Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 437 0432 [Invention and Education]

The county magistrate of Dengcheng, named Pu Shang, came from Yangzhou and invented garden shears using the principle of leverage.

Ju Ming recommended him to Song Huizong, and this man was left in Genyue to work as a steward among a group of gardeners. He was an official without rank (not a clerk).

Unhappy with what he did, he quit his job.

After the Zhu family and his son raised an army, Pu Shang hesitated for two or three months. It was not until Zhu Ming led his troops to attack Shuzhong that he went to Zhu Guoxiang to seek an official position.

Pu Shang followed Ju Ming and Wei Tai into the city and introduced as they walked: "Dengcheng County is only in the northwest. There are three reclamation villages, housing about [-] refugees. The weather is good this year, and the second season beans are being harvested. I will go to the reclamation in person. I’ve seen the village, and it turns out that life is pretty good, and we no longer need to borrow food from the government to satisfy our hunger.”

Ju Ming nodded and said, "I visited the Kenhuang Village in Dengcheng County before arriving in Xiangyang. You really didn't miss anything."

Pu Shang was very happy to receive the compliment from the generalissimo, and said: "Although Dengcheng belongs to Wang County, its specialty is only high-quality yellow rice. Rice, wheat and mulberry are also grown in the county, especially mulberry. I want to make it." A large water-turned spinning wheel that uses the water power of the Han River to spin linen. It can provide the generalissimo's army with a large amount of linen quickly."

Since it is a spinning wheel, it can only spin yarn, and weaving linen has to be done manually.

Ju Ming praised: "I remember you invented the garden scissors. The mulberry scissors and tea scissors in Yangzhou were adapted from your scissors. Now they have spread throughout the states and counties in Sichuan. If we can recreate the hydraulic spinning wheel, it will definitely benefit the world. Ten Thousand People will have some success in the art of Taoism. When the time comes, they will at least be promoted to one level!"

"The Generalissimo still remembers my scissors," Pu Shang said happily, "They are just small objects, much simpler than turning a big spinning wheel with water."

Ju Ming asked: "I remember that many scholars came to visit Daming Village at that time, and there was also a man named who invented the dry compass..."

"It's called Yang Changyan," said Pu Shang. "He took his own compass and went out to sea with the ship to find immortals under the order of the faint king. Wen Zhengtong, who improved the distiller to make toilet water (perfume), did not return to Hanzhong to be an official. Went to Luoyang to set up a flower dew workshop."

Shi Yuangong, who followed behind, immediately stepped forward and whispered: "Wen Zhengtong's Hualufang is the Luoyang liaison station, responsible for connecting Tokyo and Guanzhong's elaboration activities."

Zhu Ming nodded slightly, indicating that he understood.

Shi Yuangong has corrected his attitude now. He understands his lack of ability, so he simply engages in espionage seriously and will not interfere with other things.

Pu Shang continued: "At the beginning, there was another scholar named Rong Xun who visited Daming Village together. He is now the magistrate of Biyang (Biyang) County, and has received more than 6000 refugees in his jurisdiction. When guiding the refugees to reclaim wasteland , The magistrate of Rong County changed the plow from a straight handle to a crank handle, which was greatly appreciated by the manager, and ordered to build two kinds of plows for reclamation in the future, and the local officials chose according to the actual situation."

The tread plow is an agricultural tool of the ethnic minorities in Guangxi. It was introduced to the Central Plains in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty and was used in mountainous areas or areas where there were insufficient cattle for farming.

The efficiency is only a fraction of that of cattle, but it is especially suitable for plowing in mountainous areas and land reclamation with a lot of rocks.

"Is a crank plowing faster?" Zhu Ming remembered that Daming Village used a straight-handled plow for land reclamation. Why didn't his father use a crank-handled plow instead?
Pu Shang explained: "Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. The plow with a straight handle saves more effort when piercing the soil, and it is easier to turn over the hard soil. Not only can it plow the land and open up wasteland, but it can also be used to dig kudzu, yam, etc. When plowing the soil, the bending range is large, and the waist is sore and the back hurts after plowing for a long time. The crank plow is just the opposite. A large number of land reclamation, the speed is faster than the straight handle."

Zhu Ming understood that Daming Village is all mountainous and has a lot of hard soil, and the land reclamation area is not very large, so Dean Zhu used a straight-handled pedal plow.

In the Nanxiang Basin, the land is not that hard and a large area needs to be cleared, so the crank plow is more suitable.

Of course, if there are enough oxen, no plow with any handle is needed. It is the fastest way to open up wasteland with oxen. (except in mountainous areas).

Rong Xun, the magistrate of Biyang County, invented the crank plow, which can greatly increase the speed of land reclamation, and Zhu Guoxiang has been promoted two levels in a row.But he is still working as the magistrate of Biyang County, but the grade has been improved, and he will be transferred when there is a vacancy for a more senior official.

Wei Tai said next to him: "Pu county magistrate has asked craftsmen to change the tread plow in Dengcheng county to a crank handle. I have seen it with my own eyes. It is good for farmers, and they will not suffer from back problems after working for a long time."

Zhu Ming asked suddenly: "The Xiangyang government school will be resumed early next year. I wonder if the old man would like to sit in town?"

"Those things taught you?" Wei Tai didn't immediately agree, but asked back.

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "If the old man approves of my knowledge, he can teach it in person. If he doesn't agree, let other scholars teach."

"Let me think about it," Wei Tai said.

After all, Wei Tai is from the older generation who associates with brothers Wang Anshi, Zeng Bu, Mi Fu and others. It is enough for him to go to Xiangyang Prefecture to study and become the principal even if he does nothing.

Since the Zhu family's father and son rebelled, the official schools inside the territory have been abolished.

Since there is no imperial examination and no way to advance to higher education, which student would still want to stay and study?Moreover, the principal and teachers were officials of the Song Dynasty, and those who could escape had already escaped.

The father and son have too many things to deal with, and running the school is the least urgent thing.

The main thing is that I didn't think about how to handle the official school.

Wang Anshi's and Cai Jing's "three homes" method is very similar to the modern system of entering higher education.But the financial expenditure is too high. Except for the students in the foreign hall, all the other students are free, and they also have to provide meals.

Even if it were to be done in this way, it could only be done on a small scale, as was the case in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

But if done on a small scale, it loses its meaning and becomes a symbol of culture and education.

The result of the discussion between father and son was exactly the same as Cai Jing’s final reform before he resigned as prime minister!
That is to reduce the scale of official schools, retain the system of entering higher education, and official students can participate in the imperial examination.Taixue graduates can be granted a Jinshi background, but the number of graduations per year must be reduced-normally, there are 15 to [-] graduates from Taixue each year, and the number must be reduced to less than ten.

At the same time, elementary schools and county schools are no longer free of charge, and the tuition fees of self-funded students are used to support government-funded students.

Cai Jing also did the same in the later stage of the reform. All the students in the foreign dormitories had to pay tuition fees, and the proportion of the number exceeded 70%.Once promoted to the inner dormitory, tuition and accommodation fees will be waived immediately.As for the more advanced students, the proportion is about 5%.

This is a deformed higher education system. Take elementary school as an example, there are five grades in total.The first and second grades need to pay tuition fees, accounting for 70%; the third, fourth and fifth grades do not pay tuition fees, accounting for 30%.Not to mention graduation, it is difficult to advance to a higher grade, and most of them are repeat students.

And from elementary school to county school, state school, and imperial school, each time you go to school, you are not only compared with your grades, but also with your family connections.

There are too many loopholes, and the father and son need to make up.

The first is to strictly upgrade entrance examinations to reduce cheating and nepotism.Cai Jing did the same, but he couldn't do it at all, because his henchmen took the lead in breaking his rules.The phenomenon of favoritism and fraud in Taixue even alarmed Song Huizong for a while, and demoted five core members of the Cai party in one breath.

The second is to pass the normal imperial examinations to give those officials and students who cannot graduate a way out.Cai Jing did the same, and was fired as soon as the reform started.

The difference between the Zhu family and Cai Jing is that they will also maintain official schools in remote states and counties, but with fewer students.In order to save funds, Cai Jing made a sweeping decision, ignoring remote states and counties and directly abolishing those schools.

Then, what is the use of running Taixue, which can only graduate a few people each year and obtain Jinshi status, and its supporting elementary schools, county schools, and state schools?

Of course, it is to control the direction of education and distribute standard textbooks for various subjects.

At the same time, the emperor and state and county officials, through official schools, can control and guide the atmosphere of public opinion.

Once a new territory is occupied, teachers can be immediately dispatched to teach those barbarian lands.

The father and son also decided to create a kind of Taixue drop-out students, that is, students who cannot graduate from Taixue and above, can apply for drop-outs and be sent to local teachers as teachers.While working as a teacher, I can continue to take the imperial examination.

In order not to affect the teaching, the teacher takes the exam in the place where the teaching post is located, and the exam is personally invigilated by a provincial chief.Moreover, there is only one teacher's quota for each imperial examination in each prefecture.

The imperial examination system will adopt the form of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but the treatment will be the same as that of the Song Dynasty.

That is to say, there is no special preferential treatment for applicants, but there is no need to repeat the exam.

This will inevitably lead to more and more candidates for the examination, so the father and son revised it again. Those who failed to pass the Jinshi examination for three consecutive terms must go back and start the examination again.This is tantamount to forcing Juren to give up the imperial examination. If they fail the three-time exam, nine years have passed. In addition to the time they took the exam before, they are most likely to be over 40 years old.

Similarly, a scholar who failed to pass the Juren examination for three consecutive years had to go back to the furnace to take the examination for a scholar.

Juren and scholar, although there is no preferential treatment, but this status can already obtain social status.

Zhu Ming came to the county government office and explained the new rules to the county magistrate and Wei Tai alone.

"Provinces will be established in the future," Ju Ming said. "Those who are tested in a prefecture are scholars, and their status as scholars can be retained for nine years. Those who are tested in a province are called judges, and their status as judges can also be retained for nine years."

Wei Tai was surprised and said, "Scholars in the new dynasty are more difficult to test than juren in the Song Dynasty?"

"That's not the case." Zhu Ming smiled and nodded.

The candidates of the Song Dynasty were selected from a state or a prefecture.

Regardless of the state capitals in the Song Dynasty, they were smaller than those in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.At the same time, the number of candidates in state capitals in the Song Dynasty was smaller than that of scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Therefore, it is more difficult to obtain candidates in the Song Dynasty than in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and far lower than that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

"Why such reforms?" Wei Tai asked.

Ju Ming said: "During the Song Dynasty, tens of thousands of candidates came to Beijing at every turn, wasting money and wasting time, which was not good for the court or the scholars. After the reform, the quota for candidates was greatly reduced, and at most four to five thousand people came to Beijing each time to take the exam."

"That's right," Wei Tai nodded and said, "Ju Ren can retain his status for nine years. Although the quota has been reduced, it also allows scholars who have passed the exam to not have to retake the exam for three consecutive terms."

Zhu Ming also said: "If the old man is willing to go to Xiangyang Prefecture to study for a year and become familiar with the new examination content, he can go to Hanzhong to preside over the ceremony hall."

"Ceremony Hall?" Wei Tai was moved.

Zhu Ming said, "It's the Ministry of Rites, who will be responsible for organizing the exam three years later."

This is directly serving as Minister of the Ministry of Rites. No matter how much Wei Tai regards fame as dung, he is short of breath due to such a position.

The old man quickly calmed down his emotions, but he was still agitated. He stood up and bowed: "Ming Gong appreciates you so much, how dare I disobey you?"

When Zhu Guoxiang asked Zhu Ming to invite people, he also left the Ministry of Rites to his son.

(The previous chapter did not make it clear, it has been changed. The food transported to Yanjing was handled by the magistrate of Yanshan, and some would be used to help the people. But Guo Yaoshi used strong methods to directly withhold the food.)
(End of this chapter)