Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1155 Epilogue XI. What Happened That Year

A strong wind blew and it seemed like it was going to rain.

Xie Yiqin used a paperweight to weigh down the letter he was writing and asked his son to close the window.

"Do you still remember that there are six imperial colleges in our country, namely Luoyang, Kaifeng, Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu and Lanzhou?" Xie Yiqun suddenly asked.

Xie Yan replied: "I can't remember, but I heard Wang Sheng mention it a few days ago."

Xie Yiqin said: "The purpose of opening the Imperial College is to allow students from all provinces to study at the Imperial College nearby, without having to travel all the way to Luoyang or Kaifeng."

The current school system of the Ming Dynasty is four years of primary school, three years of middle school, and three years of university. Once students have mastered all the knowledge, they can take the imperial examinations.

The Imperial College was equivalent to a university research institute, and had a certain number of direct Jinshi candidates. Those who were not awarded Jinshi would become Juren upon graduation, and then directly participate in the joint examination.

Xie Yiqin asked: "According to the regional division, shouldn't there also be an Imperial College in Lingnan?"

Xie Yan nodded: "Indeed."

Xie Yiqin said: "Guangdong actually also has an Imperial College. The students from Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiaozhi, and Nanyang all studied at the Imperial College in Guangzhou in the past."

"Was Guangdong Imperial College abolished by the late emperor?" Xie Yan guessed.

Xie Yiqin said: "At that time, the late emperor was furious and ordered the cancellation of the quota for students to be directly awarded the title of Jinshi and the disqualification of graduates from the Imperial College from taking the imperial examination. All the ministers submitted memorials to persuade the late emperor to compromise and abolished the Guangdong Imperial College instead."

Xie Yan asked, "Is Guangdong Imperial College involved in the case?"

Xie Yiqin recounted the story: "In the cabinet at that time, the prime minister was a Fujianese who graduated from the Guangdong Imperial College and passed the joint and palace examinations and ranked second. The fifth-ranked cabinet minister was a Guangdongese who was directly awarded the title of Jinshi from the Guangdong Imperial College. There were also a large number of people from Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiaozhi and Nanyang in the cabinet, ministries, and temples. They all belonged to the provinces and regions under the jurisdiction of the Guangdong Imperial College."

"These people control the court?" Xie Yan asked.

"They are not that powerful yet," Xie Yiqin said, "but they are in cahoots with officials from Nanjing, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huainan. Seven provinces and one capital, plus the governor-general offices in Southeast Asia, these people can become a behemoth when they collude. The navies in the south are also their accomplices."

Xie Yan found it incredible: "With such a large territory and so many officials, how could they work together and be obedient?"

Xie Yiqin smiled and said, "Of course, it is impossible for everyone to work together, and not all officials are corrupt. But they are very rich in collusion with businessmen, and they are intermarried with each other, with complicated connections. They also cultivate students and old officials, bribe and win over concubines, eunuchs, nobles and royal family members, and let businessmen corrupt local officials transferred from other provinces. It is a huge quagmire. Once you step into it, you can't get out, and even they themselves can't help themselves."

"What exactly happened with the Guangdong case?" Xie Yan asked.

Xie Yiqin said: "I don't know. Anyway, officials from several provinces were involved, including three consecutive prime ministers. It involved the three Guangdong departments, local officials of Guangdong prefectures and counties, Guangdong Baoquan Bureau, Guangdong Maritime Customs, Guangdong Salt Administration, Guangdong Imperial College and Prefectural College, and the three major navies in the south. They emptied the Guangdong Baoquan Bureau, and every time they dealt with the court inspection, they borrowed money from everywhere. There were also huge problems with the customs and salt administration, and the official education system in Guangdong was completely rotten."

"It's not just Guangdong. The seven provinces, the capital, and the governor-general's offices are all more or less corrupt."

"They also went to other provinces to invest in building railways. With the imperial decree and Ming Dynasty banknotes in hand, they extended their tentacles wherever the railways were built. Officials and gentry from other provinces, and even wealthy merchants from various provinces, hated them deeply."

"Seeing that the truth could no longer be hidden, these people took the risk and instigated uprisings in Java and Jambi. These places are important food production areas and cannot be disturbed. Their idea is to force the late emperor to put aside the Guangdong case and quell the rebellion, because the overseas troops are also in collusion with them!"

Xie Yan asked: "How did the late emperor do it?"

Xie Yiqin said: "Replace all the local officials from the governor-general's offices in Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Sichuan, Hunan, and Hubei. Order these six major grain-producing provinces to stockpile grain and be ready to deal with possible famines at any time."

"Then, we will ignore the civil unrest in Jambi and Java. We will dispatch cavalry and infantry from Hebei and Liaoning, and the navy from Shandong, and march south to Guangdong by land and sea to assist the third group of imperial envoys in investigating the case."

"Many officials were so frightened at the time that they fled, and even businessmen fled overseas with their families."

"The three major navies in the south are patrolling around Jiaozhi, trying to rebel but not daring, and pleading guilty but afraid of death."

"The late emperor issued an edict to pardon three admirals and some of their generals, but he deliberately did not pardon all of them, causing the three navies to fight among themselves."

"Then he ordered the Prince of Nanyu to dispatch the navy, and the Ming court also dispatched all the naval forces it could command to attack the South Sea together."

"The rebellious navy was quickly defeated. One of the naval forces killed the admiral and fled from Malacca to India. The imperial navy pursued them all the way, and they fled westwards until they finally disappeared in the far west."

Xie Yan took a deep breath after hearing this. Emperor Dingtai was truly awesome.

Xie Yiqin said: "The corruption case and the subsequent rebellion severely damaged the imperial court. At this time, the Qihe Protectorate was in chaos again, and then there was a war in Mobei. After the rebellion was suppressed, the government ordered the construction of railways. The continuous mobilization of troops emptied the national treasury."

"The newly elected officials and many local officials came from provinces where industry and commerce were underdeveloped. They were already very dissatisfied with the seven provinces and one capital where industry and commerce were the most developed, and even blamed the disaster on the industry and commerce in the south."

"So the emperor and his ministers joined forces to reform the law, prohibiting merchants from investing in railway construction, tightening the issuance of mining licenses, and strengthening supervision of various industries and commerce."

"After that, the late emperor was busy reorganizing the army, and even forced some generals to rebel. When the late emperor came to his senses, he found that the reform officials he promoted had become the new masters of the wealthy merchants along the coast."

"At this time, the late emperor was already old and had most of the government affairs handed over to the crown prince. Although the crown prince was very filial and obeyed the late emperor in everything, he was ultimately mediocre. The late emperor asked the crown prince to investigate a major case, but the crown prince tried his best but ended up with a hasty outcome." "The late emperor was furious and dismissed the prime minister and two cabinet ministers, as well as four chancellors. But it still didn't help, and the court and the people remained the same."

"Finally, the late emperor became incompetent and appointed many evil people and dismissed honest officials at will. Any ministers who dared to speak out were banished overseas or to poor provinces."

"When treacherous officials are in power, the people suffer!"

Xie Yan also inquired about the news of the Luoyang Incident: "Could the coup d'état three years ago be a trap set by the late emperor? Were the crown prince and the four young grandsons murdered?"

"Boom!"

There were lightning, thunder, wind and rain.

Xie Yiqin glanced at the closed doors and windows, and whispered, "It's probably the late emperor who was behind this. Don't go out and talk nonsense about this. But the death of the crown prince and the premature deaths of the first two grandchildren of the emperor probably had nothing to do with those treacherous officials. They were not that bold at the time."

At this point, Xie Yiqin's expression was angry: "As for the death of the last two grandchildren, it is unclear. It is said that the late emperor was too ill to get out of bed. Moreover, the late emperor lived too long. The two former empresses and the crown prince died before him. The third former empress was unable to support the overall situation. At that time, the court was completely controlled by the cabinet."

"The previous emperor also tried to seize power through eunuchs, but the leaders of those eunuchs later supported Prince Yong to succeed to the throne during a coup."

Xie Yan didn't know what to say after hearing this.

Emperor Dingtai's situation in his later years was so miserable and dangerous.

He outlasted his two wives and the crown prince, and a group of corrupt officials he promoted controlled the court. His third wife was incompetent, and the eunuchs he promoted also colluded with corrupt officials, and even his son, Prince Yong, betrayed him.

Xie Yan thought, if I were Emperor Dingtai, I would also drag those guys to be buried with me!
Kill the first three rows?

It's normal!
I am afraid that not all of the new leadership team in the court are true reformists.

They were losers who were excluded by treacherous officials in the past. Now that they have finally gained power, they naturally want to hold high the banner of continuing the late emperor's legacy of reform and severely retaliate against those treacherous officials and their cronies at home and abroad!

God knows how many people are wholeheartedly committed to reforming the law.

Alas, I am a science student, an unemployed civil engineer, and a food delivery man. I don't understand those political struggles, so I'd better lie down and be a young master in this life.

By the way, be an ancient chemist.

If possible, you can also become a mathematician and physicist, depending on how much knowledge you have already mastered that has not yet been published.

I'm going to sleep!

When I woke up, it was already early morning.

Last night’s heavy rain swept away the sultry weather of the past few days, and the weather became quite comfortable.

The sky is clear and the air is fresh. It's a good day to go out.

Xie Yan ran to find Wang Sheng and asked, "Are there any newspapers that publish mathematics, physics, and chemistry?"

"My dear, are you talking about the Journal of the Royal Society?" Wang Sheng confirmed.

Xie Yan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, it is the academic journal. Where can I find it?"

Wang Sheng said, "You need to order academic journals. Besides, there are also some in the library."

Xie Yan asked, "Are there libraries all over the country?"

Wang Sheng explained: "Every prefecture in the country has a public library, which was built by order of Emperor Taizong in his later years. The library was built next to the prefectural school and was managed by the prefectural school."

"Anyone can go in and read books on the first floor, but they are not allowed to borrow them. If they get dirty or damaged, you have to pay for it."

"On the second and third floors, only students of government officials or scholars with a degree above Xiucai can read. If you pay a deposit, you can borrow books to read at home, but you must return them within a certain period of time."

Xie Yan understood that since he was a government student, he could go to the library and read academic journals at will.

Wang Sheng reminded him, "My dear, your husband told you not to go out during the summer vacation. It's really chaotic outside during the reform period. Especially some people are deliberately trying to curry favor with you."

Xie Yan said, "I'll go change my clothes and put on my hat. Get a stool and quietly climb over the wall to get out."

Xie Yan wanted to write papers and consult chemical journals. No one could stop his determination to become a chemist!
Ah, my scalp is itchy. I feel like I need to grow a brain. Why did I suddenly become so smart?
(End of this chapter)