The crescent moon was like a hook, and three people were plotting in a tall building under the moon.

Lin Wenruo spoke eloquently, his words were concise and meaningful.

His gentle voice only reached the ears of Zhao Rong and Chen Muzhi. Once it floated out of the building, it would be shattered by the strong wind and dissipated into the night.

The rules of this debate between Confucianism and Taoism are simple.

There are three people on each side, one against one, and they have three rounds of discussions. The one who wins more rounds wins.

Each conversation is divided into two sides, the host and the guest. The host puts forward his views and expresses his opinions, while the guest raises doubts, which is the so-called "questioning", to refute the other party's views.

The views of both parties are opposite, either yes or no, so whatever view the host chooses, the guest must match it.

Both sides question and refute each other's views to prove their own points of view until the end and the winner is determined.

There will be fair referees on the field, and off the field there will be more than 100,000 people and countless hermits and celebrities from Zhongnan who are good at conversation. Therefore, specious arguments and roguery are useless. Under the watchful eyes of the public, it is clear who is strong and who is weak, who is right and who is wrong.

As for how the host and guest sides of each debate are arranged.

Lin Wenruo chose the right to select people first, that is, in the first round of discussion, Lin Wenruo's side would send one person to actively select one of the three people from Chongxu Temple for a discussion. However, this person from Lin Wenruo's side would be the guest party, and the person selected from Chongxu Temple would be the host party. The host party would put forward their opinions, and the guest party would hold the opposite view.

The Chongxu Temple has the right to choose the second conversation and the right to host the third conversation.

In the second round, they sent one person to choose one person from Lin Wenruo's side for a discussion. They were the guest party, and the person chosen was the host party. In the third round, there was no need to choose a person. There was only one person left on each side, but the Chongxu Temple side was the host party and chose the point of view for the debate.

After explaining the rules, Lin Wenruo looked around at the two of them.

Chen Muzhi looked confused and stopped fanning himself. "Wen Ruo, why did you give Chongxu Temple the power to host twice? Just so that we can choose our own players for the first game?"

After listening to this, Lin Wenruo raised the corners of his mouth and smiled without saying anything.

Zhao Rong had been listening attentively, but suddenly he raised his eyelids, stopped patting the fence with his right hand, and looked at Lin Wenruo, "Is it about Tian Ji's horse race?"

Lin Wenruo asked curiously, "What is Tian Ji's horse racing?"

Chen Muzhi also looked over curiously.

Zhao Rong pondered for a moment, roughly modified the background of the story, and explained it in detail to the two of them.

The story of Tian Ji's horse racing is easy to understand. It is nothing more than three horse races, where one's inferior horses are used against the opponent's superior horses, one's superior horses are used against the opponent's medium horses, and one's medium horses are used against the opponent's inferior horses. In this way, the purpose of playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses is achieved, and victory is won by trickery.

Chen Muzhi looked at Zhao Rong with a fixed gaze. He was well-read, but he had never heard of this story. A simple "three-game two-out-of-three" horse racing game could produce such a beneficial truth. He couldn't help but look at Zhao Rong a few more times.

But what does it have to do with this debate between Confucianism and Taoism? You know, the rules this time are much more complicated than simple horse racing. Chen Muzhi was still confused, but after seeing Zhao Rong and Lin Wenruo smiling at each other, he didn't ask more questions, for fear of appearing ignorant.

On this side, Zhao Rong had just briefly told the story of Tian Ji's horse race when Lin Wenruo suddenly smiled, his eyes bright, "No one knows me better than Ziyu."

Lin Wenruo nodded slightly, reorganized his words, and said with a smile: "Let's have a horse race too."

"At present, the identities of two of the three people from Chongxu Temple who participated in the Confucian-Taoist debate are known. One is the national teacher Lan Zhongdao, whose Taoist name is Qingjingzi. He must participate like me, and Qingjingzi's level of pure talk is no longer a secret in Zhongnan Kingdom. Although he likes pure talk very much, his level is only below average in the pure talk circle in Luojing. I have checked this carefully and collected the handwritten manuscripts of all the pure talks he participated in. I can be sure that it is not a sleight of hand. His level is indeed average compared to the three of us." Lin Wenruo curled his lips.

"The other person is named Zhang Dongxu, with the Taoist name Qingyuanzi. He is Qingjingzi's senior brother. According to my people's investigation, he traveled abroad a few years ago, and then lived in seclusion in a small country in the south to practice. He just returned to Chongxu Temple a few days ago. When he was in Zhongnan Country, his level of leisurely conversation was very high. After traveling around, his level also improved, but..."

Lin Wenruo smiled faintly, "Qing Chi has read all the manuscripts that were leaked after he participated in elegant gatherings and had discussions with others in Zhongnan Country. He has not missed a single one, and Qing Chi has also collected a lot of his conversation manuscripts during these years. Qing Xuan knows his conversation style and the strengths and weaknesses of metaphysics very well, and he will definitely be able to defeat him."

Zhao Rong narrowed his eyes and thought about it, and felt that what Lin Wenruo said was right. In his previous life, he had participated in the debate team in the first two years of college, and he also had some knowledge of the Qing Tan similar to debate. He knew that if someone knew the Qing Tan style in advance, mastered the language habits and knowledge gaps, and was studied thoroughly, he would fall into an extremely passive situation.

According to Zhao Rong's understanding, Lin Wenruo was good at studying classics and having elegant conversations, so it was indeed unfortunate for him to be targeted by such an opponent.

Lin Wenruo continued slowly: "As for the third person in Chongxu Temple, we don't know for now. He is a mysterious old man, but he is no longer a concern. Let's prepare for the worst. This old man is the top horse of Chongxu Temple, Qingyuanzi is the middle horse, and the remaining Qingjingzi is undoubtedly the bottom horse. We will use the Tian Ji horse racing method mentioned by Ziyu to deal with them."

After Lin Wenruo finished speaking, he paused and looked into the eyes of Zhao Rong and Chen Muzhi. The former had a calm expression and the latter nodded slowly.

Lin Wenruo said solemnly: "Our arrangement is that Qing Chi will be the top-quality horse, and as for the middle-quality horse..."

Lin Wenruo's eyes wandered between the two people in front of him.

Chen Muzhi smiled, gently waved his feather fan, and looked expectant.

Zhao Rong glanced at Lin Wenruo who was acting cautiously, then turned his head to look at the rock carving in the distance.

Lin Wenruo straightened his clothes, took a step back, and bowed to someone in front of him.

"I'll leave it to Brother Ziyu!"

This is a heavy bow.

Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows.

Chen Muzhi's movements froze, his expression looking unnatural.

According to what he just learned, the role of the inferior horse is to be given away for free, and is specifically used to challenge the opponent's superior horse, and the kind that can never return.

Although the role of the inferior horse is also very important, or even the greatest one, after all, it will perish together with the opponent's most powerful superior horse, but the experience it gives people is extremely bad, and anyone can use it, after all, it is a losing game, who wouldn't do that?

Chen Muzhi licked his dry lips, looking a little embarrassed. I am a great scholar of Zhongshan State, even a famous person in the entire northern literary world of Wangquezhou. Now I have to be a least important tool horse, and I may not even have a chance to play...

Chen Muzhi was very depressed. Even though he thought he had a good temperament, he wanted to leave at this moment. However, Lin Wenruo had already anticipated his reaction.

Lin Wenruo looked apologetic, grabbed Chen Muzhi's sleeve, and said sincerely, "Brother Muzhi, the next most important task depends on you. If you don't help us hold back the superior horse on the opposite side, we will definitely lose. The Lanxi Lin family and the Zhongshan Chen family have been friends for generations. Brother Muzhi is like Qingchi's elder brother. Please help Qingchi."

Lin Wenruo patted Chen Muzhi's hand and said, "Afterwards, if the Lanxi Lin family is lucky enough to stay in Zhongnan Country, Qingchi will definitely repay them with generous gifts!"

After saying this, Lin Wenruo bowed again.

Chen Muzhi saw that Lin Wenruo's expression was indeed not fake, and he saw Zhao Rong looking away expressionlessly, not laughing at him. Chen Muzhi sighed slightly, nodded, and reached out to help him up, "Wenruo, please get up quickly. Why be so polite? I didn't refuse you."

In fact, he agreed to let Lin Wenruo participate in the Confucian-Taoist debate because of the friendship between the two families and the desire to become famous. Although he did not like power, he loved fame. If he could defeat his opponent and help the Lanxi Lin family win the final victory, his reputation would surely spread to the surrounding countries. It was just a pity now.

Thinking of this, Chen Muzhi sighed and couldn't help but look at the young scholar who was leaning against the fence, with his elbows resting on the railing, his arms folded, and his head tilted to look out. He didn't know who he was and how he could be valued so much by Lin Wenruo, a prodigy from Siqi Academy.

But before he could think about whether to take the initiative to say hello to the Confucian scholar, a word came with the evening breeze, which surprised him and even surprised Lin Wenruo.

"Wen Ruo, let Brother Mu Zhi be the middle horse."