Dress to be a celebrity

Chapter 59

Xu Yu came to Fujian with pride in his heart, but was extinguished by Song Shi without saying a few words, and returned to Suzhou in despair with the theory of the Confucianism conference taught by the other party.But the distance between the two places is very far. When he returned, Zhu Hao and others had already borrowed the famous garden, raised enough gold and silver, and prepared to hold a lecture conference for more than a month according to the original plan.

The invitations that should be sent have been sent out, and the lecturers that should be invited have also come to invite them. Xu Yi went back and talked about Song Shina's theory with his friends, especially when he talked about how to talk about the principles of heaven in the midst of human desires. Everyone's faces were extremely ugly. .

In order to overwhelm the conference in Fujian, they not only invited celebrities from Jiangnan to attend the conference, but also invited people who had been to the Song's Lecture Society to convince them that the Fujian Lecture Society was inferior to the Suzhou Lecture Society.If we continue with the current method, even if Song Shi and Huan Tongjuan are real gentlemen, and don’t talk about this evaluation with outsiders, if a Fujian scholar says, “It’s not as good as Fujian Lectures, it’s in line with heaven’s principles.” Wouldn't it be a joke to be so busy?

But if they don't do this, is it necessary to abolish their hard work these days and start over according to the conference organized by the Song family?

Along the way, Xu Yu thought about the debate on the principles of nature and human desires, and recalled the allusions of Confucius lecturing at the Xingtan. It is enough to set up tables and chairs underneath for people to attend lectures.

If they had said this a month earlier, they would have listened to it, but how easy is it to stop now?

Zhu Sheng'er had already spread the news that Suzhou held a lecture conference and would invite famous prostitutes to serve a banquet; these talents also made an appointment with their good prostitutes in private to bring beauty into the garden; and among the foreign friends they invited to attend the conference , There are also quite a few romantic celebrities who need the company of beauties to go in and out... Famous prostitutes and celebrities in Suzhou and Qinhuai all point to this conference to show their limelight, how can they turn people away?

What's more, when they asked to borrow the garden of Zhenjiang Fushang, they promised the owner of the garden as the host.Merchant Zhao has already spent thousands of dollars to buy ancient trees, renovate the garden, and buy [-] sheep for the banquet for this conference. Could it be that they just let people throw real money into the water just because they said no?

Everyone was arguing endlessly, but in the end, Zhu Hao took a balance and came up with a solution: "The address of Zhihe Garden has been written on the invitation card, and it is too late to change it now, so let's arrange people to live in Zhihe Garden, and we can choose another place." Hold lectures."

If we really build a high platform and completely follow the format of the Fujian General Assembly, no matter how well it is done, it will inevitably be effective.Suzhou has always been a place that leads the times and customs and is envied by all quarters. How can they imitate the form of the Fujian Lecture Society?

According to his opinion, since we don't want to do it in a luxurious way, and we can't do it according to the sayings of the Song Dynasty, it is better to follow the example of the Zhulu Goose Lake meeting and give lectures in famous temples outside Suzhou city.

As for the famous performers, advocates, etc. who volunteered to serve the banquet, there is no need to send them back, but they are not required to accompany them during lectures.When everyone went to the garden, feasted, danced and danced for entertainment after lectures, didn't they just want them to perform?

After thinking about it for a while, everyone knew that this was the best way.

They can neither copy the Lecture Society in Fujian, nor take the risk of being ridiculed according to the original plan. If they find other places to give lectures, it is better to give lectures in Buddhist temples. At least there can be a fig leaf for "pursuing sages".

I just hate that the Ehu Temple is far away in Jiangxi, so they can't come all the time, otherwise they will directly hold a lecture meeting in Ehu, and they will be more famous as the two sons of Zhu and Lu.

They finally decided to hold the seminar at Hanshan Temple outside the city, and please preside over the quiet temple for seven days—the lecture in Fujian had only four lecturers, and it lasted for three days. Is to say the least.

Everyone hastily changed the location, appeased the group of prostitutes, and re-coordinated the time for lectures and play breaks...

They have worked so hard to plan, but the Fujianese always seem to have trouble with them.

Not long after Xu Yu returned to his hometown, a piece of "Principles for the Preparation of the Lecture Society" written by Huan Ling, the governor of Tingzhou Prefecture, spread throughout the south of the Yangtze River.It's just that he wrote more profoundly and meticulously in the text, and wrote out the purpose and process of organizing the seminar in the Song Dynasty without any secrets.

——When Song Shi held this conference, he supported the whole process, and the articles he wrote were naturally more detailed than others.Follow this article to do it, and you can almost hold a lecture session that can benefit everyone in the meeting.

Although there is not a word "Su" in the whole article, if they still hold lectures according to the original model, they will be ridiculed endlessly by those who read this article.After everyone looked at it, their faces changed a few times, and the bad-tempered scholar scolded: "If Brother Yuanyu hadn't urged us to hold conferences from frugality, and Brother Zhu had decided to change to giving lectures in Hanshan Temple, wouldn't we have been punished by this article?" The article is ridiculous? He knows what our lecture will be like, how can he deliberately write such an article!"

Although Xu Yu was also ashamed, he still said something for him: "They also persuaded me in person that I shouldn't run the seminar in this way, and then wrote this article. Posted a mockery."

Zhu Hao also agreed with his statement: "I don't think his article is aimed at us, but it seems that after listening to our ideas, he feels that it is inappropriate. A paradigm for others to learn from."

What he said was very fair and reasonable, but none of the people who listened to him had the intention to praise him—if lecture societies were established everywhere, would they in Suzhou be lost in the tide of lectures?

Although they were confident in the teaching level of the local celebrities, they were a little more gloomy in their hearts, and involuntarily inquired about the situation of the lectures in various places.Sure enough, around the start of their lecture conference in Suzhou, news spread that Jiangxi, Huguang, Zhejiang, Shandong and other places had also held lecture conferences.

The Lecture Society in Jiangxi was directly established in the Ehu Temple where the Zhu Lu Goose Lake Society was located; Huguang is the place where "Zhu Zhang will speak", and it is also the Yuelu Academy that Zhu Zi personally reorganized; there are children of the Confucian family in Shandong Hosting, there is no need to add luster to foreign things; although Zhejiang has no relics of the sages, it also has the scenery of the West Lake...

Although the Suzhou Lecture Conference on the ninth day of September was full of famous speakers, the food, clothing, housing and transportation were also exquisite, making people linger and forget to return.But as a lecture session, it still didn't have particularly outstanding features, and it was finally submerged in the previous and subsequent lecture sessions.

The Fujian students who were invited to participate in the conference were even more unreasonable. They didn't understand that their conference was organized before Huan Ling's article came out. Article "Essentials" to do.What's more mean is to mock Suzhou talents for only having fashionable clothes and famous courtesans in their arms, but their teaching methods are still the same as those in private schools teaching primary school students, which has long been outdated.

These rumors were spread back to Suzhou, and the talented scholars were so angry that they wrote countless articles to refute these nonsense, and elaborated on the essence of their own lectures...

However, these articles, like their lecture conferences, were submerged in the chapters of scribes in various provinces touting their own lecture conferences.There may be one or two articles that have been widely circulated due to their outstanding literary talents, but when people mention the lecture conference, they still have to say, "Since Fujian held a lecture conference, all provinces have begun to follow suit."

Xu Yu was quite depressed, thinking that it was his trip to Tingzhou Mansion that made Huan Ling write out the essentials of running a seminar, so that everyone followed suit. Suzhou was caught in the middle, and they were not outstanding.

Fortunately, Zhu Hao is a person who can take responsibility. He took the initiative to take the reason why the lectures were not outstanding, and said to everyone: "At first I borrowed the garden from Brother Boxian, and it was I who advocated giving lectures at Hanshan Temple. , so that everyone had a lot of scruples when organizing this conference, and it was my fault that I failed to hold a special event. I heard that Fujian will hold this conference next year. Have a self-study meeting, what else is better than us."

After saying this, Xu Yu was the first to stand up and agree.After him, several talented scholars stood up and expressed their willingness to go with them to see how the Fujian people's lectures can surpass them.

——Even if you fail the Qiu Wei exam, you have to see for yourself what kind of characters Huan Tongpan, who wrote articles and taught people, and Song Shi, who hosted the conference, are both!

Talented scholars in Suzhou gritted their teeth thinking about Huan Ling and Song Shi brothers, and more people in Beijing also missed them.

A provincial lecture event can be regarded as a grand event in the literary world, not to mention that after the conference in Fujian, celebrities and talents from several provinces held lecture meetings of this scale one after another within a few months.Lectures come from south to north, and the atmosphere of study in the world is so strong that everyone must talk about lectures, and new Neo-Confucian articles are passed on three times a day, so many that it is impossible to copy.

Lu Zhe, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was alarmed and wanted to write letters to ask the censors in person.

Needless to say, his first letter was addressed to Fang Sihan, the censor of Fujian Tixue.However, the second letter was not addressed to Xuezheng in other places where the lecture trend had arisen, but to Huan Ling, who was his protégé who begged him to help transfer to the local judge.

It took three months to travel from Fujian to the capital, but this letter was just a letter of condolence from the teacher to his disciples, and he could not go through the courier shop, so he was not in a hurry to receive the letter from the students, but to Huan after the court meeting. The servant sighed and said: "The school style in the world started from Fujian, and the school style in Fujian started from Bofeng. There is no mistake in this word. Brother Xiaoshan has such a beautiful grandson, and your son has taught a good student. I am really envious of this old man."

Although the chief assistant was envious, Huan Shilang felt less joy and more worry in his heart.

If Song Shi could not be made famous, he would rather his grandson not be famous.The more famous the Song Dynasty was, the more people would bring up his family's divorce from the Song family. King Zhou's wedding has not yet been decided. If this old matter is revealed, it will be unlucky for him and his granddaughter... …

He sighed bitterly in his heart, and hated that Huan Ling couldn't help him in Beijing and insisted on running to Wuping.

If the child stays in the court and the Song family father and son have no one to help, how can such a conference be held?And Huan Ling started the Lecture Society in Beijing, and his reputation spread to the imperial court more quickly, unlike now—even if the Lecture Society is set up, wouldn't it be that the Song family and his son and that Fujianese student took most of the benefits?

Huan Shilang cursed inwardly with hatred, but hatred turned to hatred. This grandson is indeed the most outstanding child in his family, so he could only bear with it, and said to Lu Shoufu: "This child just wants to be an official close to the people and educate the people. Where can I control him? He can do whatever he likes, and it is his good fortune to benefit one party."

Lu Shoufu was noncommittal to his words, and only smiled and said: "Although he has not been here for a long time, he has already done several important things that are well-known in the government and the public. It would be more beautiful if Zhou Wangfei's elder brother returns to court?"

Huan Shilang only heard the words "Prince Zhou is married", the muscles on his face trembled instantly, and asked: "Brother Xiangyin, did you hear the real news?"

Lu Shoufu said: "It's not necessarily true, but the day before yesterday, a censor reported the matter of running lecture societies in various places to the imperial court. When His Majesty called me to give a speech, he said, 'If a brother is like this, his sister can know it'. Since he is so satisfied with his granddaughter , I think the happy event is not far away."

Huan Shilang was full of anticipation in his heart, and hurriedly asked someone to send a letter to the eldest son and eldest grandson who were officials abroad, telling them to get ready to return to Beijing to watch the ceremony.He himself thought that the two of them had been away for a long time, and they didn't have a suitable dress when they returned to Beijing, so he asked the servant at home to rush to make it privately, hoping that the imperial edict would be issued soon.

This waited for a year.

After the Lantern Festival of the next year, Huan Shilang almost thought that the emperor had forgotten about the King of Zhou and his granddaughter again, and finally passed down an oracle from Jinzhong to praise his grandson for his ability in persuasion and his granddaughter's ability and political integrity, making her worthy of the prince.

However, what accompanied this oracle was not to order Qin Tianjian to choose a date for the wedding, but to reiterate two words - money.

Huan Ling not only has the talent and learning ability to educate the people in the territory, but his younger sister has inherited the boudoir training, so she must also have both talent and virtue.For such a beautiful woman, the wedding should naturally be more grand. When they got married, a library was built for the king of Zhou for his couple's use.

As King Zhou is the eldest son of the emperor, he is almost an invisible prince. If the library is to be built in the palace, the inner treasury must be used.If there is not enough silver in the house to build the palace and hold the wedding at the same time, they still have to ask the household department for money.

The year before last, when the candidate for the princess was decided, he began to ask for money. Last year, he asked for another time under the pretext of a good harvest. Now that the summer tax has not been paid, he actually tried to ask for money when the money was not received. The treasury still has money for disaster relief. Where is the money? Buy a wedding for King Zhou?

The Ministry of Households insisted not to give it at this time, and the Ministry of Rites could not force it, and even some did not believe the emperor's promise.Huan Shilang was as anxious as if he had swallowed coals of fire, but he had to swallow it forcefully to maintain his image of being dedicated to the public. Only those who betrayed him dared to worry with Zhou Wang's grandfather and Ma Shangshu of the Ministry of War.

But this time at least the emperor gave them a deadline, giving them a little hope: as long as the library is repaired and enough books are printed for the King and his wife of Zhou, they will be able to choose a date to get married within this year.