Thief Emperor

Chapter 981 New Learning and Old Learning

Only a dozen miles away from Luoyang City, the Emperor on the dragon chariot looked at his eldest daughter who was looking around excitedly in the chariot, and shook his head slightly.

"Don't look at it anymore. Go and call your Uncle Zhou over. Dad has something to say to him."

Princess Lujiang was leaning against the window looking out. When she heard this, she turned her head and looked at Li Yun: "Then my daughter will get on her mother's car."

Li Yun said "hmm" and smiled, "Go ahead, go ahead."

Princess Lujiang then stopped the sedan chair and got off. She went to find Zhou Bi in person, and after speaking to him for a few words, she got on Concubine Lu's carriage.

After receiving the news, Zhou Bi did not dare to delay and hurried to the emperor's carriage. He first saluted the carriage, and only when he heard a voice from inside the carriage saying "get in the carriage and talk" did Zhou Bi carefully get on the emperor's carriage.

It is impossible for ordinary ministers to ride with the emperor so easily. Among the officials in the outer court, perhaps only Du Qian can have this honor.

But Zhou Bi is still a little different. He is from the old village and the emperor's "little brother" since childhood.

After getting on the chariot, Zhou Bi lowered his head and said to the emperor: "Second brother, you are looking for me?"

"Ah."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at Zhou Bi, reached out and tapped the cushion under him, and said, "A few months ago, the general began to rectify military discipline, arrested many typical examples in the army, and rectified the national law."

"This matter was handled by the Inspection Department."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Bi immediately lowered his head and said, "It was done by the Inspection Department."

The emperor paused and continued, "What did the Inspection Department do about this matter?"

"Tell me in detail how many generals and officers have been punished for their mistakes."

Zhou Bizheng was the chief inspector of the Privy Council. Upon hearing this, he quickly bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, since the founding of the country, especially in recent years, military discipline is indeed not as good as before. Even some of the inspectors stationed in various armies have begun to become corrupt."

"Last time, the general asked us to conduct a thorough investigation. The Inspection Department submitted a list of more than 70 people, and they were eventually punished by the court."

"There are twenty-nine of them in all."

Emperor Li nodded silently. He looked at the scenery outside the window and said, "This road is long and winding. We have plenty of time to travel. You are fine, and I am fine too."

"Tell me in detail the names on this list."

Zhou Bi was stunned when he heard this. Li Yun looked at him and asked with a smile, "You can't remember it?"

Zhou Bi quickly said, "Second brother, I...I can remember the general idea."

"Then tell me."

"rest assured."

Emperor Li patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Since the general has not dropped his sword, I will not bother these people for a while. I was just bored on the road and listened to it to relieve my boredom."

"That's what you say."

Zhou Bi nodded and said, "Then I will start with the Chengdu Army, under the command of former Chengdu General Qian Zhong..."

…………

Luoyang City, Zhongshu.

Now, Prime Minister Yao Zhong has gone on an eastern tour with His Majesty the Emperor, and Prime Minister Zhuo Guangrui is still dealing with this year's disaster and has not returned from the disaster area. There are only three prime ministers left in the Secretariat.

Now, the three prime ministers are sitting in the government hall.

Du Xianggong naturally sat in the main seat. He looked at the two new ministers sitting next to him. After a moment of silence, he said, "What happened in the seventh year of Zhangwu has now been exposed. It has reached the ears of the emperor. No matter who it is, there is no way to suppress this matter."

"Your Majesty's tour to the east at this time can be considered as giving us some respect. After all, if we want to discuss it in detail."

"As the Prime Minister, I am the first one who cannot escape responsibility."

As he spoke, he looked at Xu Ang and said slowly: "Brother Ziwang, this matter is also closely related to your Censorate."

Minister Xu looked calm. He looked at Du Qian and said, "Minister Du, if we talk about cause and effect, at most it was our Censorate that exposed this matter. What does the Censorate have to do with anything else?"

"That Cao Yu, I only met him a few times before, who knew he could cause such a big mess?"

Mr. Du took a deep breath, looked at Tao Wenyuan, and said, "Sir, you need to speak at this time."

Tao Wenyuan was born into a family of scholars. In his early years, he was the principal of the first academy in Chang'an City and was a recognized great scholar.

He had no intention of pursuing a career in officialdom, but after arriving in Jiangdong, he was invited by the Emperor to serve as an official in the small court of Jiangdong. Later, because of his good professional ability, he served as the Minister of Rites for many years.

Because of this, Mr. Du always called him "Sir".

At this time, Mr. Tao was in a very bad mood. After listening to Du Qian's words, he looked up at Du Qian, then lowered his head and said with a wry smile: "I was the then Minister of Rites. Last year's imperial examination was of course closely related to me, but who was most involved..."

He did not continue.

Prime Minister Du looked at him and said, "Last year, Prime Minister Zhuo was the chief examiner and two vice-ministers of the Ministry of Rites were deputy chief examiners. Originally, he, as the chief examiner, should have been in the examination room before and after the examination, but due to some things, he left the examination room twice." Tao Wenyuan turned pale and stopped talking.

Xu Ang, who was standing aside, had a blank expression on his face. He said in a deep voice, "Prince Tao, at this moment, why don't you tell the truth? If you don't tell us what you know, we will still have to investigate. When we find out something, whether you two report it to His Majesty or not, I will report it to His Majesty."

Everyone in the court knew that Lord Xu was a loyal minister to the emperor and a lone minister.

It was because of this that he was able to hold on to the position of Imperial Censor and be appointed Prime Minister.

It has always been difficult for the Imperial Censor to be appointed as Prime Minister, because one of the duties of a Prime Minister is to coordinate all officials, and the Censorate offends countless officials every year.

The fact that Prime Minister Xu was appointed as prime minister showed that the emperor had great trust in him.

It is precisely for this reason that Xu Ang can put his words out there without any scruples.

Tao Wenyuan was silent for a long time, and finally he let out a long sigh.

"In the final analysis, this is actually a dispute between new learning and old learning."

He looked at the two gentlemen in front of him and continued, "You two also know that after the founding of the new dynasty, the court promoted new learning, promoted practical work, and advocated the study of practical achievements."

“This is completely different from the old week.”

He paused and continued, "Unfortunately, after the founding of the country, the court was too short of people, so His Majesty ordered me to set up the Ministry of Rites. I had no choice but to invite some famous scholars and great scholars to serve in the Ministry of Rites. Now many officials in the Ministry of Rites came from here."

"They are not from a new school."

The so-called new learning is the "practical" learning promoted by Li Yun, with pragmatism as the first priority in everything.

The most representative of the new studies is agronomy. How to cultivate land and how to cultivate land well also became a subject in the Li Tang Dynasty.

These policies naturally have their benefits. For example, in just a few years, production in the entire Central Plains region has recovered well.

Officials who have passed the new subject examinations may still engage in corruption and abuse of power after arriving at local levels, but they are not completely blind and they can do something.

This is a good way to resume production.

However, just as Du Qian felt the conflict between new and old officials in the court, what Tao Wenyuan felt was the conflict between new and old learning.

Tao Xianggong was silent for a while, and then continued, "Some people feel that the examination questions are all new knowledge, and they are full of commercialism and utilitarianism, and have no intention of saints at all, so they want to do something."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Du frowned.

After a long while, Du Qian looked at Tao Wenyuan and said slowly, "Sir, the matter has already happened, and we have to find a way to solve it. Tell me everything you know, and we can discuss it first."

Tao Xianggong lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "I don't know much, I just vaguely guessed something."

He looked at Du Qian and said, "Because last year it was Prime Minister Zhuo who took the test, and Prime Minister Zhuo is a close confidant of His Majesty and a great contributor to the new dynasty, so they wanted to make something of it."

"According to their ideas."

"It is to contribute one's heart and soul to the study of sages."

Xu Ang sneered and said, "What a sage's teaching."

"Why didn't their teachings of sages cure the old Zhou?"

Tao Xianggong frowned and couldn't help saying, "The old Zhou ruler was stupid and ignorant, what does he have to do with learning?"

Xu Ang was about to argue with him when Du Xianggong coughed and looked at Tao Wenyuan and said, "Sir, do you know how they did it specifically?"

"do not know."

Tao Wenyuan shook his head slightly: "They don't really trust me, and they don't want me to get involved, but I can guess it."

"It's nothing more than leaking questions or misjudging two items."

Mr. Tao said this and continued, "Moreover, in their eyes, this may not be a wrong judgment."

The Xin Dynasty is still too young. Including the group that attended the Jinling Literary Society, it has only been about ten years.

Ten years is not enough for the candidates at that time to become examiners of the imperial examinations.

Naturally, many of the people who graded the papers came from traditional schools of thought.

When Tao Xianggong said this, he stood up and bowed to Du Qian, saying, "I cannot shirk this crime."

"Fortunately, your majesty is benevolent and will not punish anyone except those who plot treason."

Mr. Tao bowed deeply to Du Qian.

"I am willing to sacrifice my life for yours."

(End of this chapter)