Chapter 15

That night.

Inside the Duke's residence.

Gu Jinnian gazed at the moonlight, his face slightly gloomy.

He had sent people to notify every household and had also made a trip to Qingyue Tower in advance.

Unfortunately, there was no so-called benevolence to support him.

As the old saying goes,

Good people don't get good rewards.

After returning to the Gu family, Gu Jinnian felt quite lonely. Apart from his mother, who specially came to ask what he had eaten, his father was busy with official duties.

His grandfather was also busy with something recently.

Everyone in the clan had their own things to do.

So Gu Jinnian was often alone.

Being alone wasn't a problem, but not having a maid was really unbearable for Gu Jinnian. It would have been nice to chat with the maid sisters.

Unfortunately,

The clan didn't allow it.

This made Gu Jinnian a bit angry.

Damn, it's one thing to guard against villains, but to guard against a gentleman like me?

It was uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do. When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

As the old saying goes, first be a grandson, then be a grandfather. As the heir, he still had to endure.

Putting aside these杂念,

There were some things Gu Jinnian needed to seriously consider.

That was the ancient tree in his mind.

He couldn't figure out what it was, but he had a rough understanding of some things.

Nine branches, representing nine different energy absorbers in various fields.

So far, he knew about resentment, martial arts inner energy, and gold.

Gu Jinnian had tested it, and silver notes didn't work; it had to be gold. He wasn't sure if jade could be used as a substitute, so he had the steward prepare some high-quality jade to test tomorrow.

The things given by resentment were quite peculiar.

The things given by martial arts inner energy were unknown for now.

The things given by gold were similar to information or answers to questions he posed, as long as he provided enough silver.

It was like paying for answers.

It wasn't very useful for now, but it was definitely helpful.

From the perspective of a穿越者, Gu Jinnian roughly deduced two scenarios: either his current realm and strength were insufficient, so the things he got were limited. This was understandable, as he wanted to write a long story and control the pace, which made sense.

The second scenario was that the energy he obtained was insufficient, so the benefits were limited. This made more sense to Gu Jinnian, as the law of conservation of energy applied.

Even a nine-leak fish would know.

Gu Jinnian was more inclined to the second possibility because what realm division was there for resentment and silver?

In other words, to get better things, he needed to obtain more energy.

"For resentment, I need to get it from important people, not from people like Zhang Yun."

"Unfortunately, I haven't entered the court yet. If I had, it would be much better. I could challenge the entire court, wouldn't that be fun?"

"Best if I could get the position of Censor-in-Chief. Today, I could accuse the Minister of Personnel, and tomorrow, the Minister of Rites. Finding faults is easy, right?"

"Unfortunately."

Gu Jinnian felt a bit melancholic. He was still young and lacked an official title.

However, he had a clear plan for the early stage: to enter the court as soon as possible.

For martial arts, daily basic practice was enough. There was no way to force it, after all, time was limited.

For information, it depended on the situation. Who knew how much silver the ancient tree would consume? For small matters, Gu Jinnian could afford it.

If it really required tens of thousands of gold, it was unfeasible given the current situation.

The Gu family was wealthy, but they wouldn't give him unlimited resources. Getting a thousand gold from the treasury was fine, but if it required tens of thousands of gold multiple times, even the Gu family couldn't handle it.

The main reason was that the information obtained wasn't important.

If it were truly useful, it wouldn't be unaffordable.

Thinking about it carefully, Gu Jinnian felt even more helpless.

Fortunately, he was a descendant of the Gu family. If he were an ordinary person, it would be pointless to talk about anything.

Sigh.

He sighed.

Gu Jinnian shook his head, stopped thinking further, and turned his gaze to the Confucian books on the desk.

Confucianism was also a system.

If his guess was correct, it was related to the ancient tree.

To improve in Confucianism, the early stage relied on reading, understanding the sages' intentions, and gathering righteousness.

Honestly, martial arts and immortality were fine, but resentment and money were nothing compared to Confucianism, which Gu Jinnian truly cared about.

In a world where the dynasty was supreme, reading was very important, especially when the country was stable.

Throughout history, if there were no external enemies or internal turmoil, the status of scholars was the highest because maintaining the empire was harder than founding it.

Moreover, military generals could put immense pressure on the emperor, especially the princes and dukes outside the capital. If they rebelled, it wasn't a joke.

Scholars who rebelled usually did so by supporting a prince, but this was traceable, unlike a prince's rebellion.

The emperor was far away, and even if you sent people, you couldn't be sure they wouldn't collude.

Therefore, emperors throughout history generally weakened the status of military generals to stabilize central imperial power.

Scholars were different. They couldn't be guarded against, and it was impossible to guard against them. If all scholars were guarded against, the country would fall apart.

Of course, this was a relative comparison, not saying that scholars were completely harmless.

Learning from history,

The first step was to deal with military generals, then handle scholars.

The risk was much lower.

The Gu family was full of military generals, severely biased. Everything seemed fine now, but once his grandfather passed away, their status would drop significantly.

This was the current concern of the Gu family.

So the third generation of the Gu family must produce a scholar. If not, the fourth generation must.

Gu Jinnian was very clear about this because he had information that the clan was already helping him find a wife.

Once his coming-of-age ceremony was over, he would basically be married, with no way to escape.

But Gu Jinnian didn't want to marry so early; it was completely meaningless.

Since he was here, he didn't want to just exist and do nothing, which would be embarrassing for a穿越者.

Confucianism and powerful ministers.

This was Gu Jinnian's current idea.

Especially with so many poems and articles in his mind, not showing off would be a waste of his talent.

A great Confucian could even gather a unique phenomenon, which Gu Jinnian was looking forward to.

Thinking about this, Gu Jinnian picked up the Confucian book and started reading.

At the same time, he thoroughly studied Confucianism.

The moonlight was like ink.

Inside the Duke's residence.

The dim light illuminated Gu Jinnian's handsome face, with no wind, everything was quiet.

In a blink, it was the first hour of the Tiger.

As the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon, the sunlight shone through the window, illuminating Gu Jinnian's face.

From the day before to that day, Gu Jinnian had been awake for twenty-four hours.

Fortunately, this was a world where immortality and martial arts coexisted, and his body could withstand it. Although he was a bit tired, it wasn't a big problem.

Most importantly, Gu Jinnian was engrossed.

In one night, he read three books: a history of Confucianism, a history of Confucian sages, and a Confucian enlightenment book.

They introduced the history of Confucianism, the history of Confucian sages, and an enlightenment book.

The history of Confucianism was relatively straightforward, with three main stages.

The rites of people, the rites of gentlemen, and the rites of the state.

The meaning was that those with manners were human; otherwise, they were no different from beasts.

Next came the rites of gentlemen, with the core being heaven, earth, ruler, parents, and teacher.

Gentlemen respected heaven above and earth below, then the ruler, followed by parents, and finally the teacher.

Because of this, Confucianism could flourish in various countries. For the emperor, after heaven and earth, he was the greatest, aligning with the imperial value system.

After all, imperial power was supreme, a form of ideological rule. Without this foundation, Confucianism wouldn't flourish and might even be suppressed.

The third stage was the rites of the state, which involved setting rules to prevent large-scale wars and massacres. Even in wars between countries, there had to be manners, with formal declarations of war and justifiable reasons, and no harm to civilians.

This aligned with natural law, receiving heavenly favor, and was reasonable.

These were the three stages of Confucianism.

The history of Confucian sages filled Gu Jinnian with curiosity because there were only four sages in Confucianism.

The first sage, the Sage of All Ages, known as the Confucian Sage, wrote "The Rites of People."

The second sage, the Sage of a Thousand Years, known as the Second Sage, wrote "The Rites of Gentlemen."

The third sage, the Sage of a Hundred Years, known as the Revival Sage, wrote "The Rites of the State."

The fourth sage, the Sage of Heaven's Will, known as the Ancestor Sage, wrote "The Confucian Studies."

These four sages spanned a long time. The Confucian Sage became a sage ten thousand years ago, the Second Sage five thousand years ago, the Revival Sage three thousand years ago, and the Ancestor Sage one thousand five hundred years ago, with each sage separated by about one thousand five hundred years.

Only the first sage received heaven's recognition, so he was praised as the Sage of All Ages.

The later sages were half-sages, lacking heaven's recognition, but their influence was no less than the first sage.

The first three sages were known to Gu Jinnian. The Rites of People initiated the teaching of the masses, the Rites of Gentlemen taught people to read and cultivate to become gentlemen, and the Rites of the State aimed to stop wars and ensure the peace of the people.

But what truly attracted Gu Jinnian was the fourth sage.

Known as the Sage of Heaven's Will, but historical records showed that one thousand five hundred years ago, heaven did not choose Confucianism. However, scholars believed he broke through the constraints of heaven, forcefully reaching the sage realm and promoting Confucianism, thus suffering heavenly retribution.

This view was recognized by scholars, but not by other systems, so there was doubt.

However, it was one thousand five hundred years ago, making it difficult to verify.

But the ideas of the Ancestor Sage were unique.

He advocated the idea of gentlemen governing the country and the world. The Ancestor Sage believed that gentlemen should not talk about the world in vain but should read and understand the way, enter the government, and serve the people.

The idea was not to talk about the world and the people, but to study and participate in the imperial examinations. One person's power was limited, but if you could reach a high position and become a significant figure in the court, your words could save thousands of people.

He encouraged scholars to seek power and become officials, the higher the better, rather than just talking about the world and the people after studying.

This provided a perfect excuse for scholars to become officials. Considering the historical context, Gu Jinnian found that at that time, scholars did become officials, but usually at the request of the court.

Even when they became officials, they often found trouble, showing their opposition to imperial power, being upright and clean.

Otherwise, they were corrupt officials, all the same.

This made the situation extremely complex.

Becoming an official was considered shameful, let alone colluding with others. Even if you didn't collude, you couldn't provide evidence. People were jealous, and as your position rose, so did the criticism and insults.

So that era was very peculiar.

The appearance of the Ancestor Sage gave all scholars a reasonable direction.

Therefore, now, scholars would do anything to become officials, even if they were insulted by the emperor, they would endure.

After all, they would say they endured for the world and the people.

As for whether it was true, they would know after they died.

Currently, the mainstream of scholars was this.

This was clearly problematic and had significant issues.

"The fourth sage, it seems, is carrying a big burden."

After thinking all night, Gu Jinnian felt that the fourth sage was completely pushed to this position.

Not that he wasn't capable, but the theory was the core.

Confucian studies were revered as a classic by countless scholars of the time.

There were many unknown things, and Gu Jinnian could only perceive a few, not daring to think too deeply.

As for the third book, the Confucian enlightenment book, Gu Jinnian read it roughly.

It revolved around benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness.

It explained what propriety and what a gentleman were. After putting the book down,

A thread of literary talent entered the ancient tree.

It attached to the fifth branch.

But it was just a hint, not even a jujube seed.

Indeed, Confucianism counted as one.

"Prince, it's time for class."

At that moment, the steward's voice outside woke Gu Jinnian from his thoughts.