What do I want?
This question is actually quite interesting.
Of course Liu Bei knew what he wanted, but Zheng Xuan really couldn't give him what he wanted.
He shook his head.
"Bei just did what he should do."
Liu Bei shook his head: "Judging from the current situation, I think the time is still on me. Yang's move may have become a laughing stock, and it can no longer continue. Next, we only need to continue to do the right thing, and sooner or later we will replace it." of."
Zheng Xuan asked: "What is the right thing to do?"
"Anything that can gain a more dominant position for the school is the right thing to do."
Liu Bei said slowly: "They have reached the point where they are at the end of their rope. The next most likely thing is to unite with Huangfu Song. Even if they succeed in uniting Huangfu Song, there will not be a good ending. Huangfu Song is still Liangzhou after all." people."
"Huangfu Song..."
Zheng Xuan frowned and said: "So, why will they still focus on threatening me next?"
"As the only state pastor in the world today, the teacher's actions are in the eyes of everyone in the world."
Liu Bei said: "Every word and deed will be remembered by others, and there will be people who want to find fault with it. This is a very dangerous thing for the teacher. If the teacher wants to return to the court and be promoted to the position of Sangong to threaten Yang Ci, it will also It is extremely difficult to end Jizhou Mu’s term safely and achieve tangible political achievements.”
After listening to Liu Bei say these things, Zheng Xuan was obviously in a much lower mood.
"The world is declining and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be. Xuande, I never thought that something like this would happen to me. If I have to face such things for the rest of my life, I might as well go back..."
"Mr. Zheng, if you want to go back, I'm afraid there are too many people who are unwilling to let you go."
Liu Bei saluted Zheng Xuan: "At this time, you are the only acceptable leader of the Ancient Literature School. Without your presence, the Ancient Literature School may not be able to resolve internal disputes, and will not be able to concentrate all its efforts against the Modern Literature School."
Hearing this, Zheng Xuan smiled bitterly.
"Xuande, Xuande, do you want me to die of exhaustion in Luoyang City?"
"It's not a prepared hope, but the general trend."
Liu Bei said in a deep voice: "At present, except you, no one can unify the entire ancient literature school, and no one can calm down the opinions of all parties well, not even Gong Yuan. Unless the teacher returns safely and is promoted to the position of Sangong and records the affairs of the Shangshu, otherwise, what do you think about it?" It is indispensable to the ancient literature school.”
Zheng Xuan stopped talking.
After a while, he suddenly laughed.
"In other words, as long as I wait until Ziqian returns safely and is promoted to Sangong, I can leave Luoyang and return to my hometown?"
Liu Bei was stunned.
Was this little old man trying to trick me just now?
"Mr. Zheng, this..."
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha……"
Zheng Xuan laughed for a while, relaxed his body and waved his hands.
"Xuande, I can actually understand what you said, but now I find more and more that this city is not suitable for me. It is like a cage, trapping me severely. I want to Things I can't do and things I don't want to do are done every day.
If I were twenty years old, the same age as you, I would accept it and even be happy with it. But Xuande, I am fifty-eight years old. I am already very old. I don’t care much about fame and wealth anymore. I got everything I could think of. "
"But there are still a lot of people who don't get what they want."
Liu Bei lowered his head and said slowly: "Zheng Gong has no regrets in his life, but if Zheng Gong leaves like this, many people's lives will become regretful."
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
Zheng Xuan pointed at Liu Bei and laughed loudly. He laughed for a while before he stopped.
"Xuande, Xuande, I know that the one who can stabilize the future of the Ancient Literature School is not your teacher, but you!"
"Why did Mr. Zheng say this?"
"It does not matter."
Zheng Xuan laughed and said: "It's just Xuande, this road is not easy to walk. You have to face thousands of difficulties and dangers. If you make a single wrong step, you will lose everything. I, an old man like me, can't go on this road. Are you sure you want to go on?"
Liu Bei looked at Zheng Xuan's face and was silent for a while.
Then, there was a firm nod.
“Now that I’ve gone up there, I’ve never thought about turning back.”
"You still have a choice now. I can take you away from here, away from disputes, and concentrate on academics. With your talent, given time, you will definitely become a generation of academics and leave your name in history."
Zheng Xuan smiled and pointed to the sky outside: "A hundred years later, a thousand years later, ten thousand years later, future generations will not forget your name! Your name Liu Xuande will be extremely resounding! You will always live in the hearts of future generations of students!"
Liu Bei turned around and looked at the sky at the exhibition outside.
Then he turned around and looked at Zheng Xuan calmly.
"Mr. Zheng, for some reason, when I look at the sky outside, I always feel that there is a lot of smoke and dust in the sky, blocking my vision and blocking out the sunlight. Even if I walk in the daytime, I can't see the way forward clearly and feel cold all over my body. Can this kind of path also make me a great scholar?"
The expression on Zheng Xuan's face suddenly disappeared, and his body became stiff and motionless.
After a while, he took a deep breath, calmed down his posture, and sat upright again.
"Xuande, it seems that you will not be able to become a great scholar after all."
"Mr. Zheng, the world doesn't need any more great scholars from home."
The expression on Liu Bei's face was still very calm, so calm that even Zheng Xuan found it a bit incredible.
But no matter what, Zheng Xuan also vaguely realized that Liu Bei's ambition was not simple. Thinking of everything Liu Bei had done now, Zheng Xuan was deeply amazed by this young man.
How far can he go?
How far does he want to go?
What is his goal?
Is it just to eradicate the Jinwen school?
But what I have to say is that at this moment, Liu Bei was not thinking that much.
All he thought about was Zheng Xuan's sad ending.
During the Battle of Guandu, Yuan and Cao were vying for supremacy. In order to build up his momentum and win the hearts and minds of the people, Yuan Shao ordered his son Yuan Tan to force Zheng Xuan to march with the army. At that time, Zheng Xuan was already ill. After reluctantly marching, his illness continued to worsen, and he finally died of illness during the march.
A generation of academics could not hold back a steel sword in troubled times. Faced with a situation where the world was shattering and the earth was shattering, how painful was Zheng Xuan's heart?
Studying Confucianism cannot save the world.
That kind of ending would be too cruel for such an old man who was obsessed with academics.
If I wanted to learn how to be a sect, I should not have been born on the eve of this troubled time, but should have been born in a peaceful and prosperous age.
It's a pity that people don't have the ability to see before and after. No one can predict whether the current situation they are in is the end of peace, and no one can predict when war will come to them.
Liu Bei knows.
It was precisely because he knew that he knew that he would never be able to become a first-generation scholar.
Precisely because he knows too much, he sometimes feels painful, feels that some of the things he does are inappropriate, and feels that he is really despicable in some things.
However, he had no choice.
The old man and the young man were silent and faced each other for a long time.
A breeze blew by, Zheng Xuan stood up, walked to Liu Bei's side, and sighed.
"Xuan De is not a thing in the pond. I'm afraid I can't leave with me. No matter what, this world may indeed no longer need another great scholar in the world..."
With that said, Zheng Xuan slowly left, without saying another word until he disappeared from Liu Bei's sight.
But what Liu Bei didn't expect was that the next day, Sun Qian and Guoyuan, who had met Liu Bei before, came to look for Liu Bei and told Liu Bei that they hoped to join the Ministry of General Affairs.
——————
PS: I ate five delicious pan-fried buns this morning, so I’ll add another chapter.
(End of chapter)
