Different schools of thought derived from hundreds of schools of thought in the pre-Qin period, as well as new schools of thought that emerged in the Great China Empire, are all listed here.
This is the Baijia Academy, and the largest platform in the middle of the palace is the Baijia Forum.
All the schools of thought that meet the requirements of the Great China Empire came here to participate in the Conference of Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought.
Whether they can attract the attention of Emperor Su He and whether they can turn their school of thought into orthodoxy depends on the performance of this Hundred Schools of Thought Conference.
A one-armed middle-aged man in plain clothes approached the palace.
He looked at the palace, where hundreds of families were ready, and showed a satisfied smile.
Emperor Su He assigned this task to him, and the preparations for the conference had been completed before September 10th.
"Qu Ge Department, wait a moment."
Qu Xiangyang looked in the direction of the voice. There were only a few people in the empire who could greet him with this tone.
He followed the voice and saw that the person coming was Cabinet Minister Wu Hongyi.
They are all members of the cabinet and have equal status, he is just more senior.
Qu Xiangyang smiled and waited for Wu Hongyi and his party who were walking towards him.
"Martial Arts Department, what do you have to tell me?
I was ordered to prepare for the Conference of One Hundred Schools of Thought. Now that the conference is about to begin, I need to sort out some procedures.
Three days later, His Majesty the Emperor will take his concubines and prince to watch the conference in person.
I have to be cautious and never allow the slightest mistake to occur in this conference."
Wu Hongyi smiled awkwardly. He knew that calling him this time was indeed a bit abrupt.
"Qu Ge Department, let's find a secluded place. I have a small favor to ask for your help."
Qu Xiangyang saw Wu Hongyi lowering his attitude. If he refused without asking about the matter, he would completely offend Wu Hongyi.
"Martial Arts Department, there are some things beyond my ability, and I really can't do anything about it.
If it’s just a little effort, I’ll try my best to help.”
Qu Xiangyang left a lot of leeway. He wanted to see whether this matter would bring him benefits or cause him trouble.
He led Wu Hongyi and his party to the side hall, walking very fast, with his empty sleeves fluttering in the wind.
A few of them found a table and sat down. Wu Hongyi clasped his fists and begged: "I am an unlearned person, but there are some people behind me.
After seeing that all members of the cabinet, except for the Quge Department, have formed a school of thought, I am not prepared to miss it.
I found that there was no school of thought suitable for us in the pre-Qin period, so I formed a business with some like-minded friends.
Because some theories have not yet been perfected, I have not signed up to participate in the Hundred Schools of Thought Conference before.
The preparations are now complete, but the registration deadline was ten days ago.
I would like to implore the Ministry of Quge to join the team of our merchants and participate in the Conference of Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought."
Wu Hongyi was also worried. At the beginning, he just wanted to form a small school with his friends from Nanyang.
Li Gong, the president of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce with the strongest civil power in Nanyang, personally came to visit.
Their businessmen are willing to unite under his command and contribute to this school.
Wu Hongyi invited many scholars and eliminated all schools of thought that had been published.
They want to find a more suitable school of thought, and other interest groups have already been carved up by the existing factions in the Dahua Empire.
As a cabinet minister, he cannot be someone else's little brother.
As a latecomer, Wu Hongyi can only develop new forces, and businessmen are a good choice.
Some people suggest that they inherited a pre-Qin school of thought that was more in line with merchants—the Yang Zhu School.
The ideas of this school are quite extreme. I would not do it if I pluck a hair and benefit the world.
This kind of extreme selfishness cannot survive in the environment of the Great China Empire.
Wu Hongyi immediately drove the proposer back to Nanyang.
This kind of person who has no overall perspective will only cause trouble if you stay with him.
It was impossible to pass on the pre-Qin school of thought. As a cabinet minister, it was impossible for him to support an unknown primary school. It would be better to create his own school.
In the end, the views of the self-created school were recognized by everyone, and only a blank piece of paper was suitable for painting.
Wu Hongyi and many scholars finally reached an agreement and decided to establish a business.
He determined the core ideas of merchants based on Emperor Su He's behavior of publicly rewarding model merchants.
After the merchant was established, it immediately attracted the attention of other local merchant groups.
In most places, businessmen are dependent on officials, and no official has publicly stated that he will represent the interests of the businessmen.
When these people heard about the establishment of the merchant, they immediately rushed to join the merchant.
Wu Hongyi was happy to see the expansion of his power. When he was about to sign up, the big businessman Wang Sen pointed out his arrogant ideas.
This is the consequence of rushing and imperfect theory.
Wu Hongyi was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and immediately terminated the merchant's registration.
He originally wanted to attack the Prime Minister's throne through businessmen, but he did not want to be implicated because of his thoughts.
Wu Hongyi finally decided that the businessman's thinking is not perfect, even if it is a few years later, he must not play while sick.
They had been thinking about it until the day before yesterday, before sorting out all the theories and making sure there were no problems.
However, the registration period for the Hundred Schools of Thought Conference has ended, so Wu Hongyi could only offer a favor and come over to ask Qu Xiangyang, who was responsible for preparing for the conference.
Qu Xiangyang heard that among the five members of the cabinet, he was the only one who did not participate in or create the school.
The reasons here are very complicated, but the most important point is related to his origin.
Qu Xiangyang was born in the military, and his main responsibility in the cabinet was to communicate with the Governor-General.
He can be said to be the representative of the military among civilian forces.
The people in their group are basically officers who have retired from military service.
This group of people had a great influence on the army.
Qu Xiangyang knew that one of the reasons why Emperor Su He promoted the revival of various schools of thought was to control the increasingly fierce party struggles in the court.
Civil servants can have ideas, but scholars can't rebel for ten years.
Emperor Su He would never allow the military to have their own ideas, not even civilian officials who had retired from the military.
Qu Xiangyang knew Emperor Su He's bottom line, and he would never touch it.
In the imperial court, there is also a need for a lonely minister without any power to handle some important matters for the emperor.
He was this lonely minister, and the task of preparing for the conference fell on him.
Qu Xiangyang looked at Wu Hongyi. He didn't know why this man decided to participate in the Hundred Schools of Thought Conference so late.
Fortunately, the official date for this conference is September 10th, so there are still three days left.
With his status, there is no problem at all for someone to jump in the queue before the conference officially begins.
Qu Xiangyang said with a smile: "As long as you meet the conditions for participating in the conference, I can help with this little thing.
The conditions for participation in the conference are rigidly stipulated. Everyone else is watching, and I have no way to accommodate them.
The first condition is that you have officially published an article introducing the school in Yanhuang Daily.
The second condition is that a fourth-grade official will vouch for you."
Wu Hongyi smiled and took out a newspaper that still smelled of ink.
Qu Xiangyang opened the newspaper. This was the newspaper just published today. It introduced the situation of the merchants.
He nodded and said: "That's no problem, but the good position is already occupied by other families.
The Martial Arts Department can only choose a remote location, or someone is willing to replace it with you.
It depends on the methods of the Wuge Department, I will not interfere in these matters."
Wu Hongyi clasped his fists in thanks, knowing that Qu Xiangyang was giving him a wake-up call.
Most of the eyes of Emperor Su He and the princes will be fixed on the houses in the center. No matter what the cost, they must win.
Qu Xiangyang bid farewell to Wu Hongyi and his party. They were going to replace a central loft.
When he walked out of the side hall, he saw a fierce quarrel coming from the front right.
"Sissy, your workers are fakes. If you dare to say that we are fakes again, I will tear your mouth apart."
"Maokengshi, you are fakes, ask everyone in the Dahua Empire.
Who can represent the workers? You have plagiarized our ideas and are a group of shameless thieves.
Why do you still have the nerve to come to the conference with such arrogance?
If I were you, I would find a pit and jump into it and drown myself.
It is better to die stinking than to live stinking for eternity."
Shi Yun was very angry with Wang Baoyu, the son of the opposite Wang Dagang.
He just wanted to go up and beat this kid.
A cold voice sounded: "Little Shitou, don't be impulsive.
He is deliberately irritating you and wants to drive us out of the conference.
If you are irritated by this little provocation, then I am very disappointed in you.
Who is right and who is wrong is not just a matter of words."
A fat man with a round figure looked at Wang Baoyu with sharp eyes.
"Your father Wang Dagang has been transferred to the governor of Guangdong, and he is taking over the position of my mentor.
My mentor drove the development of Guangdong with his unique Gongjia thinking.
Let Guangdong become an economically powerful province surpassing Jiangnan.
With his own efforts, my mentor has increased the number of Jinshi in Guangdong by five people every year compared with before he took office.
After Governor Wang Dagang takes office, it depends on what measures he implements.
Using my mentor's method will prove that your father also believes that we are orthodox.
With your method, if the economy does not do well, the annual quota for additional Jinshi will be gone.
If you say you are orthodox, no one will believe you."
Xiang Wenzhong's sharp words made Wang Baoyu break into a cold sweat.
He has absolute confidence that Wang Dagang can at best maintain the level of his mentor. It is basically impossible to make another breakthrough.
His favor was due to the right time, place and people, just in time for the development of the governor-general offices of Nanyang, Luzon, Cochin and Siam.
The nearest province, Guangdong, was originally the industrial center of the Great China Empire. It was the first to get the advantage and took advantage of the situation to develop.
With the opening of the Yunnan-Burma Railway, the railway network of overseas governor-general offices has been connected to the domestic railway network.
Supplies from domestic provinces can continuously flow to the overseas governor's mansion along the railway.
The importance of Guangdong Prefecture will decline.
Coupled with Wang Dagang's experience, it mainly focuses on establishing heavy industry and industrial clusters in the north.
They don't understand the relatively active light industry in Guangdong Prefecture at all.
If we win additional Jinshi quotas, the people of Guangdong will be happy.
Once this quota is lost, Wang Dagang will inevitably be criticized verbally and in writing, and his official reputation will plummet.
The examination will be held on October 10th, and many candidates taking the examination will visit the Baijia Academy.
They all believe that this year's imperial examination is likely to be related to the Congress of the Hundred Schools of Thought.
The candidates who came to take the imperial examination from Guangdong heard this conversation.
He said with some worry: "Will Master Wang engage in economic development? The proportion of taxes paid will decrease, and the additional Jinshi quota will be taken away by other provinces.
We must work hard, otherwise it will be dangerous!"
"No need to worry this year, we are still enjoying the favor of Mr. Qian.
If there is no high school this year and you come back next year, that would be the real danger."
The Guangdong students' comments made Wang Baoyu look nervous. He glared at Xiang Wenzhong with angry eyes, but did not dare to take action.
If you take action during this period, you will be kicked out of Baijia Academy.
He originally wanted to anger Shi Yun, who was not very smart, but now he was angered by Xiang Wenzhong.
Wang Baoyu snorted coldly and said: "There are still a few days until the conference officially begins.
You will know who is orthodox by then, and I hope you can still be eloquent by then."
The scolding war between the two families quickly subsided. They were both holding back their anger and preparing to make the other party look embarrassed during the official meeting.
Qu Xiangyang looked at the tense expressions of these young men, and he was not worried at all.
Gongjia is a new school of thought that has just been established for a few months.
Even two cabinet ministers competed with each other for the right to speak about this school of thought, accusing the other of being unorthodox.
However, there is basically no conflict of interest between these two schools of thought. They can at most curse a few times and will never take action at the risk of being disqualified.
What Qu Xiangyang is most worried about is Confucianism. This previously giant school of thought was severely attacked by Emperor Su He and has now split into multiple forces.
But a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Even the most disliked Gongyang school of Confucianism is much better than the farmers who claim to have inherited it from the pre-Qin Dynasty.
This is the powerful foundation of Confucianism. Just relying on a small faction of Confucianism can crush other schools.
The current three major factions of Confucianism are in tit-for-tat opposition, and the mainstream faction has a high-ranking member of the Great China Empire as its leader, so that it can withstand the pressure of Confucianism.
Fortunately, some time ago, due to different stances on the Crown Prince incident, rifts appeared in the old Confucian school, and there were also different opinions within Xinxue.
Cabinet Minister Li Zhisheng took the opportunity to take action. He directly parted ways with the old Confucian school, and also attracted some Xinxue forces to establish the Confucian University School.
Others thought that the old Confucian sect would fall apart when news of the Hundred Schools of Thought Conference came out.
Many Confucians believe that the royal family has decided not to suppress Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism.
Great Confucians, led by Zhu Dadian, who was a surrendered minister in the former Ming Dynasty, began to stand up and reorganize the old Confucian school. They wanted to restore the reputation of Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism.
Qu Xiangyang specifically asked Emperor Su He whether Zhu Chengxue should be prohibited from participating in the Hundred Schools of Thought Conference.
Emperor Su He was so confident that he did not prevent Zhu Chengxue from participating in the conference.
He also asked Qu Xiangyang to give Zhu Chengxue some convenient conditions to make it easier for them to show themselves.
Qu Xiangyang still couldn't figure out what Emperor Su He meant at first.
It wasn't until he saw the content of Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucian propaganda that he understood what Emperor Su He meant.
Without contrast, how can we bring out advanced ideas and decadent ideas?
Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism is the background that other schools of thought use as a comparison.
They don't know it, but they think they can rise again. They are very hostile to the Datong faction, which they consider traitors, and the thorn in their side.
Qu Xiangyang looked at the orderly Baijia Academy, and he made final preparations for the upcoming Hundred Schools of Thought Conference.