My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 420 A New Monster is Born

Under the close attention of the entire Chang'an city and even most of the Chinese civilization, the first imperial examination in Chinese history finally kicked off.

The scholars from various schools who came to Chang'an from all over the country and registered for the imperial examination entered the examination room arranged for them by the Nei Shi Yamen with their best wishes for the future.

——Outside the examination hall, Northern Army soldiers were responsible for maintaining order and public security, with a guard post every three steps and a sentry every five steps!
Apart from the imperial guards who stood guard and patrolled with their backs to the examination room, there were also the examinees who arrived early and walked into the examination room in order;

And the crowd outside the examination hall who are either anxious, or expectant, or standing on tiptoe to watch the excitement.

Inside the examination room, the candidates who have already entered are like chess pieces placed on a Go board, sitting in the grid-like grid, quietly waiting for the start of this exam that has attracted the attention of most people in the world.

As the candidates gradually walked into the examination room, the atmosphere, which was not relaxed to begin with, gradually took on a confusing and solemn air.

"Your Majesty said that once everyone in the world gets used to it, the imperial examination will become a battlefield for scholars to 'conquer' each other;"

"I didn't really believe it..."

Ji An thought so as he felt the faint smell of gunpowder in the air which was obviously uncomfortable.

——As the most trusted and closest member of Liu Rong's Crown Prince's Palace, Ji An was inevitably assigned the task of 'invigilating' in this imperial examination.

Although it is called invigilation, it is very different from the impression of invigilation by later generations.

In later generations, invigilators not only had to distribute test papers to candidates and read out notices issued by leaders to candidates, but also had to patrol the examination room constantly to prevent candidates from cheating.

But Ji An, the invigilator, or the chief examiner in the examination room, did not have to consider these things at all.

——The test papers were distributed by sergeants.

Patrols are also the responsibility of sergeants.

What Ji An needs to do is to coordinate the planning of the entire examination hall and control the overall situation.

For example, at this moment, although all the candidates were present, Ji An did not rush to give instructions, but waited patiently for the final moment.

Since Ji An did not issue any orders, the officials and soldiers under him naturally did not dare to act on their own.

Therefore, the officials could only learn from Ji An and pretend to close their eyes and rest, as if they were angry with a certain candidate, and they ignored all the candidates.

Instead, the sergeants who were responsible for the physical work kept walking and wandering in the examination room in an increasingly weird atmosphere;

As time went on, the soldiers' eyes towards the candidates became increasingly unfriendly.

As Ji An watched all this, his eyes revealed a hint of understanding and insight.

——Regarding the imperial examination, Ji An had talked with the contemporary Liu Rong many times.

Although Ji An never explicitly expressed his objections such as "absolutely not", in almost every discussion, whenever he had the opportunity to speak, he would express his concerns about this new thing.

We can't blame Ji An for being pedantic;
After all, he was a Huang-Lao scholar and was regarded by Huang-Lao scholars as the only representative "hero" of the new generation.

Anyone who studies Huang-Lao cannot help but feel a sincere rejection of any new thing, especially something that will disrupt the old order.

It is to rule by doing nothing;
Just let it be;
In the view of Huang-Lao school, the most ideal situation for a regime is to repeat an ordinary day over and over again.

It's like being stuck in a time loop.

Don't change anything. Don't do things if you can avoid doing them. Don't interfere in the people and affairs of the world if you can avoid interfering.

It's like herding a flock of sheep.

If the legalists mean a strict law like 'create a file for every sheep, if one sheep causes trouble, the left and right will be punished';

What Mr. Huang would say would be: find a mountain, build a fence around it, drive the sheep up the mountain, and then forget about it.

What the sheep eat and drink, and whether they will be in danger, all depends on fate.

As a unique "young talent" in Huang-Lao school who has not emerged for many years, especially as a confidant of the current emperor who has made a name for himself in the prince's palace, although Ji An is more flexible in thinking than other old pedants and stubborn people in the school, some things cannot be easily changed after all.

Just like the imperial examination - when Ji An first learned about it, his first reaction was to frown.

Later, in the conversation that occurred because of Liu Rong's casual question, Ji An kept asking questions, such as what to do with this, how to do that, etc., but what Ji An really wanted to express was never to remind Liu Rong that "there are still these problems that need to be solved" or to sincerely ask for advice on "how to do these things".

What Ji An wanted to tell Liu Rong: Your Majesty, look!

How troublesome is this?
This hasn't even officially started yet, and so many questions have already popped up;
God knows how many rotten things will come out when the time comes to actually implement it?
Let's not do it.
Isn't it good to maintain the status quo?
Just rely on recommendation and wait for the local counties to recommend one person after another...

Ji An's thoughts ultimately did not escape the sharp eyes of the current Liu Rong.

In order to make Ji An understand his good intentions, Liu Rong talked with Ji An about the imperial examination many times, and each time they talked a lot, for a long time, and in depth.

For example, the phrase "the examination hall is like a battlefield" that Ji An recalled just now was the future scene that Liu Rong inferred based on the experience of later generations and the nature of the imperial examination.

Liu Rong clearly remembered that in the new era more than 2,000 years later, let alone the civil service examination that determined whether one could enter the system, or the college entrance examination that so-called determined one's "life destiny";

Even a driving skills test to obtain a driver's license can attract a crowd of onlookers outside the examination room.

There was a special period when the driving qualification test in Liu Rong's hometown even had a specified passing ratio, which was similar to the unspoken rule that "no matter how many people take the test, only half can pass."

Therefore, in order to defeat their competitors, candidates began to do everything they could to improve their own hard skills while creating troubles for their competitors.

Reporting identity fraud or "he must have drunk alcohol last night" are all the most basic and trivial things.

Liu Rong once heard about a person who, in order to pass the exam smoothly, sold contraband to other candidates in the name of "tranquilizers, take them and you won't be nervous"!
If such unscrupulous and unbridled competition cannot be regarded as "examination room is like a battlefield", then Liu Rong does not know what kind of examination can be called "examination room is like a battlefield".

In addition to this - in addition to the future development direction of the imperial examination system and the cultural scene that is likely to be formed, Liu Rong also discussed in depth with Ji An the issue of the gradual growth of the bureaucratic group after the implementation of the imperial examination system.

This made Ji An feel more and more at a loss, and he felt more intuitively and truly that the Huang-Lao philosophy he had learned seemed to be increasingly unable to keep up with the pace of the times.

once Upon a time;

To be precise, it was the time when Emperor Taizu Gaozu unified the world again after Emperor Qin Shihuang and established the Han Dynasty.

At that time, Huang-Lao school of thought was the darling of almost everyone in the world.

Rule by doing nothing?

——Great!
Tao follows nature?

——Juejuezi!

Just do it! We will do what Mr. Huang said!

There is no other;

It's just cost-effective.

During that glorious period, almost every young scholar who studied Huang-Lao doctrine had imagined and yearned for those past highlights thousands of times.

However, few people understand that the glory of that period did not come from the advanced nature of Huang-Lao School itself, but simply because the Han Dynasty at that time was so completely poor.
Apart from the Huang-Lao school, which was the most cost-effective, trouble-free and labor-saving school and at the same time did not completely leave its followers unattended, the Han people could not find a second school of thought that could serve as the so-called "ruling school" in the world at that time.

Legalism?

Not only did he trick the Qin Dynasty into destruction during the second reign, but all he talked about was reform and money.

My buddy, as the founding emperor, has barely had a few days of peace. He has been running around everywhere to quell rebellions. And you're talking to me about reform and change?
It's not impossible - I support you spiritually;
As long as you are willing to pay out of your own pocket, let alone reform, even if you change your sex, I will still regard you as a loyal minister who serves the country and the people.

what?
No money?

Coincidentally, I don’t have any money either.

Not only do I have no money - nowadays, few people in the world have money...

As for ~Confucianism?

Anyone who understands understands.

Any emperor who has a little bit of ambition and understanding of the sufferings of the lower classes would not think that Confucianism is a good thing.

Moreover, what Confucianism wants to achieve is a "family-state-world" dominated by landlords and gentry;
At the end of the dynasty, the central authority declined and the emperor became a clay statue. It would have been fine if Confucianism focused on achieving this great goal;

The dynasty has just emerged and the founding emperor is still alive - especially when a founding emperor like Liu Bang, who is a heavy Confucianist, is in power. Does Confucianism want to establish a family-state and gentry economy?
It's just that there isn't enough 'Emperor's Urine' in the hat...

After all, the reason why Huang-Lao school of thought could undoubtedly become the ruling school of thought of the Han Dynasty in that special era was because the ideas advocated by Huang-Lao school of thought were the only theoretical system that the Han Dynasty could afford at that time.

Apart from the Huang-Lao school's "ruling by inaction" and "rest and recuperation" style of governing the country, the Han Dynasty at that time could not afford any other way or concept of governing the country.

Huang Lao is cheap;
The Han family is poor.

The two sides hit it off immediately, thus completing the epic level of "collusion".

However, when the time came to today, more than 50 years later - when Liu Rong, the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty and the fourth generation descendant of the Liu family, was in power, the situation was no longer the same as before.

——Huang Lao is still cheap;
But the Han family is no longer poor.

There is a way to live if you don’t have money, and there is a way to live if you have money.

Although the Han family could still live a frugal life even with money, the Han family - or Liu Rong, was obviously a little "arrogant".

To be precise, starting from the late period of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, the emperors of the Han Dynasty were no longer satisfied with the governing philosophy of maintaining the most basic operation of the government at the lowest cost and thus maximizing savings.

——Thinking back then, my father and grandfather had no money, so they had to rule the world with the philosophy of Huang-Lao and let the people rest;
By now, the treasury is already extremely full due to the accumulation of funds by my ancestors over the years!

With such wealth in hand, if I continue to govern by doing nothing and let the people rest, then wouldn’t all the hard work of my ancestors to accumulate this wealth be in vain?

To put it more bluntly, the emperor of the Han Dynasty became more and more ambitious.

When the country was founded, all Liu Bang wanted was to rely on the existing conditions to put together the cheapest makeshift team, as long as it didn't fail.

However, as the central government's finances continued to improve, Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xianjing began to think about how to strengthen the makeshift team.

——Although saving money is still the main goal, people are starting to spend money.

During the reign of Liu Rong, there was an even more obvious watershed - Liu Rong simply gave up on saving the old makeshift team and planned to completely tear it down and rebuild it!
What bureaucratic system, military system, and even social system...

Taking all aspects into consideration, what Liu Rong planned to build could not even be considered a platform.

As for what it is, probably no one knows except Liu Rong.

In short, Liu Rong wanted to carry out drastic reforms and rebuild a system for the Han family that was not cheap but very cost-effective due to its high efficiency.

This governing philosophy of "expensive, but also easy to use" is obviously inconsistent with the governing philosophy of Huang-Lao school of thought of "cheap and can be used as a makeshift".

Therefore, it was inevitable that Huang-Lao school of thought was eliminated from the core of power decision-making in the Han Dynasty by history.

——The Han dynasty was poor when it was first established, but it was impossible for it to remain poor forever;

A makeshift troupe can be set up temporarily to hold on, but it is impossible to expect this makeshift troupe to last for hundreds of years!

After all, whether it was the Sanzhu coin that ruined one's character, or the Huang-Lao school of thought, the only affordable "ruling school", they were just temporary expedients that Emperor Taizu Liu Bang had to take.

Just like the three-zhu coins, once the central government's financial situation improves, we must seize the opportunity to eliminate and ban them;
It is just like Huang-Lao School - the primitive accumulation is sufficient, and the central government has to move from the original low-cost maintenance to the direction of greater centralization. Then the ruling school should also choose a new one from outside Huang-Lao...

"My generation really needs to take a good look at the world."

"——The world today is no longer like the past when Emperor Taizu Gao ascended the throne and Prime Minister Cao Shen feasted for three months, but state affairs were not missed at all."

“The world has changed;”

"Perhaps it's time to change my Huang-Lao philosophy..."

After all, he is the 'wise man' of the younger generation, and the future and hope of the school that the entire school agrees on;
Even though Ji An was somewhat pessimistic about the future of the school, he was not so desperate that he would not even think about it or seek a way forward.

In Ji An's view, what Huang-Lao school of thought needs to do most now is change.

——Just like Confucianism, they molded themselves into different M shapes according to the emperor’s preferences.

Ji An believed that with such advanced ideas, the Huang-Lao school should lower its proud head and seek out Confucianists to learn from it.

As for the present moment, this examination is about to officially begin?

Although Ji An did not think that the imperial examination would become a "battlefield" before, at this moment, everything in front of him was telling Ji An...

"A new monster is born."

"——Following the Qin Dynasty's military meritorious service and the Han Dynasty's martial spirit of 'using martial arts to achieve everything', a new monster was born..."

(End of this chapter)