"Universities are used to educate the country, and prefaces are established to transform the towns."————————[Hanshu Biography of Dong Zhongshu]
Weiyang Palace, Chengming Palace.
On the emperor's desk is placed a latest edict, which was drafted by Chengming Hall and written by Shangshutai. It is prepared to be presented in front of the internal and external ministers, officials, princes, princes, and barbarians at tomorrow's Zhengdan Dynasty. This edict was read out in front of the chief to determine the order of the country.
The content of the edict begins with lamenting the fact that the heavens have not given up in the past few years, the ancestors are spiritual, the emperor is wise and the ministers are wise, the court is tired of labor and courage, and it is not easy to revive the Han Dynasty in the end. Later, the topic changes and it is said that "if the country is uncertain, then the orders will not work", so A major political policy covering all aspects has been formulated, which will determine the direction of government affairs in the next few years.
The emperor was well aware of the principles of priority and step-by-step, so he did not make drastic changes to the core interests of the powerful at the beginning. Instead, he chose to start from the most important points: "This morning, the imperial education policy was completed. People, now we will finally see results. After Taixue, the Imperial College will also start planning examinations, tentatively scheduled for the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, and its examination planning system will be similar to that of Taixue..."
The Imperial College was an aristocratic school established by imperial edict when Taichang Chen Jixin took office a few years ago. Ren An, a great Confucian from Yizhou, offered wine to the Imperial College, and the rest of the teachings were conducted by a great Confucian who understood the classics and had pure virtues. All systems were in charge. Compared with Taixue, the treatment is even better than that of Taixue. The positioning of the Imperial College can be explained from its location - Shangguanli.
Unlike Taixue, which recruits students regardless of whether they are rich or poor, the Imperial College only recruits officials with more than 2,000 shi and the school-age children of the marquis family. However, the total number of officials with more than 2,000 shi in the country is only one or two hundred, and most of them are powerful gentry with well-established family backgrounds. As a result, the number of students in the Imperial College was small but elite. The excellent educational environment and educational resources they had been exposed to since childhood made them far better than ordinary students in Taixue in a short period of time.
"Once the Imperial College students pass the policy examination, they will be selected into the three offices, in order, Zhonglang, Assistant Minister, and Langzhong. They will first wait and see the political affairs, and then they will be appointed as officials through the Lang's office." The emperor did not seem to take the Imperial College too seriously, perhaps because of his It seems that these elite children do not need too much attention.
The Third Bureau Lang belongs to Guang Luxun, and is specifically managed by the three middle Langmen of the Left, Right, and Wuguan. The number of positions is variable. Historically, most of the Xiaolian recommended by the prefecture and state first served in the Third Bureau, and after observing and studying politics for several years, they passed through the Wuguan and other middlemen. The generals are assessed and appointed to various positions.
Joining the Third Bureau is a normal way to become an official. It is also the cadre reserve and reserve talent echelon of the Han Dynasty bureaucracy. As long as an ordinary scholar is promoted as a filial piety and has served in the Third Bureau for a few years, the worst he can do is to be a county magistrate. It is said to be a fast track to becoming an official.
The students of the Imperial College are related to the future of almost all the children of important ministers. Now that the emperor has decided the whereabouts of the students of the Imperial College after the examination, many people are relieved. Because if it is really compared to the Imperial College system, the children of these imperial ministers will be distributed according to their grades. Going to various counties and counties to work as a slave and an official, not to mention the hardships and hardships, it is even harder to show your nobility and dignity.
Among the servants, Yang Qi, the secretary of the Ping Dynasty, suddenly said: "The third minister has always been promoted by the prefecture and the state to be filial and honest. Today, the imperial supervisor is not filial and honest. He entered the minister's office because he got the rank in the policy test. His name is not correct."
Dong Cheng, the Taiwei and Lu Shangshu, moved uneasily on the table. He had been very angry recently about the words "his name is not correct". Now when he heard Yang Qi say this, he thought it was a deliberate attempt to hide his anger. Ridiculing him, Dong Cheng immediately couldn't sit still: "Not all the three ministers are filial and honest, and there are also some who are virtuous and promising to serve as councilors. If those supervisors can pass the test, they are talented enough. Why should they rely on their reputations?" Not upright, but rejected by the three agencies?"
What he said was very skillful. It was not only a rebuttal, but also a way to stand up for Jiansheng, show favor to the wealthy people behind Jiansheng, and at the same time push Yang Qi to the opposite side.
It was precisely because this plan was well planned and showed Dong Cheng's rare eagerness that not only Zhao Wen and Xun You, but also Wu Shuo, the minister next to him, looked at him with a strange expression. Yang Qi chuckled softly,
He looked at Dong Cheng with a mocking expression.
Before anyone else could say anything, the emperor went straight past Dong Cheng and said to Yang Qi: "The court system must adapt to the situation and not be too rigid and conservative. As long as they pass the policy examination, the supervisors can be regarded as 'Maocai'"
', Enter the left and right man's office."
The officers of the facial features department must be over fifty years old, so they are not included in this list.
This decision benefited almost all the middle and upper-level officials. In the past, each county could only recommend one or two talented people. Each county had several powerful nobles competing for this quota. Now it can be obtained through another channel.
The treatment of "Maocai" is undoubtedly the emperor's win-win and preferential treatment for all ministers.
"The state promotes talented people, and the county promotes filial piety and integrity. These two subjects have been recommended by the state and county permanently. They should not be confused to avoid misuse of names. I ask your majesty to change it." Yang Qi quickly accepted the emperor's decision and was very strict at the same time.
suggested.
In fact, Yang Qi has never thought about preventing the supervisors from entering the doctor's office. This would not only create enemies but also be detrimental to himself. However, the reason why he did this was just to give these supervisors an additional status so that their gold content would be high.
At one point, he will not be looked down upon by the third ministers who come from a decent background, such as "Xiaolian" and "Maocai".
"There is definitely a worry about abuse of reputation." In the emperor's view, isn't this just a degree certification? If you think of it this way, you can't give it easily: "Anyone who excels in the CE exam will be recommended by the chief examiner and approved by the government.
, is specially given the title of 'virtuous'. No more than one-tenth of those who receive this title should be awarded every year, to reward the outstanding ones and to encourage the underachievers."
Yang Qi did not expect that the emperor would change his mind so quickly and replace all the honors that had been given to everyone with special rewards. The reason for all this was precisely because of his extra words, which caused the emperor to "follow his advice like a stream". Afterwards, he found out,
Where is the suffering?
Zhao Wen suddenly added: "The Imperial Academy is like this, and the Imperial Academy should be like this too."
The emperor nodded and said: "Such words are great. The two hundred students who can pass the imperial examination this time will all be awarded the title of 'virtuous'."
Everyone quickly calculated and found that the proportions between the two were the same, but since the Imperial College only had more than a hundred people, the number of people who received the title of 'virtuous' was much less than that of the Imperial College.
"As the saying goes, 'it takes ten years to cultivate trees, a hundred years to cultivate people', the imperial court has a long-term plan for cultivating talents. The system of Imperial College and Imperial College must be clearly stated in the imperial edict in order to improve it within the period." The emperor nodded and wrote the edict.
In a certain sentence, he looked at the crowd and said: "In addition to the five subjects of Taixue, there are three subjects of education, education, and official administration, which teach children, serve in the army, and prepare officials respectively. Nowadays, a Xuanhua subject is established to educate the common people.
Transform outsiders and spread the teachings of saints.”
Meng Xue recruits young children under the age of fifteen, or orphans from the Northern and Southern armies. After the Meng Xue is opened, they will be directly recommended to Tai Xue based on their academic performance. The education department is responsible for providing literacy and patriotic education to middle and lower-level officers and soldiers who have made meritorious service in the military.
After teaching them basic literacy and legal knowledge, they can be directly awarded the positions of pavilion chief, thief cao, etc. after they retire from the army.
Not to mention the civil service department. Since the emperor reformed the procedures and changed the training method of the civil service department from indiscriminate teaching to recommendation by relevant officials, and the emperor personally selected the way for outstanding officials to enter and further their studies, people who have experience in the civil service department often have good luck.
Shunshui received great attention. The Department of Civil Affairs, which the scholars were initially unwilling to condescend to study, immediately became a place of envy.
Each of these three subjects has a specific target, and has gradually matured since its implementation. The emperor now requires the establishment of a new Xuanhua subject, which is used to train teachers. Students in the Xuanhua subject will be assigned to county schools in various places in the future.
Serve as a teacher, or be sent to border areas where Chinese customs are not prevalent to carry out education.
The reconstruction of local schools will be the focus of education reform in the next few years. The emperor requested that it be written down in the edict and regarded as a major policy. Naturally, the ministers headed by Zhao Wen and Huang Wan would not oppose this policy of reviving Confucianism.
, just to prevent the establishment from becoming too big, we will only allow schools to be rebuilt at the county level in the early stage, and then gradually build them up to counties.
However, according to the emperor's idea, it is best to set up prefectures in the townships, so that the counties, counties and townships are integrated into one, and each year they are selected at each level to survive the fittest. The best in the county schools are admitted to Taixue, thereby improving the quality of the Taixue students.
After that, the talent echelon and training mechanism of the imperial court were basically determined. Imperial College focused on civilians, Imperial College focused on elites, Sanshulang was the official reserve organization and the fast track for promotion. After the emperor had heirs, another one would
An institution for the education of the nobility.
In this way, a top-down education system was established. Coupled with the system of selecting and appointing officials through examinations, there were 105 counties and more than 1,150 counties in the country. There were countless townships in the counties. In addition to the chief officials, there were various types of officials.
There are hundreds of thousands of officials, officials, and local officials. It will take a hundred years to completely replace the one thousand students of Etherology every year. With continuous metabolism, a good operating mechanism can be established.
"The establishment of county schools everywhere will inevitably increase expenditures, but I don't know whether it will be allocated additional funds from the court, or whether the local government will withhold money from taxes. If it is allocated by the court, where the money will come from and what the budget will be, these must be discussed in detail.
Huang Wan said slowly and calmly.
From the perspective of the central court, the power of resource allocation must be in its own hands. Only by controlling finances can local governments be controlled, so that local governments can respect the central government and avoid its dominance.
The general direction is like this, but when it comes to a specific field, some people will take the initiative to loosen the gaps: "I think it is better to let the various counties and counties rebuild on their own for the time being, and the county literature will be responsible for it. At the end of the year, the plan will be reviewed by the imperial court.
Results."
Yang Qi proposed the most economical method. The county school is nothing more than renovating a few houses, hiring a few famous teachers, and receiving a large amount of funds from the court. This will not only cause disagreements, but also easily breed corruption.
He told the emperor, Zhao Wen and others about his intentions, hoping that they would understand his intentions for the country.
"Local schools must be similar to those of the Imperial Imperial College. Although they will not suddenly set up civil service, elementary school and other subjects, the five basic subjects must be prepared so that each subject in the county schools can correspond to the five subjects of the Imperial College for the convenience of the future.
After careful consideration, we will select and recommend." The emperor shook his head and said, "This is a series of arrangements, we cannot just let the county guards follow past examples and do it perfunctorily!"
"But the imperial government's treasury is in dire straits..." Yang Qi frowned, as if he was troubled by the thought of the fragility of the finances, which were approaching a critical point: "If the imperial government allocates money to build county schools in a unified way, I'm afraid the expenditure will be too much.
, delaying other major events."
"Your Majesty said that educating people is a century-old plan! We can't let them just obey orders and do their own thing. If the students we teach are not qualified to be imperial scholars and their talents are useless, who will be blamed?" Dong
Cheng interrupted forcefully, with a shrewd light in his eyes: "Now that the world has been settled, apart from persuading farmers and mulberry trees, I can't see any other important thing that can compare to educating talents for the country."
"If a student cannot be used, he should be held responsible for the crimes of county and county literature, and even for keeping orders." Yang Qi glared and said dissatisfied, "Is it possible that we and other ministers should be held accountable for their crimes?"
"If we hadn't ordered them to abide by the orders and build new schools and do their own thing, how could they not be able to teach the talents needed by the imperial court and the Imperial Academy?" Dong Cheng retorted, unwilling to be outdone.
Yang Qi was so enraged that his blood surged, and he gasped hard: "When did I say that we should let them go their own way? If so, where is Taichang? Where is you, the Taiwei who is in charge of Taichang?"
"That's enough." The emperor knocked on the table with his fingers and said with a cold face: "The more you talk, the more irrelevant it becomes! The national affairs and the welfare of all people in the world are not for you to argue."
"I have behaved inappropriately, and please forgive me." The two important ministers moved to the table to apologize.
"The policy of establishing schools must be presided over by the imperial court, so that it can break away from the shackles of the old system." The emperor ignored these two people, and Gu Zi said to several others: "It's just that the situation cannot be suddenly unfolded, and the imperial court must be considered
The current energy and financial resources should also consider the situation of various counties and counties... It may be better to implement it in Sili first, and then gradually promote it."
"Your Majesty, your Majesty." Shangshu Ling Wu Shuo's voice suddenly mentioned, attracting the emperor's attention, and the Jishou said: "I believe that the imperial edict is a plan for the next few years, and the establishment of a school is related to the revival of the imperial court's literary style.
If the study of Confucian classics flourishes again, we might as well limit it to one year. In the fifth year of Jian'an, we order all counties and counties to build good schools based on Taixue. In the sixth year of Jian'an, we recommend Bingzhou, Yizhou, and Liangzhou, and then extend from there."
"We can also follow the example of Hedong." Zhao Wen said in a low voice: "Hedong is the place where the new policy of the imperial court is implemented. The imperial court can first transfer students from Taixue to serve as county literary Cao, rebuild the school, and then recommend Sili to the school after the system is perfected.
, Bingzhou and other places. If you proceed step by step, things will be successful. This is the saying goes, 'Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes'."
"Then it will be for five years." The emperor whispered: "In these two years, the court must first solve the lack of financial resources."
The topic here naturally turned to the field of finance. Huang Wan and others all agreed that the imperial court would pay for the construction of school buildings in various counties and counties. However, the imperial treasury is now almost exhausted, and private prices are high due to the proliferation of coins.
No less, various problems have not yet been resolved, and the court cannot squeeze out money for a while.