I studied in modern times

Chapter 987 Yuanyou Innovation (5)

What Lü Dafang said is indeed reasonable.

The gap in education and culture between the North and the South has already emerged.

Moreover, the generational gap is enormous!
Putting aside other factors, the total number of Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) produced by the four circuits of Shaanxi throughout history is probably less than the number of Jinshi produced by Fujian in a single imperial examination.

no way!
Ultimately, the so-called "education spree" is really just about making money!
In wealthy places, education must be good.

Poor places always have poor education!

Not to mention, there were also many areas in the Song Dynasty where Han and non-Han peoples lived together.

For example, Xihe Road, Zizhou Road, Jinghu South Road, Jinghu North Road, Guangnan West Road...

In these places, the quota for promotion was already small, making it difficult for scholars to rise to prominence.

The imperial court then adopted a scoring system to comprehensively assess the talents and abilities of scholars.

The path to officialdom through the imperial examinations for scholars from all walks of life is likely to be cut off.

After a moment's thought, Zhao Xu asked, "What does Zhong Si mean..."

"Selecting people from all directions?"

The Zhao family has been involved in the imperial examination system for over a century, encountering countless pitfalls along the way.

The more pitfalls you encounter, the more experience you gain.

Yes!

The uneven development of economic and educational systems has led to the drawback of varying levels of competence among scholars.

It was discovered as early as the Renmiao era.

During the reign of Emperor Yingzong, a great debate was held in the imperial court regarding whether the civil service examination should be conducted in a unified manner to ensure fairness, or through a system of separate examinations based on the development levels of different regions.

The representatives of both sides were Sima Guang and Ouyang Xiu.

Sima Guang was the representative of the various routes of selecting officials, while Ouyang Xiu was his opponent.

It must be said that Sima Guang was indeed correct in many ways on the issue of the imperial examination.

Unfortunately, being right is not always useful.

This has been proven by facts—even though Ouyang Xiu himself admitted that Sima Guang's suggestions had merit.

But in the end, Ouyang Xiu emerged victorious in the debate.

The reason that determines victory or defeat is very simple.

Kaifeng Prefecture!

To be precise, they were the sons of high-ranking officials who studied in Kaifeng Prefecture.

If the imperial court recruits officials from all directions, what will happen to the sons of officials?
Making a move on the young master's cake is no simple matter!

Because the young master is not just one or two people.

Rather, they are the second generation of the entire ruling group!
Lu Dafang grunted and replied, "Your Majesty, I believe that recruiting people from various regions is a sound strategy!"

He's from Shaanxi!
Naturally, we must speak up for the scholars in the Northwest and even the Northern regions.

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Recruiting people from all directions is indeed a good strategy!"

Lü Dafang revealed a look of delight.

"Unfortunately, there's no basis for implementation yet!" Zhao Xu said softly, "The court, from top to bottom, will not agree!"

If we recruit people from all directions, we will offend more than just the sons of officials in Kaifeng Prefecture.

There were also scholars from traditionally strong areas for the imperial examinations, such as Southeast Sixth Road, Jiangnan West Road, and Fujian Road.

Furthermore, it will also damage the property prices of Bianjing Academy, which Zhao Xu had worked so hard to promote – why are the properties in Bianjing Academy so expensive?
It wasn't Zhao Xu's creative invention (or rather, plagiarism) of the school district housing system and the policy that gave the children of Bianjing Academy owners the opportunity to be admitted to Kaifeng Prefecture Academy.
Otherwise, even with the immense locational advantages of Bianjing Academy, it would be impossible.

But it's impossible for it to sell for such an outrageous price now!

It's fair to say that at least half of the current housing prices in Bianjing Xuefu are due to the school district policy.

Once the imperial court implements the policy of recruiting talents from all directions, the housing prices of schools in Bianjing will immediately be halved!

This is something Zhao Xu cannot accept.

“But…” Lü Dafang lowered his head: “If we do not recruit people from all directions, I fear… there may be unrest in Hebei and other regions…”

Zhao Xu listened, flicked his fingers lightly, and said, "I know!"

"and so,
Hebei Road is the testicle of the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, its value in united front work is maximized.

As a result, the treatment of the Xiang Army in Hebei Road was better than that of other roads.

Moreover, Hebei Road did not have any of those messy things like iron monopoly, salt monopoly, or tea monopoly.

Of course, this is not only because Hebei Road has high value in united front work.

This is also related to the fact that people from Hebei are particularly good at advocating for their own united front value.

Since the founding of the nation, there have been frequent mutinies and popular uprisings in Hebei.

Whenever something happened in Hebei, Emperor Zhao in Bianjing (Kaifeng) was always on edge, unable to eat or sleep properly.

They usually try to appease the situation, fearing that the people of Hebei will lead the Liao army south—many Han families in the Liao state of Youyan have kinship ties with Hebei.

Many of the generals and officers from Hebei were not originally from Zhuozhou, but from Yunzhou.

During these three years, the trade in paper money between the Song and Liao dynasties was booming.

The military families of Hebei and the Han Chinese aristocratic families of Liaoning and Youyan were also thriving in smuggling and trading on the sidelines.

Iron, copper coins, and cloth were all being continuously transported to Liaodong.

Zhao Xu was fully aware of this, but he turned a blind eye.

Zhao Xu stood up and said, "Therefore, my fellow officials, let us work together with you!"

"We, as ruler and subject, should pool our wisdom and think carefully about how, while adhering to the principle of 'mixed selection of officials,' we can, as much as possible, take care of scholars from various regions whose education is relatively weak..."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The ministers all bowed.

However, given the suddenness of the situation, they really couldn't think of a way to take care of scholars from the Northwest and Northern regions while ensuring the existing imperial examination system.

Therefore, after much deliberation, Pu Zongmeng and Lü Dafang offered two suggestions that were barely acceptable.

Pu Zongmeng suggested increasing the quota for candidates from weaker regions in the imperial examinations, such as the northern and northwestern regions.

But it was quickly rejected.

The reason is simple: the scholars from the northern and northwestern regions were inherently less capable of passing the examinations than those from the six southeastern regions.

Simply increasing the quota for scholars in these areas cannot alleviate their thirst for fame and officialdom.

It might even have the opposite effect—because the final number of people admitted to the provincial examinations of the Song Dynasty was linked to the quotas for military and prefectural examinations across the country.

Since the Xining era, this ratio has generally been ten to one.

That is, for every ten quota places, there is one officially recognized Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination).

In this situation, the increased quotas for Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) from the northern and northwestern regions will likely end up mostly going to scholars from educationally strong regions like the southeast.

As a result, the conflict not only failed to ease but actually intensified.

Lü Dafang proposed increasing investment in county and prefectural schools in areas with weak academic performance in the imperial examinations.

For example, the treatment and staffing of instructors and professors in state and county schools should be improved, the imperial court should increase the allocation of land for state and county schools, increase the number of school buildings in state and county schools, and improve the welfare benefits for local scholars, etc.

However, this method is of no use in addressing the current predicament.

However, Zhao Xu accepted Lü Dafang's suggestion and ordered him to write a memorial to be sent to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice for discussion.

After a specific plan is put forward, it will be sent to him for review in order to form the final system and laws.

In any case, increasing educational investment in the less competitive path of the imperial examinations is a low-cost but highly profitable endeavor!

Upon receiving the imperial decree, Lü Dafang immediately offered his congratulations and gratitude. He had studied under Zhang Zai, the Master of Hengqu, and had personally witnessed the hardships faced by scholars in Shaanxi in their pursuit of knowledge.

However, this stalled the discussion on reforming the imperial examination system.

Having no other choice, Zhao Xu said, "I have an idea, and I'd like to share it with you all..."

"After hearing this, everyone should go back and think it over carefully, and each of you should write a memorial to submit to the emperor..."

"I will gather everyone's opinions again, discuss them carefully, and only proceed after confirming that there are no major problems..."

"only!"

The officials bowed and looked at Zhao Xu with anticipation.

Regarding the innovation and reform of the imperial examination system, the people still had a high degree of trust in Emperor Zhao.

After all, the current imperial examination system was basically formed under the will of successive emperors.

They really are experts in this area!

Moreover, Zhao Xu had just proposed a creative method for the imperial examination system.

After pacing back and forth a couple of times, Zhao Xu carefully considered his words before saying, "My thoughts are like this..."

"To demonstrate the imperial court's emphasis on promoting education and learning..."

"The Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Examination Hall can petition the court to grant preferential treatment to those regions that had fewer successful candidates in the previous year's imperial examinations..."

"For example, if the number of candidates admitted through the imperial examinations in the previous year was less than a certain number, then that number should be made up..."

"That is, the person with the highest score among the dismissed scholars of that route will be selected and admitted to the new register according to their ranking..."

"In other military prefectures, due to various reasons, education may not be flourishing and no one may be admitted. In such cases, the imperial court will select the top candidate from that prefecture and admit them as a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination)!"

"In this way, we may be able to appease the scholars of various regions and demonstrate our desire to promote education and achieve peace through literature!"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Lü Dafang was the first to sing praises.

Others followed suit and offered their congratulations.

This is indeed a solution that is not a solution at all.

The only problem is that—if this happens, the number of people admitted to the imperial examinations this year will probably exceed six hundred!
The problem of redundant officials, one of the three major redundancies in the Song Dynasty, will likely continue to worsen as a result.

However, compared to the problem of redundant officials, the unfairness in the number of people admitted through the imperial examinations across the country is clearly more important.

After all, the former is only a chronic disease, at most it will worsen the imperial court's finances.

As for the latter...

You accidentally raised a Huang Chao...

……

After seeing off Pu Zongmeng and the others.

Zhao Xu sat back down on the cushion and let out a soft sigh.

"Fame and fortune have always been a powerful motivator..."

For the time being, this is the only way the imperial examination reform in the Song Dynasty can proceed.

The remaining tasks can only be implemented once productivity increases further and a large number of technical and engineering talents emerge.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu instructed Tong Guan, who was serving him, "Lord Tong, go and tell Shi Deyi..."

"I'd like to know, how many students does Jiangning Academy have now? And how many of them took the imperial examination this year? Who are the more famous ones among them?"

"Yes, sir!" Tong Guan accepted the order and left.

Zhao Xu leaned back on the cushion and began to ponder.

Thanks to Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao, the imperial examination no longer rejects scholars in the palace examination stage.

Thus, the palace examination process was reduced to the ceremony of the emperor setting the questions for the newly appointed scholars and personally selecting the first and second class scholars by imperial decree.

This power belonged exclusively to the emperor.

In other words, during the palace examination, Zhao Xu could set whatever questions he wanted and choose whoever he wanted to be the top scholar.

Just like in Zhao Xu's previous life, during his first imperial examination after assuming personal rule, he directly set the question for the palace examination: "Now, the selection of poets and writers has been reinstated, yet scholars are not encouraged; the Ever-Normal Granary has been abolished, yet farmers are not enriched; land has been granted to pacify distant lands, yet the troubles of the Qiang and Yi tribes have not been eliminated; the benefits have been relaxed to facilitate the people, yet the roads for merchants are blocked. If it is feasible, then follow it; if not, then reform it. Only what is appropriate is valued. Even a sage has no obligation to do so."

This is a direct and blatant attack on Yuan You's politics—after all these years, what have you accomplished?
No!

Not only did it achieve nothing, it also made the world increasingly impoverished and the country increasingly dangerous.

So what exactly are you guys doing?
Everyone, please be the judge! Otherwise, people might say I'm being unreasonable!
Thus, once this topic was raised, the whole world knew that Zhao Xu was about to launch a political counterattack against Yuan You.

The entire political landscape changed instantly, and the old party had no chance of making a comeback!
They had no choice but to submit to their fate!

Now, Zhao Xu is naturally not so impulsive as to hastily express his attitude.

Of course, it would also be appropriate to take this opportunity to send a signal and promote two promising talents.

After adjusting his posture, Zhao Xu recalled the words of the bearded man that Lü Dafang had quoted earlier in this quiet room.

So he got up and looked in front of the screen in the quiet room, and soon found the article that Zhao Xu had specially had copied once, which the bearded man had submitted to the Bianjing Yibao last year.

Zhao Xu took the article and read it through.

It must be said, the bearded man's writing skills are truly impressive!
This article, signed by Su Dongpo and titled "On the Current Schools and Imperial Examinations," is truly rich in classical allusions and overflowing with literary talent. Zhao Xu couldn't help but clap his hands in praise.

Just one question...

“Su Zizhan is still too naive and innocent!” Zhao Xu pasted the article back onto the screen: “This is probably the nature of a bold and unrestrained poet!”

Since he was a bold and unrestrained person, he naturally had to have some of the innocent and romantic poetic charm.

however……

Zhao Xu's pupils narrowed slightly.

Su Shi's article is not just about advocating virtue.

It's also promoting poetry!
As he said, "Among the scholars and officials of recent times, none is more ornate in their writing than Yang Yi. If Yang Yi were still alive, he would be a loyal, upright, and honest man. How can we dismiss him because of his ornate writing? From the Tang Dynasty to the present, there have been countless famous ministers who made their mark through poetry and prose. What have they done to deserve this? Why must we abolish them?"

Well said!

But please don't say that again!
Because Yang Yi is a unique case.

If Su Shi had only been saying it casually, Zhao Xu wouldn't have bothered to copy his article and paste it on the screen in this quiet room.

This was to keep himself clear-headed and calm, and to remain vigilant and wary of certain people and events in the court.

The key point is that Su Shi also had a large number of friends.

For example, those officials who were demoted and banished from the capital by Zhao Xu.

Xianyu Shen, Zeng Zhao, and Kong Wenzhong, who was recently demoted, among others.

These people's words and actions when they were in the court were far more radical and terrifying than Su Shi's.

They not only consistently promoted moral character in the imperial court, but also advocated for selecting officials based on their poetry and prose.

They were still clamoring to abolish the systems of sealing, copying, and compiling documents for the imperial examinations.

The reason is—how can the imperial court not believe in the integrity of scholars?
Moreover, after sealing, copying, and arranging the documents, the examiners would know nothing about the candidates' personal circumstances.

In this way, how can the examiners comprehensively evaluate the scholar's daily moral conduct and behavior?

This is so unfair!
Therefore, Zhao Xu demoted them cleanly and decisively, without any psychological burden!
"That big beard..."

"We cannot return to the capital!"

"We have to stay away..."

If Su Shi were to return to the capital, he would be appointed to a high-ranking official position.

Zhao Xu could easily guess that he would inevitably go through a cycle of self-satisfaction, smugness, arrogance, grandstanding, and finally being slapped to the ground.

(End of this chapter)