During the Qin Dynasty, he brought chaos to the seven kingdoms.

Chapter 8 My teacher's surname is Wang and given name is You

Fu Nian asked Cao Yuan a profound question.

It is said that there are many schools of thought nowadays, including our Confucian school of thought. Which ones are biased and incorrect doctrines?

What should we do if someone wants to study these unorthodox subjects?

Should we ban it, or should we take a dialectical approach?

When Cao Yuan heard Fu Nian ask this question, he almost blurted out a radical statement: "Suppress all other schools of thought and exclusively honor Confucianism!"

He knew that just saying this would be enough to move Fu Nian and make him feel good.

Who could blame Fu Nian in the original work, who always advocated benevolent rule and had a strong sense of mission towards Confucianism and the affairs of the world, striving to promote Confucianism and hoping to make it the primary doctrine for governing the country?

But Cao Yuan held back.

If he were to say this out loud, he would probably be torn apart by the various schools of thought during the Warring States period.

Let him know what it means for a "simp to die a horrible death"!

In this era, there are indeed people like Chu Mo who would rather take action than talk, and famous figures who can verbally kill, as well as a bunch of Yin Yang masters who readily perform what "cultivation" is all about. I've heard that the Yin Yang master's girl group is quite nice...

When the thought popped into his head, Cao Yuan wanted to slap himself.

What time is it? You're still thinking about the Yin Yang School's girl group!

"When Confucius said, 'To attack heresies is harmful,' he did not mean to prohibit different doctrines, but rather to warn people against being biased towards one extreme and blinding themselves to the truth..."

Cao Yuan focused his energy in his dantian and expressed his views in a semi-classical, semi-vernacular style.

With the foundation of argumentative essays built from eight hundred essays written in high school in his later years, coupled with his experience in the civil service examination and his knowledge from his later years, even if his answers were not particularly brilliant, they would not be inferior.

"...Upholding the middle way without being closed off, accommodating different opinions without blindly following them; distinguishing right from wrong with reason, not suppressing dissenting views with power; hence it is said: heresy lies in bias, not in difference; the key to attack lies in self-discipline, not in tolerance of others. Upholding the middle way to respond to all changes, this is the original intention of the Master."

Cao Yuan said, "Please enlighten me, Master Fu Nian."

Fu Nian nodded, looking at Cao Yuan with admiration in his eyes, and said, "Jia, go ahead."

At that moment, he no longer had any doubts about Cao Yuan's scholarship.

Perhaps Cao Yuan was the one my teacher spoke of who was born with knowledge, a person born with great wisdom.

Cao Yuan felt a slight sense of relief and asked with a faint smile, "Does Master Fu Nian still have any doubts?"

Fu Nian's expression turned solemn, and he bowed respectfully, saying, "May I ask who Master Cao Yuan's teacher is? What is his name? I wish to study under him; is that permissible?"

A glimpse of the whole picture through a tube.

Even though Cao Yuan only wrote half of the article discussing "Human Nature is Good and Human Nature is Evil", he still saw the core of what he was talking about. It was not about "good", "evil" or "nature", but about "principle", or more precisely, "heavenly principle".

This almost perfectly coincided with his previous thoughts and ideas.

Therefore, he was not worshipping Cao Yuan, but rather the teacher behind Cao Yuan.

Cao Yuan's mind raced, and he said, "My master's surname is Wang (Wang) and his given name is You. I was originally an orphan, and I was adopted by my master when I was young, and I studied with my fellow disciples. A few months ago, my master said that he was going to travel thousands of miles away with his fellow disciples, and suddenly threw me off a hillside. Fortunately, I was rescued by Zihan and raised by Meng Jiang, otherwise my life would have been uncertain."

After saying a lot, Cao Yuan got to the point: "So, I'm sorry to disappoint Master Fu Nian, but I don't know how to find my master now either."

Zihan suddenly exclaimed, "No wonder it was such a coincidence! It was your teacher, Wang You, who did it!"

He knew it! How could it be such a coincidence!

He was riding his horse and singing a little tune when a person fell from the sky and landed squarely on his horse!

"Wang You..." Fu Nian memorized the name.

He felt that this Wang You was very likely a learned senior scholar of Confucianism, and he decided to go back and ask his Uncle Xun.

"Mr. Cao Yuan mentioned having fellow disciples; could you please tell me their names?"

Fu Nian asked another question to see if the area could be narrowed down.

Although Confucianism is a prominent school of thought, there are not many great Confucian scholars among the eight schools. Even if he is not familiar with it, he should have heard of it.

"The eldest brother's surname is Zhu, his given name is Xi, and his courtesy name is Yuanhui. He is good at the philosophy of 'Neo-Confucianism' and practices the way of 'preserving heavenly principles and eliminating human desires';

The second senior brother took his master's surname, Wang, and was named Shouren. He was also known as Master Yangming. He attained enlightenment in Longchang, founded the "Mind" school of thought, and advocated the "unity of knowledge and action."

Cao Yuan continued to fabricate stories without batting an eye, feeling that his path was becoming wider and wider.

"The School of Neo-Confucianism... The School of Mind..."

Fu Nian believed Cao Yuan's account, as it included names and detailed information, to about 70% of the truth.

He looked at the nameless man, "Do you know him, senior brother?"

Wuming shook his head. "I don't know him. Perhaps the teacher knows something about him."

He was puzzled.

He had never heard of any of Wang You, Zhu Xi, or Wang Shouren.

Such a talented scholar, if he had ever shown his face in the Seven Kingdoms, would surely have made a name for himself.

Fu Nian was slightly disappointed and glanced at the sky.

"If I had known I would meet Master Cao Yuan today, I would have insisted on making an appointment with my martial uncle for three more days. What a pity!"

He bowed solemnly to Cao Yuan and said, "I wonder if Mr. Cao Yuan would like to write the rest of the chapter now, as I need to return to Sanghai Manor today."

He always follows the rules; if he sets a travel date for three days, he stays for three days.

Cao Yuan said he was very happy, and that he had been waiting for this moment.

"There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a matter of pen and ink..."

Wuming spoke up at the opportune moment: "I have some here."

He paused for a moment, then said to the wooden house, "Yan Lu, bring some writing brushes and ink, and come out to greet the guests."

After a dozen or so breaths, a child slowly walked out of the wooden house.

The child held the pen, ink, and cloth, his eyes red and dry, lacking their usual sparkle and liveliness.

"Master, Master Fu Nian, Boss Cao, Teacher Zi Han..."

Yan Lu was no longer as lively as before; she was very quiet, obedient, and so well-behaved that it broke my heart.

Cao Yuan and Zi Han both remained silent.

Cao Yuan glanced at Wuming and Fu Nian, then pondered, "Yan Lu, do you still remember what I taught you?"

Yan Lu looked at Cao Yuan with a puzzled expression.

Cao Yuan said meaningfully, "Confucius said: 'The wise find pleasure in water, the benevolent find pleasure in mountains.' Do not be burdened by hatred, but learn benevolence and propriety, win people over with virtue, and teach people with reason."

Fu Nian and Wu Ming nodded slightly; Cao Yuan's words were in line with the essence of Confucianism.

Zihan, on the other hand, looked strange, and Cao Yuan's quotes from "Lunyu" suddenly popped into her mind.

The saying "The wise find joy in water, the benevolent find joy in mountains" means that those skilled in martial arts enjoy using their strength to cut through flowing water, while virtuous martial artists enjoy using their bare hands to break through mountains and train their bodies.

As for benevolence and propriety, and winning people over with virtue and teaching people with reason, the left fist represents "benevolence" and the right fist represents "propriety." The sword is called "virtue" and the bow is called "reason." Only in this way can one win people over with virtue and teach people with reason.

Yan Lu paused for a moment, the confusion in his eyes gradually faded, and a strange brilliance appeared.

"Boss Cao, Yan Lu understands!"

He quoted from the *Lunyu* (a classic Chinese text), earnestly stating, "If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening!"

Fu Nian was somewhat confused.

Wuming, on the other hand, had a vague idea of ​​what was going on.

He thought of Yan Lu's statement that Cao Yuan had taught him the Analects. Could this be related to that?

Zihan covered her face.

The saying "If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening" means that if you find out the way to your house in the morning, you can just wait to die in the evening.

Is Yan Lu finally determined to take revenge?

Cao Yuan smiled with satisfaction.

"This young man is teachable."

……