Qingguo, the old Taoju.
In the courtyard on the top of the mountain, two people were talking with hands.
The people playing chess looked exactly the same, even their aura and breathing were exactly the same.
If there must be a difference, it is that one person holds the black pieces and the other holds the white pieces.
The chess pieces on the board take on the shapes of mountains and rivers, and gather the sounds of dragons and tigers.
Several hours have passed, and not a single piece has been placed on the chessboard.
The moves are like a mountain.
Daofeng Mountain and Wenxinyuan are where many great scholars from various schools gather.
In the hall, many great scholars of various schools fell silent.
After a long while, Zong Ganyu, who was sitting in the first seat, slowly said, "What are your opinions on the civil servant examination?"
No one spoke. After a long while, Hong Maoshan, a famous scholar of the Qing Kingdom, said, "Half a multitude of scholars."
The great scholars all had different expressions on their faces. After a few breaths, someone asked.
"Is it half a generalist, or half a generalist?"
Hong Maoshan said helplessly, "If it was just a mixed family, why would we gather here?"
A great scholar said: "In this case, we are determined to pass the civil servant examination! So, now there are only two ways, either forcefully impose the Holy Dao Seal to force Fang Yun to admit his mistakes and hand in the civil servant examination; or come forward to negotiate, willing to give up Qing Kingdom, and ask Saint Fang Xu to grant the Miscellaneous School Holy Dao."
"Humph, that sounds like provocation! I think there is only one way, and that is to threaten the Holy Dao Seal and the wrath of the Holy Lord, at the cost of giving up the interests of the Qing Kingdom, or even making another concession in exchange for the civil servant examination being included in the Miscellaneous School."
"Giving up the interests of Qing? Are you going to let the people of Qing point at you and scold you for a thousand years, or do you think that Qing, with the Emperor's sage in charge, is not worth helping?"
"The saints do not hinder the way, this matter should not involve the saints."
"Then, Qing has no more room to retreat. How can we retreat further?"
"If Lord Qing abdicates, then we can take another step back."
"The king is the foundation of the country. If King Qing abdicates, how can Qing still stand tall among the ten kingdoms?"
"Right now, face is not important. What is important is that in exchange for Qing Jun to take the civil servant exam and enter the Miscellaneous Family, is it a loss or a gain?"
“Are we generalists or businessmen?”
"Waiting for the right price to sell, hoarding and buying at a profit, these are the earnest instructions of Lu Sheng!"
"If Fang Yun still disagrees, how can we withdraw?"
"Fang Yun hates Qing Jun so much that he will definitely agree."
"I asked what would happen if he disagreed?"
"Then you should first ask Fang Yun if he agrees!"
Zong Ganyu coughed lightly, interrupting the argument, and said, "My son died outside Yueyang Tower, and I have a deep hatred for Fang Yun. However, this matter concerns the future of the Zhe family and the Qing Kingdom. We should prioritize peace talks and not take risks. Fang Yun... dares to do anything and can do it!"
The great scholars of the Miscellaneous School looked at Zong Ganyu, who seemed to have aged dozens of years in just two years, and looked at the wrinkles on his face, revealing sympathy.
Hong Maoshan sighed deeply and said, "Ganyu has suffered for the sake of this family."
"If I can make the Miscellaneous School stand above all other schools, I will have no regrets even if I die! Not to mention having one son, even if all my descendants are gone, I will not have the slightest complaint." Zong Ganyu's voice was firm.
Hong Maoshan was moved and said, "Even for Brother Zong, we should put aside our prejudices. Let me propose that we vote immediately to choose peace talks or continue to force Fang Yun. Peace talks will produce the Spring and Autumn Annals, while force will produce the Art of War."
The great scholars did not take out any book immediately. After hundreds of breaths, some of them took out a book and placed it in front of them.
Some people took out "Spring and Autumn Annals", some took out "The Art of War", but there were only a few of the latter, and the former accounted for the vast majority.
Hong Maoshan said: "There is no time to lose. Let's discuss today and choose peace talks tomorrow. As for the bottom line of the peace talks, we need to consider it carefully."
"Alas... Before, Jingguo begged us for peace talks, and we tried every means to stop them. Now they are begging us for peace talks. I'm afraid it will be difficult to end it peacefully. For this peace talk, let's not talk about the bottom line, but the basics first. That is, we can only withdraw all the conditions we proposed to Jingguo before. Compensation, technology, personnel, etc., none of them can be changed."
Hong Maoshan said helplessly: "That's right. We must give up all the previous conditions. No one objects to this, right?"
The great scholars remained silent.
This is not just a matter of conditions, but also a matter of face.
All great scholars are ashamed to oppose.
All the conditions proposed before must be returned intact. This is a slap in the face for me.
"Then, the second thing should be to restore the status of all the scholars who were previously expelled from the Miscellaneous School, and... give them divine objects as compensation."
"A divine object?"
Several great scholars showed their displeasure, as even these great scholars could not obtain many divine objects in their entire lives.
Hong Maoshan smiled bitterly and said, "Those officials have already damaged the foundation of the Holy Path, and Fang Yun is well-known for protecting his shortcomings. If you don't hand over the magic item and magic medicine, they will definitely not agree."
Zong Ganyu waved his sleeves lightly and said, "Forget it. This divine object is provided by our Zong family. Let's discuss the next matter."
"If nothing unexpected happens, the other party will definitely put forward a condition, that is, from now on, the scholars of Jingguo shall not be expelled from the Miscellaneous School, nor shall the Holy Dao be used to suppress the seal."
"No, the premise is that they are not in opposition to the Miscellaneous Family. If they have a dispute with the Miscellaneous Family over the Holy Way, won't we never be able to punish them?"
"If we can use the Holy Way Seal on them at any time, why would they give up the civil servant examination?"
"Is the power of the holy way of the Miscellaneous School more important, or is the mere civil servant examination more important?"
"The civil servant examination is important."
"Without the civil servant examination, the miscellaneous school will still be a miscellaneous school, and the holy way will remain intact!"
"Without the civil service examination, the Miscellaneous School is only a defective Miscellaneous School. It seems that some people do not see the terribleness of the civil service examination. Once the civil service examination is popularized in the Ten Kingdoms, the children of each family can be promoted based on their own knowledge. Who would want to learn the Miscellaneous School's skills to ascend to the throne?"
"Desires are insatiable. As long as the holy way of the eclectic school can help them get promoted, they will always understand that more skills are better than less! Except for Jing State, all countries will not reject eclecticism. If the civil servant examination is popular in the ten countries, it will inevitably lead to more scholars taking eclecticism as a minor."
"Then, what about those who major in miscellaneous subjects?" Zong Ganyu asked a key question.
No one in the hall responded, not even those who had previously passionately opposed the peace talks.
The great scholars present all understood that the civil service examination was indeed eroding the eclectic school.
This is because there are various examination papers for the civil service examination, but there is no miscellaneous examination paper.
Moreover, eclecticism cannot become a compulsory subject for grassroots officials.
This means that only a small number of scholars who want to and can become high-ranking officials will study the miscellaneous schools of thought in depth, while most scholars will major in other schools of thought in order to prepare for the civil service examination, and at most study the miscellaneous schools of thought as a minor later.
"We can negotiate with other countries to have them include miscellaneous content in their exam questions."
"As long as miscellaneous studies cannot be listed as a separate subject, few scholars will major in it."
"Then we will work hard to make Miscellaneous Studies a separate subject."
Hong Maoshan asked: "If you take the examination for the engineering family, you can enter the Ministry of Industry and its related offices; if you take the examination for the agricultural family, you can enter the Ministry of Households and its related offices, and the same is true for the other families. So, if you only take the examination for the miscellaneous family, which office is suitable for you to work in?"
The opposition left everyone speechless.
This is the biggest problem of the Eclectic School, and it is also the reason why the Eclectic School wants to swallow up some of the holy teachings of the School of Diplomacy and others.