The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

The Minglun Hall is located on the east side of the Imperial College. It was the main hall that was only opened when the emperors of all dynasties came to visit.

Normally, the gate here is locked, the two characters "Ming Lun" on the plaque are covered with a fine dust, and the spider webs on the eaves are repeatedly woven and unwoven.

The servants carried buckets and brooms, scrubbing the floor tiles inside and outside the hall inch by inch. When they splashed water on them, the bluestone gleamed with a cold light.

Two rows of brand-new blue cloth curtains hung down from the eaves, fluttering slightly in the morning breeze like two flags rising and falling gently.

The students of the Imperial College arrived before dawn.

They wore new clothes that they usually wouldn't wear, washed crisply, with neatly ironed collars and cuffs, and crowded in twos and threes under the corridor, speaking in hushed tones.

"I heard that Gu Mingzhi from Jing Kingdom is a sixth-rank scholar. How old is he?"

"Twenty-two years old, two years younger than you."

"A 22-year-old sixth-rank official... Zhao Yuanlang, the youngest fifth-rank official in our Imperial Academy, must be 31 this year, right?"

Zhao Yuanlang happened to be passing by under the corridor when he heard these words. He paused for a moment, his face revealing neither joy nor anger, and said in a low voice, "When discussing scholarship, we are talking about knowledge, not rank."

He then walked straight into the hall.

The students behind him stuck out their tongues, no longer daring to gossip.

The furnishings inside the hall had already been arranged.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy sat on the east side according to their rank, with a dozen chairs arranged in two rows, from the third to the seventh rank.

The west side was where the Jing Kingdom delegation was seated. Qi Feng led twelve students to their seats, moving quietly without exchanging any unnecessary pleasantries.

On the high platform in the center are two long tables, each with a writing brush, ink, paper, inkstone, and a pot of tea. Steam rises from the spout of the teapot, condensing into wisps of white smoke in the cool autumn air.

At 3:45 AM, Minister of Rites Meng Yanlun personally presided over the ceremony.

He first straightened his clothes, bowed to the students of both countries, and said loudly, "The inheritance of literature and the way of learning is a common origin for all under heaven."

"Today in the Minglun Hall, the Jing Kingdom and the Great Zhou Kingdom are exchanging ideas through literature and discussing the Way, not concerned with victory or defeat, but only with their true intentions. Please take your leave."

After he finished speaking, he stepped aside, leaving the scene clear.

Qi Feng slowly rose from his seat on the west side.

He was only wearing a worn-out blue cloth robe, with a faded hemp rope tied around his waist, and in his hand he held a well-worn copy of the Six Scripts Commentary.

After taking his seat, he did not rush to speak. Instead, he bowed slightly to greet those around him, his demeanor as humble as that of an ordinary schoolteacher in a rural school, without any airs of a delegation leader.

The twelve disciples of Jingchang Academy behind him took their seats in turn, with Gu Mingzhi at the head, Yan Xiu and Song Siyuan on his left and right respectively, and the remaining nine arranged according to age.

The twelve men's robes were old but clean, and they all sat upright with straight backs, like bamboo groves in a courtyard.

When Yan Xiu sat down, he smiled at the students of Da Zhou across from him, his smile carrying a hint of youthful mischief. Song Siyuan gently kicked him under the table, which made him restrain himself.

The twelve seats of the Great Zhou Dynasty are now full.

Zhao Yuanlang of the Imperial Academy sat at the front, followed by Sun Huaijin and Qian Shen. All three were fifth-rank scholars, known for their profound knowledge of the classics.

Five people from various academies sat to the right.

Liu Wenzhong of Beihai Academy in Qingzhou.

Lu Boyan of Ziyang Academy in Jiangnan.

Cui Mingyuan of Luoyang Heluo Academy.

Chen Jizhou of Yunmeng Academy in Jiangling.

And Lin Shih-chung, recommended by Mingdao Academy.

Lin Shih-chung sat at the very end of the group of five, dressed simply with small patches on his cuffs. But when he sat down, he sat up straight and calmly swept his gaze across the Jing Kingdom's formation, showing no sign of panic.

Of the remaining four seats, Zhou Qi, a compiler at the Hanlin Academy, sat on the left. He was the nephew of Zhou Bangyan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He was handsome and fair-skinned, and held a folding fan in his hand with a landscape painting he had inscribed on it.

Further to the side were two young officials who had been brought in amidst the power struggles of various parties.

Fang Yizhi, the clerk of the Ministry of Personnel's Performance Evaluation Department, was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. He had a calm expression and one hand rested on the table, his knuckles slightly white.

He Lin, the chief clerk of the Ministry of Revenue's Department of Finance, had a delicate appearance and a smile on his lips, as if he had only come to listen to an unimportant chat.

But if someone looks closely into his eyes, they will find a very thin layer of sharp light hidden beneath that smile.

Qi Feng and the others were all seated before he slowly began to speak.

His voice was calm and clear, neither too loud nor too soft, yet it carried clearly to every corner of the hall: "The Great Zhou Jing Kingdom shares the same origins with the teachings of the Sage King, and all those who practice the Six Scripts are here. Today, this old man will only ask a small question..."

He paused, gently unfolded the old book in his hand, and looked up from the pages.

"The Book of Heaven speaks of Qi, the Book of Earth speaks of pulse, the Book of Man speaks of nature, the Book of Time speaks of seasons, the Book of Numbers speaks of measure, and the Book of Destiny speaks of momentum."

"These six are each a path, and they are also interdependent. Please have each country nominate one person to explain which of these six is ​​the most important and why. Do not cite previous commentaries, but only state your own views."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Several students from Da Zhou looked down at the notes and annotations they had prepared in advance on their desks, their expressions somewhat subtle.

Qi Feng's requirement that there be no need to cite previous commentaries was like a very light knife, silently cutting away seventy or eighty percent of their reliance.

Jingguo, on the other hand, showed almost no hesitation.

As soon as Qi Feng finished speaking, Yan Xiu stood up.

He bowed deeply to the surrounding crowd and said with a smile, "I am Yan Xiu from Jingchang Academy, and I am willing to offer my humble opinion as a starting point for further discussion."

He stood with his hands behind his back in front of the desk, not looking at anyone, his gaze fixed on the plaque hanging high in the Minglun Hall, and said in a clear voice: "Among the six scripts, in the view of a junior, the script of the time should be valued."

The students from the Great Zhou Dynasty across the way all sat up straight.

Zhao Yuanlang's fingers unconsciously gripped his sleeve.

Yan Xiu continued, "The five books all speak of the essence of Heaven, Earth, Man, Numbers, and Fate, but only in time do they speak of its application."

"The way of Heaven operates in a constant manner, yet change is inherent within this constancy; the geography of mountains and rivers is fixed, yet change is inherent within this fixedness."

"Human relationships and social norms are constant, but within these constants there are appropriate principles; calculations and measurements are accurate, but within these accuracy there are discrepancies."

"The rise and fall of fortunes are governed by circumstances, but within those circumstances, there are bound to be shifts. Therefore, the writings of the times are the pivot of change."

"Those who understand the times understand change; those who understand change are able to adapt; only those who are adaptable can hold the Five Books without being bound by them."

After saying this, he sat down, picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and raised an eyebrow at Song Siyuan with a smile.

Song Siyuan turned his face away expressionlessly.

Qi Feng nodded, then turned his gaze to the Great Zhou: "Fellow students of Great Zhou, is there anyone who can answer this question?"

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Zhao Yuanlang took a deep breath and stood up.

He cupped his hands in greeting to Qi Feng, then nodded slightly toward Jing Guo. When he spoke, his voice was steady, with the proper demeanor typical of a top student from the Imperial Academy: "In my humble opinion, the Heavenly Book is of utmost importance."

"The Way of Heaven operates and is the origin of all things. Only after the Way of Heaven can there be the Way of Earth, the Way of Humanity, the Way of Time, the Way of Numbers, and the Way of Destiny."

"Heaven is the root, and the rest are the branches. When the root is upright, the branches will follow suit; when the root is established, the Way will arise. This is the foundation of the teachings of the sage king, which needs no further explanation."

He spoke with great force, his voice echoing throughout the Minglun Hall.

But after he finished speaking, no one from Jing Kingdom's side said a word.

Yan Xiu sipped his tea slowly, a half-smile on his face.

Song Siyuan lowered his head and wrote a line of words on the table. After finishing, he turned the paper over.

Qi Feng listened without comment, only nodding slightly: "Next one, please."

Zhao Yuanlang stood there for a moment, and seeing that Qi Feng was no longer asking questions, he had no choice but to sit back down.

His face was slightly flushed when he sat down, and his fingers clenched and unclenched repeatedly on his knees.

The next three questions will discuss the Book of Earth, the Book of Man, and the Book of Destiny, respectively.

For each question Qi Feng posed, he would have each country send one person to answer it.

The students from Da Zhou took turns getting up, but like Zhao Yuanlang, they could only quote from the commentaries, though they were quite fluent in the words.

He could even occasionally recite an entire passage from the original text of a great Confucian scholar from the previous dynasty, but he missed the most important thing.

The weight of the words "understanding of the classics themselves" and "one's own insights".

Liu Wenzhong of Beihai Academy stood up and discussed the book of geography, citing the commentaries of seven predecessors, and his reasoning was quite clear.

When it came to how the earth's veins connect with the heavens, he simply repeated the original words from the commentaries over and over again, speaking faster and faster until he was practically reciting a memorized text.

Qi Feng listened for a few words, then lowered his eyes and tapped his fingers lightly twice on his knee.

To demonstrate his scholarship, Sun Huaijin recited three whole pages of a commentary by a great Confucian scholar from the previous dynasty when discussing the book of destiny. Halfway through, he suddenly forgot the next sentence, froze in front of the table, and his face turned bright red.

Qian Shen, who was next to him, quietly continued the conversation for him. He barely managed to finish speaking, and when he sat down, a thin layer of sweat had already seeped from his forehead.

On the west side of Minglun Hall, Yan Xiu listened to Sun Huaijin's recitation with his head tilted to the side. He then whispered to Song Siyuan, "The commentary he recited, the original text of the great Confucian scholar was 'The formation of power is not the accumulation of a day.' He memorized it, which is not the work of a day. If there is even one word missing, the meaning will be off by half an inch."

Song Siyuan didn't reply, but just shook his head slightly.

In contrast, Song Siyuan, Gu Mingzhi, and others from Jing State were able to directly refer to the original texts for each question, using the Six Scripts as the framework and practical application as the focus, answering questions cleanly and concisely, each with their own distinct style.

When discussing the writings of a person, Song Siyuan said only one sentence: "The nature of a person's writings is neither good nor evil, but rather capable of being both good and evil, and the words that can be used are worth more than ten thousand words."

With just that one sentence, Qi Feng's brows relaxed a little.

When Yan Xiu discussed fate in his book, he was even more cunning. He stood up and didn't answer directly. Instead, he smiled and asked the students of the Great Zhou Academy opposite him, "Do you all think that fate can be changed or not?"

No one from the Great Zhou dared to answer, so he continued himself: "A fate that can be changed is a fate; a fate that cannot be changed is divine punishment."

The students opposite were left speechless, none of them able to refute him.

Lin Shizhong was the only one among the twelve whose eyes lit up slightly in Qi Feng's eyes.

When he rose to discuss the Book of Fate, he was unhurried. He first wrote down the four characters "The Book of Fate speaks of power" that Qi Feng had just mentioned on the table before speaking: "In my opinion, the power of the Book of Fate is not determined by fate, but by human timing."

"As Mr. Huang of Mingdao Academy once said, 'Destiny changes with the times, but power is achieved by people.'"

"If people do not know the times, then writing books is just empty talk; if people know the times but cannot act, then the concept of power is meaningless."

"Therefore, the importance of the Book of Fate lies in the fact that people can read it and use it."

When Qi Feng heard the seven characters "人能读之，能用之", he raised his eyelids, glanced at Lin Shizhong, and nodded slightly.

That glance was faint, but Lin Shih-chung saw it. A small warmth welled up in his heart, but then it sank back down.

He himself knew that this was his best performance, but compared to the other team members, there was still an insurmountable gap between them.

Then it was time to answer a math question.

Qi Feng said, "The books speak of standards, but what is a standard? How is a standard defined? Please have one person from each side answer this."

There was a long silence on the Zhou side.

Zhao Yuanlang had already failed once, so he lowered his head and dared not go up again.

Sun Huaijin was still regretting reciting the commentary incorrectly earlier, twisting the hem of his clothes with his fingers.

Qian Shen opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Zhou Qi's knuckles turned white as he gripped the folding fan, but he ultimately did not stand up.

Fang Yizhi and He Lin were officials with practical backgrounds and were not particularly well-versed in classical texts. At this moment, they remained silent in fear.

The hall remained silent for a full seven or eight breaths.

Even Meng Yanlun couldn't help but cough, his gaze sweeping over the faces of his fellow students, his anxiety almost bursting from his eyes.

Just as Zhao Yuanlang gritted his teeth and prepared to stand up again, Gu Mingzhi got up from Jingguo's side.

He stood calmly before the table, first bowing slightly to Qi Feng, then turning to the people of Da Zhou, his gaze calm and serene.

"Is the measurement of numbers measured by heaven, earth, humanity, or time?"

No one answered.

Gu Mingzhi waited for three breaths, then continued speaking to himself: "The measure of numbers is not the measure of a single thing, but the measure of the equality of all things."

"Heaven cannot exist without time, earth cannot exist without its pulse, man cannot exist without his nature, time cannot exist without its seasons, and destiny cannot exist without its power."

"Numbers are books that measure the changes of all things. How do they measure them? Not by feet or weights, but by understanding. Understanding leads to life, while misunderstanding leads to death."

After saying this, he slowly swept his gaze across the faces of the students of Da Zhou before returning it to the scroll on his desk, and said nothing more.

The hall was so quiet that you could hear the wind blowing the curtains under the eaves.

A faint smile finally appeared on Qi Feng's lips.

The smile was very faint, almost invisible, but Yan Xiu, sitting behind him, saw it and lowered his head to secretly curl the corners of his mouth.

Outside Minglun Hall, the autumn wind swept across the fallen leaves on the steps, making a rustling sound.

Inside the hall, on the Great Zhou side, everyone from the Chancellor to the students looked extremely grim.

Zhao Yuanlang lowered his head, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Sun Huaijin's hands were still twisting the hem of his clothes, his knuckles turning white.

Qian Shen stared blankly at his desk, as if a wonderful commentary had suddenly sprung up there.

Lin Shih-chung let out a soft breath and closed his eyes.

The Great Zhou Dynasty lost.

They lost completely, without even a chance to refute it.

Twelve people took turns trying, but none of them could break free from the constraints of previous commentaries and directly confront the original text of the Six Books of the Sage King.

This defeat was not only a defeat in scholarship, but also a concentrated eruption of the accumulated problems of the Great Zhou Confucian classics over the past few centuries in the Minglun Hall.

As the event ended, the students of the Imperial College silently withdrew from the corridors without uttering a sound.

Zhao Yuanlang walked at the very front, his steps were very fast, and the corner of his robe was rolled up and down by the wind.

Sun Huaijin followed behind and suddenly whispered, "If only I could have answered his question back then: 'Whether he asked whether it was about measuring heaven, earth, people, or time...'"

Zhao Yuanlang didn't turn around, his voice hoarse: "If you can't answer, neither can I."

The two figures disappeared at the end of the corridor.

The people in Minglun Hall gradually dispersed.

Su Shi remained seated in his seat at the Hanlin Academy.

The tea in front of him had gone cold, and he hadn't drunk a drop.

A blank notebook lay open beside me, and a pen rested next to the inkstone, the ink forming a thin layer.

He gazed in the direction where the Jingguo students had left, his eyes flickering, and remained silent for a long time.

Someone walked over and patted him on the shoulder, asking him how he felt about the day.

Su Shi remained silent for a while before speaking in a low voice, as if he were talking to himself: "A thousand years of learning, yet they have found new meaning in it."

He looked down at the blank notebook, but ultimately didn't write a single word.

He simply put the pen back where it was, closed the notebook, got up and walked out of Minglun Hall.

The wind outside rushed in, carrying the dry chill unique to the area after the frost. He stood on the steps, took a deep breath, and suddenly smiled.

That smile contained emotion, appreciation, and a faint, indescribable sense of crisis.

The plaque of Minglun Hall hung quietly behind him, the two characters "Minglun" gleaming with an old gold in the afternoon sunlight, dust slowly rising and falling in the beam of light.

This academic debate has ended, but some things are just beginning.