"Your Highness's benevolence is well known to me."
Wei Nisheng clasped his hands. "But I ask Your Highness to consider this!
"Mencius says: cherish your kin and show benevolence to the people; show benevolence to the people and extend your love to all things.
"Cherishing one's kin is the beginning of benevolence, not its entirety."
"Your Highness's station today is not that of the eldest son of an ordinary household, but the Heir Apparent of All Under Heaven.
"Above affection for kin stand the state altars; above the state altars stand the countless people.
"If Your Highness lets affection for your own kin jeopardize the course of All Under Heaven...
"That is lesser benevolence, not greater benevolence."
Unconvinced, Jiang Heng stepped forward, pressing him. "Zi'an, you invoke the course of All Under Heaven to bear down on me.
"But there are those who establish that course through benevolence, too.
"The Book of Songs says: brothers bound by affection, let none remain distant; gather close.
"At Zhou's height, affection for kin brought harmony to the nine degrees of kindred.
"With the nine degrees of kindred in harmony, the people lived in peace.
"What harm do I do All Under Heaven by treating my brothers with affection?"
Wei Nisheng said, "Your Highness quotes the poem 'Walking Reeds.'
"I ask Your Highness also to read the closing stanza of 'Cherry Tree': brothers quarrel within their walls, yet stand together against insults from without.
"Brotherly affection is indeed a natural bond, but strife within the walls has existed since ancient times!"
"A minister murdering his sovereign, a son murdering his father-these do not arise in a single day or night. Their causes develop gradually." Wei Nisheng's voice sank lower.
"Your Highness treats your brothers with benevolence, but if a rift emerges between brothers and