Chapter 251: Law and Confucianism

The world is discussing military affairs? When Xun Kuang heard this term, his thoughts were not as simple as Yang Chong's.

Although Yang Chong, the new King of Qi, has occupied Linzi City and cities across Qi have surrendered, Yang Chong still has a lot to do if he wants to straighten out the complicated relationships within Qi and completely control Qi.

Under such circumstances, Yang Chong went to so much trouble to hold a martial arts forum. Is Yang Chong really so idle?

Although Yang Chong was indeed known for his martial arts, and had become one of the most powerful men in the world at a young age, which showed Yang Chong's talent in martial arts and the huge energy he invested in it, but if it was said that Yang Chong was a person who would do anything for martial arts, Xun Kuang would never believe it.

If Yang Chong was just a martial arts fanatic, he would not have entered the Qi Palace and become the master of most of Qi.

Therefore, he must have some conspiracy. Xun Kuang's eyes lingered on Yang Chong for a long time. He was analyzing Yang Chong's motives and trying to find out what conspiracy Yang Chong might have.

Did he want to gather all the masters of the various schools of thought in one place and capture them all in one fell swoop? However, that shouldn't be the case. The war between the seven countries is the mainstream now. Even if the monarchs of the seven countries don't like a certain school, they won't attack it. After all, for the king, the six are the real enemies. The struggles among the various schools of thought are really not taken seriously by the monarchs of the seven countries.

The same is true for Yang Chong. From now on, Yang Chong’s friends or enemies are only the six countries. At this time, he will never distract his attention to take action against the various schools of thought.

"Mr. Xun, you don't think I'm calculating against the various schools of thought, right?" Seeing that Xun Kuang was hesitant, Yang Chong simply revealed Xun Kuang's thoughts.

It is very interesting to guess each other's thoughts with Yan Lingji, but Yang Chong does not think it is a wonderful thing to guess the thoughts of an old man.

"It's not impossible." Faced with Yang Chong's inquiry, Xunzi was a little caught off guard, but he quickly reacted and replied with words that were half joking and half tentative.

"None of the hundreds of schools of thought are qualified to be my opponents, so there is no need to test me, Mr. Xun. I am here purely for martial arts. I have already glimpsed the ways of heaven and man, and I need to make progress bravely. I have to learn from everyone's strengths and take that step." Yang Chong said.

"That step!" Xun Kuang showed a look of disappointment when he heard this. It was most likely that others would not understand what Yang Chong said, but Xun Kuang was not one of them, because in terms of cultivation alone, he and Yang Chong were actually equal.

However, compared to a master like Yang Chong who is good at fighting, Xun Kuang is relatively not so good at fighting. But even a master who is not good at fighting is still a master, and he can still crush the so-called first-class masters.

Looking at Yang Chong's confident look about the future, Xunzi felt that the world was unforgiving. He felt a strong breath of life in Yang Chong, but he was already very old. Although these people had made great progress in their realm, they could not see the way to go further.

He is a scholar. If what he has learned cannot be put into effective practice, it will only be a castle in the air. It may look beautiful, but it is ultimately missing a ray of hope and a chance to break through to the final step.

"Mr. Xun's art of kingship and hegemony is very interesting. However, for any doctrine, the so-called perfection cannot be just written on paper. Only when it is implemented in reality can its value be proven." Yang Chong said.

Xunzi has a bad reputation in later history, largely because his disciple Li Si failed in practicing Xunzi's theories. Although this was not entirely Xunzi's fault, Xunzi was more or less affected by these problems, so much so that he was regarded as a heretic by traditional Confucianism in later generations.

But from the perspective of later generations like Yang Chong, Xunzi's theory is actually more suitable as a country's governing philosophy, it was just that Qin Shi Huang and his people went astray.

Therefore, Yang Chong was very interested in recruiting Xun Kuang under his command. Even if it meant offering him the position of prime minister, Yang Chong would be willing. However, Xun Kuang's disciples, such as Li Si and Zhang Cang, were pursuing fame, wealth and power. They might not be willing to let him be on the same level as his disciples in person, so Yang Chong had to resort to some means.

"Your Majesty, are you trying to recruit me?" Xun Kuang's heart was moved, but he suddenly became alert.

"Am I not qualified to recruit Mr. Xun?" Yang Chong asked back.

"With your talent in both civil and military affairs, I am afraid no one can be proud in front of you. But I am too old and cannot serve you." Xun Kuang said.

If Xunzi said that he was not moved by Yang Chong's advances, he would be completely deceiving himself. But he was not alone after all. His identity involved the entire Confucianism. Once he chose a side, it almost represented the Confucianism. The way of survival for the various schools of thought was to travel among the seven countries.

The struggle between the seven countries provided space for the survival and development of various schools of thought, but if any one of them completely sided with another country, it might be severely cracked down by other countries.

From this point of view, this is the case with the Mohist school that has been around for decades.

Therefore, unless it is absolutely necessary, Xunzi will never clearly stand on the side of any country.

"An old horse in the stable still has a thousand miles to go; a martyr in his old age still has great ambitions." Yang Chong said to himself. He was talking to himself, but he knew that Xunzi would definitely listen to him.

"Your Majesty is quite gifted in writing." Xun Kuang said jokingly. He could only use this kind of joke to hide his excitement.

"There is a long way to go for these things. I believe Mr. Xun will give me a satisfactory answer soon. Let's continue with the previous topic. I want you to invite masters from all schools of thought to discuss martial arts in the world." Yang Chong returned to the previous topic.

"Okay, but Your Majesty must guarantee that you will never lay a hand on the masters of the various schools of thought." Xun Kuang said helplessly. Now he was under someone's roof and had to bow his head.

"A gentleman's word is as good as gold." Yang Chong said.

"Okay, I will invite all the masters of various schools of thought to come to Linzi on behalf of the king." Xun Kuang responded.

"In this way, you and I can share this great event together." Yang Chong said with a smile. If this were accomplished, the sword world would surely evolve a martial art that could reach the limits of this world, and even allow Yang Chong to become invincible at the Grandmaster level.

After seeing off Xunzi, Yang Chong became busy again. Soon, officials from all over Qi State, regardless of their intentions, came to Linzi, waiting for the decision of fate.

After they waited for three days, Yang Chong, the new King of Qi, appeared in front of them. "I don't know your talents, but I also know that Qi cannot do without you." In the main hall of the Qi Palace, Yang Chong looked around at the more than 200 officials in the hall. He had never seen any of them before, but he had already known them well. At this time, he just compared the information in the intelligence and archives with the real people to verify.

Yang Chong's voice echoed in the hall. More than 200 officials held their breath and concentrated. While Yang Chong was verifying the information he had on them, they were also guessing what Yang Chong was thinking.

"So, I want to test you today to see if you can continue to be promoted to your previous official positions." Yang Chong stated his purpose.

The imperial examination system is a very interesting system, and it is also a powerful weapon for this era. As for whether the imperial examination system will not be able to adapt to the local conditions in this era, Yang Chong is not too worried. After all, the various schools of thought have been operating for more than two hundred years, and in this era, a huge group of scholars has been cultivated. Some of them can certainly enter the court through conditions such as birth or wealth, but more people still find it difficult to set foot in the court.

The imperial examination system was prepared for these people.

The Mohist school's approach to engineering, the Confucian school's approach to education, the military school's approach to war, the Legalist school's approach to Sima, the Yin-Yang school's astronomy and calendar, the agricultural school's agronomy, medicine, and various trades, are all necessary for Yang Chong.

As for how to coordinate the various schools of thought and make them work towards a common goal despite their different concepts and doctrines, Yang Chong has already made a preliminary plan. No matter how cruel the war among the seven countries was, they still had a common value recognition, and the same was true among the various schools of thought.

As long as a common value recognition is established among the various schools of thought, it will not be difficult to make them work under one's command. As for what is the common value recognition?
Everything is for the advancement of civilization in this world. Yang Chong had already thought about this.

"A test?" Many officials in the hall were a little surprised, but soon calmed down. Such a thing was not that special in Qi State. King Wei of Qi had done this before.

At that time, King Wei of Qi evaluated the chief officials of each city across the country. Those who performed well were promoted, while those who failed were cooked and killed. The people of Qi had heard this story since childhood.

Soon, a group of eunuchs carried small tables and desks into the hall, and brought in pens, ink, paper and inkstone.

Just when everyone thought that Yang Chong would give the questions, Yang Chong had someone give each person a bamboo tube. The questions inside were the test questions. The questions were different for each person, and what was tested was not everyone's knowledge, but their abilities.

The examination lasted for three days, and it was not until dusk on the third day that the more than 200 officials left the King of Qi's palace.

The test papers they left behind were sent by Yang Chong and his men to Xun Kuang's residence in the Jixia Academy.

"Your Majesty, I am old and frail, and I am really not fit for such an assignment." Xunzi looked at the test papers piled up like a hill in front of him, his face full of bitterness.

Even though the test papers in front of him don't look like much and are just a small hill, they are actually test papers made of paper. If they were replaced with bamboo slips, they would probably fill up the entire room.

Moreover, these test papers are not only about the amount of work done, but also about human relations and social skills. Yang Chong intends to use these test papers as the standard to consider the appointment and retention of officials from all over Qi. This means that if Xunzi takes this job, the fate of the entire Qi officials will be determined by his pen.

Officials who passed the assessment might not necessarily be grateful to him, but officials who failed the assessment would definitely hate him to the core. Xunzi was well aware of this, so he could not take on this job.

Of course, Yang Chong also knew Xun Kuang's concerns, but since he had already delivered the things to Xun Kuang, he was naturally confident that Xun Kuang would accept them.

"Mr. Xun, why don't you listen to what I say first, and then make a decision." Yang Chong leisurely pulled out the chair belonging to Xun Kuang and sat down directly, not treating himself as an outsider at all.

"Even if Your Majesty can talk a flower, even if Your Majesty invites Guiguzi or Gongsun Long, the two old guys who are best at talking, I will never be convinced." Xunzi wanted to use his toughness to show his attitude.

What a joke! He has lived to such an old age, and his study of the ways of the world must have made great contributions.

When necessary, Xun Kuang would do things that would offend people, but he would never do anything that would offend most of the Qi officialdom.

"Regarding the issue of law, I have some understandings of my own, Mr. Xun, you can listen to them." Yang Chong ignored Xun Kuang's firm attitude and just said what he wanted to say.

Xunzi ignored Yang Chong.

"In the distant past, there was no concept of law among our ancestors, but people at that time also needed to maintain the existing order. In order to achieve this goal, rules emerged in conventions. Later, people found that these conventions were easily tampered with, so some people wrote these rules into specific words and made them public, so that no one could arbitrarily tamper with the rules." Yang Chong said.

"Your Majesty is talking about the incident in which Zichan, the Prime Minister of Zheng, cast the Criminal Tripod." Xunzi was ultimately unable to control his restless tongue.

Yang Chong ignored Xun Kuang and continued, "The best country in developing written laws is Qin. The Qin laws are the most rigorous among the seven countries. But because they are too rigorous, they are also suspected of being too harsh."

"It can even be said to be rigid. No one can exhaust the changes in this world, so how can it be fully covered by a volume of law?" After Xunzi finished speaking, he wanted to slap himself in the face. How come this mouth didn't sound like his?

"So I thought of another way of thinking, maybe I can change this situation." Yang Chong said.

"What idea?" Xun Kuang really wanted to leave here at this time, but his reason could no longer control his actions.

"Integrate the traditional customs of various places into the law. Take these test papers as an example. I asked officials from various places to summarize the verdicts of various cases in recent years. From them, we can roughly see the laws and social customs of Qi. We will summarize the reasonable case verdicts. If similar cases occur in the future, we will use them as the standard..."

"Your Majesty, are you talking about taking the law as the core and the customs as the yardstick?" Xunzi said in shock and great surprise.

(End of this chapter)