Song Gexing

Chapter 132 Chapter Dun Zhang Zihou

"No. 1 on the legendary list, number one Zhang Heng!"

"No. 2 on the top list, second place Dou Bian!"

"No. 3 on the A list, second place Luo Kai!"

……

"The second-ranked Jinshi and the second-ranked Su Shi..."

It is true that none of the top three in Jiayou's second year was a well-known figure in later generations, and Su Shi only got the second top, but none of the six Zeng family members fell into the top three, which directly shattered the rumors of Ouyang Xiu's cheating.

Zhao Fang was not surprised at all. This year's general examination was a reform in the imperial examination. Ouyang Xiu abandoned the original parallel prose and useless articles, and turned to strategies to select scholars.

This is a disaster for the candidates who have always admired the Taixue style. Ouyang Xiu's reform was approved by the imperial court. The Song Dynasty has been reformed for many years, so why are there still useless articles in the exam?

The original articles were either praising virtues or boasting, citing scriptures and classics but saying nothing. Policies and discussions are about a person’s ability to handle government affairs.

Of course, no reform has been successful in history, but don't forget that Ouyang Xiu himself was a supporter of the Qingli New Deal. He was released after the failure. Now that he is back, he will definitely make some small moves.

Renzong was not reconciled to the failure of the New Deal. The emperor and his ministers hit it off and decided to start with the imperial examination and change the direction of selecting scholars.

Su Shi, Su Che, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zeng Gong, Zeng Bu, Lu Huiqing, Zhang Dun, Wang Shao.This is the so-called Jiayou Shizi.

Zhao Zhen's name is closely connected with these ten people. The brilliance of the culture of the Song Dynasty started from these ten people and changed the direction of Chinese civilization.

This is no joke. Su Che, Zhang Dun, Lu Huiqing, and Zeng Bu later became prime ministers, but they started party struggles and abandoned the struggle between gentlemen.

Especially for Lu Huiqing, it can be said that Lu Huiqing succeeded Wang Anshi's reform and failed because of Lu Huiqing. However, it was Lu Huiqing who was listed in the traitor record and made the Song Dynasty's finances and treasury abundant, so that he could attack Xixia.

And it was his colleague Wang Shao who expanded thousands of miles in the Battle of Xihe, almost destroyed Xixia, and recovered Qinghai and other places.

If Zhang Dun, who supported him and presided over Wang Anshi's new policy, had not suddenly stepped down, Xixia would have been destroyed by him.

In this battle, Wang Shao was the commander and Li Xian was the supervisor. They achieved the most glorious record in foreign wars since Song Taizu.

The six prefectures of Xi, He, Tao, Min, Die, and Dang were recovered in succession, restoring the situation in which the Central Plains Dynasty controlled this area before the Anshi Rebellion.Recover the 20 square kilometers of homeland invaded by Tibet.

Even Tuotuo, a great scholar from the Yuan Dynasty who wrote the history of the Song Dynasty, lamented that if it were not for the party strife in the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty might have revitalized like the Tang Dynasty.

This was an excellent opportunity. After the Liao Kingdom was hard-pressed by Zhang Dun, it fell into civil strife over the succession of the throne and had no time to take care of it. The Song Dynasty could completely destroy Xixia without being hindered by the Liao Kingdom.

By then, the Liao Kingdom will no longer be able to check and balance the Song Dynasty, and what awaits the Liao Kingdom is probably to be gradually cannibalized by the Song Dynasty. Because after destroying Xixia, the Song Dynasty will no longer lack war horses, and it will already be connected to the Western Regions.

This will also have a huge impact on the economy of the Song Dynasty. Not only the sea route, but also the Silk Road on land will be restarted, and the various ethnic groups in the Western Regions may be more willing to follow the Song Dynasty and destroy the Liao Dynasty.

After all, the Central Plains Dynasty has always been gentle towards the surrounding small countries and tribes, while the Liao Kingdom tried its best to squeeze them.

The two brothers of the Cheng family were the ones who made the biggest change to Chinese civilization. Although Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was not what later generations believed, it was indeed used by the Ming and Qing Dynasties to imprison people's thoughts.

The main reason for this is that Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is similar to idealism, using the moral high ground to constrain people's thoughts.

But if Zhang Zai had not died early, this situation might have been changed, because the core of Guan Xue is materialism, which is very similar to Yangming Xin Xue.But he died. After his death, his disciples hardly inherited his teachings, which were merged into Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and became a branch.

The Song Dynasty did not restrict thoughts, and people from all schools of Neo-Confucianism studied. Therefore, the scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty had straight spines and straight knees, which is why 10 people jumped into the sea.

Thoughts were imprisoned in the Ming Dynasty, although there was no literary prison, Cheng-Zhu Confucianism is an official school, and scholars must learn it if they want to take the imperial examination.

As a result, a large number of traitors have been created. The morality of self-restraint is gone, and what is left is the morality of hypocrites that others can see.

Although there are some people who stick to their moral integrity, most of them are weak traitors. Before the Manchus entered the country, a large number of Han people were colluding with them.

The Eight Families of Shanxi Merchants are the representatives, Shui Tailiang is the role model, and a large number of border troops are involved in smuggling embargoed items, regardless of whether these items will be used to kill themselves after they are released.

On the contrary, it was the prostitutes on the Qinhuai River who would rather die than become slaves, and this scene repeated itself in the subsequent World War II.

In other words, this kind of thinking has always influenced later generations and is still there even in the 21st century. Almost all those who are patriotic are ordinary people.

This is the role of culture. Although the Song Dynasty was weak, it maintained its integrity. Of course, there were traitors, such as Song Huizong and Qin Hui.

But at least among the elite, most people maintain their integrity. The comparison between Wen Tianxiang and Hong Chengchou is the most intuitive.

"Zhang Zihou! Zihou, wait."

The roll call at Donghua Gate ended. Zhao Fang did not pay attention to the cross-horse parade, but stopped Zhang Dun.

Hearing someone calling, Zhang Dun looked back and was surprised. He immediately came over and saluted, saying: "Greetings to His Highness the Crown Prince! Why is His Highness calling me?"

Zhao Fang showed a smile and said: "Zihou is not happy. Your nephew is the top scorer in high school, but you are in the second place. But I don't think there is any need to compete here. A true good minister still depends on his political performance."

Zhang Dun was stunned when he heard this, and secretly wondered why his thoughts were noticed so quickly. Could this prince be a monster?

Zhao Fang would not tell him that he knew from the history books that the stubborn famous official in front of him gave up his official position because his exam ranking was not as good as his nephew.

He chose to retake the exam in the next subject before entering the officialdom.

This is not something ordinary people can do. There will be people in later generations who give up their college entrance examination results and retake the exam, but can that be the same thing?

No matter how good you are in the college entrance examination, you are just a commoner. If you pass the imperial examination, you will be an official. China has been taking the imperial examination for more than 1000 years. It seems that this is the only one who has passed the exam and then retake it after giving up.

Moreover, he is so powerful that when he finally becomes prime minister, he is certainly qualified to be proud.

"Your Highness this..."

Zhang Dun didn't know how to answer now. He said he wouldn't take the exam and was unwilling to do so. But if he said he would retake the exam, wouldn't he be disrespecting the prince?

Zhao Fang was not trying to coerce him again. It would be unreasonable for him to persuade him nicely but not give him face. After all, there are differences between monarch and minister. As a scholar-bureaucrat, he still had to talk about these things.

Seeing his hesitation, Zhao Fang reached out to hold his hand and said, "I know Zhang Qing is a great talent. I hope you can become an official soon. The people in this world are suffering and need good officials who can do practical things so that they can live a better life."

　The No. 3 winner in the imperial examination was determined only during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. Before that, the No. 3 candidates were both called No. [-], so their eyes naturally matched, otherwise they would have become one-eyed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)