The Empress's No.1 Lackey

Lu Jiuyuan advocated for "valuing innate morality" and opposed extensive reading, believing instead in "being human-centered," continually cultivating the body and mind, first learning to be human, understanding the principles of being human, and then undertaking actions. With this approach, success would follow everywhere, ultimately leading to sainthood and wisdom.

Later on, Wang Yangming inherited Lu Jiuyuan's doctrines and took them even further before they matured.

He emphasized the need to clearly understand virtue, believing that the goodness and evil within people, the natural law versus human desires, and one's true heart and nature are all clear and distinct. As long as one can hold onto the centrality of their original heart, anyone can become a sage.

Constantly reflecting on oneself, correcting one's daily behavior, nurturing the energy of the night and of righteousness, and pondering and practicing in daily affairs, integrating knowledge and action...

In Zhao Douan's view, it was hard to say which of the two doctrines was "right" or "wrong."

Or rather, it could be said that both valuing innate morality and the Way of Inquiry should coexist; whether to start with the heart or with actions was just a matter of perspective.

However, if practicality was considered, he himself was even more inclined toward Zhu Xi's Rationalism.

But this was not important.

What was important was that neither of the two doctrines was superior to the other; they could both be brought into the ring to contend, and that was enough.

"Mr. Zhengyang and Dong Xuan, as well as the entire Great Yu Confucianism, are currently similar to Rationalism, but because this doctrine has persisted for too long, too rigidly bonded with the rites and the Saint's sayings, placing too much emphasis on the principles in books, it's not favorable to the Empress's assumption of the throne... Therefore, Dong Xuan has been trying to find phrases from the sages' doctrines to legitimize the Empress's rule these past two years..."

"But the path Dong Xuan is taking is still that of Rationalism, making it seem as if he's distorting orthodoxy. It's hard for him to prevail over Mr. Zhengyang... so, the only option is to take a different path, to abandon Rationalism, and to establish Heart Learning to break out of this disadvantage..."

"Moreover, if one looks at the Empress's ascension from the perspective of Heart Learning, it becomes possible to discard the Saint's words and dogmatic rules from the books and instead to encourage introspection. By doing so, one could break free from the logical sophistry of the many contemporary scholars..."

"Even if we can't win without fighting, it doesn't matter, as long as we have a new set of arguments that can contend with the rites and dogmas, that itself would be a great victory."

As Zhao Douan was plucking grapes, he daydreamed, sorting out the entire logic in his mind.

He invited Mr. Zhengyang to meet up to test the waters, to see if the doctrine was feasible to prevent blunders during the formal scholarly debate.

He also considered that if he could defeat Mr. Zhengyang in advance, causing him to step down out of difficulty, it would undoubtedly be better for the Empress.

"Big brother?" nearby, Zhao Pan couldn't help but call softly, saying, "The basket is full."

"Ah, is it?"

Zhao Douan came back to his senses, smiled, glanced at the sky, and took out a metal stick with scales engraved on it from his bosom. It was a special device produced by the Heavenly Master Mansion that could determine the time.

Named "Time Ruler."

"It's already evening, huh." Zhao Douan frowned slightly, then picked up the basket and said,

"Let's go home."

Zhao Pan was taken aback and said, "It's just turned evening, isn't it? Aren't we going to wait?"

In that era, without clocks, the Time Ruler in Zhao Douan's hands was expensive and produced in limited quantities, so the vast majority of people could not own one.

Therefore, scheduling a meeting could easily lead to time discrepancies, and being late was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Let's not wait." Zhao Douan said indifferently,

"I despise people who are not punctual."

...

"Giddyup... giddyup..."

When Lu Cheng arrived at Bailu Academy in a chariot, he appeared somewhat anxious.

When leaving, to avoid the gaze of outsiders and to keep a low profile, they chose a more secluded route, and by their estimates, they were slightly late.

"Teacher, we've arrived."

The carriage curtain was lifted, and Mr. Zhengyang stepped down, followed by Scholar Song and two other vigorous young students.

Mr. Zhengyang looked up, gaze lingering on the peeling gold lacquer signboard of the academy, reflecting a sense of nostalgia.

He himself had once studied here and was now revisiting the old place.

However, when they knocked on the door, the caretaker of the academy said,

"That sir has already left, saying that you were late. If you want to meet, come here on time tomorrow afternoon."

With that, the caretaker closed the door, completely disregarding the identities of the scholars and showing no courtesy.

"This... this... we were only late a quarter of an hour. How could he have left?" Scholar Song said indignantly.

Lu Cheng once again urged,

"Teacher, this person is probably playing tricks on us deliberately. Perhaps it's better to let it go and focus on debating with Dong Xuan."

Mr. Zhengyang was silent for a moment, swept his sleeve to turn around, and returned to the carriage, saying,

"We will come again tomorrow."

...

A day passed in the blink of an eye, the second to last day before the scholarly debate at Mei Garden.

Because Dong Xuan was giving lectures at the Imperial College, more and more people in the city were discussing the topic, but fewer and fewer were approaching Mr. Zhengyang.

For everyone assumed that Mr. Zhengyang would certainly not leave his residence, taking the time to heartily prepare for the contest.

However, what no one expected was that Mr. Zhengyang, once again, led a few disciples and quietly left the inn.

This time, they set out at noon. When they arrived at Bailu Academy, Zhao Douan had not yet arrived.

Arriving a full half-hour ahead of time, he left the younger disciples to watch the horses outside while he, along with Lu Cheng and Scholar Song, entered the academy.

"The gentlemen can wait here."

The caretaker led them to a courtyard and then left.

This place had once been the lecture hall of Bailu Academy; it was still rather clean although the buildings were old and decaying.

Above, the sprawling ancient trees were mostly withering, and the ground was covered with leaves yet to be swept away.

Mr. Zhengyang sat down beside a stone table, facing a plate of grapes placed there by the caretaker, closed his eyes and waited. It wasn't until he heard the sound of carriages outside that he opened his eyes again.

Subsequently, a figure in luxurious brocade clothes, a young man, drifted over.