Chapter 520: The Three Rise of Learning in the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhao Kuangyin felt that his advice to his younger brother was sincere.

Perhaps it sounded a bit threatening to his younger brother.

But after all, good advice is unpleasant to the ear but beneficial to action, and Zhao Kuangyin felt that his younger brother could still understand his good intentions.

Although from Zhao Pu's perspective, he could only see the pale face of the King of Jin.

Well, there was also the slightly trembling body that shook like a sieve.

However, the younger generation brought up the old matter again, which made Zhao Kuangyin a little unconfident:

"Could a donkey cart really be faster than a horse carriage?"

"We must try it."

[So far, we have almost talked about the theme of this issue.

But in the end, UP still wants to say something extra about Song Huizong.

This is a famous king of the fallen Song Dynasty, but it was also he who initiated the "Chongning Xingxue" that pushed the civil governance of the Northern Song Dynasty to a new historical peak.

Since ancient times, the word culture has meant civil governance and education, and the importance of education can be seen.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Da himself said that "a prime minister must be a scholar".

Zhao Er opened up the imperial examination system, and the number of admissions, awards and honors, official positions, and promotion speed were far higher than when Zhao Da was the emperor.

At the same time, Zhao Er also ordered the renovation of the school and personally named it Chongwenyuan to collect books from all over the world, so as to facilitate the compilation of Chongwenyuan's series of books.

These methods of directly giving benefits to scholars can be described as simple and crude, but also very useful.

Until the time of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, scholars served from the central prime minister to the local governors and even the generals of the army.

However, as time went on, people of insight soon discovered that the imperial examination system was only for selecting talents, not cultivating talents.

In the spring of the fourth year of the Qingli period, Fan Zhongyan, at the request of his good friend Teng Zijing, wrote an essay for the rebuilt Yueyang Tower, and the immortal "Yueyang Tower Record" was born.

In the prose, Fan Zhongyan expressed his feelings for his country and political ideals, and then he made up his mind to start the "Qingli Xingxue" reform of education with the support of Renzong.

In addition to setting up local official schools and reforming the imperial examination, Fan Zhongyan's greatest influence on later generations in this reform was the introduction of the Suhu teaching method into the Imperial College.

The Suhu teaching method was first created by Hu Yuan, which divided the school into two halls, namely the Jingyi Hall, which emphasized Confucianism, and the Zhishi Hall, which required students to choose one major and one minor from the subjects of military administration, civil administration, water conservancy, and mathematics.

This teaching method looks a bit like the division of liberal arts and science at first glance, and it is also the earliest system of divided subject teaching and major and minor subjects in the world, which is quite advanced.

In addition, Song Renzong also introduced the "brushing class hours" system at the suggestion of Fan Zhongyan, stipulating that scholars must be enrolled for 300 days before they can participate in the imperial examination.

By the time of Emperor Shenzong, Wang Anshi, who was determined to reform, felt that there were too few talents who could be used. With the support of Emperor Shenzong, Wang Anshi's "Xining School Promotion" began.

Wang Anshi's Xining School Promotion can be regarded as a supplement and improvement to Fan Zhongyan's Qingli School Promotion.

For example, one point that is worth affirming about Qingli School Promotion is that the admission conditions were relaxed. As long as they were not punished for committing crimes, they could basically enter the school, and they provided assistance to poor children, which truly achieved the goal that all poor people could study and become officials to change their fate.

Wang Anshi felt that it was not a good thing to always rely on central funding, so he simply gave school land to local official schools and set up school officials to provide material guarantees for schools and students.

In view of the dilemma of insufficient professional talents, Wang Anshi required the establishment of martial arts, law, medicine and other specialized talents.

The most important thing was to reform the Imperial College and implement the "Three Houses System".

The students in the Imperial College were divided into three levels: outer school, inner school, and upper school. The upper school could be directly appointed as an official, the inner school could be exempted from the examination of the Ministry of Rites, and the outer school could be exempted from the examination of the local prefecture. The three schools could be promoted through examinations.

It can be said that the relationship between the levels of educational reform in the Song Dynasty was quite clear, and the impact on the development of education was also quite clear.

However, for the Song Dynasty at that time, the local official school had a more important meaning, which was to stabilize the local rule.

Because if you want to become an official, you must pass the imperial examination, and if you want to participate in the imperial examination, you must first enter school. The central government can successfully convey its political orders to the local through educational institutions.

And the poor children who are easy to become unstable factors in the local area can participate in the imperial examination through the support of local official schools, and eventually become a member of the feudal ruling group.

According to Mr. Chen Yiyan's statistics, among the 1953 people whose family background can be verified in the history of the Song Dynasty, the proportion of commoners who entered the officialdom was as high as 55.2%, which is quite amazing. Among all dynasties, only the 49.5% in the Ming Dynasty can compare with the previous one.

Reading to change your destiny, in a sense, it was quite easy to achieve in the Northern Song Dynasty. 】

Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu listened to the light curtain and didn't want to miss a word.

Although they didn't understand education very well, they could still understand words like civil governance and new historical peaks.

Zhao Pu even whispered to the emperor:

"If so, doesn't it mean that the great achievements of civil governance since the founding of the Song Dynasty 167 years ago have all been shown to me, and I can adopt them?"

Zhao Kuangyin was silent, mainly because he didn't understand what Zhao Pu said.

But soon, a neatly written prose appeared on the light curtain, giving Zhao Kuangyin an intuitive understanding of this great achievement of civil governance.

In Fan Zhongyan's article, with only a few strokes, the prosperity of Baling Dongting Lake and the scenery of distant mountains and the Yangtze River all jumped out of the paper.

As the light and dark of the scenery changed, Zhao Kuangyin felt as if he could also understand the contradictory and sad mood of this later Song minister. He thought it was another sad and sad work, but at the end it suddenly became exciting.

Although it is not as spectacular as the later "Qinyuanchun", its transcendent meaning is more moving, because Zhao Pu has already read out excitedly:

"Don't be happy with things, don't be sad with yourself, worry about the people first, and enjoy the people later."

"If all the officials of the Song Dynasty were like this, why would they only enjoy the one hundred and sixty-seven years of the reign of Zuo?"

Although Li'er was such a reasonable person, Zhao Kuangyin still stopped him and said:

"Zeping, I have known for more than 160 years, please don't say anything more."

Zhao Guangyi on the side came over with a shy face:

"Brother, there are virtuous ministers in the Song Dynasty who are like this, which can be congratulated for their contribution to civil governance."

Zhao Kuangyin saw through his brother's idea of ​​showing off his merits at a glance, and immediately smiled and said:

"If I hadn't started the Song Dynasty, why would there be such a fine work by a wise minister? I should congratulate him."

Zhao Guangyi was so embarrassed that he couldn't say a single word.

Too lazy to give his brother any attention, Zhao Kuangyin raised his head and looked at the words floating on the light screen.

〖Zhuge Liang: Now I see that the virtuous ministers of the Song Dynasty have good methods and can be praised only if they teach them well.

Li Shimin: What Marquis Wu said is very good and beautiful! !

Zhang Fei: Hey, foreign enemies are all sitting here studying, how can a school become a famous general?

Yuchi Gong: To be a general, you have to go to dangerous places. How can there be a brave general who can sit in high places? 〗

In Han Chang'an, Liu Bei touched his chin, looked at Kong Ming and then at the light screen, a little suspicious:

Why is Li Erfeng so enthusiastic about Kong Ming?

Every time they are in harmony, they always say the honorific title of Marquis Wu.

Could it be that Kong Ming is a branch of Li Erfeng's ancestor?

However, Liu Bei thought about it and rejected this conjecture. After all, it was made clear by later generations that the ancestor of Li Tang's shameless posthumous name was Li Guang, who was from Tianshui, Longxi, two states away from the Zhuge family in Langya Yangdu. County, what does it have to do with it?

If you don't understand, then don't think about it for the time being. He shakes his head and Liu Bei feels sorry for Fan Zhongyan:

"Fan Zhongyan's sincerity is comparable to that of Kong Ming. He hates that he cannot be worshiped as a military advisor to calm the people after a thousand years."

Pang Tong laughed loudly, nodded to Kong Ming, Lu Su, and others beside him and said:

"My lord has already assisted us in his great cause, and we also have Xu Yuanzhi assisting us in Jingzhou, but we still feel it is not enough?"

Liu Bei smiled humorously:

"The Marquis of Huaiyin said that it would be better to have more soldiers, and if we want to bring peace to the people, it would also be better to have more like-minded people."

After hearing this, Pang Tong also praised him for his kindness.

Kong Ming read it again after transcribing Guangmu's two studies, then handed it to Lu Su for his reading, and then said excitedly to Liu Bei:

"Although we are not as wealthy as those in the Northern Song Dynasty, we can still change the Imperial Academy based on this. Even if we have to use a few things, we can still call it benevolent government."

When it came to serious matters, Liu Bei was a little more serious. He thought about it in his mind and nodded slowly:

"The current situation in Guanzhong, as Fan Zhongyan said, is a wasteland waiting to be revitalized."

"The education policy of the Song Dynasty coincides with what we have thought before. We should set up a craftsman's school to teach the methods of various crafts and supplement arithmetic, so that we can acquire a skill and enrich our family."

As far as Liu Bei knew, after returning to Jiangdong last year, he went back and forth to Jiangling several times, and finally made a temporary truce with Jingzhou. As a price, Jiangling merchant ships could travel down the river unimpeded.

Red sugar, snow sugar, and Shu brocade embroidery from Yizhou were all transported to Jiangdong through Jiangling. Some of them went to the hands of Jiangdong surnames and were exchanged for wealth, but more of them were put on small boats, passed up the river north through Ruxukou, and transported to the north. Earn huge amounts of money.

Mi Zhu privately said that it was a common thing for Ru Yinghao to exchange grain from his fields for produce from Yizhou.

After all, the Shu brocade can be put away temporarily and cut when needed, but no one can refuse the sucrose once they have tasted it, especially snow sugar, which has always been in short supply in the North.

Mi Zhu even heard rumors that a nobleman of the Cao family paid huge sums of money to buy snow candy. Based on what Light Screen knew, it was probably the sugarcane swordsman Emperor Wei Wen.

Under this situation, Liu Bei felt that for the people in Guanzhong, the easiest way to make a living was to learn a craft first.

…

Manna Hall.

Compared with Kong Ming and others' meticulous calculation, Li Shimin's handling of it was quite simple:

"Send a copy of it to the Imperial Academy to offer wine, and ask for the results to be reviewed and reported accordingly."

Du Ruhui accepted the order with his hands raised.

After handling the matter, Li Shimin turned to look at Li Jing:

"Martial arts matters cannot be neglected. The pharmacist still needs to take care of everything."

Li Jing also responded solemnly.

Seeing everyone in the Ganlu Hall lowering their heads and thinking, or whispering about the Song Dynasty's education laws, Li Shimin's face was slightly complacent, but after looking around, he found that no one was asking, so he had to say to the queen:

"Does the queen know the shortcomings of education in the Song Dynasty?"

"I don't know, but Your Majesty has already noticed it?"

Queen Changsun pretended to be surprised and said in amazement.

Li Shimin's eyebrows almost flew up immediately. Seeing Changsun Wuji and others looking up at him, he coughed lightly and said calmly:

"It has been said before that the long-standing shortcomings of the Song Dynasty were that culture suppressed military power. People at that time were proud of taking part in the imperial examinations and ashamed of defending the border and defending the country."

Queen Changsun was very cooperative, nodded and said: "This is indeed true, but what does it have to do with education?"

"Of course it's related."

Speaking of this, Li Shimin lost a little bit of thought about showing off, and seemed to be in a bad mood:

"No matter how we reform this education, students will still have to compete for fame in the imperial examination."

"Advocating the classics but disdaining the Taoism, advocating literature but despising martial arts, this is the root of Song Dynasty's weakness."

"Queen, why does Wang Anshi want to establish the Sanshe Dharma?"

Queen Changsun understood after a little thought:

"It should be in line with the method of dividing subjects, so that the students of the Zhishizhai can be promoted to the third house and enter the officialdom without taking the imperial examination. It can be called a good method."

"Of course it is a good method." Li Shimin nodded, and then he saw Du Ruhui's face change and simply named him:

"Since Keming knows it, why not tell me."

Du Ruhui did not refuse, but whispered:

"Since you want to implement this three-house method, it can be inferred that the imperial examination in Song Dynasty had accumulated problems that were difficult to change."

"And Fan Zhongyan's initial establishment of education and reform of education were for the imperial examination."

"Therefore, the imperial examination in Song Dynasty and education are one. If the accumulated problems of the imperial examination are not eliminated, then this method of running a school can hardly be called good."

But at the end, Du Ruhui was a little confused. They are still just trying to improve the imperial examination, but the Song Dynasty actually ruined the imperial examination?

Fang Xuanling lowered his head and thought for a while, then shook his head and said:

"All the officials of the Song Dynasty were selected through the imperial examination system. How can the imperial examination system be changed again?"

Changsun Wuji, who had been silent all the time, said something shocking:

"Since it is difficult to change it, it is better to abolish it."

For a moment, everyone in Ganlu Hall looked at him sideways.

[The last time the Song Dynasty promoted education was during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song.

In the second year of Emperor Huizong's accession to the throne, the reign was changed to Chongning. Cai Jing petitioned to promote education and tribute scholars. Emperor Huizong of Song agreed and then issued a series of imperial decrees. The Chongning school promotion began.

According to Emperor Huizong's order, all prefectures and counties in the Northern Song Dynasty needed to establish official schools, and detailed KPI assessment definitions were given according to the prefecture and county specifications.

In the third year of Chongning, it was stipulated that the county schools in large counties should have at least 50 people, the middle counties should have 40 people, and the small counties should have 30 people, and the three-house system should be implemented from the county schools.

In this way, county students can be promoted to prefecture schools, and prefecture students can be tributed to the Imperial College. A school network will cover the entire Northern Song Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, the Imperial College naturally needed to be upgraded. According to the order of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, a new school was opened outside the Imperial College in Bianliang, named Biyong, and 1,872 dormitories were built. Students who passed the state school exams could enter Biyong. As expected, the three-house system was also implemented here, and they could eventually be promoted to the formal Imperial College.

So far, the scale of Chongning Xingxue has more than doubled that of the period of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, and even far exceeded that of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

Even Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty was not satisfied with this, and issued an edict to all prefectures and counties to "provide Changping, and counties use land benefits", requiring local governments to provide funds to support students in official schools, called "supporting scholars".

Is it familiar? It has a bit of the flavor of compulsory education. Can you believe it?

But what disappointed Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty was that even though he had ordered the state to support students, the scholars at that time still focused on the imperial examination rather than specializing in schools.

The contradiction between the educational system reformed by Chongning Xingxue and the imperial examination became increasingly acute.

So in the third year of Chongning, Emperor Huizong of Song issued an edict:

The imperial examination was abolished, and the path to officialdom was all backed by the tribute from the schools. 】