I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

"Well, although the imperial court will not ban the academies in the future, it cannot allow them to develop wantonly. The mission of the academies is to teach and educate people. If you try to use this as a foundation, those who discuss the government affairs and criticize the imperial court will be punished."

After hearing the emperor's warning, no one present was surprised.

After all, their status is different. In the past, when they were in Donglin Academy, they would casually discuss the situation of the court and criticize the current ills. They felt that the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty would not be able to function without them.

But now that they have entered the imperial court, they have changed from outsiders to insiders, and they have become the people they hated most before. Now they see other private academies discussing and criticizing them, and they are also disgusted.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Wenzhong (Zhang Juzheng) banned academies before because of the popularity of mind science at that time. Many people founded academies to explain their own doctrines and criticize current affairs. Now that academies are opened and managed, it is not impossible."

So when Ye Xianggao and others saw this, they all stood up and agreed.

But this is just Zhu Youxiao's appetizer, what comes next is the focus.

"What Ai Qing said is true. However, since the Department of Education of the Ministry of Rites will manage the academy in the future, it cannot just govern it blindly, but also encourage its development. Therefore, I think that in the future, we must not only manage the academy, but also for To promote culture and education, subsidies must be provided!”

subsidy?As soon as these words came out, everyone was very confused and didn't know what the emperor meant by this.Seeing everyone's doubts, Zhu Youxiao slowly explained again.

"I know that the construction of academies costs a lot of money, so I want to provide subsidies for well-constructed ones. At that time, the Department of Education will be asked to select academies across the country, and evaluate them according to their teaching content, scale and teaching quality, and choose the best in each direction. For outstanding students, funds will be allocated every year to ensure their teaching quality.”

After the emperor's explanation, everyone understood immediately.But Sun Shenxing was very thoughtful and immediately realized that there was something in the emperor's words.

"Your Majesty, such benevolent government, I think it is not wrong. But I am a little confused and want to ask your Majesty to tell me. I don't know what your Majesty said. I don't know which direction the outstanding people are in other directions. And I want to compare them. How many academies are appropriate and what is the optimal amount of funding?"

Hearing so many questions from Sun Shenxing, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help shaking his head, secretly saying that he still couldn't escape Sun Shenxing's difficulties.But now that he has said it, he is no longer ready to hide it.After thinking for a while, he said solemnly:
"Two Beijing and 13 provinces plus the Liaodong Dusi. In addition to the Imperial College in Beijing and Nanjing, five major academies must be selected in the entire Ming Dynasty, with an annual allocation of 3 taels. Then each Chief Secretary must select one to three academies, 1 taels of silver are allocated every year.

However, except for the Imperial College and the five major academies, other academies will be evaluated every ten years. Those who are not qualified will be eliminated directly and will not be funded by the court in the future. "

In the five major academies, Ye Xianggao and others laughed inwardly upon hearing this, secretly thinking that the emperor actually still had such interest.

The matter of ranking academies began in the Song Dynasty.The Ming Dynasty still has it, but it is just a topic for private chats among civilian literati.Now that the emperor wants to officially identify the five major academies, it seems that he wants to make this name a reality.

Ye Xianggao can even imagine that once this regulation comes out, there will be many private academies trying to grab the name of this top five academies.

But when Sun Shenxing heard the emperor's words, he frowned. He didn't hear the answer he wanted, so he refused and continued to bow and asked: "Your Majesty, this is a good suggestion, but I am still confused. Your Majesty said The Chief Secretary's academies are required to select from different directions, and I don't know which direction. As far as I know, all the academies in the Ming Dynasty teach Confucianism. Although they teach Neo-Confucianism and Psychology, they all belong to Confucianism. .”

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he couldn't help but roll his eyes and secretly wondered why Sun Shenxing was so annoying.

But he was also smart, and he got the idea. Zhu Youxiao wanted to allow the establishment of academies, and even subsidized them, not because he liked this thing, but to take this opportunity to encourage the private sector to develop academies in other directions.

Now that he saw Sun Shenxing asking this question, he was no longer prepared to pretend and show his cards.

"What Aiqing said is true. The imperial court is based on Confucianism, and all academies naturally teach Confucian studies. However, now that Western learning has come to the West, its studies on firearms, navigation, astronomy, geography, natural history, mathematics, etc. are outstanding. place. In addition, Westerners now come to our country frequently in the Ming Dynasty. Whether it is to trade with them or communicate with them, they must know Western languages.

Therefore, I think that private colleges can learn from the model of the Imperial College in the future.It can be divided into two directions. One is a model such as the Nanyuan of the Imperial College, which is based on Confucianism, supplemented by traditional Chinese astronomy, geography, mathematics, natural history and other subjects.

The other is modeled on the model of Guozijian Beiyuan, which still focuses on Confucianism, but can learn Western firearms, navigation, Western languages, geography and other subjects. "

As soon as these words came out, everyone who just thought the emperor had a good idea of ​​allowing the academy to open suddenly suddenly realized.

I thought that the emperor was waiting here, and now the permission to open academies and the competitions are all for this purpose.The emperor's intention was to promote Western doctrine throughout China.

"No, if this is the case, wouldn't it open the door for Western religions and make it easier for them to spread in the Ming Dynasty? This is really the beginning of disaster."

When Sun Shenxing heard this, he immediately knelt down to object to the matter, while others also looked at each other, feeling that the emperor's span was really too big. In the past, it was fine to implement it in the Imperial College, but now it has to be implemented in all the chief secretaries. It really can't go on like this.

"Your Majesty, what Sun Shangshu said has some truth. Western learning does have its advantages, but if it is promoted like this, it will easily spread Western religion, which is really not allowed."

Cabinet minister Zhao Nanxing couldn't help but object after hearing this. However, while some objected, others also agreed.I saw Xu Guangqi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, immediately became dissatisfied when he heard what they said.

"Sun Shangshu and Zhao Ge are wrong. Western religion and Western learning are not the same thing. As long as you don't let Western monks teach it and just teach Western learning, how can you spread Western religion? Your words are a bit alarmist."

"Indeed, it is not impossible to choose me as a Ming person to teach Western learning. The Krupp cannon and other things I saw in Liaodong were not made by the West, and the fact that the West came to the Ming Dynasty shows that it is indeed superior. I am Chinese It’s okay to be inclusive and teach Western learning. The so-called innovation is to be innovative every day. If you just stick to your old ways, that’s the old way.”

At this time, Xiong Tingbi, Minister of War, also stood up and supported the emperor's proposal. (End of chapter)