I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 5: Debate! Debate!
After a month and a half of dormancy and preparation, Yuan Shu was full of bad intentions, and when the weather turned warmer and summer came, he started his plan.

He began to take the initiative to pick fights and debate with others.

To be honest, he didn't have much interest in debates and found it boring.

A group of people were studying a vague passage in ancient Chinese literature to figure out what it meant, what central idea it expressed, and what Confucius' original intention was.

In the process of pursuing the truth, they try their best to mix in their own personal opinions for personal gain, making them just like the authors of online novels, who want the truth and the benefits at the same time, and they want both, which is very ugly.

Pooh!
However, it must be said that debate not only shows how much knowledge a Confucian scholar has and whether he has profound learning, but also shows whether a person has a firm will, wise thinking and eloquent speech.

You must know that being an official also requires these things.

You can't become an official just by being knowledgeable. If you can't quarrel, argue, pass the buck, or confuse right and wrong, you can never gain a foothold in officialdom.

Your knowledge must be solid, your words must be ruthless, and you must grasp both with both hands and both hands must be strong.

For this purpose, debate became a good channel, which in a sense indicated whether a Confucian scholar had the qualifications to be a good official.

Anyone who is an excellent debater will surely make a name for himself in official circles, and will never be marginalized and become an unknown person without any recognition.

Moreover, the process of studying is very boring and tedious. The knowledge is profound and difficult, and it is also a test of the will of the learners. In this case, debate is a way to relieve stress and seek recognition, and is highly praised by everyone.

Ma Rong had many disciples, but only his disciples had the opportunity to meet Ma Rong. In order to compete for this opportunity, the best way for his disciples to demonstrate their academic abilities was to debate with each other.

The disciples can't just sit back and watch the fight between tigers.

Disciples only had the opportunity to meet Ma Rong. If they wanted to receive stable face-to-face instruction from Ma Rong and thus have the opportunity to obtain Ma Rong’s political resources, they had to become the elite among the disciples - a senior disciple.

Therefore, disciples often engage in friendly and lively debates, where both sides express their inner thoughts freely, display their knowledge, and take pride in pouring out their overflowing talents on each other, calling the other party an idiot.

It is said that Zheng Xuan achieved an undefeated record in debates during his studies. As a result, he was recognized by Ma Rong despite his relatively ordinary background. He became his top student, successfully graduated, and became a legend.

At the moment, the most outstanding debater in the Ma family mansion is Lu Zhi. However, Lu Zhi is far inferior to Zheng Xuan in deterrence and does not have the terrifying ruling power of Zheng Xuan.

So overall, when Zheng Xuan was still alive, he dominated the debate arena in the Ma mansion and defeated all the other debaters, but now it is a Warring States period with people fighting for supremacy and the world in chaos.

Anyway, Yuan Shu has only been studying here for three months, and during these three months, he has participated in no less than two hundred debates, big and small.

As a top disciple, Lu Zhi not only studied hard, but also had the responsibilities of teaching students on behalf of Ma Rong and helping Ma Rong deal with some secular affairs. In short, he was very busy and would occasionally engage in debates with some senior and junior brothers.

Yuan Shu felt that given his age and fame, if he took the initiative to approach Lu Zhi to debate ancient Chinese classics, it would be unlikely that Lu Zhi would accept. It would be more likely to make a fencing appointment with him.

So he started with the minions first, and first found other disciples who were not well-known or who were mainly for gilding to practice with, beat up the kids, and then used this as a stepping stone to declare war on Lu Zhi.

The unlucky guy chosen by Yuan Shu was 24-year-old Li Quan, a native of Changshan, Jizhou.

Li Quan was very surprised and amused when he learned that Yuan Shu had "challenged" him to discuss academic issues. He didn't know how capable Yuan Shu was, but he knew that Yuan Shu was a good talker.

Given Yuan Shu's bad reputation in the Ma family mansion, there were many people who wanted to teach Yuan Shu a lesson. Even some disciples wanted to get a chance to be valued by Ma Rong by teaching Yuan Shu a lesson. However, because he came from an extraordinary family and his father was the Jingzhao Yin, they really didn't dare to do so.

But if Yuan Shu took the initiative to fight and seek an enemy, that would be considered "suicide" on his part. This kind of good thing would be something that others would beg for but Li Quan got it, so of course he was extremely happy.

However, considering that Yuan Shu was relatively young, he felt that it would be enough to teach Yuan Shu a lesson. If he beat him too harshly and created a reputation for bullying the weak, it would be really bad.

The debate between the two was originally just a trivial matter, but Yuan Shu's reputation was too bad and many people wanted to see him make a fool of himself, so on the day of the debate, the debate between the two attracted more than 200 people to watch.

Li Quan originally thought that Yuan Shu would argue with him based on the modern text classics, which he was more proficient in. However, he did not expect Yuan Shu to say right away that he would not talk about the modern text classics, but only the ancient text classics, namely "Zuo Zhuan".

"Mr. Yuan has always looked down upon ancient classics, so why did you ask me about Zuo's teachings?"

Li Quan laughed and said, "Given Mr. Yuan's background, it is normal for him to refute Zuo Clan with Gongyang, right?"

Yuan Shu smiled contemptuously.

"It doesn't matter. Whether it's modern or ancient Chinese, Yuan has some confidence that he can beat Mr. Li. Please let Mr. Li go first."

The crowd was in an uproar and whispered to each other, saying that Yuan Shu really didn't know the importance of the matter. Even though he was young, he kept messing with other people's mentality, which was really despicable.

Li Quan then put away his smile and narrowed his eyes.

"Considering that Yuan Jun is still young, I didn't want to make things too difficult for him. However, Yuan Jun thinks that he is very talented and looks down on others. This is not good for his future. Master is busy and has no time to teach Yuan Jun. As a senior student, I should teach the juniors to prevent Yuan Jun from going astray! Sorry!"

Yuan Shu laughed out loud.

"If you are upset with me and want to teach me a lesson, just say it directly. It is hypocritical to beat around the bush and attack me in the name of justice. Mr. Li, we scholars should stick to our original intentions."

"you!"

Li Quan broke through the red temperature on the spot and pointed at Yuan Shu: "Don't think that you can do whatever you want just because you are born extraordinary! You can't be presumptuous in the master's house! Today, I will let you know what knowledge is!"

The debate between the two began in such a tense manner.

The topic of the debate between the two this time was the passage "The two sons of the emperor's father died there" recorded in "Zuo Zhuan·Weng Gong Eleventh Year".

The core of the debate on this passage is, who is the deceased mentioned in the biography?

Was it just Gu nephew and Niu's father who died, or were all three of them dead?
The original text of this paragraph is [At the beginning, during the reign of Duke Wu of Song, Di Man attacked Song. Si Tu Huangfu led the army to resist him. Di Ban led Huangfu Chongshi, and Prince Gu Si was on the right. Si Kou Niufu led Sicheng. They defeated the Di at Changqiu and captured the eldest Di Yuansi. Huangfu's two sons died there. The Duke of Song then rewarded Di Ban with a gate and gave him food during the expedition, and called it Di Gate].

The main point of contention in this topic lies in the word "之".

The word "zhi" has two meanings in grammar. One is as an auxiliary word, meaning "of", and the other is as a conjunction, meaning "and". Therefore, in this record, this sentence has such a controversial point.

Was it Gu Shen and Niu Fu who died, or was it Song Wugong's younger brother and the emperor's father Chongshi who died with them?
The text did not clearly record this content, so scholars had different opinions and debates in the process of interpreting Zuo Zhuan.

Li Quan's view on this topic is very clear.

"The emperor's father's two sons were killed by the enemy in the army. Those who did not know the names of the two sons said that they were dead, so they won the battle. Now they are all dead. Who killed Yuan Si?"

What he meant was that the records in the biography usually recorded important things. If the emperor's father Chongshi died with Gu's nephew and Niu's father, then who killed the enemy leader Yuansi? Was he some unknown person?

Yuan Shu doesn't think so.

"The later biography says: The Duke of Song rewarded the charioteer, Yiban, and gave him food during the expedition, which was called Yiban. Mr. Li, if the emperor's father was still alive, why did the Duke of Song reward the charioteer Yiban alone, but not reward the emperor's father Chongshi?"

What Yuan Shu meant was that if the emperor's father Chongshi had not died, then why did the biography only record that Duke Wu of Song rewarded the driver Di Ban heavily, and even gave him a gate so that he could enjoy the customs duties of the gate?
Shouldn’t the emperor’s father Chongshi’s contribution be greater?
Li Quan was refuted, but he did not agree with Yuan Shu's opinion.

"What Mr. Yuan said is ridiculous. If all three sons died, who would kill the eldest son, Di Yuansi? Moreover, the Song army won a great victory in this battle. Since ancient times, how could the army win when the commander died in battle? You must know that the emperor's father is the Minister of Education, Niu's father is the Minister of Justice, and Gu's nephew is the son of the Song prince. They are all nobles. If all three died, how could the Song army win?"

Yuan Shu shook his head.

"After a great victory, the army did not confer a title on the commander-in-chief, but only the charioteer. They even rewarded him with a closed gate and fed him with customs duties. How can this be justified in the world? In this case, the emperor's father and the other three must have died, and Lu Ban was the last person on the chariot. He temporarily served as the commander-in-chief, turned the tide, and finally made the Song army win. Only in this way can he be rewarded generously!"

As soon as Yuan Shu made this inference, it immediately aroused a lot of discussion.

They all felt that what Yuan Shu said actually made sense.

But we can’t say that what Li Quan said doesn’t make sense.

The main reason is the omissions in the written records, which makes it difficult to get an accurate answer to this question that will not leave everyone confused. So although Li Quan also felt that what Yuan Shu said made sense, he was not willing to admit defeat.

He tried to save his dignity.

"There were four people in the car, three nobles died, only one person survived, and then the Song army won a great victory. What Yuan Jun said is too much."

"If it is as Lord Li said, the emperor's father defeated the Di people, but lost his two sons. How did the Duke of Song reward him? If there was a reward, where are the scriptures and histories? If there was no reward, wouldn't it be unclear about rewards and punishments? How did the emperor's father treat him? How did the officials of Song treat him?"

Yuan Shu smiled and said, "Today, although I will not talk about the modern text of the classics, I will say that those who interpret the Spring and Autumn Annals in the modern text mostly interpret it in terms of the great principles. In the Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu, major faults were not recorded, but minor faults were recorded. In foreign countries, major faults were recorded, but minor faults were not recorded. Song was the descendant of Shang, and became the second king of Zhou. Duke Wu treated his meritorious officials so harshly, which should be a major fault. Why was it not recorded in the classics?"

After hearing this, Li Quan was speechless.

The more than 200 people watching fell silent. What Yuan Shu said really made sense.

The Modern Text Classics and the Old Text Classics had already begun to merge during this period, and it was not uncommon for each side to cite the other's views to support their own views.

What Yuan Shu said is quite common in academic discussions among scholars at this stage.

A very important fundamental point in Gongyang Zhuan's explanation of the Spring and Autumn Annals is that the Spring and Autumn Annals written by Confucius is the original history book of the State of Lu, the Spring and Autumn Annals, which was revised by Confucius himself, and contains the crystallization of his thoughts in his later years after he integrated his life's merits and demerits.

One of the principles is to avoid taboos.

And this taboo also has its own rules.

Regarding the State of Lu, if the monarch made a serious mistake, it would be concealed and not written down. If it was a minor mistake, it would be recorded to warn future generations.

As for foreign monarchs outside the State of Lu, if they committed a serious mistake, it would be recorded; if they committed a minor mistake, it would be ignored.

This is the double standard of the Spring and Autumn Annals, and it is also the reason why the Spring and Autumn Annals is a "classic" rather than a "history".

The ancient literature school did not object to this statement.

Yuan Shu challenged Li Quan's views based on this point of view.

The emperor's father Chongshi was the brother of Duke Wu of Song. He led the army to fight for his brother against the invasion of the Di people. He won the battle and survived, but Duke Wu of Song did not reward him generously or appease him. This was an unclear reward and punishment and would chill people's hearts.

How could Confucius overlook such a serious mistake when he wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals?
This is unreasonable.

Li Quan pondered for a long time, but still didn't know how to counter Yuan Shu's argument.

He lowered his head, his face flushed red, his hands tightly grasped his collar, veins bulged on the back of his hands, it was obvious that he was extremely embarrassed.

He felt like he was going to lose.

And that damned boy is going to win!
I am over 20 years old and have studied under Ma Rong for many years, but I am going to lose to a young boy? !
Can't stand it!
Li Quan couldn't tolerate it, and there were others who couldn't tolerate it either.

Li Quan's good friend, Zhao Xing, a native of Zhongshan in Jizhou, "stepped forward" and argued for Li Quan.

"Although Confucius' father served in the State of Lu, he was originally from the State of Song. His surname was Zi, and he was a descendant of the king of Song. Confucius must be a descendant of the Shang Dynasty, and had a close relationship with Song. Therefore, it is possible that he avoided taboos for them."

Zhao Xing's statement caused another round of discussion among the crowd. Everyone was talking about it, and many people looked at Zhao Xing with surprise.

But Yuan Shu just shook his head.

"Confucius was born in Lu, and he considered himself a Lu citizen. He also died in Lu, not Song. There is no taboo about Song in the scriptures. Even my master would not dare to make a conclusion about what Mr. Zhao said. Mr. Zhao has such courage, which really makes me ashamed!"

Yuan Shu pretended to admire him, but was actually sarcastic, with a teasing look on his face and contempt in his eyes.

Zhao Xing was so angry that he just wanted to rush over and beat Yuan Shu up.

But he didn't dare.

Even if he had ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare to go up and beat Yuan Shu up.

Because Yuan Shu has a father named Yuan Feng.

And this debate came to an end.

Li Quan himself was speechless, and Zhao Xing, who showed up halfway, was also speechless. The winner was undoubtedly Yuan Shu.

The onlookers were in an uproar.

Li Quan looked dejected, like an eggplant hit by frost.

Defeated by a recognized rebellious kid at the level of ancient Chinese classics?
Where does this put his face?
Li Quan had no choice, but Zhao Xing was unwilling to accept his defeat, so he took the initiative to declare war on Yuan Shu, saying that he also wanted to have a good debate with Yuan Shu to see who was better.

The topic of the debate between Zhao Xing and Yuan Shu was the record of the twenty-fourth year of Duke Xi in Zuo Zhuan - [In the past, Duke Zhou mourned the unrighteousness of his two uncles, so he enfeoffed his relatives to defend the Zhou Dynasty].

The background of this record is that King Xiang of Zhou wanted Zheng to stop attacking Hua and Wei, but the monarch of Zheng, Duke Wen of Zheng, resented King Xiang of Zhou for favoring Hua and Wei, so he disobeyed his orders, sent troops to defeat the two countries, and captured their monarchs.

This blatant slap in the face made King Xiang of Zhou very angry, and he decided to lead the Di people to attack the State of Zheng. However, the minister Fu Chen dissuaded King Xiang of Zhou from doing so.

The reason why this record can be brought out for discussion is that the main objection lies in which uncle the "second uncle" is. There were many different opinions at the time, and each family had their own view.

Zhao Xing quickly expressed his opinion.

"Second uncle, should be the uncle of Xia and Yin."

Yuan Shu expressed his opposition.

"Second uncle, it should be Uncle Guan and Uncle Cai. Zuo Zhuan mentioned that it was the rebellion of the three supervisors!"

The two people obviously have different opinions.

Zhao Xing believed that his second uncles were two descendants of the Xia and Shang royal families left in the Zhou Dynasty, while Yuan Shu believed that his second uncles were King Wu of Zhou's brothers Guan Shu and Cai Shu. The two held different opinions.

Zhao Xing disagreed with Yuan Shu's opinion and launched an attack.

"Diao means to hurt. Duke Zhou went on an expedition to the east and killed the rebels, including King Zhou's son Wu Geng, which greatly hurt the remaining people of Xia and Yin and almost led to the extinction of the Xia and Yin sacrifices. However, destroying a country without ending the sacrifices is the way to establish a country. As a virtuous man like Duke Zhou, he would naturally not do such a wrong thing.

Therefore, after Duke Zhou's expedition to the east, he granted fiefs to the descendants of Xia and Yin and established states for their relatives in order to maintain the rule of Zhou. Everyone praised him and the people were loyal to him. Duke Zhou assisted in the administration for six years and the world was in great order. This is why Duke Zhou was called a virtuous and wise man!

If the second uncles were Guan Shu and Cai Shu, who were vassals of the Zhou Dynasty, but conspired with King Zhou's son to rebel and trigger the Duke of Zhou's Eastern Expedition, then why did Fu Chen mention that the Duke of Zhou still enfeoffed his relatives to defend the Zhou Dynasty? Instead of reducing the power of the vassal? Isn't this a contradiction? "

Zhao Xing's argument made sense and many people agreed with it.

The rule of unifying three dynasties and establishing two queens was not broken until the Southern and Northern Dynasties by Liu Yu. Before that, this rule was absolutely politically correct. With a wise and capable person like Zhou Gong, it would be impossible for him to make such a mistake.

Moreover, if the second uncle was Guan Shu or Cai Shu, this would be a civil strife in the Zhou Dynasty. The Han people who had experienced the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms would naturally think that after the civil strife, it would be a natural thing to "reduce the power of the vassal states". How could they still feudalize the states?

But Yuan Shu disagreed.

"What the Lord of Zhao said does make sense, but one thing is one thing, and the legend needs to be read in context. According to the context of the legend, King Xiang wanted to attack Zheng because of the affairs of Hua and Wei. However, Zheng is also a vassal of Zhou. Fu Chen believes that King Xiang's attack on Zheng is a blood feud, which will make relatives sad and enemies happy.

Therefore, Fu Chen proposed that after Duke Zhou suppressed the rebellion of Guan Shu and Cai Shu, he did not ignore the clan bloodline because of the rebellion of his brothers, but feudalized more clan states to defend Zhou, such as Guan, Cai, Ying, Huo, Lu, Wei, Mao, Dan, Gao, Yong, Cao and so on.

These countries were all vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty. If Duke Zhou had greatly reduced the power of the vassal states because of the rebellion of the Three Supervisors, why would so many vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty still exist? Shouldn't the power of the royal family be greatly reduced? But did Duke Zhou do so? No.

If what the Lord of Zhao said was true, the second uncle was the uncle of Xia and Yin, why did Fu Chen mention many vassal states of Zhou but not Qi and Song? Fu Chen's words were clearly advising King Xiang to follow the example of Duke Zhou and not to harm vassal relations for a moment of anger. He was not of our race, so his heart must be different and he must not be trusted!

Judging from the situation of the Rebellion of the Three Guards at that time, if the Duke of Zhou had drastically reduced the power of the vassal states after the Rebellion of the Three Guards, it would only make the many vassal states appointed by King Wu feel frightened, and everyone in the royal family would be in danger. Considering the situation that King Wu had just lost his father and King Cheng was still young, that would really shake the country!

Duke Zhou was a wise man who realized this and did the opposite. Everyone thought that Duke Zhou would reduce the feudal states, but Duke Zhou instead feudalized more states of his relatives to appease the people and unite the Zhou Dynasty. This made the Zhou Dynasty stable and the world stable, and then he won a great victory in the Eastern Expedition! This is the root of Fu Chen's advice!"

Yuan Shu's remarks were clear and well-organized, connected with the context, and well-reasoned. Zhao Xing was left at a loss for words when he refuted them.

Yes, if the second uncle refers to the descendants of Xia and Shang, why doesn’t the text mention the vassal states of Xia and Shang in Zhou - Qi and Song?
In the context, the logic of Fu Chen's words is only applicable to Yuan Shu's logic. If it is applied to Zhao Xing's logic, it is completely contradictory.

After thinking for a long time, Zhao Xing was speechless. He didn't want to admit defeat, but he couldn't refute in front of everyone. If he didn't admit defeat, he would end up being despised by others.

So he could only sigh, admit defeat, bow his head and withdraw from the debate.

Yuan Shu won again.

Yuan Shu, who was only ten years old and had only studied for three months, defeated Li Quan, who was twenty-four years old and had studied for five years, in his first debate, and refuted Zhao Xing, who was twenty-six years old and had studied for six years.

One person defeated two people and won the debate, and the content of the debate was Zuo Zhuan. To others, this was truly amazing.

This boy has such a strong ability to debate!
The power of debate is more than just three stages.

(End of this chapter)