Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 408: Time is not my turn
The purpose, naturally, is the imperial examination.

Only after experiencing this era did Su Ze understand why there was no large-scale imperial examination system before the Sui and Tang dynasties.

There are so many and so diverse Confucian classics that each school has its own interpretation of the classics. The aristocratic families monopolized the right to interpret the classics, thereby obtaining the highest authority to interpret a certain set of classics, and established a network of personal connections among family members, disciples, and old friends, thus completing the academic and political oligarchy.

If you want to recruit officials through the imperial examination, which classics do you choose? Which classics annotations do you use? If you use a certain classics annotation, doesn't it mean that the children of this family can easily get an official position? It would be better to select talents from the aristocratic families.

Su Ze once thought about conducting examinations in Chongwen Pavilion to select talents, but he came to Chongwen Pavilion several times to discuss Confucian classics with students. Basically everyone had their own understanding, and even the same quotation from the ancient sages could be interpreted in two completely opposite meanings. In this case, how could an examination paper convince people?

Su Ze couldn't help but sigh that the exam-oriented education seemed a little too advanced for this era.

That’s right, exam-oriented education first requires a textbook. How can we make the exam papers if there is not even a unified textbook?
Before implementing the imperial examination system, a preliminary task needed to be completed, which was to determine the official academic classics.

After dismissing his attendants, Su Ze left Qi Tai and Wang Sizheng behind.

Su Ze said to Qi Tai:

"Editing the "Book of Filial Piety" is an important task for the Chongwen Pavilion. Lord Qi is generous with his family's teachings and has the demeanor of an ancient gentleman, so this county lord wants to hand over the work of annotating filial piety to you."

When Qi Tai heard Su Ze's words, he was so excited that his whole body began to tremble.

Official annotations are official annotations. Being able to preside over this work not only means leaving one's name in history, but also means that one's family's academic achievements will become the official interpretation of "The Book of Filial Piety" for some time to come.

After all, Qi Tai came from a Liangzhou academic family, so how could he not be tempted by such temptation?

Wang Sizheng's breathing also became rapid.

Su Ze said again:
"I plan to set up a 'filial piety, brotherhood, integrity and righteousness' subject in Chongwen Pavilion, using the 'Book of Filial Piety' and the 'Official Annotation of the Book of Filial Piety' as the test questions. In the future, students of Chongwen Pavilion must pass this test before they can graduate and take up a post outside the school."

Su Ze originally thought that he had to explain, but Qi Tai and Wang Sizheng said in unison:
"Isn't this move by the Duke of the County the Five Halls System of the Southern Dynasty?"

Su Ze nodded. The origin of the imperial examination system was indeed the Five-Academy System set up by Xiao Yan.

This Bodhisattva Emperor did make some achievements at the beginning of his reign.

In the fourth year of Tianjian (505 AD), the Liang Dynasty established five academies to recruit students from poor families. Students were called "shengyuan" and were exempt from tuition fees. Their food and lodging were fully provided by the state. As long as the students were proficient in one of the scriptures, they could be admitted into the official ranks after passing the examination.

In fact, this kind of examination is not the same as the national imperial examinations of the Sui and Tang dynasties. It is more similar to the system of granting official positions through special examinations at the Imperial College of the Han Dynasty. However, compared with the Nine-Rank System, which only grants official positions based on family background, it is far more advanced.

Su Ze's method is actually similar to Xiao Yan's idea, except that he currently only relies on the "Book of Filial Piety", which can be traced back to the selection of filial and honest officials in the Han Dynasty in terms of legal tradition.

In fact, for selective examinations, it doesn’t matter what the test is about.

In later generations, the Tang Dynasty focused on poetry, the Song Dynasty focused on policy essays, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties focused on eight-legged essays. That is, scholars were asked to take exams within a defined scope, and by the end of the exam, even the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics had been covered, and questions had to be forced by quoting out of context.

The advancement of the imperial examination system has never been its examination method. Who can say that people who are well-versed in the scriptures can govern the place well?
If we consider the ability to govern a place, those children from wealthy families have family heritage, understand the rules of officialdom, and are not as short of money as those from poor families. Aren't they a better choice?

The only advanced feature of the imperial examination system is the word "fairness".

With the word "fairness" in mind, people from poor families will have the motivation to strive and study hard for the purpose of passing the imperial examination. These local elites will be kept within and outside the system and will not become a discrete opposition force.

Only with the word "fairness" can class mobility be achieved. Even if you have three generations of officials, if your children fail the imperial examination, they can only become officials who are looked down upon by others. This will prevent the phenomenon of aristocratic families being connected to each other. Even though Erzhu Rong killed thousands of people in the Heyin Rebellion, he was unable to cut off the branches that connected these aristocratic families.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter what you take the exam on. The most important thing is to screen out talents through the selection method of exam.

It doesn’t matter if the selected talents don’t understand government affairs. Those who can read can also learn. Talents that stand out in such competition are always better than those in a world where bloodline determines everything.

After returning from Chongwen Pavilion, Su Ze convened the shogunate for a meeting.

"The latest news is that after Erzhu Rong killed all his ministers in Heyin, he sent Heba Sheng to guard Hangu Pass."

Su Liang heard this and said:

"Mr. Jun, Erzhu Rong is going to Hebei."

Su Ze nodded. There were several power blocks and passes between Guanzhong and Luoyang.

The most important and dangerous pass when leaving the pass is Tongguan. It has mountains and the Yellow River, and one man can guard the pass against ten thousand.

Li Shen, the defender of Tongguan, has already defected to Su Ze, and Su Ze has sent Yu Jin, the governor of Huazhou, to send people to take over Tongguan.

East of Tongguan is the Hedong County area, with Hongnong as its capital, which is also the territory occupied by the Hongnong Yang family. Hedong County is also an ancient county with an important strategic location, but it is not very rich.

Further east of Hedong County is Hangu Pass, a dangerous pass west of Luoyang.

Erzhu Rong sent Heba Sheng to guard Hangu Pass. His strategic intention was very clear. He did not intend to fight for Hedong County and left enough strategic buffer zones for him and Su Ze.

This was a gesture of goodwill from Erzhu Rong, and it also showed that he had indeed chosen the strategy of going east first and west later, that is, to quell the rebellion of Ge Rong in Hebei first.

This result was also within Su Ze's expectations. Ji, Ding and Ying states were the richest regions in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The North China Plain was a fertile land. Compared with the mountainous and rugged Guanzhong, it was more suitable for cavalry combat and was also a place where Erzhu Rong could bring out his advantages.

If he didn't occupy such a great territory and Erzhu Rong came to Guanzhong to fight to the death with him, he would be a fool.

Su Liang said:

"It is good news for us that Erzhu Rong is going to fight Ge Rong. There are already a million rebels in Hebei. Erzhu Rong and Ge Rong will consume each other. It is time for the Duke to reap the benefits."

Su Ze shook his head. The premise of Su Liang's judgment was that Ge Rong and Erzhu Rong were evenly matched and at a stalemate.

Yes, Erzhu Rong had strict military discipline and quickly defeated his opponents in several battles. However, with the half state of Xiurong, even with the later annexed Bingzhou and Sizhou, the two states of Shanxi were not rich, and Erzhu Rong could only maintain 10,000 elite cavalry.

This is a full two orders of magnitude less than Ge Rong's million-strong army.

Admittedly, Ge Rong's one million troops were not inflated, and on the battlefield, the more soldiers there are, the better.

But this one million means one million pigs, which is enough for Erzhu Rong to catch for a year or two.

The deduction of military strategists such as Su Liang was that Erzhu Rong could defeat Ge Rong on a local battlefield with his elite troops, but it would take several years to completely quell the rebellion in Hebei.

The last time the Six Garrisons Rebellion was confined to the Six Garrisons, it took the Northern Wei a year to quell it even with the help of the Rouran cavalry.

The provinces in Hebei have been in chaos for a year now, and the situation is getting worse. Moreover, Ge Rong has established his own regime, and the nobles and powerful families in Hebei have already surrendered to him. They are no longer the makeshift team that led to the first Six Garrisons Rebellion.

No matter how incompetent Ge Rong is, he can still hold back Erzhu Rong, right? Then Guanzhong can just focus on development and move forward smoothly.

But Su Ze didn't see it that way.

Because in the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, Ge Rong really couldn't hold on for long and was completely defeated in one battle with Erzhu Rong.

Therefore, Su Ze was more urgent than anyone else. He asked Su Liang:

"How's it going in Hengzhou?"

"The delegation will arrive at Wuyuan New City after the New Year, and will reach Pingcheng in another month."

Before sending troops to Luoyang, Su Ze had already sent Su Jie (the "envoy seeking death") to lead an envoy, bypassing the northern border from the new city of Wuyuan built by Dugu Xin, and going south to Pingcheng from the old Six Garrisons Passage to negotiate with Xianyu Ahu, the leader of the Six Garrisons rebels in the north of Erzhu Rong's forces.

All the officials in the shogunate had doubts about this. They all felt that now was a good time to farm in Guanzhong, so why was Su Ze in a hurry to contact Hengzhou?

In the eyes of the ministers, if Su Ze insisted on fighting, it would be better to attack Southern Liang than to take Hengzhou. Hanzhong was already in Su Ze's hands, and the cost of entering Shu was lower than bypassing the grassland to attack Hengzhou.

Moreover, Shu was rich, and what was Hengzhou? It was the place where the Northern Wei Dynasty itself had given up its founding. Xianyu Ahu was able to occupy Hengzhou because no one else looked down on it.

Su Ze’s plan was not to allow Erzhu Rong to easily annex Hebei.

However, Su Ze had no way to explain the reason in detail to everyone. Erzhu Rong's battle results were too magical. It couldn't be said that this was what was written in history books, right?
Su Ze could only say vaguely:
"Hebei is the essence of the Central Plains. We cannot let Erzhu Rong easily conquer Hebei. In addition to Hedong County, Hengzhou can also be used to contain Erzhu Rong."

This does make sense, and Su Ze basically makes all the decisions on military matters.
-
The first year of Wude, the first year of Wutai, the sixth year of Common Era, February.

When the news of the Heyin Incident spread, a trend of Northern Wei royal family members defecting to Southern Liang began.

Several prefectures and counties neighboring Southern Liang asked for surrender to Xiao Yan. The Bodhisattva Emperor was overjoyed. He thought that he had just sat at home and done nothing, but he had acquired the land that the Southern Dynasties, Song and Qi, had never been able to take. He thought that he was truly the reincarnation of the Wheel-Reincarnating King and had great blessings!

Xiao Yan was also concerned about Chen Qingzhi's Northern Expedition, and he ordered Zhu Yi to raise military funds.

Xiao Yan also seriously considered Chen Qingzhi's suggestion and prepared to enthrone a "child emperor" in Jiankang. However, Xiao Yan's trouble at this time was not that there were no candidates, but that there were too many candidates. There were even more Yuan family members in Jiankang than in Luoyang!

(End of this chapter)