History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 249 The Conflict Between Confucianism and Buddhism?

Not long after, the elders came out after they finished speaking.

After Yuanzhi came down the steps, he lightly patted his waist. Yuanmao saw this and went over to help him up, but Yuanzhi waved his hand at his son, indicating that he didn't need to.

The fatherly love and filial piety made Wei Yi regret it immensely! At the beginning of the relocation of the capital, he should not have been influenced by the faction of the deposed crown prince who opposed the southward relocation, nor should he have listened to the rumors that the defense of Luoyang was unstable. This led him and A Luo to make the worst decision of their lives, temporarily abandoning Mao'er and leaving him in the clan in the old capital.

In fact, no matter how turbulent the world is, a family should face it together.

Wei Yi was used to being proud, and he would never show his regret or bitterness. He coldly warned, "Learn how to do things properly, especially in the palace. You must not be willful!"

As soon as Wei Yi left, Clerk Gou brought Yuan Zhi's nephew, Yuan Yu, over.

The four men sat in the office. Yuan Zhi first asked, "Have you told Wei Yao about this?"

Quanxue Lane in the south of the city.

The Wei family of three sat around the desk, with two candles close to Zhao Zhi. She had chosen the fabric during the day and was sewing winter shoes for her daughter while listening to the father and daughter talk.

Wei Yaoxian repeated what Yuan Mao had asked her to relay during the day: "He told me two things. First, Bai Zheng, the Grand Chamberlain, has gone to Yique Mountain in the south of the county to select a site for the excavation of the grotto. Yuan Biejia has been informed that the grotto will be built on the same scale as the Lingyan Grotto in the old capital."

"The second matter is that Yuan Biejia will petition for the construction of the Four Gates Elementary School, and will widely recruit elementary school doctors, as well as ordinary school officials who will participate in writing the enlightenment classics."

Wei Yin nodded, indicating that his daughter should analyze the situation first.

Wei Yao had been pondering this for a day. Her expression was serious, and she said without the slightest hesitation, "These two matters may seem unrelated at first glance, but they are actually connected. Once the construction of the grottoes begins, not only will the construction of the Four Gates Primary School be delayed, but the construction of the Imperial Academy and the National Academy will also be delayed to make way for the construction of the grottoes!"

"The new educational decree issued by the late emperor will be in name only! The restoration of the Imperial Academy's stone classics will be even more distant!"

"I think that since Yuan Biejia has petitioned to build the Four Gates Elementary School, the senior ministers should approve it. His Majesty has transferred Yuan Guanzhang to be the Biejia of Sizhou. In principle, His Majesty should approve Yuan Biejia's first petition to establish his authority. However, this petition clashes with the construction of the grottoes, so it's hard to say."

"To put it mildly, this matter is about the struggle to build an official school; to put it more broadly, it is a struggle between Confucianism and Buddhism! It is urgent to decide who should give way to whom! Prefect Yuan needs the strong support of Prince Rencheng, so today he wants to convey this message to his mother through me, and then to Prince Rencheng."

As a Confucian scholar, Wei Yao naturally hoped her mother would agree, but as a daughter, she did not want her mother to be involved in this matter. Therefore, she carefully said again, "Prince Rencheng presided over the implementation of the new education decree during the reign of the late emperor, and now he holds the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. This petition, if facilitated by Prince Rencheng, carries more weight than that of other ministers. Precisely because of this, if the construction of the Four Gates Primary School is confirmed, delaying the construction of the grottoes, I fear His Majesty will be dissatisfied with Prince Rencheng and Vice Minister Yuan."

"As for the favor that Yuan Biejia owes to Prince Rencheng, if His Majesty demotes Prince Rencheng and keeps him away from Luoyang after he assumes personal rule, Mother, who will still serve as Prince Cheng's chief guard, will also have to leave Luoyang. If she resigns from her position as chief guard, she will be branded as unrighteous and heartless."

"That's all my daughter could think of."

Wei Yin began by praising, "It's very good that you could think of the conflict between Confucianism and Buddhism." Then he read aloud Bai Zheng and his official title, slowly and deliberately dissecting the matter.
"The construction of the Lingyan Grottoes was overseen by the Buddhist monk Tan Yao. Now, His Majesty has sent Bai Zheng, the chief eunuch, to Yique Mountain, which shows that this eunuch will be the supervisor of the future construction of the Luoyang Grottoes. The change in the supervisor's identity indicates that His Majesty trusts eunuchs the most. Among these eunuchs are Buddhists, Confucian scholars, and Zhao Xiu, who previously only believed in gold and silver."

“Ah…” Wei Yao suddenly felt a new idea appear before her eyes. She did not interrupt and listened attentively.

Sizhou Office.

Gou, the registrar, said: "The position of supervising the construction of the Luoyang Grottoes has always been under the jurisdiction of Buddhist monks, but Your Majesty sent a eunuch there, which shows that Your Majesty trusts eunuchs the most."

He looked at Yuan Mao and instructed, "As for summoning Sun Huiwei to the Zhai Palace to discuss Buddhist scriptures instead of Confucian classics, His Majesty must first trust Sun Huiwei and be willing to listen to him speak before discussing Buddhist scriptures. This order cannot be wrong; if it is, all our subsequent speculations will be wrong!"

"The construction of the Four Gates Elementary School must take precedence over the excavation of the Yique Mountain Grottoes! Your father asked you to bring this up with Wei Yao so that it could be relayed to Prince Rencheng through Guard Zhao, but not so that Prince Rencheng could help your father persuade the other ministers to agree to this petition. If that were the case, your father would owe Prince Rencheng a huge favor before he even started doing anything. Besides, why would Prince Rencheng risk his career to help with this kind of thing?"

Yuan Zhi said, "I only want the Prince of Rencheng to tell me which eunuch His Majesty trusts the most. As long as this trust surpasses that of Bai Zheng, I will suggest that this eunuch oversee the construction of the Four Gates Elementary School!"

Chief Clerk Gou smiled at Yuan Mao and Yuan Yu, summarizing in one sentence: "You two think it's a conflict between Confucianism and Buddhism, but in reality it's a conflict between His Majesty and his ministers, which has turned into a conflict between eunuchs and officials of the outer court."

Yuan Mao: "I understand. Prince Rencheng should treat Father's request normally. Whether or not the Four Gates Elementary School can be built does not depend on which minister helps Father, but on whether there is a eunuch who is favored by His Majesty, far more so than Grand Chamberlain Bai Zheng!"

Yuan Zhi: "Yes. It's a pity you haven't been in the palace long enough to know about this."

“I will understand from now on. But…” Yuan Mao asked worriedly, “What if Master Wei is wrong, what if he guesses the same thing as me?”

Clerk Gou said, “If he guesses correctly, it proves that your father was right about him. In the future, we can go to great lengths to help him and give him a better future. If he can’t guess your father’s intentions, then if the Wei Yao family wants to prosper, they can only rely on your teacher’s wife in the short term.”

He silently added in his heart: Your useless father will be heartbroken!
"Let's talk about recruiting ordinary school officials."

In the section on encouraging learning.

Wei Yin also said, "Yao'er, you don't need to focus on how to make the petition. What Yuan Biejia wants to remind you is the content of the petition... to widely recruit ordinary school officials."

"Prefect Yuan has put a lot of thought into this, wanting to open up a new path for women to serve as civil officials in the outer court for your sake! The timing for this path is just right now. Firstly, the Mulan Camp was established first, and since women can serve as both military and civil officials, this is a good opportunity."

"Secondly, if we guessed correctly just now, when Prefect Yuan proposed the construction of the Four Gates Elementary School and suggested that a certain eunuch be the supervisor, what would Prefect Yuan gain? All the benefits would go to that eunuch. Therefore, if Prefect Yuan included you in the proposal, that eunuch certainly wouldn't object."

Wei Yao said excitedly, "I understand. What I need to do is to study harder from now on, to master the basics of philology, so that no one among my peers can compare with me. Then, it will be only natural for Yuan Biejia to suggest that I participate in the writing of the enlightenment classics!"