Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Sir, Mr. Xiao is here."

"Invite him in."

Xiao Wei, the principal of Guizhou Prefectural School, had already taken off his official uniform and came in plain clothes: "Brother Chenggong, I am applying for a scholar position at your place. Do you want to take me in?"

Zhu Ming was surprised and said: "Your Excellency, Professor of State Studies, doesn't work, but you come to my thatched house to be a teacher?"

"There are not many students left, so why not come to Qixing Academy." Xiao Wei smiled wryly at himself.

Xiao Wei was a Jinshi eleven years ago. He was first awarded the title of Gutian County Lieutenant. He arrested dozens of thieves and solved the massacre of his family. He was promoted to Fuqing County Magistrate and had outstanding political achievements.

He was originally going to be promoted to county magistrate, but for no reason he was sent to Guizhou to be the principal.

He didn't even know who he had offended!

During the Yuanfeng period, Guizhou Prefectural School was very small. According to the newly promulgated policy, more than half of the students had to withdraw from the school. The number of teachers will definitely also be reduced, and it is estimated that half of them will have to be recalled to the capital to wait for shortages.

There are only two endings waiting for Xiao Wei. One is to continue to stay in Guizhou and suffer, and the other is to be recalled to the capital to eat free food.

He didn't choose any of them, he resigned directly from his job and came to Qixing Academy to teach. By the way, he discussed Buddhism with the monks at Longyin Temple.

This man is a Buddhist who passed down some deeds to later generations, and they are more or less supernatural events. For example, when he solved the tragedy of annihilating a family, he said that the rescued oriole turned into a human form to repay the favor and show the way, and then he caught a group of vicious thieves.

"Please." Zhu Ming immediately arranged work for Xiao Wei.

Han Chuang studied hard for more than ten years and finally passed the Jinshi. He went around in circles for another eleven years and even worked as a principal in a remote area. Moreover, schools are being downsized, students are dropping out, and teachers are also facing layoffs.

If it were Ju Ming, he would have quit doing it a long time ago!

Song Huizong frantically increased the number of Jinshi admissions, and would grant Jinshi status to more than ten imperial students every year.

In the past twenty years, there have been too many Jinshi.

Judging from the number of official schools that had been abolished and reduced, Ju Ming estimated that at least three to four hundred Jinshi would be recalled to the capital for free meals. They earn a meager basic salary and enjoy the ultra-high prices in Tokyo. I am afraid that most of them cannot stay and can only curse and go back to their hometowns to live a life.

In addition to Xiao Wei, there was also a county school teacher who came to apply.

The county school teacher's name was Huang Jian. He had only a Juren background, and his knowledge was not as good as that of a Tai student. Zhu Ming ordered him to teach children. After teaching, he stopped by to listen to his lectures.

There are only four teachers now, Zhu Ming, Fan Zhiming, Xiao Wei and Huang Jian.

Zhu Ming called them to a meeting and said: "Teaching for two or three days, the students are uneven. I plan to temporarily suspend the class, first take the test to get the basics, and then re-sort the houses. I will copy the three-house method and divide it into the upper house, the inner house, and the outer house. Set up another Elective courses, various miscellaneous subjects, you must choose two or more to study.”

Even if the grades are divided using the three-level method, it will be difficult to teach normally.

The main subjects are miscellaneous subjects such as mathematics. Even some Taipei students have no basic foundation and have to start from relatively simple teaching, which requires taking large elective courses.

Ju Ming used the academy's public funds to buy some writing brushes.

Because there are several students from the county who come from poor families to study, and they actually use chicken feather pens...

"There are rabbits outside the chicken feather pen ridge, but they are very rare. The common people cannot use chicken feathers as rabbit hair pens, but they stagger and don't obey orders." - Fan Chengda's "Guihai Yu Heng Zhi".

In addition to giving away writing brushes, Ju Ming also taught students how to make hard pens such as bamboo pens so that they would not lack writing tools.

After a few days of exams, the classes were reclassified.

Upper house: ten people.

In the inner room: fifteen people.

Under the inner house: fifteen people.

On the outside: thirty people.

Under the outer house: thirty people.

Elementary school (preparatory class): twenty-eight people.

There are also many students who are accompanying them and are willing to study and attend classes. They can choose classes at will.

Many of those Tai students who were expelled were originally foreigners, and their knowledge was similar to that of ordinary students from the state.

The four teachers, all of whom specialize in mathematics, take turns teaching.

The curriculum was really tight, so the students were asked to practice calligraphy, dictation and recitation.

After more than a month, order was in order and the academy was on the right track.

Guangxi Changping sent Lu Wei to take office. This was an official who had not yet settled down and was eager to try.

After he was demoted by Cai Jing to Guangdong for many years and Wang Fu became prime minister, he immediately promoted a group of local officials. Lu Wei was so lucky that he was recommended.

In Lu Wei's heart, Wang Fu was pretty good, at least he knew how to select talented people.

"Did Ju Ming, who is in charge of this place, cause trouble for no reason?" Lu Wei finished the handover procedures and asked about Ju Ming's whereabouts.

Because the person who recommended him was a royal party member, he repeatedly told him to take good care of Ju Ming.

Cai Yi regarded him as a traitor and said angrily: "What can happen to a person who has been removed from the system?"

Lu Wei didn't ask any more questions and just took out a decoction: "I have been an official in Guangdong for many years and asked for a decoction. Decoction it in the morning and evening to prevent miasma. Please take it to the governor."

"Is there such a decoction?" Cai Yi was dubious.

Lu Wei's Qi-nourishing soup recipe was later engraved on the cliff stone of Liu Xianyan for the people of Guizhou to copy and spread. Modern scholars have conducted research and found that it enhances immunity and can be regarded as an early version of Guangdong herbal tea.

After this man moved into the Changping Si Yamen, he spent half a month getting familiar with the situation. He was confused and excluded by other officials, who all thought he was a bastard sent by Wang Fu.

Lu Wei didn't bother to explain, so he took a few followers and went out of the city incognito to check the public situation.

He selected some villages and went back to Fang Tingshi: "County Magistrate Fang, I brought some corn and sweet potato seeds. You can use them to persuade the people to cultivate. The method of planting is slightly different from that in the north. I have explored it in Guangdong and written it all. The article is recorded. There may be differences between Guangxi and Guangdong, and measures must be taken according to local conditions."

"What are corn and sweet potatoes?" Fang Ting asked.

Lu Wei said: "It was Ju Ming and his father who brought them back from overseas. Although Ju Ming disrespected the emperor and slandered the king a lot, he still made some contributions after all. Don't let others ruin things. Don't think that Ju Ming is a villain. Promote the cultivation of the grain brought back by his father and son."

Ruining things because of people?

Fang Tingshi thought it was funny. There was something wrong with Lu Wei's brain.

Lu Wei was promoted by Wang Fu and had been an official in Guangdong for a long time. It is not clear what Wang Fu did. He naturally felt that Wang Fu was a good official, because since Wang Fu became prime minister, he had abolished many of Cai Jing's decrees.

Since Wang Fu was a good official, Ju Ming, who impeached Wang Fu, was probably someone who was just trying to gain fame.

After handing over the corn and sweet potatoes to Fang Tingshi for planting, Lu Wei began to rectify the Changping Division and found that a large number of accounts were inconsistent.

Officials in Changping, Guangxi, have blamed their former officials.

Lu Wei had no choice but to impeach his predecessor, and then re-standardized various procedures to prevent his officials from continuing to commit corruption.

After doing this, he finally remembered that he still had political tasks, and quickly inquired about Ju Ming's whereabouts and went to check.

Lu Wei took a boat across the river and dressed up as an ordinary scholar.

After walking ashore for a while, we saw dozens of thatched huts at the foot of the mountain.

There is an open space in the center of the thatched house, where more than a dozen students are playing Cuju, and a few others are playing in the corners.

Lu Wei suddenly became unhappy. How could he have time to play with these things during class time?

He looked for a student who was resting on the sidelines and asked: "I heard that there are great scholars in Qixing Academy. Why don't you study hard but play here for fun?"

The student replied: "What the mountain chief said is to relax and relax, which is the way of civility and martial arts. Playing for two quarters of an hour every day can make the body and mind happy. There are also labor classes every ten days, led by the teacher, and they will take turns cultivating food."

Lu Wei curled his lips and disagreed.

He then asked which class Ju Ming was in. The student took him there, where Ju Ming was giving a lecture.

After hearing the saying that "nature is Taiji and emotion is yin and yang", Lu Wei couldn't bear it anymore and immediately asked: "In your words, where is the theory of good nature in Mencius?"

Ju Ming smiled: "Your Excellency, please come in and talk."

Lu Wei strode into the classroom and asked: "Can you follow the nature of Qiliu and think of it as a cup of wine? How can you kill the thief of Qiliu and think of it as a cup of wine? If you kill the thief of Qiliu and think of it as a cup of wine, then you will also kill the thief of Qiliu and think of it as a cup of wine." and?"

This is the dialogue between Mencius and Gaozi.

Gaozi said that human nature is like Qiliu, and benevolence and righteousness are like cups and plates. Using human nature to realize benevolence and righteousness is like making cups and plates out of Qiliu.

Mencius retorted, can you follow the willow's nature and make cups and plates, or should you interfere with its nature and make cups and plates? If we interfere with the nature of Qiliu and make cups and plates, does that mean we are interfering with human nature to realize benevolence and righteousness?

Ju Ming asked the students to bring a bench and sit down to slowly debate with Lu Wei.

His theory that there is no good or evil in nature slightly conflicts with Mencius, so he did not write "The Essay on Mencius' Chapters and Sentences" for a long time.

Ju Ming said: "I am not Gaozi. I do not think that human nature is like a willow tree, nor do I think that benevolence and righteousness are like cups. When you repeat Mencius' words, you should go and debate with Gaozi."

Lu Wei said: "What you said is that nature is Taiji and emotions are yin and yang. Human nature is neither good nor evil. It is influenced by the world and has good and evil. Mencius said that the goodness of human nature is like water flowing down. You want to oppose Mencius Huh?"

Ju Ming laughed and said: "You are still using Mencius' words to refute Gaozi to refute me. Did I say that human nature is like water? I am Zhu Chenggong, not Gaozi!"

Lu Wei was a little dumbfounded because Ju Ming's remarks were very similar to Gaozi and were negative teaching materials in "Mencius", so he subconsciously quoted Mencius's original words.

Lu Wei thought about it carefully: "Then do you accept Mencius's words that the goodness of human nature is like water flowing down?"

Ju Ming sneered: "Who is your gentleman? You actually distorted Mencius' remarks."

Lu Wei became even more angry: "How did I distort Mencius' remarks?"

Ju Ming said: "Mencius said that the goodness of human nature is like water flowing down. This is refuting Gaozi, using his spear to attack his shield. "Mencius·Gaozi" refutes the comparison of physical nature with human nature throughout the whole text, but you still use it Water is better than human nature, what's the difference between you and Gaozi?"

Lu Wei said: "Don't be sophistical. The goodness of human nature is like water flowing down. There is no bad person, and there is no water that cannot fall. This is the original text of Mencius!"

Zhu Ming was too lazy to talk anymore and said bluntly: "Mencius is wrong!"

As soon as these words came out, the classroom was in an uproar.

Lu Wei was so shocked that he forgot to speak again.