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Chapter 612 County Martial Arts Test

Luoyang Palace, after the early retreat.

Li Chongjiu left Zhou Xu, Su Wei and others to talk in Qianyang Palace.

Li Chongjiu looked at Zhou Xu and asked, "Have all the books and classics in Luoyang Xiuwen Hall been sorted out?"

Zhou Xu replied: "Your Majesty, everything has been sorted out. The books of the Xiuwen Palace came from the Jiaze Palace in Chang'an. There were 37 volumes of books in those years. Among them, there are more than [-] volumes of repetitive and obscene books, all of which are now stored in the Xiuwen Palace in the Eastern Capital."

"When our army broke through Luoyang, Ji Shilang ordered the soldiers to take good care of the Xiuwen Palace and order that no one should be harmed."
Li Chongjiu said happily: "Ji Chuan has done a good thing. These books are the painstaking efforts of predecessors. Back then, Qin Shihuang made a big mistake by destroying books and cheating Confucianism. I will not learn from him. Fooling the people is only a temporary act, but benefiting the people is eternal. Got it."

Zhou Xu cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty inherits the ancient teachings and respects Confucianism and Taoism. This is what Mingjun did."

Li Chongjiu said with a smile: "Of course that's what I mean. Books can be read by the world, not exclusive to the royal family. I want you to find more books from the people and make two copies of these more than [-] volumes of books. One A copy was sent to the Imperial College in Youjing, and a copy was decided to set up an academy in Luoyang, so that educated children from all over the world can come to study."

Zhou Xu showed an overjoyed expression and said, "This is a grand event, Your Majesty."

Li Chongjiu looked at Su Wei and said, "Su Aiqing, what do you think?"

Su Wei said: "I also think this matter is good."

Li Chongjiu said: "Su Aiqing, I want you to be in charge of proofreading, and I invite you to be the head of Luoyang Academy, what do you think?"

Su Wei couldn't help being surprised when he heard this, but after thinking about it, the act of correcting the book is an act that will last forever. For an old man who is dying, what is more important than his posthumous reputation.As for being the head of an academy, isn't it true that many scholars in the world will be his students in the future? This is not only a great honor, but also a great benefit to the Su family network.

Su Wei said: "The old minister is too old to be worthy of this job, but His Majesty values ​​it. He does not entrust him with a heavy responsibility because he is old. The veteran must do his best to repay His Majesty's long grace."
Li Chongjiu said happily after hearing this: "I knew Su Aiqing would definitely agree."

Li Chongjiu thought about it and said: "I bestow Luoyang Academy as the Royal Academy, and Su Wei will be the chief mountain chief. Zhou Xu, you can assist in this matter, and invite famous scholars from all over the world to come to the academy to teach. The first batch of scholars from Luoyang Academy, Let's limit it to 1000 people. Scholars who have studied in Luoyang Academy for two years can be exempted from the county examination, and can directly enter the place of origin to take the county examination. If they are particularly outstanding, they can be directly recommended to me."
Zhou Xu and Su Wei said yes at the same time.

Luoyang has a lot of gentry heroes and children from Wuling. Li Chongjiu let the gentry study in Luoyang Academy, which is also for the purpose of winning people's hearts.

Li Chongjiu asked Zhou Xu: "How is the county scholarship going this fall?"

Zhou Xu said, "The regulations for the county school examination have already been drawn up. One volume is for the Four Books and Five Classics, the second volume is for astronomy, geography, arithmetic, and agricultural knowledge, and the third volume is for policy theory. The county school scholars have long been accustomed to it. The national examination two years ago This method of three volumes is also used to select materials for the country, and scholars and common people still praise it."

After hearing this, Li Chongjiu asked: "At the beginning, Ji Aiqing once told me that it took ten years to recruit talents and run county schools and county schools. Now it has been almost ten years, and county schools and county schools have been effective. It really makes me happy." Congratulations. This is all because of Zhou Aiqing's meritorious service in teaching you."

After hearing this, Zhou Xu hurriedly said: "I don't dare to take the credit. This is a matter of your majesty's emphasis on education, and it is regarded as a national policy. Since the rhymes and punctuation mentioned by your majesty have become popular among the people, many children from poor families like ministers have There is an opportunity to study and enter a higher education. Therefore, in recent years, the talents cultivated by the county school, the county school and the Guozijian are innumerable."

Li Chongjiu sighed and said: "Ten years of gathering together, ten years of education, and eventually destroying Wu, and today's talented people from poor families all agree that it is not easy for me to use the county test as a criterion for selecting talents."

Zhou Zhou also thought about the hard work of cultivating talents in the past ten years, and he was very moved. Now his two most proud disciples, Zhao Xin and Zhou Zhou, are both officials and sheriffs. This makes him very unhappy.

Li Chongjiu said: "Talents in the world are like crucian carp crossing the river. There are so many talented and learned scholars, but my Dazhao has limited official positions. It may not be easy to recruit all the scholars."

Zhou Xu said: "The imperial examination is a grand ceremony for the country to judge talents and select scholars. It selects the elite among talents to assist His Majesty and help the country. If everyone can be an official, why is there a need for an imperial examination?"

Li Chongjiu said: "Zhou Aiqing's words are too biased. People don't fight for the length of a day, not to mention that one exam can determine a person's life. Those who don't get the first place don't mean they are not talents. Although the imperial examination is a standard, but There are still gaps, do you know how many people usually get the first place in the county test, county test and national test?"
Hearing what Li Chongjiu said, Zhou Xu thought for a while and said, "Da Zhao now has dozens of counties and hundreds of counties, and the education and folk customs of each county are also different. For a big county like Ji County, every county exam, No matter whether it is the first time to participate in the county examination, or it has been repeated for many years, there are as many as five or six hundred people in total. However, there are only 50 people who can learn from Jin County in Jixian County, and only 20 people can go to the local government to serve as officials. People, if you add up to ten, it is only two or three."

"If it is the county examination, it will be even more difficult. The heroes of several counties will be tested together. Only 30 people from one county can enter the Imperial College, and only a dozen people can enter the county as officials, and only one or two of ten will be selected. In the final national examination, then twenty The elites of Yu County will take the test, but there will be less than one out of ten."

Hearing what Zhou Xu said, Li Chongjiu thought that this is the case now, so the imperial examinations in later generations will be more difficult. Needless to say, the examples of Fan Jin and others are more stringent than the current college entrance examination and the imperial examinations in the past.

Li Chongjiu immediately said: "The imperial examination is tiring. Although it is a good way to get a scholar, how many people expect to be ranked first. From then on, there are differences between fish and dragons. In the end, there are still those who are not ranked. They will spend their lives in vain."

Su Wei said from the side: "Your Majesty is giving those humble scholars a chance. If they used to select scholars based on their family status, those people would not even be qualified to be officials. I can have the opportunity to be an official in the county."

Li Chongjiu said: "Su Aiqing, this is not enough. Compared with the talents in the world, I still need to open up more ways."

Zhou Xu asked immediately: "Could it be that Your Majesty has made a plan?"

Li Chongjiu nodded and said: "That's right, I have thought about it for a long time. If I want to change the way of imperial examinations, I will only take the humbleness of civil servants, and I can also use it to select military positions."

Zhou Xu was surprised when he heard this and asked, "How does His Majesty select military positions?"

Li Chongjiu thought for a while and said: "I will take the county test as a first step, and among the scholars who failed the county test, I will conduct another test. This is a military test to select military positions for the country."

"Martial arts test? Selection of military positions?" Li Chongjiu's words shocked Su Wei and Zhou Xu. What kind of martial arts test does Li Chongjiu want these unqualified scholars to take?
Li Chongjiu said: "The selection of scholars in the county test is the way to select civil servants. They test the Four Books and Five Classics, astronomy, geography, arithmetic and agricultural knowledge, and three volumes of policy questions, right? In the military test, I conduct riding, shooting, writing, and military strategy. , policy question five tests."

Zhou Xu and Su Wei were taken aback when they heard this.Zhou Xu was the first to raise an objection: "Your Majesty, the scholars who participated in the county examination are so obsessed with reading, they don't know how to ride and shoot at all."

Li Chongjiu said: "I don't want them to be ignorant of anything except reading. A sage has six arts, including etiquette, music, archery, imperialism, book, and number. There is no need to mention archery. The Book of Rites says that archery is a man's business." , As for imperial, now is not the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, scholars do not need to drive chariots to fight, so the imperial arts can be changed to riding, riding, and archery are no problem, and the book is only a test of their speech and grammar, so it will not be sad. As for military strategies, It's just a simple march and formation, and the military strategy is correct, as for the strategy..."

Su Wei asked: "Your Majesty, what do you think is the difference between the policy questions in the military test and the policy questions in the literary test?"

Li Chongjiu said: "The policy questions of the literary examination test the way of studying the Jingwei country, while the policy questions of the military examination should focus on major military affairs such as defeating Li Tang and destroying Goguryeo."

After hearing this, Su Wei said happily: "Your Majesty's majesty's talent and strategy make the old minister really admire you."

Zhou Xu was obviously not that easy to be persuaded. As the highest official of the Imperial College, which is equivalent to the current Zhao Guo's grandson, he obviously thought more carefully.

Zhou Xu asked: "Your Majesty, those who pass the county examination, the first-rate ones can enter the Imperial Academy, and the second-rate ones can enter the county government as officials. What about the martial arts examination?"

Li Chongjiu said: "First-class people can join the government soldiers, and they will be awarded to Sima, Sicang to join the army, Si Bing to join the army, March to join the army, infantry captain, and Yueqi captain. , General Zuo, the document will be appointed."

Zhou Xu nodded after listening. Although he had no objection, he seemed puzzled in his heart.

Li Chongjiu said: "Zhou Jijiu, you and I have been monarchs and ministers for many years, and we have something to say."

Zhou Xudao: "Although your majesty's proposal is correct, I don't understand why the scholars who are good at reading are not allowed to be civil officials, and the scholars who are good at martial arts are not allowed to be generals, but in the end let these scholars who are not good at literature and military are not soldiers. How about going to join the army?"

Hearing what Zhou Xu said, Li Chongjiu couldn't help thinking that this is also a disease that has plagued future generations of China for thousands of years.

In the Song and Ming dynasties, in order to learn from the disadvantages of the separatist rule by military generals and civil war among warlords in the late Sui and Tang Dynasties, the rule of using civil and military methods to control military affairs began.Unlike the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was not a problem for the children of aristocratic families to move from military generals to civil servants, or from civil servants to military generals.So in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Yang Su was born, Xu Shiji was able to pacify the world with martial arts, and the literary and capable officials were in the generation of Zaifu.

In the Song and Ming Dynasties, most of the time, the literature did not know martial arts, and the martial arts did not know literature. Scholars despised military generals Qiu Ba, and military generals were complacent because they did not know big characters.In this way, although the internal politics is stable, but externally, there is no such thing as the pioneering momentum of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Treating the military as a humble job is not a disadvantage for any country that wants to forge ahead.What Li Chongjiu wants to do is to let scholars in the world not only have civilian careers, but also have military careers to choose from.Students who want to participate in the county martial arts test must be scholars who have graduated from the county school.Let these scholars who are capable of writing and martial arts join the army to strengthen Li Chongjiu's current military strength.

(End of this chapter)