Chapter 136 Literary War

As soon as she started writing, Guan Suyi couldn’t stop, so she had to tie a small sandbag to Mu Mu and let him sit next to her to practice calligraphy. Mu Mu was very well-behaved, neither disturb nor noisy. When it was time for dinner, he even urged his sister to eat, for fear that she would exhaust her body.

Old Master Guan and Guan Father were not at ease at first, and ran to the study to take a look a few times, and only after reading the first page of the manuscript did they no longer bother her again.

“Although the mind is a little off, but the knowledge is greatly improved. Good!” Old Master Guan stroked his beard with a gratified expression on his face. Guan Father shook his head and smiled bitterly, didn’t say anything. Where is his daughter’s mind is a little off? She was about to jump into the fire pit!

Guan Suyi wrote for half a month before stop writing, checked the manuscript, polished it slightly, and then copied it several times, and let Jinzi took it to the literary notice to post it there.

“Miss, why didn’t you ask someone to transcribe it and instead paste your manuscript directly? Your handwriting is well known to all scholars in Yanjing. If you publicize it like this, you will become very famous!” Jinzi pointed her finger to the signature and pointed out, “Because of the previous article “The Law of the People”, the Innkeeper became highly respected by the people, words and talents are not under Xu Guangzhi. When everyone finds out that the Innkeeper is you, I am afraid it will attract a lot of criticism.”

“Post it, I’m the Innkeeper and the Innkeeper is me, others can say whatever they want.” Guan Suyi washed off the ink on her fingertips and spoke carelessly.

When Jinzi got the definite order, she left with the manuscript, bribed the guards who guarded the public notice, and posted her master’s article. Only in a few moments it attracted a large number of people to stop and watch.

“Am I not mistaken? This is actually the masterpiece of the Innkeeper? Hurry up, hurry up, go to the bookstore to buy a brush and paper, and copy it down!” Only seeing the signature, before even reading the full text, some scholars hurriedly bought paper and writing brush. Yet many more remained, initially skeptical and then ecstatic.

The article really adhered to the legacy of the “Law of the People” and continued to oppose Xu Guangzhi. In the first sentence of the opening chapter, she directly reprimanded Xu Guangzhi for interpreting the words of the Sage with his own personal opinions, which was a big taboo. He forced his own academic views into the minds of students all over the world, making them lost their literary way; The next point was to clarify all his omissions, and to examine them with profound knowledge.

Everyone at the time knew that the Innkeeper had a deep knowledge in history, and her annotations of Confucian classics strictly followed the principle of “interpreting the scriptures with scriptures”, with little personal opinion. If there were some confusions, she then implored all the great scholars to correct them. She welcomed criticism towards her article from people all over the world, and said that only in this way was the most rigorous learning attitude, rather than the words of one group became commonplace, so that the virtue of the Sage were reduced and diminished and eventually disappear.

At her concluding remarks, she pointed out that Xu Guangzhi was not annotating Confucian classics, but used Confucian classics to annotate his own thoughts. If the “Subset Commentary” circulated for a long time, what future generations would learn was no longer the thinking of Confucius and Mencius, but the thinking of Xu shi, and what they understand was not the words of the Sage, but the words of Xu shi. Xu shi‘s vain attempt to usurp the Sage’s position, changed the Sage’s words, and gain the reputation of “teacher of the world” was really just trying to gain fame for himself!

Finally, it was important to point out that the imperial examination was promoted by the emperor. If the students were fortunate enough to pass, they should be the disciples of the emperor, and serve under the emperor, not others.

Said to be an article, in fact, the number of words was enough to make a book. Because the Innkeeper’s literary name was extremely popular, the onlookers first put her in the same position as Xu Guangzhi, and there would be no unnecessary doubts. After reading the full article, it was indeed deeply moving and profound. No matter how many times it was tasted, they still find it difficult to understand its true flavor.

As soon as the news spread, students soon came to watch, and before the students from the poor family could speak, the children of the noble family had already clapped their hands and applauded, full of admiration. They were of noble origin, and naturally they hired great teachers since they were young, and all of them were giants in the world, if want to annotate Confucian classics, who would dare to surpass them? But Xu Guangzhi went beyond it, and even published articles to flaunt himself and belittle others, how could they not hate him?

He described his critics as “Shu dogs bark at the sun*an idiom for a simpleton who will marvel at even the most common things, and Wu buffalo gasped when he saw the moon*a metaphor for being overly frightened by things that similar to the one that harmed you before. It was said that the water buffalo in Jianghu area are afraid of heat and when it sees the moon, they think it’s the sun so it gasped for breath.“. All the literary giants naturally were aloof, so it was not good to argue with him. At this time, they thought about writing a book, but was afraid of being ridiculed for picking up other people’s words, so they all kept silent. Now this Innkeeper pointed finger at Xu Guangzhi first, and also invited scholars from all over the world to criticize her own articles, in order to explore the Sage’s words in a more in-depth and comprehensive way. This was equivalent to setting up ladder for those literary giants who were high above, if they don’t go down at this time, when else?

After reading the article, all the great scholar thought about it, and immediately summed up and posted their most exquisite learning views, and of course did not forget to refute Xu Guangzhi. Although he had a solid foundation in Confucianism, his mind was too utilitarian. His annotations of Confucian classics were as described by the Innkeeper, most of them were his own thoughts cloaked in the Sage’s words and couldn’t stand the scrutiny.

More and more Confucian scholars joined the literary war, refuting each other, communicating with each other, commenting on each other, and annotating the Confucian classics in a comprehensive and thorough manner, making the students read it heartily and reluctantly to leave. It was no exaggeration to say that standing in front of this wall covered with splendid articles for a quarter of an hour was more useful than painstakingly reading for ten years.

By the time Xu Guangzhi received the news, his “Subset Commentary” had already been totally refuted by the literary giants, and many of the errors and omissions were so low-level that people laugh. He didn’t bother to read it one by one, just found the article of the Innkeeper and read it silently, and when he saw the last sentence, he almost spit out blood.

He was not afraid to refute the academic views, he could write an article to dismiss them when he went back, but it alluded him of usurping the Sage’s position and changing the Sage’s words, which was clearly to cut off his literary path; It also pointed out that he had formed a party for personal gain and competed with His Majesty for disciples, which actually accusing words that were enough to make the whole Xu family beheaded! This Innkeeper was so vicious! It really used brush and paper like a knife, rushing to kill!

Xu Guangzhi was dizzy and about to collapse, but fortunately, Xu Yayan helped him in time, so he didn’t collapse to the ground. Ji Chengyue happened to be nearby, so he hurried up to help, and ordered his servants to set up a carriage and send Master Xu home. Seeing Xu Yayan’s gaze asking for help, he felt embarrassed in his heart, and his face couldn’t help became gloomy.

The great Confucian giants in the whole Wei Kingdom simultaneously wrote articles to annotate Confucian classics, which was once-in-a-century event. Even his teacher Master Yun, who usually valued his own words, published five articles in a row, expounding his academic views in great detail. If he left at this time, it was equivalent to skipping class in the middle, and afraid that he would lag behind others in learning, so how could he be willing?

Fortunately, Xu Yayan saw his embarrassment and did not beg him to send them personally. While waiting for the carriage to approach, her eyes lingered on the Innkeeper’s manuscript, and she suddenly exclaimed, “This, this is Guan Suyi’s handwriting! The Innkeeper is Guan Suyi!”

“How could it be?” Ji Chengyue shook his head reflexively, and then took a closer look, he was speechless, and then his cheeks blushed layer by layer, he was completely ashamed. Just half a month ago, he said that Miss Guan was short-sighted and courageous, but it turned out that they were the ones who were really short-sighted. Her knowledge had far surpassed her peers, and she could stand side by side with all the great scholars. How could he have the face to point fingers at her? Indeed, the ignorant was fearless.

Guan Suyi’s handwriting had long been famous in Yanjing, but before people were attracted by her outstanding literary talent and profound knowledge, so the students did not pay attention to the handwriting. However, when one person pointed out, more and more people would see it. The Innkeeper whose writing was like a knife and whose words were so incisive was actually a woman, and she also totally refuted Master Xu, who was several decades older than her. How knowledgeable should she be? At what age did she start reading? Guan family’s education is really terrible!

Although some people criticized the Innkeeper’s woman identity, the literary war between the giants was still going on, and the students were still writing wildly, they had no heart to care about anything else. On the way, the Innkeeper published two articles in succession, and the exquisite subtle remarks attracted many giants to discuss and refute. With this back-and-forth exchange, her profound Confucianism had been clearly demonstrated.

People who wanted to make a big fuss about her gender gradually gave up and concentrated on copying.

Because the literary war was intensified and in full swing, the authorities were alerted, and the imperial guards were specially dispatched to guard the literary notice, so that if any student of the great scholar want to post a new work, he must register it first. One wall was not enough, so several rows of wooden walls were added, and no one was allowed to take it off at will.

In the evening of the same day, the literary war came to an end, but the matter was not over yet. When the news was brewed overnight, it spread farther, so there must be more famous people joining in, perhaps great scholars from other places would also send their manuscript swiftly. This was not only a battle of Confucianism, but also a battle of literary names. Whether it was a scholar who purely studies Confucianism or a hypocrite who was obsess to become officials, they would not miss this opportunity.

Guan Suyi went silent after publishing three articles. She knew that the follow-up literary war had no place for her. She was just a brick that used to attract beautiful jade, and more Confucian giants would support this grand occasion.

—-

In the garden, the sky was full of stars, and the flying flowers were scattered. Guan Father held a can of oil lamp and sighed, “You made such a big movement with a wrong eye*it means not paying attention to the moment. Fortunately, you’re still aware how to retreat in the torrents, and stop before going too far, so that all the giants can overshadowed your limelight.”

“A tall tree attracts the wind, and I, this little sprout, can’t withstand the hurricane.” Guan Suyi also held a can of oil lamp in her arms and whispered, “The literary war may last for several days. Father, have you ever thought about compiling everyone’s articles into a book and make into a real “Subset Commentary”? Or gather the famous name of Wei Kingdom to jointly write a masterpiece involving all things, all disciplines and studies? To enlighten the world and guide the way for future generations. That’s the real meaning of the literary war.”

Guan Father looked at his daughter with new eyes, and said solemnly, “Is this what you expected?”

“Yes. Scholars of the world as teacher of the world, and all things have spirits when they last forever!” Guan Suyi’s blood was burning, and it was boiling bit by bit.

Guan Father looked at her for a long time, and sighed deeply, “It is father who underestimated you. If what you said can be achieved, the Guan family will become the literary leader in one fell swoop, and scholars all over the world will be grateful for this kindness. This is the real power of enlightenment, and also the fastest way for the emperor to promote Confucianism. Yiyi, I thought about it before, maybe you can enter the palace and try it.”

Hearing the last sentence, Guan Suyi was dumbfounded for a while before stepping into the study holding the oil lamp. Tonight, both grandfather and father plan to write through the night. The lights would not go out the whole night. The same situation must happen in every corner of Yanjing. And the next day, there would be no shortage of waves in the courtroom.

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