Chapter 13: General Summary of Etiquette and Righteousness

  Feng Guozhang nodded enthusiastically towards Zhou Xuanzhang and bowed to the fat man, saying: "You must have misunderstood, sir. This is my sworn brother Zhou Xuanzhang. He is a man of great literary and military talent, with a keen eye for strategy and a strong sense of justice. Moreover, he has a good reputation for being loyal and trustworthy. A person like him is hard to come by in a thousand years! He was brought to our Great Qing Empire by the floodwaters. At present, our empire is facing internal and external troubles, and state affairs are difficult. The heavens have sent us such a talented individual, which is a blessing for you, sir, for our Great Qing, and for His Majesty!"

  Feng Guozhang used all the good words he could think of to plead for Zhou Xuanzhang.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang rummaged through his intestines for a good while, but still couldn't figure out what kind of official "Huibanzhang" was. In Zhou Xuan Zhang's impression, ancient high-ranking officials were all kinds of prime ministers, governors, commanders, and governors-general, but he had never heard of any "Huibanzhang".

  "Damn it!" Jin shouted, suddenly bursting into loud wailing: "A mere commoner dares to be rude to a high-ranking official of the imperial court! Standing without kneeling! Publicly humiliating an official appointed by the imperial court! Where is the propriety and righteousness? Where is the distinction between superior and inferior? Where are the norms and ethics? Where is the dignity of the imperial court?! The heavens have turned upside down, the rain has reversed its course, how has our great Qing dynasty fallen to such a state?! Your Majesty, I am unworthy of you! It is often said that when a high-ranking official is humiliated, it is the same as the country being humiliated! I, Yehe Nara Jin, not only cannot share your worries, but also bring shame to the country! What face do I have to stand in this world? Forget it, forget it! Feng Guozhang, please get me a rope, today I will hang myself from the beam of this Wu Sheng Temple, sacrificing my life for the country!"

  "General Wan is not allowed to die!" Feng Guozhang was shocked and jumped up, tightly hugging Zhan Tianyou.

  He knelt down and wept, knocking his head on the ground: "Let me go, don't stop me, whoever stops me I'll fight with him. The national situation is critical, the great hall is about to collapse, I, Na Jin, have no power to save it, just let me hang myself in the Wu Sheng Temple..."

  A big shot like you should be dignified and composed, but instead you're clinging to a young teacher for dear life, completely lacking in decorum.

  Feng Guozhang tried to persuade Na Jin, but he couldn't be stopped. He shouted at the foreigner who had come in with Na Jin: "Mr. Ai De, why don't you hurry up and advise Director Hu!"

  The foreigner, called Ai De by Feng Guozhang, entered the Wu Sheng Temple, not saying a word. At this time, he was holding his arms around his chest and watching with great interest as the adults scolded each other. Just as he was enjoying himself, Feng Guozhang shouted at him, and only then did he come to his senses.

  Ede straightened his uniform, coughed, but instead of persuading Jin, he walked up to Zhou Xuanzhang and said in broken Mandarin: "Mr. Zhou, I'm Ede, German military advisor and infantry instructor. For Mr. Jin's safety, I request that you kneel down, for the sake of our God and your Jade Emperor."

  That Ai De didn't go to stop Jin from hanging himself, but instead came to persuade Zhou Xianzhang to kneel down. Even though Zhou Xianzhang had traveled through time from the 21st century, he couldn't understand the cause-and-effect relationship between hanging oneself and kneeling down.

  "Mr. Ai, we Chinese have a famous saying, 'A real man kneels to heaven, earth and his parents...'"

  "You Chinese also have a famous saying: saving one life is better than building a seven-story pagoda!"

  "Kneeling can save people?" Zhou Xianzhang didn't believe it.

  "I guarantee on the honor of a German soldier that if Mr. Zhou condescends to kneel down, then Mr. Jin will definitely be spared!"

  "He just wanted to chop off my head, why should I save him?" Zhou Xianzhang thought of that fake smile and felt annoyed.

  Ai De laughed and said: "Isn't Mr. Zhou a citizen of the Qing Dynasty? How can he not even know this little rule?"

  "What's going on?"

  "An official of the Qing dynasty would say 'chop off your head' to people he met, just like we Germans would say 'hello', he was greeting you."

  "Is this how you greet people?" Zhou Xianzhang was seriously skeptical.

  "I bet you that your elder brother, Mr. Feng Guozhang, also said he wanted to chop off your head when he first met you! Your elder brother is just a minor teacher who has not yet entered the mainstream, but Governor Jin is a fifth-rank official, so it's not strange at all."

  Ai De said so, Zhou Xuan Zhang had to believe. When he first met Feng Guozhang in the riverbank, Feng Guozhang was also chopping heads left and right, but in the end, not only did they not chop his head off, but they even became sworn brothers.

  Ede was an elite student at the German Army Officer School.

  At the end of the 19th century, the Westernization Group led by Li Hongzhang admired Germany's military achievements and preferred to buy German weapons and equipment. The military system also learned from Germany. After Li Hongzhang founded the Tianjin Military Academy, he adopted the German teaching method, hired German instructors, taught in German, and students listened through translation. Eide was a German instructor hired by the academy.

  Aide and Feng Guozhang were both teachers, but their status was vastly different. Aide was a foreigner, and the Qing dynasty had been defeated by foreigners for many years, so the officials and people of the Qing dynasty both hated and admired foreigners, who were often treated with great respect. Moreover, foreigners did not bother with the complex etiquette of Chinese officialdom and never kneeled when meeting high-ranking officials. Therefore, although Aide was only a teacher, his rank was the same as Feng Guozhang's, he could walk side by side with the governor. Unlike Feng Guozhang, who would kowtow to the governor.

  Ai De and Feng Guozhang had a good relationship. Feng Guozhang was one of the few outstanding military men in China, not like other Qing officials who were conservative and outdated, he liked Western advanced military ideas and got along well with Ai De.

  What puzzled Ed was that Feng Guozhang was willing to accept Western civilization, and had many complaints about the old rules and habits of the Qing Dynasty, but he was particularly stubborn about kneeling and kowtowing. When meeting with superior officials, he would inevitably kneel down, his movements meticulous and serious.

  Ede knew that kneeling and kowtowing was a rule in Chinese officialdom, but it wasn't a good rule. Feng Guozhang was a lower-ranking official of the Qing dynasty, and kneeling and kowtowing was unavoidable, however, Ede discovered that Feng Guozhang's kneeling and kowtowing came from his heart and was sincere, which didn't match with Feng Guozhang accepting Western civilized ideas.

  Ai De had a long conversation with Feng Guozhang about this issue, and Feng Guozhang talked about the grand principle of "Chinese learning as the body, Western learning as the application", which left Ai De confused.

  However, Ai De understood one thing: in the Great Qing Empire, the ritual of kneeling and kowtowing was absolutely unalterable. If it were to change, many people would rather die than live! For example, now that Hui Banzhang refused to kneel before him, Zhou Xuanzhang would seek death by hanging himself!

  Ade had been a teacher in the Qing Empire for three years, and his understanding of the Qing Empire far surpassed that of Zhou Xuanzhang, who had just arrived. Moreover, due to his foreign identity, he had more opportunities to be by Zhen's side than Feng Guozhang, so his understanding of Zhen was much deeper than that of Feng Guozhang, another teacher. Therefore, Ade saw the crux of Zhen's desperation.

  In the Great Qing Empire, kneeling and kowtowing is a common moral obligation, and this common moral obligation is the foundation of maintaining the country!

  Commoners refusing to kowtow to dignitaries is equivalent to shaking the foundation on which this country relies for survival!

  The foundation is shaken, and the Qing dynasty will perish!

  If the Qing dynasty were to perish, Lord Jin would have to die with it!

  So, Duke Jin's seeking death and searching for life, seemingly unbelievable, is actually perfectly logical.

  Of course, this truth is very profound. Many people in the Qing Dynasty cannot see it clearly, but Ai De, an outsider with a cold eye, can see it very clearly.

  Of course, our protagonist Zhou Xuan Zhang will also see clearly, but that's for later. For now, Zhou Xuan Zhang is still muddled.

  However, Zhou Xuan Zhang still followed Ai De's advice and knelt down: "The humble commoner begs the honorable gentleman to calm his anger."

  As expected, the Jin who was struggling to survive saw Zhou Xianzhang kneel down and immediately calmed down. He wiped away his tears with a sleeve and shouted: "Zhou Xianzhang, do you know your crime?"