People in Hongwu, from heavenly master to emperor master

Chapter 121 Arithmetic Entrance to the Imperial Examination

"Hongwu will open Enke for three years?"

In fact, Lao Zhu himself didn't know when he would be able to take the Enke. The imperial examination was related to the selection of talents, but the world was still uncertain, and it was impossible for him to force the Enke.

Now the talents in the world are probably also watching the decisive battle between Daming and Beiyuan.

Who is the real winner is still unknown.

From Zhang Yi's words, Zhu Yuanzhang also vaguely guessed the future war situation of Ming Dynasty.

He kept this matter to the bottom of his heart. It was not this matter that he came to ask Zhang Yi, but the imperial examination!

Be it Xu Cunren or Kong Na, it is not easy to shake Lao Zhu's will.Only Zhang Yi missed a foot, and Lao Zhu's heart was floating in the air and couldn't get down.

After all, this bastard has a fairy fate on him, let's not talk about the illusory fairy garden, what a fairy looks like.

Just a few words that he read in his heavenly book were enough to shake Lao Zhu's will.

Regarding the imperial examination, the emperor thought about it for a few days but couldn't come up with it, so he just came to test Zhang Yi's tone.

As a result, Zhang Yi replied to him, but he himself didn't know.

Don't know what to do?Zhu Yuanzhang finally came here, of course he had to squeeze out some things before leaving!
"Uncle, you don't know about it, but I do know a little bit!"

Zhang Yi did not say what role he played, but he mentioned the main conflict between Xu Cunren and Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Actually, it's normal for the emperor to want to reform the imperial examinations of the previous dynasty. It's probably not a problem to replace it with someone else. My husband's temperament just doesn't like your majesty's reform...

After going back and forth, it became like this, but fortunately, that guy Kong Na has the guts, and finally gave His Majesty a step down!

However, according to what Kong Jiazi told me, His Majesty ordered Mr. to reform the imperial examinations, which proves that he has loosened his mind.
It's not easy to change that person's will, but who knows if Mr. Xu's reform plan can satisfy that person?
In other words, no one knows whether His Majesty will return to stereotyped writing in the future!
There may be, there may be no, the secret is ignorant, and I can't see it! "

Not to mention that Zhang Yi couldn't see it, Zhu Yuanzhang himself didn't know if he would reform.

If he had settled down, he would not have come to look for Zhang Yi.

"Whether to reform or not is one thing, you analyze it for me, what is the difference between this reform and no reform?"

Zhang Yi pouted:
"The difference is actually just a trade-off!

Since the emergence of Cheng-Zhu Confucianism, the transformation of Confucianism from Confucianism has basically been irreversible. With religiousization, there are some irrational things!

And in order to pursue the so-called sanctity, the role of human beings in it will naturally become less and less!

Therefore, from Song to Yuan, and from Yuan to Ming Dynasty, the emperor further restricted the scope of imperial examinations to select scholars, and he followed the trend!

If it were someone else, I probably wouldn't object, but it's a pity that my husband is a bit out of touch, but he's different from others..."

"You mean, he has nothing to do when he's full?"

Zhu Yuanzhang responded coldly to Zhang Yi's words, and he was not sure whether Zhang Yi was perfunctory or sincere.

"No, maybe because there are people like Mr., I am not yet desperate for the situation of Confucianism...Of course, this has nothing to do with your majesty's choice. The so-called authorities are obsessed with it. Yes, but not wrong!

If His Majesty is wrong, it is also because of its impact on the future!
The core issue of His Majesty's imperial examination reform is: students are not allowed to violate the scriptures and have their own ideas,

What a student thinks is what a sage thinks, that's all!

This is the characteristic that a [religion] should have, and His Majesty has only strengthened this characteristic.

It's just that, after all, His Majesty's selfishness still wants to restrict the bureaucratic group, and cut himself down by the way! "

Zhang Yi cleared his throat and said:
"The only thing that remains constant in this world is change itself. Regardless of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, or other things, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is the product of Confucianism in the process of seeking change, but in the end its reforms have become unchanged...

What remains unchanged is that the reformer hopes to control things within a range that he can control in order to satisfy his desire for control, but doing so often leads to another unknowable change.

Your Majesty's choice is to further strengthen the ideological control and weaken the entire Ming Dynasty official class, but once he tries it, he will find out who the person he has chosen is,

Then he will regret it and stop the imperial examination by himself, but in the end, he still has to make a choice in terms of trade-offs!

So I say, no matter how you choose, you will lose sight of the other! "

"Then what choice do you prefer? Is it Xu Cunren's maintaining the status quo, or His Majesty's imprisoning thoughts?"

Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask.

"I eat melons, what should I choose?"

Zhang Yi looked like I have nothing to do, which made Lao Zhu very depressed.

After all, this guy is still a Taoist priest who doesn't seek fame. He doesn't care about the fate of countless people.

"However, judging from what I see in the future, His Majesty's choice is still wrong after all...

In the third year of Hongwu's reign, the imperial court opened Enke. He selected talents for three years, and finally he felt dissatisfied, so he shut down the imperial examination!

In fact, judging from this incident, he probably also realized the problem, but when he returned to the recommendation system, he turned history back...

From the recommendation system to the imperial examination again, Daming lost a lot in those years...

The recommendation system is indeed true. It has selected many talents for the emperor, but it has also planted some disasters for Daming!
The biggest problem is that the emperor originally wanted to weaken the power of the prime minister, but instead strengthened the power of the prime minister unprecedentedly! "

"what?"

Old Zhu was stunned, he came to Zhang Yi to ask about the imperial examination, why did he even mention the recommendation system?

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was a severe shortage of personnel in the imperial court, coupled with the instability in the north, the current method of selecting talents is indeed based on the recommendation system.

"Imperial examinations are talents selected by the imperial court through fair examinations... No matter how poor or stupid these people are, they are still disciples of the Son of Heaven!
And recommending, recommending talents, can indeed recommend good talents, but... hehe~
Uncle, you are also a businessman traveling all over the world. If you enter the court and become an official, will you be biased when you recommend talents?
For example, Brother Huang and I are the people you should recommend. I am better than Brother Huang, but Brother Huang is close to you, who would you recommend? "

Old Zhu just wanted to answer the one with strong referral ability, but he suddenly shut up when the words were on his lips.

human nature……

If most people choose, the answer is self-evident.

The officialdom itself pays attention to teamwork, so it goes without saying that he asked his subordinates to recommend talents.

It's not that the emperor was unaware of the harm, so it was imperative to open Enke, but if it was true as Zhang Yi said, he was not satisfied with opening Enke and chose to continue using the recommendation system.

So in the past few years, how many of them will the scholar group in the imperial court place?
In other words, he originally wanted to restrict Xiangquan's actions, but in the end he fulfilled the people he wanted to restrict...

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath and fell silent.

"Actually, don't flatter His Majesty too much. After all, he is only one person, and people will make mistakes. The effects of many policies will only be revealed after decades and hundreds of years. But this problem is too big, and I don't bother Expand...

Let’s just talk about the reform of the imperial examination itself. The contradiction lies in that restricting the mind is equivalent to restricting the quality of the selected talents. It is true that these people are easy to control, but most of them are not capable.

His Majesty selects talents for work, and in order to control him, he selects a group of people who cannot work...

There is no way to resolve this contradiction!

If he had prepared himself mentally at the beginning, it would be fine if he held his nose and admitted it for his own reformation, but he didn't admit it, wouldn't he be reconciled? "

Lao Zhu's face darkened, Zhang Yi's words directly questioned his ability to govern, and he was so angry that he couldn't speak for a long time.

Zhang Yi had long been used to Lao Zhu's temper and ignored him.

Anyway, what he said is right, believe it or not is someone else's business.

People always like to make up their minds, especially when they have too many unrealistic expectations of big shots.

Or try to belittle others from the perspective of God, or infinitely enhance an ability.

In this era of sacred monarchy, it is understandable for Huang He to have some halo towards the king.
Zhu Yuanzhang's legendary life from a beggar to an emperor has too much room for people to imagine.

But they ignored that Lao Zhu is also a human being after all, his background determines his twisted character, and he will do some very contradictory things.

From the recommendation system to the imperial examination to the later Hu Weiyong case and then to the North and South List case, many things are actually hard-won habits caused by previous policies.

After the North and South Rankings, the emperor may have truly realized Daming's problems, but God has not given him time to change.

You said that as an emperor, is Zhu Yuanzhang fierce?
That is undoubtedly very strong.

But his character flaws caused him to make wrong decisions, and there are many of them!
"Actually, the biggest problem with our Majesty still comes from his character, he is just like many strong fathers, he has a bad problem!
If he thinks he can do it, he thinks others can do it too.And he doesn't believe that others are better than him, so he wants to arrange everything clearly,

Obviously not a fairy god, but wants to do the work of a fairy god, the source of the disaster..."

Zhu Biao couldn't agree too much, and nodded frequently behind Lao Zhu.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't hold back his face, so he took the initiative to change the topic:

"We are here to ask about the imperial examination, what are you doing so far?
You say that His Majesty's reform is not good, and that is not good...

Then you want to change it yourself, how do you change it? "

Zhang Yi shrugged:

"Then it's no wonder His Majesty didn't chop off my head!
In fact, according to my opinion, he can't get rid of those Confucianists anyway, so let's just carry out the imperial examinations honestly... What kind of stereotyped essays harm people, this is not a matter of harming one generation!
But if I reform, I will definitely add private goods to it, such as adding mathematics and other subjects to the imperial examination,

But at that time, not to mention Your Majesty, even those adults in the court would probably kill me? "

"Math?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao looked at each other in blank dismay. Why did Zhang Yi ask a question that couldn't be answered?
"That's right, it is the arithmetic of the gentleman's six arts, and it was also the arithmetic that was kicked out of the imperial examination since the late Tang Dynasty!"

"Compared to the Four Books and Five Classics, arithmetic is nothing more than a small way, so why add such things?

Isn't this nonsense? "

Zhu Biao couldn't help but refute Zhang Yi. Unlike Lao Zhu, he had received a relatively orthodox Confucian education. For him, Zhang Yi's statement was rebellious.

"Look, Uncle, Brother Huang can't take it anymore!"

Zhang Yi held his stomach and laughed.

Regarding the so-called reform of the imperial examination, Zhang Yi is just talking nonsense, anyway, he can brag behind closed doors without being responsible.

But when Lao Zhu heard what Zhang Yi said, he was thoughtful.

he asks:

"Anyway, it's just chatting, why don't you just talk about it!"

"It's very simple, because no matter how His Majesty changes, the actions he does are actually tinkering within the scope of Confucianism. This is a double-edged sword! He weakened the autonomy of scholars through reforms, but also strengthened them. Their loyalty to Confucianism itself!
Think about it, those scholars are just like us monks and Taoists who recite scriptures all day long and ponder what saints think all day. Didn’t they cultivate a group of imbecile and fanatical believers?

Who can tell if this is good for the imperial power?
But arithmetic is different. Although it is the six arts of a gentleman, it has little to do with Confucianism!
Adding it in can really improve the standard of talent selection! "

"How to say!"

Old Zhu prevented Zhu Biao from wanting to argue with Zhang Yi, and asked calmly.

(End of this chapter)