nycdaug Chapter 262 is very patient.
Chapter 262 is very patient.
"It's all because of those so-called masters who've been arguing day after day without ever reaching a conclusion!"
Jia Daihua had a headache just thinking about it. In the past half day, he had only heard them quoting classics and sayings, as if they were not there to ask for his advice, but to compete to see who was more knowledgeable.
So that's how it is. Jia Hu and the others also saw the argument. No wonder their great-uncle was annoyed.
"Isn't my mean-spirited grandfather in charge of guarding the place? Why is he going to watch the scholars discuss things?"
Jia Hu asked curiously.
My great-uncle was trusted by the emperor, who entrusted all the guard duties to my grandfather. The emperor's safety was of paramount importance, so how could the guard duties be intertwined with the ceremonial matters?
"It's just that His Majesty had some free time today, so he summoned all those people over to hear what they had come up with."
"They're so bold! They even argue in front of the Emperor?"
Jia Hu was very surprised. He thought those scholars would only argue in private, but who knew they would argue in front of the emperor! Judging from his great-uncle's behavior, the argument must have been very heated.
"Grandfather, did they fight? Is the Emperor angry?"
Jia Zhen was concerned about whether they had started fighting.
Jia Zhen felt very regretful that he hadn't seen it that day. He hoped his grandfather would say he had seen them fight. That way, he could ask his grandfather who won and which master was more powerful.
Jia Daihua waved his hand, telling his two grandsons that they didn't need to massage his legs anymore; they were happy to do it for a while.
"What are you two thinking? Those are masters, admirable Confucian scholars, how could they be so vulgar?"
Then he looked at Jia Zhen.
"And you, I told you to learn martial arts, but all you think about is fighting all day long. That's not right."
Jia Zhen was unconvinced.
“Grandfather, I don’t just think about fighting all day long. Didn’t you say that one should be good at both literature and martial arts?”
I thought that if those great Confucian scholars were so learned, their martial arts skills must also be incredibly powerful.
Jia Hu couldn't help but laugh. Only then did he understand why his younger brother had been so eager to see the masters fight.
Jia Daihua was taken aback, then realized that these were the words he had said to his grandson to persuade him to study hard and not just focus on martial arts, yet the boy remembered them so clearly.
Jia Daishan, who had been watching the whole thing unfold, noticed his elder brother's obvious struggle and knew he didn't know how to explain things to Jia Zhen. He smiled and spoke up.
"You may like to practice martial arts here, but some scholars may not. This is due to personal preferences and other reasons, so not all scholars practice martial arts."
Looking at Jia Zhen's furrowed brow, Jia Hu knew that his younger brother was probably thinking again that he didn't want to study anymore.
Jia Hu felt that his younger brother's interests lay in reading and writing, and he would not force him. However, his brother was clearly still young, and it would be wrong to indulge him.
You need to know the most basic things. If you really don't like it, you can only make a decision when your younger brother is older and has his own judgment.
“Grandfather is right. Little brother, think about it. If you only know martial arts or only know how to study, people will only praise you a little. But if you know both, people will praise you for being both scholarly and martial. How amazing would that be!”
"You little brat, you want to be a great general, but if you can't even read a few words, how can you understand military reports, various military strategies, and troop deployments?"
Jia Daihua had also figured out what to say.
If it weren't for the fact that the Ningguo Mansion would still be counting on this kid for the future, and that Hu'er kept saying that we shouldn't keep hitting him and should reason with him, I really would have liked to give this kid a few slaps. Why are there so many problems? He doesn't like to study, so a beating would have been enough!
When I was educating his father, I didn't have so many problems.
Although Jia Zhen was still young, he was influenced by Jia Hu in a subtle way. In addition, he also saw the world when he went out with him. Although he was still young, he knew a lot of things.
"I will study. I don't want to be illiterate. That would be too embarrassing."
I can't understand what people are saying. I need to learn to read and write, I need to study military texts carefully, so that I can go out to fight and earn military merit to become a great general!
"it is good!"
Jia Daihua stood up excitedly.
"Well said, that's what a son of the Jia family should be like!"
Jia Hu was also delighted with his younger brother's growth. You see, at home, although his younger brother also studied, he usually needed Jia Hu to supervise him, or he would be motivated by his younger brother Zhu'er. His younger brother felt that he couldn't lose to his younger brother, so he studied hard.
These are all external motivations, not his own motivation to work hard. But now it seems that my younger brother has found his own goal.
Jia Daishan was also generous with his praise.
Jia Zhen felt a little embarrassed. Everyone was praising him, but he had only spoken his mind and hadn't even done anything yet. What if he wanted to slack off again later?
Seeing that his younger brother was embarrassed, Jia Hu started talking about other things:
"Grandfather, the Emperor actually listened to them arguing without losing his temper, didn't he?"
"His Majesty showed no impatience and listened to a great deal of what they had to say."
Jia Daishan understood, of course, that the reason the Emperor was not impatient but instead watched them argue and even encouraged them to talk more was because the Emperor also valued the Fengshan ceremony. Firstly, it would put him in a good mood, and secondly, he felt that these people's arguing was all for the sake of the grand ceremony, which made him seem very cautious.
Something's not right. The Emperor isn't angry at all. When did his temper become so mild?
Jia Hu sensed something was amiss. The Emperor's temperament was such that he could tolerate others arguing in front of him, something even his great-uncle found troublesome, yet the Emperor showed no impatience.
Seeing Hu'er's increasingly furrowed brows and discerning thoughts, Jia Daishan, fearing that Hu'er would overthink things, quickly began to explain.
"His Majesty attaches great importance to this, and the scholars' debates are all aimed at making this Fengshan ceremony as perfect as possible."
As soon as he heard this, Jia Hu understood. He couldn't help but recall watching TV dramas where, when there were projects, the boss always remained calm and collected, watching the various departments compete with each other.
At that time, I didn't understand that as a boss, shouldn't you be maintaining peace? How could you just sit back and watch the departments fight? Wouldn't that affect the stability of the company?
Later I realized that it was some kind of so-called wolf culture, which aimed to cultivate employees to be more combative and competitive, somewhat similar to the current emperor's approach.
The difference is that it wasn't the emperor who instigated their competition, but rather the scholars who each submitted their own papers in order to gain fame.
As expected, this is how those in positions of power are. Jia Hu was once again certain of why he couldn't be a boss.
Jia Zhen:
“Grandfather said, ‘Grandfather, please tell my brother and me about it. We are also very curious to know. Didn’t we go through the Fengshan ceremony before? Can’t it be the same as before?’”
Jia Hu also looked up and said, "That's right! It's happened before, and it's not the first time we've done something like this without any rules. Since it's happened before, we can just do it the way it was done before. What's the point of arguing?"
Jia Daishan smiled and said:
“It has happened before, but that was in the previous dynasty. This is the first time, so of course it has to be different from theirs.”
So that's how it is. Liu's words make sense. The first Fengshan ceremony of this dynasty should naturally be as grand as possible.
Jia Daihua was somewhat disdainful:
"As long as you are sincere, and the Emperor's achievements are real, why bother with all that nonsense?"
“Brother, that may be true, but these things will be recorded in history and passed down to future generations. The emperor’s heart and the ministers’ hearts are the same; they both hope for perfection.”
After Jia Daishan finished speaking, he laughed again:
"It's no use telling you now, it's not decided yet."
The argument has been going on for so long, mostly revolving around how to get into the mountains and what routes to take.
"Ah! After arguing for so long, we've been discussing this!"
Jia Hu was quite surprised. He was arguing about how to write the eulogy, how to set up the altar, and how to arrange the various groups of people. Why were they all arguing about these things?
"Yeah, what's there to argue about? How do you get into the mountains? You walk, of course. You're not going to fly in, are you?"
Jia Zhen, with his little head, didn't understand either.
"Haha, there's a lot more to this than meets the eye. Let your great-uncle tell you all about it."
Jia Daishan also laughed.
"Since you want to know, I'll tell you first."
The usual offerings are cattle, sheep, and pigs, but some masters believe that these common offerings should not be used. Instead, uncommon offerings should be used to show sincerity.
Putting aside the issue of fairness, there's also the method of entering the mountain. Some want the emperor to personally walk up to the mountain as a sign of solemnity and respect.
But the mountain road is long and everyone has to walk up it. When should they start to go up so as not to waste time?
"Such a high mountain, how much physical strength would it take to climb it? What will happen to the elderly ministers?"