Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 12: Ambition to Clarify the World
Although I studied under Wang Hong, he did not give lectures every day. He adopted a more laissez-faire teaching style, first letting students copy books, then letting them study on their own, and finally taking time out to give lectures.

The reason for such an arrangement, apart from the difference in teaching modes, is more due to the different nature of the study tour.

Although the relationship between teachers and students in ancient times was very close, those who traveled to study and read the scriptures were not students in the true sense, but rather were more like follower students.

Taking Gongsun Zan’s learning career as an example, he first studied with Lu Zhi and later became a disciple of Liu Kuan. There is a clear difference between the two.

Studying classics in Mount Gaoshi was more like studying abroad rather than a clear teacher-student relationship, so it is difficult to say that Lu Zhi was Gongsun Zan's teacher.

When Gongsun Zan became Liu Kuan's disciple, they had a teacher-student relationship in a real sense, so Liu Kuan can be considered Gongsun Zan's teacher.

The relationship between Zhang Yu and Wang Hong could not be described as that of a teacher and a student, but because of Guo Yu's letter of recommendation, their relationship was closer than that of a follower student.

Therefore, when Wang Hong learned that Zhang Yu had just arrived at Dalu Mountain, he took the initiative to order people to vacate houses in the surrounding area for Zhang Yu, Li Song and the other two to live in.

The house was only one or two miles away from the Banyao residence. Zhang Yu and Li Song would walk to the residence every day to copy books or borrow documents and books collected by Wang Hong.

The classics in Wang Hong's home are treasures collected by the Wang family from generation to generation, including many works handed down from various philosophers of the pre-Qin period.

Li Song immersed himself in classics every day and enjoyed learning very much!

Because Zhang Yu was interested in learning about military affairs, Wang Hong wrote a catalog of several books for him, and asked Zhang Yu to start with practical books on military affairs, such as "Spring and Autumn Annals", "Wu Qi's Art of War", "Sima Fa" and other books.

Compared with the "Art of War" which is rich in military theory, the introductory military book recommended by Wang Hong is more practical. Because it has been collected by the Wang family for generations, it also comes with text explanations to answer learners' questions.

In the late spring month, the grass is green and the orioles are flying.

In a secluded pavilion outside the mountain courtyard, Zhang Yu paced and read the Book of Lord Shang in a low voice. On the stone table in the pavilion, the Art of War by Wu Qi was piled up, covering the entire stone table.

Reading military books for a long time is boring, so Zhang Yu often reads other books together. For example, the book of Lord Shang with annotations gives Zhang Yu a refreshing feeling.

The Book of Lord Shang was written during the Warring States Period. Some of its ideas may be backward, but overall it expounds the Legalist philosophy of governing the country.

The five methods of controlling people that were widely circulated in later generations were just excerpts from the Book of Lord Shang, and they were not the core ideas of the Book of Lord Shang. All of its chapters were just about farming and fighting, and governing the country, telling the rulers how to build a war machine.

"It is a good book, but it is so difficult to make the rule of law clear and entrusted to the monarch!" Zhang Yu put down "The Book of Lord Shang" and sighed.

The Book of Lord Shang overemphasized the idea of the rule of law and attempted to control everything with the law. This was Zhang Yu's greatest impression.

"Dong Dong~"

Suddenly, a clear sound of piano came from afar and echoed in Zhang Yu's ears.

The sound of the piano is gentle, like a stream flowing through the woods, and at a certain moment it sounds like a complaint or a cry, as if the stream is about to dry up.

Zhang Yu listened attentively, his eyes following the sound, but the sound of the piano came from deep in the woods.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Zhang Yu picked up the ring-handled sword and walked into the forest following the sound.

The woods in early spring were already lush and green. The trees were densely packed and the branches blocked many of the views. Zhang Yu had no choice but to push the branches aside with his hands and bend down to walk along the path.

After walking about ten steps, Zhang Yu, who thought there was no path in the forest, saw a clear path in front of him. A stone path extended from the back of the house to the hillside.

As Zhang Yu walked along the stone path, the sound of his zither became clearer.

After walking dozens of steps, Zhang Yu saw a woman in a plain Hanfu sitting on a cushion in the bamboo pavilion. Her slender fingers were plucking the strings of a zither. Apparently, the sound of the zither was coming from this.

If you look closely at the girl playing the piano, you can see that her long hair is like ink and is fixed with a wooden hairpin. Her face is pure and beautiful, giving people a sense of elegance and nobility. Zhang Yu had seen many beauties in his previous life, so he claimed that he would not be moved by women, but when he saw this girl today, he was actually a little surprised and moved.

After watching for a while, Zhang Yu was afraid of disturbing the woman's elegance, so he moved his feet and prepared to leave.

"what!"

Suddenly, there was an ear-piercing scream. Zhang Yu turned his head and saw that the girl was so scared that her face turned pale. Her beautiful eyes were fixed on the brown snake outside the bamboo pavilion.

The thin snake spit out its tongue, stopping and swimming outside the pavilion, as if it was intending to enter the Chaozhu Pavilion.

Zhang Yu gave up the idea of returning the same way, turned around, stood on tiptoe, and touched the brown snake.

"do not move!"

Seeing the woman's pale face and at a loss, Zhang Yu shouted: "Snakes don't have ears, but they can hear the sound of movement."

"Don't move, let me catch the snake!"

Hearing the sound, the girl spotted Zhang Yu. Although she didn't know when Zhang Yu appeared here, she was afraid and followed Zhang Yu's advice, trying her best to calm herself down and lift her feet off the ground, fearing that she would disturb the poisonous snake.

Zhang Yu tiptoed slowly towards the snake. The snake seemed to sense something and stopped where it was, spitting out its tongue and collecting the heat from the air.

When he was more than ten steps away from the snake, Zhang Yu slowed down his movements, drew out a ring-handled knife from his waist, and then threw it fiercely.

There was a flash of cold light, and the poisonous snake had no time to react, and was immediately cut in half by the ring-handled knife. Blood spurted out, and the snake struggled and twisted in pain on the ground.

Zhang Yu picked up a wooden stick from the ground and swept the two struggling venomous snakes into the depths of the forest. To prevent them from doing evil after death, he hit the snakes' heads hard with the stick and then buried them in the soil.

At the same time, the girl calmed down and took advantage of the opportunity to see Zhang Yu's appearance clearly.

With a height of eight feet and years of martial arts and archery training, Zhang Yu had a tall and handsome physique, with a strong back and waist. His handsome face was adorned with chivalrous eyebrows, peach blossom eyes, and dark pupils. What attracted the girls the most was his high nose that looked like it was carved by a knife or an axe.

Of course, the girl ignored the bow legs caused by years of riding and shooting!
With Zhang Yu there, the poisonous snake had been killed, and the girl felt relieved. She took the initiative to pick up the ring-handled knife on the ground for Zhang Yu and wiped the blood off the blade with a towel. "Thank you for your help, sir!"

The girl handed the clean ring-handled knife to Zhang Yu and said.

Seeing the girl was lovely, Zhang Yu wanted to tease her and said with a smile: "This snake is very poisonous, just saying thank you is not enough!"

Hearing this, the girl frowned slightly and thought to herself, "This man is handsome, but I didn't expect him to be greedy for money."

Perhaps influenced by Zhang Yu's appearance, the girl thought again: "He has never been kind to me, but now that he saved my life, it is normal for him to want money in return."

"I wonder how much money you would like to ask for!" the girl asked.

Zhang Yu sheathed his sword and said with a smile, "I don't want money!"

"What does my dear want?" The girl asked curiously, with some dissatisfaction disappearing.

Zhang Yu pointed to the bottom of the slope and said with a smile: "I study at the bottom of the slope every day. I am very bored after studying. The girl's piano music is pleasant to the ears and can relieve my fatigue from studying. So I hope the girl can come and play more often!"

As soon as these words came out, the girl laughed softly, her bright eyes curved into crescents, and she said, "My dear, I hope you don't mind my poor performance in the zither!"

"good!"

Zhang Yu saw the maid in red trotting over from the corner of his eye and said with a smile, "It's a deal. I'll listen to your music tomorrow!"

Without waiting for the girl to respond, Zhang Yu returned the same way he came.

"Qian Jin, what happened?"

The maid Hongniang came over panting, carrying a lacquer box, and asked.

The girl smiled and said, "Nothing serious, just met a poisonous snake and some funny people!"

"Where is the poisonous snake?" Hongniang asked nervously.

"Killed by a funny guy!"

"Where's the fun guy?"

"gone!"

……

In the pavilion, Zhang Yu had just picked up the bamboo slips when he saw Li Song coming towards him with a smile.

"Bosong, what makes you so happy?" Zhang Yu asked.

"Lord Chang Wen will give a lecture in a few days and ask Ji'an to go with him." Li Song said.

"Good thing!"

Zhang Yu pointed at the bamboo slips on the stone table and said with a smile, "I just happen to have a lot of doubts. I can ask you for advice, sir."

Li Song flipped through the bamboo slips and saw that the books he read did not include classics. He advised: "Although Liangzhou Sanming has made great military achievements, he dare not forget classics. Ji'an is not well-known, so he should not only read military books but also study classics."

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Confucianism was strengthened to govern the country, so Confucianization characteristics of military generals appeared. This Confucianization trend was not something they were willing to do, but was more caused by the pressure of the social environment.

The Eastern Han Dynasty used Confucianism to unite the Han people, but because of the unity of Confucianism, it also excluded those who did not understand Confucianism. Therefore, in order to integrate into the Han Dynasty, Liangzhou Sanming often practiced the study of Confucian classics.

Zhang Yu disagreed and said, "Classics cannot build a country, let alone drive out the barbarians. It is better to spend more time studying military books."

Zhang Yu lowered his voice and said, "Besides, given the current situation of the Han Dynasty, the world will soon be in chaos! In times of chaos, a real man should wield a sword to quell the chaos and make contributions. How can he spend his whole life studying classics?"

"what?"

Li Song was shocked, looked around, and asked, "Why did Ji An say that?"

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Recently, I have heard many businessmen talking about the Taiping sect. Now the eight states of the Central Plains are full of Taiping sect members, but the court is unaware of their situation. The Ten Eunuchs are causing chaos in the government, and the people are resentful everywhere. If the government continues like this, the world will rebel sooner or later!"

Li Song's expression changed slightly as he digested the prophecy thrown out by Zhang Yu.

After a while, Li Song frowned and said, "I have heard that the Taiping Dao is spread all over the eight states of the Central Plains, but I have never thought about it this way. If what Ji An said is true, if the Taiping Dao rebels, perhaps the Central Plains will be in chaos!"

Among the prefectures where the Taiping Dao was preached, Bingzhou was completely ignored, so much so that when Zhang Yu was at the Yunzhong frontier, he had no idea about the Taiping Dao.

Now that he had come to Jinyang, the communication channel with the Central Plains was unblocked, and Zhang Yu learned that a large number of people in the Central Plains already believed in the Taiping Dao. Whether according to the course of history or according to political judgment, the power of the Taiping Dao had already threatened the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Li Song asked: "If there is chaos in the Central Plains, what will Ji'an do?"

Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Before the chaos, the price of horses will definitely skyrocket. Now we can ask father to speed up the preparation of the caravan and make some money from it. You and I can wait and see in Jinyang and act when the time is right."

"it is good!"

"Book of Tang: Chronicle of Taizu" records: "At the age of seventeen, Taizu and Li Song went to Jinyang to meet Wang Hong, the governor of Hongnong. At that time, Taizu did not like classics, and Li Song advised him to read the classics. He replied: "I heard that the Taiping Dao spread throughout the eight states, but the court turned a blind eye. Now the people are suffering, and the government is like this, so it is clear what will happen! "From then on, he had the ambition to clear up the world."

(End of this chapter)