Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 325: The imperial examination system was reformed, and the eight-legged essay was abolished!
There were about 50 million children of school age in the Ming Dynasty. If 10,000 students were added every day, it would take 13 years.

However, all community schools have not yet been built, and progress has been slow in some remote provinces, prefectures and counties. In the coming period, the number of children enrolling in school and becoming students will continue to increase.

When all 100,000 community schools were completed, the number of students enrolled daily would increase exponentially. As a cabinet minister and Minister of Rites, Hai Rui was confident that he could enroll most children of school age within five years and initially complete the literacy campaign for children of school age within ten years.

To this end, Hai Rui had previously requested that the proportion of local school-age children enrolled in schools be included in the annual evaluation and assessment of officials at the provincial, prefectural, and county levels.

From a provincial governor to a county clerk, everyone will do their best when it concerns their own personal interests.

Of course, Hai Rui did not forget to give credit to the Emperor, or the one who promoted the national policy, and sang the holy music.

The grace of God is overwhelming.

His Majesty’s grace is not over yet!

It’s not over yet!
Zhu Houcong's expression changed subtly. With Lu Bing's "loyalty" and Hai Rui's "kindness", the temperature in the hall seemed to be rising rapidly.

He shook his head, threw all those random things out of his mind, and asked, "The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the studies and examinations of scholars all over the country. What does it think about community schools and the imperial examinations?"

In the past, studying was something that only people from wealthy families did and had nothing to do with ordinary people.

For those who have passed down farming and reading from generation to generation, take Chen Yiqin's Chen family as an example. The family has a strict but progressive academic plan for the younger generation, covering all aspects of knowledge and etiquette such as the articles of sages, the Four Books and Five Classics, poetry, calligraphy and painting, to ensure that they can become well-rounded people when they grow up.

Chen Yiqin, Chen Yubei and Chen Yujie, father and son, are good examples. They know astronomy, geography and human relations, and have learned some family sword skills for self-defense. They are proficient in both civil and military strategies.

However, such a family and such a superior person are always rare. There are a hundred people in the world, of all kinds. Given the family education of the Chen family, even many middle-class people in the Chen family have to spend their entire lives to achieve the status of a middle-class person, not to mention the real people, most of whom are mediocre.

A life of mediocrity and gaining nothing.

When students first enter school, they focus on learning characters and pinyin, but what about their subsequent studies?
Zhu Houcong's questions were not only directed to Hai Rui, but also to the entire cabinet. Since the matter concerned the cultural heritage of the dynasty, the cabinet must have discussed it.

Hai Rui was not surprised by the question and said thoughtfully, "Your Majesty, the community school is for children. We have consulted the schools of many famous families and I think that they should only teach the Four Books and the Five Classics and the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government. Among the Four Books, the Analects and Mencius are the main ones, and the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean are the supplementary ones. Among the Five Classics, the Book of History and the Spring and Autumn Annals are the main ones, and the Book of Songs, the Book of Rites and the Book of Changes are the supplementary ones. Among the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, the Qin Records, the Han Records and the Tang Records (three records in 144 volumes) are the main ones, and the other 13 records are the supplementary ones. The little knowledge is for children to learn. After that, they will be taught the eight-legged essay when they go to higher school."

Very little knowledge?

Zhu Houcong looked at Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang and Zhu Heng and nodded in agreement, knowing that this group of people were putting themselves in other people's shoes.

"The Analects of Confucius": A book that records the words and deeds of Confucius and his students, covering many aspects such as philosophy, politics, economics, education, literature and art. It is one of the most important classics of Confucianism.

"Mencius": recorded and compiled by Mencius and his disciples, it consists of seven chapters, recording Mencius' thoughts on state governance, political views and political actions.

"Shangshu": also known as "Jinwen Shangshu", is the first ancient historical document in China and a compilation of some works that recount ancient events. It is said to have been compiled by Confucius.

"Spring and Autumn Annals": also known as "Spring and Autumn Classics" and "Linshi", it is one of the "Six Classics" of ancient Chinese Confucian classics. It is the first chronological history book in China and also the national history of the State of Lu during the Zhou Dynasty.

These four ancient and modern classics, which contain articles written with great effort by sages, are considered by the cabinet to be the "foundation" that children should learn, even memorize and master.

"Zizhi Tongjian" is a chronological general history compiled by Sima Guang at the order of Song Yingzong and Song Shenzong.

Sima Guang himself served as the chief editor, with the assistance of Liu Jun, Liu Shu and Fan Zuyu, and it took 19 years to compile and complete.

Song Shenzong believed that this book "learned from past events and was helpful in governing the country", so he named it "Zizhi Tongjian".

The whole book consists of "16 records and 294 volumes", about 3 million words. Among them, "Han Ji" and "Tang Ji" have the most volumes and the most words.

In addition to these two volumes, the cabinet also selected "Qin Ji". Although it only has three volumes, it is obviously for students to remember the rise and fall of China's first unified dynasty.

The content of "Zizhi Tongjian" mainly covers politics, military affairs and ethnic relations, and also includes economy, culture and evaluation of historical figures. Many of them are descriptions of the policies of the ruling class that are related to the rise and fall of the country and the rise and fall of the nation.

The main content of the course is as high as 1.5 million words, and the social school course lasts only five years. That is to say, children of a few years old have to recite and read 300,000 words a year, which is an average of more than 800 words a day.

In later times, the college entrance examination essay was only 800 words. In other words, the five cabinet elders meant to let children of a few years old remember and understand an essay in one day.

An essay with profound meaning.

In the eyes of the cabinet, this was actually "special favor". The subsequent "eight-part essay", including the breaking of the topic, the continuation of the topic, the beginning of the lecture, the introduction of the topic, the beginning of the section, the middle section, the last section, and the conclusion of the section, would be taught after the children grew up to be teenagers, graduated from the community school, and went on to further studies.

In Zhu Houcong's view, it was as if saying "You have already learned the linear equation with two variables, come and solve this calculus."

It is difficult to go to community school, and it is even more difficult to go to higher education. Eight-legged essay is such a inhumane thing that people should not learn it at all.

There were more than 100 million people in the Ming Dynasty, including cabinet elders, six ministries and nine government officials. Some were child prodigies when they were young and geniuses when they grew up. This is the real "Liao Liao".

It is a good thing to extend one's own kindness to others, but one cannot extend his kindness to others in everything. One cannot use one's own "natural talents" to save the world's "fish crossing the river".

Even though Gao Gong's cabinet was "enlightened" enough, it still could not escape the limitations of the times, or in other words, was unwilling to destroy the cage of the eight-legged essay.

It costs too much to enlighten the world. How is it possible to cram all the knowledge into students' heads all at once?

"Let's reform it." Zhu Houcong sighed.

Hear the words.

Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, Hai Rui, and Zhu Heng all jumped up from their embroidered cushions at the same time and asked in unison: "What?"

As soon as the words came out, the five ministers realized that they had lost their manners and quickly lowered their heads and bowed. Gao Gong took the lead and said, "Your Majesty, we do not understand what the reform means?"

Eight-legged essay has been around for thousands of years and is deeply rooted. Should we reform it? How? How should we reform it?
"High arch."

"The minister is here."

"I ask you, can the Analects of Confucius govern a country?"

"..."

Gao Gong was stunned for a long time before answering, "As it is."

"Maybe the Qi family?"

"Ruqi."

"Is it possible to pacify the world?"

"As usual." Gao Gong said silently.

As Hu Zongxian said, the books of saints are for others to read, and are useless if used to do things.

Half of the Analects can rule the world, but that’s just a joke.

Governing a country, bringing harmony to oneself, and pacifying the world, the country, oneself, the world, everything is contradictory, but the books of sages only write about the spear, or only write about the shield, and rarely write about both. Naturally, it is difficult to compare everything. A person may read one book, a hundred books, a thousand books, or ten thousand books, but it is good if he can really use one or two things among them.

Governance, order, and peace both exist and do not exist.

"Even the books of saints are written in the style of 'Ru', so what's the use of the 'eight-part essay' above that?" Zhu Houcong continued to ask. The five ministers Gao, Hu, Li, Hai, and Zhu were silent.

To put it bluntly, the eight-legged essay requires candidates to write in the tone and viewpoints of ancient people. Not to mention whether the essays written by candidates are crap, they even fail to reflect the candidates' real thoughts and opinions.

Over the past thousand years, in order to prevent questions from being repeated, examiners have often set questions that are difficult to understand, such as quoting parts of text from classical literature, making it difficult for candidates to understand the true meaning of the questions, just to make the questions difficult for the sake of difficulty.

How many people in the world can understand the phrase "Your Madam's sexual desire"?

"Hu Zongxian."

"The minister is here."

"What is the purpose of the imperial court holding the imperial examination?"

"..."

Hu Zongxian's lips moved slightly. He felt guilty for the empty words and official language on his lips, but he dared not tell the truth. He had to answer the emperor's question, so he knelt down and said, "I don't know."

"Do you not know the answer, or do you not know how to answer?"

"..."

Hu Zongxian leaned forward, and Zhu Houcong did not embarrass him any more, and continued, "Gao Gong."

"I don't know!"

Following suit, Gao Gong also knelt down.

Li Chunfang, Hai Rui and Zhu Heng knelt down without waiting for the emperor to ask.

"The imperial examination is also known as the "Enlightenment Examination". The so-called "Enlightenment Examination" is to show favor to scholars all over the world and win the hearts and minds of scholars all over the world. This is the first priority of the imperial examination. It is neither to select talents nor to educate the world."

Zhu Houcong walked past the five elders and said slowly: "The purpose is just to trap the ambitious people, to trap all the smart people in the world into the cage of eight-legged essays, to make them study the chapters and sentences, and study the classics until they are old.

In this way, these people will not have wild ideas, nor will they be easily deceived by evil ways. The scholars will be stable. Even if there are still people who want to rebel, they are just bandits and will not accomplish anything big. My great scholars, am I right?"

The Fifth Elder did not dare to answer. His forehead was pressed against the cold gold brick and cold sweat kept oozing out.

"For thousands of years, the Sui, Tang, Song, and even the Yuan and Ming dynasties have overly pampered these scholars, allowing them to become rampant, self-righteous, and difficult to control."

Zhu Houcong walked to the front of the palace gate, looked at the clouds in the sky, and said quietly: "But times have changed."

This applies to scholars over the past thousand years, and also to the few people in the hall at that moment, who, before they knew it, had their front and back of their clothes soaked with cold sweat.

"The country is my country."

A domineering declaration.

It made the Fifth Elder feel a little difficult to breathe.

Since the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, the people killed the most by the emperor were scholars and businessmen. If the emperor did not tolerate these people, they would not be able to survive.

The imperial examination system can be reformed if the emperor wants to. This is not a request or a discussion, but an order.

"The curriculum needs to be changed, and the imperial examination system should also be changed. Get rid of those subtle words and profound ideas from the Four Books and Five Classics, and write down the clear meanings and emotions directly on paper. Let the students read them, let the students think about them, let the students ponder them. It won't take a few more sheets of paper." Zhu Houcong said lightly.

In the future, all scholars should be grateful to him.

"I don't need knowledge about governing a country, I only need knowledge about practical application."

……

cabinet.

When the ministers returned to the government hall, they acted like fools. They were all very uneasy, with thorns in their backs and a lump in their throats. They could not even take care of government affairs.

Upon seeing this, Gao Youshi, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, poured tea for the five elders, then left quickly and stood guard at the door of the Government Affairs Hall, temporarily preventing anyone from approaching or reporting matters.

"I originally thought that 'banning the study of the mind and prohibiting teaching' was the 'invincible path' of Zhang Juzheng, the former chief minister of the cabinet. I didn't expect that we are the tomb robbers of Confucianism." Li Chunfang sighed.

Zhang Juzheng's "ban on the study of the mind" was tantamount to burying the Confucianism that had been passed down for thousands of years, and the "ban on teaching" was just another nail in the coffin.

For this reason, as long as there is a Confucian scholar still alive in this world, he will scold Zhang Juzheng for betraying his teacher and ancestors and being unworthy of being a son.

Even a few people in the cabinet occasionally heard about this matter or thought about it in their hearts, and they concluded that Zhang Juzheng would be infamous for eternity.

The phrase "Invincible Road" is a joke, meaning that no one can bear more infamy than Zhang Juzheng.

But now, the cabinet was surprised to find that after Zhang Juzheng's fall, the road to invincibility was paved again.

The deceased is the queen.

The "Tomb Raider's Tears" appeared again.

"The imperial examination system was reformed and the eight-legged essay was abolished."

This is equivalent to the Cabinet wanting to dig up the buried Confucianists, remove the nails and open the coffin, but this is not to save Confucianism, but to grind its bones and scatter its ashes.

Zhang Juzheng’s cabinet was the gravedigger of Confucianism, and Gao Gong’s cabinet was the graverobber of Confucianism.

The embarrassing thing is that Li Chunfang was in both generations of cabinets. Of course, Gao Gong and Chen Yiqin were also there. Moreover, Gao Gong was the second prime minister during Zhang Juzheng's cabinet and is the prime minister of the current cabinet, making him even more important.

Once Gao Gong's reputation in Confucianism was carried out according to the imperial order, it would immediately surpass that of Zhang Juzheng. He and Chen Yiqin would be followed by Hu Zongxian, Wang Chonggu, Hai Rui, Zhu Heng and other senior cabinet ministers who later entered the cabinet and became prime ministers.

A ranking list of Confucian traitors has been released.

Gao Gong looked embarrassed, but more of it was helplessness. During Zhang Juzheng's cabinet, he had no way to stop Zhang Juzheng's proposal. Now it was his turn to be the chief minister of the cabinet, and when it came to his turn, the emperor issued an imperial decree, and he had no way to stop it.

He didn't want to do anything like digging graves or robbing tombs, but it seemed like the things were chasing him and he had to do it.

It's a forced melon, but if the emperor wants to eat it, it has to be sweet. Being the chief minister of the cabinet is really tiring.

Gao Gong was blamed one after another and he felt like he was about to become a hunchback.

"'Once you enter the palace of the emperor, you will have a good reputation both in life and after death'. Today, we are in the highest position. No one dares to comment on us while we are alive. Even if many people scold us in the future, we will not hear them. Why should we care so much?"

Hai Rui resolved the awkward situation in the government hall. His experience in officialdom was far richer than that of his counterparts in the cabinet. Life and official career were like this. Since he couldn't resist, he would just enjoy it. He continued, "Tell me, what else do you have left for Confucianism?"

(End of this chapter)