Qin Official

"I tried to persuade you for four whole years, and then I let His Majesty go to the east to consecrate Zen. But what about you? But it only took two short days to make His Majesty get tired of the Confucian scholars and drive us out. It's really a success. It's not enough, it's more than enough! Nowadays, the Confucian scholars who are most familiar with etiquette are not allowed to participate in the formulation of etiquette for the Zen ceremony. What a big joke!"

In the woods near the palace, the scholars who were driven out of the hall by Qin Shihuang were staring at each other. Only Zhou Qingchen, the servant of the doctor, was angry in the middle. However, no matter how angry, Zhou Qingchen still carefully protected the person above his head. The wise crown did not let it become crooked.

Zhou Qingchen couldn't tolerate being angry. When they were in Xianyang, their more than 70 doctors, especially the Confucian scholars from Qilu, were united. Every once in a while, they would advocate for the 72 ancient emperors to be enshrined in Zen, so that Qin Shihuang also Imitate it.

Finally, after the emperor finished defeating the Xiongnu and the Yueshi, he finally began to inspect the Zen and led a large group of people to the foot of Mount Tai. However, the Confucian scholars who had cooperated sincerely could not unanimously agree.

There is no way, since Confucius, Confucianism has divided into too many factions. In addition to the "Confucianism of the Confucian family" of Kong Yu, a direct descendant of Confucius, and his disciple Shusun Tong, there are also Confucianism of the Zi Zhang family; Confucianism of the Zisi family; Confucianism of the Yan family; The eight major schools of Confucianism are Meng's Confucianism, Qi Diao's Confucianism, Zhongliang's Confucianism, Sun's Confucianism, Lezheng's Confucianism, as well as Xun's Confucianism headed by Fuqiu Bo, and Gongyang and Gu who govern the Spring and Autumn Period. Liang and Zuo families.

As early as a month ago, more than 300 people from more than ten sects heard that the emperor was going to hold the Confucian Zen Ceremony that Confucianism had been waiting for for a hundred years. Even Kong Kun, who did not want to cooperate with Qin, wanted to see what happened.

For a time, at the foot of Mount Tai, Qilu Confucianism realized a great connection that had never been seen before after the death of Confucius. From a weak-headed boy to a white-headed old Confucian, they had everything. In their own words, "when all the virtuous people come together, the young and the old gather together." .

Qin Shihuang recruited so many Confucian scholars with the intention of letting them do what they are good at and formulate a set of etiquette for conferring Zen. Doctor Zhou Qingchen took the initiative to ask Ying to take charge of this matter.

Probably Zhou Qingchen had been in Qin for too long and forgot about the peeing nature of these Qi and Lu colleagues. They began to discuss every etiquette procedure. This was not good and that was not good. As a result, until Qin Shihuang arrived at Mount Tai, this group of people had not yet discussed a complete charter. Come, it will make Zhou Qingchen angry.

Although it is rumored that seventy-two emperors consecrated Zen in Mount Tai in ancient times, most of them are unknown. As for the etiquette of conferring Zen? It is even more difficult to test. No one knows the details of etiquette, so all Confucian scholars can only find the foundation in books such as "Shang Shu" and "Zhou Guan". A Spring and Autumn Annals can come up with three versions of interpretations, let alone ancient books with more obscure language. As a result, more than ten Confucian schools put forward more than twenty opinions.

The minds of academic people are often smaller than the tip of a needle. This group of people, even fellow disciples, could sever their differences over a certain word or sentence in "Spring and Autumn" and "Poetry". They would quarrel for decades, and their disciples and grandchildren would continue to quarrel after their death, let alone that this could be recorded in the This is the Zen ceremony in the annals of history.

There was even a fight between the two schools over whether to hold the ceremony on the top of the mountain or halfway up the mountain! The two old scholars tore each other's beards, leaving a bruise on the other's eye socket, but they only dared to say that it was their own fault.

When the debate was fruitless, the Confucian scholars and doctors began to act on their own, writing letters to the emperor to promote their ideas.

A Confucian of the Qidiao family who preached rituals wrote a letter saying: "In ancient times, when enshrining Zen, the emperor had to ride a cart with the wheels wrapped in cattails to go up the mountain. This was because he was afraid of harming the earth, stone, grass and trees on the mountain, so he had to go to the top and sweep the ground to offer sacrifices. Your Majesty should pay homage to him. In the dust, use its simplicity..."

Confucian scholars of the Zizhang family believed that the emperor should hike up the mountain. When he reaches a certain height, when there is no wind or rain, he should immediately salute and go up the mountain to offer sacrifices.

Confucian scholars of the Lezheng family searched through ancient books and found out the practice of "looking at sacrifices and shooting oxen", and they also excitedly wrote to offer treasures, hoping that the emperor would adopt this complicated ritual.

These opinions are all different, unreasonable, pedantic and bizarre, or difficult to implement, and most of them are made in snail shells. Obviously, they are far from the expectations of Qin Shihuang who wanted to use the title of Zen to promote the splendor of the empire.

Fortunately, Qin Shihuang didn't count on these guys. When he asked the Confucian scholars to discuss, he also secretly asked "Feng Chang" who specialized in etiquette to prepare a set of etiquette for the Qin Dynasty's sacrifices to heaven and earth.

So yesterday, he issued an edict saying: "This proposal is different and difficult to implement." Instead, Feng Chang was asked to bring out a complete set of Qin Dynasty etiquette and let the Confucian scholars evaluate the profits and losses.

As a result, the group of scholars who had been arguing for a long time and even fought over a certain etiquette were united again at this moment as never before.

Fu Sheng, a well-known Confucian scholar from Qi State, took one look at the sacrificial vessel designed by Feng Chang and began to criticize it. The only reason for the criticism was that it was "different from ancient times." But he couldn't explain what the real Fengchan weapon looked like.

However, a descendant of Confucius, the famous Lu Confucian Kong Yu, after watching the etiquette practiced by Feng Chang, shook his head and said: "It's not as good as the Lu etiquette." Then he requested that the ready-made Lu etiquette that had been passed down by the Confucius family for several generations be used for the ceremony. .

This kind of behavior angered Qin Shihuang, who hated people who criticized "the present is not as good as the past" the most. He immediately issued an edict:

"Since the group of Confucian scholars can no longer discern the matter of Feng Chan, and they are too tied to poetry, books and ancient texts to pursue it, I will choose it myself!"

All the Confucian scholars were kicked out of the palace, Zhou Qingchen was no exception, and this ridiculous scene occurred: none of the Confucian scholars who specialized in etiquette could participate in the design of the Zen ceremony...

In the afternoon, the news came out that Qin Shihuang put aside the words of Confucian scholars and instead adopted the old Qin state's ritual of worshiping heaven and earth to enshrine Zen.

When the news came, the Confucian scholars immediately went into a rage and began to beat their chests and beat their chests. They said that the emperor did not listen to good advice and actually used the wrong ceremony on such an important occasion. ".

As a result, while they were still calling for a series of meetings, Lang Wei came. The Confucian scholars thought that the emperor was regretful and wanted to call them back for further discussion. Unexpectedly, Lang Wei had a sullen face and beat the two who had fought over each other. The old scholar arrested them and said that they would be charged with "private fighting".

For a time, more than three hundred Confucian scholars became silent. After watching the two old Confucian scholars being taken away, after a long time, Kong Kun stamped his feet and said:

"Since the emperor won't listen to dissuasion, what's the point of staying here? Are we just waiting to be humiliated again?"

He simply said that if he didn't need it, he would go. After saying that, he flicked his sleeves and strode away with his disciple Shusun Tong. Shusun Tong did not say anything in this farce. He just bowed to Zhou Qingchen embarrassedly and apologized, and advised his wife not to be impulsive. Leaving privately would anger the emperor.

The remaining people looked at each other in confusion. At this time, no one mentioned the matter of "risking one's life to advise". Only the leader of Qidiao Zhiru said loudly:

"Second and Third Son, in the past Ji's family was traveling in Mount Tai. Confucius asked Ran You: "Can you persuade him?" Ran You replied that he couldn't, and Confucius sighed and said, "Although I can't, is Mount Tai not as good as Lin Fang?"

Lin Fang was a famous scholar from the Lu State in the Spring and Autumn Period and was known for his knowledge of etiquette. This sentence means that Mount Tai is blessed by heaven and earth and has its own spirituality, so he will never accept indecent sacrifices!

The implication is that even if Qin Shihuang deposed the Confucian scholars and adopted the Kansai way of worship today, he would not be accepted by Mount Tai either!

Everyone agreed in unison, placing their hope in the divinity of Mount Tai. Others are clamoring that when they go up to the mountain for the Zen ceremony tomorrow, they should pay close attention to every procedure. When they come down, they will write down what they have seen and heard in a book, mocking the etiquette that makes trouble, so that the world will know that compared to Confucianism, Wu Zhu, an official of the Qin Dynasty, We are like a younger brother when doing sacrificial rituals.

Only Zhou Qingchen sighed: "At this point, you'd better say less!"

It is unknown whether Taishan accepted the Qin Dynasty's sacrificial etiquette, but after this incident, Qin Shihuang probably fully understood that the success of the Confucian scholars was more than failure. In the evening, the emperor further announced that he would be entrusted with Zen tomorrow, and he would only bring with him a hundred civil and military officials, including Heifu, Zhang Cang, etc., but not a single Confucian scholar!

At this time, all the Confucian scholars were dumbfounded. They had originally thought of watching Fengchang's ceremony tomorrow when he was enshrined in Zen, and laughing at him afterwards. However, they did not expect that the emperor had done so brilliantly, and all the Confucian scholars could only stay. At the foot of the mountain, you are not allowed to engage in any activities!

"This is really unreasonable!"

Fusheng of Qi was angry. He asked himself, he was conscripted into Xianyang, endured the emperor's militarism, and tolerated their more than seventy doctors as mere decorations in the court. Isn't it just to introduce the Qin Dynasty into the political blueprint tailor-made for the future unified empire by the people of Qi Diji many years ago, so as to turn it into their ideal state of etiquette?

But it's so easy to get through to this day. The scholars who have worked hard for this goal are neither qualified to design the ceremony nor have the authority to climb the mountain to witness this scene that has not been seen in eight hundred years?

This is really the biggest joke in the world! Confucianism's mortal enemies Huang Lao and Mo Zhe will definitely laugh their heads off if they find out.

While the scholars were shocked, they also had a strange change in their minds about Feng Chan.

In the eyes of everyone, without their participation, Feng Chan is no longer a true Feng Chan, but a kind of sacred and inviolable Mount Tai, a ritual system of the ancient holy kings...

"humiliation!"

They were so excited that they could do nothing.

Shouting slogans in vain will also consume physical energy. Soon, as the night deepened, the empty-minded scholars dispersed. Different from the high spirits when they came, they were all a little downcast.

This was the biggest failure of Confucianism since the establishment of the Qin Dynasty. However, except for a few people such as Zhou Qingchen and Shu Suntong, the vast majority of Confucian scholars did not find the reason from themselves, but complained angrily:

"Qin Shihuang was headstrong and self-willed, without any need for virtue, and he insisted on going his own way. He was indeed a hopeless monoman and tyrant! He is also a sinner among the three true kings. He has insufficient virtue and is not worthy of being granted Zen status!?"

…

ps: For examples in this chapter, please refer to "Historical Records. Book of Fengchan"