After a long time, the people from the Imperial College realized that what Mo Jiazi showed them was not the poem, but the unique chalk characters.
"What is this?" Kong Yingda blushed and tried to find something to talk about.
"This board is called the blackboard, and this white thing is the chalk. You can write on the blackboard. I see that the professors of the Imperial College have a hard time teaching. They often have to repeat a sentence many times. With this blackboard and chalk, it will greatly reduce the burden on the teachers." As Meton spoke, he took a piece of chalk and demonstrated on the blackboard. He wrote a few words and then wiped them off with a simple blackboard eraser.
Even many professors from the Imperial College came forward to demonstrate in person and praised it. The blackboard and chalk could indeed greatly reduce the teachers' workload.
Kong Yingda's eyes lit up and he nodded secretly. This was indeed a good thing. However, as the pride of the Confucian School, he was not willing to admit defeat.
"This is okay, but compared with the curved plow, it is far worse!" Kong Yingda said stubbornly.
Meton looked at Kong Yingda, who was not willing to admit defeat, and said with a smile, "Then please take a closer look at this poem."
Kong Yingda smiled and felt proud in his heart. Mo Jiazi was still too young. Finally, he could not help showing off his poem.
"It is indeed a rare good poem. It vividly expresses the hardships of farming and the difficulty of food. It advises people to cherish food and not waste it. It is very educational. I believe the Finance Minister will like this poem very much!" Kong Yingda analyzed the poem in a long and eloquent speech.
Li Shimin nodded secretly and felt relieved. The Tang dynasty had always attached great importance to farming since the founding of the country. Now that the Mo family had invented the curved plow and the chariot, the grain in the coming year would be greatly increased. Now there was a very educational poem that sympathized with farmers, which would definitely make farming more prosperous.
Kong Yingda was secretly pleased with himself. He glanced at the Mo family's son's expression and found that Mo Dun was looking at him with a hint of mockery. He couldn't help but be puzzled. He quickly looked at the poem again.
"There is nothing wrong with it! It really means that! " Kong Yingda was confused, but a wonderful feeling came to his heart. Intuition told him that there must be something fishy about this poem.
Suddenly, he stared at the last part of the poem as if he had been struck by lightning.
Other people also found Kong Yingda's strange behavior. When they were about to ask, they saw Kong Yingda suddenly go forward and almost lie on the blackboard. He stared at the two small tadpole-like symbols and two small circles left by Mo Jiazi at the end of each line of the poem.
"What are these?" Kong Yingda asked in a trembling voice.
"Punctuation marks!" Meton answered.
"What's the use of them?" Kong Yingda had an intuition that this thing must be very useful.
Meton smiled slightly and did not answer. He went forward and wrote a line of words on the blackboard.
"Keep guests on rainy days, but don't keep me on rainy days." Li Shimin read it out softly.
"Boy Mo, what do you mean? Do you want to drive us away?" Cheng Yaojin curled his lips and threatened.
"Uncle Cheng, you must be joking. I can't wait for you to come. Why would I drive you away?" Meton hurriedly explained. "Here, let me tell you a little story."
"Story, I like it?" Cheng Yaojin said with a smile.
Li Shimin smiled slightly. He remembered the story of the catfish effect that Meton had told outside the South City Gate. It had caused a sensation in Chang 'an.
"According to Mo Zi's secret records, once, Mo Zi went to a stingy ghost's house as a guest. However, it suddenly rained heavily. The stingy host did not want Mo Zi to stay the night, so he wrote on a bamboo slip: 'Rain, but don't keep me on rainy days.' When Mozi saw the bamboo slip, he laughed heartily. He drew a few strokes on the bamboo slip and happily found a room to stay in. When the owner saw the bamboo slip, although he was unwilling, he had no choice but to pinch his nose and deny it. "Moton once again brought out the almighty Mozi's secret writings.
"Why is that?" Qin Qiong asked curiously. According to the host's stingy personality, it was impossible for him to pinch his nose and admit it.
Meton turned around and added a few punctuation marks on the blackboard. However, the meaning of the entire sentence had changed drastically.
"Rain, but don't keep me on rainy days? Stay! "Qin Qiong looked at these words and could not help but laugh.
A sentence was actually separated by punctuation marks. It actually produced two completely different meanings. No wonder the stingy host pinched his nose and admitted it.
Li Shimin also laughed. The meaning of these two sentences was completely opposite. In the bamboo slip that the host left behind, Mo Zi had used his ingenious wisdom to resolve the awkwardness of not having a place to stay in the rain.
"In my opinion, this sentence can also be read like this. Rain, but don't keep me on rainy days? Don't keep me! "Li Shimin said childishly.
Cheng Yaojin could not wait to continue. "Rain, but don't keep me on rainy days? Stay! "
The two of them went back and forth and played around with this sentence from the inside out.
Kong Yingda snorted coldly and said, "It's just a joke. What's the point?"
"Oh! Teacher, please look at this sentence! "Meton turned around and wrote another sentence on the blackboard.
"The people can be made to follow, but they cannot be made to know."
"This sentence comes from the eighth chapter of the Analects of Confucius, the Taibo chapter. The meaning is to let the people follow the path that we guide them on. There is no need to let them know why," Liu Yinian said proudly. He showed off his knowledge and wanted to attract Li Shimin's attention.
Meton shook his head and said, "Kong Sheng advocated education without discrimination. He had three thousand disciples and seventy-two sages. Back in the day, Mo Zi also praised him greatly. Meton does not believe that Kong Sheng would advocate ignorance of the people!"
"Ignorance of the people!"
After Meton said this, Li Shimin and Kong Yingda could not help but feel their faces twitch. The previous emperors of the past had governed the world according to the theory that the people could be made to follow, but they could not be made to know. Now, it seemed that the phrase 'ignorance of the people' was very appropriate.
Meton added two punctuation marks on the blackboard. The whole sentence immediately had a different meaning.
"The people can be made to follow, but they cannot be made to know. For the people, those who can be made to follow, they are free. Those who cannot, they are made to know. Teaching in accordance with the aptitude of the people. This is precisely the Confucian idea of virtuous politics. Following the people and responding to the heavens is the idea of opening the people's wisdom. "Merton said.
Meton's words made Kong Yingda sweat profusely. He realized that they might have misunderstood Kong Sheng's meaning. What was more frightening was that they were using such a wrong policy to govern the country.
Before this, he firmly believed that the people could be made to follow, but they could not be made to know. If someone doubted Kong Sheng, he would definitely fight with his old life.
But now, when he looked at this sentence again, he realized that he actually had three different ways of interpreting it.
"The people can be made to follow, but they cannot be made to know."
"The people can be made to follow, but they cannot be made to know."
"The people can be made to follow? No, they can be made to know. "
Li Shimin's face was gloomy. He had always valued Kong Sheng, and even used Kong Yingda to be the head of the Imperial College to cultivate talents for the Tang dynasty. But he realized that it was very likely that he had used the wrong theory to govern the country for nearly ten years.
"Minister Kong, I order you to use punctuation marks to punctuate the sentences of the Confucian classics. Strive to be accurate and without error." Li Shimin ordered with a dark face.
"Minister, as you wish!"
Kong Yingda bowed and accepted the order, then turned and left.
When he was about to reach the door, he suddenly stopped and bowed to the statue of Mo Zi that was enshrined in the Savant's Restaurant.
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