I am not a deposed emperor of Han Dynasty

Chapter 481 I ask you all the great scholars to place your pledge on the surrender form!

There were quite a few people in the main hall on the first floor of Shiqu Pavilion, large and small, thirty or forty in total.

But there are only nineteen people in total who are qualified to cast this vote, including Liu He himself.

A few days ago, Wang Shi and Liu He had already conducted a detailed analysis of the entire situation.

Among these nineteen people, they are roughly divided into three components.

The first component is the Yes faction.

Including eight people: Liu He, Wang Shi, Xiao Wangzhi, Xue Guangde, Zhang Changan, Tang Changbin, Chu Shaosun, and Shi Yu.

Needless to say, Liu He and Wang Shi were the initiators of this debate.

Xiao Wangzhi was a talent recruited by the emperor, and Shi Yu was a representative of the common people from a poor family.

Xue Guangde, Zhang Changan, Tang Changbin, and Chu Shaosun were all direct disciples of Wang Shi.

Naturally, they will follow Liu He and Wang Shi closely.

The second ingredient is the opposition.

There are eight people including Kong Ba, Wei Xian, Tian Wangsun, Yan Pengzu, Cai Qianqiu, Liang Qiuhe, Meng Xi and Liu Anmin.

Calculated in this way, the number of supporters and opponents is exactly the same, and they are evenly matched.

The third ingredient is centrism.

It is composed of three people: Hou Cang, Xia Housheng and Wei Xuancheng.

Although these three sons were classified as "one faction" by the emperor, in fact they had different reasons for becoming centrists.

Hou Cang was a student of Fu Xiahou Shijian, the former king of Changyi, but whether he dared to stand up against the scholars for this reason is still a matter of debate.

Xia Housheng was both punished by Liu He and received the grace of atonement from Liu He, so his attitude on this matter could only be ambiguous.

Although Wei Xuancheng is a confidant recruited by Liu He, he is related to Wei Xian by blood after all, and his attitude cannot be explained clearly.

Under this situation, Liu He's strategy is simple and clear, which is to win the support of the centrists through "debates" in court.

If we had better luck and the Confucian scholars were more fair, they might be able to convince a few opponents, which would make the scene even better.

According to Liu He's mind, he would be very satisfied if he could get [-] out of [-] votes.

However, the results now on the blackboard are much better than imagined.

There were fifteen votes in favor of publishing the popular version of the Confucian Classics, and only four votes against printing the popular version of the Confucian Classics.

Liu He was extremely excited, but the expression on his face remained calm - this was a big victory!
  In this way, the next steps will be much smoother - many cutscenes can even be eliminated.

However, the excitement only lasted for a short moment and then disappeared. His sharp eyes searched back and forth in the hall, trying to find out who these four opponents were.

In fact, there is no need to look for them, they are just Kong Ba, Wei Xian, Yan Pengzu, and Cai Qianqiu.

Liu He's eyes finally rested on Yan Pengzu, who was still huddled on the couch like a dog with a broken spine, looking extremely embarrassed.

I didn't expect that I would dare to vote against it. The ingredients are too bad.

This Yan Pengzu can't stay anymore, and he will have to find a way to deal with it in the future.

When Liu He was pleasantly surprised by the result, Kong Ba and Wei Xian, who were responsible for supervising the voting, had particularly gloomy expressions.

They looked at the incomplete word "yes" under the word "no" on the blackboard and said nothing.

These two great scholars of the time had no idea that there would be such a huge disparity in the results.

Although the eloquent speech the emperor just said was inspiring, after listening to it, they knew that the issue of the popular version of the Confucian classics could not be stopped.

But the disparity in the final result is still somewhat shocking.

How could these dozen Confucian scholars of different ages in the hall be so easily persuaded by the emperor and fall to the side of the imperial power so easily?
  Rulin is pitiful!
  When they entered Shiqu Pavilion, Wei Xian and Kong Ba thought it would be easy to win, but the straight characters under the word "YES" slapped them both in the face.

The two great scholars looked at each other and shook their heads gently again with solemn expressions.

Then, Kong Ba's eyes quietly turned to the door of the main hall, seeming to be hesitating and searching for something.

The matter of publishing the popular version of the Confucian classics can no longer be changed. The next step is to debate and compare the classics and discuss which one's annotation of the Confucian classics should be selected as the popular version of the Confucian classics.

In the eyes of Kong Ba and Wei Xian, once the issue of publishing a popular version of the Confucian classics is passed, it will actually be insignificant which Confucian classics will be designated as the popular version later.

There are only a few major schools of Confucianism, and their representatives are in the hall at this moment. No matter how the emperor chooses, he can only choose from these.

The Confucian scholars who appeared in Shiqu Pavilion today are all "old faces". They all know clearly what scriptures they govern, and there are no representatives of other small sects.

Since there are no opponents, the name of the popular version of Confucianism will definitely be divided up by all the factions present.

Without expectations and surprises, what else do Wei Xian and Kong Ba care about?

Kong Ba stood by the blackboard, calmed down, and had the idea of ​​​​retreating to the next best thing. Later, he must persuade the emperor to establish more official schools, so as to preserve as many schools as possible.

Just when Kong Ba was planning in his mind how to use the remaining cards in his hand to win some more chips, the emperor's voice came over.

"Mr. Wei Ge, have all the votes been verified?" Liu He asked calmly.

"Veteran, I would like to report to Your Majesty that there are a total of [-] tickets, all of which have been verified," Wei Xian replied.

"Oh? I'm standing far away and can't see clearly. Please ask Mr. Wei Ge to explain." Liu He said deliberately. "There are fifteen people who support the printing of the popular version of the Confucian Classics; there are four people who oppose the printing of the popular version of the Confucian Classics..." Wei Xian's vicissitudes of voice was very thin.

"If that's the case, what's the result?" Liu He asked again knowingly.

"Let's... print the popular version of Confucianism." Wei Xian's voice couldn't help but weaken.

"Mr. Wei Ge, I didn't hear you clearly, and neither did you dear friends. Please speak louder, Mr. Wei Ge," Liu He said ruthlessly.

Wei Xian was a little dizzy and short of breath, and his chest was churning. He wanted to cough, but couldn't.

"There are many people who agree to publish the popular version of the Confucian Classics, but there are only a few who oppose the printing of the popular version of the Confucian Classics. According to the previous discussion, the Han Dynasty should print the popular version of the Confucian Classics!" When Wei Xian said the last part, his voice was full of decadence.

"Everyone in the hall, did you hear clearly this time?" Liu He asked loudly to everyone.

No one speaks, which means no one questions.

"Anyone in the hall has any objections?" Liu He asked again.

There was still silence in the hall.

Before today's debate began, the emperor promised that no one would be guilty of debating the scriptures.

But Yan Pengzu's experience just now made one thing clear to everyone. The emperor has an inverse scale that cannot be touched.

Before there is a conclusion, everything can be discussed; once there is a result, if you dare to make irresponsible remarks, it will be a dead end.

The emperor has made the consequences clear, so why bother with this bad luck?
  "Fan Ke!" Liu He shouted.

"Wei Chen is here!" Fan Ke quickly bowed down and replied.

"Immediately write down these two sentences from Mr. Wei Ge. Don't omit any of them, so as not to be criticized by future generations!"

"No!" Fan Ke jogged all the way back to his case and started writing quickly on the rice paper.

"Zhang Anshi!"

"Wei Chen is here!" Zhang Anshi also stood up and bowed before the emperor.

"Go to the cabinet and draft an edict immediately. The Han Dynasty will implement the imperial examination system, the Xiang school system and the popular version of Confucian classics!"

"From now on, if anyone in this court dares to discuss this matter again, he will be punished for treason!"

"only!"

"Don't delay, go now!"

"only!"

Zhang Anshi did not dare to hesitate and immediately ran out the door.

"Kong Qing and Wei Qing, please sit down for a moment and wait for Zhang Anshi to prepare the edict and send it before you continue to debate the scriptures."

Wei Xian and Kong Ba did not expect that the emperor would act so resolutely, which directly blocked the opportunity to come back and remonstrate in the future.

There was no room for change in the matter of publishing the popular version of the Confucian Classics.

The Confucian scholars did not wait long, and Zhang Anshi hurried in with the edict he had prepared.

The people in the hall did not smell any foul smell of ink, which meant that the edict had actually been drawn up long ago and was only waiting to be sent out today - the emperor was strategizing and winning a thousand miles.

The edict was submitted to Liu He's desk. He just glanced at it briefly, and after confirming that there were no flaws, he stamped the emperor's seal on it.

This is the original edict, and many copies will be copied by the cabinet secretary before being circulated throughout the world.

"This matter is of great importance, please all the great scholars also put your signature on it!" Liu He said.

The emperor has an order, why dare you disobey it?

The Confucian scholars signed the edict passed down silently, and Kong Ba and Wei Xian felt a sense of humiliation.

It is like a sinner's signature on a love letter, and like a defeated general's signature on a surrender form.

Finally, the edict was passed back to Zhang Anshi, and everything was ready.

"Zhang Qing, please immediately order your assistant to copy it. I will ask Fan Ke to seal it. Please send it out before You hour today."

"Wei!" Zhang Anshi took the order and left.

At this point, the first half of the Shiqu Pavilion debate is over.

Kong Ba and Wei Xian were caught off guard, and looked a little shaken.

However, they are indeed great scholars with excellent character. They seem to have calmed down at this moment and accepted the current result.

But they were completely unaware that a bigger crisis was slowly approaching them.

Kong Ba and Wei Xian were also thinking about how to divide the quotas for the popular version of Confucian classics to preserve some roots for the Confucian community.

But Liu He hid the knife behind his back and slowly raised it.

Scholarship is not only about pruning, but also uprooting.

(End of this chapter)