Zichu originally wanted to keep Ying Xiaozheng for a while longer, check on his academic performance, and teach him how to be the King of Qin.
As a result, as soon as he started taking the exam, Ying Xiaozheng began to recite, "Father, you can't do this, Father, you can't do that, Father, you see, this is the right way for me to do it."
Zichu’s fists hardened.
If it weren't for Lin Zhi and Cai Ze holding Zichu on the left and right, saying, "Your Majesty, please forget it," and if it weren't for the Queen Dowager Huayang who rushed over to protect Ying Xiaozheng and cried, and the Queen Dowager Xia who also came to persuade him, Ying Xiaozheng, the Crown Prince of Qin, would probably have been punished.
Xunzi scolded Ying Xiaozheng severely.
As a prince, you should respect the king, this is the way between the king and his subjects; as a son, you should respect your father, this is the way between father and son.
Ying Xiaozheng was a child brought up by Zhu Xiang himself, and the world's evaluation of Ying Xiaozheng was the evaluation of Zhu Xiang. Doesn't Ying Xiaozheng's behavior mean that Zhu Xiang taught Ying Xiaozheng to be disloyal and unfilial
Ying Xiaozheng quickly admitted his mistake.
Then Zichu ordered Xue Ji to hold the whip and beat Ying Xiaozheng severely.
Xue Ji was already prepared, and when she was about to beat Ying Xiaozheng, Zichu stopped her again.
Because Lin Zhi was nagging on the side, Ying Xiaozheng just said a few more words and disagreed with Zichu. If Zichu got angry out of shame, wouldn't it just show that Zichu was not tolerant
Elders usually just laugh off naughty children, looking at the children's innocent stupidity and treating it as a joke. If the elders get serious with the naughty children, it means that the elders treat the naughty children as equals in their hearts.
But a naughty boy is a naughty boy. With Ying Xiaozheng's character, he will dare to do it again next time.
After Zichu thought about it carefully, he felt that this was the truth.
He asked Xue Ji how Ying Xiaozheng usually treated Zhu Xiang.
Xue Ji hesitated for a moment and said tactfully, "My dear husband really dotes on Zheng'er a little too much. He has been like this since Zheng'er was a child."
Zichu asked, "Does Zheng'er often argue and quarrel with him?"
Xue Ji said: "Zheng'er has strong ideas. If you can't convince him, he won't listen. But if you argue with Zheng'er, you can almost always convince him. So Zheng'er is still very well-behaved."
Zheng'er is very well behaved. Auntie's special filter.
Zichu realized. Even Zhu Xiang could convince Ying Xiaozheng, so there is no way I, the King of Qin, can't do it!
So he dragged Cai Ze and Lin Zhi together to confront Ying Xiaozheng. If he really couldn't win the argument, he would ask Xunzi for help.
As soon as Ying Xiaozheng admitted his mistake, he rolled up his sleeves and said, "Let's fight!"
The court was filled with great joy, and rumors often circulated that the King of Qin and the Crown Prince were not on good terms (Prince Chu and Crown Prince Zheng of Qin personally confirmed that the rumors were true).
Just then, Zhu Xiang's letter for help came.
Xia Tong, what the hell are you doing?! Why don't you release Zheng Er?! I am so tired of your best friend! Are you torturing me on purpose?!
Zichu laughed loudly while holding the letter. Finally, he had an excuse to ask Ying Xiaozheng to get out. He immediately asked Ying Xiaozheng to pack up and leave.
If Ying Xiaozheng stayed in Xianyang any longer, he would start to think about deposing the crown prince.
But Zichu looked at his other son Chengjiao, who was really pure and stupid, and could only sigh.
He didn't understand, Zheng'er was old enough to go to Shu to be a nameless and unpaid county magistrate, but why Cheng Jiao couldn't even understand the "Spring and Autumn Annals".
Cheng Jiao's eyes were filled with tears. He didn't know many characters, how could he read them clearly! When his father taught him to read, he just let him read, he didn't teach him at all!
Little Cheng Jiao didn't understand. When the prince was learning to read, did he just need to "read"? Didn't he teach him to read? Didn't he teach him to read sentences? Didn't he explain the meaning
He went to ask his elder brother, the prince, crying.
Ying Xiaozheng was very confused: "Of course I have to teach you how to read and pronounce words first. And before that, my uncle would tell me the stories in the books in more understandable terms, and sometimes he would draw storybooks for me. But my uncle's drawings are ugly, and I don't like them, so he stopped drawing."
Little Chengjiao threw himself into the arms of his elder brother, the crown prince, and cried loudly, "But my father said that he just read directly and no one taught him."
Ying Xiaozheng's face was full of disbelief.
Although he knew that his father had been sent to Zhao as a hostage when he was a child and had lived an extremely difficult life, he was afraid that he would not be able to hire a famous teacher.
But not being able to hire a famous teacher does not mean having no teacher. Even in the dream, I had another great teacher, Ying Zheng, but I still had to be taught by my uncle, Lin Weng, and Xun Weng. My father couldn't be smarter than me. So my father was definitely lying.
Ying Xiaozheng said: "My father just doesn't know how to teach his students, so he is angry and takes it out on you."
Zichu just happened to hear it.
He was so angry that he left with a wave of his sleeves, and called in Prime Minister Cai Ze and Chancellor Lin Zhi to discuss important matters.
Cai Ze closed his eyes and dozed off to catch up on his sleep, not wanting to pay any attention.
Lin Zhi suggested a bad idea: "Since Zheng'er thinks it is easy to teach Master Chengjiao, why not let Zheng'er teach him himself? I remember Zheng'er once taught Master Chengjiao himself for a while, and he complained a lot at that time and pushed Master Chengjiao to Zhu Xiang."
Zichu hesitated and said, "I handed Cheng Jiao over to Zheng'er, but won't Zhu Xiang still be the one to teach him?"
Lin Zhi winked and acted like a sycophant: "Your Majesty, do you know that Chunshen Jun was disliked by the King of Chu?"
Zichu gave Lin Zhi a "nonsense" look and said, "Of course. I have already sent out the envoys to welcome Chun Shenjun."
Lin Zhi said, "The King of Chu will definitely order Chunshen Jun to be executed. Chunshen Jun will probably choose to be loyal to the King of Chu and die reluctantly because of his reputation. Zhu Xiang is soft-hearted and will definitely go to see Chunshen Jun off. It just so happens that the stupid people in the world always want to nominate someone to suppress Zhu Xiang. Zhu Xiang's farewell to Chunshen Jun can also make them shut up temporarily."
Cai Ze silently opened his eyes and said tiredly: "It's too dangerous."
Lin Zhi said: "With Li Mu escorting us and Lian Gong picking us up, it's not dangerous."
Cai Ze just looked at Lin Zhi quietly without saying a word.
Lin Zhi changed his words and said, "It may be a little dangerous, but compared to us preparing to send Zhu Xiang there, and Zhu Xiang going there secretly by himself, the latter is more dangerous."
Cai Ze looked embarrassed: "Zhu Xiang probably wouldn't do that."
Lin Zhi said, "There is a 10% chance."
Zichu held his forehead and said, "In my opinion, it is more than 10%."
Lin Zhi said, "When Zheng'er went to Wujun, Zhu Xiang must have left Wujun. Given Zhu Xiang's personality, he would have helped Chunshen Jun's family arrange the funeral before returning to Qin. After returning to Qin, he would not be able to let go of his land in Qin and would definitely visit everywhere. He has not seen us for a long time and must miss us very much. He will definitely stay in Xianyang for a while longer."
He winked again: "With Ying Xiaozheng's personality, when Zhu Xiang is not around, he can only teach Master Cheng Jiao himself."
When Cai Ze heard Lin Zhi change the subject back from the very serious matter of Lord Changping's entry into Chu and the mobilization of two feudal lords to escort and support him, to how to torment Zheng'er, he could not help but close his eyes again and forced himself to doze off.
Every time this happened, Cai Ze regretted why he had provoked Zhu Xiang and Lin Zhi.
He originally just wanted to gain the title of a guest official in the Qin State, occasionally make some contributions, and be lazy most of the time, just wanting to live a rich and honorable life until the end of his life.
Now, he felt his life was shortened as he was busy cleaning up the mess for his friend.
"That makes sense." Qin Prince Chu, who had been persuaded by the treacherous minister Lin Zhi, immediately decided, like a tyrant, "Let's do it!"
Thus, with Prime Minister Cai Ze being prudent and self-protective, Chancellor Lin Zhi being treacherous and flattering, and Prince Chu of Qin being incompetent and credulous, the matter was settled.
Ying Xiaozheng was "driven" out of Xianyang, and took a little tail with him.
The Queen Mother Huayang originally wanted to keep Xue Ji for a while to catch up with her good friend. But Prince Chu of Qin asked Ying Xiaozheng to take Prince Chengjiao with him, saying that Prince Zheng had started to travel at this age, and Prince Chengjiao could not be left in the harem to be pampered. She had no choice but to let Xue Ji leave as well so that she could take care of Prince Chengjiao.
Queen Dowager Huayang complained to Xue Ji that the King of Qin must be dissatisfied with her for not taking good care of Cheng Jiao, which caused Cheng Jiao to grow too thin.
I remember when Zheng'er just returned to Xianyang, he was so chubby, and he shook a lot. He looked like a blessed child.
Xue Ji smiled and said yes.
Ying Xiaozheng, who was holding Prince Cheng Jiao's hand, almost couldn't hold back his serious expression.
The stupid younger brother Xiao Chengjiao looked up and asked his elder brother the prince what "shake a ton ton ton shake" meant.
Ying Xiaozheng pulled Xiao Chengjiao's finger out of Xiao Chengjiao's mouth and forbad him to suck his finger again, without answering the question.
He gritted his teeth in his heart.
This strange description definitely came from my uncle!
When I grow up and my uncle gets old, I will definitely avenge myself for this humiliation!
Just wait and see, uncle!
So Ying Xiaozheng and Xiao Chengjiao returned to Wujun together.
On the way, the two brothers got along harmoniously.
As long as you don’t get seasick when you’re in poor health like Zichu, taking a boat was the most comfortable way to travel in ancient times.
Little Chengjiao doesn't get seasick. He runs around on the boat every day and is very happy.
For a child raised in the deep palace, he saw the magnificent rivers and mountains for the first time and had a preliminary concept of the "Qin State" rather than a simple textual description.
Ying Xiaozheng followed Xiao Chengjiao with his hands behind his back, nagging him from time to time, telling him not to run towards the boat or he might be eaten by a big fish, and also not to run too fast or he might fall.
Xue Ji smiled as she watched Ying Xiaozheng leading his younger brother, and the image of Zhu Xiang following Ying Xiaozheng, who was running around with his hands behind his back, appeared in her mind.
On the way, Ying Xiaozheng visited Wang Jian, Zhang Ruo and Meng Wu, introduced his thin younger brother to them, and complained that his father had no idea how to raise a child, and raised little Chengjiao like a small bean sprout.
Everyone praised Zhu Xiang for raising children well, and Zheng'er was so chubby at the beginning.
Ying Xiaozheng nodded in agreement modestly.
Xue Ji covered her mouth and laughed. At this time, Zheng Er didn't retort angrily, "I'm not fat!"
Little Chengjiao was extremely happy. He had never been so happy since he could remember. He even ate half a bowl more of rice every day, and finally some flesh grew on his cheeks.
But all this joy and brotherly love disappeared when they arrived in Wu County.
Ying Xiaozheng was shocked to learn that his uncle had once again gone into danger to see off Chunshen Jun, whom he had no impression of, and left all the affairs of Wu County to him.
Li Si, Han Fei and Fuqiu, who was in charge of the liaison between Guangling City and Wucheng, all smiled bitterly.
Ying Xiaozheng was furious and pointed to the north and cursed his uncle.
But it was no use being furious, because Zhu Xiang had already run away.
Ying Xiaozheng could only plunge into government affairs and quickly finish the backlog of tasks.
Fortunately, before leaving, Zhu Xiang distributed all the power that Ying Xiaozheng had monopolized. The county magistrate only needed to grasp the general direction and did not have to do everything himself, so Ying Xiaozheng would not be too busy.
Ying Xiaozheng was somewhat uncomfortable with the Wujun government system after Zhu Xiang's reform.
However, he did not change back immediately. Instead, after adapting for a period of time, he reluctantly accepted Zhu Xiang's reforms.
He also knew that he couldn't take everything into his own hands.
Although he could handle these things, his descendants might not be as capable as he was. Even his uncle couldn't stand it, let alone others.
But Ying Xiaozheng's emphasis on power was born from his bones and soul. This was similar to Zichu and the Qin kings of all generations, and even worse.
Although King Zichu of Qin often left Xianyang, he did not hand over power to others. Instead, he valued power too much and was unwilling to sit in the Xianyang Palace all the time.
With trusted people like Cai Ze, Xunzi and Lin Zhi in charge of Xianyang, he could inspect the country as the King of Qin and seize every bit of power in the local area.
Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou emperor's tours across the country were not for tourism, but even if the feudal lords were away, he would control the feudal states, big and small, by touring the country.
Therefore, when the Western Zhou Dynasty was strong, the Zhou emperor was truly able to command the world.
Although Zichu never taught Ying Xiaozheng, Ying Xiaozheng's character was very similar to his.
Although Ying Xiaozheng knew that holding all power in his own hands was not a long-term solution, his personality made him ignore this problem.
Ying Xiaozheng accepted Zhu Xiang's advice while muttering and cursing, and reluctantly assigned some of the trivial matters in his hands.
The remaining government affairs were not a difficult task for Ying Xiaozheng. He had much more free time than when he held all the power.
As for Zhu Xiang, it made no difference whether he was there or not. When Ying Xiaozheng was in Wu County, Zhu Xiang rarely interfered in other matters except farming, and at most gave a few suggestions.
Little Chengjiao adapted to the climate of Wu County and did not suffer from any acclimatization disease.
Ying Xiaozheng saw that Xiao Chengjiao was in good health and had had enough rest, so he thought it was time to assign homework to Xiao Chengjiao.
He first gave Xiao Chengjiao a test to assess his basic abilities, and then his face immediately turned dark.
Most of the homework in the palace is only on reading and writing. Ying Xiaozheng has been the county magistrate for so long that he knows that arithmetic is equally important.
If an official does not even know how to count, he will not be able to handle any government affairs.
Money, grain, corvée, and labor service are all numbers in government affairs. Even a general needs to be good at math to be able to command the soldiers under his command.
When Ying Xiaozheng couldn't even hold the brush steadily, he sat on Zhu Xiang's shoulder, held Zhu Xiang's head, and recited the multiplication table while shaking his head.
Little Chengjiao now can't even figure out the four basic arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. If Ying Xiaozheng hadn't seen with his own eyes how anxious Prince Chu of Qin was about little Chengjiao's learning progress, he would have thought that his father was deliberately trying to ruin his younger brother.
Ying Xiaozheng subtracted 90% based on his own learning progress, and asked people around him about the progress of their children's enlightenment. He confidently set a learning goal table for Xiao Chengjiao.
He believed that it was just teaching his younger brother, no big deal.
He is no longer the Ying Zheng who left his younger brother to his uncle a few years ago.
Xiao Chengjiao studied very seriously under Ying Xiaozheng.
"What's one plus two?"
"!"
"What about two plus one?"
"Uh? One?"
"ah?"
"No, no, it's..."
Little Chengjiao tried hard to count on his fingers, then raised his little face and said, "Four!"
Ying Xiaozheng's expression collapsed.
How did you raise one finger and yell "Four" so loudly?! Are you not smart or have bad eyesight
Honestly speaking, Xiao Chengjiao’s academic performance cannot be said to be bad.
At least his progress in learning to read and memorize words was better than that of the other kids of the same age as Xiao Chengjiao that Ying Xiaozheng had inquired about.
But in arithmetic, little Cheng Jiao is almost as good as some four-year-old children.
Xiao Chengjiao was scolded by Ying Xiaozheng and felt very aggrieved: "I never learned arithmetic in the palace."
Ying Xiaozheng pressed his head with one hand and covered his chest with the other, not knowing whether it was a headache, a heartache, or both.
"Why haven't you learned arithmetic at this age?" Ying Xiaozheng didn't understand.
Xiao Chengjiao pointed at his fingers and said, "I, I don't know either."
Ying Xiaozheng went to ask the people serving Xiao Chengjiao.
His new nurse explained, "The king said that you should first let the young master understand the books. Once you understand the books, you will naturally be able to count."
Ying Xiaozheng: “…”
This comes naturally, what's going on? Did you teach yourself, father
Zichu really is.
When he arrived in Zhao, he was already able to read and write. After arriving in Zhao, he continued to learn from people around him and studied on his own.
Zichu's ability in accounting was acquired through his own practice in life. So he thought that Xiao Chengjiao didn't know many characters and it was too early for him to learn arithmetic.
Ying Xiaozheng didn't think so. Why must one learn one thing before learning the other? Can't they learn both at the same time? And his uncle said that when children are exposed to mathematics, they can exercise their brains and improve their logical thinking.
Although what my uncle said was a little difficult to understand, he has taught so many outstanding anonymous disciples, so he is definitely better than my father who has never taught any students.
Besides, Cheng Jiao is so old, but he still has to count with his fingers to do simple arithmetic. This is too embarrassing for me!
Ying Xiaozheng had never been so upset before. Even when he heard that his uncle was in danger, he didn't break down like this. Because he knew that his uncle was in danger but he knew what was going on and he probably wouldn't really be in danger.
But little Chengjiao really can’t even count on his fingers correctly!
Ying Xiaozheng tried to ask his aunt for help.
Xue Ji said, "My knowledge is not as good as yours, and you promised the Lord that you would be able to teach Cheng Jiao well. How can you push it to others? This is breaking your promise."
Ying Xiaozheng was defeated.
He remembered that his aunt was much stricter than his uncle, and his spoiled behavior would not work with his aunt.
Uncle! Don't worry about Chunshen Jun! Come back quickly!
"Brother, brother, I get it!" Little Chengjiao jumped up to find Ying Xiaozheng and raised a finger, "Two plus one is also true!"
Ying Xiaozheng said weakly: "Yes, yes. Let's recite the multiplication table first."
If normal teaching doesn’t work, rote memorization will probably work!
Uncle! Come back quickly!
"A-choo!" Zhu Xiang, who was being forced by Xunzi to read, sneezed loudly, ruining a whole article he had written. He muttered to himself, maybe Zheng'er and Xue Ji missed him.
As soon as Zhu Xiang came back this time, Prince Chu of Qin made a big move, and it is unknown how many people he would offend.
After Xunzi heard what Zhu Xiang said in his letter, he saw clearly the twists and turns behind the scenes.
The Qin State was once dominated by the Legalist doctrine.
The thing that Confucianism dislikes most about Legalism is that Legalism believes that all actions in this world should be written into laws, so that everything is within the rules and regulations. As long as there are laws to abide by, there will be no chaos.
But Confucianists believe that this is cruel and unrealistic.
If everything is regulated, there will be no human nature, and everything and everyone in this world will become cold; and if the regulations are too detailed, people are not perfect and will always make mistakes, and they will always be punished, which will definitely give rise to resentment in their hearts.
More importantly, the laws were too detailed. Even scholars could not remember all of them, let alone illiterate common people who knew nothing about them.
Even if there are officials to teach, they are busy and have too many things to do. How can they convey the laws to every commoner? And how can commoners remember everything after hearing it once
In the end, it falls into the category of "killing without teaching is called cruelty".
On this point, some Confucian doctrines went to the other extreme, placing human feelings and morality above the law, which is why "relatives protect each other."
Xunzi denounced this point.
Xunzi once said: "So if you punish without teaching, then punishments will be numerous and evil will not be overcome; if you teach without punishing, then evil people will not be punished; if you punish without rewarding, then your relatives will not be encouraged; if you punish and reward without giving the same rewards, then the people will be suspicious, the customs will be dangerous and the people will be divided."
Xunzi criticized both the Legalist school and the Confucian school, which disagreed with him. There are tens of thousands of Confucian schools, all of which originated from Confucius, but the same school has different paths, and the struggle is probably more intense than that of different schools.
Xunzi believed that what Zhu Xiang was talking about now was "too many punishments to overcome evil."
But this was due to the Qin State's tradition of promoting Legalist thought, as well as the interests of local scholars and aristocrats.
The more complicated the laws, the greater the power of the officials. Because common people can make mistakes no matter how scared they are, officials can punish whomever they want and confiscate whoever they want.
At the local level, the power of officials is unlimited.
Now Zhu Xiang appeared to have revised the laws, but in reality he was reducing the power of officials.
King Zichu of Qin should have also realized this, so he asked Zhu Xiang to delete a lot of content from the documents made public in the court in order to protect Zhu Xiang.
Xunzi also forced Zhu Xiang to study and did not let him deal with these matters personally. He removed him from the task and downplayed his presence in the matter.
While forcing Zhu Xiang to study, Xunzi also had things for Zhu Xiang to do.
Xunzi's reputation in Qin was already very high, and those who opposed him in Xianyang Academy could not make much waves. Xunzi thought it was time to reform Xianyang Academy.
Although Xunzi was a Confucian, he knew that there were many ideas in other schools of thought that should be passed down. If only Confucianism remained, it would eventually become stagnant and self-contained.
Although Xunzi disliked Mencius, he also agreed with Mencius' theory that "Born in adversity, die in comfort."
The Xianyang Academy must include all schools of thought. When the Qin State recruited scholars, it should not be limited to a single school of thought. In this way, Confucian disciples would rack their brains to make progress and adapt Confucianism to every process of history.
If there were no competition, Confucian disciples would probably be like the Lu Confucians, buried in piles of old papers, annotating the Six Classics every day, nodding their heads to the words of their ancestors, and even using the words of their ancestors to write their own books. After that, the country would be like the State of Lu, which would decay rapidly under the governance of the Lu Confucians.
Although Xunzi admired Confucius, his remarks differed from those of Confucius. He also firmly believed that the disciple is worse than the master. People today are not necessarily inferior to ancient people, and ancient people are not necessarily better than people today.
Mencius, who was older than him and even his former student, was scolded by him every day in his articles.
Xunzi said, "You wrote to me before that the Xianyang Academy was divided into subjects, but not into schools. I have improved this point. What do you think?"
Zhu Xiang took up Xunzi and perfected the subject reform of Xianyang Academy for several years.
Xianyang Academy no longer distinguished between the hundreds of schools of thought, but by subject. For example, history, mathematics, martial arts, etiquette, law, etc., there were more than one textbook for these subjects, and all the schools of thought were included.
Zhu Xiang said: "If the teacher is different, the teaching content may also be different."
Xunzi said: "There will be teachers with different doctrines teaching the same subject."
Zhu Xiang was shocked: "Students listen to teachers scolding each other every day?"
Xunzi raised an eyebrow: "Why not?"
Zhu Xiang asked: "How can we select officials if there is no unified doctrine?"
Hearing this, Xunzi sighed and said, "If we want to select officials, we must unify the doctrines and thoughts. So after Qin unifies the world, this Xianyang Academy will be transformed again."
Zhu Xiang asked: "Then why do you want to change it, Xunzi?"
Xunzi said calmly: "It's good to change it for a while. Didn't you say that? Let future generations have something to follow."
Zhu Xiang was stunned at first, then bowed respectfully: "Yes, teacher."
(End of this chapter)