Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 1099 – Remaking the Path
9th month, 2nd day, Ouyang Shuo returned to Shanhai City.
In the next week, the world gave birth to numerous dynasties, including the House of Tudor in England, the Romanov Empire in Russia, the Indian Empire, the Persian Empire, and the Arab Empire.
Although some were known as empires, they were still dynasties, and only the name was different.
Everything was as expected, which was why Ouyang Shuo did not pay much attention to it. The only thing was that when the House of Tudor established its dynasty, he arranged Atlantic Squadron Fleet Admiral Alvaro over to congratulate.
During the following period of time, more dynasties would probably be born. The global landscape would start to be split up, and the situation would become clearer.
If things happened as Ouyang Shuo expected, apart from Great Xia, the dynasties that were able to exist in the wilderness would either be from Silver Hand or from the Academic Faction.
This was not anything good for Great Xia.
“Time does not wait for me!”
Ouyang Shuo gazed at the south sky as his ambition and fighting spirit grew.
…
9th month, 9th day, Xinan University.
Just as the world situation was changing, Shanhai City that stood at the center of the world appeared really calm. They started another day like nothing had occurred.
Within the Debate House in the southwest corner of the Xinan University, things were unusual.
Within the hall, Kong Zi, Lao Zi, Mo Zi, Han Feizi, Sun Wu, Gui Guzi, Zou Yan, Hui Zi, Lu Buwei, Xu Xing, Zhang Zhongjing, Li Bai, Cao Xueqin, and other leaders of the various school of thoughts sat at the front.
Meng Zi, Zhuang Zi, Shen Buhai, Yang Zi, Zhang Yi, Xun Zi, Lie Zi, Shang Yang, Shen Zi, Gong Sunlong, Gao Zi, Tian Pian, and other grandmasters of the school of thoughts sat in the middle.
Behind them were the 500 odd disciples who were the core of their school of thoughts.
Such a power could pretty much represent the core of China’s ideological thinking. Only Great Xia had the ability to gather them all up.
At 9 AM, Ouyang Shuo appeared in the hall.
“Greetings my king!”
Regardless of whether they were working for Great Xia, secluded in Great Xia, or living around within the Great Xia territory, they all stood up and bowed.
This was the respect toward the ruler of the wilderness and also respect toward the orthodoxy of Great Xia.
Ouyang Shuo did not show any bit of pride. After calming himself down, he signaled for them to take their seats, “In terms of knowledge, all of you are my teachers, do not hold back.”
The moment he said those words, Lao Zi and the others calmed down.
Ouyang Shuo’s humble attitude won the recognition and good impression of these people. People like Lao Zi, who came over just to give face to Jiang Shang, Kong Zi, and the like, did not truly respect Great Xia.
“After all of you appeared in the wilderness and summarized all that you have seen and heard, I guess you all would have new thoughts and learnings.” Speaking of this, Ouyang Shuo took a look at Kong Zi, and his eyes were filled with deep meaning.
Since Kong Zi remade and remodeled the old Confucian classic, many years had passed, and he had probably had new gains.
Ouyang Shuo continued, “Between the various school of thoughts, through different debates and discussion of ideas, your ideologies have been improved; this is the blessing of Great Xia.”
The philosophers did not understand what Ouyang Shuo was talking about.
“Why did the Xia King invite us over? Please tell us.” The one who spoke was Lu Buwei.
As he did not receive a high position in Great Xia, Lu Buwei was really unhappy. He accepted the invitation to come not because he truly supported Great Xia but because he wanted to see what was going on.
Seeing that, Ouyang Shuo smiled and finally voiced his goal, “I was thinking that all of you philosophers, each of you have your specialties and your focuses. If I said that any one of you represented the orthodoxy of China, none of you would be happy about it, and no one could convince the other. To Great Xia, we do not want to truly believe in one school of thought and disregard the others.”
To be able to hear those words, many of the people present were shocked.
Many of them lived during the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period and did not truly experience the time when Qin Shihuang burned all books to crush Confucianism. They did not experience the thousand-year-long period where only Confucianism was used.
However, ever since they appeared in the wilderness, such information swarmed them and made others look down on the Confucianism school of thought.
For Ouyang Shuo, the most powerful emperor in the wilderness, to suddenly bring up this matter, what did it mean?
Was a new bloody era about to arrive?
This was not an impossible matter. Throughout history, there was no dynasty that could truly accept the hundreds of schools of thoughts to coexist, as it would result in ideological chaos within the dynasty.
This was a huge calamity for the dynasty rule.
On the other hand, Lu Buwei seemed really excited, and he was even looking forward to it.
Ouyang Shuo said, “The times are changing, and ideas have to revolutionize too. I respect and hope for all of you to coexist in Great Xia, but that does not mean Great Xia does not need a unified ideological system.”
Kong Zi and Mo Zi both nodded when they heard that.
Ouyang Shuo did not force them into it and just described the needs of Great Xia. Great Xia provided all the philosophers with an open learning environment, so it was natural that the philosophers helped Great Xia to split the worries.
The world was circular causation.
“What I am saying is that I hope that all of you can work together whilst maintaining your viewpoints. I hope that you can gather the essences of your ideologies and mesh them together to form a new set of rules suitable for the wilderness whilst also including the ideas the dynasty needs to rule. This system will become the standard and the orthodoxy of the dynasty.”
‘Si~~~’
Everyone in the room could not help but take in a deep breath; they were shocked by the ambition of the Xia King.
Ouyang Shuo’s idea was not truly the first of its kind. Although the Han Dynasty used solely Confucianism, in truth, they were using the study of Confucian classics, meshing the essence of the philosophers on the foundations of Confucianism.
Since there was already a precedence, why couldn’t it work?
Kong Zi was the first to step out, “The moment the king’s idea works, it would be a blessing for all the people. The Confucians are willing to participate and play a part.”
Seeing that, Ouyang Shuo got up and gave a solemn bow, “Mister is wise!”
The philosophers represented the essence of Chinese civilization. Since Ouyang Shuo wanted to establish the core of China and make Chinese Civilization prosperous once more, he needed to internalize all of them.
To merge all of them was unpractical and also unneeded.
A civilization without competition and differences would not be able to last for long.
Ouyang Shuo’s idea was really intelligent. What he wanted was the essence. He wanted the metaphysical aspect and not the physical aspect.
This was a huge chance for the various school of thoughts.
No matter which school of thought or faction, the final goal was to serve a dynasty. If their school of thought was not used as the orthodox ideology, they would be useless. Ouyang Shuo’s idea was to make up for this sense of loss.
