Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 629 Kaifeng Arts Academy

Bilibili! Bilibili!
The sound of firecrackers made the scene very lively.

Although it was not Chinese New Year, somewhere in the outskirts of Kaifeng County, far away from the canal, it was like Chinese New Year, with a group of officials setting off firecrackers and many curious people watching.

This is a college surrounded by a wall of blue bricks and red tiles, covering an area of ​​several hectares. On the lintel plaque are six large gilded characters reading "Kaifeng Arts Academy".

It is said that the inscription was written by the Right Prime Minister Fang Qing himself.

There was a piece of red silk hanging on the door, like a seal, "locking" the door.

"Right Prime Minister, today is the opening day of the Arts Academy. You will be the one to cut the ribbon."

Liu Yan said to Fang Chongyong who was standing beside him with a smile on his face.

Anyway, the "ribbon-cutting" ceremony was proposed by Fang Zhongyong, so it would be best for him to carry it out.

"Then Fang is welcome."

After saying that, Fang Zhongyong walked forward, took the scissors handed to him by his personal soldiers, and cut the red cloth strip at the door lock position, thus completing the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

It’s so simple and straightforward!
"From now on, you will be the dean of the Art Academy.

You should be a role model for other art officials!"

Fang Zhongyong walked up to a middle-aged man of medium build wearing a scarlet official robe and said, "This man was a refugee from Chang'an, and his name was Ma Daifeng."

He once worked as a technical bureaucrat beside Ji Ge and was known as "Chang'an's first talented inventor."

The things he invented include but are not limited to: wooden robot dressing table, wine mountain,欹器, compass car, banknote printing machine, etc.

Ji Ge gave him generous rewards, but was unwilling to give him a formal official position. He only let him serve in the Ministry of Works.

The current situation in Guanzhong is obvious. Ma Daifeng has no place to use his skills, so he has to leave Guanzhong and make a living elsewhere.

He happened to pass by Bianzhou (which was almost the only way to leave Guanzhong and go to Guandong) and heard that Fang Chongyong, an old acquaintance of his, had become "second only to the king" here, so he came to the government office to seek refuge.

Fang Chongyong said nothing and directly gave Ma Daifeng a fifth-rank official position, and added a new "Ji Department" to the three provinces and six ministries.

Of course, Ma Daifeng, a fifth-rank official, was a doctor in the Department of Arts and concurrently served as the president of the Kaifeng Academy of Arts. To put it bluntly, he was in charge of technology.

"Please rest assured, Right Prime Minister, I will definitely manage this academy well."

Ma Daifeng was moved to tears. He did not expect Fang Chongyong to be so nostalgic and generous.

"Doctor Ma, the academy of martial arts will start recruiting students tomorrow. There will be 100 teachers. They will be assigned to you one by one.

As for the system of the academy, it will be detailed step by step later, and the framework will be built first. As for the source of students, the court will conduct special examinations and select the best candidates for admission.

In addition, the imperial court will add a new subject, the Arts and Crafts, to the imperial examinations in the future. Graduates of the Arts and Crafts Academy will be able to participate directly without taking the preliminary examination.

This will definitely be posted during enrollment.”

Liu Yan explained to Ma Daifeng.

What does tricks mean?

"Ji" means technique, but it is not limited to technique. It can be said to be a general term for all knowledge except literature, politics and other knowledge.

For example, in the Tang Dynasty, medicine was considered a skill, carpentry was considered a skill, astronomy and calendar were considered a skill, livestock breeding was considered a skill, and even the method of playing Go was considered a skill.

The "Arts Academy" proposed by Fang Chongyong was not an invention, but simply a reversal of the previous unhealthy trends.

For example, the series of official positions such as the Entertainment Officer were not created by him, but had already existed in the Tang Dynasty but were not recorded in the government account books.

The entertainers were not formal officials or clerks, but they were not ordinary people either.

Because official officials, whether they were from the imperial examination system or not, are generally good at literature but not good at governing the local areas. Even if they have the intention to govern the local areas, they lack the technical means to do so.

All kinds of government affairs require very high professionalism of talents. It is not something that can be done with just a little knowledge.

For example, in river management, farming, and livestock breeding, the official officials of the Tang Dynasty lacked the knowledge system, and it was impossible for them to spend a lot of effort to learn these professional knowledge.

If they were really asked to do it themselves, they would not be able to achieve any significant results even if they worked themselves to death.

Therefore, in order to make up for this shortcoming, the so-called "arts officers" were assigned to the official officials. They were not temporary officials, had no official positions, no ranks, and even had other main occupations.

But they have very rich experience in one area.

These people can provide specific implementation methods for officials who do not understand specific government affairs but want to make a career. They can even take government salaries to do specific work and participate in it.

Of course, this also includes making samples for central officials and even printing books.

There have always been officials with artistic talents, but they were not taken seriously by the imperial court in the past, and there was no systematic training or discovery.

As for the right to speak in politics, that was impossible. In the past, neither the "literati" represented by Zhang Jiuling nor the powerful royal family headed by Li Linfu could look up to them.

Fang Chongyong proposed adding a Ministry of Science and Technology to the "Six Ministries" in order to concretize the management of scientific and technological research and development, science and medical teaching, and technical talent selection.

By the way, divide some of the power of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites.

The biggest advantage of adding a department is that it makes the pie bigger and provides a new path for those who have no way out.

At the same time, since existing officials will not be removed from their posts, this reform will encounter relatively little resistance.

Sure enough, Ma Daifeng was also filled with gratitude towards Fang Chongyong. In front of a large group of officials, he knelt down and prostrated himself to Fang Chongyong.

"It doesn't have to be this way, it doesn't have to be this way."

Fang Chongyong quickly helped Ma Daifeng up.

He patted the dust off the man and said, "This place may seem secluded, but it is actually within the still-under-construction city of Bianliang. It is not a remote place. The country will pay more attention to arts in the future. You can just be at ease as the dean."

"I will never forget the kindness of Right Prime Minister."

Ma Daifeng was grateful again, and then he led more than a dozen "doctors" and "teachers" from the academy into the gate of Kaifeng Arts Academy. There were dormitories for teachers and staff inside, and they would live here in the future, and would not leave unless they went home to visit relatives.

In other words, the country's special talents will be managed in special ways to prevent technology leaks.

These people were all the martial arts officials who used to work with Ma Daifeng.

Except for those who do not know medicine, some of these people know some other technologies, including those who are good at mineral exploration and livestock breeding.

In the future, they will teach and educate people here, and conduct various skills research and experiments. Of course, the experiments will be conducted in other venues, and the main focus here is still on teaching students.

Unable to help but look back at the plaque of "Kaifeng Arts Academy", Fang Chongyong revealed an inexplicable smile on his face, and then called Liu Yan and the personal soldiers who were guarding him to go for a walk along the Tongji Canal.

Fang Chongyong and Liu Yan walked in front, while Zhang Guangsheng followed with his personal soldiers. Everyone was frightened by the busyness of the canal.

In recent years, the north has been plagued by wars and natural disasters, and people's livelihood has deteriorated greatly. However, the south has not been affected.

It can even be said that the economy south of the Yellow River developed somewhat, especially a large number of people left Guanzhong, and these people, with their families, went by land to Xingyang or by water to Biankou.

The influx of these people activated the economy of Bianzhou, making Bianzhou a terminal of the canal. Many goods shipped from Jiangnan and Lianghuai, especially grain, were not shipped directly to Chang'an. Because of the political turmoil in Guanzhong, merchants could not guarantee their lives after going there. So they unloaded the ship directly in Bianzhou, bought new goods, and then transported them back. This way, the toll along the way was the lowest and the risk was the lowest.

"Shi'an (Liu Yan's courtesy name), what do you think of holding an imperial examination this autumn?"

They were just chatting, but Fang Chongyong suddenly brought up the issue of the imperial examination.

Open the imperial examination?

Liu Yan was stunned. It had been a long time since he heard this word!
Ever since Huangfu Weiming raised the banner of rebellion in Youzhou, the imperial court has not held another imperial examination. Or let's put it this way, people in the world don't even know who truly represents the orthodoxy of the imperial court.

It has to be said that Fang Chongyong was thinking too much about the imperial examination at this time.

"Although we are assisting Prince Yong to ascend the throne and taking Li Tang as the orthodox, the court is still in its infancy and lacks everything it needs.

Apart from food, fodder and money, everything else was made to be what one had.

This is fine for the short term, but over time, something bad will happen. Especially since the court lacks talent, it is already a matter of urgency.

Only by holding an imperial examination to select the pillars of the country can the vacancies be filled."

Fang Chongyong spoke in a very serious manner. Liu Yan was stunned and could not say a word of rebuttal for a long time.

You can't say that the other party's words are unreasonable, but Liu Yan can't say: Now we are just setting up a makeshift team to do things. It's hard to say how many years this regime can last, so why think so far ahead?

But it's so rude to say that.

After thinking for a long time, Liu Yan finally managed to say: "The Right Prime Minister is truly far-sighted, and I am far beyond your reach."

Fang Chongyong knew what he was thinking at a glance from his conflicted look.

In fact, this is also human nature.

For example, if a person is starving now and begging for food, how can he think about how to regulate the state system if he gains control of the world in the future?
You're really thinking too much.

“If a person has a lot of money, but he walks on the street in rags all day, will people who don’t know his background think that he is a beggar or that he is so poor that he is about to starve to death?”

Fang Chongyong stopped and looked at the canal boats coming and going in the distance and asked.

"Of course, there might be people who despise the poor and love the rich who would humiliate him."

Liu Yan nodded, obviously agreeing with Fang Chongyong's opinion.

“Similarly, if a person with nothing at home washes himself cleanly, wears fine silk and satin, and walks proudly on the street.

Would anyone think that he is very wealthy and has no worries about food and clothing? Would someone even approach him and invite him to do business together? "

Fang Chongyong raised another question.

Liu Yan nodded again and said, "It's just human nature."

“You see, we have established the imperial examination system, which shows that we believe we are orthodox, we have the ambition to unify the world, and we are willing to accept talents from all sides.

When outsiders see this, they will know that we will be the ones who have the last laugh.

Because only those who think they can survive to the end will do things that have no short-term benefits.

After seeing this, outsiders are willing to trust us and join us.

Li Baochen did not hold the imperial examination, so we did. When outsiders see this, they will think that we are the orthodox and he is just a soldier who usurped the throne.

This included opening warehouses, building art schools, and conducting imperial examinations, and even military examinations. These were things that only a serious country would do.

In the eyes of outsiders, we are the people who are determined to conquer the world.

Once we have accomplished these things, Bianzhou will become the capital, and the area under our jurisdiction will be the border of the country.

Although Chang'an is the old capital, nothing can be done there now, so it is no longer the capital.

It’s that simple.”

Fang Zhongyong said this calmly, as if he took these things for granted.

Some truths are just separated by a layer of paper, making people feel as if they exist and yet not exist, making it difficult to make up their minds.

When no one points it out, it seems to be the case.

However, once someone points it out, the cruel truth will be laid bare before people.

The most important part of national construction is never the territory, not the mountains and rivers, not the capital, or the borders.

But people.

Only talents are the most important and come first, nothing else is more important than people.

Without land with people, there is no country. It is people who make up the country, not the country that makes people.

The place where the most people gather is the capital, otherwise it can only be called "relics".

The so-called "legitimacy" comes from the improvement of the state apparatus and from the control and service of the people under the rule.

The military is part of the state apparatus, but not all of it.

Fang Chongyong didn't want to debate with great scholars like Yan Zhenqing, arguing about what was the national orthodoxy, or arguing about which prince of Ji Ge was competent.

He only knew that I had equipped a normal country with everything it should have, making it run better. Then, even if it was "fake", it would eventually become "real".

In other words, if a regime cannot equip itself with everything a normal country should have, then the "real" will gradually degenerate into the "fake".

It was just like Marshal Baochen, who, unable to support the huge and bloated bureaucracy in the city of Chang'an, asked Li Shiyu to carry out a "weight loss campaign" to cut off a large number of government offices that had no government affairs to run and were overstaffed.

Then, the necessary government offices would be rebuilt according to the needs and the reformed central court would be put into operation again.

This is the process of a country gradually falling from a serious state machine to a makeshift team.

Liu Yan suddenly woke up and realized that the Tang Dynasty in his mind had... essentially perished.

Perhaps he had understood it before, but just deliberately avoided thinking about it.

"The imperial examination can be announced tomorrow. Let's give it a few months to prepare."

Fang Zhongyong turned around and said to Liu Yan.

"Please rest assured, Right Prime Minister, this matter will be handled well."

Liu Yan crossed his hands and saluted.

He originally thought that Fang Chongyong would be quite resistant to the imperial examination system, because he had said more than once in private that the imperial examination system was lame and it was clear that he was unwilling to hold the imperial examination.

I didn't expect that not only will it be opened, but also the "Skills Department" will be added. This clearly shows that the imperial examination system is intended to be carried forward.

(End of this chapter)