On the 14th day of the 3rd month in the 32nd year of the Chinese Empire, the snow in Hua City began to melt. This was ten days earlier than last year.
This year, the Government Affairs Council and the Joint House of Representatives had recruited several times more people than last year. Many young people were preparing for this year's examination. The Chinese Empire's examination system was already very mature. There were five types of examinations in the Chinese Empire.
The first type was for important positions in the country. The Three Pavilions and Three Houses would list out the examination criteria, such as how many years the position required, what realm the position required, and what identity the position required. Only after these requirements were met would the examination, interview, and speech be given to explain one's ruling philosophy. Only after passing through layers of screening would one be hired.
The salary of officials above the Deputy Minister level was at least 2000 gold per year. This was enough to support a Family of Ninth Grades. Thus, these positions were very attractive to all those below the Foundation Establishment stage.
The second type of examination was the annual examination of the academy. These students had all gone through strict examinations. They were outstanding talents in politics, ideology, ability, and aptitude. Basically, they were all recruited by the various departments.
The third type of examination was held by the various houses. Everyone could take part in it. Every house held it once a year. Most of the members were recruited from the prefectures. After two years of training, they would be sent to the counties and castles to be low-level officials. They were the most important part of the Chinese Empire's officials.
The fourth type of examination did not have any requirements for cultivation. They were the lowest-level workers in the various departments. They were the smallest cells in the Chinese Empire that led society forward. It was also the easiest for ordinary people to pass.
The last type of examination was considered a special talent examination. For example, the children of the royal family or large aristocratic families would be tested once a year. If their results were excellent, they would be quickly promoted again. If they did not pass, they would be directly eliminated. They would not be able to work in the government in the future.
The princes and princesses of the Chinese Empire would have to take this kind of examination when they came of age. This examination in the Chinese Empire was often more intense and important than the other four types of examinations. This was because those who could be recognized as special talents were at least Golden Core stage heirs.
This system had been discussed many times by the Ministry of Public Affairs. The princes, princesses, and young masters of large aristocratic families were much stronger than ordinary people. They were also the core of the country in the future. They could not be slowly promoted like ordinary people. Absolute fairness was sometimes unfair. Aristocratic families had special privileges to lead the world to rapid development. Only then would the common people have more opportunities to compete. This was already a consensus in the Chinese Empire.
After Hua Kai completed the second Great Tribulation of the Mythical Realm, he began to make minor changes to the Mythical Realm. On this day, he entered the [Family's Secret Realm] to listen to the budget for the year. Currently, the annual national income of the Kingdom of Huaxia was 60,000 purple gold. Of which, 18000 purple gold was used for the military affairs department, 11000 purple gold was used for the training of the Pavilion and the militia. All the standing troops and elite troops spent less than 7,000 purple gold.
The biggest part of the Chinese Empire's expenditure was still education and the basic livelihood of the people. This year, an extra part of the budget would be used for the construction of the Qin Empire's regional railway. Children's education had become the biggest burden of the Chinese Empire. Many people proposed to reduce the expenditure on children's education and subsidies, but they were all rejected by Hua Kai.
Education for more than 30 years had become the main factor supporting the rapid development of the country in the Chinese Empire. In the past few years, the proportion of people with aptitudes of F + and below had been reduced to less than 1%. Most of the young people's aptitudes were between E- and C +. The proportion of people with aptitudes of B- and above had increased by more than ten times compared to 50 years ago.
The Chinese Empire was still working hard to accumulate energy. Hua Kai was working hard to guide the ideological education in the country. He advocated the four sacred classics: love, loyalty, righteousness, and enlightenment. He wanted to increase the cohesion of the entire country.
During the meeting, Xue Chen proposed to immigrate 200,000 people to Java Island this year. He wanted to take control of the entire Java Island. He also proposed to immigrate five million people to Xiandao Prefecture to develop Xiandao Prefecture and Ryukyu Island.
Hua Kai agreed to the other party's proposal. However, he still pointed out that the development of the Central Plains had just begun. The establishment of pavilions was the key to the future development of the Chinese Empire. The common people had to walk out of the city. Only then could the Divine East truly welcome an unprecedented prosperity.
In May, all over the Central Plains were discussing the Hundred Schools of Thought Debate. It was rumored that Hua Kai would personally host the debate. Moreover, after the debate, he would have a huge surprise to share with everyone. For a time, everyone started to gather in Xia City. Xia City had already started to restrict people from entering the city. Those who were not from Xia City could only enter if there were more than a hundred scholars.
The Academy of the Hundred Schools of Thought could only accommodate more than a hundred scholars. The students could only find their own residences in the city. There were still two months before the debate in Xia City. The prices of houses had already increased by more than ten times. The Government Affairs Council had no choice but to set up a large area of temporary residences outside the city. This made the city less crowded.
The arrival of a large number of students caused the major newspapers in Xia City to become more active. Every day, the major newspapers would propose various theories that would be discussed by everyone. The words of some great scholars and even saints were spread among everyone. The academic atmosphere was better than ever before.
At the end of May, Laozi from the Taoist school was invited to Xia City's Academy of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Daoism was the oldest school of thought in the Hundred Schools of Thought and was the foundation of many other schools.
Great scholars from the School of Mohism, the School of Legalism, the School of Yin-Yang, and the School of Famous Schools of Thought arrived one after another. Many people couldn't help but go crazy. They had all been studying the great works of these great scholars. Today, because of the Hundred Schools of Thought Debate, they were able to see the authors of these great works. This was beneficial to the improvement of their academic theories.
According to the incomplete statistics of Xia City, from the beginning of spring in March to the beginning of September, the population of Xia City increased by more than 1.7 million. The population outside the city increased by two million. The total population of Xia City was close to five million. More than two million of them were scholars of the Hundred Schools of Thought.
On this day, in the Confucian Academy, several scholars were sitting together in a pavilion. They were discussing whether or not they should abandon some of the ideas of the Confucian school. This was because as China entered the era of empires, more and more of the ideas of the Confucian school were no longer practical.
"There are seven saints and sixteen secondary saints. Recently, all of them have arrived at the Academy of the Hundred Schools of Thought. This is because everyone knows that the Sacred Lord has invited all of the great scholars. There must be something important to announce," Sage Confucius said.
"From my understanding of the Sacred Lord, he definitely won't abolish the Hundred Schools of Thought. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed the Academy of the Hundred Schools of Thought to develop to such a large extent.
There are many problems in the great works of the Hundred Schools of Thought that go against the development of the aristocratic families. It has reached the point where it has to be corrected. Moreover, the Central Plains has only produced one saint, the Sacred Lord. This is enough to show that the Hundred Schools of Thought must undergo a huge change to adapt to the development of society. I guess this is the Sacred Lord's purpose, "Sage Ceng Can said.
"The Confucian school is now one of the largest schools of thought in the world. Although the school of novels is prosperous, it has deviated from reality. We have to correct the academic mistakes as soon as possible. This way, the Confucian school will be more competitive," Secondary Saint Meng said.
"The Sacred Lord wants us to participate in the debate. He definitely wants to give us a stage to promote our own learning. Therefore, we have to organize our own academic ideas and be able to win in the next debate. We have to nurture more disciples with aptitude and grasp this opportunity. We have to do our best to let them perfect their ideas through this conference and become a great scholar or even a saint. The two of you also have to prepare well and see if you can take that final step," Sage Confucius said.
Although Sage Confucius was no longer the strongest among the saints, he was still the first saint of the Confucian school. Secondary Saint Meng and Secondary Saint Xu cupped their hands to express their understanding.
At this time, a great scholar walked over with a book in his hand. He came to Sage Ceng Can's side and handed it to him.
Sage Ceng Can was now the dean of the Confucian Academy and was in charge of all the scholars in the academy. Any changes in the Confucian school of thought would be based on his explanations.
"Teacher, Sage Yan!
The Sacred Lord has already decided on the topic of the debate. There are a total of 249 topics. Everyone from all schools of thought can sign up. The last 300 people will enter the second round of debate. The great scholars can choose not to participate in the first round.
In the second round, everyone will debate to determine the last 100 people. The saints can choose not to participate in the second round. The third round will determine the top 20.
The fourth round will be the final debate. Everyone will participate in three rounds randomly. The top 20 people will be ranked according to the votes of the audience, "Sage Ceng Can said.
"What is the topic of the debate?" Sage Confucius asked.
"It's all here!" Sage Ceng Can said as he handed a book to Sage Confucius.
Sage Confucius took it and looked carefully. After a while, he couldn't help but frown.
"Teacher, how is it?" Yan Sheng couldn't help but ask.
Now that there were three saints in one school, no one could compare to them in the hundred schools of thought. They were full of confidence in the upcoming debate and treated this debate as an opportunity for the Confucian school to rise. Although the School of Novels was powerful, this kind of debate couldn't be compared to the schools of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Dharma, Ming, and Yin-Yang.
"Take a look yourself!" Sage Confucius handed the book to Yan Sheng. After a while, he also frowned.
"The Sacred Lord's heart is unpredictable. I don't know how he came up with these topics. The requirements for a person's comprehensive theory are very high. This debate is going to be interesting!" Yan Sheng said.
Secondary Saint Meng took the book and saw that the entire debate was divided into six categories. The first part was the debate on ideology. This was what the hundred schools of thought were the best at. The higher one's cultivation, the deeper one's understanding of consciousness, willpower, and True Qi, but there were many questions that they had never thought of before.
For example, which was more important, consciousness or practice? The debate on materialism, learning to know, and so on. These all required a huge amount of knowledge as a foundation.
The second part was the debate on common sense. For example, why were there spring, summer, autumn, and winter? Why was there night? Why did the sun rise from the east? These were ancient topics that could test one's understanding and knowledge.
The third part was the debate on some topics in Huaxia. There were often some topics in Huaxia that couldn't be resolved after many discussions. For example, whether to restrict the birth of people with low aptitudes, whether to eliminate all the demonic beasts, and whether the royal family had too many privileges or too few.
There was nothing that couldn't be said or discussed. Each school could solve the problems in Huaxia based on their own academic understanding. This was also the main reason why the academy of the hundred schools of thought existed.