Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 148: The Thirty-Nine Years of King Xian
In the spring of the 39th year of Emperor Zibian's reign,

He Bo took his "A Brief Biography of Mencius" and "Miscellaneous Sayings" and went to Pu River again, intending to go to Zhu State to visit Mencius, who had returned to his hometown to rest and relax because of his unsatisfactory teaching.

Just right,

His disciples are already compiling books for their teacher.
He Bo said that he had to go and help out!

When passing through Song State along the Pu River,
Zhuangzi was fishing again.

He Bo turned into a swimming fish and poked his head out of the water, shouting to him, "Zhou, are you feeding the fish again?"

As soon as Zhuangzi saw the fish speaking human language, he knew what it was. He picked up his fishing rod and poked the filthy creature that had suddenly appeared.

"Ugh!"

"Can't hit!"

He Bo flicked his tail and dodged it easily.

He even went on to make fun of the fisherman who had been squatting by the Pu River for decades but had little success, "You can't catch any fish with those baits, and now you're just poking with a pole, how can you possibly poke me!"

Zhuangzi said calmly, "I can't catch the fish because my bait can't attract them, and I'm not obsessed with it."

"But how can you, a thing like you, be treated like a swimming fish by me?"

finished,

He continued to fish with the fishing rod, saying that he wanted to get rid of a harm to the Pu River!
But He Bo twisted and turned in the water, and his efforts were in vain.

"Okay, I won't tease you anymore!"

He Bo jumped onto the shore, transformed into a human, flicked his sleeves, and threw out a book.

He handed it to Zhuangzi and said to him, "Look!"

"This is the result of my hard work over the years!"

Articles written by Zhuangzi,

It is often characterized by rich imagination, exaggerated description, and elegant writing style, and is good at fables.

Therefore, whenever he wrote stories about ghosts and gods, Zhuangzi could not help but include He Bo, with whom he often interacted.

Although no names were mentioned,

But how could He Bo not see that the "nameless god" he wrote about was himself?
Then the ghosts became angry:
Little Heizi!
You're secretly writing a diary for me, right?
then,

He Bo also imitated Zhuangzi's writing style and wrote many articles based on Zhuang Zhou as the main prototype.

He put these articles together and named it "Miscellaneous Essays".

It means occasional mumbling.

but,

When Shang Yang and Shen Buhai in the underworld heard that the gods and ghosts had personally come out to fight, they said that they must help as well!

With the addition of these dead ghosts, "Miscellaneous Talks" became more and more numerous, and the scope of attack also expanded greatly.

It's not just about Zhuang Zhou.

Mencius was also included in the article.

Zhuang Zhou first finished reading several articles written by He Bo, and then casually flipped to the back, where he saw a passage mocking Mencius's benevolence and righteousness, and arguing that what the world needs today is rapid stability brought about by power, even if it cannot last, rather than the delusion of restoring morality and making the world full of love and peace.

"This is not what you wrote!" Zhuang Zhou said immediately, "How could a ghost with your personality mock morality so harshly?"

"This should have been written by a disciple of the Legalist School!"

Moreover, the language is so sharp, the author is definitely not an ordinary Legalist!

Shang Yang and Shen Buhai have both passed away.

Is it possible that a new person of reform is about to emerge?
He Bo just smiled and said, "Guess!"

Anyway, at the moment, he didn't tell Zhuang Zhou that he had a part-time job as "Tu Bo" and owned a ghost country.

"Don't guess!"

Zhuang Zhou threw the book back and said, "I get a headache when I read books about other people quarreling with each other!"

The general trend of the world,

Just like the Pu River, it continuously flows from high places to low places. If the river encounters bends and obstacles along the way, it will naturally bypass them and continue to flow.

One day, everything will return to the sea or rise up to the sky and become clouds.

Different paths lead to the same destination,
Why do we need excessive interference from others?

He just asked, "Why do you mix other people's articles in your book?"

He Bo said, "If there weren't all this mess, how could it be called "Miscellaneous Talks"? " After all, it's not easy for a dead guy to publish new articles for the world to see, otherwise some people would really go down in advance to communicate with the dead guy face to face.

As for writing a book under someone else’s name?

That is all attributed to other people, so it must be based on more famous sages, such as Huangdi, Shennong and so on.

Shang Yang and his people are not qualified yet.

but,

They don't care about this reputation.

Because of the reforms, they have been scolded countless times while they are alive. Can they still expect to be remembered and mourned after they die?
"By the way, I'm going to Zhu State. Do you want to come with me?"

He Bo put the book away and made another invitation to Zhuang Zhou.

"Don't go."

Zhuang Zhou said, "I just met Mencius a while ago!"

When Mencius was on his way back to Zhu because his teaching was not going well, he had to pass through Song.

Thinking of the connection he had with Zhuang Zhou because of ghosts and gods, he went out of his way to find him and meet him.

Zhuang Zhou was just happy because he had grown a big gourd. When he saw the visitor, he said to him, "After so many years, you look much older than me. It must be difficult to preach the way of benevolence and righteousness!"

Mencius smiled calmly and said, "I am only forty-three years old. No matter how difficult it is, I can continue to uphold benevolence and righteousness for decades!"

"I have many disciples now and teach them the importance of morality."

"When the world is at peace, my disciples will be able to carry forward benevolence and righteousness."

Zhuangzi said, "It will take several generations for your dream to come true!"

"Anyway, the world will never be unified while you and I are alive, so why not give up now and enjoy the natural happiness of the present moment?"

Mencius told him, "Many things in the world must have a beginning."

"I am working hard now, so that the morality in people's hearts can be restored as soon as possible, and the suffering of the world can be shortened!"

Zhuangzi just looked at him in silence for a while, then said, "After so many years, your way and mine are still different!"

"I am a fish that swims along with the current, and you are a boat paddling upstream. Although we are both in the same river, our directions are different."

"I can only wish you to realize your dream as soon as possible!"

then,

The two great sages of the time ended their brief meeting and parted ways.

So He Bo said, "Then I'll go by myself!"

finished,

He jumped into the water and disappeared.

It probably didn't even pretend to be a fish, but simply melted into a drop of river water, quickly moistening the State of Zhu.

When He Bo met Mencius,
The other party seemed to be in good spirits.

I even have time to go back and visit the place where I lived as a child.

He pointed to a market and said to his disciples, "There is a place where animals are slaughtered over there. It's not very good. Let's go around it!"

The disciples knew that this was what their teacher once said, "A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen."

So without any doubt, they turned and went to other places to appreciate the scenery of their teacher's childhood experiences.

But He Bo just jumped out and shouted at Meng Zi and his group, "You guys who used to like watching pigs being slaughtered, now you don't even want to go to a place where dogs are slaughtered and meat is sold?"

Meng Ke's dark history was exposed in public, so he looked in the direction of the voice and saw He Bo.

He then started laughing.

　About "Miscellaneous Talks"——

　　This is a work from the pre-Qin period, the author is unknown, but because the book is rich in content and mentions Zhuangzi and Mencius many times, it is speculated that the compiler of the book was active during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou, and it is suspected to be co-authored by multiple scholars.

　　Also, because apart from the ridicule of Zhuangzi in "Miscellaneous Sayings", the other chapters use very harsh words and extreme views, most of the authors should be from the Legalist school.

　　The biggest doubt about "Miscellaneous Talks" -

　　According to archaeological discoveries, this book has been circulating from the middle of the Warring States Period to the Western Han Dynasty. The length of the book has continued to increase over time, from the original dozen chapters to hundreds of chapters. The wording style of some chapters has remained unchanged, and it is suspected that the author has never died (but who can live for hundreds of years?)
　　The content also changed from being allegorical to becoming a mutual attack between the authors (one chapter is "Zhuangzi talks about swordsmanship, and the two sides fighting are Mencius and Shang Jun"?)

　　Considering the time when the book was originally written and the scope of its dissemination, experts speculate that the book should have come from the Jixia Academy.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)