Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 475 Li Shanchang who loves reading newspapers (Please subscribe!!)

Since Ouyang Lun took on the task of reforming the imperial examination system, he handed over the specific implementation to Crown Prince Zhu Biao, Minister of Rites Lu Chang, and Minister of Personnel Song Lian.

As a figurehead, Zhu Biao did his job very well.

After listening to Ouyang Lun's instructions and plans, he immediately pulled the Minister of Rites Lu Chang and the Minister of Personnel Song Lian to start working.

Issuing announcements, publishing newspapers, designing civil service examination questions, etc., although not to say that the political achievements are remarkable, it can be said that they are making steady progress.

Of course, since the imperial examination system is being reformed, many problems will naturally arise, such as Confucianism.

That's right, it is still the Confucianism that has been reduced to dust by Ouyang Lun. Although under successive blows, Confucianism has long since changed from its heyday to a niche existence, there are still many real great Confucian scholars in Confucianism. These great Confucian scholars take teaching and educating people, enlightening all living beings, and serving the court as their mission, and have never participated in various actions that were previously carried out by the Confucian school.

They had no complaints about the decline of Confucianism, but simply believed that it was in line with the trend of the times. No matter whether Confucianism was strong or weak, these great Confucian scholars would remain true to their original intentions and continue to teach and educate people calmly.

However, policies often go too far.

The imperial court never intended to completely ban Confucianism. From the beginning to the end, it dealt with those Confucianists who were ambitious and made mistakes. However, after the Confucian incident, the reputation of Confucianism completely collapsed, both in official circles and among the people.

Many people began to deliberately oppose Confucianism, and even innocent Confucianists were affected.

Now the imperial court was about to carry out the imperial examination reform, which was like kicking Confucianism into an abyss, leaving it with no chance to stand up again. This was somewhat unfair to those Confucianists who had never done anything wrong. These things were written into a memorial and sent to Zhu Biao.

This matter was quite tricky. Zhu Biao, Lu Chang and Song Lian discussed it for a long time but could not come to a conclusion.

Zhu Biao did not dare to ask Zhu Yuanzhang for mercy, for fear of angering Zhu Yuanzhang.

So after much thought, Zhu Biao and the other three thought of Ouyang Lun, so they came to see Ouyang Lun to ask him how to solve this problem.

After listening to Zhu Biao, Ouyang Lun sat on the chair and spread his hands leisurely, "So what do you mean?"

Zhu Biao and Lu Chang looked at each other again, and finally Zhu Biao said, "Brother-in-law, do you think Confucianism still has a chance?"

Lu Chang also spoke up: "My Lord, what the Crown Prince means is that not all Confucian scholars are bad people. There are also many capable officials and generals among them. These are all talents of our Ming Dynasty. If we reject them all, it will be a great loss for our Ming Dynasty!"

"Opportunities? They are never given by others, but fought for by oneself!" Ouyang Lun said calmly: "Besides, when did I ever say that I would shut out all Confucianists? Old Lu, you are framing me!"

"I dare not, dare not!" Lu Chang waved his hands repeatedly.

Zhu Biao continued, "Brother-in-law, the main reason is that both the officialdom and the people are quite resistant to Confucianism, and many Confucianists feel aggrieved. I am worried that if this continues, there will be chaos!"

Hearing Zhu Biao's words, Ouyang Lun smiled, "Brother-in-law, the Crown Prince is really kind-hearted. If you want to be the emperor, it will definitely be comfortable to work under you."

"But Prince, have you ever heard the story of the farmer and the snake?"

"The Farmer and the Snake?" Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment, looking a little confused.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, what is the story about the farmer and the snake?" Lu Chang asked curiously.

"Once upon a time, there was a farmer who was a well-known good man in the village. One winter day, he encountered a frozen snake at the entrance of the village. He felt sorry for the snake, so he picked it up, put it in his arms, and used his body to warm it.

The snake was warmed up and gradually woke up. When it regained its strength and could move freely, it revealed its cruel nature and bit the farmer's chest fiercely. It turned out to be a poisonous snake. The farmer was fatally injured. The snake venom quickly spread all over the farmer's body. When the farmer got home, it was too late to seek medical treatment.

When the farmer was dying, he said to his family, "You must remember my bloody lesson. I received such bad retribution because I showed mercy to the wicked!"

After Ouyang Lun finished speaking, he spread his hands again, looked at Zhu Biao and asked, "Brother-in-law, what do you think of this story?"

Zhu Biao was stunned and said, "Brother-in-law, you mean that the current Confucianism is the frozen snake? Yes."

"That's right, Confucianism is now a frozen snake, and you, the prince's brother-in-law, are the kind farmer! Think about how glorious Confucianism was before. When they recover, they may bite you back!" Ouyang Lun said seriously, "Don't forget that the education reform and the imperial examination reform were both presided over by you. Chen Ran is the real planner, but they will definitely not seek revenge on me alone!"

"There are indeed capable ministers and talented and virtuous people in Confucianism. We can employ them as appropriate, but we must not allow Confucianism to regain power in a short period of time, at least not before you take over the entire Ming Dynasty!"

"When you tame this poisonous snake, or when you are strong enough to ignore it, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

As Ouyang Lun finished speaking, Zhu Biao's eyes gradually understood.

Zhu Biao took a deep breath and bowed to Ouyang Lun, "Brother-in-law, I am grateful for your teaching!"

"Hey, brother-in-law the Crown Prince, what are you doing? Old Lu is watching. You should bow to me. If the emperor, my father-in-law, finds out, what will he think? Don't harm me!" Ouyang Lun quickly dodged.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a petty person. If he knew about this, he would definitely think that Ouyang Lun was trying to control the entire Ming Dynasty by controlling the crown prince Zhu Biao. As long as this impression was left in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, he would definitely drag him down with him before he died! !
Everyone knows that Zhu Yuanzhang was the most terrifying in his later years.

"My Lord, I didn't see anything." Lu Chang turned his head away and covered his eyes with his hands.

Seeing Ouyang Lun avoiding him, Zhu Biao had no choice but to withdraw his courtesy in embarrassment.

"Brother-in-law, since we want to tame this venomous snake, we can't let it freeze to death, right?"

"Brother-in-law, you are finally getting the point!" Ouyang Lun smiled and nodded, "You asked a very good question."

"Don't worry, the people and officials' resistance to Confucianism won't last long, especially the people. As long as the heat dies down in a few days, no one will care. As for other things, we don't need to interfere too much. Reform is called reform because it will inevitably break some old rules and make some vested interest groups lose their interests. If they don't spit out what they have, how can others get it?"

"The Confucian tradition has long been destroyed. It is short-sighted and self-contained. It is normal for it to be eliminated. As the saying goes, when a whale falls, all things come to life. It is necessary to make some sacrifices."

"Brother Crown Prince, haven't you noticed? Since the decline of Confucianism, various schools of thought such as law and science that were almost extinct in the past are now rising and growing rapidly, just like the Hundred Schools of Thought before the Qin Dynasty!"

"Of course, if there are truly capable people in the Confucian school, they will rise again. If they are still immersed in the glory of the past, then what awaits them is complete extinction. Even a dynasty cannot avoid this, let alone a school of thought."

Hearing this, Zhu Biao nodded silently and stopped pleading for Confucianism. Afterwards, Zhu Biao and Lu Chang asked many questions about the reform of the imperial examination system, and Ouyang Lun explained them very seriously. When it came to the complicated part, Ouyang Lun even took out the blackboard and explained it to the two of them bit by bit.

After getting all their questions answered by Ouyang Lun, Zhu Biao and Lu Chang left satisfied.

Three days later.

The most important step taken by the imperial court in the reform of the imperial examination was to promulgate the "Detailed Explanation of the Ming Dynasty Civil Servant Examination Methods"!
The news was first published in the Ming People's Daily.

The content of the examination has changed from relying entirely on Confucianism to a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional assessment involving law, science, business, agriculture, Confucianism, etc. The proportion of Confucianism-related knowledge is only 30%!
The announcement also emphasized that the number of test points for Confucian knowledge will continue to decrease in the future, and will only be left at 10%!

When this news came out, ordinary people were quite happy. After all, they hated Confucianism and thought it was all talk and no action. On the contrary, they were quite supportive of agronomy and commerce, believing that this was fairer.

Where there is joy, there are also people who are sad. There are many scholars in the Ming Dynasty. They have studied hard for more than ten years, and most of them have studied Confucianism. As a result, they are now told that there are only 30% of Confucianism test points, and the number will decrease year by year. This means that their chances of getting a place on the list of successful candidates are getting slimmer and slimmer.

This makes readers feel quite uncomfortable.

Those great scholars who had not participated in the previous Confucian events were even more angry after seeing this "Detailed Explanation of the Ming Dynasty Civil Service Examination Methods", but they could do nothing about it.

Confucianism was so powerful in the past, but it could not shake Ouyang Lun in the slightest. Now that Confucianism has declined to this point, it is even more powerless to resist. Moreover, they also know that the reason why they, the Confucianists, are still intact is entirely because they did not participate in the previous events, thus preserving some spark of Confucianism.

Times have changed. If Confucianism wants to develop again, it must not confront the imperial court but should adapt to the new changes of the times. A new trend of thought was born within Confucianism.

Beijing.

Korean government.

Duke of Song Feng Sheng and Duke of Liang Lan Yu rushed in.

Li Shanchang was browsing the newspaper when he saw the two people coming in. He said, "Please sit down first and wait for me to finish reading this newspaper."

Upon hearing this, Feng Sheng and Lan Yu were somewhat reluctant but still sat down obediently.

About a quarter of an hour later, Li Shanchang finally finished reading the newspaper.

"What do you want to see me about?"

Li Shanchang asked.

"Old Prime Minister, you may not know this yet, but Ouyang Lun has released a document called 'Detailed Explanation of the Civil Service Examination Methods of the Ming Dynasty'. Once this news came out, the entire capital went wild. It won't be long before the whole world is in chaos!"

Lan Yu said happily.

"Old Prime Minister, the detailed explanation issued by Ouyang Lun this time is completely intended to force Confucianism to death. Lan Yu and I predict that Confucianism will cause trouble again!" Feng Sheng said in a deep voice: "Confucianism was dealt with by Ouyang Lun, and our Huaixi Party also suffered a lot of losses. I am thinking again whether I should use this opportunity to fight back against Ouyang Lun and let Ouyang Lun know how powerful we are."

"That's right! Recently, officials of the Prince Consort Party have been going too far, especially the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Guo Zi and the Chief Censor Wu Jinzhi. One set various thresholds for the funding of our Huaixi Party, and the other kept reporting our Huaixi officials for corruption and abuse of power. Several brothers have been dismissed because of this. If this continues, our Huaixi Party will follow the footsteps of Confucianism." Lan Yu's face gradually became ferocious, "Old Prime Minister, if you give the order, I, Lan Yu, will rush into the clan house with a few brothers and chop Ouyang Lun into pieces!"

"Confused!"

Facing the persuasion of Lan Yu and Feng Sheng, Li Shanchang said in a deep voice.

Then he handed over the newspaper in his hand, "You two take a look at this newspaper first!"

Lan Yu glanced at the newspaper with disdain, "This is just something Ouyang Lun uses to deceive people, I won't read it!"

"madness!"

Li Shanchang said unhappily: "No wonder you came up with such a stupid idea today!"

"This newspaper is no less powerful than the entire Jinyiwei Yamen, and it may even be more powerful than the Jinyiwei. If you don't even understand your opponent's methods, it will not be unfair for you to lose to Ouyang Lun in the future!"

Hearing what Li Shanchang said, Feng Sheng quickly took the newspaper.

"The headline on the front page is about the detailed explanation of the civil service exam! And they knew it one day earlier than us!" Feng Sheng exclaimed.

Lan Yu also put away his disdainful look and quickly started looking at it with Feng Sheng.

"I knew about this earlier than you did! It was because of this newspaper!" Li Shanchang said, "At first I also felt that once the news about Ouyang Lun came out, it would definitely cause dissatisfaction among the remaining Confucian scholars and scholars all over the world!"

"Just like you, I think this is a great opportunity to bring down Ouyang Lun!"

"But after I finished reading this entire newspaper, I completely gave up on this idea. This newspaper not only published a detailed explanation of the civil service exam, but also published a comprehensive analysis of this policy, clearly analyzing the pros and cons. This imperial examination reform may seem to be detrimental to Confucianism and all the scholars in the world, but in fact it is of great benefit to them!"

"The analysis is so thorough, and it is genuinely for the benefit of scholars, and it also gives Confucianism a way out. Do you think anyone will still make a fuss?"

Hearing this, Lan Yu said unwillingly: "The content above is just Ouyang Lun's personal opinion. I don't believe that everyone will believe it!"

"Lan Yu, Lan Yu, why don't you understand? Ouyang Lun doesn't need everyone to believe him. He only needs the majority of Confucian scholars and scholars to believe him. That's enough for you, and there won't be any chaos!" Li Shanchang asked back, "This news has been out for two or three days. Although Kyoto is shocked, have you seen anyone publicly express dissatisfaction?"

"Uh this?"

“Can you see the remaining great Confucian scholars taking the lead in opposing it?”

“It doesn’t seem to be”

(End of this chapter)