After listening to Fang Guoshou's explanation of the topic, Wang Chengwei finally understood the meaning of the topic.
Yan Zhenqing, who was inspecting the examination, sighed. As a great scholar with extensive knowledge of ancient and modern times, Yan Zhenqing naturally understood the meaning of this examination question.
The rule of "literacy and quality again and again" can not only be used in the replacement of dynasties, but also the change of thrones between dynasties.
When the emperor used this topic as a test question, the meaning was already very obvious, that is, he wanted the candidates to write about the separation between the new dynasty and the emperor's era, so as to seek a more legal explanation for the change of throne.
Lingwu ascended the throne, the emperor issued an edict to abdicate, and Deyuanzai and Tianbao's fifteenth year were the same year.
This legal embarrassment has always been a thorn in the emperor's heart.
That’s why we came up with such a practical policy test question.
Yan Zhenqing sighed. This was the first time the emperor had asked such a question in the imperial examination. So how would the emperor treat the emperor after he returned to Luan Chang'an and the two emperors met?
As a minister who had been an official during the Emperor's reign, even though he was resentful of the Emperor's ignorance in his later years, he was still full of fond memories of the wonderful era during the Kaiyuan period.
Naturally, the ministers did not want the scene of fratricide within the royal family.
Let's see how these candidates answer the questions and whether they can come up with answers that satisfy the emperor.
Yan Zhenqing continued to inspect the examination room and saw many candidates staring at the test questions in a daze.
Yan Zhenqing sighed. Among them were some candidates who did well in the first two questions but were helpless when facing the third question.
There is nothing that can be done about this. The candidates are all familiar with the Analects of Confucius, but the concept of improving literary quality comes from the "Book of Rites".
Although the "Book of Rites" is also one of the Five Classics, the Tang Dynasty's requirements for understanding the Five Classics were mainly focused on the "Book of Songs" and "Spring and Autumn". The requirement for the "Book of Rites" was to read it thoroughly, and even the examination of the classics was not very important.
Contents in "Book of Rites".
However, the questions were given by the emperor, so the candidates had no choice but to answer them.
Yan Zhenqing read a few more, and his eyes lit up when he saw Wei Yingwu's article.
Wei Yingwu was worthy of being a descendant of Jingzhao Wei's family. He had also entered an official position and had experience in the officialdom.
Wei Yingwu's article starts from two aspects of literature and quality. From being gentle and gentle to being a gentleman, he advises the court to pay attention to the civil governance and martial arts. On the basis of making every effort to suppress the rebellion, it should also pay attention to the civil governance of the court.
Yan Zhenqing nodded. This entry point is also a normal entry point for practical strategies for the Jinshi examination, starting with admonishing the king.
Wei Yingwu then used the theory of restoration of literary qualities and applied the evolution of literary qualities in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, proposing that the Sui Dynasty emphasized governance but neglected literature, and that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty went militarily and eventually perished.
Therefore, I, the Tang Dynasty, should have been overly literary and continued to advise the emperor to practice civilized governance.
Based on a practical answer for the Jinshi examination, this article is certainly qualified.
Wei Yingwu's literary talent is also good, and his handwriting is also quite good. There should be no problem in passing the Jinshi examination.
However, Yan Zhenqing still shook his head. Although Wei Yingwu wrote well, it was not the answer the emperor wanted.
Continuing to look at other candidates, Yan Zhenqing quickly saw Gu Kuang's test paper.
Gu Kuang's solution is the same as that of Wei Yingwu, both of which discuss the basic concepts of text and quality through Confucius' quotations.
However, Gu Kuang used the discussion of the restoration of literary quality in the succession of thrones within the Tang Dynasty.
Gu Kuang believed that the emperor's Kaiyuan and Tianbao years were a period of restoration of cultural quality.
When Kaiyuan re-wens, the world can be stable and prosperous, and the world can accumulate huge wealth.
Tianbao valued quality, but was too militaristic and allowed Bianzhen to become powerful, which ultimately led to the disaster of Anlu Mountain.
Therefore, Gu Kuang's article goes a step further and uses the lessons learned from Kaiyuan Tianbao to advise the current emperor to continue to pay attention to culture and education and not to make the same mistakes as the previous emperor.
Yan Zhenqing nodded slightly, Gu Kuang was indeed a disciple of Li Mi, and his article touched the emperor's heart.
The emperor needed articles like this. Gu Kuang explained the problems at the end of the emperor's reign, which also explained the legality and rationality of the current emperor's succession.
This is the meaning of the so-called restoration of Wen Zhi, which defines the positioning of this dynasty and the end of the Emperor's reign as Zhi, admonishing the king not to resort to military violence, but to diligently cultivate government affairs and pay attention to the rule of law.
This is also in line with traditional Confucian ethics and can be regarded as a qualified article with the main theme.
At the same time, it also responded to the emperor's preferences.
As a fellow examiner, Yan Zhenqing needs practical strategies for marking exams.
He had already memorized the names of Gu Kuang and Wei Yingwu.
The imperial examination is for the country to select talents, and the answer sheets for practical policies are to be given to the emperor.
If they cannot select good test papers from them, it would be their failure as examiners.
Therefore, although the Tang Dynasty had the bad habit of writing examinations, the overall purpose of the examination was still upward, and it was still to select talents for the country.
The emperors of the Tang Dynasty also attached great importance to the imperial examinations. They not only marked the papers themselves, but also often gave practical examination questions themselves.
But by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial examination had become a competition for the best papers. The content of the examination became more and more rigid, and the requirements of the eight-part essay became more and more rigid. Naturally, the emperor was not willing to read such an article.
At this time, the imperial examination no longer tested policy theory. The purpose of selecting talents who needed to solve problems for the country had been lost, and the content of the imperial examination became increasingly divorced from reality.
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Therefore, there were more cases of fraud in imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties than during the Tang and Song dynasties.
Yan Zhenqing raised his head and looked at Wang Chengwei.
I saw that Wang Chengwei was the first candidate to hand in the scriptures, but he didn't start writing. At first, Yan Zhenqing thought he didn't know how to solve the question.
Originally, Yan Zhenqing felt sorry for Wang Chengwei. After all, he was a scholar who came from a cultural desert like Longyou. Although he was talented in poetry and could memorize classics and meanings well, he had no choice when it came to practical policies.
There was nothing that could be done about it. Even if the scholars of Longyou knew the meaning of this sentence, it would be difficult for them to write an answer that would satisfy the emperor.
After all, the subtle relationship between the emperor and the emperor is not something that ordinary scholars can understand.
Although this Wang Chengwei can be regarded as a branch of the Wang family in Taiyuan, no one has been an official for several generations since he moved to Longyou, so it is normal for him to not understand the current situation.
Just when Yan Zhenqing thought Wang Chengwei was about to give up, he suddenly saw Wang Chengwei writing furiously.
Could it be that I don’t know how to write nonsense?
Yan Zhenqing walked over and wanted to see what Wang Chengwei was going to write.
Naturally, Wang Chengwei knew the emperor's meaning when he asked this question.
The matter of emperors and emperors has long been exposed in forums.
Li Heng and Lingwu ascended the throne. This was an act of usurping the throne while the emperor was avoiding trouble in Shu and losing the hearts of the people of the Central Plains.
Afterwards, Li Longji hid in Shu. On the one hand, he was old and no longer had the ambitions of the past. In addition, the court ministers supported his son as emperor, so Li Longji could only issue an edict to abdicate and admit that Li Heng was the emperor.
Passionate.
However, Li Longji was not so willing to give up his rights. When Li Longji issued the edict of abdication, he made his other three sons the chief stewards of several key states and granted them the power to open mansions and build teeth.
King Yong, whom Li Bai defected to, also received the emperor's appointment under such circumstances and started an uprising from Jiangnan under the banner of countering the rebellion.
But in the end, all three kings were put down by Li Heng, and King Yong was also beheaded. From then on, the emperor completely lost control of the world.
Regarding the legitimacy of the succession, the Emperor, who has been in power for forty-five years, has the longest reign among all the emperors of the Tang Dynasty.
Today, the ministers in Li Heng's court are basically ministers from the emperor's period.
The generals Li Heng relied on to quell the rebellion were all generals promoted during the Emperor's reign.
Even some of the eunuchs around Li Heng were sent to him by the emperor.
This also makes Li Heng live in the shadow of the emperor.
In this case, Wang Chengwei decided to get a big one.
This time the imperial examination is for the country to select the talents it needs, so the emperor must personally mark the exams.
Wang Chengwei quickly found an idea for establishing his argument.
"Confucius said: 'If quality is better than literature, then you will be wild; if literature is better than quality, you will be history. If literature is better than quality, then you will be a gentleman.'"
"In terms of state affairs, if literature is superior to quality, then literature is timid and martial arts is playful, and the world is full of luxury."
"Quality is better than literature, but military force is used, and the superiors and subordinates are very happy about their achievements."
"The Xia and Zhou dynasties have lasted for thousands of years, how can they be summarized by the way of literature and quality?"
"Because of the two issues of culture and quality, it will take time to move the government and change it according to the world's customs."
After reading Wang Chengwei's paper, Yan Zhenqing was surprised.
This article fundamentally denies the discussion of the Xia and Zhou Dynasties in the Book of Rites, that is, "the quality of Yu and Xia, the writing of Yin and Zhou Dynasties, is the end."
The attitude of Confucian scholars in the Tang Dynasty towards classics was also quite pragmatic.
What the sages said is right, just pick it up and use it.
If what the sages say is not to your liking, just discard it.
After the troubled times of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Confucianism today is very pragmatic. After all, the Confucian scholars who were not pragmatic had long been killed by the emperors of the Northern Dynasties and the generals of the Southern Dynasties.
Yan Zhenqing was not surprised by Wang Chengwei's denial of Confucian classics, but by his arguments.
Wang Chengwei summarized in the following article that in the early days of his reign, the emperor attached great importance to the rule of law but did not pay attention to educating the people, which led to the world being immersed in hedonism and extravagance.
In the later period, they pursued hegemonic achievements but did not know how to make a living for the people. The southern and northern wars also made the officers and soldiers in border towns pursue military glory too much and blindly provoke wars, which destroyed the orderly development of the country and allowed local vassal towns to gain power.
Wang Chengwei believes that this is the reason why the emperor failed to balance the relationship between literature and quality and failed to make timely reforms.
Therefore, Wang Chengwei's point of view can be summed up in one sentence, "Reform is always on the way." The court needs to constantly adjust the changes in culture and quality in the court according to the changes in the world. Only in this way can everyone in the world become a gentleman, and the world can have long-term peace and stability.
.
The next sentence surprised Yan Zhenqing even more. Wang Chengwei believed that in the two years since he ascended the throne, His Majesty was cleaning up the mess. Recovering the two capitals shows that this stage of work is over, and the imperial court must also transition from suppressing rebellion to restoring the vitality of the world.
In daily work.
So Wang Chengwei asked the emperor to change the Yuan Dynasty!