night, eloquently and eloquently wrote a letter of ten thousand words to his best friend; It's up to me to keep trying.

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