A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 936: Southern School of Confucianism Han Maisheng, Examination for Bachelor of Science, Government-Supervised and Privately-Managed

Tian Weiyi was also a master of Neo-Confucianism, and he learned from Han Yu, the great leader of Southern Neo-Confucianism.

At first, Han Yu and Bai Juyi dominated the Bianliang Academy, and their children competed with each other in the academy.

Although they are all from the Southern School and are marked with regional characteristics, there are slight differences between them.

The influence of Bai Juyi's lineage was mainly in the military, while their lineage's influence was mainly in government offices and among the powerful.

After Han Yu passed away, their lineage began to decline in the Bianliang Academy, and Bai Juyi's lineage began to gain the upper hand.

Afterwards, Bai Juyi's chief disciple Du Xingguo first became the president of the academy, and then took up the post of military commander of the Xuanwu Army, and his power greatly increased.

However, Tian Weiyi's teacher Chen Xiaowen is indeed a little bit inferior to Du Xingguo in terms of academic achievements.

Therefore, Chen Xiaowen taught in the academy all his life, and only in his later years was he awarded the title of one of the Ten Sages of the academy.

But in the third generation, Tian Weiyi emerged, his knowledge was no less than his teacher, and even better than Bai Banghan.

It’s just that Bai Banghan has the protection of Bai Juyi’s grandson, and the Bai vein accounts for a large proportion in the academy.

As the Han clan was in decline, he ultimately lost the fight and missed the opportunity to become the president of the Bianliang Academy.

In addition, Bai Banghan had considerable experience in military affairs, and the post of commander of the Xuanwu Army fell to him without any suspense.

Tian Weiyi was in a state of depression at the time and did not leave the academy for three years.

Fortunately, one day when he was fishing, he didn't catch a single fish all day. Tian Weiyi was enlightened, so he broke his fishing rod, threw it on the ground, and vowed:
"How can a real man grow old alone by the pond or die in battle? Yes, it is brave."

He then used his connections to get himself a position as chief clerk in the Mansion of the Duke of Song.

Then, relying on his talent in governing the country, he became Bai Yi's secretary and councilor within a year. A few months later, he was promoted to the position of prime minister and became Bai Yi's right-hand man.

"Mingsir, the number of talents depends on how much the country invests and how many academies there are."

"Ordinary people can join the army and fight for military service as sergeants, and use this as a means of achieving wealth and glory. Those with greater ambitions can defend their country and expand their territory."

"The same is true for students. However, nowadays, ordinary people can join the army and practice martial arts, but few people want to become officials and study. Why? Because they are short of money."

"If students can learn to read and write like soldiers, and then be promoted to officials and return home in glory, those with great ambitions can also educate their people and enrich the country and strengthen the people."

"So the students and soldiers are the same, both come from poor backgrounds."

"But students are different from soldiers. Reading and writing are not something that ordinary families can afford. Therefore, ordinary people let their children practice martial arts and rarely learn to read."

“Thus, there is a saying that the army is mostly full of brave warriors, while the government offices are mostly full of aristocratic families.”

"If you want more talents, you must reduce the cost of education for the people and be more generous to students so that they can persevere and become pillars of the country as soon as possible."

After hearing what Tian Weiyi said, Bai Yi did not answer for a long time.

He heard that Tian Weiyi wanted to fight for the interests of the students. He wanted the students to enjoy the same privileges as the soldiers, such as tax exemption and land grant.

Seeing that Bai Yi still didn't speak, Tian Weiyi continued:

"Now you have a hundred thousand soldiers, so you can control the whole world, and no villain dares to confront you."

"But even if this is the case, there is still the danger of Xuzhou."

"But if you had 100,000 students, encouraged them to learn farming and sericulture, collected taxes, and transported grain and grass, how could there be the problems in Xuzhou?"

Seeing that Bai Yi was somewhat moved, Tian Weiyi knew that it was just the last step, so he changed the direction and said:
"I heard that the Bai family has a history of thousands of years, with a continuous legacy and tens of thousands of talented people. Their achievements are in teaching in the academy. Why are they so harsh on the common people and put the power in the hands of the clan's powerful families?"

"Does the Secretary have any specific rules?"

Hearing Bai Yi's question, Tian Weiyi was delighted and immediately presented the plan he had prepared long ago, titled "Regulations for the Examination of Bachelor of Literature".

Bianliang Academy was made the highest institution of learning in Xuanwu Town. Then, following the example of Northern Xia, official schools were established, private schools were promoted, and teaching was conducted.

Use official schools to guide, suppress private schools, promote Neo-Confucianism, and suppress Confucian classics.

It is proposed to establish a provincial school in each state, with one principal, three instructors, and several assistant teachers.
Each county shall have a county school, with one instructor, two instructors, and several assistant teachers.
The prefecture and county schools were the highest institutions of learning in the prefecture, and there was only one school. The school was managed by the principal and the instructor. With the help of other academic officials such as the instructor and the assistant teacher, they were in charge of the sacrifices in the Confucian temple of the prefecture and county and the education of the students.

As for the number of students, they were admitted according to the population ratio of the prefecture and county. All students admitted to the college enjoyed the privilege of exemption from corvée and tax.

Similar to the Weibao system implemented by the Bai family before, the people who became soldiers were classified as military households by the government, and a considerable amount of land was allocated to their families, requiring them to pay the lowest level of taxes.

As long as there are still people in his family serving in the army, they can continue to enjoy this privilege, until there are no more people in the army. The government will take back most of the land, leaving them with only pension land and perpetual land.

The bachelor defined by Tian Weiyi was like a soldier. As long as he became a student of the provincial or county school, he could enjoy the lowest level of privileges and be exempted from taxes and corvee labor for his family.

Change your household registration to student registration and become a professional bachelor.

The provincial and county schools would hold school examinations every year for all students. Those who passed the examinations would continue to study in the provincial and county schools, and their student status would remain unchanged.

On the contrary, those who failed the exam would be expelled from the school, stripped of their student status, and become commoners again.

Those who perform particularly well in this exam will be allowed to study in the Bianliang Academy and obtain the status of science students.

In addition, the government would send examiners to various prefectures and counties at irregular intervals each year to hold civil service examinations and recruit clerks to serve as government clerks.

Those who passed the exam could obtain the lowest-level status of clerk and enter the government with a salary, but their household registration was still that of a student, not an official status.

These people can either continue to wait for the official selection examination, or they can be promoted to officials through the promotion channels in the government, get rid of their student status, and obtain official status.

Students who pass the civil service examination can be appointed by the government, become officials, and obtain official status.

As for science students, if they pass the official selection examination, they can not only enter the government to work.

Moreover, their starting point is much higher than that of students from prefectures and counties, and the best ones can be appointed as magistrate of any county.

Looking at the various benefits listed by Tian Weiyi, Bai Yi nodded and then shook his head.

"Mingsir, is there something wrong?"

"Most of it is good, except for this tax exemption and labor service exemption."

Tian Weiyi said frankly: "My lord, only by exempting students from corvée and taxes can they study in the academy with peace of mind. This is the most important thing."

"It's not that this policy is bad, but it has no time limit. If the students get official status and already have a salary, they don't have to do corvée, but they still have to pay the taxes."

"Students should be students, officials should be officials. Once you are an official, everything should be in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Personnel."

"Besides, the salaries of officials today are generous enough to support their families."

"In addition, we should also consider what to do if these students stay in state and county schools and do not make progress."

"So we have to give them a time limit. If they fail to pass the exam and become officials within five years, they will be expelled from the school and have to find their own way out."

"The government does not support idle people."

Bai Yi pointed out the drawbacks of this without mercy.

He knew clearly that if a student obtained official status and shed his civilian status, he would receive a salary while enjoying the privilege of tax exemption.

It was fine at the beginning when the number of people was small, but if the population increased, the government would not be able to collect taxes.

Even if the government understood the reason and wanted to collect taxes, the interest groups formed by this would never agree.

Without money, the government cannot fight wars, lose land, and cannot defend the country. So why support so many scholars?

Tian Weiyi thought about it and felt that Bai Yi’s thinking was very profound, so he agreed with his proposal.

"Also, your book says that students who enter the academy need to pay a certain amount of tuition every year. I think this is not good. What will happen to those students from poor families?"

"So I think the tuition can be waived. We just need to control the number of students in each county. It shouldn't be too many or too few."

"And if the number is small, it can effectively stimulate the willingness of local people to become students, and even run private schools, private schools, and even community schools on a large scale."

"This is government-supervised and privately run."

After hearing this, Tian Weiyi's eyes filled with tears. He was moved and admired her: "Your Excellency is righteous and wise."

(End of this chapter)