Chapter 68: Is Yang Bo a Gentleman or a Villain? That Is a Question

"Grand Attendant Feng, you did very well today." Every time Feng Bao finished scolding someone, Zhu Yijun would praise him, because Feng Bao scolded well.

Feng Bao was overjoyed and bowed his head, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your praise!"

Feng Bao himself might not understand the significance of his scolding Wang Chonggu. Perhaps for Feng Bao, he was just following routine to maintain the dignity of the Great Ming Emperor's imperial power.

But Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng, and Yang Bo all knew very well the significance of Feng Bao's scolding Wang Chonggu and forcing him to bow his head.

That was to determine what is right and what is wrong.

Yang Bo had previously impeached Qi Jiguang as an act of "punishing the heart." Zhang Juzheng asked Yang Bo in return, did he really want to start a political struggle of "punishing the heart"? If one judges by intent rather than by deeds, there is no perfect person. Once this precedent is opened, the nation will not be at peace.

And Feng Bao, in the Wenhua Hall today, sprayed Wang Chonggu until he could only bow his head and admit his mistake, which determined what is right and what is wrong. Some things, even if they cannot be changed due to current reality, must be judged as right or wrong. Only by confirming right and wrong can one continue to do things.

There are three ways a nation perishes, and factionalism is the first.

During the most intense factional struggles of the two Song Dynasties, factionalism did not judge right or wrong at all. It was always opposing for the sake of opposing. You sing and I step onto the stage, completely opposing, completely denying, and completely ending all the political decrees of the other side. The result of this approach was only one: the law does not bind the people, and the people do not know the law.

In politics, if those who correct others are not upright, if even the law fails, how can one govern?

Is a court that cannot govern still a court?

Virtue is established at the top, and the law transforms at the bottom. Systems are created according to events, and laws are established when events occur. Guide them with virtue, and control people with laws; align them with rites, and govern the nation with laws.

Rites are metaphysical virtue, and law is the physical framework. If there is no law, then this court has no meaning for existence at all.

Therefore, the intensity of factional struggle can be controlled; one cannot oppose for the sake of opposing.

There must be right and wrong. Only by confirming right and wrong can one completely control the intensity of factional struggle. No matter how opposed the factions are to each other, there must be a basic consensus, and this basic consensus is right and wrong.

Only by controlling the intensity of factional struggle can the nation's discipline avoid being destroyed in a disorderly and large-scale manner.

Zhu Yijun highly affirmed Feng Bao's work. Even if Feng Bao did not know the significance of what he was doing, as long as he could do it, that was enough.

Of course, Feng Bao's "Classic of Irritating People" was truly reaching perfection.

Wang Chonggu was so angry his nose was almost crooked, and his resentment toward Feng Bao was even greater than his resentment toward Zhang Juzheng!

Although Zhang Juzheng struck the Jin Party hard and cut off a large piece of meat, making the Jin Party somewhat at a loss, Zhang Juzheng did not humiliate Wang Chonggu. Everyone fought with their skills. Zhang Juzheng was one foot taller, and Wang Chonggu considered his defeat not unjust.

However, Feng Bao pointed at his nose and scolded him! And he brought Wang Xilie along to spit on Wang Chonggu together!

How could Wang Chonggu not hate him? No matter how much he hated him, Wang Chonggu could not do anything to Feng Bao. Feng Bao was a palace official and was not in the same system as the outer court.

The lecture began. Zhu Yijun studied very seriously, and the small hammer struck the "thought seal" of Zhang Juzheng with full force.

Zhu Yijun's force did not need to be very great, because Zhang Juzheng himself was a "gentleman who is not a vessel." He only needed to strike a crack, and Zhang Juzheng himself would tear the "thought seal" to pieces.

Zhang Juzheng was a living person. He breathed, he had a heartbeat, he thought. His learning had reached the pinnacle. He only needed tricky questions, and he would think about them himself.

Zhang Juzheng opened his mouth and said, "The Master said: 'The gentleman is harmonious but not sycophantic; the villain is sycophantic but not harmonious.'"

"Harmonious: broad, round, fair, and not biased. Sycophantic: narrow, colluding for private interests, and excluding those who are different."

"The Master said: The gentleman treats people with loyalty and trust, with the right path and the right will, making friends widely but not colluding with each other; those with low character collude with each other for interests and conspiracies, regardless of morality."

"The Master often uses the gentleman and the villain as examples to correspond to each other. There are two understandings of the gentleman and the villain: by position and by virtue."

"By position: the gentleman is the one who governs others; the villain is the commoner."

"By virtue: the gentleman is the one with virtue; the villain is the treacherous one."

Zhu Yijun understood. Previously, "if the gentleman does evil, the nation does great evil; if the gentleman does good, the nation does great good." The gentleman here is the one who governs, distinguished by position. "The gentleman is harmonious but not sycophantic; the villain is sycophantic but not harmonious." The gentleman here is virtue, distinguished by virtue.

Zhang Juzheng explained it very clearly and plainly.

"How to distinguish between harmonious and sycophantic?" Zhu Yijun asked suspiciously.

Zhang Juzheng held his hands and said quite solemnly, "The actions of the gentleman and the villain are different, like yin and yang, day and night, black and white, right and wrong. How should we distinguish between harmonious and sycophantic? It lies in the two words 'public' and 'private.' A difference of a hair's breadth leads to a thousand miles of error."

"The gentleman treats people with loyalty and trust, and his path is public; the villain is close to others through factionalism, and his feelings are private."

Zhu Yijun thought for a while and said, "The gentleman's heart is public, and his actions are public. If he should cherish a talent, he cherishes it without needing the other party to depend on him. If he should bestow grace on a talent, he bestows it without needing the other party to beg him."

"Just like Grand Secretary Yuanfu and General Qi, just like Grand Secretary Yuanfu and Grand Secretary Xu Zhenming?"

Qi Jiguang returned the waist tag of the Quanchu Guild, but Zhang Juzheng still protected him in every way when the censors impeached him. Zhang Juzheng's care was not to make Qi Jiguang depend on him. Xu Zhenming was a talent who knew nothing but farming and water conservancy. Zhang Juzheng bestowed grace on Xu Zhenming, not to make him beg for anything.

If this is not a gentleman, then what is a gentleman?

"Your Majesty praises me too much. I dare not accept it." Zhang Juzheng said with proud humility.

Until now, Zhang Juzheng could say that he was ashamed of nothing before his ruler and ashamed of nothing before his heart. He was a proper gentleman.

"The villain's heart is private, and his actions are private. They gather together because of power, and they run around together for interests, or they collude with each other because of common hatred, helping each other."

"Just like Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei, just like Wang Chonggu and Ma Gui, Ma Jin? 'Let the friend die, not the poor me'?"

"I should not speak words of favor." Zhang Juzheng neither denied nor affirmed, but he answered the Emperor's question.

"I humbly accept your teaching." Zhu Yijun said with great emotion, "Harmonious: public heart, public action, public virtue. Sycophantic: private heart, private action, private virtue."

"The gentleman's heart is public. Because it is public, he cherishes what should be cherished without needing it to depend on him; he bestows grace where it should be bestowed without waiting for it to be begged for. He does not engage in private factionalism. This is why he is a gentleman."

"The villain's heart is private. Because it is private, he attaches himself when there is power, runs toward interests, avoids harm, and colludes with those who share the same evil to help each other, only caring about his own private interests and ignoring public interests. This is why he is a villain."

Zhang Juzheng tasted the Emperor's words very seriously. He did not look down on the Emperor's point of view just because he was only ten years old. He pondered for a long time before bowing his head and saying, "Your Majesty is wise."

"Your Majesty's wisdom is opening up day by day, and your understanding is becoming more refined. This is Your Majesty's natural sagacity, not my merit."

"It is still Grand Secretary Yuanfu who teaches well." Zhu Yijun changed the subject and said, "Grand Secretary Yuanfu, I have a doubt."

Zhang Juzheng said tentatively, "Your Majesty, I am feeling a bit unwell. Shall we talk another day?"

Zhang Juzheng wanted to use illness to escape. The young Emperor's doubts were almost making him have a nervous breakdown. He feared the young Emperor saying this sentence the most.

"Grand Attendant Zhang, go to the Jiekuyuan and invite the Great Physician Chen Shigong to take the pulse of Grand Secretary Yuanfu." Zhu Yijun said to Zhang Hong quite sincerely upon hearing this.

"Grand Attendant Zhang, wait a moment. Your Majesty, after the lecture, I will go to the Imperial Hospital to take a look. There is no need to disturb the Great Physician of the Jiekuyuan." Zhang Juzheng chose to compromise immediately upon hearing this. He just had a slight cold; where did he need to invite Chen Shigong?

"Grand Secretary Yuanfu, is Grand Preceptor Yang Bo a gentleman or a villain?" Zhu Yijun asked his doubt.

Zhang Juzheng was silent. "If heaven did not give birth to Confucius, the ages would be like a long night." But Confucius's words, when encountered with specific problems, easily lead to such situations. According to the Master's discussion, the gentleman and the villain are like yin and yang, day and night, black and white, right and wrong. They are always opposite and cannot stand together.

By position, Yang Bo is one who governs others.

By virtue, whether Yang Bo is a gentleman or a villain is a question.

Yang Bo spent his whole life running around for the stability of the Great Ming. But can one say Yang Bo is a gentleman? He is the leader of the Jin Party, this tribal faction. But whenever he encounters major events, Yang Bo can still be fair and not biased, not letting things become worse.

Similarly, is Ge Shouli necessarily a villain?

Is Ma Fang, who fought for the Great Ming his whole life, a villain?

Is Tan Lun, who is public-hearted, public-acting, and public-virtuous, but does not repay the Jin Party for their promotion, a villain?

After Qi Jiguang was ennobled, he cut ties with Zhang Juzheng. Is he a villain?

Things that go against one's wishes are common eight or nine times out of ten, and there are few things that can be told to others.

In the *Analects*, the gentleman and the villain are binary opposites, discussed in pairs. It seems there is no middle ground between the gentleman and the villain, but reality is not like this.

This is not something that can be explained clearly by a few sentences of sage books.

"Grand Preceptor Yang is a minister of great virtue." Zhang Juzheng chose to be vague. For questions he couldn't answer, he chose to muddle through.

Not white then black, not this then that, not right then wrong, not good then evil—this is a single, simple, and opposite understanding of the principles of all things. But reality is often diverse, complex, and contains "you in me and me in you." If one uses binary opposition to discuss it, it is not the reality of practice, and it is not speaking with facts.

Zhu Yijun asking if Yang Bo is a gentleman or a villain is like asking, "If you use your spear to attack your shield, what will happen?"

Zhang Juzheng wanted to be vague, but Zhu Yijun wouldn't let him. After hearing this, he immediately asked, "Grand Secretary Yuanfu, Grand Preceptor Yang is a minister of great virtue, so he should be a gentleman; but Grand Preceptor Yang is the leader of a tribal faction, so he should be a villain."

"But Grand Preceptor Yang himself is Yang Bo. He is a gentleman, and he is a villain. How should this be understood?"

Zhang Juzheng was silent for a long time and said, "People are complex, and the principles of all things are also complex. One cannot generalize or speak in broad terms. A person or a thing, what he says, what he does, cannot be summed up in one sentence or judged by one statement. Using isolated, static, and one-sided views to understand the infinite principles of all things will inevitably be biased."

"Put it on a specific thing or a specific person, such as Grand Preceptor Yang mentioned by Your Majesty, the gentleman and the villain are opposites, but the gentleman and the villain are both Yang Bo."

Zhu Yijun showed his signature sunny and cheerful smile and said quite puzzledly, "I didn't understand. What Grand Secretary Yuanfu said is too complex."

This hammer was a big hammer, and it struck Zhang Juzheng until he was a bit stunned.

"Your Majesty, why not look at the *Illustrated Mirror for Emperors*?" Zhang Juzheng himself hadn't figured out this question, so how could he educate the young Emperor? Therefore, he chose to change the subject!

This was nothing shameful. Zhang Juzheng wasn't choosing to avoid it, but he would only tell the Emperor after he had figured it out completely. ===== CHAPTER 69 =====