245. Confucius Part 3:The Pig, the Philosopher and the Rebel

Last time it was a cockfight. This time it's a pig.

In Part 3 of Confucius: The World That Created the Sage, Bernie and Dan follow Confucius to the powerful state of Qi, where he finally gets the opportunity to discuss government with Duke Jing—and comes tantalizingly close to getting the political opportunity he has been waiting for.

But when Confucius returns home to Lu, the political order has somehow become even more upside down. The great families who stripped power from their duke are now discovering that their own servants have learned the same lesson. Enter Yang Hu: a household retainer who rises to become one of the most powerful men in Lu—and who very much wants Confucius on his side.

What follows includes political intrigue, rebellion, assassination plots, an attempted kidnapping, and one extraordinarily well-chosen gift of pork.

And once again, the chaos surrounding Confucius helps us understand the philosophy taking shape in his mind. What does it mean to say "let the ruler be a ruler and the minister a minister" when rulers can't rule, ministers won't obey—and servants are beginning to rule their masters?

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