Chapter 185 Ninth Rank

Putting aside all the matters concerning the powerful, Kong Ming noticed the term that appeared for the second time:

"Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms... I think it should be the chaotic period between the Tang Dynasty's conquest of the Song Dynasty and the establishment of the Song Dynasty?"

Pang Tong confirmed: "It was said before that after the prosperity of the Bo Ling Cui Dynasty in the late Tang Dynasty, it was severely damaged in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. It should refer to the chaotic period of dynasty change."

"The meaning of the Ten Kingdoms is easy to understand. The Five Dynasties should refer to the five dynasties that changed like the Jin Dynasty and the Wei Dynasty."

Kong Ming imagined:

"The Jiaozhou would also claim to be the Jiedushi of the Great Tang Dynasty to attack the Song Dynasty. So it seems that it is not a bad guess."

"The Tang Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty. After five dynasties in the Central Plains, the Jiedushi of the Great Tang Dynasty established their own country with their troops in places like Liaodong, Lingnan, Jiaozhou and even Shuzhong where roads were difficult to pass. "

Pang Tong nodded. He didn't know much at the moment, so he could only guess:

"The light curtain said that Ma Chao and Lu Bu's 'adapted version'... the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were full of martial arts?"

"Dozens of fierce generals like Lu Bu killed each other, and the war was so chaotic?"

"Good guy!" Zhang Fei sighed:

"How many foster fathers must have died for this?"

...

"Military exploits and heroic generals?" Li Shimin savored the word.

All kinds of thoughts went around in his mind, and Li Shimin asked directly:

"Could it be that Tang destroyed the country by force?"

"No, that's not right." Li Shimin shook his head directly. He still remembered the deeds of the Guiyi Army clearly. In the late Tang Dynasty, even Hexi could not be recovered.

The righteous man Zhang Yichao failed to get the governor of Hexi, and the whole Guiyi Army governor made the unworthy descendants of the late Tang Dynasty guard against this. It doesn't look like the strong destroying the country, but rather the very common way of destroying the country by the weak.

"Or are the countries in the chaotic times all following the Tang system?" Changsun Wuji carefully speculated:

"Just as the Han Dynasty followed the Qin system, our Tang Dynasty also referred to the former Sui Dynasty. Those who established countries in the chaotic times naturally respected the great people."

This statement is reasonable, and Li Shimin nodded. His martial arts and his reputation were praised by later generations. It was normal for the chaotic army two hundred years later to admire him!

However, thinking of a group of chaotic armies under his banner, Li Shimin's expression was a bit subtle, and he didn't know whether he should be happy.

[The version of the game developed by the Eastern Han Dynasty, the powerful-famous-officialdom, has a very key part in the recommendation system, and thus the thing called the famous scholar was born.

The recommendation of filial and honest officials that we are familiar with now is just one of the recommendation systems.

The Western Han Dynasty had Xiaolian, Xiucai, Chalian, Guanglu Sixing, Xianliang Fangzheng, etc.

The Eastern Han Dynasty added Mingjing and Mingfa in accordance with the style of study.

Xiucai was later changed to Maocai to avoid Liu Xiu's taboo, and was changed to Suiju in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The system of recommendation is very problematic because it is a system of recommending talents from the bottom up, which is essentially a kind of power transfer by the central government.

After the powerful understood this system, they took advantage of the style of study in the Eastern Han Dynasty and gave rise to the thing called celebrities.

The essence of celebrities is to compete with the court for the right to guide public opinion. Once you have mastered this, you can influence the recommendation, and then influence and master the right to advise and select personnel.

Because of this special thing called celebrities, the literati in the Eastern Han Dynasty had the habit of "nurturing reputation".

To put it bluntly, a group of people are in a group and they praise each other. I say you are a good person who can govern the world, and you call me a good person who can assist the king. Then they go out and promote each other. When everyone is famous, they are selected and appointed to official positions, and privileges and lands will follow.

And there are many such small groups in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

For example, Xu Shao, who is well-known in the novel, is a famous scholar. There is a monthly review every month, saying that this person is a hero and that person is a good talent.

Another famous scholar who is as famous as Xu Shao is Guo Tai. This person is very smart and has a special label for his promotion called "Ying Yan".

In addition to this kind of single-handed fight, there are also group fights. For example, Dou Wu, Liu Shu, and Chen Fan are collectively called "Three Lords", and each of them is "the ancestor of the world".

All of the above are considered to be of relatively high level. If the rest of the people want to have the right to speak, they simply pull more people and give themselves special labels.

For example, the Eight Talents, or the Eight Talents, refer to eight people with talent and prestige. Among them, the more famous one is Liu Biao who rode alone into Jingzhou.

For example, the Eight Gus said that these eight people could guide the world from the perspective of virtue; for example, the Eight Jis said that these eight people were virtuous and could serve as role models.

For example, the Eight Chefs said that these eight people were generous and generous.

In short, there are so many ways to play that you can't keep up. We have to call our ancestors for awards in the current film and television industry.

Later, Cao Pi lamented that these celebrities "got their positions in private doors and their names were determined in the alleys."

The court not only lost the administrative power at the grassroots level, but also lost the right to speak in public opinion, which led to the loss of the right to appoint and dismiss personnel. Therefore, it can only be said that the Eastern Han Dynasty was not wronged at all.

But even if the powerful relied on the celebrities to monopolize the right to speak, it is still possible that the fat water would flow to the fields of outsiders.

Because the system of recommendation is ultimately more inclined to the poor and the common people. To give the simplest example, the powerful have thousands of servants, so how can they use their children to be filial?

So the ultimate weapon of the powerful families was jointly raised, that is, the Nine-Rank System.

This system was not intended to replace the system of recommendation. It was a talent evaluation system that ranked people according to their family background, and could be considered an auxiliary to the system of recommendation.

In essence, it was intended to take back the power that had been seized by the celebrities, and it was a means of centralization, and it was one of the reasons why Cao Pi approved it.

The aristocratic families also feel that this system is very good. There are no middlemen to make money from the price difference. In the step of determining the hometown grade, people outside the aristocratic family can easily be assigned to the lower third grade, completely eliminating the chance for them to stand up.

This is also the reason why the filial piety stories we saw in Jin books were so outrageous. The poor scholars who were completely cut off from official career were close to going crazy. They could only make up such increasingly outrageous stories in the hope that they could lift the heavy burden. The ninth grade door.

The final decay of the imperial examination system only vividly illustrates that the class that occupies a favorable position in the operation of society will use various means to ensure that its monopoly position can be hereditary.

In order to ensure this monopoly, they even go to the extent of destroying and eroding the original selection system, even if it causes stagnation or regression of social progress.

Because of this, the decadent examination system withdrew from the stage of history, and the examination method that was born in the examination system gradually shed its light and influenced China for thousands of years. 】

"The hearts of these scholars are so dark!"

Zhang Fei shook his head and sighed, completely unaware of the subtle glances from the hall.

"If I were here in Jin, wouldn't I have to kill pigs for generations to come?"

"I don't think so." Pang Tong said angrily:

"With a temper like Yide's, he would have been kidnapped and demoted as a private slave of a wealthy family within two days of selling meat."

Zhang Fei was not angry at all, he laughed and said:

"In this case, after the Central Plains is leveled, I will dig a good grave for them."

"When you go to Taishan Mansion, please don't say that Grandpa Zhang treated them badly."

Pang Tong gave Zhang Fei a thumbs up, and then sighed:

"I thought it was ridiculous when I read the records of filial piety in the Jin Dynasty, but now that I know their situation, I feel quite sad when I think about it."

"Who says it's not?" Kong Ming sighed:

"You have the knowledge of heaven and earth in your chest, and you have good strategies to stabilize the country in your belly. However, if your origin is determined to be of the lower third grade, there will be no place for you to put it into practice."

"And the disciples of that aristocratic family, I think even if they are full and have nothing to do all day long, they can still be ranked as high officials."

Zhang Song also interjected: "We envy Gongsun Hong's rise from white to prime minister in only ten years. Scholars of the Jin Dynasty would bleed in their hearts when they read such a thing."

Everyone silently nodded in agreement.

"This summary... is thought-provoking." Kong Ming read Guangmu's last sigh carefully and silently, feeling that it was not just about the inspection system.

In Chaotang Township, on the frontier of the Central Plains, as long as status is divided into hierarchies, where can this not be the case? I'm afraid the same is true for the distant country of Qin.

That being the case, can the examination method be used in all aspects? Liberal Arts Examination? Martial arts examination? Agricultural examination?

For a while, Kong Ming thought of various methods of imperial examination, and finally turned into a sigh:

"This exam is the real meritocracy."

After having this idea, Kong Ming almost couldn't wait to try it himself.

Liu Bei looked at Kong Ming's expression and smiled without the need for Kong Ming to hold over his hand:

"If the military advisor has an idea, just go ahead and do it! Who can be dissatisfied with Wolong's talent?"

Everyone in the hall laughed for a moment, yes, it has been passed down through the ages, who can be dissatisfied?

But Zhang Fei remembered something else:

"Commander, are you and Commander Pang's Fengchu names also the so-called adopted names?"

Kong Ming and Pang Tong looked at each other, shook their heads and smiled, and Pang Tong explained:

"If I want to raise my name, it should be me praising Kong Ming as Wolong, and Kong Ming praising me as Fengxiao."

"Just like the eight caretakers, eight chefs and eight warriors who advertised to each other, with this title, who knows such a famous person?"

"As for Kong Ming's talent...what does the title of Wolong have to do with him?"

Pang Tong commented lightly: "It's worthy of the name. What does it mean to raise a name?"

Kong Ming patted Pang Tong on the shoulder and laughed:

"If I say that Feng Chu is worthy of the name at this time, it would be like showing off to each other and raising the reputation, so I won't say it anymore."

Pang Tong was immediately furious:

"Zhuge Villager!"

After some fighting, Wolong and Fengchu stared at the last two sentences and studied them.

"Since Guangmu said this, does he think that the entire society of the Jin Dynasty was stagnant or regressive?" Pang Tong wondered:

"Whether this is progress or regression, what are the specific criteria for judging it?"

"If we were in the era we live in..." Kong Ming raised his head and thought hard for a long time. The round water wheel and the long list of hydraulic tools brought out by the water power mill flashed in his mind.

As well as the grain production of later generations inferred from the creation of heaven, as well as the continuous improvement of sugar and iron smelting.

He even remembered the talk about the development of productivity when we talked about currency before, so he guessed:

“The most important thing should be productivity?”

Pang Tong thought of the rise and fall of the imperial examination system and the craziness of those poor men who made up filial names after the Jin Dynasty.

It was fun to read, but sad to think about, so he sighed and said:

"There should be a system of clean and honest inspections."

Then the two looked at each other and sighed together:

“There’s a long way to go!”

The old guys hugged their fists.