Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 440: The Changing Ministry of Rites
In addition to Liu Ye of Wei, Jian Yong, Liu Yi and envoys from other parties joined together to hold talks with the Ministry of Rites.
Even during the imperial examination, an envoy from Bingzhou came - Xia Zhao.
This guy is Yuan Shao’s nephew Gao Gan, a general under his command!
Under the pretext of representing Bingzhou Governor Gao Gan to present gifts to the State of Chu and congratulate the King of Chu on his wedding, he hid his identity all the way and took an unknown amount of detour before arriving in the State of Chu.
When Bai Tu was at Jinling University, he received news that the envoys from Bingzhou had entered Shouchun. However...the high-ranking officials and Xia Zhao were obviously not important enough for Bai Tu to come out early.
In fact, Gao Gan sent people to the State of Chu just to "lick it casually". After all, the ones who decided the life and death of Bingzhou now were Zheng Hou Zhang Yan, who was galloping in Hedong, and Wei State, which was fighting for hegemony in the north.
Now Gao Gan no longer cares about his cousin Yuan Tan at all, and blatantly tries to please both Cao Cao and Fu Han, hoping to survive in the cracks.
This time he was humble in front of Bai Tu and seemed very respectful, but if you think he really wants to submit to the State of Chu, it would be too self-indulgent.
It's just that he played the emotional card well. As soon as Xia Zhao arrived in Jinling, he knew that he would not see the white map, so he did not rest for a moment. He went to visit the Privy Councilor Lu Bu in a dusty manner, and then poured out his grievances to Lu Bu. His purpose was to make it clear - it's not that the senior officials didn't work hard, but that the foreigners in Bingzhou were too cruel!
However, even if surrounded by a group of beasts, Gao Gan will inherit the will of the Bingzhou Army, protect the people of Bingzhou, and strive to recover Hetao as soon as possible...
Don’t believe him!
Lu Bu didn't believe it either, but as an old Bingzhou native, he did buy it and his impression of Gao Gan was eased a lot.
Xia Zhao came to Chu State, not only to lick it casually, but also to inquire about the matter of plate armor. In Xia Zhao's words, Gao Gan was not capable of doing it, and he hoped Chu State would lend a hand and save Bingzhou out of friendship as compatriots.
It doesn’t matter if he can’t lend a hand, with a few sets of plate armor, he can beat up the Southern Xiongnu and the Qiang people!
After the imperial examination was over and they left Jinling University, Jian Yong, Liu Ye and others realized that the shameless Gao Gan had also sent people to them.
But no matter how upset he felt inside, he always had a smile on his face, and Jian Yong even invited him to meet with the Ministry of Rites.
As for Liu Ye, he was the only messenger who did not interfere...
After all, Bai Tu had already agreed to the Wei-Chu plate armor deal, and considering the current relationship between the two sides, Wei would definitely get the lowest price. It would be better to let Jian Yong and his men fight the vanguard to give Chu a psychological feeling that "Wei is closer to them than them."
In the end, Jian Yong and others got what they wanted and obtained permission to trade in plate armor, but... the Ministry of Rites repeatedly emphasized that the price would be very high and they needed to negotiate with the Ministry of Revenue themselves, which made them sweat.
…
After coming out of the Ministry of Rites office in Jiangshan Garden, Jian Yong sighed with some emotion, with three parts of admiration and seven parts of helplessness.
Seeing this, Liu Yi asked, "Why are you sighing, Brother Jian? Are you troubled by what the Ministry of Rites said?" He and Jian Yong were relatively familiar with each other, and there was no conflict of interest between Liaodong and Liu Bei, who was in charge of Qing and Xu states, so they could naturally afford to make jokes.
However, Jian Yong looked at Liu Yi seriously, and then asked, "Brother Liu, don't you think so?"
Liu Yi paused when he heard this - except for Xia Zhao who had no experience, everyone else actually had the same feeling!
Jian Yong used to feel that when he was on a diplomatic mission to the State of Chu, it would be more difficult only when he faced the King of Chu or his ministers. Dealing with the Ministry of Rites alone at the diplomatic level was actually much easier. It was equivalent to having passed customs and just going through the process.
However, even the Ministry of Rites is becoming less and less civilized now.
In the past, it was difficult to get past the King of Chu, Lu Su, Jia Xu and others. As long as they spoke up, they could then contact the Ministry of Rites, which was actually very "routine". But now... the Ministry of Rites is becoming more and more professional!
The main duties of the Ministry of Rites were to promote education and foreign relations...
However, when it comes to diplomatic negotiations, "propriety" is just a shell, and the Ministry of Rites does not have the power to make decisions. It does not mean that the Ministry of Rites can decide what diplomatic conditions to agree to as long as they comply with "propriety".
The real core is to strive for the greatest interests for the State of Chu in accordance with the national policy agreed upon by the six ministries!
Even the promotion of education was not just about "education" in village schools and county schools, it also included using opera and other means to publicize the power and virtue of the Chu State internally and externally, which was also part of the promotion of education.
This makes it difficult for the old scholars in the Ministry of Rites, so the Ministry is also undergoing reforms.
Not only were a group of people with eloquence and good debate skills promoted to make up for the diplomatic shortcomings of the Ministry of Rites, which was mainly composed of "great Confucian scholars", but the original authority of Confucianists in the Ministry of Rites was also intentionally weakened!
Because the Ministry of Rites wants to promote "Chu" instead of "Confucianism"...
According to the academic classification of the pre-Qin period, a man who is good at debate is close to the school of diplomacy. According to the classification of later generations, he should be regarded as a "yin-yang school" (fog), after all, he always speaks in a sarcastic tone.
Such talents have never disappeared, but the great scholars have always kept their distance from such talents. Now they feel a little uncomfortable asking them to join them in running the Ministry of Rites, which is responsible for "maintaining rites and music" and "spreading education."
I feel like my ritual department is dirty...
However, the effect is also very obvious. Now the Ministry of Rites has become more and more formal . Before, it was an informal "stopgap measure" for the King of Chu, the "final decision maker", and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Revenue and other departments to face foreign envoys directly.
After all, if the talks with the Ministry of Rites fail, there is still the King of Chu to take care of. But if the talks with the King of Chu fail, then it’s all over!
The Ministry of Rites should be the one that directly faces foreign officials.
It’s just that the Ministry of Rites was not very good at this before, and the responsibilities of the Yangzhou Governor and the General’s Mansion were not big enough, so they had to use “makeshift” measures.
This time...
Jian Yong and others were all rejected by the Ministry of Rites. They had to be very careful with their words and could no longer use the same tactics as before - that is, using righteousness to suppress the other party's right to speak.
Whether the transaction is possible will be approved by the Ministry of Rites - yes.
How to trade requires them to go and talk to the stingy people and skin-scalpers in the Ministry of Revenue...
Although the Ministry of Rites had some resistance to the changes, at least it was much easier than the reform of the Ministry of Justice.
After all, now that we have Kong Rong, a staunch "Chu school" figureheaded in the Ministry of Rites, after so many years of packaging, Kong Rong's status in the Confucian community has risen. After the death of Zheng Xuan, a great Confucian scholar who was famous throughout the country and regarded as a master of a school, last year, Kong Rong has shown signs of becoming the leader of the new generation of Confucian scholars.
Wang Su , Wang Lang's good son and Bai Tu's good minister, the famous "inventor of the meaning of classics" in ancient times, has also been cultivated by Bai Tu and Kong Rong. Now he is only sixteen or seventeen years old, not yet an adult, but he has already embarked on the road of "inventing the meaning of classics". He is near Jiangling, inventing... no, he is excavating Confucian cultural relics.
As we all know, the story of Confucius seeing two children arguing about the sun took place in the capital of the pre-Qin Chu State, near present-day Jiangling. Some classics that differ from modern Confucianism will soon be unearthed there.
Regardless of whether others believe it or not, the King of Chu Bai Tu and the leader of the Confucian scholars Kong Rong will first believe it and then naturally obtain the final right of interpretation of Confucianism, so that Confucianism can better serve Chuxue...
