The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 404 Volume Kongming Lantern

Although many Confucian scholars behind Kong Rong glared at Liu Biao and others, Kong Rong himself nodded slightly to Liu Biao.

"Jingsheng, please."

"Wen Ju, please go first."

They didn't come to quarrel, they came to debate.

The more you argue, the clearer the truth becomes.

If someone gets angry because of a debate, it is probably not because he or she is angry because of losing the debate, but because of his or her own lack of cultivation.

Seeing Liu Biao's modesty, Kong Rong no longer refused and took the lead in expressing his opinion:

"Heaven created five materials, and people use them together. If the government is not good, the gods will be angry, and when the gods are angry, the materials will lose their nature and will not be useful to the people. Other changes are precious, and precious things are also the anger of gods. Whenever the gods are angry, the sun, moon and five stars will be seen in the sky. If one thing is lost, it will go against people's wishes, and people's hearts will be resentful. The wood, metal, water, fire and earth will be injured. If they are injured, the victory will come to take advantage of the precious things, and then the anger of gods and people's resentment will cause disasters. Therefore, the five elements will see changes in advance to warn people!"

This is what is said in the "Book of Documents with Commentaries on the Five Elements" annotated by Zheng Xuan.

If the monarch's behavior is in line with the will of the gods, the gods will send down various auspicious signs to show prosperity; on the contrary, if the monarch makes mistakes, the gods will send down various disasters to warn him. From this, it can be further inferred that people's life and death, nobility and humbleness, poverty and wealth, disaster and happiness are all determined by the will of heaven, so we should obey the will of heaven.

With the popularity of the theory of prophecy and divination, such values ​​have long been deeply rooted in people's hearts...

Especially the hearts of scholars in Kanto.

After hearing this, Liu Biao naturally brought out Wang Chong's "Theory of Natural Qi" to refute it.

“The sun rises and sets, the wind blows and the clouds surge, the rivers dry up and flood, all have their own laws, and they do not change according to people’s thoughts.”

“In all things, there is ‘qi’ running. ‘Qi’ does not change according to human mind or reason, but follows the law and is endless.”

But Kong Rong did not agree.

"Disasters have always been punishment from heaven on the monarch."

"Like the Yellow Turban Rebellion, it was caused by the Ten Eunuchs of the previous dynasty who were all evil and rebellious!"

"After that, the imperial capital fell into trouble because of Yuan Shao and other Han thieves who stirred up trouble and committed crimes!"

"The severe drought in Guanzhong is because Wang Yun has ulterior motives!"

"Aren't all these things the result of divine intervention? Aren't they the wrath of the gods?"

Liu Biao shook his head: "That may not be the case."

"As far as I know, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong at that time, and many people in Guandong were gloating over it, thinking that the drought was caused by Grand Tutor Dong Zhuo. How come Wen Ju now says that it was caused by Wang Yun?"

"Could it be that this theory of the connection between heaven and man is actually untrue? Today they say the drought was caused by this person, and tomorrow they say it was caused by that person. Is it true that right and wrong are all based on nonsense?"

……

The idea of ​​the correspondence between heaven and man is itself a far-fetched concept.

Its greatest power is that it has the support of the government and the emperor.

But now, the emperor's absence from the Taibai discussion itself has already explained a lot of things. Now there is no high official to support the theory of heaven and man, so Kong Rong fell into a disadvantage from the beginning.

Fortunately, debate does not necessarily require convincing the other party to accept your argument.

Sometimes, you don't have to prove that you are right.

Sometimes, all you need to do is prove the other person wrong!
Kong Rong asked again: "Can the theory of primordial qi and nature explain the laws of all things?"

Liu Biao nodded: "That's right!"

"Just talking about the fine poison..."

Before Liu Biao could give examples to support his argument, Kong Rong interrupted him by shaking his head.

"I've also heard of the theory of fine poison."

"The current Jingzhao Yin Zhang Ji has also specifically targeted this issue and divided Chang'an into different areas, allowing the people to live in different places to prevent the spread of the disease."

"But if you don't see it with your own eyes, you still can't convince others!"

Kong Rong's persistent belief in "the connection between heaven and man" certainly cannot stand up to scrutiny.

However, Liu Biao borrowed Wang Chong's "Theory of Natural Qi" but still had no direct evidence to prove that the so-called "Qi" really exists!
It is said that there is a "fine poison", but has anyone seen a fine poison now?

It is said that there is "vital energy", but has anyone seen vital energy nowadays?

Just as Kong Rong was about to continue his attack, he saw a young man eight feet tall and with a majestic appearance standing up behind Liu Biao.

"Student Zhuge Liang, meet Kong Beihai."

Kong Rong looked at Zhuge Liang, with a momentary trance in his eyes.

"So it's Kong Ming. You're becoming more and more like your father now!"

The Zhuge family is a prominent family in Langya.

In addition, Zhuge Liang's father Zhuge Gui once served as the magistrate of Taishan County and was acquainted with Kong Rong, so Zhuge Liang was not a stranger to Kong Rong.

"After you won the imperial examination, you went to Jingzhou. I never had time to congratulate you. Now that we meet again, you don't have to be so unfamiliar. Just call me "Uncle."

"Thank you for your kindness, uncle."

After the two exchanged pleasantries, they returned to the main topic.

"My uncle just said that no one has ever seen a fine Gu or Yuan Qi... Actually, that's a bit of a fallacy."

Kong Rong frowned and said, "I'd like to hear more details."

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and said, "It is useless to hear about it. Since you want to see it today, how about I let you see the legendary vitality?"

Now, not only Kong Rong was shocked, but even the Confucian scholars behind him began to discuss, causing a commotion in Taibai Academy.

Upon seeing this, Kong Rong immediately agreed to the task.

"If I could really see the 'vitality', I would naturally admit defeat."

"Okay!" Zhuge Liang looked at Sima Yi standing aside.

"Zhongda, find a small candle, and some paper and bamboo strips."

"Ok?"

Sima Yi didn't expect that Zhuge Liang would actually use his senior fellow apprentice for his own use?
But when he thought that he could actually see the legendary "vital energy", Sima Yi didn't care about these things and ran out to get these things.

then.

Under the gaze of everyone, Zhuge Liang slowly made these things into the shape of a lantern.

"Everyone, watch carefully."

Zhuge Liang slowly lit the candle at the bottom of the lantern, then placed his hand on the top of the lantern, waiting for it to slowly inflate.

There was already someone behind Kong Rong who was getting impatient.

"Zhuge Kongming! What do you want us to see?"

"Silence!"

Kong Rong turned around and scolded the other party, then looked at the "lantern" in Zhuge Liang's hand with a serious face.

The lantern, which was originally a little shriveled, actually became visibly plumper after waiting for a while!

The hand covering Zhuge Liang's head could already feel the impatience and impatience below, and he knew that the truth was eager to bloom to the world!
let go.

There was a moment of silence in Taibai Academy at this moment!
That lantern... No! That's not right! It's not a lantern... Anyway, whatever it is, it has broken free from the ground and is flying into the sky!

Fly!

It actually flew!

Everyone opened their mouths wide and stared at this miraculous scene!
"Gudong."

Some clever scholars had already begun to swallow their saliva, understanding Zhuge Liang's intention of releasing the lanterns.

Some stupid ones, although shocked, still asked Zhuge Liang: "Where is the vitality? We need to see the vitality!"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said nothing, just standing there quietly as if he didn't bother to explain.

"idiot!"

Finally, a scholar from Kong Rong's side couldn't help but scold the other party!

"The lanterns were made on site. We saw the whole process and knew there was no trickery involved!"

"How could Zhuge Liang make such a heavy lantern fly if he doesn't have any magical powers?"

"It can fly, which means there is something in the space wrapped in paper that is carrying it!"

"The things in that paper-wrapped space are the energy that we can't see or touch!"

"Oh~~~~"

Suddenly, there were sounds of sudden enlightenment everywhere.

Zhuge Liang spoke again at this time -

"Uncle, this is how the vitality is displayed."

"If you want to see the fine Gu... that's easy. You just have to wait for a while. Although we have found natural clean crystals now, it still takes some effort to polish them."

"In addition, regarding the solar eclipse, I have also sorted out the records left by Lingtai Lang in the past and confirmed that the solar eclipse is a disaster that can be traced."

"If you don't believe me, you can wait until February next year to prove that what I said is true!"

……

seeing is believing.

With the lantern released by Zhuge Liang, the concept of "vitality" has been completely confirmed!

Even according to Zhuge Liang's meaning, things like "fine poison" and "solar eclipse" can be seen with one's own eyes and the patterns behind them can be found!

With this solid argument, the theoretical system of "the correspondence between heaven and man" was instantly shattered!
After Zhuge Liang had done something that would go down in history... no! It was something that would change history, he sat down next to Sima Yi calmly, as if nothing had happened.

Sima Yi came up at this moment, his words full of unkindness -

"Kong Ming, I think you are becoming more and more like a human being."

"Who?"

"Emperor!"

"Don't dare to talk nonsense."

Sima Yi's face was full of suspicion.

He did not yet have an appropriate and accurate word to explain the common temperament between Zhuge Liang and the emperor.

I just feel like they are pretending...

Although they do have the capital to pretend...

But once you think about it this way, it becomes even more infuriating!

Later, more Confucian scholars came to debate with Liu Biao and Zhuge Liang, but with Zhuge Liang letting go of the lantern, no matter how wonderful the debate was, it became meaningless.

This lantern directly kicked the foundation of the correspondence between heaven and man, and at the same time shattered the theory of prophecies and divinations, causing an unbearable blow to the theory of the correspondence between heaven and man!

Although "Heaven and Man's Induction" has not officially lost its market, it is undeniable that the trend of the entire Guanzhong area has changed overnight. In the bookstores, Wang Chong's "Lun Heng" surpassed "Five Years of Imperial Examination and Three Years of Simulation" and became the best-selling book in Guanzhong!
When the emperor learned about this, he just smiled and ignored it, allowing all the scholars to discuss it freely.

The only thing that came into play was that the emperor felt that it was inappropriate for the lantern released by Zhuge Liang to have no name.

"In that case, why not just call it a Kongming lantern!"

After this incident, the name of Kong Ming may really shine through the ages and become a lamp that burns forever!
(End of this chapter)