Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 228: You Who Conquered the Enemy Without Fighting
"Pingyuan Ni Heng, I pay my respects to Lord Bai." Ni Heng followed closely as he entered the central hall. When he came in front of Bai Tu, he also performed the ceremony meticulously.
Looking at Ni Heng's appearance, Bai Tu felt a little uncomfortable...or it was like he was punching empty space.
Although I had never seen him in person before, I had heard of his deeds, especially when Zhou Yu specifically reminded Bai Tu in the message he delivered.
Originally, Bai Tu thought that there would be a fierce fight today, so he met him alone to avoid...splattering blood on other people!
After all, as a paper writer who needs to sit in front of the computer for a long time, Bai Tu spends most of his leisure time besides his job, hanging out on various social platforms...
It’s a social networking platform!
Apart from the embarrassing ones, how can there be no arguments?
In fact, the work in the General's Mansion now is almost the same as before. Documents from all over the country are reviewed every day, but... now there are very few people arguing with Bai Tu, and almost no one comes to argue with him, so it's quite lonely.
I originally thought that Ni Heng would bring me some fun, but...
"Zhengping, there's no need to be so polite... Are you used to living in Jinling?" Bai Tu asked specifically, bringing up the topic and signaling to Ni Heng... If you have any dissatisfaction, you can speak up!
"The General's Mansion is blessed with talented people and Lord Bai is highly respected. I think Nanjing is now a place with good governance and harmonious people. It is indeed the best place in the Han Dynasty!" Ni Heng said sincerely.
Taishi Ci looked at him in confusion - he always felt that Ni Heng had found a lot of faults along the way and should have written them down!
Bai Tu also looked at him strangely, and asked another question: "Why is Zhengping wearing such dirty and torn clothes? It's good to be thrifty, but you still have to pay attention to hygiene."
Although Bai Tu had not heard what Ni Heng said to Taishi Ci before, he knew that this was usually an outfit to express dissatisfaction.
However, Ni Heng remained calm when he heard this, and said calmly: "I am Huang Zu's envoy. He is trapped in a small corner of Jiangxia, not knowing the vastness of the world. He provokes the strong with his weakness and mocks the wise How can I be ashamed to dress gorgeously as an envoy of such a person?"
Taishi Ci:!!!
That’s not what you said when you were at the post station just now!
"My lord, Mr. Ni seems to have some opinions about the city's markets, buses, etc." Taishi Ci took the initiative to say.
"Oh? Just go ahead, Mr. Ni." Bai Tu's eyes lit up when he heard that.
"Ahem, actually... I don't have any opinion. I'm just wondering... well, will it go against etiquette? Of course, this is not a rebuttal, just a doubt." Ni Heng said firmly.
You must not use the "debate (gang)", the person in front of you is definitely not an opponent you can defeat!
After entering the central hall, Ni Heng was completely immersed in Bai Tu's spiritual power and light and shadow. He could feel more clearly the pressure brought to him by the densely packed "eyes" around him.
"Actually, it's not against etiquette. During the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor drove six horses, the princes drove five... and the common people drove one. But there were at least twenty or thirty people in the bus. How could using eight horses be against etiquette?" Bai Tu said with a smile.
Ni Heng showed an exaggerated look of "sudden enlightenment" and exclaimed: "Great wisdom and intelligence, to this extent!"
"Moreover... since it is a move that benefits the people, so what if it violates etiquette?" Bai Tu said inflatedly.
Bai Tu has already grown up at this time, but... if he is in front of a lot of people, Bai Tu will still be a little careful about the impact of his words and actions. After all, what Bai Tu wants is a smooth transition, not rebuilding on ruins.
However, there were only Ni Heng, Taishi Ci, and Lu Lingqi in the hall. He had two witnesses, but Ni Heng had none. Moreover, although Ni Heng was famous and had a high reputation, how could he compare with Bai Tu? Naturally, he could say whatever he wanted. He expected that no one would believe his nonsense.
"Yes, Mr. Bai has reached the state where propriety exists in his heart, and everything he does is naturally in accordance with propriety." Ni Heng looked convinced.
White picture: ...
Is it really okay for you to lick me like this? If Old Man Lu knew what I said just now, he would have to nag me for a few days, right?
"That's right. In my opinion... our ancestors are not worthy of emulation! The Three Dynasties of Prosperity were nothing more than what Confucius imagined in order to improve etiquette. Since the reigns of Yao and Shun, up to the present dynasty, four hundred years later, human ethics have been improving day by day. Even during the pre-Qin period when 'rituals collapsed and music was in disarray', it was still much worse than when tribes kept slaves.
Although there are noble families who keep slaves in our dynasty, there are more farmers... How can we not be better than the Zhou Dynasty, whose slaves are not from the country, but from the barbarians? We are stronger from generation to generation, so why should we look for the ancestral law? " Bai Tu said, and he stood up and waved his sleeves.
Before this, only Kong Rong and Wang Su had heard Bai Tu say this, and Lu Lingqi had also heard it, but they didn't take it to heart.
This is also the place that Bai Tu will eventually "modify" in the classics - Confucius is a great educator and thinker who exerted his talents during the Spring and Autumn Period, but he is obviously not a historian...even from the perspective of a historian, he is not qualified at all.
In order to raise the banner of ritual system again, Confucius fabricated and beautified too much ancient history which could not be verified at that time, and used it as the basis of his argument.
As a result, even thousands of years later, after real research results have emerged, there are still people who firmly believe that the tribal era and the slave civilization era are the benchmarks of human moral standards. Some even go so far as to believe that human development is a closed "loop".
When Confucius glorified the three generations of sage kings, he probably didn't expect such consequences...
Whether it was Yanhuang, Yao, Shun and Yu of the Three Dynasties, or the sages and hundreds of schools of thought in the Shang, Zhou and Warring States periods, their greatness lay in the fact that they carried out reforms in line with the historical process at that time, from establishing human relations and slash-and-burn agriculture to ruling the world with virtue and ruling the world with propriety... every step of the way, they were using their "power" to push the wheel of history forward.
"I would like to pay the highest respect to the ancient sages, which is... to push the wheels forward like they did, instead of pushing them back and looking for the ruts they had worked so hard to make!" Bai Tu said while staring at Ni Heng.
Bai Tu was also unbridled today. Normally, he could only whisper these words to Kong Rong and Wang Su...
Even Kong Rong and Wang Su felt that Bai Tu was too crazy, as he actually wanted to overthrow the personalities of the three generations of sage kings that Confucianism most revered - of course, this also made them excited.
Bai Tu does not think that this is a kind of "overthrow". He just wants to make it clear to future generations that the achievements made by their predecessors require them to continue working hard instead of copying them.
If the fallacy of portraying the slavery era as the pinnacle of human morality is not corrected, the road ahead will only become increasingly difficult.
From Yao, Shun, and Yu to the Han Dynasty, it was not just technology that advanced...
The tribal slavery that used to be the same as that of the Qiang and Hu people today, the emergence of city-states in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the division between the Chinese and the barbarians, and then the "farmers" in the Han Dynasty - in the eyes of modern people, they were all oppressed by the feudal ruling class, but... compared with each other, they have always been progressing.
At least the proportion of people who live like human beings and are called "people" is increasing.
Only by making the world understand this can we embark on the road of progress with greater confidence, instead of always looking back at Yao, Shun and Yu - what are you looking at? That's slavery!
Moral standards must rely on productivity. Bai Tu cannot let everyone take big steps to the point of breaking their "balls", but at least we can get rid of the shackles of respecting the past to avoid a lack of motivation to move forward in the future.
That’s right, this is the gift Bai Tu prepared for Ni Heng.
As long as Ni Heng dared to criticize him on the ritual system, Bai Tu was ready to release his "anti-social" ideas - yes, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Bai Tu's ideas were obviously anti-social.
Even after occupying Jingzhou, the first batch of ancient books discovered would not be traced back to their origins directly, but rather piece by piece.
But what Bai Tu didn't expect was that Ni Heng was so cowardly...
There was no way around it, Bai Tu almost spoke it out step by step, there was no feeling of debate at all, after all, there was a lack of atmosphere.
"Mr. Bai is so powerful! Heng would like to attach himself to the tail wing and be the cart pusher!" Ni Heng immediately bowed down.
White picture: ...
Can't you just follow the "script" and be a defender of etiquette, and then go from hysterics to trembling under my verbal bombardment?
What is this feeling?
Bai Tu felt that it was like he angrily asked someone "What are you looking at", and the other person resolutely replied "I think you look like my dad"...
Ni Heng now really admires Bai Tu.
It’s not that he admires Bai Tu’s lofty ambitions, to be honest… he didn’t quite understand.
However, Ni Heng discovered one thing, that is, Bai Tu’s moral values are completely different from his own, and... when Bai Tu faces this kind of "difference", he will look down on others from the bottom of his heart - even if he is the outlier, he can naturally look down on others without any guilt because "he is the only one who is different".
How can such a person win an argument?
If it happened to someone else, and Ni Heng pointed out that the other person was violating etiquette, even if the other person had reasons to defend himself, he would definitely feel guilty, and the guilty feeling would "punch" some mental power away from him.
However, when it comes to Bai Tu, no matter how reasonable your words are, he will simply bring out another system. How do you play this?
In this situation, what else can Bai Tu say?
"Well, then...you go to the Ministry of Rites to report to Kong Jijiu." Bai Tu said listlessly.
At this moment, I heard a report of military intelligence coming from outside, and... there was no need for "reporting" at all, the messenger had already rushed in.
"Brother! Is that Ni Heng here?" Sun Ce heard that Ni Heng was at home, so he rushed in .
"Second brother is still so impetuous... Zhengping is here, what's wrong?" Bai Tu asked.
Sun Ce raised the square box in his hand and said, "Huang Zu of Jiangxia has been executed. I brought his head back for you, brother!" Then he handed it to Bai Tu.
Bai Tu shuddered slightly when he heard this, and quickly refused, saying, "This should be used to pay tribute to my uncle's spirit in heaven!"
Sun Ce was very touched - Bai Tu had no intention of opening it at all. Obviously... this meant that Bai Tu was more concerned about using this item to commemorate Sun Jian, rather than as a display of military merit!
At this moment, Ni Heng felt even more wise. It is better not to provoke this kind of "monster" with horrible thoughts and full-fledged wings... It is better to become its minions as soon as possible to be safe.
"Ni Heng, do you have anything else to say? Didn't you say before that my elder brother doesn't know how to judge people..."
"How dare you! The conquest of Jiangxia was all thanks to the wisdom of Lord Bai... With Lord Bai here, even if a servant carrying water or chopping wood outside the door was made a general, he could still win the battle thousands of miles away. What contribution have you made?" Ni Heng said, stretching his neck.
Sun Ce: ???
