Four Books and Five Classics

The Chu Imperial Capital.

More than half a month has passed since the Empress ascended the throne, and the capital has recovered from the initial oppression and undercurrents. Apart from the change of the Chu Kingdom king, nothing else has changed, and everything has returned to calm.

After ascending the throne, the Empress did two things. First, she buried the remains of King Chu Heng in the imperial mausoleum, three thousand miles south of the capital. Second, she ordered all the deans of academies in the Chu Kingdom to go to the capital to meet the Empress. The reason for this is currently unknown.

Within the Chu Kingdom, the establishment of an academy requires certain qualifications. Unlike sects, which can simply find a piece of land, put up a name, and recruit disciples, academies cannot. First, an academy must obtain official recognition, that is, the approval of the local government, by reporting to the government and obtaining a license to establish the academy. Second, the selection of the academy's dean must also take into account the government's opinion; at least in terms of character and cultivation, the dean must meet the government's standards, and must also be a citizen of the Chu Kingdom.

To put it bluntly, in any country, academies are essentially under the control of the state. They can make their own decisions on minor matters, but for major issues, they must obtain permission from the government. Otherwise, it is considered a violation of the law, and the government will Punishment the academy to a certain extent. In serious cases, the academy will be shut down.

There are differences between academies and sects. Sects teach how to cultivate, while academies teach a wider range of subjects, such as how to lead troops into battle, how to govern a region, and of course, how to cultivate.

Therefore, most students who graduate from colleges and universities will enter national institutions to serve the country and inject fresh blood into the nation.

This is why every country indirectly controls its colleges, because a country's future rise and fall largely depends on the students these colleges produce.

As the saying goes, "When the youth are strong, the nation is strong," and this applies everywhere.

As the vice dean of the Zhenguan Academy, Zhou Wuji also received a summons from the Empress. He had no choice but to travel thousands of miles from Dubian Town back to the capital. Fortunately, he had registered in advance through his daughter's connections. Now he only needed to wait for the Mysterious Bookstore to announce the date of the sermon and then rush back to listen to the lecture.

Zhou Wuji didn't know much about the new emperor, only that the Empress was the president of the Wantong Chamber of Commerce, the ninth princess of the Chu Kingdom, and had a close relationship with the owner of the Mysterious Bookstore. He also knew that the Wantong Trading Market, which his daughter now controlled, was the Empress's doing. He just didn't know why she suddenly transferred the Wantong Trading Market to Zhuling some time ago, and then suddenly returned to the capital and became the Empress...

Zhou Wuji considered himself a high-ranking official in the Chu Kingdom and knew many of the country's secrets. However, he was caught off guard by the death of King Chu Heng and the ascension of the Empress. It wasn't until later that he vaguely guessed the reason behind it all.

"Wuji, is something on your mind?" Inside the main hall, there were hundreds of deans and vice-deans from various academies within the Chu Kingdom. Everyone was waiting for the Empress's summons. As the dean of the Zhenguan Academy, and the Conferred Saint upon the Great Chu, the Saint Chu naturally would not be absent. He knelt on the seat above Zhou Wuji, looking at Zhou Wuji with a smile.

"No, I just suddenly lost focus. Thank you for your concern, Dean." Zhou Wuji smiled and cupped his hands. He had been the Zhenguan Academy for twenty years and had been dealing with Saint Chu for over twenty years, but he still couldn't figure out Saint Chu's thoughts. Especially after this incident, Zhou Wuji understood him even less.

"Hmm..." Saint Chu nodded slightly, but did not continue speaking. Instead, he closed his eyes to rest.

Zhou Wuji silently withdrew his gaze, placed his hands on his knees, intertwined, and rotated his thumbs back and forth.

Inside the main hall, all was quiet. The hundreds of deans and vice-deans from various academies within the Chu Kingdom remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts.

"His Your Majesty has arrived!" A sharp voice rang out, Gongsun Qiong, dressed in magnificent robes, walked in from outside the main hall.

Everyone in the hall rose in unison, bowed slightly, and respectfully welcomed the Empress's arrival.

Gongsun Qiong walked up the steps, knelt beside the dragon table, and looked at the hundreds of deans and vice-deans of various colleges standing below. With a smile, he said, "Gentlemen, please don't stand on ceremony, please take your seats."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After everyone expressed their gratitude in unison, they knelt back down and sat upright, waiting for the Empress to speak.

This time, the Empress suddenly summoned all the deans and vice-deans of academies within the Great Chu capital, leaving not only outsiders puzzled, but also the summoned deans and vice-deans themselves completely bewildered, having no idea why they had been summoned.

But what is certain is that this is a large-scale operation, and the matter is certainly not trivial.

Especially since the Empress had just ascended the throne, as the new emperor, she would definitely have to do some major things to establish her authority and increase the people's approval of her.

"The main reason I've gathered everyone here in the capital is to announce something," Gongsun Qiong's voice rang out slowly, causing the academy's higher-ups below the main hall to be slightly startled.

Although it was just a short sentence, everyone sensed a different meaning in the word "announce." The Empress had summoned them to the capital for something, but it was merely an announcement, not a consultation. Generally, such a grand announcement from a monarch was not a good thing...

Gongsun Qiong, seeing the various expressions on the faces of the crowd below, couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. She continued, "Actually, this matter isn't a huge deal, but it's not a huge deal either. However, for the academy, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, so you all don't need to worry."

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they weren't targeted to establish their authority, they were fine. They didn't dare to hope for any benefits.

"Let the deans see the books." Gongsun Qiong waved her hand slightly, and the palace maids who had been waiting quietly on both sides of the hall came gracefully with trays.

Everyone turned to look longingly at the things the palace maids were carrying on their plates.

"A book?" An unnamed college dean looked at the plate handed to him and subconsciously reached out to pick up a book from inside.

"Spring and Autumn Period?"

"The Book of Poetry?"

"Mencius?"

"The Analects?"

Your Highness, a murmur of whispers rose and fell as the deans of the various academies picked up the books handed to them by the palace maids with puzzled expressions and began to copy them.

"There are nine books in the tray: the Analects, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Great Learning, the Mencius, the Book of Book of Poetry, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, and the Book of Changes and Autumn Annals. The first four are called the Four Books, and the latter five are called the Five Classics. Together, they are known as the Four Books and Five Classics."

Everyone exchanged bewildered glances, puzzled as to why the Empress had suddenly produced nine books. The Four Books and Five Classics —they'd never heard of them before...

However, Zhou Wuji, who was kneeling below, frowned as he looked at the Analects in his hand. If he remembered correctly, this the Analects seemed to be an Epic-grade- quality book that Mysterious Bookstore once owned. Having spent some time reading at Mysterious Bookstore, Zhou Wuji had some knowledge of the quality of the books there. Judging from the quality of the books in Mysterious Bookstore, this one was clearly not that Epic-grade- quality the Analects, yet the name was exactly the same, which was truly strange.

Among the hundreds of people, a small number had actually been to the Dubian Town. Some of them were puzzled after receiving the book "The Analects," thinking of the book in the Mysterious Bookstore. However, because the color was wrong, they dared not confirm it and could only guess in their hearts what the Empress meant by this.