005 Chengguo Gong
Facing Li Tingxiu's unexpected look, Shen Yichen knew what the master was thinking.
Indeed, according to the logic of ancient times, coupled with my own poor academic level, "The Great Learning", which is only about 2,000 words in total, can be said to be the only choice.
However, "The Great Learning" is short does not mean that it is easy to understand. Anyone who has studied ancient Chinese in later generations knows that if the ancients are not afraid of a long dialogue, they are afraid of shortening it to just a few essential sentences for you to read and analyze, then you really don't know. What do these ancestors want to express?
This is the contrast between "Mencius" and "The Great Learning". The contents in "Mencius" are all stories and articles. Even if you don't understand one or two sentences in it, you can guess the general meaning based on the context and understand the sages. the philosophical thoughts to be expressed.
Moreover, Shen Yichen once used "Mencius" as his own life reading, and used the thinking and viewpoints in the book to inspire himself, just like many people choose to read "Sun Tzu's Art of War". Therefore, his familiarity with "Mencius" is far greater than that of others. Three books, this is the source of confidence and courage!
"Okay, since you chose "Mencius", then I will take a paragraph from the chapter of King Hui of Liang. Do you have any questions?"
"No, sir."
Shen Yichen still calmly nodded in agreement.
Seeing that Shen Yichen was so determined, Li Tingxiu stopped talking and said bluntly: "When King Xuan of Qi received Mencius in the Snow Palace, he once asked if the sage also enjoyed this? How did Mencius answer?"
"If you enjoy the happiness of the people, the people will also be happy; if you are concerned about the worries of the people, the people will also be worried about them. He is happy for the world and worried for the world. However, there is no king who is not king."
Shen Yichen's answer was correct, but Li Tingxiu did not stop there, but asked, "How do you explain this passage?"
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Faced with Li Tingxiu's continuous increase in difficulty, Shen Yichen vaguely realized that his performance today might be too abnormal, which made the master begin to curiously explore where the limits of his knowledge were.
However, now that the matter has come to this, Shen Yichen has no intention of hiding it. After all, he has educational resources like the Chengguo Gongfu School, but at the age of sixteen, he could not even pass the exam. So the so-called low-key does not belong to pretending to be a pig. Eat the tiger, but be the pig!
"What Mencius said is that if a king takes the happiness of the world as happiness and the sorrow of the world as sorrow, then the people will also do the same for the king. Such a king has never been able to make the world obey. "
"Then what do you think?"
Li Tingxiu stared at Shen Yichen with burning eyes. This literal translation could not truly test the depth of knowledge. He wanted to see Shen Yichen's true level.
"Mr. Hui, in fact, Fan Wenzhenggong of the Song Dynasty has given the best answer, that is, if you live high in the temple, you will worry about its people; if you are far away from the rivers and lakes, you will worry about your king; worry about the world first, and then worry about the happiness of the world. happy!"
Shen Yichen did not express his own opinions, but quoted two sentences from Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower" in the Song Dynasty. In fact, this is also the pinnacle of poetry, and it is almost impossible for future generations to surpass it.
Sure enough, when Shen Yichen said these words, the entire lecture hall was silent. The students were surprised that Shen Yichen seemed to be a different person and was not questioned by the old master and was not punished. Li Tingxiu was even more shocked. Because he not only felt Shen Yichen's progress in knowledge, but also a change in temperament!
Just when the atmosphere seemed to be frozen, a majestic voice came from the corridor outside the lecture hall.
“Very well said!”
This voice broke the silence of the lecture hall, and everyone subconsciously looked towards the door, and Shen Yichen was no exception.
I saw a burly middle-aged man with red face and beard appearing at the door of the lecture hall. Standing at the door gave people a strong sense of oppression. He was two extremes from Li Tingxiu, a gentle and scholarly person.
"Master."
Before Shen Yichen could react, Li Tingxiu, who was standing on the podium, bowed and saluted the middle-aged man.
At the same time, the students in the lecture hall also stood up and bowed, leaving Shen Yichen standing there blankly without making any movement.
There is no doubt that there is only one person who can be called "gongye" in Chengguo Duke's mansion and receive salutes from everyone, and that is the second generation Chengguo Duke Zhu Yong, who is also Shen Yichen's biological father!
You must know that although the Chengguo Palace was built in Nanjing, Zhu Yong was in charge of the capital camp in the capital. This can also be regarded as the characteristic way of serving in the two-capital system of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Zhu Yong lived in the capital all year round and rarely had the opportunity to return. Go to a mansion in Nanjing, let alone inspect a school in Fuzhong Waiyuan.
As far as Shen Yichen could remember, he had only met Duke Cheng Guo once in the outer courtyard school. That was when Li Tingxiu came to serve as the teacher of the school, and Zhu Yong treated the guests as "teacher" as the guest and host, and appeared in the lecture hall to encourage the students.
Apart from this, only Zhu Ji, the second young master in the mansion, took part in the Renxu Science and Technology Provincial Examination and Zhu Yong returned home two years ago. At that time, Shen Yichen glanced at him from afar, and they never met again.
He did not expect that Zhu Yong, Duke of Chengguo, would suddenly appear here and even praise him.
Shen Yichen was surprised, and Zhu Yong was equally surprised.
Zhu Yong returned home this time under the orders of Zhu Qizhen, the Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, to deal with Li Long, the current Nanjing garrison of Xiangcheng Bo, on some military issues related to the Nanjing Chinese Army Governor's Mansion, and to prepare for next year's northern expedition to the Mongolian Ulliangha tribe. .
Zhu Yong himself had no intention of neglecting private schools, and as the Duke of the country, it was already a great gift for him to allow non-kin disciples to attend private schools as "attachments". How could he have the time to pay attention to the studies of these students?
So he passed by the lecture hall by chance and happened to hear Shen Yi reciting the contents of "Primary School" and "Mencius".
In fact, Zhu Yong was not interested in the content recited by Meng Xue. The reason why he praised it was because he heard Shen Yichen's final opinions on "Mencius", which had an air of detachment from schoolchildren and did not have the literate Confucianism. , which is in line with the taste of the distinguished military generals of Cheng Guogong’s lineage.
It’s just that Zhu Yong never expected that the schoolboy who recited the textbook would actually be his son!
After being stunned for a short time, Shen Yichen instantly felt extremely complicated emotions, including resentment, fear, unwillingness, and desire...
All kinds of emotions came to my mind and merged together, it was a mixed bag of emotions.
Obviously, these cannot be the feelings of "Shen Yichen" now, they can only be the emotions of the original body. It seems that Cheng Guogong, the father, had very complicated emotions in Shen Yichen's heart.
"Master."
Shen Yichen suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart, spoke calmly like everyone else, and saluted Duke Cheng Guo.
Chapter completed!