A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

The 19th year of Emperor Wu of Han.

Emperor Wu of Han, who had already achieved a preliminary unification of the country, was very displeased with the scene of various schools of thought vying for power within the country.

Having achieved the unification of the Central Plains, the unification of thought must also be achieved. This was a great undertaking that even Qin Shi Huang failed to accomplish, and it was ultimately to be achieved by Emperor Wu of Han.

A larger territory than Qin Shi Huang, and a more unified ideology than Qin Shi Huang.

Emperor Wu of Han has now reached the pinnacle of his achievements, and surpassing Qin Shi Huang is his next goal.

All the wise men of the Han Dynasty could sense the emperor's ambition, and the various schools of thought each searched for theories that conformed to the emperor's rule and compiled them into books.

He hoped that his doctrines would gain the approval of Emperor Wu of Han, unify all schools of thought, and become the sole doctrine of the Han Dynasty.

Among them, the theory of royal mandate proposed by King Zhongwu Wei Ping is a classic that all schools of thought needed to study.

The Wei family had been preparing for this for many years. Ever since they proposed the theory of royal mandate, the Wei family had been preparing a doctrine that could unify all schools of thought.

The important point is that, in the Wei family's view, the most advantageous situation was for the various schools of thought to compete against each other.

A diverse range of schools of thought can promote the progress of various doctrines and prevent them from becoming stagnant and gradually degenerating.

However, unification is an inevitable trend, and even the Wei family cannot defy it.

Therefore, the Wei family found a new direction: to unify all schools of thought under one umbrella, and on the premise of achieving great unification, to bring all schools of thought under their control, making them into hundreds of branches of this one school of thought.

In other words, the Wei family set the overall tone, and all the schools of thought of the Hundred Schools of Thought advanced together and competed with each other under this overall tone.

Ultimately, the Wei family chose Taoism.

After all, Taoism has a long history, which can be traced back to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period.

Whether it's the Heavenly Emperor's Bagua, the Earthly Emperor's alchemy, or the Human Emperor's Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, they all originate from Taoism.

Taoism did not actually originate during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods; Lao Tzu merely formally confirmed the name Taoism.

True Taoism had already developed in China during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, but it wasn't called Taoism back then.

Finally, Lao Tzu compiled them all into a single text, the Tao Te Ching, which he collectively referred to as the Tao.

Taoism, originating from ancient times, possesses the potential to encompass everything.

Whether it's Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, the School of Names, the Yin-Yang School, or any other school, they are all forms of the Dao.

Therefore, it is most appropriate to use Taoism to unify the various schools of thought.

However, this alone was not enough to convince Emperor Wu of Han, since the Huang-Lao philosophy advocated governing by non-action, which did not align with Emperor Wu's ambitious and enterprising spirit.

Fortunately, Emperor Wu of Han in this era did not experience suppression by the Huang-Lao school of thought during his childhood.

Historically, Emperor Wu of Han had just come of age when he was eager to make his mark, but he was directly suppressed by Empress Dowager Dou, who advocated Huang-Lao philosophy.

Faced with Empress Dowager Dou's overwhelming power, the forces gathered around Emperor Wu of Han were easily suppressed and had no power to resist.

This caused Emperor Wu of Han to have a deep-seated aversion to the Huang-Lao school of Taoism.

This world doesn't exist in this lifetime; all that's needed is to resolve the conflict between the Huang-Lao school of thought regarding non-action and proactive advancement.

However, this is also understandable. Wuwei does not necessarily mean doing nothing; it can also mean doing everything.

It could also be the mundane life of someone who has defeated everyone and is now in a high position.

After all, only those who stand at the very top have the right to be inactive.

Even non-action requires a material foundation. If you want to achieve non-action, you must first realize the three stages left by King Wu of Zhou, Wei Ping.

This is the Wei family's trump card.

The current Han dynasty is a time of great intellectual ferment, with the most important issue being the realization of a system of governance similar to that of the Three Kings.

This was the common ideal of the various schools of thought, but no one could say for sure what the rule of the Three Kings would actually look like.

If you can't even describe what an ideal looks like, how can you possibly have enough theory to support it?

But the Wei family has it.

Those are the three stages of a certain ideology left by Wei Ping.

It couldn't be more perfect.

No one in this world can resist his temptation.

This is absolutely the ideal of the rule of the Three Kings.

In this generation of the Wei family, there happened to be a disciple who had achieved profound accomplishments in Taoist thought.

His name was Wei Sheng, and he was the son of Wei Xi, the Marquis of Yan in the contemporary era.

It was he who, while studying the theoretical works left by Wei Ping, proposed a method of using Taoism to lead all schools of thought, based on Wei Ping's ideas.

The Tao is the origin of all things and the ultimate principle of heaven and earth. All knowledge and principles in the world are merely manifestations of the Tao.

Therefore, all the schools of thought in ancient China originated from the Dao. The Daoist school of today can be transformed into the Xuan school, which is derived from the mysterious and profound gate of all wonders in the Dao De Jing.

It regards the Tao Te Ching, the Book of Changes, and the study of things as the foremost of the classics, and includes various schools of thought such as Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, Yin-Yang Taoism, Xuan Taoism, and the School of Names.

The goal is to achieve peace and prosperity, reaching the level of the Three Kings' rule.

At the same time, Dong Zhongshu of the Confucian school produced his "Treatise on the Interaction between Heaven and Man," the Legalists produced cruel officials like Zhang Tang, and the Daoists had a large number of high-ranking officials and dignitaries as honored guests.

The Agriculturalists and Mohists are still working among the people. In fact, the current head of the Agriculturalists is the Grand Minister of Agriculture of past dynasties.

In this generation, the peasants did not follow the Confucianists. Instead, after Wei Ping presented the superior seeds, they all submitted to the Wei family.

They followed the Wei family in continuously improving their seeds and farming methods, and then worked with the imperial court to spread these improved seeds and farming methods.

This will benefit the entire Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the agricultural school is now a prominent school of thought, in no way inferior to Confucianism or Legalism, and even able to compete with Taoism thanks to the Wei family.

As for military strategists, their representative figures include Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, and several generals from the Wei family.

The Imperial Academy became the best place for these various schools of thought to compete.

To this end, Emperor Wu of Han specially established the position of Erudite, which was reserved for the great sages of the various schools of thought. Those who held the position of Erudite could freely teach at the Imperial Academy to spread their doctrines and cultivate their children.

Emperor Wu of Han's actions were a clear message to the various schools of thought: "I am now selecting the doctrines that will help me unify the world. If you want them, come to Chang'an and compete for them."

Whoever's doctrines I approve of will become the mainstream in the future.

This led to more scholars from various schools of thought flocking to Chang'an, and they refused to accept even imperial summons in the past.

They prefer to stay in one place to study, research, and teach their disciples.

Now, lured by the doctrine of unification, they all come out of seclusion, eagerly seeking the official position of Imperial Scholar from Emperor Wu of Han, and then fighting tooth and nail at the Imperial Academy.

The struggle for the orthodox tradition is a matter of either advancing or retreating, or failing or dying.

This is the mainstream thought of the various schools of thought during the Hundred Schools of Thought period, and it is only natural that whichever school of thought becomes the dominant one will suppress all other schools of thought.

No one can remain uninvolved in this battle.