At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a famous scholar named Zheng Xuan, who did not perform much politically, but had many cultural contributions. Some of Zheng Xuan's students were also important figures in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, such as Cui Yan, Xi Wei, Wang Ji, and so on. Zheng Xuan had a teacher named Ma Rong, who was also a famous scholar at that time. There is also a story recorded in the "New Language of the World" that Zheng Xuan was hunted down and killed by Ma Rong after completing his studies, and escaped the disaster by relying on his own clogs. What's going on?
<h1>Zheng Xuan's early experience</h1>
Zheng Xuanzi Kangcheng is a native of Gaomi County, Beihai, Qingzhou. His eighth ancestor, Zheng Chong, served as a servant of Shangshu during the Han Dynasty, and can be regarded as a relatively important official position, the second in command of Shangshutai. However, when it came to Zheng Xuan, he was just a township clerk, as a township official. Zheng Xuan is not cold to Shijin and likes to learn the most. Later, Zheng Xuan went to the most authoritative school in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taixuezhong, to study and learn many Confucian classics.
After Zheng Xuan's studies, his attainment in scripture was so high that there was no one in Shandong who could teach Zheng Xuan in The "Shandong No Questioner". However, Zheng Xuan did not stop moving forward, but continued to enter Guanzhong to study, and he learned from The famous Ru Ma Rong in Guanzhong through Lu Zhi. Lu Zhi is Ma Rong's disciple, in other words, Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan are also classmates.
<h1>Zheng Xuan's relationship with Ma Rong</h1>
Although Ma Rong was a famous scholar and a great Confucian, although he also opened his door to teach and preach, he was still a noble relative of the family. Ma Rong's grandfather was Ma Yuan, the founding general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, so Ma Rong was not only a cultural celebrity, but also a political Hao clan (although Ma Rong himself was not smooth in his career). Therefore, Ma Rong has the characteristics of arrogance and luxury. He also taught his students differently from other celebrities. Although Zheng Xuan was nominally a student of Ma Rong, he did not have much communication with Ma Rong.
Ma Rong had more than 400 students (recorded in the Book of Later Han and the Biography of Ma Rong as a thousand), and the core disciples had more than 50. Zheng Xuan was obviously not in the category of core disciples. He worshiped under Ma Rong's door and did not see Ma Rong for three years, but was replaced by Ma Rong's disciples to teach Zheng Xuan. Despite being snubbed, Zheng Xuan did not slacken off, but always worked hard to learn knowledge.
Once Ma Rong and his disciples were counting celestial bodies, and they didn't understand anything. Someone recommended that Zheng Xuan was very good at calculation, so Ma Rong summoned Zheng Xuan, and Zheng Xuan easily solved the problem. Zheng Xuan succeeded in his studies and resigned from Ma Rong to return to Kanto. Ma Rong had already realized the disciple's qualities and said to the others, "Zheng Xuan is now going to the East, and my learning has also reached the East." ”
<h1>Zheng Xuan was assassinated by Ma Rong</h1>
Such an event is recorded in the "World Speaking New Language and Literature". After Zheng Xuan left, although Ma Rong had the sigh of "Li Le Dong Gui", he soon became jealous of Zheng Xuan, worried that Zheng Xuan's reputation would surpass his own. After Zheng Xuan left, he also felt the danger and thought that Ma Rong might be unfavorable to him.
So Zheng Xuan hid under the bridge and placed his clogs on the water to avoid Ma Rong's pursuit. What does this mean? It turned out that Zheng Xuan was confusing Ma Rong's sight in this way. After Ma Rong divination, he concluded that Zheng Xuan was on the underground water, and the image was similar to the wood, which naturally associated it with an underground coffin. He thought that Zheng Xuan had died, so he gave up the pursuit. Zheng Xuan escaped the disaster because of this.
This story, while interesting, is probably not really history. Because this incident is not from the canonical history, but from the content of the "World Speaks a New Language". Not to mention the magical divination technique inside, Zheng Xuan predicted that Ma Rong's pursuit would be very unreasonable, and the development of the story was very far-fetched. Ma Rong's reputation at that time was actually not too good, although he had outstanding contributions in culture, but he also had the ridicule of clinging to the magnates. And "The New Language of the World" puts him in the hat of being jealous of Xian's ability to assassinate students, which is really a basin of sewage for Ma Rong.
References: Book of the Later Han Dynasty, New Language of the World