Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 106 Everything is for the sake of the country’s eternal strength

"It is absolutely forbidden to select talents based on the Four Books and Five Classics!"

Yang Xian's decisive voice echoed in the government office.

Zhu Biao looked at Yang Xian with a puzzled look on his face and said, "Does Yang Qing think there is something wrong with the Four Books and Five Classics?"

Yang Xian shook his head and replied: "The Four Books and Five Classics, as Confucian classics, there is no big problem in itself. Even some of the principles of life and work taught in them are very good in my opinion."

Having said this, Yang Xian paused, and then said: "But he is not suitable as a topic for the imperial examination."

After listening to Yang Xian's words, Zhu Biao became even more confused.

"How to say?"

Yang Xian did not show off, but directly gave his understanding and said: "As His Highness said before, the imperial examination is used to select talents for the country. In other words, these selected people are all future officials of the Ming Dynasty."

"Take the county magistrate as an example. The abilities he needs to possess are how to develop the economy and people's livelihood of a county, how to manage the people, how to maintain public security, etc. It can be as small as building rivers, building roads, planting crops, or as big as Business development. And how to deal with disaster years like this year when they come."

"What the imperial court really needs is this kind of pragmatic and capable talent, not those scholars who only want to study the Four Books and Five Classics. Some scholars can't even distinguish between five grains. They are good at talking about great principles and can pick up various Confucian classics at their fingertips. But this What’s the benefit to the country?”

"We want people who can solve specific problems and do things for the people."

"Your Highness, empty talk will harm the country, but hard work will make it prosperous!"

There is also a limited number of words in the Four Books and Five Classics, but the number of exams is unlimited.

This is also doomed that the imperial examination, which uses the Four Books and Five Classics as its assessment content, will eventually become more distorted.In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the so-called cut-and-take question emerged.

The so-called interception questions are a special way of setting questions in the eight-legged essay in the imperial examination.

Examples of questions for eight-legged essays in the Ming and Qing dynasties were found in the "Four Books". One sentence, several sentences, a section, or a whole chapter was used as the title. Later, in order to avoid repetition, the text and sentences of the scriptures were separated and truncated as the test questions.

Ming Qiujun's "Supplement to the Meanings of the University": "In recent years, the questions in the first session are often forced to read sentences, break the meaning of the scriptures, connect them where they should not, and break when they should not. The small test on Xue Xianchen is particularly trivial."

Therefore, this method of selecting scholars not only stifles other academics, but also destroys Confucianism and classics.It is equivalent to deposing hundreds of schools of thought in Confucianism. This examination method is a kind of destruction to real Confucianism, and it will never produce new knowledge.

Confucianism cannot be completely rejected.

But let’s use this analogy.

There was a person who got first place in his class in the first-grade elementary school examination. As a result, he insisted on studying in the first grade. No one could persuade him to do so.

And the most terrible thing is the magically modified version.

In the original time and space, the Ming Dynasty had fixed that the imperial examination questions could only come from the Four Books and Five Classics, which were revised by Zhu Xi.

The Qing Dynasty stipulated that even the answers to questions could only be answered from the Four Books and Five Classics, which was also the version revised by Zhu Xi.

This kind of imperial examination can select any useful talents, that's really a fool's errand.

What's more, Fan Jin's success in the imperial examination is not an isolated case among scholars who were driven crazy by the imperial examination system.

The more Zhu Biao listened, the more frightened he became, because Yang Xian in front of him was not only criticizing the imperial examination system based on the Four Books and Five Classics, but also had a faint tendency to attack Confucianism that had existed for thousands of years.

But he had to admit that what Yang Xian said made sense.

Zhu Biao only has one thought in his mind now, that is, if the Ming Dynasty imperial examination really uses the Four Books and Five Classics to select scholars, then,
The Ming Dynasty is going to die!

Zhu Biao understood the seriousness of this matter, which was directly related to the fate of the Ming Dynasty. He did not dare to delay. It was now meal time, but he didn't even bother to eat, and was ready to rush back to the capital.

On the way, Zhu Biao prayed secretly in his heart that his father must not make a decision so early.

Looking at Zhu Biao's leaving figure, Yang Xian's eyes flickered.He knew in his heart that even Zhu Biao might not be able to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang on this matter.

After returning to Beijing.

Zhu Biao went straight to his destination.

"Father, I think it is absolutely impossible to recruit scholars based on the Four Books and Five Classics!"

Then Zhu Biao told Zhu Yuanzhang exactly what Yang Xian had said to him when he was in Yangzhou.

After listening to Zhu Biao's words, Zhu Yuanzhang fell silent.

To be honest, he didn't see this aspect of the imperial examination.

Hence the silence.

When Zhu Biao saw his father like this, he thought Zhu Yuanzhang had listened to his words.

Not so.

After Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it carefully, he found that these shortcomings were not completely unacceptable.

Imperial Examination!

Eight-legged essay to win scholars!

In his view, the primary function of the imperial examination is to cage people with ideals, allowing all the smart people in the world to enter the cage of the imperial examination, rather than to allow everyone to make the best use of their talents.

What he wants is the eternal stability of the country.

In the face of Jiangshan Yonggu, it does not matter whether a county develops or not, and whether a county official is really capable of leading the people of the county to become rich and well-off.

A flowing official is a smooth man, and a subordinate official is a tough man.

It doesn't matter if the county magistrate has no talent, as long as the subordinate officials are still there, it won't be too bad.

This can be seen from the craftsman household system formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang.

To put it bluntly, the craftsman household system actually fixes the occupation. For example, if you are a ceramics firing worker, then your whole family is destined to be too. Whether it is your children, grandchildren, or even the descendants of future generations, all of them will be ceramics. Workers have not changed; if a family has been practicing medicine for generations, then all future generations will also be doctors.

What Zhu Yuanzhang wants is that all people in the world should perform their duties and occupy their positions.

The purpose of doing this is the same as the imperial examination, just for those four words.

The country will last forever!

If Yang Xian knew what Lao Zhu was thinking at this moment, he would laugh.

How can there be an unchanging world in this world where one can always enjoy Hao's destiny?

He wanted to ask Lao Zhu, which dynasty have you seen that had hundreds of generations of kings? The longest feudal dynasty, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, only had 25 generations.

"Boss, I have decided on this matter." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao and said solemnly. "This is also the opinion of your teacher, Grand Scholar Song Lian, and all the civil servants."

"Father, the disadvantages of this matter are too great." Zhu Biao was still thinking about making the final struggle.

Zhu Yuanzhang just looked at him, and then said angrily: "I know that most of your words came from Yang Xian's mouth. This boy is getting more and more courageous now. He really dares to say anything. It's all in vain." To guess the emperor’s mind.”

"Father, Yang Qing is also thinking about the Ming Dynasty. He has absolutely no other intentions." Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to vent his anger on Yang Xian, Zhu Biao said quickly.

(End of this chapter)