Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 171 Brief Historiography and Textbooks

Since book compilation was mentioned, Zhu Youjian asked about the compilation of brief histories.

Soon after he ascended to the throne, he decided to use the Huangdi Era, and asked Huang Liji and Zhang Ruitu to preside over the compilation of "A Brief History of Chinese Chronicles", and Shi Fenglai and Li Guopu to preside over the compilation of "A Brief History of World Chronicles".

It’s almost three months now, so naturally I want to ask about the progress.

Huang Liji and others, as cabinet bachelors, usually have countless things to be busy with. Even though they serve as CEOs, they are not specifically involved in the compilation of books——

Don't forget that since Zhu Youjian came to power, he has reduced the power of the cabinet a lot and used standing meetings to directly decide many things. However, Zhu Youjian barely touched the most important voting power of the cabinet. There are countless memorials every day, which require the approval of four bachelors and draft decrees.

Especially after Zhu Youjian determined that the chief minister of the cabinet must give a reply to each memorial and that there must be at least two votes in the cabinet, Huang Liji and the other four became even busier. They were busy writing votes for those memorials every day.

This is also the reason why they proposed to increase the number of cabinet ministers. It was a bit overwhelming for four people to handle so many memorials.

Especially the current emperor is a fickle person and has made many adjustments to court affairs since he came to power. Many cross-departmental matters require cabinet decisions.

In order to reduce work pressure and reduce external impeachment, Huang Liji and others proposed adding more cabinet ministers.

Now that the emperor mentioned the compilation of a brief history, Huang Liji thought for a moment and replied:

"We have compared the Yellow Emperor's era with the era names of previous dynasties and the Jiazi chronology, and are selecting major events to compile a brief history."

"However, the history books of the past dynasties are vast and complicated, and I am afraid that I will not be able to complete a brief history within this year."

When Zhu Youjian heard that the chronology had been compiled, he nodded in approval and said:
"As much as we can complete, first print out the comparison table, and then try to print the first volume so that people can use the Yellow Emperor's Era."

"In addition, the content of the Brief Chronicle of China should not exceed six volumes, in case there are too many volumes and poor scholars cannot afford them."

"In the future, any content related to history such as imperial examination policies and imperial edicts and forms must be based on brief histories and should not exceed the scope."

"We need to reduce the burden on students. Don't ask weird questions so that students can't answer them on purpose."

The imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty were mainly based on the Four Books and Five Classics, but they did not exclude other contents.

For example, in the provincial examination, in addition to the four books and five classics in the first session, the second session tests the theory of rituals and music, one selected answer to the imperial edict, and five judgments. The third session tests policy theory, including classics, history, and current affairs policy.

It can be said that the content of the exam is very extensive, and it is impossible for people who do not read enough to pass the exam.

As some of the questions become more and more bizarre, it is possible to screen out poor students who cannot afford books. Zhu Youjian decided to delineate the scope of the examination and use Brief History as a history textbook to reduce the burden on students.

At the same time, it can also promote the history books compiled by itself and exclude unofficial histories such as "Huang Ming Tong Ji".

In the future, even if students are curious about such banned books, they can only endure their curiosity and not read it, so as not to remember the history incorrectly and make mistakes in exams.

As a student who received education in later generations, Zhu Youjian has a deep understanding of these. It can be said that as long as it is not tested in the exam, students will not remember it. Even if I read it when I have nothing to do, it is just for entertainment and I will not memorize it carefully.

After the examination questions were determined to be drawn from brief histories, students of the Ming Dynasty would look more at the brief histories designated as relevant to the examination. Memorize these brief historical contents over and over again. Unofficial histories such as "Huang Ming Tong Ji" are still studied enthusiastically by some people now, but in the future no one may pay attention to them. Huang Liji was so happy when he heard the emperor's order. He really didn't expect that the emperor would give him this great gift.

Compared with this, bearing some pressure is nothing. All students in the future must study the brief history compiled by him. Consider these volumes of brief history as a study of the Four Books and Five Classics of history——

This is the status that Zhu Xi's "Collected Commentary on the Four Books" has. He may become a saint in history in the future.

The gift sent by the emperor was so big that Huang Liji felt that all the officials in the palace were staring at him eagerly. This made him consider whether to give them some credit, lest he be too jealous and impeached by them.

I heard the ministers speaking out one after another, saying that the compilation of the brief history could not involve only academicians. After Huang Liji thought about it, he also requested the emperor that the six ministers and other ministers should be allowed to participate in the compilation of the brief history.

What Zhu Youjian wants to do is to formulate history textbooks and does not care who gets this reputation. Seeing that the ministers did not object to this order, but actively participated in the compilation, they immediately ordered:

""A Brief History of China Chronicle" still has Huang Liji and Zhang Ruitu as the presidents, responsible for the compilation of the entire book."

"Fang Zhuangwei, Yang Jingchen, Guo Yunhou, Meng Shaoyu, Wang Zuoyuan, Yuan Keli, Li Ruogui, Kong Zhenyun, Xue Fengxiang, Lu Tunan, and Zhang Jiude serve as vice presidents and participate in the compilation of relevant content."

"This six-volume brief history, in addition to telling it by year, also tells the history of each dynasty in terms of politics, officialdom, finance, economy, rituals and music, military, law, engineering, technology, etc., and explains the reasons for doing so. , let students know why.”

"In addition, Yuan Keli, as the chief editor, compiled "A Brief History of Chinese Military Affairs" as an independent volume for the study of martial arts scholars."

The appointment made everyone happy. This means that their names can be written in the book for scholars all over the world to learn from.

As for whether students are willing to study, they have no doubt. After all, the emperor's banner was to reduce burdens and delineate the scope of historical examinations. If students object, they have to study the twenty-three official histories. That is more pressure for them.

In short, after giving away the reputation of compiling textbooks, Zhu Youjian took another step towards reforming the imperial examination.

In the future, he also plans to expand judgment questions into Mingfa subjects, add test questions from Mingshu subjects, and integrate the judicial arithmetic examination into the township examination, court examination, government examination, and county examination.

These historical, judicial, and mathematical contents are used as administrative professional ability tests to examine candidates' abilities in all aspects.

The eight-part essay is treated as an essay to test the candidate's writing ability. Although this style has been criticized a lot, as an examination standard, it has become the foundation of the imperial examination. Zhu Youjian just understood the relevant content and knew that it was impossible to abolish the eight-part essay, which was related to the standards for selecting talents in the Ming Dynasty.

So his idea was to lower the status of the eight-part essay and increase the content of history, justice, and mathematics. This is similar to the application essay and practical test of the civil service examination in later generations, except that the number of people admitted is smaller and the requirements are higher.

He has not mentioned these plans to anyone now. He just asked the ministers to compile a brief history as a history textbook, and then determine the judicial textbooks and examination cases when revising the law.

In terms of mathematics, Zhu Youjian plans to recall the mathematics textbooks of later generations and compile textbooks based on current mathematics knowledge.

He did not intend to leave this aspect to the court ministers. Mathematics is different from history and justice, and most officials with imperial examination background are not familiar with it.

Except for officials in the Ministry of Revenue, Qintianjian and other government offices, most officials do not deliberately study mathematics. Zhu Youjian wanted to promote the development of mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography and other subjects, so he could only write it himself. The knowledge he has learned is far ahead of this era in many aspects.

Now, the compilation of a brief history has taken the first step towards formulating a textbook. In addition to the Four Books and Five Classics and the Ming Rules, Ming students had new textbooks.

As for whether their burden will be reduced or increased, that will be decided later!
(End of this chapter)