Pawn Crossing the River

"Fellow Taoist Qi Xuansu, please take a seat." Master Qingwei used a very formal title, which made Qi Xuansu a little nervous.

After all, he was calling him by his full name. As one of his old bosses, Master Qingwei could of course call him this. It was not a curse, but it also meant an attitude. In fact, most people feel that when their parents call them by their full name, something bad is probably going to happen.

Qi Xuansu solemnly replied, "It's me, Master Qingwei." Then he sat down on the chair opposite Master Qingwei.

The title Qingwei Zhenren itself is an honorific, but if there are too many people calling him, it will give people the illusion that it is a person's name. Qi Xuansu can't always call him "Brother Zhiqing Dao", that would be too much.

Master Qingwei went straight to the point without any polite greetings.

"You don't understand that I asked you to come over for a talk today, do you?"

"I have some guesses, Master Qingwei."

"Did you hear any rumors outside?"

Qi Xuansu fell silent, and Master Qingwei did not urge him, allowing Qi Xuansu to think about how to answer in silence.

In this brief silence, the only sounds in the quiet signing room were the turning of paper and the writing of pen. Master Qingwei was still reviewing official documents.

"Reporting to Master Qingwei, I did hear some rumors, but I don't know whether they are true or not." Qi Xuansu finally decided to tell the truth.

"Tell me exactly what news you heard, no need to say who you heard it from." Master Qingwei's eyes were still on the official letter.

"Yes. I heard that Master Qingwei intends to make me the chief deputy head of Beichen Hall."

"What do you think about this?"

“Everything is subject to Jinque’s final decision.”

"What do you think of the situation in the New World?"

"The situation is not optimistic. Although the Holy Court is arrogant, we have to admit that the Holy Court is still significantly stronger than Tawanting in terms of overall strength. If the Holy Court really wants to launch a full-scale war regardless of the cost of war, it will be difficult for Tawanting withstand."

"Any more?"

"The development of our Taoist sect has reached a bottleneck stage. Looking inward or looking outward is the direction. If it is looking outward, then the focus should be on the New World."

"Any more?"

"Reporting to Master Qingwei, it is gone for the time being."

This time it was Master Qingwei's turn to be silent. Qi Xuansu raised his eyes and looked at Master Qingwei, and saw that he quickly wrote a line of words with a red pen dipped in cinnabar, then closed the official letter and put it aside - this was to concentrate on talking to himself.

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Talked.

Qi Xuansu immediately withdrew his gaze, sat up straight, and concentrated all his attention - Master Qingwei is no better than Master Cihang and Master Donghua. The latter two are close to their elders. Of course Qi Xuansu can be more casual, but Master Qingwei is not, and the two are not. There is still some unpleasantness between people, so Qi Xuansu must treat it seriously.

"It's good that you have such an idea. There is a conflict between seeking from the outside and seeking from the inside. You have to choose one or the other. However, seeking from the outside has an advantage that cannot be compared with seeking from the inside. That is, it does not hurt the harmony and can To unite people and lift spirits to the greatest extent. What books have you read recently?”

"I am re-reading "The Complete Works of Xuansheng"."

"Don't read in isolation, but read in conjunction with the annotations of various later generations. You might as well read more of "Xuan Sheng Xiang'er Annotations". The focus is on the second half. Many of the views of the great masters of the Five Dynasties seem to be looking inwards, and finally they are settled. The key is to look outside. This is called "holding both ends and using the middle". Everything has two extremes, and you will make mistakes if you go to both extremes. Only by using the middle can you avoid mistakes. "

Qi Xuansu was keenly aware that the views of Master Qingwei were not completely consistent with those of the Imperial Master, and seemed to be a bit more moderate. But he didn't say anything, just replied, "I understand."

"Let's talk about you. Some people go too far and insist on labeling you as a faction. Looking at you from the left, you are a member of Quanzhen Taoism and a direct descendant of Donghua Zhenren. Looking from the right, you are a member of the Zhang family. The son-in-law of Master Cihang. I have been thinking, can I look at you objectively from the middle without looking at the left and right sides? Don’t label you as a faction and just treat you as a Taoist priest."

"It is Xuansu's good fortune and the Daoist sect's good fortune that Master Qingwei can treat Xuansu like this. Xuansu was originally a Taoist priest of the Taoist sect. Back then, Xuansheng repeatedly mentioned that he wanted to break the mutual opposition between Taoist traditions and eliminate factionalism. "

"It's good that you can think like this and implement Xuansheng's spirit."

"A real person deserves a prize."

"I very much agree with your statement that the development of Daomen has reached a bottleneck stage. In fact, the key lies not in our internal, but in the outside. This is like farming. In the past, Daomen was a child, small in size, but with enough food to eat. Now As the Taoist sect grows up, the same amount of food will not be enough to eat. It is right to reduce waste, and it is also right to combat internal corruption and curb the powerful, but we cannot always think about suffering ourselves and saving some food. ,us

Finding new fields, opening up wasteland, and growing more food is the key to solving the problem. "

This is where the differences between the three ideas lie.

Qi Xuansu was naturally not able to judge whether this point of view was right or wrong, not to mention that the point of view he proposed was quite consistent with this point of view, so he could only accept it.

Master Qingwei continued, "Because of this, we can't just limit ourselves to the place in front of our home. We must look at a broader world. The New World on the other side of the ocean is an extremely important place that may very well determine the future of our Taoism." Whether the fortunes of a hundred years are still booming or are gradually going downhill depends on how we operate. At this point, we must be cautious and bold in hiring people, taking the overall situation into consideration, and we cannot dismiss outstanding talents just because of simple factional opinions. Abandon it. Take the case of Chen Shuhua. Although Chen Shuhua is detestable, it is also worthy of our reflection. In addition to continuing to strengthen the supervision system, should we make certain improvements in the employment system to prevent such things from happening again? ”

Who is the leader of the supervision system? It is mainly Beichen Hall. Who is the main employer in the employment system? It is mainly Ziweitang.

This is very interesting.

Qi Xuansu can say some absolutely correct things, such as the spirit of Xuansheng, which breaks the mutual opposition between the three realms. Even if the three masters come, he cannot say that these words are wrong. After all, it is the spirit of Xuansheng. It is the same thing. How to do it is another matter. But when it comes to a specific issue, Qi Xuansu cannot express his position at will.

Qi Xuansu thought of a trick and changed the topic, "Master Qingwei doesn't care about factions, but..." Qi Xuansu deliberately hesitated.

"Just say whatever you have to say without any scruples."

"Yes, Master Qingwei. Maybe I judge a gentleman's heart with a villain's heart. Back then in Fenglin Continent, in the divine kingdom of Yi Zangnuozun, I had some differences with Master Qingwei. Master Qingwei has a big spirit, so of course he won't. I care, but..."

Master Qingwei was silent.

Qi Xuansu said softly, "It's my fault. Please criticize me."

"There's nothing wrong with you. It's normal to have disagreements. After all, our Taoist sect is not a Confucian sect. We don't act like the patriarch and Yiyantang. If you have anything to say, you can say it."

"I'm sorry, Master Qingwei, that's not what I meant."

"That's what you probably mean."

Qi Xuansu looked frightened.

Qingwei

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The real person said slowly, "Confucianism is our good teacher. It can also be said that we cross the river by following Confucianism. We must learn from the mistakes they have made and not make them again. The most sage teacher of Confucianism said, 'Father "Hiding for the son, hiding for the father," means that the father conceals the misdeeds for the son, and the son conceals the misdeeds for the father, and the so-called "zhi" does not mean frankness, but frankness, which is essentially the same. Later, Confucianism went a step further. The ministers could not point out the mistakes of the emperor and the subordinates, and the subordinates could not point out the mistakes of their superiors. Although they looked good, truth and justice were completely lost, and it was very serious. It’s easy to fall into moral dilemmas.”

"This is out of date, and at the very least it needs to be improved. How to improve it? Taoism does not object to hiding from each other, nor does it oppose not hiding. It will not conduct moral judgment on those who do not hide, nor will it punish those who do not hide. When people give moral praise, they should maintain a neutral attitude. Between monarchs and ministers, and between superiors and subordinates, it does not apply to tolerance. Therefore, Taoism advocates criticism and self-criticism, allowing subordinates to speak and point out the mistakes of their superiors, and do not engage in mutual concealment. One set. You can criticize yourself now, and you can criticize me in the past. It’s all reasonable and no problem.”

It has to be said that Qingwei Zhenren, as one of the three princes, is quite accomplished in theory. It's not just a few specious reasons to fool him, but it's deduced layer by layer, almost convincing Qi Xuansu - if it doesn't just exist in words but can be truly implemented, then Qi Xuansu can really be recognized.

Qi Xuansu stood up and said, "I will follow the teachings of Master Qingwei."

Master Qingwei raised his hand to signal Qi Xuansu to sit down and talk.

And unlike Master Cihang and Master Donghua, Master Qingwei is not as domineering as Master Donghua, nor as introverted as Master Cihang. He is somewhere in between, with his arms slightly bent and his palms slightly tilted, which is more natural.

"I can't say that the rumor you heard is wrong. I do have the idea to let you serve as the chief deputy hall master of Beichen Hall. One is that your qualifications and abilities are completely sufficient. In recent years, Borneo The situation in the Taoist government is obvious to everyone. Secondly, we cooperated well in Fenglinzhou, and I can use you easily. Donghuang said that you should be suspicious of people, and the key is to use them. Okay. We do have differences, but in the face of major events in Taoism, we must learn to temporarily put aside our differences, work together, and put Taoism first and the overall situation first."

Qi Xuansu was about to speak, but was interrupted by Master Qingwei raising his hand: "You

There is no need to rush to answer me now. It is better to go back and think about it first, and then give me an answer after you have thought it through. I will fully respect your thoughts and opinions. "

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