I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 85: Liangzhuang is so beautiful!

During the three years of mourning, Yuan Shu further improved the rules of the Yi Xin Society and had stricter discipline requirements for its members.

Any member who violates the rules of the association will be severely punished. Those with serious violations will be expelled, handed over to the authorities, or convicted, with no upper limit.

During the entire three-year mourning period, as many as 379 members were expelled or even sent to the authorities for punishment for violating the rules of the society.

Therefore, within the Yi Xin Society, Yuan Shu's personal authority has become solid and unshakable.

Compared to the more free and casual atmosphere in the family learning circles outside of Yi Xin Hui, the atmosphere within Yi Xin Hui is serious and rigorous.

If you commit a crime, you will be punished!

Similarly, high requirements also correspond to high benefits. All the resources that Yuan Shu has accumulated personally so far will basically only be open to Yi Xin members.

Especially in terms of career.

Because there is no institutional channel to enter the official career after studying ancient classics, students who study ancient classics from an ancient classics teacher can often only rely on the teacher's personal connections to enter the official career. Studying from an ancient classics teacher does not guarantee a career in officialdom.

This is a clear rule.

Even for Ma Rong, among the nearly ten thousand disciples he taught, only many were able to become officials through his channels.

The main reason why everyone followed Yuan Shu was to make a living; as for whether they could become officials, they did not hold out much hope.

Therefore, those who followed Yuan Shu and joined the Yi Xin Society were mostly just trying for a relatively small possibility, hoping that they could rise to prominence after Yuan Shu grew up. They learned, lay dormant, and waited with Yuan Shu, mainly for this small possibility.

It is precisely because of this understanding, and in consideration of future planning, that Yuan Shu made it clear in an internal meeting.

Once you join the Yi Xin Hui, you will become one of my own. Those who are willing to follow me and stay dormant and cultivate their character can wait with confidence. As long as I survive and wait for them to grow up, I will never treat them unfairly.

Those who are older or want to make a difference, and feel that they are suitable and don't want to waste time, can apply for themselves. Based on their personal abilities and intentions, they will seek channels through the Yuan family and arrange formal jobs for them in advance.

Although Yuan Shu himself does not have an official position yet and cannot personally handle the members' admission process, Yuan Feng, his cheap father, is absolutely clear about this point.

His son wants to start a political layout, so how can a father who loves his son not help?
Therefore, over the past three years, more than one hundred people have been arranged by Yuan Shu through the Yuan family's channels to serve in less important positions in Sanfu, Sanhe, Runan County, Yingchuan County and other places to gain experience.

The Yuan family has a lot of influence in these places, so it is easy for them to be placed in a less important position. These people are the best propaganda role models, and there is no need for Yuan Shu to speak in person. Once these people's examples are mentioned, everyone will know them.

Yuan Shu treats his own people very decisively and really gives them what they want!

This further increases the cohesion and external appeal of the Yi Xin Society.

Those freshmen who passed the selection examination and became Yuan's disciples only realized after hearing about the Yixin Society that becoming Yuan's disciples was only the first step in a long journey, and entering the Yixin Society was the ultimate goal.

However, to join the Yi Xin Society one needs not only cultural level, but also actual achievements of "upholding conscience", so after becoming Yuan's disciples, do they want to just lie down and give up?
Think beautiful!
Yuan is different from Ma Rong!
Therefore, the group of "Yuan's disciples" belonging to Yuan Shu had to put aside their various thoughts, focus all their energy on learning and fulfilling their conscience, and prepare to face Yuan Shu's severe tests one after another.

From April to December of the third year of Jianning, for more than eight months, Yuan Shu presided over the examinations of batches of students.

Nearly four thousand students from all over the country successfully passed the assessment and became Yuan Shu's disciples. Among this group of people, more than five hundred passed the Yi Xin Hui assessment in the first round and successfully joined the Yi Xin Hui.

Among them was the young Xun You.

The total number of Yi Xin Hui members subsequently exceeded 5,000, further consolidating Yuan Shu's political and military base.

His power was undoubtedly the number one in Youfufeng, providing a very important driving force for the development of Youfufeng. Even the government had to rely on the help of Yuan Shu's power. The armed forces owned by Liangzhuang became an important collaborator with the Youfufeng government.

Yuan Shu taught and developed the Yi Xin Society diligently and became the youngest Confucian scholar in the Han Dynasty. Relying on the great reputation created by the joint efforts of the Yuan family and himself, he was on the verge of becoming an academic superstar in Sanfu, Hanzhong and Liangzhou.

At the same time, due to the protection of the party, his reputation at the non-academic level also spread widely in Kanto.

There were numerous academic schools in the Kanto region. They did not necessarily appreciate Yuan Shu's philosophy of mind, but they still admired his efforts to accept and protect party members.

Moreover, the Yuan family had confronted the eunuchs and forced them to give in. Although the final outcome left the scholar group speechless, the Yuan family had confronted the eunuchs head-on and showed a certain degree of independence. This was helpful for the reversal of the Yuan family's reputation.

For Yuan Shu, who was the successor of Ma Rong, the improvement in his reputation was even more obvious.

Some party members and people close to the party seemed to regard Yuan Shu’s Liangzhuang as a secret meeting place and safe house.

Batch after batch of famous party members and party collaborators came to visit him, including Zhang Jian and others who were hiding here, and also to visit Yuan Shu, the rising star of the Han Dynasty.

For example, He Yong, a famous scholar from Nanyang.

He Yong once traveled and studied in the Imperial Academy, during which time he was friendly with Guo Tai and others. He also had close contacts with party members during the two Party Persecutions. After the second Party Persecution broke out, He Yong was implicated and hunted down. He had no choice but to flee to Runan County and wandered around Jingzhou and Yuzhou.

Later, he learned through secret channels that there was a safe house in Youfufeng where many party members had taken refuge. He Yong then traveled to Youfufeng and met Zhang Jian and Liu Biao, and also met Yuan Shu, with whom he discussed some current affairs and Confucian classics issues.

On these issues, Yuan Shu and He Yong had their own views. He Yong only had a preliminary understanding of Yuan's philosophy of mind and did not delve into it deeply. However, when it came to some practical issues, He Yong still admired Yuan Shu very much.

He Yong discovered that the scale and population of Liangzhuang were beyond his imagination. After further questioning, he realized that Yuan Shu was equivalent to the county magistrate of Liangzhuang. Although he had no official status, he actually did government work.

He was "governing" Liangzhuang, and he was doing a very good job.

Han, Qiang and Xiongnu people lived in Liangzhuang. They were friendly to each other and lived a prosperous life. The farmers had rosy complexions and were smiling, as if they were living and working in peace and contentment. This surprised He Yong, who had wandered between Jingzhou and Yuzhou and witnessed the tragic situation.

Afterwards, he learned about Yuan Shu's methods of governing Liangzhuang and the methodology of Yuan's philosophy of mind, and learned about Yuan Shu's practices in implementing the essence of awakening conscience and integrating knowledge and action.

He Yong was very curious about this. Just like Yang Biao before him, he didn't quite understand why Yuan Shu, who came from a noble family, was so proficient in mundane affairs.

So he asked Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu also gave him a very frank answer.

"Since Shang Jun, everyone knows that agriculture is the foundation of the country. They all say that agriculture should be emphasized. But where should it be emphasized? If grain production decreases or even fails, and farmers starve to death, is this good for the country? Although the tree is young, it knows that all the wise men in ancient times who governed the country started with agriculture.

Without agriculture, there is no way to govern the country. Therefore, there is no wise man who governs the country who does not understand agriculture. Attaching importance to loyalty and filial piety is the conscience of a minister, and attaching importance to agriculture is the conscience of a shepherd on behalf of the emperor. If everyone in the world understands this, how can there be thousands of miles of starving people?

I am young and do not understand much about politics, nor do I know why political struggles occur or when they end. But I know that if farmland becomes barren, crops fail, and farmers starve to death or become homeless, then the death of scholars like me is imminent. ”

After listening to Yuan Shu's words and looking at the Yi Xin Hui members who were helping farmers to cultivate the fields and manage agricultural production businesses, He Yong was greatly impressed.

"Everyone in the world loves empty talk, but only Mr. Yuan is willing to do real things. Everyone in the world knows but does not act, but only Mr. Yuan combines knowledge and action, which is very good and beautiful!"

He Yong then regarded Yuan's philosophy of mind as something worthy of learning, and Liangzhuang as an ideal place on earth. He also consulted Yuan Shu on "Mencius's Interpretation" and "On Knowing and Doing", and gained a lot of insights.

Later, in order not to cause trouble to Yuan Shu, He Yong returned to between Runan and Nanyang to continue his refuge.

However, after communicating with Yuan Shu and observing in Liangzhuang, He Yong's thoughts changed. He began to not only oppose the eunuchs, but also began to pay attention to practical affairs, and highly praised Yuan Shu's works.

When he was taking refuge in Jingzhou and Yuzhou, he had many private contacts with local scholars and powerful people and gained a great reputation.

After returning from Liangzhuang, he met with them privately again. He always talked about Yuan Shu, Liangzhuang, and Zhiliangzhi. He praised Yuan Shu highly and became an enthusiastic fan of Yuan Shu. He described Liangzhuang as a paradise on earth and an ideal place.

Thanks to He Yong's publicity, Yuan Shu's reputation also extended from northern Yuzhou to southern Yuzhou and northern Jingzhou.

Many local big families originally only knew of Yuan Shu's reputation, but now they have begun to pay attention to Yuan's philosophy of mind, which is a step forward.

In this era when everyone is talking about academic matters but not putting their knowledge into practice, Yuan Shu is the only one who stands out.

After he founded Yuan's School of Mind, he not only taught it, but also put it into practice. He used the methodology in it to guide real politics, and he achieved good results and created a model room for the world to see.

This greatly increased the operability and credibility of Yuan's Philosophy of Mind, and attracted the attention of some scholars with a practical spirit, who began to seriously study Yuan's Philosophy of Mind, which had no anti-self-study mechanism.

(End of this chapter)