fifth form

Chapter 2303: Continuous Recommendation
"Dongfang Shuo, how lucky are you that none of these officials came out to impeach you!"

Zhang Xuezhou made a fuss when the government came to an end.

The new emperor had been waiting anxiously, just waiting for an official to come forward and impeach the other party.

Zhang Xuezhou's fuss did indeed choose a perfect reason for impeachment, which was that "the court's method of seeking official positions and titles is to rely on clever words and connections." Zhang Xuezhou himself did the same and even actively sought impeachment.

If Zhang Xuezhou was impeached today for this reason, the new emperor would think that everything would be perfect.

As long as this precedent was set, he could follow this method to target other officials in the future, and even put the guillotine on the heads of the officials who agreed to the impeachment.

Whoever agrees to impeach Zhang Xuezhou can use this method to deal with him in the future, and then make major personnel changes in the court.

But no matter what Zhang Xuezhou did, no one was fooled.

This made the new emperor sigh after the end of the court affairs, and he felt that it would be difficult for Zhang Xuezhou to resign.

"Your Majesty, since words are useless, why don't we do something real?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"What really?"

Hearing that Zhang Xuezhou had more to say, the new emperor immediately became interested.

"There is always a limit to stirring up trouble. Once it reaches that limit, it will be unacceptable if you are not impeached." Zhang Xuezhou said: "I think things should not be explained with words, but must be solved with real actions!"

"Do you mean that I really have to rely on farming and fighting to appoint officials?" asked the new emperor.

"Can we try it?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"We can try," the new emperor frowned, then relaxed his brows and said, "But the court is not engaged in any major wars right now. There are only small fights everywhere. It is too difficult to appoint officials. At present, those who are good at farming are all local gentry who occupy large tracts of land. After these people are appointed to official positions and have the guarantee of the court, they will only become more aggressive and dominate a place!"

"So that's it!"

Zhang Xuezhou’s idea of ​​strengthening the country through agriculture and warfare is not nonsense.

His strategy for strengthening the country originated from the agricultural philosophy narrated by Xu Ji.

In the eyes of Xu Ji and others, those who are good at sowing can become officials. After becoming officials, they will surely lead more people to learn farming culture, thereby enabling farmers to continuously grow better food.

If everyone is well fed and warmly clothed, and has strength in their bodies, they will naturally become strong and able to defend against the enemy.

If appropriate rewards are given for military merit, the entire country will become stronger.

This is Xu Ji’s idea of ​​a strong country.

But many ideals are no match for reality. No matter how the system is designed, it is difficult to convey it to the grassroots. Instead, it will fall into the hands of local gentry who control a large amount of land.

The same is true for rewards for military merit. The corruption in the north is a very obvious example. Of the five hundred and a half taels of reward given by the imperial court, only fifty remained in the hands of the lowest class.

If there is no large-scale war and it carries obvious personal signs, it is still profiteering by the superiors.

"Good means must adapt to national conditions" New Emperor Dao.

"How about we try the methods of other powerful countries?" Zhang Xuezhou said.

"Oh?" The new emperor frowned and asked, "What other methods do you have?"

"I was in Shu County..."

Zhang Xuezhou spoke eloquently, starting with the academy built by the county magistrate Wen Weng, and then touched upon the corresponding talents produced by the academy.

If the idea of ​​strengthening the country through agriculture and warfare was just a theory, the academy built by the county governor Wen Weng really promoted this process. The successful students in the academy could educate, guide, and promulgate policies that benefited the people, thus guiding agricultural production at the grassroots level.

These people were not given official titles because of their excellent farming skills, but in fact they promoted the development of agriculture.

"This law is good, but the exemption of corvée for those who enter the palace is bound to be misused," the new emperor pointed out. "It's fine if he manages a place and works hard to distinguish, but if I promote this, nine out of ten people who enter the palace will be rich, and those who are exempted from corvée will be rich people, while the poor will become poorer!"

The new emperor did not mention the economic burden brought about by exemption from corvée labor, but instead pointed to the main body that the academy system ultimately served.

As a pioneer, Shujun City had a dilapidated and unformed academy, where students even had to sit on the ground. The rich looked down on this kind of academy, and the poor were given enough opportunities.

But once such a thing becomes an official school certified by the imperial court, the rich will flock to it, while the poor who are not well informed will find it difficult to enter the academy.

"Farming, military exploits, and academies are all good for the country and the people, but the things are well received but not popular. This problem has the factor of profiteering, but it also includes the factor of concept." Zhang Xuezhou bowed again and recommended: "Such opportunists can only change their thinking and gain people's hearts after being taught 'benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and trustworthiness'!"

"This seems to be the teaching of Confucianism?" The new emperor frowned and said, "I know benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. What is this letter?"

"This is the 'faith' mentioned by Dong Zhongshu, which represents the virtues of honesty, consistency between words and deeds, and keeping promises," Zhang Xuezhou replied.

"Be honest and trustworthy!"

The new emperor frowned.

Originally, Zhang Xuezhou was trying to make trouble in the court and resign, but after the ministers left, Zhang Xuezhou continued to argue, and the new emperor felt that what the other party said was not nonsense, but contained the true subtlety of governing the country.

But Zhang Xuezhou pulls pieces from the east and pieces from the west, and it is difficult to get him to integrate these fragmented contents together.

These things are good, but difficult to achieve.

As the new emperor said, things are one situation when they are decided at the top level, and another situation when they are laid out layer by layer. Any measures involving utilitarianism will only lead to the expansion of the rentier class.

The Confucian teaching methods are not new. When he first came to power, he was brainwashed by Zhao Wan and Wang Zang and knew the contents of Confucianism.

What Zhang Xuezhou said at that moment only mentioned one more word, "faith", compared to Zhao Wan and others.

Whether this kind of education is effective does not require the court to implement corresponding regulations, but only requires observing the performance of members of the Confucian school.

But what is disappointing is that the Confucian school says one thing but actually acts another, which is no different from many other schools.

The new emperor muttered to himself, and then recited the word "faith" that Zhang Xuezhou mentioned more.

"Dong Zhongshu is the leader of the Zhao School of Confucianism in the north. Did he find the shortcomings of Confucianism and try to make up for them?" The new emperor asked suspiciously, "How did you know about Dong Zhongshu's 'faith'? Did you also join Confucianism?"

"I joined the Yin-Yang School ten years ago and have not changed my school of thought until now," Zhang Xuezhou waved his hands and said, "Besides, even if I am willing to change, no one else would dare to accept me if I were to deal with my uncle Jinchang who has an unstable temperament!"

"Jinchang... this person seems to be a retainer of the King of Huainan?" said the new emperor.

"Your Majesty, have you ever heard of this man?"

"This is the person on the previous emperor's list." The new emperor nodded and said, "The previous emperor said that the Yin-Yang family's Jiutian Sect made medicines, which was fine, but the Nine People Sect used puppetry to take living people as tools, which is really an evil sect and should be banned. However, Jinchang is elusive and difficult to find, so he has slipped through the net all these years!"

"Your Majesty said so!"

Zhang Xuezhou praised repeatedly, indicating that there would be no problem for the new emperor to ban the Yin-Yang Nine Sect, and that it would be okay to take action when the time is right.

His attitude left the new emperor speechless.

Having ignored the incident in Jinchang, the new emperor inevitably attributed the matter back to Dong Zhongshu and asked about the relationship between Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu.

As the 'Jieshizhong' beside the new emperor, he was almost the new emperor's closest minister. The new emperor obviously did not allow his close ministers to interfere too much, lest Zhang Xuezhou become a puppet or spokesperson of some schools of thought.