September 9th, Double Ninth Festival every year, and now Double Ninth Festival is again. (_)

It is the bright and refreshing season of autumn. Fenghuang Mountain in the west of Xiangyang City is full of tourists looking away. According to local elderly people, there are more tourists in Fenghuang Mountain this year than before. The main reason is that there are many young people wearing literati costumes. They are talking about some "principal lectures" and they are excitedly climbing to the top of the mountain, which makes the local people think that some wealthy family has a banquet on the mountain, so they also follow the young students to climb to the top of the mountain.

The "Classic Seminar" mentioned by the illiterate rural people is naturally not a flowing table with big fish and meat, but a contemporary great scholar Zheng Xuan gave a lecture to explain the allusions of Confucian classics. Choosing the location of the lecture on Phoenix Mountain implies the determination of the southern scholar group to compete with the "Taihang Academy" that is now famous in the north.

Nowadays, children on the streets in Xiangyang City laugh and say from time to time, "North Taihang, North Taihang, forgetting ancestors and blindly throwing them away; South Phoenix, South Phoenix, respecting teachers, respecting education and serving all directions..." This shows that the people here have regarded Xiangyang Phoenix Mountain as a spiritual holy place to defend Confucian orthodoxy.

Like other mountains in the south, the mountain is not high and the road is not difficult to walk. Not only are the mountains always green, but birds sing in the quiet forest and springs soak in the mountain stream, which is a rare place of beautiful scenery. Master Zheng Xuan, accompanied by the famous Xiangyang scholars Pang Degong and Huang Chengyan, slowly climbed up the steps and climbed to the top of Phoenix Mountain at noon.

The sun at the foot of the mountain is not a jungle where the strange peaks protrude, but a relatively flat slope with a chair back. Not far ahead, there is a rare piece of flat land worth hundreds of acres, which just allows scholars from all over the world who come to listen to the scriptures to rest here.

There is a beautifully repaired seven-foot-high altar in the middle of the flat ground. There is a book case and a chair on it, with a thick stack of classics and a few pieces of paperweight on it. There is nothing else. Needless to say, Master Zheng was naturally preaching to the scholars on this altar.

Seeing that the two famous scholars, Pang Degong and Huang Chengyan, had already accompanied a white-haired old man to a distance, Zhuge Liang walked up to the high altar and said loudly to the crowds under the altar: "I am not talented, but Zhuge Kongming of Langya came to preach the master because he was invited by Mr. Shui Jing..."

At the beginning, when Zhuge Liang, who was nearly twenty years old, had never met a scholar, and asked each other with his eyes, wanting to know where this young and inconscional scholar came from. When everyone heard the young man on the altar claimed to be Zhuge Kongming of Langya, he immediately whispered.

"This is the guest of the current court magistrate, the minister of Cao, and the uncle Liu Xuande. Now he is highly respected by Liu Bei. He will be in the same car when he goes out, and the seat when he goes in!" A scholar from Luoyang whispered to the people beside him.

"I also heard that this man is now the special envoy of the emperor. Wherever he passes, he only sees the governor of the prefect and even the prefects do not give face!" Another scholar who came from Yangzhou also said excitedly.

Zhuge Liang, who was above the high hall, was not affected by the emotional fluctuations among the crowd below, and still talked slowly about the purpose of the ceremony, the time arrangement of the master's lectures every day, the time arrangement of the scholars' debates, etc. Soon, Zhuge Liang's words ended, and he suddenly raised the pitch a little, saying, "Next, please come to the master to teach! The subjects we are talking about today are "The University"..."

After Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he quickly walked down the forum, stood on the side of the stairs, and waited respectfully for Zheng Xuan to come up from the side. Thousands of scholars and scholars in the audience all faced the forum, bent down, held the etiquette of students, and waited for Zheng Xuan to go up to the stairs to preach.

Zheng Xuan, who came to Xiangyang to preach from Taihang Academy in Luoyang, looked at the faces of thousands of Confucian scholars who were young or persistent under the altar. His originally gloomy mood suddenly improved a lot. He sat slowly on the only chair, raised the first volume of the stack of scriptures, and then said, "The sages said: Heaven is strong, gentlemen strive for self-improvement; the earth is quiet, gentlemen carry things with virtue. Today, they will explain the "Book of Changes" that is the first of the hundred scriptures to all the students,..."

Zheng Xuan's ups and downs, and with the refreshing mountain wind in autumn, was sent to the ears of Confucian scholars in the earthen floor of Phoenix Mountain. Everyone listened to the master's teachings with a solemn expression, for a moment they forgot the passage of time and the change of time.

After the seven consecutive days of lectures, the more people gathered on the top of Phoenix Mountain. Many scholars who came late because of the delay in the journey were very regretful and complained about the rugged mountain roads, and borrowed lecture notes from the scholars who arrived on the first day. Even Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, and many important strategists under him put down their chaotic official duties two days before the end of the lectures and came to listen to the master's teachings in person.

At noon on the seventh day, all the master's lectures were over, and it was the turn of students from all over the country to debate with each other. Because of the large number of people, everyone naturally formed a small circle of dozens or hundreds of people according to their region and degree of acquaintance, and debated around a topic that everyone agreed upon.

Among many circles, a scholar from Jizhou said: "I was fortunate to visit Taihang Academy of Wohu, Jin State, and listened to the explanations of Grand Secretary Cai Yong and famous scholar Guan You'an. I thought it was very different from what Master Zheng said and said. Now I will list it for everyone to analyze it."

When sentient beings heard that he had been to Taihang Academy and also heard Cai Yong and Guan Ning’s lectures, they immediately became interested, so they signaled him to quickly tell me what the academic style in the north is different from the south.

The scholar said proudly: "In "The Analects of Confucius: Taibo", the Master said: The people can be used to do it, but not to know it. The explanation of the sacrifice of wine in Taihang Academy is that the people can be used to do it, but not to know it. However, Master Zheng's explanation is that the people can be used to do it, but not to know it. The two explanations are obviously very different. Which one is right or wrong, and it shows the attitudes of the north and south towards ordinary people. Please analyze it..."

According to this scholar, Taihang Academy believes that if the people master the rules and etiquette, it is a good thing and they should be allowed to play it out; if the people have not mastered it yet, we should educate them to let them know and understand these rules and etiquette. According to Zheng Xuan's explanation, it is another saying: the people can follow the path we guide, and there is no need to let them know why.

Simply put, the explanation of Taihang Academy implies an open and transparent flavor. If we continue to persist, the direction of society should be to have sound legal system and fair and transparent law enforcement; while Zheng Xuan's explanation is a typical service to the king's rule of the country, with obvious "fooling the people".

Originally it was just a topic of discussion in this small circle, but at some point it alarmed Liu Biao, Zhuge Liang and others who came to listen to the lecture, so it became a large-scale discussion and defense. Of course, most of them supported and supported Zheng Xuan, but many poor families also felt that the Taihang Academy's statement was more reasonable and did not separate the ruling class and ordinary people from it.

So the "Phoenix Classic Festival" that was originally scheduled to end on that day was postponed for a few days. Later, because there were few scholars who supported Taihang Academy and were attacked, they kept talking and called "Taihang Academy", as if they could use the name of Taihang Academy to make their persistence more reasonable. The fans of Master Zheng Xuan felt very uncomfortable after hearing these students who came from the north and the Kuhan Family said that Taihang was called Taihang, so they surrounded Liu Biao and petitioned, demanding that the "Phoenix Academy" be established immediately, and in the future, they would clearly compete with the Taihang Academy of Jin.

Liu Biao came to listen to the scriptures in the last few days, just to give Zheng Xuan a face. At the same time, he wanted to select a few available talents. However, he finally turned into a "big showdown" between scholars from north and south. It would be fine if the scholars came to petition, but the master Zheng Xuan and the famous scholars in Xiangyang also came to petition one after another, and the Jingzhou Mufu contributed money and efforts to build academy on the Fenghuang Mountain preaching plaza.

Liu Biao naturally would not let go of this great opportunity to attract people's hearts. After talking about a lot of difficulties with an airs, he finally waved his hand and announced to thousands of students: "Phoenix Academy was established since the day Master Zheng Xuan gave a lecture. All scholars who came to listen to the scriptures can freely choose to enter the academy to study. Jingzhou Prefecture will provide everyone with food, accommodation and study books in the future!"

At this moment, the song "Southern Phoenix, respecting teachers, respecting education and serving the world" mentioned by a child in Xiangyang finally became a reality.
Chapter completed!