Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 207 Re-education of the people!
Liu Sanwu stood there in a daze.

Xia Zhibai's words had a great impact on him.

He never thought that someone would come up with such an idea.

Restricted person!!!
Liu Sanwu opened his mouth, wanting to refute something, but he didn't know what to say. In the end, he could only sigh, slowly stood up, and said in a deep voice: "You are just as the rumors outside, you are really unique, and you really asked me."

Xia Zhibai shook his head.

He looked at Liu Sanwu calmly, looking at this old man, and said lightly: "Master, it's not that I asked you a question that stumped you, but you have never thought about whether the scholar class in the world today has too many privileges."

"It is historically determined that the scholar class enjoys certain privileges."

"Because the world needs to be governed by scholars."

“But the world will change.”

"Because literacy was very expensive in the past, there were few scholars, so it was natural to give preferential treatment to scholars. However, with the advent of papermaking and printing, scholars are no longer scarce, but today's scholars still enjoy the privileges of scholars in the past, and they have usurped too many benefits in the world."

“It’s not fair.”

"Nowadays, in addition to the meritorious families, there are millions of gentry families in the world."

“There will be more and more in the future.”

"These people don't have to serve in the army, nor do they have to pay taxes, and yet they occupy the majority of the land. Is this really a good thing for the world?"

"If you really care about the world, you should re-evaluate the current situation of scholars."

"When responsibilities and obligations are not equal, fairness has been distorted, and people will definitely be dissatisfied. I am just shouting out in advance on behalf of the people at the bottom. When tens of thousands of people shout out in the future, the inner treasury will be burned to ashes, and the streets will be trampled with the bones of officials and nobles. It is not impossible that this will happen again."

“The re-education of the people is a historical necessity.”

"In your opinion, Master, I am destroying the Great Wall by doing this, but isn't this also protecting the scholars?"

"The gentry and landlords in the world have committed too many evils. Sooner or later they will be overthrown. However, many people still hold on to a glimmer of hope, thinking that they will not be the last to be overthrown. They still cling to it and want to continue to exploit the people at the bottom so that they can enjoy themselves for a while longer."

"And you think if I don't do this, the lower-class people will have no way to learn to read and write?"

"impossible."

"They will try their best to climb up."

"In the past, there was a distinction between the poor and the noble, and now there is also a distinction between the literati and the lower classes."

"Huang Chao and his group of people destroyed the nobles and allowed the poor to enter the upper class. In the future, there will definitely be new 'Huang Chao' who will completely trample the literati and allow the lower class to enter the upper class. The literati have enjoyed privileges for so long, it's time to give in and wake up."

"Open your eyes and look at the world!"

“Although this process still takes some time.”

"But I just want to speed it up, so that people at the bottom can have more opportunities to read and learn, so that more and more people can fight against injustice, stand up and protest, so that the evil in the world will no longer be hidden in the darkness."

"even"

“Let Confucianism be a bystander.”

Liu Sanwu looked at Xia Zhibai suddenly and asked, "What do you mean?"

"The Ming Dynasty advocates pragmatism!" Xia Zhibai said firmly, "Confucianism is becoming more and more empty talk nowadays. It is flashy but not practical. It is strong on the outside but weak on the inside. It is full of pretentiousness but ultimately becomes empty talk. This is not what the common people want to learn."

"What the lower-class people want to learn is agriculture, technology, experience, management, how to make their fields produce more, how to make more money to improve their lives, how to make their living environment better, and how to protect their legal rights and interests."

"Instead of showing off your knowledge there."

"I read some 'zhihuzheya' every day, shaking my head there, and I am not idle every day, wondering whether to change 'yingti' to 'yinghu' or 'yuanxiao' to 'yuanli'."

"pragmatic."

“This is the first principle of studying in the future.”

"As for morality, propriety, justice, integrity and shame, the lower-class people are educated in various ways for more than 300 days a year. They know much more than those scholars."

Liu Sanwu pointed at Xia Zhibai angrily.

He really wanted to accuse Xia Zhibai of not respecting his teacher.

But looking at Xia Zhibai's determined eyes, it turned into a sigh.

He said, "You are too radical."

"Going against the grain will only hurt you in the end."

Xia Zhibai smiled calmly and said, "Going against the grain? I don't think so. I think I am on the right track. The privileges of scholars are too great. They need to be restricted. They must be restricted. If we continue to allow the gentry to do whatever they want, the Ming Dynasty will be hopeless."

"And I believe the people will make the right judgment."

Liu Sanwu looked at Xia Zhibai solemnly, shook his head, turned and left.

Xia Zhibai watched Liu Sanwu leave.

He did not have much opinion about Liu Sanwu, an old man who was full of knowledge and influenced by secular views. He could not get rid of the influence of "Shilin" throughout his life and even paid with his life for it.

There are many people like Liu Sanwu in the world.

Xia Zhibai knew it a long time ago.

They are all vested interests and will only be content to take another sip.
Take another breath!
Xia Zhibai organized his notes and looked around. It was empty with no one else in sight. The once bustling Hanlin Academy had become much quieter as last year's successful candidates were successively entrusted with important tasks.

Xia Zhibai put away the organized notes and turned back to the salt shop where he lived.

On the other side, at a corner, Liu Sanwu did not leave.

He just watched Xia Zhibai walk away, and when Xia Zhibai was completely out of his sight, he slowly walked out.

He looked at the empty gate and sighed, "Young people are really formidable."

Although he was not optimistic about what Xia Zhibai was going to do, Xia Zhibai's words did wake him up. There seemed to be more gentry in the world today, and the privileges that the court had given to scholars in the past had now been inherited in full.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty will have vassal kings and local gentry.

Think of this.

Liu Sanwu's eyes dimmed.

He is indeed old, but at such an old age, he is still valued by Zhu Yuanzhang. Naturally, he has his own abilities. He only entered the court last year, but during this year, Zhu Yuanzhang has asked him for advice many times, asking him for advice on how to govern the country and the people, and on how to select talented people, and he also entrusted him with the important task of publishing rules and regulations.

Even the imperial examinations were based on his advice.

And he gave Zhu Yuanzhang a very important suggestion.

If an article cannot "convey the truth" and "be used at the right time", it is useless.

But this "timely use" is easier said than done.

If he really adhered to this point, he should summarize Xia Zhibai's suggestions and report them to His Majesty, asking him to impose certain restrictions on the scholar-official class. However, doing so would make him the target of public criticism.

How could he bear it?

Liu Sanwu walked out with his hands behind his back, shaking his head and saying, "I'm getting old."

"Why do you fear death when you are old?"

"It's so strange."

He secretly made up his mind not to ask about what Xia Zhibai did anymore, and he would also remind his son-in-law not to get involved. No matter which side he got involved with, he would face big problems. This was the only idea he could come up with for his son-in-law.

Just returned to the salt shop.

Jing Man walked up.

At the same time, a letter was also handed over.

Xia Zhibai took it and found that there was no signature on it. He asked, "Who sent this letter?"

Jing Man shook his head: "I don't know. I just saw someone running over and leaving this letter here, and he also asked you to be on time for the banquet."

Xia Zhibai frowned.

There was very little content in the letter, just giving the location and time.

Invite him to meet.

Jing Man said, "Sir, how about not going?"

Xia Zhibai pondered for a moment and shook his head, "No need. Since the other party sent a letter to me, it means that he wants to discuss something with me. He will not do anything to me. Besides, I am now a fifth-rank official. If he attacks me, he will definitely think twice."

Xia Zhibai chuckled.

He looked at Jing Man and said, "It's been a little quiet for a while."

"correct."

"How do you feel about the establishment system I showed you?"

“Is there anything that needs improvement?”

Jing Man quickly shook his head and said with a smile: "You are joking, sir. You have considered everything very carefully. There is no need to modify anything. On the contrary, I think you have considered too much. The treatment you give is too good, even higher than that of many officials."

Xia Zhibai laughed and said, "This is also a possible idea."

"Throughout the ages, there has been a concept that everything is inferior except for studying. Many people study just to become officials and make money. And this misconception has become stronger over time. Instead of focusing so much on making money, why not just go for the path to make money?"

“It can be said that we have reached the same destination through different paths.”

"If this move can get some officials to leave the officialdom on their own initiative, it may not be a bad thing."

"Under the system established by His Majesty today, isn't it intentionally suppressing the salaries of officials to make some weak-minded people leave?"

Jing Man seemed to be thinking about something.

But he disagreed with Xia Zhibai's words.

There is a big difference between being an official and doing business. How much money can you make by doing business?
If the officials don't give in, can the merchants really make money?
But he was happy with it. Whether it was because more and more scholars were doing business or he was entering the officialdom in the future, it reduced a lot of pressure. Moreover, he could see that their university scholar was very ambitious and had great ambitions. If he could really put that aspiration into practice.

The future of these clerks who came here first will not be bad.

Xia Zhibai asked Jing Man to close the shop, and he returned to the study to continue tidying up.

He wants to design the general framework of the new "dictionary".

Once the design was completed, he would use his title of "Grand Secretary" to hand it over to other scholars in the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College students. Otherwise, he would not be able to do it himself. It would be too time-consuming and laborious for him to compile the entire dictionary by himself and refer to "Shuowen Jiezi".

However, whenever he read "Shuowen Jiezi", he couldn't help but admire the wisdom of the ancients.

Arranging Chinese characters according to radicals is truly a great innovation.

　Tomorrow three more
　
(End of this chapter)