Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 154 Family Affairs, National Affairs and World Affairs!
Imperial College.

If we must point out what was special about the Imperial College in the early Ming Dynasty, it would be its extremely large scale!

According to historical records, in the 26th year of Hongwu, the number of students in the Imperial College reached 8,124.

It is now the 25th year of Hongwu, and the scale is close to 8,000 people.

Compared with universities in later generations that often have tens of thousands of students, eight thousand students are certainly nothing.

But for this era, the scale of the Imperial College was indeed enormous.

As the only "university" in the Ming Dynasty and the place where the largest number of scholars gathered in the entire Ming Dynasty, the status of the Imperial College was extremely important.

Zhu Yunhuan went to the Imperial College on a whim and without prior notice.

Therefore, when his carriage arrived at the gate of the Imperial College, it was stopped by the guards.

"Officials, please dismount here!" the guards shouted.

They did not know that it was the carriage of the Crown Prince. They could only judge from the guards surrounding the carriage that the visitor must be a person of high status and noble identity.

Zhu Yunhuan lifted the curtain of the car and walked down.

In fact, when you get here, you have to get off the carriage even if the guards don't stop you.

After all, further inside is the gate of the Imperial College, which has a high threshold and even carriages cannot pass through.

The guard shouted because he didn't know the other person was coming to the Imperial College and thought he was just passing by the street next to him.

According to etiquette, civil officials had to get off their sedan chairs and military officials had to get off their horses whenever they passed by the gate of the Imperial College.

The door is not open at this moment.

The students and staff of the Imperial College usually went through the side door.

Zhu Yunhuan did not reveal his identity outside to avoid causing too much noise, and walked directly in through the side door.

The guards of the Imperial College were about to step forward to stop and question them, but were stopped by the imperial guards. The leader of the imperial guards took out the imperial guard token and shook it.

The guards of the Imperial College suddenly widened their eyes.

Looking at Zhu Yunhuan's age and appearance, how could he not know that the visitor was none other than the current Crown Prince.

"Don't tell anyone!" the head of the imperial guards warned, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is here today for a private visit. Don't let anyone outside know about it."

The guards nodded in response.

Everyone was shocked and extremely nervous.

Although the Imperial College is also an important place of the imperial court, many high-ranking officials come here on weekdays, and they have long been accustomed to it.

But it’s still different when the Crown Prince comes in person.

Moreover, all the political affairs of the Ming Dynasty are now entrusted to the Crown Prince. Although he is called the heir apparent, he is actually no different from the Emperor.

Otherwise, the term “Prince’s New Deal” would not have been spread among the people.

Since the Crown Prince did not want outsiders to know that he had come to the Imperial College, the guards certainly did not dare to make it public.

Zhu Yunhuan didn't necessarily have to hide his identity on purpose. He just didn't want the news to spread outside and let everyone in Jinling City know that he had come to the Imperial College.

Walking in the Imperial College, Zhu Yunhuan heard the sound of reading aloud and had a strange feeling, as if he had returned to the university campus of later generations.

The students of the Imperial Academy can be roughly divided into four categories: those admitted through hereditary merit, those recommended by the emperor, those who were honored as tribute students, and those who were appointed as regular students.

The Yinjian system includes two types: official students and grace students.

Official students refer to those who enter the academy based on the official ranks of their fathers and grandfathers, and most of them are children of noble families.

On the contrary, the children of high-ranking civil servants rarely become official students.

After all, most high-ranking civil servants were those with excellent results in the imperial examinations, and their descendants naturally had to follow the imperial examination path, become Jinshi, and take the top spot in the imperial examinations.

Although after entering the Imperial College, you can also take the imperial examinations.

However, the supervision and teaching of the Imperial Academy were extremely strict, and students were subject to many restrictions, and the results were not as good as those of private schools.

On the contrary, if one goes directly to become an official through the Imperial College instead of taking the official route of the imperial examination, he will be looked down upon by his fellow literati.

We all come from a scholarly family, but our children and grandchildren can't even pass the imperial examination. How shameful!
The children of noble families do not have this concern.

After all, most of the nobles were of military origin, and it was a matter of pride for their children and grandchildren to be able to read and write.

There is no need to expect to pass the imperial examination.

Ensheng was granted admission to prison because his father and grandfather sacrificed their lives for the country.

In short, they are the descendants of the martyrs.

The jujians were mainly those who came to the capital to take part in the imperial examination but failed to pass the examination and become Jinshi.

Gongjian were students sent to the Imperial Academy by local prefectures, counties and schools, also known as "gongsheng".

The students who were admitted to the Imperial College refer to those who paid money, such as horse, grain, or silver, to put it bluntly, they were bought into the school.

Among them, the number of supervisors is the largest.

The second is the tribute supervisor.

The next is the Yinjian.

In later times, prisons were rampant, but during the Hongwu period, they were still very rare.

There are two reasons for this.

First, Mr. Zhu did not completely open up the door to buying admission quotas. Although there are people who enter through regular supervision, they often have special reasons.

For example, if a certain place suffered a disaster, the relief grain from the imperial court had not yet been delivered there.

A wealthy local family took out all the grain in their own granary and donated it to the government for disaster relief, and only then could they get a place in the regular prison.

On the contrary, even if the wealthy families in Jinling City were willing to pay a lot of money and grain, they could not buy admission.

The second reason is that being an official under Zhu Yuanzhang is definitely a tough job.

If things go wrong, they will be beheaded, and even their entire family and nine generations of clans may be implicated. The wealthy are not stupid and will not spend their own money to jump into the fire pit.

As a result, there will naturally be fewer regular inspections.

Zhu Yunhuan walked into Chengxin Hall and heard a white-haired instructor teaching students.

"Your Majesty has already issued a clear order that the students of the Imperial College are not allowed to discuss politics. Anyone who violates the order will be punished with 20 strokes of the cane at the least, or exiled to Yunnan at the worst."

"Most of the things published in the Da Ming Daily involve the politics of this dynasty."

"As students of the Imperial Academy, if you casually read the Ming Daily, you will inevitably be guilty of discussing politics."

"So the Lord Jijiu has repeatedly ordered that you are not allowed to read the Ming Daily."

"But now there are people who disregard the strict order of the Lord Jijiu and peek at it privately without permission. If they are not severely punished, what will happen to them in the future?"

He walked back and forth in the classroom with a stern look on his face. About twenty students were kneeling in front of him, all with their heads bowed.

The instructor shouted, "Come here, drag them down and give each of them twenty heavy strokes of the cane! Record their crimes in the book. If they commit the same offense again, they will be expelled from the Imperial College and exiled to Yunnan!"

Immediately, a strong man came forward and wanted to drag the man down and beat him with a stick.

Old Zhu was very strict in his management of the Imperial College.

The Imperial College not only had teachers, but also had guards who were specifically responsible for enforcing the law on students.

If the students did anything that displeased their teachers, they would be ordered to be severely punished.

Even the daily homework and how much books to memorize have strict regulations.

If you fail to complete the homework and cannot memorize it, you will be beaten with the stick ten times!
Although the Imperial College was the highest institution of learning in the Ming Dynasty, its internal management was actually no different from that of a prison.

Even stricter.

In this era, the discipline of students is relatively strict.

It is also common for teachers to hit students on the hands with a ruler.

This is a natural thing in any school, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with teachers beating students.

However, the Imperial College in the early Ming Dynasty was so strict that many teachers in the Ming Dynasty felt it was too strict.

The students were even more terrified when they heard that they would be sent to the Imperial College to study.

"Stop!" Zhu Yunhuan shouted and walked into the school.

"The contents of the Ming Daily are important events of this dynasty."

"All the students of the Imperial Academy will enter the officialdom in the future and help the king govern the country."

"If you don't even know the important affairs of the court, how can you handle government affairs?"

"Students read the Da Ming Daily and are familiar with state affairs. What crime has this committed?" The instructor had not expected that there would be someone in the Imperial College who dared to break into the school and refute his words.

Judging from Zhu Yunhuan's appearance, he is just a teenager.

Someone who is so bold and presumptuous must be a "Yinjian" from a noble family.

He immediately frowned and said, "Whose child are you? How dare you come here to disrupt the school? Why don't you leave quickly?"

As for the children of nobles, the instructors dared not go too far and could not afford to offend them, so they could only order them to leave.

If it were a student from an ordinary family who casually barged into the school and criticized the teachers, he would definitely be punished with a serious crime.

Zhu Yunhuan smiled faintly and continued to walk forward slowly: "People say that 'a scholar can know everything in the world without leaving home'. Since you are a teacher at the Imperial Academy, you must be a person with profound knowledge."

"Whose child do you think I am?"

The teacher was stunned.

I didn't expect that there would be such an arrogant student in the Imperial College.

It should be noted that although there are many children of nobles in the Imperial College, except for those who occasionally behave mischievously or do not complete their homework well, they are basically well-behaved.

Who is this guy in front of me?

At this moment, a student below bowed to the ground and said, "Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

A sound that was not too loud rang out in the school.

The other students and teachers were immediately shocked and stunned.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come to the Imperial College?
The teacher just felt his head buzzing.

Why did His Royal Highness the Crown Prince come to the Imperial College without any prior notice?
He just felt that the other party was too arrogant, but he didn't associate it with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince at all.

But looking at the age, appearance, and demeanor of the young man in front of him...especially after hearing that someone was paying him a visit, he did not seem flustered at all, but instead accepted it calmly. Who else could it be but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?
The teacher and other students also knelt down immediately.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

……

"Everyone, stand up." Zhu Yunxun walked up to the student who knelt down first and asked, "What's your name?"

This person was the first to recognize his identity, and his eyesight was quite good, which made him a little curious.

"Student Xia Yuanji!" the man replied respectfully.

"Xia Yuanji? Are you Xia Yuanji?" Zhu Yunhuan was deeply surprised and blurted out.

There were not many officials from the early Ming Dynasty whose names he remembered in his previous life, and Xia Yuanji was one of them.

I had previously looked through the list of officials in the Ministry of Personnel, but did not find this person.

It turned out that the other party was still studying in the Imperial College at that time.

As soon as Zhu Yunhuan said this, everyone around him was surprised.

Xia Yuanji was just an ordinary student of the Imperial College.

He was born in a humble family, and was not a descendant of noble family, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had heard of his name.

Xia Yuanji was also very surprised: "Your Highness, have you ever heard of the student's name?"

Zhu Yunhuan immediately realized that he had lost his composure. As His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he should not have treated an ordinary Imperial College student in this way.

"I heard someone say before that there is a man named Xia Yuanji who writes well, but what about you?"

He asked with a faint smile.

Before Xia Yuanji could speak, the teacher next to him said, "Xia Yuanji is indeed the best writer among all the students."

Zhu Yunxi nodded.

He vaguely remembered that Xia Yuanji's first official position in history was to be responsible for writing imperial edicts.

If he hadn't written good articles, he wouldn't have been chosen for this job.

Xia Yuanji did not leave any famous poems or articles for later generations, probably because he devoted himself to being an official.

This is normal.

Most of those who like to write poetry and articles to express their ambitions are people who are unsuccessful in officialdom.

"Teacher, you are too kind to praise me. I am unworthy of it." Xia Yuanji responded respectfully.

"I just happen to be lacking someone who is good at writing. Since you are a student of the Imperial Academy, you will eventually become an official. From now on, you will serve me."

Zhu Yunhuan was worried about the lack of manpower at his disposal, so when he saw Xia Yuanji, he certainly would not let him go.

When these words were spoken, all the students were shocked, and even the instructor's eyes widened in shock.

Go to the side of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and serve him?
In the future, you will be a minister in the imperial palace and your future will be limitless!

This student is going to reach great success overnight!

Xia Yuanji was so excited that his whole body trembled.

I never dreamed that I would be inexplicably noticed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Was it just because I was the first one to recognize His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's identity?
There are nearly 8,000 students in the Imperial College, and thousands of new students enter every year.

Although everyone will become an official, how many of them can actually become high-ranking officials?

What's more, he was just born in an ordinary family, so it would be even more difficult for him to rise in the officialdom.

But now that I have been chosen by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to be by his side, everything is different.

At present, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in charge of the government of the Ming Dynasty, and the selection of officials is decided by him.

What's more, Your Majesty is now very old, and it is just a matter of time before His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ascends the throne and becomes emperor.

Future prospects...

Xia Yuanji quickly regained his composure and kowtowed to express his gratitude: "Thank you, Your Highness. I will repay you with my life."

Zhu Yunhuan nodded gently, motioning him to stand up, then looked at the instructor and said, "What you just said is wrong. Students of the Imperial College should read the Ming Daily."

"If you don't even know the major events of the dynasty, and you don't care about the outside world, and you only read the books of sages, how can you become an official in the future and how can you work for the court?"

"The Imperial College educates talents for the country, and should teach students current affairs and government affairs so that they can apply what they learn."

"Starting tomorrow, the Imperial College will subscribe to the Ming Daily for students to read."

"Let everyone understand what is happening in the court, rather than being a pedantic scholar who only knows how to read the books of sages but is ignorant of current affairs."

"If such a person were allowed to be an official, it would be a misfortune for the people and an insult to the court!"

He reprimanded harshly, and the teacher was shocked and kept nodding in response.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is wise!" a student immediately shouted.

The other students responded immediately and cheered.

Many people looked at Zhu Yunhuan with not only awe but also deep admiration.

The person before him is not only the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, but also a legendary young talent who can write "The Rolling Yangtze River Flows Eastward".

Today, I reprimanded the teachers and asked them to read the "Da Ming Daily", which made everyone agree with it and admire it even more.

As expected of someone who is keen on reform and is rumored to be implementing a "new policy", His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is indeed different from others.

Zhu Yunhuan ordered again: "Xia Yuanji, prepare your pen and ink and write a couplet for me."

There was no shortage of pens and ink in the school, so Xia Yuanji quickly picked up his pen, and everyone immediately held their breath.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's talent is known throughout the world, but who knows what kind of stunning work he will write today.

Many of Zhu Yunhuan's deeds have long been passed down among the people as miraculous.

Although everyone knows his age, it is often difficult to associate him with a teenager.

Especially when you see it with your own eyes.

You should know that most of the students in the Imperial College are not young.

Many of them are already in their thirties or forties.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's childish face and majestic aura made people feel as if the person in front of them was not an ordinary boy, but a god who had descended to the earth.

Zhu Yunhuan swept his eyes over the many students and slowly recited: "The sound of wind, rain, and reading is heard everywhere. I care about the affairs of family, country, and the world."

……

(End of this chapter)