Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 468 Textbooks Should Emphasize Both Confucianism and Legalism (Part 1)
"Your Highness, do it this way."

Yang Puxiong was naturally unwilling to do the job that Lu Jin had arranged for him, but before he could finish speaking, Lu Jin interrupted him immediately.

"What, Mr. Yang doesn't want to go?"

"No, Your Majesty, I am willing to go."

Under Lu Jin's threatening gaze, he still agreed. But as a result, Yang Puxiong felt like crying. Lu Jin wasn't just treating him like an outsider, he was treating him like a human being at all.

Although Lu Jin gave the reason that Southern Confucianism was the orthodox lineage and Northern Confucianism was not righteous, in China, even if Lu Jin suppressed the matter now, a hundred years later, when scholars brought it up again, even if they dared not openly discuss Lu Jin, Yang Puxiong, who was in charge of carrying out this matter, would definitely be brought up as a scapegoat. Whether he would be remembered in history or be infamous for eternity, as long as he agreed to this matter, his name, Yang Puxiong, would certainly not be missing from the history books.

Of course, this was only because he was unaware of Lu Jin's subsequent plans. The Confucian Temple would then primarily worship the Duke of Zhou, replacing Confucius, and the influence of Confucianism would be weakened through modern education. If he had known these plans, he probably wouldn't have been so afraid.

But Lu Jin was too lazy to explain to him. Yang Puxiong was a former subordinate of Xu Song, and now he had switched his allegiance to Lu Jin. It was impossible not to ask him to give some proof of loyalty.
"Since you're willing to go, pack your things and set off tomorrow. Also, don't forget to destroy the Confucius Temple in Qubu. Since there's already a Confucius ancestral temple in Quzhou, there's no need to keep the one to the north. Got it?"

"Yes," Yang Puxiong thought to himself, inwardly groaning. He was the one chosen to do this kind of thing—murdering an entire family and destroying their ancestral temple. Even if no one talked about it afterward, it was still against the natural order.
Seeing this, Chen Puwen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, he had taken on the task of appeasing Xu Shouhui first, otherwise, this immoral act would have fallen on his shoulders.

After the two men left, Lu Jin wrote another letter to Wang Guangyang, the Shandong Provincial Governor, instructing him to write a proclamation to be posted throughout Shandong. The proclamation should explain the reasons for the execution of the Kong family. He should not mention anything about being forced to surrender, and if anyone objected, he should use Zhang Qian and Su Wu as examples, arguing that the Northern Kong family's defection greatly fueled the arrogance of the barbarians.

However, this matter had nothing to do with the other people in Shandong. The purge of those who betrayed the country and surrendered to the enemy was limited to the Kong family. Others did not receive any benefits from the barbarians, so they were not included in this purge and did not need to worry about being purged.

It is still necessary to issue a proclamation. The country has been divided for hundreds of years. If we are talking about defection, all the people in the north have been forced to defect. If we do not post the proclamation, people will inevitably be in a state of panic, which will not be conducive to the stability of the rule.

The reason why Lu Jin wants to do this now is twofold: firstly, Shandong has already been captured, so it's better to settle accounts sooner rather than later; secondly, he is very angry about the actions of the Northern Kongs.

Some say that the Northern Kingdom lacked backbone, surrendering to whoever attacked it. This is incorrect. To respect history, it is necessary to clarify for the Northern Kingdom that it did not surrender to everyone. Its weakness was only directed at barbarians and foreigners. When the Chinese attacked, the Northern Kingdom was extremely resolute and refused to surrender.
Historically, when Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming army recaptured Shandong during the Northern Expedition, the Northern Kongs did not surrender. It was only after Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict threatening them that the leader of the Northern Kongs went to Nanjing to pay homage. So they had backbone, they just didn't take the initiative to surrender to the Chinese. Foreigners, on the other hand, were quicker to kneel than anyone else.

Besides, the Northern Confucian family really didn't want to be granted the title of Duke Yansheng by Zhu Yuanzhang. Their family already had the title of Prince Wenxuan, which was a royal title, so who would care about the title of Duke granted by Zhu Yuanzhang? Even in the Ming Dynasty, the Confucian Temple in Qubu still enshrined the title of Prince Wenxuan, which was granted by the Yuan Dynasty.

This time, when Lu Jin marched into Shandong, it was no exception. He originally wanted to see what kind of memorial Bei Kong would write to him. Of course, he didn't really want Bei Kong to submit and become a vassal. He just wanted to use Bei Kong's memorial to satirize them. Who knew that these people were very stubborn and had no intention of surrendering to Lu Jin at all.

Since they have no intention of surrendering, there's nothing more to say; just kill them all.
After dismissing these two groups of people, Lu Jin sent the second phase of the campaign objectives to the various armies at the front. Meanwhile, in Jiankang, Lu Jin himself was not idle either.

Song Lian, Zhu Sheng, Zhan Tong, Chen Yu and others had been attending classes for half a month and understood the new education model. During this period, Lu Jin also organized a monthly exam, using a 100-point system for the test papers, limiting the time for answering questions, specifying how many points each question was worth, and ranking students according to their scores in each subject.

This exam format wasn't particularly novel. The Imperial Academy in the Song Dynasty also had a three-tiered system where students had to accumulate credits to advance to a higher tier, which meant advancing to a higher grade. However, accumulating credits was quite different from this percentage-based exam. After all, the Imperial Academy in the past almost exclusively focused on literature, and the literature exams mainly involved writing essays, judging who wrote the best essays, which had little to do with the grade.

Therefore, the group discussed the pros and cons of this examination method, and in the end they had to admit that ranking the exams by score was fairer.

However, they believe that this examination method has limitations. For example, in the science subjects that Lu Jin mentioned, such as mathematics, physics and chemistry, the questions have uniform answers and the questions are graded according to scores, which is fine. However, the grading of Chinese is more subjective, and the score depends entirely on the subjective evaluation of the grader. Lu Jin also gave his own solution to this problem.

First, reduce the proportion of the essay in the total score of the test paper. For example, in a paper with a full score of 100, the essay should account for a maximum of 30 points, and in a paper with a full score of 150, the essay should account for a maximum of 50 points, and no more than one-third. The rest should be supplemented by fill-in-the-blank questions, multiple-choice questions, reading comprehension, etc., which have fixed answers.

Second, refine the scoring criteria for essays, such as the neatness of the paper, whether there are any corrections or spelling errors, how many points are allocated to neatness; whether it is on topic and clearly states the central idea, how many points are allocated to writing style and rhetoric; whether the logic is smooth and coherent, how many points are allocated to logic; whether the word count meets the standard, how many points are allocated to logic.

These are the deduction criteria, which will be deducted from the total score of the essay. The number of points deducted will be the number of points for each violation.

Third, increase the number of graders. Questions with fixed answers can be graded by one person, but essays, which are more subjective, should be graded by four to five people. The highest and lowest scores should be removed, and the average of the three scores should be the final score.

This way, the subjective influence of the graders can be eliminated to the greatest extent possible. For example, scores that are deliberately given high to help others or maliciously given low to harm others should be discarded. Only the average of the middle scores should be used.

Upon hearing Lu Jin's scoring criteria, the group was immediately convinced that this scoring method was indeed fairer than the previous one.

However, this method consumes a lot of resources, and it's impossible to have so many teachers grading every exam. Therefore, this method can only be implemented during major exams, while teachers still have to grade the papers themselves at other times.

Another problem is that with this exam format, the chances of leaks are much higher. In the past, the imperial examinations were all held in one examination hall, the Gongyuan, and the invigilation was very strict. The questions were just a few words, and the examinees would simply be given a sign on the spot. But with Lu Jin's new exam format, the exam papers would have to be prepared and printed in advance, which would definitely increase the probability of leaks.

This is purely a matter of productivity and organization. If you have the capacity to print tens of millions of textbooks, why worry about not being able to print enough test papers?

As for leaking exam questions, the activities of the question setters and the printing plant can be restricted. Troops can be stationed to guard the area. Before the end of the exam, the question setters and the printing plant personnel are allowed to enter but not leave. After the exam papers leave the factory, they are packed and sealed, and escorted to the examination venue by the Internal Security Forces. The examination venue is also guarded by the Internal Security Forces and the police system.

Then there's the issue of the level of the examiners. Monthly exams in schools are set by the schools themselves; midterm and final exams are set by the county education bureau; entrance exams for junior high school are set by the prefectural education bureau; entrance exams for senior high school are set by the provincial education department; and the college entrance exams for senior high school students are set by the imperial education department.

The system involves multiple layers of checks and balances, with each person held responsible for any problems. In addition, the exam papers issued by local education bureaus and education departments must be submitted to the central government for filing and review by the curriculum and research office to prevent local exams from being too easy or too difficult, and to facilitate post-exam investigations in case of problems.

After hearing Lu Jin's explanation of the organizational structure, the group nodded in agreement.

Next came the formal compilation of the textbooks. Lu Jin also held a meeting to make arrangements regarding the content of the textbooks. They were not required to get involved in the mathematics and science subjects; these were to be compiled by Lu Jin's two apprentices according to the Gongshu Secret Manual, with the main focus being on the Chinese language.

Lu Jin demanded that primary school textbooks begin with pinyin, and that the content primarily consist of carefully selected ancient poems, the Analects, articles, and fables, especially idiom stories, such as Tian Ji's horse race, marking the boat to find the sword, covering one's ears while stealing a bell, passing off a musician as a musician playing the yu (a type of reed instrument), waiting for a rabbit to bump into a tree stump, and the man from Zheng buying shoes. Lu Jin also made several strict requirements, including adding mythological stories of Nuwa creating humans, Nuwa patching up the sky, and Pangu creating the world to the textbooks.

The belief in Nuwa was already popular during the Spring and Autumn Period. The myth of Pangu creating the world first circulated in the Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, and then spread throughout the country during the Jin Dynasty. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it was already a widely circulated and accepted myth, so there is no problem in including it in the textbook.

Second, collect myths and legends from various ethnic minorities, modify them, and compile them together. For example, the legend of the Three Fairy Maidens of the Jurchen people can be said to be the incarnation of Nuwa, and everyone worships the same god.

Other creation myths include those of the Mongolian, Yao, and Yunnan ethnic minorities. All of them are put together, and no matter what gods they are called, they are all either incarnations of Nuwa and Pangu, or messengers sent by Nuwa and Pangu.

The main message conveyed is that the Han people are the elder brothers, and other ethnic groups are brothers and sisters. This message is incorporated into the curriculum to increase the cohesion among different ethnic groups.

Third, it must contain anti-superstition content. It may sound strange, since we just emphasized the need for mythology and then immediately added anti-superstition. However, they are not contradictory. Creation mythology increases cohesion, while anti-superstition is one thing, but two things.

For example, the story "Ximen Bao Governs Ye" or "The River God Takes a Wife," which is a text that is taught in elementary school, is an ancient text about officials cracking down on superstition.

Fourth, increase practical literature texts, such as a letter to someone or a diary, mainly as examples to enhance students' reading and writing skills.

Lu Jin required that primary school graduates be able to read and write official documents, do accounting, and write letters. These are the most basic literacy skills, so they must be mastered.

Fifth, there must be an article titled "My Motherland," which should emphasize the historical and territorial scope of the motherland, the sages of past dynasties, the magnificent landscape, and the concept of the motherland and the nation. It should emphasize that the nation comes before the family, and that there is no concept of family without the nation.

In this regard, we can include Lu Jin's essay "What is a Country?" written by Yan Shiguo during his first exam, along with Lu Jin's comments, in the textbook.

Sixth, there must be texts with military themes. The main purposes are threefold: patriotic education, highlighting the bravery of our army and the brutality of the enemy, thus demonstrating that we are righteous.

The articles should not be copied directly from modern ones. Instead, instructors from various units can select similar combat experiences, write them into articles, and then select a few well-written ones to include in the textbook.

Seventh, there must be texts about the lives of ethnic minorities, similar to the sixth-grade text, Leo Tolstoy's "The Poor," which tells the story of a poor fisherman.

You could write an article similar to that one, describing the impoverished lives of grassland herders, how herding sheep is simply not enough to feed them, and how cold the grasslands are in winter. You should tell the students that grassland herders are not born bandits; their southward raids are merely a result of survival and the pressure from some ambitious individuals. To solve the grassland problem once and for all, military war alone is not enough; you must find a way to address their survival issues.

Guanzi also said that when the granaries are full, people will know etiquette. If the problem of survival has not been solved, then there is no way to talk about education.

As the elder brother of all ethnic groups, the Han people should lead their brothers and sisters to a better life, and at the same time, their brothers and sisters should give their elder brother enough respect.

8. Except for classical poems and prose, all other texts mentioned above should be written in modern Chinese to facilitate student comprehension.

After listening to Lu Jin's demands, the group realized that Lu Jin's idea of ​​compiling textbooks was not simply for education. He didn't mention any of the content that should be taught in a proper classroom. Instead, he talked a lot about shaping worldviews, values, and philosophies of life. This was not compiling textbooks at all; it was clearly using education as an opportunity for propaganda.

However, they had to admit that if all students in the world studied according to the content of this set of textbooks, it would definitely produce a group of truly talented people, and it would also be more conducive to the court's rule over the border regions and better shape the concept of national unity.

The group then perked up, realizing that the importance of compiling the teaching materials had increased significantly in their minds, and they were determined to do this task well.

Having finished discussing the requirements for primary school, let's move on to the Chinese language textbooks for junior and senior high school. Compared to primary school, the content includes a large amount of prose and parallel prose in addition to classical poetry, as well as content from the Confucian classics, the Four Books and Five Classics.

However, when it came to which essays to include, the Confucian scholars, led by Song Lian, had a minor disagreement with Lu Jin.

Lu Jin requested that articles from the Legalist text "Han Feizi" be added, but the newly arrived Song Lian, Zhu Sheng, and others disagreed, so Lu Jin could only explain.

"I don't completely agree with the Legalist view. If Confucianism simply emphasizes moral education, that is, moral education, then Legalism simply doesn't treat the people as human beings."

"However, every school of thought has its essence and its dross. We can take the essence and discard the dross. Take Han Feizi for example. You disagree with this and you disagree with that. May I ask, who among you here has read this book?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and finally only Zhu Sheng replied, "I have read Han Feizi in a rough manner."

Seeing this, Lu Jin looked at Song Lian in surprise, "Mr. Jinglian has never read Han Feizi?"

Song Lian was somewhat embarrassed and immediately explained, "The doctrines of Legalism have long been rejected, and even books like this are rare. I am the chief scholar of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, so I have never read this book."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately said, "Sir, you haven't even read it, so why are you objecting? There are also good articles in Han Feizi, especially the one on signs of national ruin, which is of great use in governing the country. Every time I reread it, it is thought-provoking. It would be a great pity if such a good article were buried."

This was the first time Song Lian felt that his knowledge was insufficient. Lu Jin was very knowledgeable and had read many articles that Song Lian had never read before, making communication very difficult.

So he could only say, "Your Highness, I have never read Han Feizi. May I take a look first?"

Lu Jin immediately picked up a book from the table. "I have one here. You can read it now."

(End of this chapter)