During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jurchens relied on strong military forces to continue to invade the south. Under the influence of Taoist thought, the Song Dynasty continued to cut land and retreated south to the Jianghuai area in order to maintain the corrupt ruling regime, which was known as the Southern Song Dynasty in history.
Taoism, also known as science, says that "reason" is the first nature, and everything is derived from "reason": "reason" is eternal and unchanging. Zhu Xi is the representative of objective idealism. His aim was to create a rationale for the Song dynasty to surrender to Jin.
After Song Ningzong Zhao Kuo ascended the throne, Zhu Xi took the opportunity of preaching for Ningzong to defile and squeeze out the main battle faction Han Guan, and conspired to control the military and political power in the court. However, Ning Zong did not listen to Zhu Xi's slander, trusted the main battle faction led by Han Guan, severely accused him of being nosy, meddling in affairs, and issued an edict to remove Zhu Xi from his post as a waiter. But Zhu Xi did not repent and blindly pursued his surrender line. Soon, Ning Zong demoted Zhu Xi to two levels of official positions, handed over his disciples to the local government, and ordered the prohibition of Taoism. Since then, the Taoist group has been defeated and out of control. Zhu Xi has no power or office.
Zhu Xi shouted and beat like a rat crossing the street in the Southern Song Dynasty, and knew that he couldn't stay, so he took the opportunity to travel around and smuggled across the Yellow River and ran to Yucheng, the ruling area of Jin, and temporarily took refuge in his old friend Zhao Yuanwai, hoping to find an opportunity to tie up with the leader of the Jurchen tribe and get an official and a half-post in Jin. He was a network disciple in Yucheng. Propagating Taoist ideas and creating a theoretical basis for the Jurchen rule in the Central Plains.
At that time, there was a son of a wealthy family in Yucheng named Zhao Cheng. This man was upright, very saddened by the corruption of the Song Dynasty, and extremely dissatisfied with the cruel rule of Jin. Study hard and aspire to serve the country. He heard that Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty came to Yucheng to give a lecture, so he actively participated, but the more he listened, the more he tasted. When Zhu Xi talked about not resisting Jin and blindly seeking peace, he could no longer suppress the fire full of anger, stood up and accused Zhu Xi fiercely: "If you don't resist, you surrender, is the head of Yue Fei's father and son thrown in vain?" Is the blood of the soldiers also shed in vain? According to what you say, is it also wrong for Ning Zong to rehabilitate Zhao Xue for Yue Fei's father and son? What is your purpose, sir? "Then, more than a dozen young people with strong blood and strength at the scene also stood up and accused Zhu Xi, making Zhu Xi difficult to argue and embarrassed. Zhu Xi shouted hysterically: "It's the opposite! It's the other way around! Fools cannot be taught. When Zhao Yuanwai learned about it, he rushed into the lecture hall with his family slaves, falsely accused Zhao Cheng and a dozen young people of being anti-people, and escorted them to the county jail.
Although Zhao Yuanwai of Yucheng was angry with Zhu Xi, Zhu Xi felt very ashamed, and remembered that he was dismissed by Ning Zong one after another, and he hated and was ashamed in his heart.
Zhao Yuanwai set up a banquet at noon to dispel Zhu Xi's air pressure. During the banquet, Zhu Xi seemed to be eating flies, and he was really "borrowing wine to drown his sorrows", and he was drunk after three times and five divided by two. During the banquet, he opened his mouth, boasting about "Tao" and "reason" for a while, and insulting the ignorance of the county citizens for a while. Zhao Yuanwai persuaded: "These Diao people are really rotten wood and cannot be carved." Adults should not be like villains. "I don't know if Zhu Xi heard it wrong, or pretended to be crazy and stupid after drinking, stared at the two drunken red eyes, patted his chest and said, "What? Who said that decay ......Rotten wood cannot be carved ......Carving, why even you look down on me, bring rotten wood, I, I'll carve it to you. Seeing that Zhu Xi was drunk, he didn't move. Zhu Xi couldn't find the stubble and got angry, so he stood up and angrily flipped the wine table with his legs facing the sky, and the wine and food were scattered all over the ground. This frightened the outsiders, and made people hurry to find the rotten wood. The house slave found a rotten pear plank that was planed flat, took it from outside, put it on the desk for Zhu Xiping, and asked him to carve it.
Zhu Xi took out the tool box he brought with him from his bag, which was filled with all kinds of carving knives, including unison, pointed, single-edged, double-edged, large, small, medium-sized, and so on. Zhu Xi selected a few handfuls and put them on the table, and then, standing firmly, twisting his beard, thinking for a moment, picking up the carving knife, pulling away the posture, and carving it on the board. Zhao Yuanwai stood across the table and watched intently. But seeing him sword up and down, he seemed to have a god, and his sword was like a dragon leaping and a tiger leaping. About an hour of kung fu, four big words "ploughing the clouds and fishing the moon.""Carved on rotten wood boards. The staff was dumbfounded, and flattered and said: "Master Zhu is really a famous contemporary calligrapher, and the four vigorous characters are really unparalleled in the world!" "
After Zhu Xi finished carving, he asked the clerk: "You said that rotten wood can be carved or not?" "Rotten wood can be carved, rotten wood can be carved!" The staff ordered someone to carve Zhu Xi's rotten wood and hang it neatly in the lobby for people to enjoy.
However, Zhu Xi never expected that the words "ploughing clouds and fishing for the moon" carved by him from rotten wood after drinking were a true portrayal of his life. Because, he devoted his life to the pursuit of Taoism, according to his "reason", rotten wood can not be carved, no, he has carved it; The four words of "ploughing the clouds and fishing the moon", as the name suggests: as long as you have great ambitions, work hard, work hard, and persevere, it must be "steel beams wear rust needles, and work to natural success", and you can also go to the moon for nine days and catch turtles in the five oceans. "Reason" is an eternal and unchanging theory, and this is not self-defeating.
After drinking, Zhu Xi revealed the true face of the duplicity and sanctimonious hypocrite, which soon spread throughout Yucheng County and became a joke among people.
Later, Zhao Cheng and more than a dozen young people who were imprisoned in the county jail were released from prison after being protected by the people, and then defected to Congrong in the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhao Chengyin is both civil and military. He fought bravely and invincibly with the Jin soldiers, made many achievements, and was awarded by Song Ningzong.
Zhu Xi's rotten wood carving is now lost in Yucheng, only the rubbing version of the "ploughing clouds and fishing the moon" four words are still there, and it can be regarded as a cultural relic of Yucheng.