Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 309 The door to the new world!

In Su Yun's description, the establishment and development of Shu Han were delightful and full of hope. However, as the course progressed, the defects of Shu Han's isolation and closure gradually became apparent.

The same was true for the development of Eastern Wu. Although it occupied a fertile land, it had no strategic location to defend. Eventually, it was pressed step by step by the State of Wei and eventually lost the strategic situation.

Su Yun did not directly say how great the Song Dynasty was, but the sharp-minded teachers and students thought of the Song Dynasty. Although the Song Dynasty was very wealthy, it was also indefensible. It was a combination of the shortcomings of Shu Han and Eastern Wu. Thinking of this, people with lofty ideals would inevitably feel anxious.

During this process, Su Yun interspersed Zhuge Liang's various policy measures in the Sichuan Basin, interspersed with many economic concepts. Those who understood immediately realized that the various economic measures of the Song Dynasty also had many problems.

However, as Su Yun's explanation went deeper, he incorporated all kinds of advanced knowledge from later generations. The teachers and students of the Imperial Academy suddenly felt their heads itching, as if they had grown new brains.

Su Yun's in-depth and easy-to-understand explanation turned a class on the Three Kingdoms into a comprehensive course on state governance, or a course on grand strategy. The profound knowledge content and a large amount of dry goods made the teachers and students of the Imperial College from top to bottom fascinated.

At this point, there was no need for Su Yun to do anything else. The attraction brought by knowledge alone was enough to make these teachers and students feel admiration for Su Yun.

This time, everyone felt that the door to a new world had been opened.

There were even students in the Imperial College who originally respected Neo-Confucianism, but after studying Su Yun's courses, they discovered that the theories of Neo-Confucianism were too abstract, while what Su Yun talked about were truly applicable to the economic development of the country.

Whether it was governing the country or managing the economy and military, what Su Yun talked about was compared with the theories that Cheng Yi and others only picked out from the Four Books and Five Classics. They found that Cheng Yi and others' Neo-Confucianism was really a bit decadent.

Of course, this is not to say that Neo-Confucianism has no merits, but that what Su Yun talked about, from theory to practice, from the macro to the details, are all clear and identifiable.

Su Yun even used his own experience to support these things. In other words, these theories were all things that Su Yun had personally practiced and verified!

Su Yun is usually able to summarize the methodology, that is, to guide people on how to do these practical things.

For example, Su Yun proposed the use of methodologies such as the theory of contradiction and seeking truth from facts, and also took out some investigation methods, telling the students that once they had doubts about certain issues, they could use these methods to investigate and collect evidence.

At this point, the teachers and students of the Imperial College suddenly realized that this person, who had achieved so many achievements in various fields, had already attained enlightenment long ago.

What he talked about is no longer just a technique, but is close to the Tao.

Especially the teachers and students of the Imperial College who have read Su Yun's collected annotations on Mencius and the collected annotations on the Four Books have a deeper understanding of them. At this time, they spontaneously have a feeling: Young Scholar Su is truly a genius in learning!
After the class, the professors of the Imperial Academy found the chief academic officer of the Imperial Academy and asked him to give Su Yun a private lesson. The chief academic officer would naturally not go against the majority opinion. The chief academic officer was also a court minister and naturally knew Su Yun's situation.

Although the Empress Dowager, Sima Guang and others intended to exclude Su Yun from the court, Su Yun was, after all, a master of classics and a Hanlin scholar. Such a person could not be stopped from giving lectures.

The Northern Song Dynasty was good in this regard. Even if people had different political views, no one would stop them from spreading their ideas. For example, Sima Guang was out of power, so he stayed in Luoyang to write books. He often wrote letters to criticize the new laws, but the new law faction would not say that he should stop writing books.

The Cheng Yi brothers taught and preached, and sometimes attacked the new laws, but they were not banned from teaching.

Therefore, the cultural atmosphere at that time was quite relaxed, and the chief academic officer of the Imperial Academy was not worried about being punished for this, so he readily agreed.

The professor of Imperial College found Su Yun and asked him to give him a private class, and Su Yun naturally agreed.

Su Yun has realized that this path is the right one. Judging from the performance of the teachers and students of the Imperial College, this influence has been gradually fermenting, and one day, it will surely bear fruit.

Su Yun agreed with the Imperial College to have a class every two days, and each class would be held as an open class. He also made a requirement that anyone who was willing to listen, whether they were students of the Imperial College or scholars from outside, could come in and listen.

There is no problem on the Imperial College side. It is just a matter of providing a venue and assigning people to keep an eye on it to prevent those who come in from running around.

Su Yun finalized the open class with the Imperial College and then began to prepare for it systematically.

This time, he no longer needs to use the shell of Romance of the Three Kingdoms because he already has enough mass base.

With the support of teachers and students from the Imperial College, more and more people will get involved.

In this way, there is no need to use gimmicks like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, just get straight to the point.

Su Yun planned to start his lecture directly on the "Collected Commentaries on the Four Books", starting with the Collected Commentaries on Mencius.

In fact, many people have a misunderstanding, thinking that Su Yun's "Mencius Collected Commentaries" and "Four Books Collected Commentaries" are two books. In fact, this is wrong, because Four Books Collected Commentaries are four books.

The Four Books' Annotations include The Mencius, The Analects, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean.

The reason why Su Yun chose to talk about the Collected Annotations of the Four Books is because his book "Collected Annotations of the Four Books" not only restores the original version of the Four Books, but also incorporates the advanced philosophical thoughts of later generations, including Yangming's School of Mind, Maoism and Leninism!
It can be said that the theories contained in the four volumes of the Four Books will not be outdated even in later generations, let alone in the Song Dynasty a thousand years ago.

Su Yun has already set his sights on Song Ming Lixue. Come on, move your butts, I, Su Xue, will take this position from now on!

Some say that achievements will perish, but ideas will not.

But Su Yun felt that only with ideas could one achieve success.

The experience of later teachers tells us that only by building a team with advanced ideas can we achieve success.

So Su Yun began to lecture on "Collected Commentaries on the Four Books" at the Imperial Academy.

The "Collected Commentaries on the Four Books" had been circulating in the Imperial College for two years and had long been included as one of the selected reading materials. Many students had read it, but reading it is not the same as hearing the author personally talk about it.

Especially when it comes to philosophical theories, if there is no one to guide you, even if you read them, you may still be confused.

With Su Yun's explanation, the teachers and students of the Imperial College realized how profound the content of Su Yun's Annotations on the Four Books was. It was already an extremely mature and systematic doctrine!

What is the key is that this doctrine is not only extremely mature in theory, but also has matching methodology, research methods and practical methods, which is extremely rare in the history of the development of Confucianism.

People usually say how profound the Four Books and Five Classics are, and that if one understands them, one will understand how to do things and be a person. But how to do it? What is said in the Four Books and Five Classics is not specific. Only people with extremely high comprehension can find a way out according to the general statements in them.

But most people are just ordinary people, who can usually only quote scriptures and live their lives in a specious manner, so much so that people have a misunderstanding about Confucian scholars, saying that "scholars are good for nothing."

However, if we act according to the Four Books and Five Classics written by Su Yun and the corresponding methods, we can actually accomplish practical things.

This is really amazing.

Many Tai students seemed to have found an unprecedented path, and their enthusiasm for learning suddenly increased.

Other scholars in Bian Jing also came because of his fame, and listening to Su Yun’s open classes became a trend for a while.

The name of Su's school of thought became popular for a time, and many scholars were proud to discuss Su's school of thought when they were feasting and socializing.

This trend also spread among officials in the capital.

Sima Guang has not been in good health recently. Ever since he submitted the "Memorial Requesting the Abolition of Abuses" and abolished the Baojia System in the "Memorial Requesting the Update of New Laws", he also abolished the Square Field Equal Tax System, the Market Exchange System, and the Horse Protection System, his health has gradually deteriorated.

Sima Guang felt that his health could no longer bear it, so he submitted a petition to resign. However, Empress Dowager Gao relied on him very much. Not only did she not allow him to resign, but she also issued an edict to appoint him as Shang Shu Zuo Pushe and Menxia Shilang, officially appointing him as prime minister. She also allowed him to be exempted from the audience, ride in a sedan chair, and visit the emperor every "three days."

His recent focus has been on abolishing the Exemption from Military Service Law and the Qingmiao Law. When he learned that Su Yun was lecturing at the Imperial Academy, it was naturally told to him by someone with ulterior motives.

Oh, this thoughtful person is called Cheng Yi.

Cheng Yi told Sima Guang that Su Yun had spread some remarks opposing the abolition of the new law in the Imperial College and was an accomplice of the New Party.

Sima Guang was very concerned when he heard this, but he did not follow Cheng Yi's advice to directly ban Su Yun's lectures. It was not because of Su Shi's face, but because he still respected Su Yun's academic achievements.

Moreover, Sima Guang knew that there were conflicts between Cheng Yi and Su Yun. After all, one was Neo-Confucianism and the other was Su Yun's school, so there was a dispute over the orthodox doctrine. Therefore, Sima Guang still maintained a cautious attitude.

Sima Guang sent someone to the Imperial College to get Su Yun's lecture notes. After reading them, although Sima Guang was somewhat displeased with Su Yun's attitude towards military affairs, he felt that there was no problem with his inclination in other aspects. He even felt that Su Yun's attainments in the classics were already the best in the world.

Sima Guang is most praised for his "Zizhi Tongjian", but his research on classics is also quite profound, especially the study of classics such as the Book of Changes and the study of Laozi, Yang Xiong and other philosophers.

Sima Guang has always promoted Confucianism, refuted Buddhism and Taoism, and made many groundbreaking interpretations of Confucian classics, holding an important position.

Moreover, compared with the views of the two Cheng brothers, Sima Guang attached great importance to history as well as classics, which was different from the Neo-Confucianists' detailed explanation of classics and rough explanation of history.

Sima Guang saw from Su Yun's study of the classics that Su Yun's research method was quite similar to his own, both of them gave equal importance to history and classics, so he had a good impression of him.

So, after seeing that Su Yun no longer talked about the Three Kingdoms but only about the classics recently, he no longer talked much about military affairs and did not want to create any more complications.

After all, the abolition of the Qingmiao Law and the Mianyi Law had already caused dissatisfaction among Fan Chunren, Su Shi and others. If Su Yun's theory was banned again, it might affect the abolition of the new laws, which would be a loss instead of gain.

So Sima Guang put the matter aside.

(End of this chapter)