While the Hongwen Hall held meetings and discussions, state-level officials also sent memoranda to express their opinions.
Once this person becomes an official, his views become less pure. In other words, he is unable to control himself and can no longer speak according to his own temper. There are too many interests involved.
For example, Chong Jushuang, the governor of Yunnan Province, came from a well-known Confucian family and came from Kunzhou. He praised the saint's civil and martial arts and believed that the saint's civil and martial arts were superior to his martial arts and would surely bless future generations.
The words are a bit disgusting, but they are not too far away from the truth. Shao Shude likes them very much.
He can't conquer the world just by fighting and killing. Or even if he conquers it, he will die in the second or third life.
But he left something of his own to the world, and it is indelible. This is eternal.
In six or seven months, the discussion on the book "Zhizhi" was basically over.
On the fifth day of August, the draft of "Zhizhi" was finalized by Zhong Jingxian, deputy envoy of the Lifan Academy, polished by Mianzhou Sima Niu Xiji, and finally reviewed by Shao Shude.
The book consists of three chapters, namely "Population", "Currency" and "Geography", with tens of thousands of words. It serves as a basic literacy reading and examination teaching material for official reserve forces.
On the seventh day of August, it will be sent to Shaofu to have engravings made by famous artists.
After the engraving is completed, it will be handed over to the newly established Commercial Bookstore of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for printing. The Ministry of Household Affairs will pay for the first printing of 10,000 copies, which will be sent to officials in various prefectures across the country and to the Imperial Academy, Hongwen Hall, Jixianyuan and other institutions in Sijing.
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This is to allow scholars all over the world to have access to this essential textbook for undergraduate examinations as soon as possible. Next, they may copy it, print it privately, or spread it out as quickly as possible.
The imperial examination in the fourth year of Tongguang will still test the original Nine Books, and the new textbooks will be implemented for the first time in the seventh year of Tongguang (922). In other words, scholars across the country have three to four years to prepare, and the first test will be held four years later.
This exam will definitely change the situation. Who can seize the dividends of reform will depend on his ability.
Of course, Tongguang’s seven-year reform did not stop there.
Next year's imperial examination will add 32 places for agricultural subjects. The imperial examination four years later will also add arithmetic subjects on this basis. Considering the overall low level of mathematics and the small number of students, there are only 27 admission places nationwide. The vast majority
Most of the courses (16) only have one quota, and the level of students admitted is mostly uneven.
But there is no other way. This is the elegant government of the new dynasty, and it must be fixed through systems to avoid being manipulated.
Jinshi, agriculture, and arithmetic are three subjects, and 167 people are admitted every three years. Compared with the number of civil servants in the country, which is tens of thousands and several thousand, it is not worth mentioning. There is no problem in taking advantage of the real shortage.
Therefore, the value of the imperial examination is still very high. If you pass the examination, you can become an official, and the minimum is from the ninth rank. If you are lucky, it is not impossible to become a seventh-rank official.
This prospect is enough to make people flock to it.
For the Jinshi examination, thousands of people take the township tribute examination every year, and a hundred people are finally admitted. How competitive is this?
The Agricultural Science Examination will be taken for the first time next year. I don’t know the specific data yet, but a quick thought will tell me that the difficulty will be several times lower.
Not to mention arithmetic.
In the past, the imperial court introduced arithmetic (mathematics) subjects, but only a few people were admitted at a time. Sometimes even none of them were qualified and no one was admitted. This time, the quota is fixed according to the rules, which is equivalent to giving official positions to the old, young, border and poor areas.
This is called the dividend of reform, and it can change your life if you seize it.
"Niu Qing has this kind of writing skills. He knows how to make edicts, so why go to the Western Regions?" In the Taiji Hall, watching several edicts being sent out one after another, Shao Shude walked aside, washed his hands, and asked.
"I have been studying since I was a child, and I have the ambition to help the world and bring peace to the people." Niu Xiji said: "The Anxi provinces are newly acquired, and Hu Feng is everywhere. If we don't educate them, it will be difficult to stabilize them. I have thought about it for a long time, and we have to study the sages for this matter.
Those who read will do it.”
"There are 108 people enrolled in one subject of Jinshi. In the agricultural subject, there are 59 people in total. Do you have any ideas?" Shao Shude asked.
"I really didn't think so at first," Niu Xiji replied: "But after reading "Zhizhi" carefully, my heart suddenly became brighter. At the beginning of the founding of the country, agricultural science contributed a lot. Even the scientific scholars also contributed in various states and cities.
, which has brought countless business taxes to the court, and his contribution is also great. I feel that any subject has great use, and one must not favor one over the other."
Shao Shude smiled softly after hearing this.
Niu Xiji's words were quite awkward, and there seemed to be lingering reverberations behind them. But he was too lazy to delve deeper into it, so there was no need.
He did not want to knock down Confucianism with one stick. He had never had such an idea.
Among the imperial examination quotas, Jinshi subjects still have the largest number, which is enough to illustrate their status.
But he did not want to see Confucianism becoming rigid and conservative, rejecting other doctrines, and finally becoming self-centered.
Without competition, Confucianism will not progress, and may even become a religion.
People like Pi Rixiu applauded Han Yu for overthrowing other theories and even wrote articles to publicize it. This approach is definitely wrong.
Allowing a hundred flowers to bloom, compete with each other, and promote each other is the right way.
In this matter, Shao Shude actually betrayed his own interests.
For the king, there is nothing more convenient, less troublesome, and more stable than deposing hundreds of schools of thought and only respecting Confucianism.
But he is a time traveler. He has had enough fun and enjoyment, and there is no need to pursue those illusory things.
"Just as Niu Qing wishes." Shao Shude said: "The Yanqi Mansion is still short of a Shaoyin, it's up to you. Work hard and don't let me down."
"I thank your Majesty for your kindness." Niu Xiji responded.
After Niu Xiji left, Shao Shude sat on the dragon throne, suddenly feeling a little hesitant and lonely.
The emperor, after all, is alone.
This reform of the imperial examination was nominally the result of collective efforts, but in fact it was his arbitrary decision.
He came from among the warriors, created an army with one hand, and managed the court team with the other, and conquered a huge world. His prestige and power had reached their peak. At this time, few people dared to tell the truth in front of him.
The world that Chen Cheng, the minister of Zhongshu, once escaped from?
Shao Shude was surprised at the time. He did not expect that Lao Chen was still a deeply hidden Confucian scholar.
He immediately gave the answer: the people live and work in peace and contentment, industry and commerce are prosperous; communication with surrounding areas promotes exchanges; culture is exported to surrounding areas, making other countries admire them and come to visit them one after another.
Chen Cheng said that there is a lack of "lasting peace and stability".
As soon as these words came out, Shao Shude understood that he was truly a loner.
If he really wants to achieve "long-term peace and stability", haha, aren't there many tricks in history?
He could learn from the Northern Song Dynasty, deeply control the private economy, implement various monopoly systems, and even get involved in all kinds of daily necessities, vegetables, and fruits that people live in, share the benefits, and set prices.
He can learn from Zhu Yuanzhang and narrow the scope of road guidance.
In the Tang Dynasty, the country was divided into 26 customs, upper, middle and lower. A "passing place" was provided when passing through the customs, which was not required in other places. If you need to frequently travel in and out of various customs or even go abroad, you can apply for "long-term residence".
The Song Dynasty was a lot stricter. When leaving the state, you need to provide "proof", but not within the state.
By the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, every road within a hundred miles needed guidance. You could also use the Lijia system to monitor each other, report each other, and sit together when something happened. "Farmers should not go within a mile, go out in the morning and go in at dusk, and know each other's way of working and resting."
"
There are many ways to do this.
Zhu Yuanzhang's routines were all ready-made. The society under his rule was the feudal society with the strictest official control from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the fall of the Yuan Dynasty.
According to the household registration of different occupations, do whatever you need to do, and don’t expect to reach the top in one go.
You should know what clothes you should wear according to your class.
Scholars "are not allowed to be unconventional or tainted with heresy" and "are not allowed to talk about the ills and disadvantages of the world and the country."
Civil society, do you want to rebel?
What's the use of being a businessman? If you ruin the social atmosphere, give me the land to farm.
Another one is that private individuals are not allowed to enter the sea, blocking cultural exchanges.
Finally, the prime minister system that had existed for 1,600 years was abolished, and the emperor directly took charge of the six ministries and assigned his sons to various core points across the country.
Isn’t it easy for me to learn this? Even if future generations pull back a little bit and relax their control, they will still be stricter than other dynasties in the end.
But does this make sense? Thirty years of fighting life and death just for this "long-term peace and stability" is a bit outrageous.
Chen Cheng, you don’t understand me either.
******
In late August, the Shaofu came to report that the new version of wax paper and ink had been successfully trial-produced.
Shao Shude went there in person and after inspecting it, he was very happy.
This is an achievement worthy of the "Xia King Award" level.
In the tenth year since Jianji (910), after the sugar craftsmen of Fengzhou won the tenth "Xiawang Award", they had a bye for eleven and twelve consecutive years.
In the thirteenth year of Jianji's reign, Sinong Temple won an award for cultivating "Sha Niu". Many officials and craftsmen were rewarded, promoted, and given the opportunity to protect their descendants.
In the fourteenth year, Dengzhou craftsmen improved the wood drying kiln and greatly increased the efficiency, and were awarded the 12th "Xia King Award".
Fifteen years of bye.
In the first year of Tongguang (916), Wudi shipwright Wu Lang designed a professional squid fishing boat, which won a prize.
In the second year of Tongguang reign, an official from the Minzhou Qian Supervisory Office had nothing to do, so he designed a brand-new machine that used water power to stamp copper coins and silver coins, and won a prize.
Bye this year.
Next year's "Xia Wang Award" - the 15th one - if nothing else happens, will fall on the Xi family and his son, because their invention will greatly facilitate the world's printing industry.
Chen Xingyun, the Prime Minister of the Zhongshang Administration of the Shaofu, was promoted to the rank of Youshang Administration, and was promoted to five or six levels in a row.
In twenty-eight years, fifteen "Xia Wang Awards" were awarded. This result made Shao Shude very happy.
Are these awards useful?
"On Bloodline" published in the third year of Qianning (896) has become the standard textbook for agricultural examinations and has been widely circulated. Even if they do not take the imperial examinations, many people still use the theories contained in it, and their contributions to the world have been immeasurable.
In the fourth year of Qianning (897), the wool spinning machine improved by the peasant woman Cui has entered thousands of villages in the north. In some places, some people have even made further improvements, which have become the cornerstone of the northern rural economy.
"Geometry" was published in the fifth year of Qianning (898). It is now one of the standard textbooks for mathematics imperial examinations. When building water conservancy facilities, buildings, temples, bridges and docks, builders use the knowledge contained in it every moment. .
In the first year of Tianyou (900), the "Wuyan sheep" bred by Tuoba, a peasant woman in Xiazhou, is now the main sheep breed in Guanzhong and Guanbei due to its soft and slender hair.
The "Hai Shark" designed in the first year of Jianji (901) is still the largest ship in the Navy's inventory. It has been slowly iterated since then, and its size, performance and maneuverability have been greatly improved. However, as the pioneer, the "Hai Shark" has The position remains unshakable.
In the fourth year of Jianji (904), Li Mo, a construction engineer, participated in the design of Luoyang Sewer and Tianjin Bridge. He used geometry, mechanics knowledge and precise calculations to save a lot of wood and bricks, and won the award. The buildings he participated in the design are still in use today. It is still running well, proving that the effect can be achieved without stacking materials. Since then, official construction costs have been effectively controlled.
In the fifth year of Jianji (905), Liu, a farmer from Henan Prefecture, improved the wool jacquard machine, which greatly enriched the wool product line. Wool of different colors could be woven into patterns, which quickly became popular throughout the north.
In the sixth year of Jianji (906), the emergence of Tielima gradually forced trackers out of the labor market. Now it is widely used in Bianshui River, Yongji Canal and even the Yellow River section east of Lanzhou, which has greatly improved the efficiency of water transportation. Reduced expenses.
In the eighth year of Jianji (908), five craftsmen in Luoyang designed a simple machine for making bricks, and used coal ash, cinders, and slag to make bricks. This further increased the output of bricks, lowered the price, and made more brick houses Appeared in the Central Plains.
In the 10th year of Jianji (910), a machine for extracting sugar from sea beet was launched, which brought closer economic ties between the grasslands and the Central Plains.
The invention of sand cows, new drying kilns, hydraulic coin minting machines, and ink had an immeasurable role in promoting agriculture, construction, finance, and printing industries, and also benefited a large number of professionals and even ordinary people.
Just at the beginning of this year, someone in Luoyang even specially compiled a "Chronicle of Heroes of the 'Xia King Award'", listing the winners of the award and their experiences over the past 20 or 30 years.
Because the records were detailed, the content was popular, and it was very dramatic - a common man suddenly ascended to heaven, and not only did he become rich, but his family and descendants also got the position of small official - so it was copied everywhere and caused a sensation.
After Shao Shude heard about it, he sent people to engrave and print it and distribute it everywhere to further expand his influence.
These - these are the things he has high hopes for.
On this road of life, there are people who can accompany you for the first half of the journey, and people who can accompany you for the second half of the journey. It is normal to come and go in the middle.
What accompanies him now are new forces and new trends that have gradually emerged over the past thirty years.
They will accompany him until the end of his life.