"That makes sense. We all know that the Holy Ruins itself is not important in the ancient land, but its importance lies in connecting to other secret places. Although there are rumors this year that the Holy Ruins have changed due to the movement of Wenquxing, no matter how big the changes are, they may not allow us to meet."
Several scholars sighed and drank a few more cups.
Li Fanming glanced at the wine glass in front of Fang Yun and asked, "Why don't you drink?"
"Wait until you're well before drinking it." Fang Yun said with a smile.
"Too."
Fang Yun remained in a wheelchair, and everyone still thought that his injuries had not healed.
Soon, Niu Shan called Fang Yun aside and whispered, "Your Majesty, I asked Niu He to keep an eye on Xun Ye, but shortly after sunset, Xun Ye suddenly left with a running poem and entered the fog. Niu He didn't catch up with him, and it was a long time before Xun Ye returned."
Fang Yun said: "Xun Ye just said in human language that he wanted to look for us, but it was too dangerous, so he came back."
"I see, that's good. But I still think he's not a good person. He's even more treacherous than the Blood Demon Barbarian."
"I understand." Fang Yun said.
"Please continue chatting. I won't disturb you anymore." Niu Shan left, still touching the Hanhu shell that Fang had transported him, and was reluctant to let go.
As the night deepened, people gradually dispersed and Fang Yun called out to Shi Tang.
"Brother Shitang, I have a favor to ask of you." Fang Yun said.
"Please speak." Shi Tang said politely.
"The Master's family is a master of the zither. The Master's family is not only masters of the zither and music, but in order to become more proficient in the zither, everyone is a zither maker. I wonder if Senior Brother has brought the lacquer for the zither?"
Shi Tang looked at Fang Yun in surprise and asked, "You want me to make Thunder Stone Paint? I heard that your Wenbaoqin is just a Jinshi Wenbao. If you paint it with Thunder Stone Paint, it can greatly increase the power of the war music, but... won't it be too wasteful?"
Fang Yun said: "This is a quadruple guqin, which is more powerful than ordinary Hanlin Wenbao. It can be used from Juren and Jinshi to Hanlin. There are many dangers ahead. I have a total of six thunder stones, and it is not a waste to use one now."
Shi Tang nodded and said, "That's true. You are not a descendant of a saintly family. You have a long way to go and the road to sainthood is bumpy. You can't save time at times like this. I am a member of the Shi family, so I naturally carry tools for making and repairing zithers. I will make the thunder stone lacquer now, and then paint your Wenbaoqin. Can you let me see your Wenbaoqin?"
"Please look." Fang Yun said as he took the Zhendanqin out of the Yinjiangbei and handed it to Shi Tang.
Shi Tang carefully took the Zhendan and took a closer look. He couldn't help but praise it, "What a good zither! The zither is straight and beautiful, and the peaks are majestic. It must be the work of the Shi family in Lingshan. Let me take a closer look before I mix the lacquer for the zither."
"Please." Fang Yun said politely.
Shi Tang opened the zither and saw the four dragon horns underneath. He was dumbfounded and finally said with a smile, "If I'm right, these dragon horns belong to the Qingjiang Jiao King, right?"
"Exactly."
"It's really outrageous!" Shi Tang smiled and looked at it carefully for a long time. Then he took out a piece of paper to write and draw, and finally asked Fang Yun about the future direction of the piano and some questions, and then took out the scale and piano paint materials.
After a while, Shi Tang said, "The dragon's roar is high-pitched. Its horn powder and bone powder are excellent materials for zither lacquer. Unfortunately, I only have the demon commander's fake dragon bone powder and horn powder at the moment, which is not good enough to mix with the thunder stone. If the four pieces of dragon horn pads are ground off, it will affect the sound of the zither. And it is inconvenient to take the dragon horn powder."
"When the luthier helped me cut the dragon horn, there was some dragon horn powder left. See if it's enough. I also have the dragon ribs that I exchanged for today. You can grind more as a thank you." Fang Yun said as he handed over the dragon horn powder and a piece of dragon ribs.
Shi Tang took a closer look and said happily, "That's enough. Great things can be accomplished!"
Soon, Shi Tang poured more than twenty kinds of raw materials in various states such as powder, paste, and liquid into the stone mortar, mixed them, and ground them carefully.
Shi Tang ground the powder very finely, even more carefully than grinding ink.
Shi Tang has a handsome face and elegant manners. He is nearly thirty years old. He is the one trained by the Shi family with all his strength. If it were not for the Holy Ruins, he would have passed the imperial examination and become a top scholar in the country. He once killed thousands of barbarians with his musical instrument and was quite famous.
Fang Yun waited quietly.
The night in the Holy Ruins is very beautiful. The moonlight shines in the white mist in the distance, full of mystery.
Not long after, Shi Tang suddenly asked out of nowhere: "What is ritual music?"
Fang Yun blinked his eyes and said slowly: "Li originally refers to the etiquette followed by the nobles of the Zhou Dynasty, and music originally refers to the music and dance of the Zhou Dynasty. The combination of li and music is the etiquette of the nobles of the Zhou Dynasty, the system of the Zhou Dynasty, and the etiquette and laws of the world."
"Why do we see the rise of ritual and music?"
"Confucius said: If the name is not right, then the words will not flow smoothly. If the words are not flowing smoothly, then the affairs will not be accomplished. If the affairs are not accomplished, then rituals and music will not flourish. When affairs are accomplished, the words flow smoothly, and the name is right, then rituals and music will flourish. Rituals and music are the form of benevolence and righteousness. When the ruler is the ruler and the minister is the minister, then rituals and music flourish. When the country is peaceful and the people are safe, then rituals and music flourish. When the people are well fed and drunk ...
A strange look flashed in Shi Tang's eyes. The scholar said that it was not difficult to promote rites and music when the ruler was ruler and the subjects were subjects, and the country was peaceful and the people were safe. But when he talked about everything in the world, he had already escaped from the cage of the saints' classics and had his own insights, moving from "learning the words of the saints" to "applying what he had learned."
Shi Tang nodded and said, "Tongsheng Xiucai learns the words of the saints, Juren Jinshi writes articles, Hanlin Daxueshi governs the country, and Daxueshi comprehends the holy way. You are still young and your literary rank is still low, so you can compete with poetry; when you become a Jinshi Hanlin and Daxueshi, you will need to compete for merit for the human race, and you don't have to worry about it. But if you become a Daxueshi, you will have to value rituals and music, understand benevolence and righteousness, and compete for the holy way. By then, every step will be difficult."
"I'm prepared." Fang Yun usually focuses on studying the classics of the saints, constantly reading books in the world of strange books to enrich himself, preparing for becoming a great scholar and for the road beyond. He even has a vague direction because of his constant efforts and tempering these days, but it is not clear.
Even the Grand Secretaries could only touch upon the disputes of ideas and debates on the sacred doctrines, while the students, scholars, juren, jinshi and Hanlin could only accumulate preparations and work hard to participate in them in the future.
Not to mention how terrifying the contention among the semi-saints is, the power released by the contention among a few great scholars alone is enough to flatten an entire state.
The words of great scholars are profound and meaningful, and they also have great power and authority.
Those below the level of Grand Secretary do not even have the qualifications and strength to attend, let alone participate. If Fang Yun were to argue with the great scholar now, no matter how correct he was, even if they were thousands of miles apart, he would be shocked to death by the great scholar's powerful force.
From the beginning to the end, Fang Yun was very clear, so even if he knew countless profound insights and remarks, he kept them in his heart. He could dabble in poetry, prose, calligraphy, painting, and all kinds of arts, but he could not become a great scholar. He would never discuss in depth the most core and essential power of this world, let alone debate on it.
The rules, systems, and laws derived from an extremely strict "ritual" are enough to crush anyone who challenges it.
Shi Tang said slowly, "If you take a few more steps, someone will definitely use 'ritual' to check and control you or even attack you. Confucius listened to Shao music for three months and did not taste meat. Rituals and music are one. You are also proficient in the art of playing the zither. You can use the zither to understand the Classic of Music. Then, you can use music to integrate rituals. Only then can you be invincible."
Fang Yun was filled with awe. This must be the family tradition of Shi's family, because Shi's ancestor was Confucius' guqin teacher, and ritual and music were integrated into one, so he could be said to be Confucius' half-ritual teacher. The family tradition of Shi's family was not inferior to those of ordinary semi-saint families. After all, "ritual" was the holy way second only to benevolence and righteousness.
Fang Yun bowed and said, "Thank you, Brother Shitang, for your guidance. I almost went astray, but fortunately I learned the way of the zither earlier. Now I know the wonders of the way of the zither."
"The path to sainthood is full of twists and turns. If Confucius had not been disappointed with Duke Ding of Lu, given up his position as prime minister of Lu, and traveled around the countries, how could he have been canonized as a saint?"
Fang Yun said: "At that time, people were ignorant. Some people said that Confucius was lazy and didn't know the difference between grains. They mocked Confucius for not being able to work and not knowing the most basic common sense. Confucius didn't take it seriously, but some people mistakenly believed that the man was right. They didn't know that Confucius not only worked hard in his early years and understood the sufferings of the people, but also made outstanding achievements in politics, diplomacy and military affairs after he became an adult. Confucius' three merits are well known to everyone."
“Even before he was canonized as a saint, Confucius was still a hero of his generation.” Shi Tang had great respect for him.
When Confucius was in his thirties, he was in charge of the accounts and animal husbandry of Ji's family, one of the three major families in Lu State, and he was quite effective. Later, the famous "Cockfighting Incident" occurred. The three families of Ji's family actually attacked Duke Zhao of Lu, the monarch of Lu State. Confucius angrily left Ji's family and left Lu State.
Later, Confucius returned to Lu and first served as the head of a county, "Zhongdu Zai". With outstanding political achievements, he was promoted to Xiao Sikong after only one year, assisting Da Sikong in charge of Lu's civil engineering. After another year, Confucius was promoted directly from Xiao Sikong to Da Sikou, becoming the highest official in charge of Lu's judicial system. Because of his outstanding achievements, his final actual power was even equivalent to that of a prime minister. He could be said to be the second most important person in the country. This was one of the three political achievements of Confucius.
Because Confucius understood rites and music, he was in charge of presiding over the meeting between the monarchs of Qi and Lu, which was a diplomatic matter, when he was the Grand Justice. However, Qi was strong and Lu was weak. During the meeting, Duke Jing of Qi actually tried to send his soldiers to launch a surprise attack with swords and guns under the pretext of singing and dancing to capture Duke Ding of Lu as a hostage.
Confucius stepped forward, stood in front of Duke Ding of Lu, and scolded that the dance was not in accordance with etiquette and music. With his righteousness, he stopped the soldiers' attack and bought time, forcing Duke Jing of Qi to recall his soldiers. Later, Confucius saw through Qi's alliance and used diplomatic means to recover the lost territory for Lu. This alliance fully demonstrated Confucius' great wisdom and courage, which was his second achievement.
The third achievement was the famous "Fall of Three Capitals", also known as "Ruin of Three Capitals" or "Destruction of Three Capitals". At that time, the retainers of the three major families in Lu State controlled three military forces and committed all kinds of crimes. Confucius offered advice and attacked the retainers of the three families, and successfully destroyed one capital first.
Later, the other two retainers rebelled, scaring the king and other ministers to flee in panic. However, Confucius remained calm and commanded the battle as usual, and finally won the battle. This was a military achievement.
Although Confucius had three merits, he neglected state affairs because Duke Ding of Lu fell into a beauty trap. Confucius left in anger and began to travel around the countries.
Confucius was never a dreamer but a real doer. He recruited many disciples to realize his ideals and eventually his name will be passed down through the ages.
Therefore, those who truly understand the history of Confucius, although they know that Confucius has flaws, never deny his abilities.
After Fang Yun came to the Shengyuan Continent, he carefully read the experiences of Confucius and many other sages, and he became more and more aware of the extraordinary nature of the sages.
Soon, the thunder stone was ground, and the inside of the mortar seemed to become a world of lightning, but the lightning was extremely gentle, and the sound of thunder was as gentle as a puppy barking. (To be continued...)