The fourth article of Fang Yun's criticism of the Saint is more serious than the third article.
Fang Yun believed that rituals and music can only be used for education, the objects of rituals and music can only be individuals, and they can only be used as a reference for governing the country, but cannot become an eternal ideology for governing the country!
The way of governing a country must constantly change and improve.
Anyone who governs the country with backward methods and ideas will be destroyed by internal and external forces. History has been repeating itself.
If denying benevolent government is only denying Confucius' personal way of governing the country, then denying the idea of rites and music is not only denying Confucius' way of governing the country, but also denying the Zhou Dynasty's way of governing the country, and even denying the entire Confucian way of governing the country.
The politics of Zhou and Confucius are completely broken!
After reading this article and comparing it with the content of "Politics", many Confucian scholars found that their literary inspiration was at most slightly shaken, but rarely shattered.
In fact, after the appearance of Fang Yun's "Politics", almost all readers had already prepared themselves mentally that if the literary courage would be shattered because of criticizing Confucius, it would have been shattered completely before.
At the end of the criticism, Fang Yun changed the subject and said that although Confucius' teachings had flaws, that was due to the limitations of history. In that era, benevolent government and rites and music were the most noble spiritual pursuits of mankind.
However, it would be foolish to still blindly worship the past.
Fang Yun believes that Confucius' political thoughts have limitations, but his personal spirit of learning, innovation and humility is immortal and has the power to transcend time.
Fang Yun called on all human beings to learn from Confucius.
Finally, Fang Yun put forward a statement that shocked the entire human race.
"Yao and Shun are not our end point, the Zhou Dynasty is not our end point, and Confucius is not our end point. They are just symbols behind us. Our end point is the future that will never end! In that future, everyone will surpass Confucius, and they will surpass him even further!"
"If our future cannot surpass our present, that would be the greatest betrayal to our ancestors! That would be the greatest disappointment to our ancestors! That would be the time when we, as human beings, should say sorry!"
"Confucius has found two paths for us. One is the path of benevolent government, rites and music that will lead to the end, and the other is the path of enlightenment that will have a foundation for eternity! Now, let's abandon the dead end and set off in the right direction pointed out by Confucius' path of enlightenment!"
Fang Yun's words resonated with many readers.
After reading the full text of Fang Yun's criticism of the saint, many readers murmured to themselves.
"Let's go!"
However, no matter how sincere Fang Yun was in the end, he could not extinguish the anger of the Kong family, King Wen's family, and the people in the Li Hall.
Once Fang Yun denies the idea of governing the country by rites and music, it means a full-scale war with the Palace of Rites!
But here comes the problem.
Fang Yun is no longer a great scholar, he is a semi-saint!
The doors of the holy temple and the ceremonial hall were closed.
The scholars in the ceremonial hall outside the door stood in neat rows, as if facing a formidable enemy.
In the ceremonial hall, the elders sat side by side.
The most worried one is Jiang Hechuan.
Jiang Hechuan secretly observed the other ministers and found that nearly half of them looked hesitant.
Only four ministers were filled with righteous indignation and vowed to uphold the sacred doctrine of propriety.
Jiang Hechuan's eyes moved, and he said, "My relationship with Fang Sheng is complicated. I will give up expressing my opinion at this cabinet meeting."
“Heh… Everyone thinks Mr. Hechuan is a good man, but now it seems that he is nothing more than an old-fashioned man.” said Yun Luo, the elder of the Hall of Etiquette.
The ministers remained silent. Jiang Hechuan not only did not blame Yun Luo, but felt guilty instead.
Yun Luo had always supported Fang Yun in the Li Hall and accepted some of Fang Yun's innovations.
However, Fang Yun pretended to be friendly with the Lidian, which made the elders of the Lidian mistakenly believe that Fang Yun would not target the rites. As a result, he created the political way, which affected Confucianism and the rites.
Yun Luo was unhappy, but he had good manners and never opposed Fang Yun because of this.
Even though Fang Yun had tried to kill Lord Qing before, Yun Luo did not object. After all, a semi-saint had more power than a monarch, and as long as the semi-saint had reasons and evidence, killing the monarch was not a big mistake.
It is the natural power of a semi-saint to punish unjust monarchs.
Even a wise scholar like Yun Luo knew very well that Fang Yun killed Qing Jun not only for himself, but also for the sake of Qing Kingdom!
There are two major stumbling blocks to the development of Qing State, one is the Miscellaneous Family, and the other is King Qing. If King Qing is killed, some of Qing State's policies will change, and as long as the Holy Academy and other countries help a little, the national strength will be restored.
This time, Fang Yun criticized Confucius and denied governing the country by rites and music, which completely angered Yun Luo.
Therefore, Yun Luo simply ignored his status as a minister and a great scholar, and criticized Fang Yun in public without any hesitation.
As long as it is not despicable means such as insults or slander, the elders of the Holy Academy have the right to accuse the semi-saints.
Rites and music refer to the Zhou Dynasty system based on rites and music, including the political system, cultural system, social form and everything else.
Confucius believed that the Zhou Dynasty system was the most perfect, so he respected rites and music very much, and created his own concept of benevolent government based on rites and music.
Zhou and Confucius are of the same lineage.
Wu Jiu sighed and said, "My friendship with Fang Sheng is second only to He Chuan among you. Let's not talk about our personal friendship. As the elder of the Palace of Rites, Fang Sheng went too far. He used politics to deny Confucius' benevolent rule, and then denied ritual music, and finally denied the Zhou Dynasty system. It's too radical!"
"Oh? It's radical, not completely wrong?" Yun Luo said sarcastically.
Wu Jiu said helplessly, "We are great Confucian scholars, not mediocre people, so I will speak frankly. Ask yourself, as great Confucian scholars, even if we are guarding the Hall of Rites and the rites, are we really stupid enough to believe that the Zhou Dynasty's rites and music will remain unchanged and last forever? If another saint appears in the human race, will we listen to him or continue to listen to Confucius?"
"Then let's wait until Fang Sheng becomes a saint! If he can be canonized as a saint, I will not object!" Yun Luo said with a cold face.
Wu Jiu glanced at the great scholars and said, "So, everyone here must have an idea in their mind, that is, the Palace of Rites and the rituals will eventually be reformed. If you didn't have this idea in your mind, you would have been shattered when Fang Sheng's "Criticism of Confucius" appeared."
Some of the great scholars in the hall suddenly looked up at the sky and stared at the natural texture on the wall, some lowered their heads and tugged at the threads on their sleeves, and some closed their eyes to rest but their beards trembled slightly. Yun Luo's eyes changed, with anger and shame, as if his secrets had been exposed.
Wu Jiu continued, "When Fang Sheng was in Ning'an, he said that innovation is a good thing, but innovation too fast is a bad thing for many people. I am not used to Fang Sheng's innovation, but we are helpless in the Li Hall now."
Yun Luo sneered, "We can criticize the Saint! Gather the power of the Hall of Rites, the Kong Family, and Confucianism, and we will definitely be able to force him to admit his mistakes!"
Wu Jiu glanced at Yun Luo dimly and said, "Compared with Fang Shengwen? Liu Zizhi, Ji Zhibai, Xun Ye, the evil king Meng Lintang, that Daoist master Liu Shan, the entire Zajia family and even more... Which one succeeded? Find one and I'll count you as the winner! Have you forgotten that sentence? If yesterday's Fang Yun finds today's Fang Yunwen to compete, he will definitely be defeated! What can you use to compare with Fang Shengwen!"
Yun Luo stood there in a daze, unable to speak for a long time.