Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 212 Longyou Zhumen (Please give me double monthly tickets at the end of the month)
"Your humble servant Li Shangyin pays respect to Marshal Liu Jie!"

On the afternoon of the fifth day, Liu Jilian met Li Shangyin, a "less popular poet" in later generations, in the main hall of the Protectorate.

He was about forty years old, with some white hair on the temples, a regular face, and a thin and tall figure. It was obvious that he had not had a good life before this.

While he was observing Li Shangyin, Li Shangyin was also observing him.

Li Shangyin met Liu Jilian in the morning. At that time, he felt that the saying that "Liu Jilian has the appearance of an outstanding person" was true. Now, observing him closely, he could not help but sigh that such a person could be born in a family of slaves.

Young and promising, handsome, and with extraordinary achievements...

It is incredible that these things that everyone in the world yearns for can appear in one person at the same time.

If Liu Jilong hadn't had a poor background, he would truly be worthy of the word "flawless".

However, since he married the direct grandson of Feng family of Bohai, his family background was naturally unimportant.

Although the story of Liu Jilong and Qi Niangzi had not yet spread, the various regions adjacent to Shannan West Road had already known about it.

Some people lamented that the Feng family of Bohai had fallen into decline and had to rely on marrying off their legitimate grandson to gain support.

Some people also lamented that Feng Ao was so cruel in choosing a son-in-law that he even dared to marry Liu Jilong.

In any case, this matter will spread throughout the north or the entire Tang Dynasty in the next few months or even a year.

"Please take a seat, dear driver."

Liu Jilong spoke with a smile, and Li Shangyin also sat down slowly, waiting to talk with Liu Jilong.

"I have always heard of Li Biejia's literary talent, but I recruited Li Biejia to Longyou not because of his literary talent."

"Excuse me, Marshal Jie, why is that?" Li Shangyin asked curiously.

After all, he had never held any high-ranking position. Most of the time he just helped people write articles and issue government orders.

Those inspectors and military governors who recruited him mostly did so because of his literary talent. Therefore, they did not give him a high actual position, but instead gave him a very high honorary title, as if they were treating him as a signboard.

It’s a pity that his reputation has become increasingly bad in recent years, especially after Li Deyu’s death, he was criticized by many people as a treacherous person.

Liu Jilian dared to use him boldly and promoted him to the fifth rank, which made him grateful but also cautious.

As he came to Longyou, this emotion gradually became tinged with curiosity.

He was very curious about what was so special about the person who managed Longyou so advancedly, and why he targeted him.

Under his gaze, Liu Jilong chuckled and then asked: "Before answering Li Biejia's question, I have a question for Li Biejia to answer."

"May I ask Li Biejia, what do you think of the Niu and Li parties?"

Liu Jilong’s problem made Li Shangyin’s heart twitch. After all, it was because he was involved in the Niu-Li factional struggle that he had to waste fourteen years.

Of course, he spent three of those fourteen years at home mourning for his mother, so he couldn't blame others.

Thinking of this, Li Shangyin took a deep breath and then said:
"Niu Zengru's plan for slowness and Li Deyu's achievements, in my humble opinion, there is no right or wrong between the two, they just have different political views."

After experiencing so much, Li Shangyin is no longer as radical and impulsive as he was when he was young, and his evaluations are more fair.

At least his comment is close to Liu Jilong's view.

Li Deyu and Niu Zengru had different styles, all due to their different political views.

From Niu Sengru's perspective, the Tang Dynasty was already a candle in the wind and could not withstand any more turmoil, so his governing style was "don't make any more turmoil."

In his opinion, the Tang Dynasty was rotten to the core, and anything that needed to be done, even policies that were good for the people, would become a burden during implementation and weigh on the shoulders of the people.

Rather than carrying out drastic reforms that fail to materialize, it would be better to do a good job in disaster relief and at the same time cut as much unnecessary redundant officials as possible, so as to allow the Tang Dynasty to die slowly and gracefully.

Li Deyu was the opposite. He believed that the Tang Dynasty could still be saved, so he emphasized "achievements" when employing people and doing things.

For him, as long as officials can get things done, even if mistakes occur in the process or results, they can be forgiven.

It’s a pity that the two of them only represent themselves and cannot represent everyone behind them.

Although Niu Sengru was the leader of the Niu Party, he was actually just a "tablet" in public. The people who really ruled for a long time were people like Li Fengji, Li Zongmin, and Bai Minzhong.

What these people thought and did were different from what Niu Zengru thought and did. Although Li Deyu's side was slightly better, there was no difference.

Just as Niu Zengru thought, the Tang Dynasty had begun its slow death after the An-Shi Rebellion.

As it has been passed down to the present day, even the roots have become rotten and smelly. No matter how many policies the upper echelons formulate to benefit the people, when it comes to the implementation stage, they will be distorted due to the greed of the executive officials.

All policies that benefit the people will become a heavy burden on the shoulders of the people.

Although Li Shangyin had experienced many beatings in life, he still only saw the differences in political views between Li Deyu and Niu Zengru, and did not understand why the Tang Dynasty did not turn from bad to good.

If you just tell him about this kind of thing, he may not understand it.

But if he were to experience it himself, he would know why.

"Li Beijia, have you ever thought about why the court doesn't use you?"

Liu Jilong asked Li Shangyin again, to which Li Shangyin smiled bitterly:
"Everyone says that I was targeted because my father-in-law Wang Maoyuan was a member of the Li Party, and I betrayed Lord Linghu, so I was not used by the court."

"It's a pity that the world doesn't know that although my father-in-law was promoted by Prime Minister Li, he was not a member of Li's party."

"Although Lord Linghu is against Prime Minister Li, he is not a member of the Niu Party."

"The reason why I was not employed by the court was probably because after my father-in-law passed away, I served in the shogunate of Zheng Ya, a core member of the Li Party, and that's why I attracted attention."

Although Linghu Tao opposed Li Shangyin's friendship with Zheng Ya of the Li Party and was very unhappy about it, this incident was not enough for the Niu Party to target Li Shangyin, not to mention that the Niu Party did not target Li Shangyin.

In the third year of Dazhong, Li Shangyin wrote an epitaph for Bai Juyi at the request of Bai Minzhong of the Niu Dang, and then wrote a eulogy for Niu Sengru.

Bai Minzhong and Niu Sengru were both leaders of the Niu Party. If they wanted to target Li Shangyin, they would not have invited him to do these things.

The ones who really want to overthrow the Li Party are not the Niu Party, but someone else.

It was because Li Shangyin was noticed by this person that he was suppressed and his talent was not appreciated.

In the entire Tang Dynasty, there is only one person who has such means and power...

Li Shangyin didn't dare to say anything about this person, even if he knew him.

"It's the Supreme!"

In front of Li Shangyin, Liu Jilong calmly revealed the mastermind behind the incident.

"General Jie, you..."

"There is no need to hide in Longyou."

Li Shangyin wanted to persuade Liu Jillong to keep silent, but Liu Jillong interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

Not only that, Liu Jilong also pointed out:

"Although our Supreme Lord always claims to follow Taizong's example, he has neither Taizong's ability nor Taizong's magnanimity. He is nothing more than an imitator."

Liu Jilian expressed the thoughts of many people close to Li Chen, and also stated the facts that Li Shangyin had always dared not to say.

Li Chen, the emperor who was later called the founder of the "Dazhong Reign", was not as good as historians wrote.

He imitated Emperor Taizong of Tang in every way, but Emperor Taizong of Tang dared to reuse Wei Zheng, Wang Gui, Xue Wanche, Feng Li and others under Prince Yin's command after dealing with the problem.

On the other hand, as Emperor Wuzong had already died, Li Chen could not only fail to keep Li Deyu, but also many capable ministers who were involved with Li Deyu.

At the age of 46, he had yet to appoint a crown prince and only wanted to keep power firmly in his own hands.

This kind of lack of self-confidence and suspicion of capable ministers is far worse than that of Emperor Taizong of Tang, let alone Prince Yin.

"General Jie...you'd better be careful with your words."

Li Shangyin was worried that there were ears on the other side of the wall, but Liu Jilian just chuckled and did not respond to him.

Seeing him like this, Li Shangyin could only continue the previous topic:

"Which party do you think should be appointed between the Li Party and the Niu Party to save the Tang Dynasty from its decline?"

When faced with Li Shangyin's question, Liu Jilong had the answer in his mind in an instant.

Although many people think that the Niu Party represents the common people, in fact, most of the members of the Niu Party come from aristocratic families or poor families.

The imperial examination system of the Tang Dynasty was not perfect. Most of the top scorers and Jinshi candidates came from aristocratic families, followed by those from smaller families, and finally those from humble backgrounds.

Only wealthy families like Huang Chao are worthy of being called commoners.

However, from Huang Chao's experience, we can see that the history of imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty is basically a sad history of scholars from poor families, and most of the common people who came from poor families had the experience of repeated failure in the examinations.

Although the Niu Party supported the imperial examination system, it did not support the common people.

As for the Niu-Li factional struggle, it should actually be regarded as a conflict between the pragmatic and literary factions among the aristocratic families.

Since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the main way out for commoner scholars was to join the shogunate. If they wanted to achieve success in the imperial examinations, a military governor who valued them had to first enter the court and pave the way for them.

So if the imperial court wanted to reduce the power of the feudal lords, it would have to give commoner scholars a way out, and the most likely way out was to take the imperial examination.

In other words, after the reduction of the feudal system, the Niu Party, a group of literary people from aristocratic families, would have to take the imperial examinations together with commoner scholars, and Liu Jilian did not think they would agree to it.

As for Li Deyu, his actual attitude towards the imperial examination is also worth pondering.

He was not against the imperial examination; what he was against was the children of aristocratic families taking the examination.

He believed that children of aristocratic families should enter officialdom through connections, and that the imperial examination should be used to select the poor and the lonely.

It can be said that Li Deyu’s attitude towards the imperial examination was consistent with his advocacy of reducing the power of the feudal lords.

They both protected the rights of the children of aristocratic families, but the difference was that Li Deyu left a path for the commoners to rise. Liu Jilong chose neither of them because he looked down on the so-called children of aristocratic families.

Why would a guy who was born a slave make choices from the perspective of a noble family?

Even if he could not copy the system of later generations, the perfect imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty was before him. If he could not copy later generations, could he not copy the Ming Dynasty?
Although the imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty had many things to criticize, this did not prevent it from being the fairest talent selection system before modern times.

It does not have the imperial family system of the Tang and Song dynasties, nor does it have other official channels of the Manchu and Mongolian dynasties. It is fairer than the former and the latter.

Because of this, a large number of upper-level officials in the Ming Dynasty came from poor families, ranging from artisans to tofu vendors, with all kinds of backgrounds included, and most officials entered the government through the imperial examination.

It is better to make improvements on the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system than to continue using the system of this era.

Now his territory is not big enough, he does not have enough talents, and his money and food are not sufficient, so the students he trains have relatively shallow knowledge and their numbers cannot overwhelm this group of children from aristocratic families.

But as time went on, with the printing technology, resources and population he had, he didn't believe that he couldn't deal with this group of people.

But before that, he needed enough children from poor families to enhance the knowledge of his students, and this was his purpose in winning over Li Shangyin.

Thinking of this, he smiled and said, "They are fighting for the people of the world, but you and I are different."

"You are a commoner, and I am a commoner. It is true that joining them can make things go smoothly, but I prefer to challenge the strong."

Before Li Shangyin could grasp the true meaning of Liu Jilong's words, Liu Jilong continued:

"There are more than 20,000 students in Longyou. Although what they have learned so far is enough for them, they are still young, just like the sun at the hour of Chen, and they will continue to rise in their studies."

"They need to learn, but Longyou at the moment can no longer provide them with more knowledge."

"I want to establish an Imperial College in Longyou, and you will be the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. The Imperial College will govern primary schools and universities."

"The primary school is the current county school, and the university is the university specially built in Didao."

"I need you, Li Biejia, to recruit some poor children and have them come to Longxi to take up important positions. Even those who only know classics can serve as doctors in universities and be treated as seventh-rank officials!"

Hearing this, Li Shangyin murmured: "University, elementary school..."

Seeing this, Liu Jilong also said: "It is said in the Book of Rites: The Royal Regulations: The princes are ordered to teach, and then they can study. The primary school is on the left of the south of the palace, and the university is in the suburbs. The emperor calls it Biyong, and the princes call it Ding Palace."

"I don't have enough money to build a palace, so I just call it the Great and Small Palace because it's easy to distinguish."

The content of the Book of Rites mentioned by Liu Jilong can be translated as follows: "The emperor ordered education and then established schools. The primary school was located on the south left side of the palace, and the university was located in the suburbs. The emperor's university was called Biyong, and the princes' university was called Dingong."

Biyong was a university established by the Zhou emperor for the crown prince and children of nobles. It was surrounded by water and was shaped like a jade disk, hence the name Biyong.

Ding Palace was a university established by the princes of the Zhou Dynasty. There was water only to the south of the east and west gates, and no water to the north, so it was called Ding Palace.

To be honest, even if Li Shangyin had read "Book of Rites", it took him a long time to recall what Liu Jilian said.

"General Jie's talent and knowledge really make this humble official admire you..."

Li Shangyin couldn't help but bow in admiration, while Liu Jilong smiled lightly but felt ashamed in his heart.

These things were the knowledge he learned from asking Feng Hui last night and then flipping through books. They were not as good as those that Li Shangyin and others could learn effortlessly.

"I have served in the various town shogunate offices for a long time, and I know many of the common people's children."

"I will write to them, and even if they don't come, they should recommend someone they know to come."

"But using the name of the Imperial College is a bit excessive, so why not invite the person here first?"

Li Shangyin discussed this with Liu Jilong, and Liu Jilong naturally had no objection.

In order to ensure that Li Shangyin could bring enough people, he also made a promise:

"Anyone who comes to Longyou and has some talent and knowledge will be given an official position. Even if they are dissatisfied with Longyou and leave, I will give them travel expenses and send them back home."

Nowadays, common people from poor families would not dare to serve in a vassal state unless they had some skills.

Even if there were unqualified people, Liu Jilian had a way to drive them away.

As for whether they would be promoted to high positions in the future, or whether they would influence the students in Longyou during their teaching, Liu Jilong was not worried about this, because he already had a backup plan.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong stood up and bowed to Li Shangyin, and Li Shangyin also stood up quickly.

"Excuse me, Mr. Li!"

"What are you saying, Marshal Jie..."

Li Shangyin bowed and stood up, then continued, "Since the commander-in-chief is fine, I will go back to the mansion and write letters to the young men of the common people."

"Go slowly, Mr. Li."

"General Jie, please stay..."

The two of them made some excuses and then left the main hall.

Li Shangyin has forgotten his original purpose and now only wants to complete the task assigned to him by Liu Jilong.

As for Liu Jilong, he walked out of the Protectorate and headed towards an alley in the city.

"Liu Jieshuai!"

"Come on!"

"Jie Shuai..."

"Happy New Year everyone!"

On the streets, many people saw Liu Jilong and bowed to him and greeted him. Liu Jilong also responded enthusiastically with "Happy New Year".

Although it was snowing in Didao, everyone was smiling and felt that the temperature around them was much higher.

After a warm greeting, Liu Jilong also brought several personal soldiers to an alley more than 300 steps away from the Protectorate and walked straight in.

Soon, two red doors appeared in front of him, guarded by twelve soldiers.

When they saw Liu Jilong coming, they quickly took action and opened the door for Liu Jilong.

"Thank you for your hard work, brothers..."

Liu Jilong bowed to them and walked inside.

Inside the red gate is a circular atrium with nearly two acres of open space, including grass and a running track.

The atrium is surrounded by brick and tile corridors, which can also be called classrooms.

There is only one floor here, with seven large corridor rooms from number one to number seven.

Liu Jilong walked to Room No. 1 and opened its door. He turned back to look at several guards and said, "Just sit outside and call me when the evening hour comes."

"Yes!" Several people stood up straight. Liu Jilong pushed open the door with a smile and walked inside.

As he walked in, the sound of chanting was heard in the originally quiet corridor.

"stand up!"

"Meet the Marshal..."

The corridor was not very wide, but it housed dozens of teenagers. Their seats were like those in a university classroom in later generations, with the front lower and the back higher, so that everyone could see Liu Jilong.

Liu Jilong walked onto the stage with a chuckle, took off his cloak and hung it in the corner, looking at the group of teenagers aged fifteen or sixteen with a very humble gaze.

"I am late today. I apologize to you."

"From today on, you don't need to call me Marshal. Just call me Sir."

"You are all students who graduated early from Wuquan County School. Gathering you here today also means that you will be exposed to new things and learn new things."

"After you have learned these things, some of you will become teachers of the Longyou Imperial College, some of you will become captains or captains in the army, and some of you will become direct officials or outsiders in the government office."

“No matter who you will become in the future, I hope you will not forget your poor origins and try your best to help those who were as poor as we were.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a short young man raised his hand and said, "Sir, are there still people in Longyou who are as poor as we were before?"

Liu Jilong looked at him and saw that the young man was shorter than the other students around him, with a very young face, long eyes and thick eyebrows.

"You skipped a grade, didn't you? Why are you so much younger than the other students?"

"I am four or five years younger than them. I am nine years old this year."

The young man explained, and Liu Jilong nodded with a smile: "Great, you have skipped a grade and are here in less than three years of study."

He praised him and then answered the boy's question.

"There are thirteen prefectures in Longyou. There are still tens of thousands of compatriots from poor backgrounds in Shanzhou and Kuzhou waiting for us to rescue them."

"If we save them, there won't be any more people in Longyou who suffer as much as we did."

"But outside of Longyou, there are still many poor people like us. I hope you can rescue them in person just like we rescued you, and then stand on the podium like me and teach them. What do you think?"

"it is good……"

Their voices were drawn out, and Liu Jilong turned around and wrote four words on the hanging blackboard with lime chalk.

Then he turned around, looked at the students and said with a smile: "This is the first lesson of the day. Now please read it out loud."

Facing Liu Jilong's expectant gaze, this group of students, who were generally fourteen or fifteen years old, with a few nine or ten years old, shouted out those four words one after another.

Their voices were very childish, but they made Liu Jillong's smile even brighter, and the soldiers who were protecting Liu Jillong outside the classroom turned back in surprise.

The dark clouds dispersed at this moment, revealing a ray of sunshine, dispelling the haze of the New Year...

(End of this chapter)