Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Great court meeting.

Civil and military officials sat in the first few rows, while the officials in the back stood collectively, listening attentively to the emperor's temper.

Zhu Guoxiang said angrily: "Last year, a minister came to the throne and asked me to establish the moral destiny of this dynasty. I have made it very clear that the induction of heaven and man is a fictitious thing."

"Zhao Ji enjoyed the state of Zuo in those days. Every year he was able to sense the influence of heaven and man, and every month there were auspicious signs coming to the world. Didn't the old Song Dynasty perish because of the lack of moral governance? The five stars in the sky a few days ago were a normal astronomical wonder. It has been more than a hundred years. I can see you once.”

"You are all important ministers of the Ming Dynasty. Why do some people still come up to express their auspicious congratulations? Why do they send telepathic messages to me again?"

The ministers bowed their heads and said nothing, feeling uneasy in their hearts.

This time, more than 30 ministers came to congratulate the gods for their auspiciousness. Most of them did not understand astronomy and had never seen it in person. They only heard from others that there was a phenomenon of five stars in a row.

Their original intention is not to flatter, but simply to sing praises out of habit.

What if others sang a hymn but I forgot it, wouldn't it mean that the emperor would write it down in a notebook?

"Shao Bo!" Zhu Guoxiang shouted.

"I'm here."

A minister in his fifties stood up from his seat holding a wat tablet.

He is the grandson of Shao Yong, a scholar in the university. Because his father Shao Bowen was an official in Sichuan, the whole family moved to Guozhou (Nanchong) together.

Ju Ming rebelled and went to Shu. Shao Bowen abandoned the city and fled to Chengdu. More than ten members of his family were captured in Chengdu.

Shao Bowen was already in his seventies at the time. Seeing that the rebels did not massacre in Chengdu, but instead abolished many of the harsh policies of the Song Dynasty, he concluded that the Zhu family and his son were very likely to succeed.

But he still didn't dare to make a random decision. It wasn't until Ju Ming repelled the imperial encirclement and suppression that Shao Bowen sent all three sons and seven grandsons to Hanzhong to seek official positions.

As for Shao Bowen himself, he was already very old and wanted to appear loyal to the Song Dynasty, so he chose to be a village school teacher in Nanchong.

Therefore, the Shao Bo in front of him can barely be called a hero of Conglong.

Shao Bo first served as a county magistrate in Sichuan, and was soon promoted to prefect and magistrate. Then he returned to Hanzhong to work beside Zhu Guoxiang. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, Shao Bo was already the Left Chief Envoy of Sichuan Province. This spring, he was transferred to the central government as the Left Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Another powerful person with deep qualifications!

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Mr. Anle (Shao Yong) is proficient in the Book of Changes, and is familiar with Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, as well as the Book of Prophecy. Since you are the grandson of Mr. Anle, what are your views on the connection between heaven and man and the five elements of virtue?"

Shao Bo replied: "The theory of heaven and man's induction and the five elements of virtue originated from the pre-Qin Dynasty and flourished in the Han Dynasty. In order to tempt people to believe it, it was far-fetched and attached to the Han Emperor. However, the Han Emperor Liu Bang was able to conquer the world because he had nothing to gain. Even Tang and Wu in ancient times were guilty of this unjust act. The historians did not know this, but they said that breaking a snake to hold a talisman is associated with the virtue of fire. This is a big fallacy!"

As soon as Shao Bo opened his mouth, many courtiers looked shocked.

There is no way, Shao Yong had a profound influence on various schools of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty.

Let's put it this way, Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, Fu Bi, Bao Zheng, Wang Anshi, Su Xun, Su Shi, Wen Yanbo, Shen Kuo, Er Cheng, Zhou Dunyi, Yan Shu, Di Qing... they all visited Shao Yong, or they were Some of Shao Yong's good friends even have to perform discipleship ceremonies!

Now Shao Yong's grandson, Shao Bo, says that the influence of heaven and man and the five elements of virtue are nonsense. This kind of incident can basically be characterized.

When Huizong of the Song Dynasty encountered any strange phenomena, he had to send someone to ask Shao Bowen, Shao Yong's son.

Shao Bowen responded tactfully and took the opportunity to persuade Song Huizong to do more good governance. Several times in a row, Song Huizong became unhappy, and traitorous officials took the opportunity to impeach Shao Bowen and demote him to Sichuan.

Zhu Guoxiang praised: "You are a true scholar."

Ju Ming sat upright and said nothing. He didn't like Shao Bo.

Shao Bo is a figure similar to Sima Guang. He has noble personal ethics and superb academic skills. His shortcoming is that he is conservative and has been crazily criticizing Wang Anshi.

The father and son went to Tokyo to create the Ming Dynasty, but left Shao Bo to stay in Sichuan, their base, purely because this man had a high reputation and was stable in his work as an official and in governing the people. As long as Sichuan is handed over to him, there will definitely be no trouble, but various reforms cannot be continued.

Now that he is recalled to the court, the overall situation has been decided and there is no fear of another chaos in Sichuan.

A Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites will probably be able to work until Shao Bo retires. In the future, he will at most be promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and after his death, he will be given the title of cabinet minister.

Zhu Guoxiang glanced at the ministers: "This time I would like to congratulate the five-star ministers. I will not publicly name them. All of them will be fined for one month as punishment!"

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

All the ministers shouted in unison.

Sitting in the front row, Li Bangyan breathed a sigh of relief at this moment, as long as he didn't publicly criticize him.

He just habitually patted the emperor's horses, thinking that even if the emperor didn't like it verbally, he would feel very comfortable when he was praised.

But unexpectedly, the flattery hit the horse's leg.

Qin Hui smiled, thinking that those who praised him were all fools. Last year, in order to refute the Five Elements Theory of Destiny, the emperor even increased the number of cabinet members from five to seven. This is enough to show the emperor's strong attitude.

Zhai Ruwen was muttering at this time that he had already become the Prime Minister and was always thinking of doing something to slowly establish his authority.

This year is the first time that each province has held a county examination since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also the first time that a county examination has been held since the establishment of the imperial examination.

In the past, when there was no county examination, scholars took the state examination directly, and those who passed the examination could go to Beijing to take the Jinshi examination.

Nowadays, the county examination is used to select children, the government examination is to select scholars, and the township examination is to select candidates. The title obtained by each level of examination can be retained for three imperial examinations.

Before passing the examination in the third session, the scholar was demoted to the rank of scholar, and the scholar was demoted to the rank of boy. Unlike before, if he failed to pass the imperial examination, he had to retake the exam. After repeated discussions, the Zhu family and his son decided not to let the scholar be eliminated once and for all. They took the exam for three consecutive years. If you don't make it, you'll have to be downgraded. As for the special preferential treatment for talents, sorry, there is nothing like the Song Dynasty. They can only go to Beijing to take the exam for free by car and boat.

The county examination was about to be held in the fall, and Zhai Ruwen planned to take this opportunity to ask the Ming Dynasty to reopen the children's department, which was the so-called child prodigy examination.

But the incidental meaning of the prodigy test is actually related to the induction of heaven and humans. Can we still mention it now?

Zhai Ruwen was a little unsure, so after the dynasty dispersed, he requested to see the emperor privately.

"What is the process of child care?" Zhu Guoxiang really didn't understand this.

Zhai Ruwen explained in detail: "In the child science department of the former Song Dynasty, local officials recommended prodigies, and then the transfer envoys or the academic envoys conducted assessments. If they passed the assessment, they were sent to the capital for reexamination by the Zhongshu Province. Generally speaking, in the former Song Dynasty, prodigies were recommended by local officials. The emperor will personally examine child prodigies. Prodigies who pass the examinations multiple times will be immediately awarded official salaries and ordered to continue studying seriously. When they are older, they will be assigned to errands."

Zhu Guoxiang nodded and said: "There is no loophole in this approach."

This kind of thing called child prodigy testing first appeared in the recommendation system of the Han Dynasty, and the evaluation standard at that time was morality.

For example, my old Wang family belongs to an aristocratic family. I have a son who is seven or eight years old. This boy looks filial at first sight. A child has such noble moral character, so he must quickly find a friend to help recommend him. My friend happened to be a governor, and when he saw my son, he was immediately amazed and said that he was a child prodigy that is rare to see in a century.

Then my son came into his own. When you are a little older, find a famous person to comment on you, and you can easily become famous all over the world for your moral character.

The recommendation of prodigies developed into the Song Dynasty, and was canceled and restored several times, gradually becoming more mature.

Because the emperor of the Song Dynasty also liked prodigies and often conducted assessments in person.

No one can fool the emperor, otherwise he will be punished. From now on, local officials will not dare to recommend them randomly. Those sent to the capital are basically true prodigies.

The most famous person is Yan Shu.

Seeing that the new prime minister he promoted was very active in resuming the prodigy examination, Zhu Guoxiang decided to give some face: "We can let state and county officials recommend prodigies, and the prodigies from each province will conduct preliminary examinations. Prodigies who pass the preliminary examination will be sent to the capital for re-examination by the emperor himself." .but……"

Zhai Ruwen raised his head and looked at the emperor, wondering how to reform the child science department.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Prodigies who pass the re-examination in person by the emperor cannot be directly awarded official positions. Prodigy classes can be set up in Taixue and famous teachers can be selected to teach them. After these prodigies improve their knowledge, they can participate in the Taixue House Examination or the Etiquette Examination. How? ?”

"Your Majesty, your Majesty is wise." Zhai Ruwen understood it, but he didn't do it to the official immediately.

Zhu Guoxiang added: "If the local academic envoy recommends unqualified prodigies many times, his political performance will be greatly compromised!"

Zhai Ruwen said: "It should be like this to prevent the academics from making up their academic achievements in order to obtain political achievements. May I ask what the age of a child prodigy is?"

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "How old was the Song Dynasty?"

Zhai Ruwen said: "Prodigies in the Han and Tang Dynasties were under ten years old. In the middle Tang Dynasty, it was changed to under twelve years old, and in the former Song Dynasty, it was under fifteen years old."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "He is under thirteen years old. What is a prodigy for when he is fifteen years old? Just let him take the imperial examination."

"Yes!" Zhai Ruwen agreed with his hand.

Zhu Guoxiang was thinking about something else. This year, the country is expected to send the first batch of child prodigies. When the time comes, he will personally conduct the re-examination, and admit those who are slightly smarter, and then throw them into the prodigy class of Taixue, focusing on teaching them mathematics and physics.

A large group of child prodigies who have a solid foundation in Confucianism and all study mathematics and physics seriously.

Hehe, that's interesting.

Ten or twenty years later, batch after batch of child prodigies will undergo the baptism of natural science. Who knows how many evil geniuses will emerge.

The more Zhu Guoxiang thought about it, the more proud he became. He ran to show off to his son: "How about it? Is this idea a success?"

Ju Ming gave a thumbs up: "Your Majesty is so awesome!"

Zhu Guoxiang felt a little unhappy when he heard this and scolded: "You are also a great scholar in this world. Can you use some other adjectives to praise me?"

"Others don't know it, but you don't know it, Dean Zhu? Awesomeness is the highest praise for someone," Zhu Ming also began to think about it. "In just twenty years, even if only ten prodigies are admitted every year, there will still be two hundred geniuses." . Their learning ability is super strong and they are proficient in physics and mathematics. I am afraid they will usher in a real scientific era!"