Li Ke was returning from the guard team and built a house for Li Ke and Cheng Chumo in Jingyang. Now there are many houses in Jingyang, and many of them are still empty.

Seeing Li Zheng sitting alone by the river, Li Ke asked, "I see you eating on weekdays, so I must be eating at this time. Why are you sitting here today?"

It was a little dark, and Li Zheng looked at the river and said, "There is an old man who is eyeing me."

"Which old man?"

"It's the one you put in."

"You said Mr. Li Gang, isn't he your friend?"

"What?"

Li Ke explained: "Mr. Li Gang said you are friends with him, so I put it in. Yesterday, he came to Jingyang with the prince."

Li Zheng breathed a little cold air, "Human hearts are sinister."

"Who is sinister?"

An old voice came from behind, and Li Zheng looked back and saw that it was Li Gang, the old man.

"Old sir, what do you want?" Li Zheng said helplessly.

Li Gang smiled and said to Li Zheng: "I don't want the Tang Dynasty to miss a smart person like you."

"I'm not a smart person." Li Zheng said.

Li Gang nodded, "I know, they all say you are a fool."

"So sir, don't waste time with me, please go back."

Li Gang was still standing there, "There is no distinction between teachings, I can teach you and let you go back to the right path."

"Don't!" Li Zheng quickly refused, "I am already a disciple of General Li Jing. If you want to teach me, you should not spend this effort."

Li Gang sighed: "I'm late, I should have come to Chang'an early."

"Even if you come to Chang'an early, it's useless."

The bleak evening breeze blew, and Li Ke felt a little embarrassed when he stood there, so he turned around and went back.

Li Gang sat by the river beach and asked, "Li Zheng, I have seen many smart people."

"I'm a fool."

Li Zheng emphasized.

Li Gang smiled and said, "You are proficient in the nine chapters of mathematics. You can make the Tang Dynasty circulate between the three sides without bloodshed, so that you can take down Yinshan, Qinghai, and Hexi corridors, and make the Turks no longer khan. You are rare fools like you."

The more Li Zheng listened, the more he became, the more wrong it was.

Li Gang said: "How can a real man stand in the world and do nothing?"

Li Zheng said lazily: "Save all people from water and fire, and support the country and the country?"

Li Gang nodded.

"There are so many talented people in the Tang Dynasty, and I have less than me. Besides, I'll save all the people? This is what those fierce men from heaven do. I'm not interested. And it's better for His Majesty to do these things. It's easy for me to lose my life."

"Life is short." Li Zheng sighed.

Li Gang also nodded slightly, "Life is short, so you must cherish the present, pass the Jinshi, and compile the national history."

"Forget it, I prefer to earn enough money in a limited life and then retire before the age of thirty. I think this is the true meaning of life."

Li Gang shook his head and sighed, "The stubbornness is unchanged."

Li Zheng smiled disdainfully, "I am called "I am not changing my original intention."

Li Gang said again: "Did you always want to be a villain? With your talent, you will definitely become the next generation of great scholars."

"To be honest, I am not interested in your so-called knowledge. You want people all over the world to read Confucianism and study Confucianism. The court and even the emperors all regard Confucianism as their orthodox. To be honest, I really don't care about these things."

Li Gang looked at Li Zheng's still tender face.

Li Zheng continued: "Confucianism cannot make me eat enough, and Confucian books cannot be eaten as food?"

"Emperors of all dynasties have been advocating Confucianism and respecting Confucian etiquette."

Li Zheng smiled coldly.

"What are you laughing at?" Li Gang was puzzled.

Li Zheng said loudly: "Did the people you advocate change the world? You are spreading Confucianism, and you even use Confucianism to persuade the emperors, but you great scholars have never taken care of the lives and deaths of the world."

"What do these thousands of people want? What they want is to be able to eat enough and not starve to death in winter."

Li Gang: "If there were no Confucianism, how could scholars come from the world?"

Li Zheng: "Learning old knowledge will make it difficult for the world to make a step further from now on. This is not progress, this is backward."

"What kind of knowledge do you think should not be considered backward."

Li Zheng smiled and said nothing.

Li Gang continued: "Did you rely on the science you uphold? What's the use of that thing besides making you make money?"

Li Zheng grinned and said, "Does the same way and do not work together. You live in character, and I live in food, rice, oil and salt."

"And to me your character is nothing more than a group of old guys who hold conservative knowledge and claim to be noble. In my opinion, this is very stupid. You dare not accept something that subverts your cognition."

In the pre-Qin period, everyone could propose their own knowledge. Confucianism at that time never thought of curbing other schools of thought.

Since the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, Dong Zhongshu proposed to abolish all schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone.

In that era when we need to rest and recuperate, we need to unify our thinking when we need our family and country to face the foreign enemies of the Huns together.

Together with the people of the world, we share the same hatred for the enemy.

This method is somewhat despicable but has very good results, but it has endless troubles.

It also indirectly created aristocratic families and Shandong gentry.

A pattern of completely monopolizing knowledge.

The emperor will always choose the idea that is most conducive to his own rule.

But taking on such a big burden and cutting off all the details has almost curbed the development of knowledge.

If this continues, there will be no more Confucian schools in the world.

Li Zheng sneered, "Dong Zhongshu, who abolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism? He was just like this. He created Confucianism and destroyed all schools of thought. What a bullshit question to heaven and man. Pretending to be great is just a means to consolidate the emperor. He regards Confucian knowledge as an idea. Emperor Wu of Han just used Confucians to calm people's hearts. Do you really think how much emperors in the world respect Confucianism?"

"Academic knowledge has become a means for emperors to consolidate their power. Is this really the essence of Confucianism? This is the true essence of Confucianism? In my opinion, it is a very despicable means."

Li Gang became more angry.

Li Zheng continued: "Don't take self-esteem very high, there are gentlemen and villains in this world."

"Li Zheng, do you want to be enemies with Confucian students all over the world?"

Li Zheng shook the palm-leaf fan in his hand and said, "I am frank, even if you hold high the banner of Confucian unification, you will not be able to make all the people in the world a gentleman. Your goals are wrong and doomed to failure. I don't take your lofty ideals seriously at all."

"Arrogant."

Li Zheng sneered: "Sorry, I am a person who cares more about reality. It's just money, it's just a life, it's just a good life. I think you Confucians can only maintain your spirit. As for the rest, you Confucians can't control it."

"You!" Li Gang was so angry that he trembled all over his body. He lived his whole life. For the first time, a child with a yellow mouth criticized Confucianism as worthless.

"In my opinion, knowledge is a very free thing, not what you call rules and regulations. As you want to lock knowledge, you also lock an era."

"According to you, our Confucian children are all sinners for the ages."

"You can't be said to be sinners. You are just a sentence in history. You will become the summary of future generations and the negative teaching materials for future generations."

Li Gang breathed heavily, and he seemed to be thinking about something.

Li Zheng continued: "After history has passed, scholars in the world will definitely pay attention to seeking truth from facts and materialism, rather than those inexplicable spiritual pillars. In my opinion, reading and learning have always been to make themselves and people live better, rather than becoming the mouthpiece for you to preach Confucian classics."

Thinking about Li Zheng's words, Li Gang stood there as if he had entered a state of meditation.

I remember those Confucian children who recite Confucian classics today, but they are not diligent in the four bodies.

He kept saying that Confucian unification was the same, but he did not know how to do things for the people and the world.

Advising the emperor has become an honor.

Sometimes I think about what Confucianism has become today.

I remember that when I was young, everyone would argue for their knowledge and would be more and more advanced.

I don’t know when the taste changed, and it is full of all kinds of utilitarianism.

Materialism is indeed very important. For those utilitarianism, some students have become the mouthpiece of Confucianism.

Li Gang said with a wry smile: "If I were ten years younger, I would have killed you now."

Li Zheng smiled again, "If it weren't for your age, I would have blown you out long ago, so why bother with me?"

Talking to a person with different values ​​is a waste of mind.

Psychological and conservative are fully reflected in Li Gang.

All the benefits and disadvantages of Confucianism are just the choice of an era.
To be continued...