Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

The hidden ancient text faction within the court had been sharpening their knives, ready to leap out.

It was like little chicks finally finding their mother hen.

“Master Quan!!!” they cried tearfully. “You’re finally willing to serve in office!”

Quan Yizhang froze, momentarily forgetting to deny it with “I have no intention of serving,” and instinctively asked, “You are…?”

“We’re the ancient text faction!!!”

We—are—the—ancient—text—faction!!!

The echo lingered, reverberating like a song that wouldn’t end.

Even the old emperor widened his eyes in shock, his expression turning strange—

“Your ancient text faction is still alive?!”

His internal voice emerged, brimming with astonishment.

Everyone nodded emphatically: Yes, yes!

Truly… who could have imagined?!

The colleagues who had been drinking together, handling official duties, and occasionally discussing the classics of the New Text School, had turned out to be traitors all along!

Several people nearly collapsed on the spot.

“My friend! You!”

“Teacher! I’ve studied New Texts under you for half my life, and now you tell me you’re from the ancient text faction?!”

“My confidant! You! Me! You’re with the ancient texts, so what on earth have we been debating and discussing all this time? A kindred spirit is hard to find, and I’ve supported you countless times during my climb through the bureaucracy to keep you from being sent to the provinces, just so we could enjoy elegant gatherings, tea, and debates here in the capital. But now I find you’re from the ancient text faction?! What about our shared high ideals and trust?! What will my teacher, my peers, and my friends think of me? What will they think of us?!”

“Well, actually…” The confidant stammered awkwardly, “All those debates we had… were mostly about some obscure ancient texts I brought in…”

His friend staggered back three steps as if struck by lightning.

The confidant rushed forward to grip his hands. “My confidant! You have extraordinary talent in interpreting ancient texts. Trust me! Study ancient texts with me, and you’ll soar to unimaginable heights!”

“Uh? This… I… well…”

The friend, visibly hesitant, allowed himself to be pulled away. By the time he was standing among the ancient text faction, his hesitation had transformed into resolve. “Alright! My confidant! Let us remain confidants!”

He had defected right on the spot.

The New Text School was enraged, cursing him as a traitor and a mere dog of the ancient text faction!

Quan Yizhang, his mind rumbling like thunder, eventually came to his senses and laughed heartily. “Good! Good! I thought ancient texts had no supporters left in the court! It turns out you’ve all been biding your time, enduring humiliation for a greater cause!”

Xu Yanmiao: [“Fight! Fight!”]

Leaning on his staff, Quan Yizhang cast a proud gaze at the New Text School across the hall. “I am not alone in my path! What other flawed arguments do you have? Bring them all forth!”

Xu Yanmiao: [“Fight! Fight!”]

The members of the ancient text faction stood tall behind Quan Yizhang, just as proud.

The New Text School sneered, “You’re but ants trying to topple a tree!”

Xu Yanmiao: [“Fight! Fight!”]

Suddenly, both factions shouted in unison, “Shut up!!!”

Xu Yanmiao’s eyes sparkled.

[“Wow! They’re fighting!”]

The Ministry of War officer standing nearby twitched slightly at the corners of his mouth.

This debate wouldn’t have escalated without him chiming in. In fact, without his interruptions, they might not have even started fighting.

---

The old emperor, not one to shy away from the drama, ordered the imperial guards to bring in a dozen desks and cushions to provide both factions a proper setting for a seated debate.

—Primarily because Quan Yizhang was old, and debates typically lasted for hours. Forcing an elder like him to stand that long might mean arranging a funeral on the same day.

The New Text School made the first move. “When the Ancient Script Shangshu first appeared, it claimed to have 16 more chapters than the earlier New Script Shangshu. For 400 years, the number remained unchanged. But after 400 years of war and peace, it suddenly had 25 additional chapters. The discrepancy in chapter count proves it’s a forgery!”

The members of the ancient text faction turned grim.

Even Quan Yizhang, the leader of the literary world, furrowed his brows.

This wasn’t a street brawl; it was a formal debate. In a street argument, they could have shouted, “Just because official records don’t show the changes doesn’t mean they didn’t exist among the people! The world is vast, and texts scattered—finding them 400 years later is perfectly reasonable!”

But debates didn’t work like that.

In a debate, you had to find evidence from the classics and historical texts to counter your opponent’s claims.

Even universally accepted truths required textual proof. If you needed to argue that Confucius was a man, you’d have to cite examples like how his disciples suspected his virtue after he was alone with the wife of Duke Ling of Wei. Such an incident would serve as indirect proof of his gender.

Fail to substantiate your point, and your opponent, once in control of the official narrative, could rewrite Confucius’ legacy, possibly framing him as “Confucius the virtuous woman” in history books.

If this narrative persisted, subsequent generations might even see it as an accepted theory.

This was why each school fought fiercely to establish its orthodoxy. Winning meant monopolizing the narrative for a time, dictating the beliefs instilled in scholars across the land, no matter how absurd those beliefs might be.

The ancient text faction was eager to crush their opponents.

But why did the chapter count in the Ancient Script Shangshu suddenly increase?

The two confidants exchanged glances before one raised his voice. “In Preface to the Records of Virtue, it is written that during Emperor Xuan’s reign, a woman in the Hedong region discovered three chapters of ancient text in a ruined house, including the Tai Shi section. This constitutes part of the additional chapters beyond the 16 claimed in the past. Therefore, your statement that ‘the number remained unchanged for 400 years’ is incorrect! Additionally, we can find similar accounts in…”

They cited three or four other works containing comparable records.

Now it was the New Text School’s turn to frown.

They were familiar with some of these books, but others they’d only vaguely heard of. They hadn’t expected the ancient text faction to have such wide-ranging expertise.

Still, they had more evidence!

Another scholar stepped forward. “The Xunzi states: ‘The human mind is precarious, the mind of the Way subtle.’ These eight words are quoted from the Daojing. Yet the Ancient Script Shangshu contains a nearly identical phrase: ‘The human mind is precarious, the mind of the Way subtle.’ If the Ancient Script Shangshu predates the Xunzi, why didn’t the latter acknowledge its source as the Shangshu? Clearly, the Ancient Script Shangshu is a forgery, for it was nonexistent when the Xunzi was written!”

The ancient text faction grimaced.

How could they argue with such a point? Whether Xunzi chose to reference the Daojing over the Shangshu was his own business!

But…

The ancient text faction braced themselves.

Debates were like this—no matter how absurd the question, you had to counter it with evidence from the texts.

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