"The last time I passed through Linzi, I only stayed for a day, and I didn't have time to come, but Chen Pinglai took a turn, but only said that Jixia had dispersed and turned into a barracks."

Heifu looked up at the Hengmen in front of him, that is, the archway, with two stone pillars to erect a huge wooden beam, there are bucket arches and black tile roofs on the top, there are no carved beams and painted columns in later generations, just simple, no carving, only the big stone slab in the middle of the beam is engraved with four big characters depicted with a red pen, which has not faded so far: "Jixia School Palace!" ”

It was late August, and after descending from Mount Tai from the shady slope that day, Qin Shi Huang went to the nearby Liangfu Mountain, where he held a Zen ceremony and sacrificed to the god of the earth. is still the same as Feng Taishan, not allowing Confucianism to participate, but listening to the advice of the Fang Shi, combining the Qin State's sacrifice to the shrine god and the Qi people's sacrifice to the "landlord".

After that, it is to return the strange beasts, birds and white pheasants and other things that came from afar to the mountains and forests, and the giant beasts such as oxen and rhino elephants from the south of the Yangtze River should not be returned to the mountains and forests, so they all killed and sacrificed...... In any case, the palace at the foot of Mount Tai is no longer a "zoo".

Qin Shi Huang also announced that he would give a special gift to the people of Mount Tai and Liangfu, one sheep for every ten households, ten stones of wine, and two horses of cloth and silk for the lonely and widowed elderly over 80 years old. The exemption from forced labor and this year's tax was a timely rain for the local people who had paid for the construction of palaces and roads, but the emperor did not agree to the amnesty requested by the ministers.

The next day, Fang Shi Lu Ao, Hou Sheng and others reported again, saying that in the place where the meditation ceremony was performed, there seemed to be light that night, and white clouds rose from the sealed soil during the day......

In this regard, Zhang Cang just pouted, although he didn't believe it, he didn't stand up rashly. He understood that this was exactly what the emperor wanted to hear and what the world wanted to believe, and it was still too early to see the light of day.

In late August, Qin Shi Huang's inspection team finally arrived in the west of Linzi City, because it was too late to rush into the city, so they spent the night outside Jimen.

Jimen is the west gate of Linzi, the houses outside the city gate are dense, the corridors and pavilions are gathered, there are ready-made houses for the brigade to live, Heifu was led by Zhang Cang to this Hengmen, only to know that this place is the famous Jixia School Palace!

Zhang Cang told Heifu that in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Son of Heaven had "Biyong" and the princes had "Pan Palace", all of which were official schools, and were responsible for educating the children of the princes and doctors, so as not to let them be illiterate, not know poetry and mathematics.

However, with the collapse of etiquette, this kind of official learning handed down from the Zhou Dynasty was abandoned one after another, and at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, learned people such as Confucius began to rise up private learning, and there was no class of teaching, and the sons of later generations followed suit.

In the early 100 years of the Warring States period, Confucianism and ink were prominent learning, and the official learning of the princes was like a cold pit of ashes, but private learning was like a fire burning the plain, becoming more and more prosperous, even to the extent that the princes and monarchs had to recruit their sons into the court as doctoral consultants. For example, Wei Wenhou invited Zixia to join Wei and founded the Hexi School.

The same is true of the Tian Qi State, in order to get rid of the accusation of usurpation, and in order to absorb people of insight and consolidate the political power, Tian Qi Huan Gong founded the Jixia School Palace and recruited talents everywhere. For the scholars who came to defect, they were given the treatment of doctors, and they were allowed to "discuss without treatment", which has been more than 100 years.

Therefore, Jixia School Palace can really call itself a "century-old university", because nine streams and ten schools of thought gather here, and hundreds of schools of thought contend, so it is also a "comprehensive university". And Xunzi, who is the president of this university, has been re-elected three times.

Hefu had heard about it and wanted to come and see it.

However, at the Hengmen, they were blocked.

"Who is it?"

A stern reprimand sounded, Qin Bingjia and Qin Bing B held the place and watched the two vigilantly, Zhang Cang and Heifu were fat and thin, white and black, walking together very conspicuously.

After they showed the Verification Talisman, the soldiers hurriedly bowed down to plead guilty, and soon, a small local master of five hundred also ran over and accused:

"Dare to speak to the officials, this area has been turned into a military camp, and the soldiers are very vigilant when they hear that His Majesty is resting nearby, and they don't know the nobles, so they collided with the two."

As he spoke, he diligently wanted to lead the way for the Heffers.

"No need."

Zhang Cang sent him away, although the fat man was a teacher in Lanling, but when Xunzi returned to Zhao, he also brought him here and stayed for a few months. Therefore, Zhang Cang was familiar with the grass and trees under the grass, led Heifu, and walked in with ease.

Entering the Heng Gate, what catches your eye is a piece of water, which is a part of Shen Pond, which is recessed inward to form a pond, and there are many stone fences made of bluestone on the edge of the pond.

Zhang Cang crouched on the stone railing, pointed to the water surface and said: "If you come in May or June, you can see that the water surface of the pond is covered by lotus leaves, and the lotus flowers are also blooming, but it's a pity that ......."

It's a pity that what Heifu saw was the gradually withering lotus leaves in the pool, full of ruin, just like today's grass. The garrison fetched water here for laundry, which made the pool muddy a lot.

The other places are similar, and the courtyard where Mr. Kinoshita and his disciples live is now a barracks where the soldiers sleep. The library that was once full of sweat and cattle has been moved to an empty place. The debate square where Xunzi and Mencius's disciples talked about "the debate between heaven and man" and "the debate between good and evil in human nature" became a place for soldiers to gather and train.

Even the peach forest where Zou Yan, Tian Piao, Shen Dao, and Xun Qing gave lectures in the past was cut down by the garrison and burned as firewood......

"It's not all your fault."

Zhang Cang saw that Jixia had become unrecognizable, and while sighing with regret, he also blew his beard and glared, blaming the black man.

"What do you blame me for?"

Heifu is inexplicable, he neither participated in the battle of Qi, nor is he a magistrate in Linzi, what does it have to do with him?

Zhang Cang was joking, and said with a smile on the peach forest with only a pile of wooden stakes left: "When you were in Yuzhang and Beidi, you advocated that the soldiers drink boiled water to reduce the epidemic, this policy has spread, and now the generals everywhere, as long as there are conditions, also let their soldiers drink hot water, which requires a lot of wood, this peach forest, can not suffer?" ”

Heifu knew that Zhang Cang was joking, but he also said: "Now that the people are gone, what's the use of leaving the peach forest empty?" ”

Zhang Cang was stunned for a moment, and then bowed his head: "That's right, the most important thing in Jixia is not the peach forest in the courtyard palace, but the people, if people stay, they will flourish, and if they go, they will decline......"

Thinking of this, Zhang Cang was a little excited, and sighed: "Time has changed, and Jixia has been defeated. It's a pity that I want to explore the mysteries of heaven and earth, the rules of nature, but my knowledge is limited. If you just do it behind closed doors, you won't be able to go out, and I'm afraid you won't be able to achieve results. I need to have disciples to help me, and I need to debate with people, and if my majesty is still there, it should be the best place. ”

Heifu could understand and smiled: "The more the truth is debated, the clearer it becomes." ”

"That's right, the more the truth is argued, the clearer it becomes!"

Zhang Cang's eyes lit up: "Master also said that if there were no disciples of Mencius, ink scholars, famous scholars, and Huang Lao to debate with him, his understanding of the five debates of heaven and man, name and truth, good and evil, benefit and righteousness, and Wang Ba would not have deepened day by day. And only by debating can ideas spread all over the world and be known......"

People don't like to read obscure books, but they like to listen to lively quarrels, and those propositions and wonderful remarks that were put down in the debate arena at the beginning can often make people in the world talk about it.

But the best days for scholars have passed, and now that the grass is destroyed, there is no such condition at all.

"I don't think so."

Heifu smiled and said, "It's true that Jixia is declining, but is the spirit of learning inherited by Jixia also dead?" I don't think so. As long as the people are still there, the grass will still be there! ”

"People are still there, and they are still ...... under the grass," Zhang Cang heard and realized.

Looking back on the events of the past few hundred years, this is not the case. Zhang Cang remembered that the master Xunqing once said to him that the learning of the ancients must be received, all from the officials of the Zhou royal family, such as the six arts respected by Confucianism, which was the education of the nobles by the official school of the Zhou Dynasty.

But after the rebellion of the prince's dynasty, Luoyang was greatly damaged, and even the collection of books was scattered all over the place, and then private learning arose, with Confucius, Shao Zhengmao and other open altars to teach apprentices, the cultural center of the world, it was transferred to Lu.

Confucius did not, and the seventy-two disciples began to split, or into Qi, or into Chu, or into Jin, but a new center soon appeared, that is, the Hexi school of Emperor Wen of Wei, with Zixia and others as the core, many people in the school became the ruler of the Wei State, and the Legalist thought also germinated there, and the Wei State was a well-deserved cultural center in the early Warring States period.

After that, it is the Jixia School Palace, needless to say, Taoism, Confucianism, law, fame, soldiers, agriculture, yin and yang, light and heavy, the stars are shining, and a hundred schools of thought are contending! At that time, Jixia was not only the axis of Chinese culture, but also one of the three axes of world civilization. It's a pity that later, King Qi was reckless, so happy, and arbitrary, which made the Jixia School Palace decline, and Mr. Jixia gradually dispersed, gathering in Qin and Chu respectively.

Under the call of Chun Shenjun, Xunzi and others gathered in Lanling County, Chu State, Li Si, Han Fei, Fuqiubo, and Zhang Cang all studied in Lanling.

But the irony is that three of them all chose to enter Qin! Lü Buwei, who was the prime minister of Qin at the time, vigorously gathered the guests and compiled the "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period", which is a collection of hundreds of schools of learning, although after Qin Shi Huang came into power, no one mentioned this book, but most of the guests of the six countries who entered Qin still stayed.

After the unification of Qin, the emperor recruited more than 70 Confucianists and Huang Lao people into Xianyang, respected as doctors, plus the original ink scholars in Qin, Xianyang became a new cultural center. Doctors can consult and sort out the books that the Qin Dynasty seized from the Six Kingdoms, and Zhang Cang's "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" was compiled on this basis!

Coupled with the impetus of paper, the transcription of ancient books into paper books has become a new trend that cannot be ignored, and the speed of knowledge and cultural transmission has been greatly accelerated than before.

Sitting in the peach forest under the grass with only wooden stakes left, Heifu accompanied Zhang Cang to sort out the circulation of China's cultural center in the past thousand years, and finally came to the conclusion that knowledge and culture are not like the national society, once the edifice does not exist, it will suddenly perish, and it will flow with people!

Heifu couldn't help laughing at Zhang Cang and said: "Zi Gu, Zi Gu, you are really smart and confused for a while, you actually rode a donkey to find a donkey, you are in this emotional death, but you don't know that under the new grass, the new flowers are blooming, and they are already brewing and germinating!" ”

But this good trend may also die at any time, because the emperor and Prime Minister Li Si both like to be black and white, and hate different voices and "street discussions".

In the past, Heifu didn't feel it, but this time, the death performance of the Confucian students under Mount Tai made Heifu feel that the centrifugal separation between the Confucians and the imperial court had irretrievably begun.

It would not be surprising if this group of people made some trouble one day, causing the order of "book burning" to come ahead of schedule!

When he was thinking about it, there was a confessor Yang Yu who came to find Heifu and Zhang Cang, and said: "Less Shangzao, five doctors, Your Majesty is in a hurry to summon!" ”

Seeing that he was in a hurry, Hefu asked, "I wonder what happened?" “

Yang Yu said helplessly: "Your Majesty's Fengzen encounter with rain, for some reason, actually arrived in Linzi earlier than the car, and now it has been criticized and ridiculed in the streets and alleys of Linzi. His Majesty was furious when he heard this, and ordered the Prime Minister to investigate the matter thoroughly! “