Chapter 521: Dinner

"Is the imperial examination abolished?"

Everyone in Ganlu Hall was speechless.

The younger generation on the light screen seemed to make it easier to understand, and also made a simple diagram.

With the three successive promotions of education, the signs of academies gradually appeared in the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty. Until the third Chongning School Promotion, the academies were already densely packed.

The effect of promoting the three-house method was also shown more clearly through arrows.

The blue signs representing the county schools pulled out arrows, pointing directly to the purple state schools, and then the purple state schools pulled out arrows, pointing directly to the golden Biyong. The Biyong still used an arrow to point to the red Taixue sign. Thus, a fine network of academies completely covered the entire territory of the Northern Song Dynasty.

The little brilliance in the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty was collected by these academies, passed on layer by layer, and finally transported to Kyoto. It seemed that this big network was breathing.

Li Shimin went to the front and looked at him carefully, and finally seemed to praise or sigh: "He pursued the utmost in academic research, but also the utmost in party struggles, and abandoned the trivialities of governing the people..." At this point, Li Shimin seemed to have thought of something and stopped talking, but he said abruptly: "This Song Huizong must not know how to fight, nor how to hunt." The civil and military officials of Zhenguan looked at each other, feeling puzzled for a moment. Empress Changsun understood the man's temper very well, so she guessed:

"Your Majesty, do you mean that this study and change of politics is like fighting for victory in a battle with the enemy, like fighting for life between a mountain forest and a tiger and a leopard, it is a life-and-death struggle?"

Looking at his wife with appreciation, Li Shimin nodded and said faintly:

"The Emperor of Song is in a high position in the temple, and he ordered the prefectures and counties to use the land advantages of the Changping to suit the official school, but he did not say how to use the Changping land advantages."

"The imperial examination was abolished, and the path to officialdom was all returned to the school. How can those who benefited from the imperial examination not have resentment?"

"This promotion of education is like not carrying food and grass when marching, and rewards are not equal before the death battle, which will inevitably cause chaos."

"In this case, there are foreign enemies around..."

Li Shimin stopped talking and didn't want to say anything more. The next thing is that the Northern Song Dynasty fell due to the Jingkang Rebellion.

Although this matter was not mentioned in detail in later generations, judging from his sporadic words, the tragic things may be endless.

"Your Majesty's opinion is thought-provoking." Changsun Wuji complimented.

Compared with Changsun Wuji's flattery, Du Ruhui and Fang Xuanling frowned and thought about what His Majesty had just said.

It has only been five years since His Majesty ascended the throne, but looking at the political affairs of the Northern Song Dynasty, His Majesty is faster than these old ministers who are good at literary affairs.

It is quite logical to analyze the military formation, but when you think about the dispute between the two parties in the Song Dynasty, they interpret the text literally and fabricate charges, and they feel heavy for a while.

[It should be noted that Huizong's edict to abolish the imperial examination does not highlight his wisdom or stupidity. This decision is more like stepping on the accelerator on the road of new policy reform.

Thanks to the prosperous civil governance of the Song Dynasty, the advantages and disadvantages of the Taixue system and the imperial examination system and the question of whether to keep or abolish them basically run through all the previous education promotions.

For example, during the Qingli period, Emperor Renzong summoned his ministers to discuss education. Ouyang Xiu and others presented a memorial to strongly point out the drawbacks of the imperial examination and proposed the three-house system for the first time, but it was not adopted at the time.

During the Xining period of Wang Anshi's promotion of education, the old and new parties argued back and forth about the drawbacks of the imperial examination and the Imperial College, neither of them giving in.

The most special one was during the Yuanyou period when Emperor Zhezong succeeded to the throne and was in power. After the old party gained power, they almost wanted to abolish the school. The abolition school headed by Su Shi was extremely contemptuous of the Imperial College, saying that if the saints were reborn, "there must be a way to select and train talents, why should it be through learning?" They advocated that the century-old imperial examination system should not be changed.

In comparison, Su Song, who strongly supported the Imperial College at that time, had a more down-to-earth view. He first called out the opinion that "the state should select scholars with practical actions first" and questioned the imperial examination, "How can we know practical actions if we only check the writing?"

However, the most far-sighted opinion on the pros and cons of the two was the opinion of Lu Gongzhu during the second school revival. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, when the imperial examination was in full swing, he submitted a memorial to advise Emperor Shenzong to "build schools first and then run them simultaneously. The number of schools will increase year by year, and the number of imperial examination candidates will decrease year by year." In this way, it would take 10 to 20 years to ensure a smooth transition from the imperial examination to the school. Unfortunately, the struggle between the two parties became more and more fierce, and this opinion was shelved.

Why did Huizong choose such a radical approach?

Modern knowledge tells us that reform is a redistribution of interests.

But the top-down reforms in the feudal era were different. The reforms initiated by the imperial power and the court were essentially a compromise of interests.

The reform policy not only wanted to make the country rich and strong, but also wanted to satisfy the scholars and seek personal benefits. It was obviously unrealistic. The only ones who were hurt in the reforms were the people.

When the people could no longer squeeze out the oil and water, the new party, which had no room for compromise, could only launch a decisive battle with the old party, and the imperial examination was abolished.

In fact, looking back at the history of the Song Dynasty, due to the weakness of the reforms in the feudal era, all reforms would eventually become demands from the lower levels. Corresponding to the three times of promoting education, the first surge in taxes and levies in the Song Dynasty occurred during the reign of Emperor Renzong.

The second surge in taxes and levies in the Northern Song Dynasty was precisely during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, and this was based on the fact that the taxes during the reign of Emperor Renzong had not been abolished. The miserable living conditions of ordinary people and the grand scene of landlords annexing land can be imagined.

The extreme corruption during the reigns of Emperor Huizong of Song and Cai Jing are all in our history textbooks, so I will not repeat it here. The most well-known is the clever capture of the birthday gift in "Water Margin".

The story of Water Margin was processed by Shi Naian based on the records of the Song Jiang Uprising, but the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes on the birthday card did exist during Huizong's time, and compared to the situation at that time, it was only a drop in the bucket.

Without the constraints of the imperial examination, the Imperial College system also rapidly became corrupt.

In fact, corruption had already occurred in Taixue during Shenzong's Yuanfeng period. In Yufan's lawsuit, Yufan angrily complained that Sanshefa "doesn't gain by power, that is, by profit." This prompted Shenzong to order an investigation, and finally found out that Lian Shenzhi was in charge of political affairs. They were all implicated in Kaifeng Prefecture, forming the shocking Yuanfeng Taixue Prison.

After Huizong abolished the imperial examination, Taixue also quickly deviated from the original intention of selecting scholars based on the three-level system and established the "Eight Virtues" to select scholars. People at the time criticized it as "benefiting the rich to the detriment of the lowly, benefiting the young to the detriment of the old, and benefiting the rich to the detriment of the poor". ".

In the case of relying solely on the three-part method for promotion, the trend of bribery in competitions has increased, and the trend of academic corruption has been difficult to stop. In terms of fairness, it is far inferior to the imperial examination.

The local prefecture and county schools were even more financially challenged, and it was not uncommon for local landlords and officials to embezzle their school fields. Therefore, the imperial examination was held again sixteen years later.

Although the Chongning Xingxue essentially ended in failure, Huizong still inherited the previous two reforms, lifted Wang Anshi to the side of Kong Shengren, and finally promoted the ultimate form of Xingwen in the Northern Song Dynasty.

In fact, looking back on the three establishments of the school, although a hundred shortcomings can be listed, Wang Anshi's time-honored guiding ideology of "There is no fear of changes in the sky, no fear of ancestors, and no compassion of human words" is worthy of recognition.

Wang Anshi was the person who truly ignited the fire of reform and learning in the Northern Song Dynasty, but I am afraid that he himself was not sure how far this reform could go.

After all, the teacher made it very clear that reform is not about treating guests to dinner.

Promoted from the top down by the emperor's imperial edict alone, if you want to complete the distribution of benefits without bloodshed, you are almost doomed to fail from the beginning. 】

Kong Ming felt his mouth was a little dry. He picked up the tea in front of him and drank it all in one gulp, but he still felt it was not enough. In the end, he just held the empty glass in his hands and fell into a daze.

The face was like a flat lake, but in his heart there seemed to be turbulent waves and thunder. Whether it was Wang Anshi's bold words or the views of later generations on the outline and control of changes, Kong Ming found it difficult to calm down.

The "rambling conversation" that lasted only a moment gave him a much greater shock than the previous sound of the candle shadow and axe.

Everywhere seems to be talking about scholarship, but it doesn’t seem to be talking about scholarship.

The details of the words are intriguing, and the shocking words are worthy of careful consideration, so in the end Kong Ming turned his head and met Pang Tong's eyes with a wry smile.

"Is there no perfect way?"

Pang Tong asked directly.

"Fan Zhongyan has noble aspirations, and Wang Anshi is also a man who is willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of the world."

Kong Ming said these two names with great emotion, and then said:

"But neither you nor I can expect everyone in the world to have the heart of a sage and the noble ambitions of these two."

Pang Tong was silent, but Lu Su beside him was quite excited. Hearing this, he smiled and said:

"If everyone in the world is like a sage, then why do we need to work so hard?"

At the request of Liu Bei and Kong Ming, he is now in charge of all affairs of the Imperial Academy. Therefore, what he sees now is a new world for Lu Su. Many teaching methods can't wait to be returned to the Imperial Academy to try out.

Lu Su's smile also made everyone no longer worry about it. After all, judging from this light curtain, asking everyone to become a saint will not be possible in future generations.

Moreover... Kong Ming thought, whether it was the complicated situation and grievances between China and its neighboring countries in the future, or the unpredictable power of technology, I am afraid that these problems would become more complicated.

Fazheng raised his head from copying and said disdainfully:

"The emperor will carry out reforms, but it will burden the people and make them miserable."

"While talking to the people of the world about the ten thousand years of the Holy King's legacy, he continues to impose excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes that make the people unable to make a living."

"Such reforms may be successful in later generations, but they may not be as good as unchanged for the people of that time."

Fazheng's sigh made Zhang Fei Machao understand.

Ma Chao hesitated and said:

"In that case, why not let the family of Zhong Ming Ding Shi produce surplus wealth for the benefit of the world and create a virtuous name?"

Zhang Fei laughed, patted Ma Chao on the shoulder and said:

"The Song people shouted nicely, but in the end they were not even willing to reduce miscellaneous taxes."

"Meng Qi, if you want your money to become a monk, it would be easier to ask him to die."

Liu Bei looked at Ma Chao, who was being photographed staggering around, smiled, and agreed:

"What Yide said is vulgar. However, if you read history and see what happened when Emperor Xiaowu calculated the Min order, you can also use it as an analogy."

After saying this, he also said sadly:

"We have seen this old incident of the Tang Dynasty before, and we often lamented that it did not take into account the disasters of the previous dynasty."

"But now I see this Song Dynasty..."

After pondering for a moment, Liu Bei simply tore up another piece of paper and wrote it with a pen, and then Tuan Cheng Wan flicked into the light curtain with his fingers.

〖Liu Bei: When the people of the Song Dynasty are here, don't you realize that Erfeng's words about the king and the people boating and water are still in your ears? 〗

Li Shimin woke up from deep thought and suddenly felt his eyebrows jump:

You've all said that you can just call your majesty, but why is it so difficult?

However, considering that Emperor Zhaolie was the Lord of Wuhou, and that Emperor Zhaolie was hundreds of years older than him, Li Shimin chose not to care about it for the time being, but felt it first:

"The person who can write "Qin Yuan Chun" is truly an extraordinary person through the ages, and I am no better."

The person's opinions on change are straightforward but worth recalling. Just the eight characters can reveal the endless replacement of the old with the new.

My opinion is similar to it, but the words are not uncomplicated.

Fang Xuanling did not have as many emotions as His Majesty, so he chose to start from the basic points and praised:

"When the country recruits scholars, deeds are the first priority. Such kind words should be addressed to the Imperial College."

Du Ruhui interjected: "If the title is for school, it should be slightly modified. If it is a scholar, practicality should be the first priority, how about it?"

"If you don't succeed, it's still a bit complicated. In my opinion, this theory of practice is just like what "Shang Shu" says. It's not the difficulty of knowing, but the difficulty of practice. If you want to practice it, you must know how to practice it."

Wei Zheng also intervened in the discussion.

Both Fang and Du thought it made sense, so they simply asked, "What's the point of writing?"

Li Shimin, who was listening on the side, immediately said without hesitation:

"How about uniting knowledge and action to serve the people?"

The three ministers thought about it for a while and decided to approve it.

Du Ruhui even smiled and said:

"Your Majesty's inscription can also be used by students to discuss. What is knowledge? What is action? What is reality? What is a citizen?"

For the Zhenguan civil and military affairs, it can be said that the founding of the Tang Dynasty is full of waste, and it is useless to think about it now, whether it is reform or the end of the imperial examination.

Comparatively speaking, it would be more practical to take the essence of the Song Dynasty's academic development and strengthen the Tang Dynasty's cultural governance.

…

There was only Liu Bei's solitary sentence on the light screen, which made Zhao Kuangyin a little embarrassed.

After all, everything else is easy to say. The Song and Tang Dynasties were separated by only a hundred years. As a result, the old events of Zhenguan at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty were easily forgotten. This is really not the case.

At that moment, he was also writing on the stone table, expressing that he would never forget Emperor Zhaolie's words.

When Zhao Guangyi saw his brother's diligence, he seemed to be aggrieved for his brother, but in fact he was demonstrating his merits:

"Brother, why are you worried? I, the scholar of the Song Dynasty, also said that our ancestors are not worthy of the law!"

"The old words of Emperor Wen of the Tang Dynasty that Liu Bei said may not be able to be stated in detail."

Zhao Pu opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he chose to shut up and let the officials handle it themselves.

Zhao Guangyi saw his brother turning his head after finishing his work on the stone table.

Although his brother's face was dark, Zhao Guangyi had always been good at observing words and expressions, and he could still read his brother's expression from it.

Some of them were surprised, some wanted to speak but hesitated, some couldn't bear it, and some were relieved. Finally, they spoke:

"You are acting so stupidly right now, is it fake or true?"

Zhao Guangyi suddenly felt confused, but he still said cautiously:

"It's good that my brother is favored by the official family."

Zhao Kuangyin shook his head sincerely and said:

"If he wasn't stupid, why would he have said what he just said?"

After saying that, Zhao Kuangyin was thinking a lot. Could it be that those fists just now really damaged it?

However, there is no need to take these to heart for the time being. Zhao Kuangyin turned around and ordered:

"If Li Yu is captured, he should be treated with courtesy and summon Qian Chu to come to Bianliang with him."

He also briefly summarized what later generations said just now.

Education is very expensive.

Li Yu and Qian Chu should be willing to do their best.