Lanling has a long history. It was once the capital of the ancient Qi State. Later, Qi State was destroyed by Ju State, and it became the royal city of Ju State. Later, it was captured by Lu State, and it gradually became a county town with a strong Lu State color. Later, Chu State took away this city from Lu State. This place now belongs to Chu State, but the color of Lu State did not dissipate because of this. Instead, it combined with the atmosphere of Chu State to form a unique scenery.

This is considered a region where Confucianism is prosperous in Chu State. You can often see scholars wearing Chu clothes talking about Confucius' classics, citing classics and controversy. Perhaps this is why the King of Chu arranged Xunzi here. The King of Chu wanted to show Xunzi that there were actually places with strong Confucianism in Chu State, and I still admire Confucianism very much.

Nowadays, under the influence of war in all areas of Chu State, Lanling was certainly not spared. The young and strong were conquered to the battlefield, and there was no news. The debates that used to quote classics were no longer in Lanling. The King of Chu was also concerned about the county magistrates here, so he did not dare to recruit soldiers from here with all his might. He still left many people to show Xunzi that I still cherish the people's strength.

It is certain that the farming and sericulture were affected, but the county magistrate here took the lead in leading the people to farm. When the county magistrate set off, the nobles here could not sit still and hurriedly sent people to help. Under the leadership of Xunzi, the spring seeds in Lanling were less affected, so that during the autumn harvest, Lanling still had the strength to help nearby disaster victims. This made the people around him respect Xunzi more. Even the nearby thieves did not dare to come here to make trouble again after hearing that Xunzi was the Lanling Order.

Xunzi often wore simple and loose clothes and wandered in various villages in Lanling in a ox cart. Sometimes he didn't wear shoes, but walked in the mud of arable land. He occasionally talked to the people here and often stayed at their homes. A large number of disciples gathered around him, asking him for advice at any time. When the people saw Xunzi, they were probably ecstatic just like the Zhao people who saw Ma Fujun, and they all took it as their honor to stay at home.

Confucianism pays great attention to etiquette. Even if they die, they must be neatly dressed and cannot die. Those who are not etiquette are incompatible with etiquette. Xunzi's behavior is obviously ignoring etiquette and law.

In Xiangben County next to Lanling, several Confucian scholars were talking.

"I heard that there was a Confucian scholar who was not well-dressed and often did not wear shoes, mingled in the cultivated land, wandering in the mud..."

"Who is it? How dare you be so rude?! Please go over and scold me!"

"It's Xunzi."

"Oh...that's fine."

“Isn’t it rude?”

"Confucius said: At the age of seventy, he could do whatever he wanted without breaking the rules of etiquette and law... I think Xunzi has reached this state."

Obviously, no Confucian scholar dared to jump out and accuse him of wrongdoing for Xunzi's rude behavior. In Chu State, those who were interested in asking for advice also gathered towards Lanling and asked Xunzi for advice. Xunzi never cared about their identity. As long as he could take out the ceremony of apprenticeship, he could teach him. He was different from Zhao Kuo. Zhao Kuo did not want to be apprenticeship. Some disciples who were too poor would even provide relief to themselves.

Xunzi is different. He will not teach without apprenticeship. He said: The gains obtained without giving will not be valued.

"Teacher, I heard that you discussed the principles of using troops with Linwu Jun, but you often regarded benevolence and righteousness as the foundation. Benevolent people love others, and righteous people follow the principles. Since this is the case, why should we use troops? Generally speaking, the reason for using troops is to fight for it."

"This principle is not what you know. The use of troops is to prohibit violent violence, eliminate harm, and not to fight. Therefore, the army of kind people, where they stay, will be fully governed, and the places they pass by will be influenced by education, just like the timely rainfall, no one is unhappy. After the Qin army attacked Chu, it arranged officials to govern the local area in time and educate and influence the local people. This is why the Qin people can easily defeat Chu now."

"Because of Ma Fujun, Qin State began to carry out benevolent and righteous soldiers. Army like this one loved their kindness nearby and admired their morality from afar. Before the blade of the weapon was stained with blood, people from far and near came to join us. The virtues were so great that they would affect the far-reaching places in all directions..." Xunzi said seriously, and the disciples sat around him, listening to the teacher's explanation thoughtfully.

The disciple who asked the question just now was called Chen Xiao, who was considered parallel and upright among Xunzi's disciples.

Among the disciples, there was a Confucian scholar with a tall figure, long face and short beard. He asked again: "Teacher, the four generations of Qin have all won the victory. They have the strongest troops in the four seas, and their power has expanded to the princes and countries. However, they did not rely on benevolence and righteousness to engage in wars, but only based on the principle of convenience. I think this is the reason why the Qin State's military strength is strong, and it is not because of the horse's subjugation, or because Qin State began to promote benevolence and righteousness."

Xunzi smiled and said:

"This principle is not what you know. What you say is a kind of inconvenient convenience. What I say is a very convenient convenience. That kind of benevolence and righteousness is a tool for doing politics. Once politics is done well, the people will get close to their monarchs, love their monarchs, and do not care about sacrificing for them. Therefore, it is said that everything depends on the monarch, and generals are secondary."

He paused and said, "The four generations of Qin have won, but they are still worried that all countries will unite to ravage themselves. Therefore, he was originally an army in the declining era and has not grasped the fundamental program. Now you do not look for the reasons fundamentally, but explore the reasons from the details. This is the reason for social chaos!"

Xunzi told a lot again, and finally concluded: "Without Ma Fujun, Qin State had a powerful army, it could not unify the world like Shang Tang and King Wu! It is easy to annex other countries, but it is difficult to consolidate and condense him. Qi State could annex Song State, but it could not condense, so Wei State took it away. Yan State could annex Qi State, but it could not condense, so Tian Dan took it back. Shangdang of South Korea defected to Zhao State, but Zhao State could not condense, so Qin State seized him."

"In ancient times, Shang Tang relies on Bo and King Wu of Zhou relies on Zhen, but they were just a territory of a hundred miles. The world was unified by them and the princes became their subordinates. There was no other reason because they could gather the land they obtained. To gather scholars, they had to rely on etiquette and righteousness, and to gather the people, they had to rely on policies. When etiquette and righteousness are done well, the scholars will submit; when politics is clear, the people will be stable. To support scholars, the people will be stable, which is called the greatest gathering."

"The Qin State was originally only equipped with powerful force. Now, using the theory of Ma Fujun, with etiquette and righteousness that can gather scholars and benevolence and righteousness that can gather people, it is unbreakable to defend this political situation, and it is extremely powerful to go to war. There are orders and prohibitions that must be stopped, and the cause of those who claim to be king is completed."

Listening to Xunzi's explanation, the long-faced disciple nodded. He called Li Si, who was originally from Chu. His hometown was Shangcai, which was Shangcai who had just been defeated by Bai Qi. He originally served as an official in Shangcai. Later, because he saw the rats in the toilet and the rats in the warehouse, he felt the impact of the environment on people, so he abandoned his position and went to Xunzi to increase his knowledge.

Recently, a major event happened in Lanling, that is, the soldiers who went to war actually returned. Although the war has not ended, their arrival made the people of Lanling extremely happy. After they came back, they released the Qin people and leaked the Qin people's easy defeat of the Chu people. Of course, Ma Fujun's theory was also promoted at the same time. Therefore, the disciples asked Xunzi for advice because of the war.

Xunzi once again talked about his theory of benevolent and righteous army. In his opinion, Qin State has now transformed into a benevolent and righteous army, and has become the one who has ruled the world. Xunzi also praised theories of Ma Fujun. Sometimes, he simply took out the "Ma Fu Book" to explain it to his disciples. During these days, the old man looked extremely happy.

Because, the original untouchable dream seemed to be emerging in front of him. An army that did not harm the prisoners, could timely appease the captured areas, not harm the local people, and carried out education. Xunzi could wake up in a laugh in his dream. Isn’t this the army he always said? Xunzi never thought that the prototype of the benevolent and righteous army he mentioned was actually the Qin State, which has always been famous for its cruelty!

After reading the horse-dressing books that the Qin people intended to promote in the Chu State, Xunzi felt that most of the political views here coincided with him. Needless to say, the idea of ​​ending the war through unification is the same as him. Xunzi thought this!!!

However, Xunzi dared not reveal his ideas because his ideas were not formed. He was afraid that his ideas would cause greater wars and more casualties. He only vaguely revealed his thoughts when teaching students. He did not expect that Zhao Kuo had already shown his own path to the whole world openly, and buried himself in the cause of saving the world, running for the world regardless of everything. Sometimes, Xunzi just groped in his horse's uniform, with tears flashing in his eyes: his face was full of smiles.

He did what he dared not do.

Since the theory of a king of the world was valued by Qin, Zhao Kuo's reputation was no longer as pure as before. Many people have come forward to scold him. Some people think he is an accomplice of Qin and help Qin kill the people of various countries. Some say he wants to destroy the current etiquette and rules and bring the world to destruction. Some people are worried that his thoughts will make wars in the world more frequent and lead more casualties.

The doctrines of various schools appeared and began to talk about the paths proposed by Zhao Kuo. Of course, they were all attacking, because each school had its own way to save the world. What Zhao Kuo said now is obviously not in line with their paths. They are not people along the way, so they naturally have to scold them. Among the various schools of thought, only the farmers expressed their approval, and the farmers' thoughts are not just as simple as valuing agriculture.

Their core is to obey the hearts of the people and be loyal to the people. The rise of politics lies in obeying the hearts of the people; the abolition of politics lies in opposing the hearts of the people. This is what the farmers want to say. Nowadays, the farmers are all in Qin. It is not surprising that the doctrine of Ma Fujun is that they support the theory of Ma Fujun. What is surprising is that the famous master Gongsun Long and Gongsun Long are also scholars who come forward to echo Zhao Kuo. As for the theory he used to explain why he supports Zhao Kuo, everyone could not understand... The famous family always speaks like this.

Except for them, all the other scholars are verbing.

Chu Mo accused Zhao Kuo of pretending to love the people, but in fact he advocated war, intending to start a greater war and wanted to kill more people. Confucians accused Zhao Kuo of inciting the princes to usurp the throne, value law and abolish rituals, and Taoism denounced Zhao Kuo for advocating struggle, which would make the situation in the world more turbulent. Legalists... Well, Legalists are still trying hard to recite the "Mafu Book", and a future Legalist boss is also busy copying the words and deeds of Mafujun...

Zhao Kuo, who had the same prestige at the moment and was respected by all the people in the world, suddenly became accused of being a sage, and even attracted a lot of attacks. Well, this would not affect Zhao Kuo's prestige. In this era, if he had not been scolded by a great scholar a few times, he would not be qualified to be a sage. If Zhao Kuo had been born for a while, he might have experienced a verb from Mencius. Mencius said: The verbal wars of people later were like children.

Until thousands of years later, a great writer with a mustache who was unwilling to be named perfectly inherited Mencius's skills and scolded scholars of the same era that could not raise their heads.

Xunzi is the only great scholar who has not scolded Zhao Kuo, and it may also be the only Confucian scholar who praises Zhao Kuo. After all, Xunzi has always been the most alternative Confucian sage.

Xunzi sat in the house and was teaching his disciples. With Zhao Kuo, Xunzi seemed to be a little disregarded. He spoke out the theory of unification and the idea of ​​unification and benevolence that he wanted to implement. The disciples were not surprised because on weekdays, Xunzi often explained these things in a roundabout way. There were a few smart disciples who had long been digging deeper things from Xunzi's knowledge.

Just as Xunzi was giving lectures, a disciple suddenly hurriedly walked in, looked at Xunzi, leaned over and bowed, and then said, "Teacher... I heard that Chu Mo gathered dozens of people and was preparing to go to Zhao State to find Ma Fujun..." After hearing the news brought by his disciple, Xunzi raised his eyebrows, stopped giving lectures, and asked unhappily: "What do they want to do when they look for Ma Fujun?"

"I heard that I am going to discuss knowledge with Ma Fujun... In fact, they may be going to scold Ma Fu..."

"Beasts without fathers and kings dare to do this?" Xunzi stood up and directly interrupted the disciples' words. He said angrily, and then leaned on the crutches in his hand. Looking at the disciples beside him, Li Si finally fell among them. He said, "S... you can take a few people to stop Chu Mo and talk to them well... By the way..." Xunzi suddenly thought of something and immediately looked at another disciple of his own.

"Xiao...I remember, your family passed down the theory of Yang Gaozhi?"

"Teacher, that's it."

"Then you go with me."

"only."
Chapter completed!