Pawn Crossing the River

Whether Confucianism is powerful or not is an interesting topic.

If we were talking about fighting with real swords and spears on the battlefield, then Confucianism would definitely be at the bottom of the three religions, or even not worth mentioning. But when it comes to ethics and influence, Confucianism is very powerful. After all, Confucianism has been setting rules for the world for two thousand years.

Zhang Yuelu started a big debate about the spirit of "equality" this time. His original intention was just to divert attention, and the scope of the discussion was limited to civil matters.

But she didn't expect that Qin Lingge and other Confucian sects had evil intentions and took this opportunity to directly shift the focus from "what is equality" to "should there be equality?" This broke away from the so-called civil category and came to the Taoist sect. Well, to put it more seriously, this is shaking the foundation of the country.

Zhang Yuelu must also give corresponding refutation, otherwise it will be her fault.

Qin Lingge wrote another article to further elaborate on his point of view based on the previous article: "People do not need this false equality, they need rules and protection. What they need is order. Whether it is rules or order, there must be hierarchies. This is Gang Chang. A snake cannot survive without a head. To establish rules and order, it also needs a leader to provide protection and restraint for the people. That is the king. Heaven and earth are the embodiment of the rules of heaven, and the king is the embodiment of the rules of humanity. Therefore, it is said: The king of heaven and earth is dear. division."

Subsequently, Zhang Yuelu publicly wrote an article in Qingping Bookstore's Di newspaper to refute Qin Lingge.

"Equality is actually a manifestation of fairness, and it is also human nature. Do princes, generals, and ministers have a certain kind? The inner core of this sentence is equality. Are those princes, generals, and ministers necessarily nobler than us?"

"In the context of Confucianism, it is justified for the king to oppress the people and it is justified for the officials to exploit the people because of the principles of the law. It is unreasonable for the people to rebel because the latter disrupts the principles and is a treason."

"This is the reason why Taoism proposes 'equality'. There are many reasons, but in the final analysis, it is one sentence. It is reasonable for people to resist oppression and exploitation, and it is reasonable to rebel. Therefore, Confucianism calls various acts of rebellion heaven and earth No, rebellion is chaos, and it is wrong from beginning to end. However, our Taoism calls it an uprising. It is an act of conforming to the law of heaven and reforming the past, and it is naturally righteous."

"Perhaps the uprising process was accompanied by various mistakes and chaos, but it is undeniable that the uprising itself was a helpless move by the people at the bottom after they could no longer survive. It is undeniable that it is naturally just. This is the origin of 'equality' , everyone is equal, so when others oppress us, we can resist, which is justice. In essence, everyone is equal. Why do you oppress me?”

"But if you have a hierarchy and recognize it, you become the universal parent, and the universal monarch and father. Since the monarch must be right, oppression becomes justifiable, and resistance becomes wrong. Because I am a king, a minister, a father and a son, so it is only natural that I oppress you, and it has even become that you were born to be oppressed.”

"For nearly two hundred years, the Taoist sect has strived to make the concept of 'equality' deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Breaking the rules is to give everyone the legitimate rights to resist oppression. Is it wrong?"

As soon as Zhang Yuelu's article came out, it shocked the whole world.

If Qin Lingge is challenging the "equality" foundation of Taoism, then Zhang Yuelu is challenging the foundation of imperial power. It's like two people who only attack but don't defend, each holding a sharp sword and stabbing at the other's weakness.

Daxuan's Minister of Rites immediately lodged a protest with Daomen and demanded severe punishment for Zhang Yuelu.

Even within the Taoist sect, there are many opinions. Many people criticize Zhang Yuelu's position as very problematic. If it is allowed to develop, the consequences will be terrible.

Many people are also sweating for Zhang Yuelu. Of course, this kind of statement cannot be wrong, but it also depends on who is saying it. For Xuan Sheng, there is no problem, and it will even be regarded as a golden rule. You, a junior Come to think of it, are you really not afraid of losing your head?

At the top of the Taoist sect, Tianshi was the first to express his opinion. There were only four words, that is, "the speaker is not guilty."

Master Jiang Dazhen also said, “Taoism has never been punished for words.”

Shi DaZhen said more specifically: "This is just an argument, discussion, debate, just a collision and discussion of two different ideas, and it is all about the past, not the present, and is different from the actual situation. It has nothing to do with national policy, politics, or the system. Theoretically speaking, equality and Gangchang are like yin and yang, which are mutually reinforcing each other. Without equality, how can we embody Gangchang? "

This seemed to set a tone, and the controversy on the Taoist side was temporarily subsided.

But this debate has not stopped and continues to ferment.

This allowed Zhang Yuelu to achieve his original goal, and no one would care about a baseless report.

once having seen the best, the rest is not worthwhile looking.

The great masters and great masters here almost ended the debate in person, so who cares about other trivial matters? Maybe it was a big deal originally, but in comparison, it was all a small matter.

However, Zhang Yuelu was still a little scared. She didn't expect that someone from the Confucian sect would seize such an opportunity to cause trouble. If it really got out of control, the consequences would be disastrous.

Debating with Qin Lingge was not Zhang Yuelu's original intention. While writing the article, she also ordered people to find out the true situation of this report as soon as possible, and to find out the truth before the heat of the debate completely subsided.

Of course, it is not just Zhang Yuelu who will take action, but Xu Jiaorong will also take action. The second deputy masters of the two major mansions will jointly conduct a thorough investigation, so nothing will be found. The key is that Qi Xuansu did not do these things. Although he is in the dilemma of proving his innocence, this kind of report letter does not need to be verified in its entirety. As long as one or two key points are proved to be false, the report letter can be completely denied.

In fact, the purpose of this report is not to bring down Qi Xuansu, but to ruin Qi Xuansu's reputation. Qi Xuansu is already young and high-ranking. If these things happen again, no matter whether they are true or false, people will treat him as a "prince". Once the characters are connected and an inherent stereotype is formed, even if it can be proven that the report is false, it is no longer important.

Therefore, when Zhang Yuelu took the huge risk of affecting his future and successfully diverted his attention, the difficulty was already halfway over.

Therefore, Zhang Yuelu is not just Qi Xuansu's Taoist companion, she is also Qi Xuansu's staunch ally. It's easy to be a Taoist companion, but not so easy to be an ally.

On the other side, Qi Xuansu didn't know that so many things were happening outside. At this time, he and Qi Jiayao were hiding from the blood moon in a small camp.

This is an abandoned camp, deserted. However, as the blood moon rose, the dead camp suddenly became alive, and black shadows appeared one after another.

Qi Jiayao was well-informed and said: "The world of shadow has eroded the real world, and the two have begun to merge."

According to Westerners, there is a concept called "subspace". In fact, the cave is a huge subspace. In most cases, subspace is actually parallel to reality. Only in rare cases , will overlap with reality. In the history of Taoism, large-scale spatial overlap has only occurred once, and that was the landing of the Kunlun Cave. It is said to be a landing, but in fact it is the overlap of the Kunlun Cave and the real world.

Just because the Kunlun Cave is too huge, the entire recombination process has become extremely long, taking hundreds of years. Therefore, the area of ​​the Kunlun Cave is constantly shrinking. When it is completely overlapped, the Kunlun Cave will completely disappear.

Lingshan Cave itself is a subspace in the Western concept. Qi Jiayao said that the world of shadows has eroded the real world. The "real world" here undoubtedly refers to the Lingshan Cave where they are located, not the human world. In fact, it makes sense. In giant caves like Kunlun Cave and Lingshan Cave, there are secondary caves. The big cave is attached to the human world, and the small cave is attached to the big cave. The so-called "shadow world" here is actually a world attached to the human world. The secondary cave of Lingshan Cave.

Qi Xuansu, as a high-quality Taoist priest who has studied in the Wanxiang Taoist Palace three times, certainly understands these concepts. There is no need for Qi Jiaoyao to explain too much, and said: "It seems that we have entered the realm of Wuzhen."

Qi Jiaoyao said: "Wu Ji was the first to die in the battle. In the first battle of the Tianshi Sect's attack on Lingshan, Wu Ji was the only one killed on the spot. After Wu Ji's death, the suppression against her was the most severe. In addition, Yao Zu has completely transformed her, so as long as we have Jian Xiushan’s third-level authority, there is no danger. But Wu Zhen is different, she has probably not been transformed, and is very dangerous.”

Qi Xuansu asked: "Then how did you get there before?"

Qi Jiaoyao replied: "Although Yaozu did not transform Wuzhen's remains, he built a Hongqiao here. The blood moon appears once every sixty years. Whether I go to Lingshan or come back from Lingshan, I always take the Hongqiao. , there are still dozens of days until Hongqiao appears next, do you want to wait? "

Qi Xuansu shook his head: "I don't have that much time, so I won't wait any longer."

The Heavenly Master gave him three hundred days, which seemed very generous, but the key was Lingshan, which was only on the outskirts of Lingshan now, so a certain amount of leeway must be left in advance. He could not wait here for dozens of days.

As the two of them were talking, there were more and more shadows outside, and even in the temple where they were, there was a shadow.

Judging from its outline, it should be a member of the witchcraft cult, worshiping devoutly to the totem in the temple.

Qi Xuansu and Qi Jiayao then looked at this figure, only to hear him murmur to himself: "Supreme Human Emperor, the four ancestral witches conspired to kill the leader you appointed. This move really led to disaster. , Tianshijiao is coming."

"The Celestial Master Sect claims to serve heaven and practice the Tao. You are the Emperor of Humanity and the Emperor of Heaven. Is it your will to destroy the Witch Sect?"

"If it was your will, and we didn't participate in the murder of the leader, what crime would we be guilty of? If it wasn't your will, where should we go?"

"The past human emperor and the current emperor of heaven, please send us your decree and guide us in the future."

"Chapter 2 will be much later, so I suggest you not wait any longer."