Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Chapter 86 Imperial Academy Stone Scriptures
If scholars and students discussed their origins in the Western Han Dynasty, scholars from the "public family" should be ranked at the highest level.

The Three Dukes were the highest positions in the eyes of scholars. If one of a scholar's father or grandfather had served as a Three Duke, then the scholar could be considered to be from a "dignity family".

The royal family is indeed at the top of the contempt chain. Compared with the royal family, the royal family is nothing.

But in today's Wei State, after experiencing turmoil in the world and constant use of troops, countless aristocratic families have either been ruined or disappeared, and the political and social status of those who commanded the troops under the Xiahou and Cao clans has become increasingly higher.

This is a natural thing. Spirit comes from matter. Without the Cao family and the Xiahou family leading the army to suppress the chaos, how can there be a peaceful life? People who have experienced troubled times naturally understand this truth.

Those who were born into the Cao or Xiahou families can now be almost on par with the royal families among the scholars.

Xiahou Xuan is the best among the scholars in Luoyang today, and can even be called the leader of scholars.

Whether in terms of family background, talent and virtue, or appearance, Xiahou Xuan is obviously outstanding in every aspect.

In terms of family background, Xiahou Xuan's father is Xiahou Shang, and Xiahou Xuan's uncle is Cao Zhen. His father Xiahou Shang was friendly with Cao Pi, and once served as the governor of Jingzhou's military affairs, and was a well-known official in the Wei Kingdom. Xiahou Xuan's uncle Cao Zhen is the general in charge of the military affairs of the Wei Kingdom.

In terms of talent and virtue, Xiahou Xuan was proficient in the Five Classics at the age of fifteen, and had debated with more than ten students without losing. A few months ago, when Xun Can, the youngest son of Xun Yu, came to Beijing, it was Xiahou Xuan and He Yan who organized the debate between Xun Can and Fu Gu.

In terms of appearance, Xiahou Xuan was also extremely handsome. He was eight feet tall and had a face as beautiful as a jade. At the age of seventeen, Xiahou Xuan was well-known in Luoyang for his appearance. People at that time called him "bright as the sun and the moon in one's arms."

He is a combination of a top second-generation official, a top handsome guy and a top young student. He is the leader in the eyes of almost all young scholars in Luoyang.

Sima Shi had long wanted to make friends with Xiahou Xuan, but before that, they were just nodding acquaintances and had never had a deep conversation. But today, Xiahou Xuan had apparently learned that his father had been promoted to Sikong, and he took the initiative to greet him.

It's no wonder Xiahou Xuan behaved this way. Born in such a distinguished family, although he seemed reasonable and well-mannered, always giving people a feeling of being bathed in spring breeze, he would always unnaturally divide people into different levels, which was just a subtle habit.

"Brother Ziyuan, why are you here so early today?" Xiahou Xuan smiled and bowed to Sima Shi.

Xiahou Xuan was seventeen years old, two years younger than Sima Shi, but he was almost half a head taller than Sima Shi. Height is an important part of judging demeanor. In the early years, when Cao Cao was facing the visit of the Xiongnu envoys, he asked Cui Yan, who was taller and had a majestic appearance, to receive them on his behalf.

It can be said that Sima Shi still looked up to and envied Xiahou Xuan.

Sima Shi immediately bowed in return: "Taichu, you are here quite early. I have nothing to do, so I just happened to read the stone scripture here."

Xiahou Xuan did not come to the Imperial College alone, he was followed by a girl and several followers. But Sima Shi did not ask too many questions, so he only greeted Xiahou Xuan himself.

Xiahou Xuan's father, Xiahou Shang, died of illness more than half a year ago. Before his death, he gave Xiahou Xuan the courtesy name "Taichu" according to Xiahou Xuan's own opinion. The word "Taichu" comes from "Zhuangzi": "In the beginning, there was nothing, and there was no name."

This is also related to Xiahou Xuan's personal academic interests, which prefer Taoism to Confucian classics.

"It's the Doctrine of the Mean." Xiahou Xuan looked at the stone scripture in front of where Sima Shi was standing, "Let me take a look. Sincerity and wisdom are called nature, and sincerity and wisdom are called education."

Xiahou Xuan asked: "Brother Ziyuan, how do you interpret this sentence?"

In this era, whether it was the emperor issuing an edict or the scholars talking, they would generally quote classics first and then express their own opinions. If scholars wanted to make friends with each other, they still had to understand each other's talents and personalities.

Seeing Xiahou Xuan asking, Sima Shi thought for a moment and answered, "Sincerity refers to being truthful and honest, and wisdom refers to being fully aware of the truth. A person who is both sincere and wise is a saint, and a person who is both wise and sincere is a wise man."

"Nature comes after sincerity, which means that being a person should be based on sincerity."

Xiahou Xuan heard what Sima Shi said and nodded with a smile: "What Ziyuan said is reasonable. But I have a different opinion recently."

"Oh?" Sima Shi was quite surprised. Could it be that Xiahou Xuan could annotate the scriptures himself?

Sima Shi asked, "What does Taichu think this means?"

Xiahou Xuan smiled and said, "In my humble opinion, a person can be clear through sincerity, or be sincere through clarity. This actually means that sincerity and clarity, truth and reason, are inseparable and one. So is there something that can include both truth and reason at the same time?"

“It seems that the Taoist concept of nature and nothingness can encompass both.”

Seeing that Master Sima seemed to understand but not quite, Xiahou Xuan did not intend to continue the conversation. Nowadays, most students only study the Five Classics and pay little attention to other Taoist sayings. Xiahou Xuan was just inspired by the Taoist sayings and had some new ideas about the words "honesty" and "wisdom".

However, Xiahou Xuan was humble. Although Sima Shi didn't quite understand what he was saying, he still agreed with Xiahou Xuan: "Taichu, that's a good point, but I'm not very familiar with the Taoist teachings."

At this moment, the girl standing next to Xiahou Xuan said, "Brother, I think he is right. This is what the teacher taught. I have never heard of what you said." Sima Shi was originally embarrassed to take the initiative to greet him, but since the girl took the initiative to interrupt and talk about the classics they were discussing, it did not seem presumptuous to greet him.

Sima Shi smiled and looked at Xiahou Xuan: "Taichu, who is this?"

Xiahou Xuan introduced them: "She is my sister Xiahou Hui, she is only fifteen years old now. Hui'er, this is Sima Shi, the eldest son of Sima Sikong."

Xiahou Hui blinked and looked at Sima Shi: "Are you Sima Ziyuan? I heard my brother mention you."

Sima Shi replied, "I am Sima Ziyuan. I just heard you mention it. Do you also read the scriptures? Taichu is well versed in the scriptures, so his sister must be extraordinary."

Seeing that Sima Shi wanted to talk to his sister, Xiahou Xuan quickly changed the subject: "Brother Ziyuan, the gate of the Imperial College is open, why don't we go in together."

Sima Shi naturally had no reason to refuse, so he smiled and nodded at Xiahou Hui, then turned and walked towards the Imperial College. Xiahou Xuan naturally hurried to follow, but after taking a few steps, he turned around and glared at his sister.

Xiahou Hui understood what her brother meant, so she made a face to fight back. The two gradually walked away, and Xiahou Hui looked at the words on the stone scripture for a while, but unconsciously turned around to look for the two people's backs.

The two had already entered the room, and it was obvious that their backs could no longer be seen. Xiahou Hui pursed her lips, and when she looked at the stone scripture again, she seemed to take a deep breath.

The main gate of Luoyang Imperial College is in the north, facing the Kaiyang Gate in the south of Luoyang City. Sima Shi and Xiahou Xuan walked into the main gate together and saw many servants sweeping the yard and wiping the door lintel, as if it was New Year's Day.

Sima Shi was a little puzzled: "What happened? Why do we need to clean it up like this?"

Xiahou Xuan smiled and said, "Ziyuan, I know why. If I tell you, please don't tell anyone else."

Sima Shi nodded and said, "I am not a person who speaks nonsense, so how could I spread it? But is there anything important happening?"

Xiahou Xuan pursed his lips in a mysterious manner, stretched out his right index finger and pointed to the sky: "Tomorrow."

Xiahou Xuan pointed to the sky, and the meaning was obvious. The emperor was coming to the Imperial College tomorrow? This was the first time in history.

Sima Shi nodded blankly. It seems that the current emperor really attaches great importance to the Imperial College. Thinking of what his father asked him to do yesterday to find out about the Imperial College, it seems that the Imperial College will become more and more important in Luoyang in the future.

Sima Shi was not idle in the Imperial College today. In addition to studying on time, during the lunch break, he also found Gao Tanglong, who was in charge of daily affairs in the Imperial College, and talked about the enrollment situation of the Imperial College.

Although Sima Shi was not as good as Xiahou Xuan in the Imperial College, he was also one of the top students. If an ordinary student wanted to ask a doctor, the doctor would not have the time to waste his words with you.

However, given Sima Shi's excellence, and the fact that his father was an assistant minister and had just been promoted to one of the Three Dukes, Gao Tanglong began to chat with Sima Shi in a very friendly manner.

As Gao Tanglong introduced him, Sima Shi also heard something wrong. It wasn't something else wrong, but that out of the total 500 students enrolled, 200 of them were from Ruying, Wanluo?
What about other counties in the world? In some places, there is only one quota per county.
It seems that I need to go home and report everything to my father.

……

The next day, Luoyang, Imperial College.

It has been exactly one month since Jiang Wei arrived in Luoyang.

After leaving Tianshui County where he had lived for more than 20 years, Jiang Wei traveled eastward, starting from Ji County, passing Chencang along the Wei River, crossing the entire Guanzhong Plain into Tongguan, and then heading east to Luoyang.

The geographical landscapes and people's lives along the way were different. The land of Tianshui was quite desolate, but when we arrived in Guanzhong, we saw endless fertile fields, passed the majestic Chang'an City, and passed Tongguan, which was known to be able to resist a hundred enemies with one man.

When he first arrived in Luoyang, Jiang Wei was quite excited. Whether it was seeing the palace gate on Tongtuo Street or the stone scriptures that took up almost half of the street in front of the Imperial College, Jiang Wei was full of anticipation for his future study in the Imperial College.

But after a month, Jiang Wei couldn't help feeling a little disappointed with the Imperial Academy.

The doctors who taught at the Imperial College were naturally more knowledgeable than the Confucian scholars in Tianshui, and the Imperial College's buildings were naturally thousands of times larger than Jiang Wei's own school. The only thing Jiang Wei was not satisfied with was his classmates at the Imperial College.

Most of his classmates came from aristocratic families, not to mention Jiang Wei himself. However, these students in their teens and early twenties were not very serious about their studies, but were keen on evaluating each other and competing with each other in family background and clothing.

This flashy learning atmosphere is what makes Jiang Wei feel uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)