Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 490 New papermaking technology, movable type printing!
"Feng Xiao is right. The path to officialdom is controlled by aristocratic families. This is one of the stubborn problems of our Han Dynasty."

"But the imperial examination system has been in use for hundreds of years. It would be extremely difficult to abolish it."

Jia Xu shook his head and said.

The reason why aristocratic families were able to last for a long time was due to the system of recommendation, because this system determined that only people from the aristocratic class were eligible to enter officialdom and politics.

This also led to the situation that "all those in the court are nobles, and there are no children from poor families". Only the same group of people can enter the court.

They understand this principle, so how could the noble families not understand it? Therefore, if they want to abolish the recommendation system, they will definitely encounter great obstacles.

After all, this is one of the foundations of their foothold in the court!

Liu Xie naturally understood what Jia Xu said.

In fact, the struggle between the emperors of the Han Dynasty and the gentry for "controlling the way to rise" has never stopped.

In the Western Han Dynasty and the early days of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the aristocratic families' control over the path to promotion was not as serious as it is today.

However, after Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu established the country, in order to establish the legitimacy of his succession, Liu Xiu began to vigorously promote the study of prophecies and divination.

What is the study of prophecies and divinations?

Simply put, it is to transform Confucianism into a religion, in which God has the highest status and Confucius is the leader.

Who will be the emperor on earth is decided by God, that is, "imperial power is granted by God."

God first gave the imperial power to Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, and now he chose Liu Xiu as the new emperor. In this way, Liu Xiu's succession to the throne was legitimate.

Therefore, in addition to studying classics, students in the early Eastern Han Dynasty also had to study prophecies and divination, and prophecies and divination even became the most important content of selection and assessment.

But the gentry soon found the loopholes in the theory of prophecies and divinations, because the disadvantage of the theory of prophecies and divinations is that there is no standard answer and everyone's answer makes sense.

Therefore, when selecting people through the recommendation system, if the answers given by common people and the children of gentry are almost the same, then the assessing official, as a member of the gentry class, can say that the children of gentry are more correct, or even decide who is right and who is wrong based on his own likes and dislikes.

In this way, the selection mechanism has a lot of room for operation, and the nobles can completely control who will be promoted.

This was certainly not an option, and the emperor certainly could not sit idly by and watch this happen. So after realizing this, Emperor Zhang of Han held the famous White Tiger Temple Conference.

This meeting directly stipulated the standard textbooks and standard answers.

The standard textbooks are the Confucian classics, and the standard answers are the Three Bonds and Six Disciplines. No matter whether you are a noble or a commoner, as long as your answers are the standard answers, the reviewing officials cannot say you are wrong.

Even if the reviewing officials have selfish motives, they cannot openly favor anyone.

In addition, Cai Lun later invented paper, which greatly reduced the difficulty of writing for ordinary people. Therefore, after Emperor Shun of Han ascended the throne, he added written tests on the basis of the recommendation system, making it more difficult for the gentry to control the promotion path.

However, this reform did not last long before loopholes appeared again.

This loophole is the famous "right to interpret the Bible."

To put it simply, although the country has stipulated textbooks, how to understand the contents of these books and how to write teaching materials are not up to the emperor.

Therefore, starting from the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a large number of officials from the aristocratic families who made their careers by "interpreting scriptures", such as Ma Rong, Zheng Xuan, Lu Zhi and other great Confucian scholars, began to emerge rapidly.

To make an analogy with later generations, these great scholars who were engaged in interpreting scriptures were equivalent to the teachers in training institutions.

They would annotate Confucian classics based on their own understanding and then teach them to their students.

The gentry quickly regained control of the assessment mechanism through this method.

The reason is very simple. Although everyone is studying from standard textbooks, everyone memorizes the same answers during the exam, making it impossible to tell who is better.

But when it came to the test on their understanding of the contents of the book, those children from poor families were completely defeated.

Because they have never learned these things at all, these "understandings" were written by the gentry themselves, and then they used them to make test questions.

In this way, only their descendants and students could answer the question. It was also from this period that the gentry completely controlled the promotion path.

“It’s difficult, but we have to do it.”

Liu Xie collected his thoughts and then said, "I once mentioned to Feng Xiao a talent selection system called the 'Imperial Examination System'."

"Fengxiao should have mentioned this to you, Wenhe."

Jia Xu nodded and said, "I have heard Feng Xiao say that the imperial examination system and the recommendation system have similarities. Your Majesty's idea is to reopen the imperial examination."

"This move is quite similar to Emperor Xiaoling's Hongdu School."

Although Emperor Ling was stupid, he had great political skills. You could say he was bad, but you couldn't say he was incompetent.

Hongdu School was the solution that Emperor Lingdi came up with to solve the increasingly serious problem of aristocratic families controlling the path to promotion.

This method can be described as extremely clever.

First of all, the standard textbooks of Confucianism cannot be changed. They are things determined by our ancestors. If they are changed, it would be like slapping our ancestors in the face and saying that Emperor Zhang was wrong. This is not acceptable.

Secondly, the right to interpret the scriptures cannot be changed, because those great scholars who interpret the scriptures have profound attainments in the field of scripture interpretation. Even if a new standard answer to the interpretation of the scriptures is written, it is impossible to surpass all the great scholars and convince all the students.

So he adopted a new approach, which was to create his own course and develop the teaching materials and answers.

Emperor Lingdi himself was a master of rhetoric. He wrote the "Huang Xi Pian" with as many as fifty chapters, which was of extremely high rhetoric level.

Then, based on this "Huang Xi Pian", Emperor Ling officially founded the Hongdumen School and began to recruit students.

There were two conditions for admission: one was that the candidate had to be recruited by Emperor Lingdi himself, and the other was that the candidate had to be able to write Han fu.

After these people entered school, the only academic work they did was to write new Han Fu based on the "Huang Xi Pian".

After that, Emperor Lingdi expanded the enrollment again on this basis and recruited many talents studying painting, calligraphy and other fields.

After these people graduated, Emperor Lingdi directly ordered them to be promoted to the positions of Shizhong and Shangshu, and placed them in various important positions.

This is also one of the reasons why he was criticized by the world for being stupid.

But in fact, there was nothing wrong with Emperor Ling's actions, because those who were able to study literature, calligraphy and painting came from good families.

These people have received an orthodox education, but they are not from high-ranking aristocrats, that is, they are from lower-class poor families.

Emperor Lingdi directly promoted them, which was equivalent to bypassing the recommendation system and creating his own path for selecting talents.

Unfortunately, just a few years after the establishment of Hongdumen School, uprisings broke out in various places, and Hongdumen School completely declined.

But in essence, there are certain similarities between Hongdumen School and the imperial examination system. Both involve conducting imperial examinations and are new selection systems.

The difference between the two is that Hongdumen School was a selection mechanism that existed outside the recommendation system, while Liu Xie wanted to replace the recommendation system with the imperial examination system.

"That's right. The imperial examination system was expanded by me based on the Hongdu School of the previous emperor. I plan to reopen the imperial examination."

"And the selection will not only be open to the nobles and the poor, but also to all the common people."

Liu Xie said with a gleaming look in his eyes. But Guo Jia and Jia Xu looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Guo Jia spoke up, "Your Majesty, the imperial examination is open to the common people...Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"I have no other intentions. It's just that ordinary people live in poverty. It's hard to have enough food to eat. How can we afford to study?"

"Your Majesty's idea is good, but I'm afraid it's unlikely to be implemented."

I can only think about reading after I have eaten a full meal.

All Guo Jia wanted was to give those children from poor families a fair chance for promotion, but the common people... couldn't even be called poor families.

It seems unlikely no matter how you look at it, to ask ordinary people who work hard in the fields to save money and send their children to school.

If there are more people studying in the family, there will be one less person to farm the land. Besides, paper and books are not cheap, and studying is not a matter of one or two years.

Ordinary people simply can't afford it.

Liu Xie smiled and said, "So all reforms must be carried out at the same time, so that the people can have enough food to eat and can afford to read books."

"I will tell you about having enough food later. Now I want to talk to you about how to make it possible for the people to read."

"Come, take a look at this first."

Liu Xie pointed to some papers placed nearby.

Guo Jia and Jia Xu reached out to take it, but as soon as the paper got in his hand, a look of surprise flashed across Jia Xu's face.

"Is this...paper?"

He had already noticed the pile of snow-white things placed next to the emperor. He originally thought it was white silk, but unexpectedly it was actually paper!
The paper in his hand was completely different from ordinary paper. Not only was it as white as snow, but it also felt very delicate to the touch.

He had never seen such fine paper!

Guo Jia also noticed the unusualness of these papers, but what attracted his attention more was the content written on the papers.

"Improved papermaking?"

"Movable type?"

Guo Jia read out these words softly, then looked at the emperor with doubts in his eyes.

He guessed what it was: improved papermaking technology.

I guess it's the papers in my hand.

But what is movable type?
Sensing the doubt in Guo Jia's eyes, Liu Xie did not answer directly, but asked: "Fengxiao, Wenhe, how much do you think this paper is worth?"

Jia Xu looked at the paper repeatedly in front of him, and after a moment's silence, he said, "This paper is as white as snow, and its quality is beyond anything I have ever seen. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is worth a thousand gold."

"wrong."

Liu Xie shook his head after hearing this, then picked up a piece of paper and said, "The cost of this kind of paper is much lower than the current cost of paper."

"I don't know if you still remember that Emperor Gaozu once gave me The Exploitation of the Works of Nature in a dream, which recorded the new papermaking technique."

"These papers are made by the craftsmen of the Metallurgical Bureau using the new papermaking technology. They are not only cheap but also of high quality."

"This matter has been carried out in secret, and I have not publicized it to the public."

Liu Xie said frankly that shortly after he lifted the siege of Chang'an and returned to Chang'an, he began to let the craftsmen of the Metallurgical Bureau study a new type of papermaking technology.

These papers were made by craftsmen from the Metallurgical Bureau.

"And what is movable type printing?"

Guo Jia pointed at the large square characters written on the paper and asked.

Liu Xie didn't say much. He took out a few small copper pieces from his sleeve and threw them to Guo Jia.

Guo Jia took them and looked at them, and found that there were words engraved on one side of these copper blocks, but the words were in reverse.

“This is movable type.”

Liu Xie smiled and explained to them: "Currently, books are generally preserved in the form of bamboo slips, but bamboo slips are heavy and difficult to carry and read."

“Although there are paper books, they still need to be copied in person.”

"The so-called movable type printing is to arrange the copper blocks with characters engraved on them into a text, then apply ink on the copper blocks and print them on paper."

“Like a seal stamping a seal.”

Liu Xie picked up a few copper blocks, arranged them, dipped some ink on the inkstone, and pressed them hard on the paper.

Three large, square characters "Printing" suddenly appeared on the paper.

"In this way, articles and books can be printed quickly and in large quantities without having to be copied by hand."

"Coupled with cheap paper, the price of books naturally dropped, and reading was no longer out of reach for ordinary people."

"If you still can't afford it, it's okay. I will build libraries in various places so that people can read for free."

Liu Xie spoke eloquently and put forward his ideas one by one.

Guo Jia and Jia Xu were stunned after hearing this!

Papermaking, movable type printing!
The impact of these two things is more shocking than the three reforms the emperor had mentioned before.

Because it is right in front of them!
Cheap paper and technology that can print books in large quantities, these two things combined can directly break the monopoly of the aristocratic families on reading!

Just as the emperor just said, by then reading will no longer be exclusive to the gentry, even ordinary people will be able to afford to read!
Once more people become educated, they will naturally want to move up in career, and then the imperial examination system can be reformed.

Going by the will of the people is the biggest conspiracy!

No one can stop the mighty trend!

Guo Jia was the first to recover from his shock, and then he said excitedly: "Your Majesty, you, you are truly a god!"

There is no doubt that these two methods of the emperor directly hit the weak spots of the aristocratic families and shattered their greatest advantages!
The key is that these two measures are good things that benefit the country and the people, and there will be many people supporting them even among the aristocratic class.

You must know that there are also poor people among the aristocratic class!
Books are expensive to them, so they are naturally happy to see them become cheaper!
"Wonderful! So wonderful!"

Jia Xu couldn't help nodding, looking at the snow-white paper in his hand, he felt more and more reluctant to let it go.

"I thought Your Majesty was going to rely on force to carry out reforms directly, but I didn't expect Your Majesty to choose such a brilliant method. I really admire you!"

Using force to reform the imperial examination system would inevitably lead to bloodshed, but this method would not result in bloodshed and would not affect the stability of the country.

It just takes some time.

But what is time?
The emperor is only 22 years old now, in the prime of his life, and there is plenty of time to wait!
(End of this chapter)