Daqin: I was overheard by Zulong

Chapter 101 Controversy in the Royal Study Room

Ying Zheng's imperial study room was very busy at the moment. Doctors Kong Jia and Shu Sun Tong were making impassioned speeches to Ying Zheng.

Kong Jia, a descendant of Confucius, was the most excited, almost stern, waving his hands and shouting at Ying Zheng, "Your Majesty, this trend must not last long. Now the students in the entire Xianyang City are obsessed with the book "The Story of the Stone"."

"Those are unofficial biographies read by harem women. How can they be compared with hundreds of schools of thought? If things continue like this, the country will not be a country!"

"Yes, yes!" Shu Suntong nodded repeatedly, "Your Majesty, what Dr. Kong said is exactly what I want to say."

"Such ridiculous behavior must be severely punished. Otherwise, all our students in Da Qin will learn how to cheat on each other like a harem woman, and the court will not be filled with chaos!"

Ying Zheng looked at the two great scholars and couldn't help but sneer. He himself had a copy of "The Story of the Stone", but the content in the book was not as bad as what Kong Jia and Shusun Tong said.

As for the students of Da Qin, if they read like the people in the books, only learn some crooked ways, and become officials of Da Qin, it will only prove that there is a serious problem with Da Qin's current official recommendation system.

Shusun Tong kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, I believe that in our territory of Great Qin, "The Story of the Stone" should be listed as a forbidden book, and students are strictly prohibited from carrying it, otherwise they will be severely punished!"

"That's right!" Kong Jia also nodded repeatedly and said, "My lord Uncle Sun's words are true. Please also issue an order to seal up the Daqin Bookstore and prohibit the Daqin Bookstore from continuing to sell "Story of the Stone"!"

"The obscene words and erotic songs in this book come out one after another. It really pollutes the eyes of scholars, and even teaches them badly. It should be listed as a banned book!"

Ying Zheng couldn't help shaking his head. Zhang Han had already reported the sales of "Story of the Stone" to Ying Zheng. So many people were scrambling to buy it. It was obviously a good book. Well, just ban the book, there is no such reason!

"Two doctors!" Ying Zheng supported the dragon case with both hands, and looked at Kong Jia and Shu Suntong, "You are also everyone, why do you have such a big prejudice against a book like "The Story of the Stone"?"

"I really want to ask you two, have the two doctors read the entire book, The Story of the Stone?"

Kong Jia and Shu Suntong looked at each other, subconsciously shook their heads, and then began to argue at length.

"Your Majesty, this book is an unofficial history, not a book of sages. Why should I waste time on such a book?"

"That's right, if I have that time, I might as well read a few more words of the sage."

"A book that only sells for fifty yuan is worth reading. It must be full of sensationalism, so don't read it!"

Kong Jia and Shusun Tong looked arrogant, and their posture was almost higher than that of Ying Zheng. It seemed that what they said was true knowledge, and other than that, everyone who said it was bullshit.

Ying Zheng frowned slightly, picked up "The Story of the Stone" from the front of the dragon case, got up and came to the two doctors, and handed the book over, "The two doctors can take a look, this is "The Story of the Stone"!"

Um?When Kong Jia and Shu Suntong saw "The Story of the Stone" in Ying Zheng's hands, their eyes straightened.

They were all very surprised that Ying Zheng actually had time to spare. After reading this kind of books circulated in the market, they had already prepared a lot of rhetoric and wanted to criticize Ying Zheng.

But Ying Zheng didn't give them this chance at all, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes, "Are you two ready to make a conclusion without even taking a look? Is this how you study the scriptures and meanings of the sages?"

Hearing that Ying Zheng's tone was not right, Kong Jia and Shu Sun Tong finally realized that Ying Zheng was serious, so they were reluctant to take the book and read it casually.

But Ying Zheng only saw these two old masters, who were browsing randomly without looking into it at all. He knew that what he had just said was in vain, "Didn't the two doctors see anything?"

"Your Majesty!" Shusun Tong rushed to Ying Zheng and cupped his hands, "I wonder what your Majesty wants me to wait and see?"

"That's right, Your Majesty, is this asking me to pick the good points out of this book? Please forgive me for being dull, I really don't see the bright spots in this book."

Kong Jia was full of resentment, "Just waiting for unofficial folk history, only ordinary people will read it, how can I wait for everyone to go back and read this kind of stuff!"

"Pedantry, don't you two see the advantages of this book at all?" Ying Zheng finally became impatient, "If you only think about how bad this book is, then this book is really bad Why? Why do I think this book is good?"

"You all only look at this book and its content from your own perspective, so your focus is always to say that this book is not good. If everyone is like you, my court will not be complete. It’s chaos!”

"Please enlighten me, Your Majesty. I really can't tell if I'm stupid!" Kong Jia pushed back forcefully. He has the confidence. He is a descendant of Confucius. Even if he is not an official in the Qin Dynasty, he still has a detached position.

"Then Confucius, please look at these places in this book!" Ying Zheng simply pointed out the punctuation marks in the book to Kong Jia himself, "Old Master, can you see what use these things have in the book?"

Kong Jia and Shusun Tong came close to the book with confused expressions on their faces. They didn't know what punctuation marks were. They just thought that these circles were strange in the book, so they just shook their heads.

And while shaking their heads, the two old masters did not forget to criticize a few more words.

"It's all the same as a ghost drawing. What's worth paying attention to, and drawing a picture in the text is completely grandstanding and inappropriate!"

"Yes, these things have never been found in the classics of sages. This comparison proves that this book should be banned!"

Ying Zheng felt completely unable to communicate with the two old men, so he simply had a showdown, "My lords, you are all of us, don't you understand what a sentence is? That's how you read the books of the sages?"

"These are called punctuation marks, which are specially used to break sentences. With them, it will be easier for people to understand how the books written by the sages break sentences!"

"Both of you are great masters. Don't you understand the importance of sentence fragmentation? Isn't your Confucian classics divided into several schools because of the different understandings of meaning due to sentence fragmentation?"

"But if there are these punctuation marks and the books are well segmented from the beginning, how can the meaning not be unified? How can different schools be separated because of this?"

Hum——Ying Zheng's voice was not loud, but when he heard the ears of the two great scholars, it sounded like a bell. Kong Jia and Shusun Tong, who had been boastful just now, were instantly stunned.

(End of this chapter)