Song Gexing

Chapter 250 Wen Zhi Wu Gong
Since Zhao Fang had once conferred the title of Prince of Xiping County on Zuosiluo, he simply granted the title to the four major princes: the Qian family of Dong'an County, the Chai family of Nanning County, and the Cao family of Beijing County.

Among them, only the Cao family is the founding hero of the Song Dynasty. In addition to Cao Bin and his son being good generals of the Song Dynasty, the existence of the Queen Mother Cao is also a factor.

That was Zhao Fang's aunt, and the ministers couldn't comment. On the contrary, it was Zhao Fang's mother's Yu family, and her eldest uncle Yu Zuo was granted the title of Ning Guogong.

Queen Meng Xin's father was granted the title of Duke of Rongguo. No one knew how Zhao Fang came up with the title "Four Kings and Eight Dukes".

The Yang family in Bozhou was the Duke of Zhen, the Chen family of Fujian was the Duke of Li, the descendants of Li Yu in the Southern Tang Dynasty were granted the title of Duke of Shan, the descendants of Pan Mei were the Duke of Zhi, and Gao Taotao's father was the Duke of Qi.

The last Duke Xiu was Di Qing. There was constant controversy among the ministers about this. They believed that Di Qing's contribution was not great and he was not the founding general of the country.

Originally, it was quite controversial for the Pan family to grant the title of Duke. After all, Pan Mei was not one of the most famous people during the Zhao Kuangyin era. However, after Cao Bin was granted the title of king, Pan Mei, who had always been ranked alongside Cao Bin, was let go and there was no longer any controversy.

Cao Pan and Cao Pan were considered juniors among the founding generals, and Li Jilong ranked first among the founding generals. Murong Yanzhao, Wang Shenqi, and Gao Huaide behind them were actually ranked higher than Shi Shouxin.

Cao Pan's official position was far inferior to that of Shi Shouxin, but they both shined in the unification war that followed the founding of the People's Republic of China, and they were as famous as the generals who founded the People's Republic of China.

There are also reasons why those generals are gradually being marginalized. After all, Zhao Kuangyin is afraid of them, and they have fewer opportunities to lead troops in battle.

Cao Bin and Pan Mei just filled this vacancy and always served as the head coach. Otherwise, it would really not be their turn to make the decision. After all, those people were the military governors of one side in the later Zhou Dynasty.

Zhao Fang insisted that Di Qing was worthy of becoming a duke, and he was the commander-in-chief of the battle to destroy Xia. This was the biggest victory since the founding of the Song Dynasty. Even if it was to boost morale, Di Qing could not be treated badly.

In the end, he persuaded the ministers that the remaining descendants of the founding generals should be given titles after marquis based on their merit. Although it was somewhat inappropriate, these people could accept it.

First of all, it has been a hundred years since the founding of the country, and all the ancestors are dead. This is equivalent to the emperor's favor to their descendants. If they are dissatisfied, it means that the people are weak.

The descendants of eight people, namely Li Jilong, Wang Shenqi, Murong Yanzhao, Gao Huaide, Shi Shouxin, Han Lingkun, Li Jixun and Han Chongyun, were granted the title of marquis.

Yang Jiye's meritorious service and official position were far inferior to them, but Yang Wenguang, as the deputy commander-in-chief of Xia Dynasty, was awarded the title of Marquis due to his meritorious service and the merits of his ancestors. No one objected to this.

Although the Yang family in Linzhou became civil servants, Yang Tian's military achievements were indispensable, so he was awarded the title of Marquis of Wuxun.

The title of marquis given by Zheji's ancestor was considered as a welcome return. Although Wang Deyong and Cao Yong died, their meritorious service cannot be forgotten, so their descendants were given the title of marquis.

After the award of the Twelve Marquis of Martial Arts, the consideration of the meritorious officials in the founding of the country and subsequent wars greatly encouraged the army.

The remaining descendants of the founding military heroes were granted the title of earl, and subsequent military heroes who fought against the Liao Kingdom were granted the title of viscount and baron according to their merits.

The Zhong family was the big winner. Among them, Zhong Shidao's eldest son Zhong Hu was made an earl, Zhong E was made a viscount, and Zhong Yi was made a baron. It was a grand occasion for the three brothers to be knighted on the same day.

Yao Si was made an earl, and Yao Lin was made a viscount. The two Yao brothers were awarded the title after them, and everyone was very happy. Two other people in the Zhe family were also granted the title of viscount.

This is Zhao Fang's affirmation of the Western Army, and it is also a reward for the generals of the Western Army. Liu Jisun was not ennobled, but his elder brother Liu Yisun was conferred the title of Viscount, and he did not treat the Liu family badly.

After all, Liu Ping was captured in the first place, which was a stain in the eyes of the Song people and diluted many of his previous achievements.

The next civil servants' titles are simple. They cannot be inherited anyway. The previous ones have all passed away and will be rewarded after their death. There is no need to add another one.Mainly for the existing civil servants, Han Qi and Fu Bi were originally granted the title of duke, but they submitted a letter to refuse, stating bluntly that the title of duke should be reserved for civil servants until they became officials, so as to avoid excessive financial consumption.

Zhao Fang then convened all ministers to discuss, and finally reached an agreement. This time, the title of civil servants would be conferred starting from marquis. After all, although the title was not inherited, the salary of the person who was given the title would still be paid while he was alive.

The Duke's salary is much higher than that of a Marquis. It does not take too long to grant titles to officials who have reached official positions. After all, not many people live long lives.

Therefore, the five ministers of the cabinet and the three ministers of the Privy Council were granted the title of marquis. Among them, Yu Zuo did not need to be granted the title of marquis because he had already been granted the title of military minister.

The biggest highlight of this knighthood is that those with the title of Wujun can participate in the imperial examination and serve as civil servants as liberal arts scholars without giving up their status as martial arts.

This is because the title is not an official position, and Wu Xun must take the imperial examination if he wants to hold a real position. Therefore, the imperial court strictly improved the martial arts examination.

Martial arts is also tested every three years. Zhao Fang has perfected the triple examination of scholar, candidate and Jinshi, which changed the Song Dynasty. Juren is only a matter of qualifications, not a matter of status.

Because of the change to the provincial system, the imperial examination will naturally change accordingly. In order to take care of northern students, Zhao Fang also started to separate the northern and southern examination papers, which solved the problem of northern students failing to pass the liberal arts examination of southerners.

The acuteness of this problem in the Ming Dynasty led Zhu Yuanzhang to issue an order to kill people and forcibly change the northern and southern imperial examinations, which was criticized a lot.

Obviously the examiner did not cheat, but because of the trouble caused by the northern students, he was killed to quell the incident, which killed the examiner wrongly.

In the Song Dynasty, there were also cases in which northerners failed the southerners in the examination. In the Song Dynasty, Jiangxi and Fujian were the most successful in the literary examination. The two provinces divided almost two-thirds of the Jinshi quota.

At this time, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions had not yet emerged. Although the economy was more developed than Fujian, their education was really not as good as that of Fujian people.

Now another Fujian prodigy has appeared. It is Cai Que's son, Cai Jing, who will be famous in later generations. He is now studying in Cai Que's house and has become famous in Bianjing.

Don't think that Cai Jing is uneducated because he is a traitorous minister. Cai Jing's knowledge is among the top among his contemporaries.

Cai Jing, a 23-year-old Jinshi, went to the Liao Kingdom without being humble or overbearing, and returned home after successfully completing his mission. His greed and shamelessness are true, but his political achievements are also true.

Created the most complete relief system in Chinese history is Cai Jing, the three systems of nursing home, Anjifang and Louzeyuan, so that poor people can have a care for the elderly, but few have education, and the widows and widows are borne by the government.

This system is not only unprecedented, even the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties could not achieve it, but he did it.

Another issue is education. There were three educational movements in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Cai Jing’s was the most successful and most effective.

The three-level education of county school, state school and Taixue was perfected into a system in his hands. Moreover, this guy not only promoted Confucianism, but also established vocational schools such as medicine, arithmetic, calligraphy, and painting.

Moreover, he also abolished the imperial examination and replaced it with selecting scholars from schools. Students did not need to take the imperial examinations at all levels, as long as they got good results in their own schools.

This is simply the university education of later generations, but with his resignation, this education system was abolished and the imperial examination was restored.

(End of this chapter)