Although Shang Yi's initial idea was to create a head-on collision, exchange and communication debate, the debate lasted for a long time, had a profound impact, the number of people involved, the status in the history of Chinese ideological development, and the great contradictions on Chinese traditional thoughts were far beyond Shang Yi's expected goals.

According to the cabinet's plan, the debate was scheduled to be held at Nanjing Normal University on April 10. The topic of the debate was the first article of the petition: implement the ancient system and govern the country with benevolence, righteousness, etiquette and trust; five representatives from both sides each appeared to debate, and about 800 people listened to it. Except for all the petitioners, the rest were students of Nanjing Normal University and Nanjing academic staff.

The cabinet made sufficient preparations for the first debate. At the beginning of the debate, it firmly grasped the word "ancient system" in "implementing the ancient system". It was only during that period that it was considered "ancient". Should it be considered "ancient" as long as the previous dynasties were considered ancient, or the legendary "the previous three dynasties" were considered ancient.

The petition representatives could only answer that the system was the ancient system of the previous three generations, but the cabinet immediately seized the argument and asked the petition representatives what system was implemented by the previous three generations, how the central organization was established, how local administration arranged, how power was distributed, how supervision, and how tax system was formulated. As a result, the petition representatives were speechless and could not answer at all.

The previous three generations are always called the previous three generations, which is a characteristic of ancient Chinese academic articles, because according to the traditional Chinese ideas, the previous three generations were the golden age of China, Datong society, anyway, the previous three generations were all good.

But as long as you are not a nerd, everyone knows what the so-called "the previous three generations" is. There are a thousand sayings in a thousand people. One is that the times are long and the other is that there is a lack of historical materials. But because of this, in order to prove that their views are correct, they are all pushed to the "the previous three generations". This is how the "the previous three generations" do. Even Huang Zongxi's [Mingyi Waiwen] also cited the previous three generations. To put it bluntly, he treats the previous three generations as little girls who can dress up, and according to his own needs, he can say whatever he wants.

The petitioners listed "implementing the ancient system" as the first one, and there was no way to do it, because the empire was a newly established dynasty, and everything was in trouble. They could not use the ancestral system to suppress the new dynasty system, so they had to push it to the ancient system, but they were firmly grasped by the representatives of the cabinet, which made it very difficult. In the end, there was no way, so they had to avoid this topic and focus on the latter sentence "Governing the country with benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and propriety", saying that the spirit of the previous three dynasties was to govern the country with benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and propriety.

But the cabinet was also prepared for this and immediately listed various examples to prove that the empire was indeed promoting benevolence, righteousness, propriety and trustworthiness, and did not abandon the spirit of the previous three generations. At this time, the petitioner took a breath, so he also led the classics and started the debate.

However, before the debate, the cabinet side set the tone of each debate, that is, never to confront the twelve requirements put forward by the petitioners, but try to prove that the empire's policy includes these twelve items, but in addition to these twelve items, there are other policies. In this regard, the cabinet obviously has a great advantage and can find many examples and evidence. The petitioner side is absolutely opposed, which is a posture of having you but not me. In addition, it can only read the classics and not give many examples. In face-to-face debate, it cannot use methods such as big-mouthed labels and improper arguments. In this way, the cabinet side will naturally gain the upper hand in the debate.

As a result, the two sides ended after more than two hours of verbal battle. Although it was not announced who won or lost in the end, during the debate, the petitioner was unable to answer the question by the cabinet many times. The cabinet was always reassuring, reasonable and argumentative, so the result was naturally understood. The petitioner left the debate venue dejectedly, but the discussion on the topic of this debate has always become the focus of the discussion in Nanjing's academic circles in the following days.

Then in April, Nanjing Normal University continued to hold two more debates. Due to the first prep and the newspapers were also promoting it, the number of people listening increased greatly. During the third debate, the number of people listening reached more than 2,300, and half of them were listening outside the venue. Other schools, including many scholars in the surrounding areas of Nanjing, also came to listen. Moreover, the manuscripts compiled after each debate were sold out, and the streets were sold out, and the streets were also expensive in Luoyang.

However, since the petitioning party is indeed untenable in terms of principle, and the experience and skills of the debate are not as good as that of the cabinet. As a result, in these three debates, although the petitioning party changed the personnel participating in the debate every time, they were obviously at a disadvantage. Therefore, the petitioning party was a little anxious, so he also asked the cabinet to stop for a while so that one side could have enough time to prepare and collect enough information. The cabinet side also expressed its understanding and gave them enough time.

At this time, some MPs who tend to petition also visited the petitioners, taught them some debate skills, and formulated the tone of the debate. First of all, they should try to give up the absolute opposition attitude, blur their views as much as possible, and find the other party's weaknesses. At the same time, scholars who support the petitioners also gave advice for them.

The fourth debate was held on May 5th. At the request of all parties, this debate was held at Nanjing University of Engineering, and the subsequent debates will be held in the universities in Nanjing and Hangzhou in turn. The number of people who listened to each debate cannot exceed 800, and the petitioner can only attend 200 people, but after each debate, the content of the debate will be posted as soon as possible.

Because of sufficient preparation, the petitioner's performance has been much better. At least he can have a relationship with the cabinet and fight for several rounds, so he will not be able to fight back. However, invisibly, the views held by the petitioner's party have been much more relaxed, at least not against the court. At the same time, on the topic of debate, he is more biased towards academic thought, and reduces the taste of many political aspects.

The influence of this debate has become increasingly widespread, from Nanjing to surrounding areas, and from the places where the petitioners come from, they are still concerned about this debate, because it concerns the success or failure of this petition. In addition, not only in Nanjing, but also in many places, discussions were held on the content of this debate, and a lot of debates were held. Although it cannot be compared with the Nanjing Braid Theory in terms of scale and influence, it has played a lot of role in expanding the influence of new and old ideas this time. In addition, many scholars have also published articles in newspapers and expressed their views in books. Therefore, a big debate between new and old ideas has also begun in China.

The debate in Nanjing did not end until November 10th. A total of twenty-three debates were held, seven were held at the university in Hangzhou, and two were held in the palace at the invitation of Shang Yi.

But the final result ended with the complete failure of the petitioner. After all, China's social and economic structure has begun to undergo obvious changes. Although it has not yet reached a qualitative change, it has caused a considerable impact on China's traditional social and economy. The development of the economy also requires a new ideological foundation. The dominance of traditional ideas has been shaken, so the development of new ideas is also unstoppable. Moreover, Shang Yi needs to use political power to forcibly promote new ideas, but he has carried out very positive guidance. More importantly, the new ideas do not completely abandon the old ideas, but only abandon some conservative, backward, and pedantic things in the old ideas, and add some open, positive and advanced ideas. Therefore, the success or failure of this debate has actually been destined long ago.

While the debate, [China Times] did not forget to use this debate to build momentum for Shang Yi, praise Shang Yi for his broad mind, being able to open up his own way of speaking, being good at speaking, not being arbitrary, etc. Because of facts as evidence, it has indeed been a great improvement in Shang Yi's reputation and has also played a lot in appeaseing local opposition.

In the end, although the petitioners were still unwilling to give up, they could only return to their own places honestly. After all, they could not argue with the cabinet, and it was not very meaningful to stay in Nanjing. The cabinet was easy to disperse and gave everyone the travel expenses to return. Everything was done with kindness and righteousness, which made these petitioners say nothing.

But after the petitioners returned to their respective places, they found that this year's provincial examination had already ended, but this time, the sentiment among the people was obviously much calmer. After all, everyone knew that this trend was unchanged, so many students finally began to study natural science seriously in order to show their performance in the next round of imperial examinations. After all, Isn't it just for the sake of a python robe and jade belt? Since the imperial examinations are going to take the natural sciences, then study hard.

Although the petitioners left Nanjing, the debate between new and old ideas did not come to an end. Instead, they developed from Nanjing to various places. The collision between new and old ideas has never stopped. Sometimes it intensified and sometimes eased. It also went through ups and downs, and it took more than 70 years. It was not until the fourth emperor of the Chinese Empire that the debate between new and old ideas was basically over, and the new ideological system was basically formed, so that China officially entered the modern national period.

Experts who studied Chinese history in later generations all agreed that this period was identified as China's modern ideological enlightenment movement, and this debate in Nanjing was also considered the beginning of China's modern ideological enlightenment movement.

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