Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 575 Reform of the Imperial Academy

"The capital city has many temples and monasteries, but the atmosphere for teaching is not strong. The Imperial Academy has been abandoned for many years, and it is now in need of revitalization!"

On a spring day, while Zhang Yu was working in the fields, he suddenly remembered the suggestion that Cai Yong had made to him a few days earlier.

Thanks to Zhang Yu's intervention, Cai Yong did not die at Wang Yun's hands but lived to be seventy. Over the past ten years, Cai Yong had co-authored history books with many elderly figures from the Eastern Han Dynasty, but as these elders passed away one after another, only Cai Yong remained to write history.

Last winter, Cai Yong compiled and annotated the "Dongguan Hanji". Based on the previous 114 chapters, he added 50 chapters of annals, treatises and biographies, extending to the point where Liu Xie abdicated to Yuan Shu, for a total of 164 chapters, covering nearly two hundred years of Eastern Han history from Liu Xiu to Liu Xie.

Although the Dongguan Hanji was completed by Cai Yong, it was funded by Zhang Yu. In the last fifty chapters, Cai Yong, out of consideration for his son-in-law, blamed the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty on the brothers Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao, and commented in the historical book that "the world was torn apart, starting with the two Yuans".

Therefore, the completion of the "Dongguan Hanji" can be regarded as Zhang Tang's final conclusion on the Eastern Han Dynasty, saving Zhang Yu the trouble of compiling history for the Eastern Han Dynasty later.

A few days ago, Cai Yong sent the completed book to Zhang Yu for review, and based on the current educational atmosphere, he hoped that Zhang Yu could rebuild the Imperial Academy.

"His Majesty!"

Zhong Yao said, "The national system is in dire need of reconstruction. The chaos in the Central Plains has subsided somewhat. Although the reconstruction of the Imperial Academy was mentioned before, it has been repeatedly postponed due to the situation. Now that the world is almost at peace, the Imperial Academy can be rebuilt this year. Among them, the Doctors and their disciples need to be recommended by the prefectures and counties to recruit intelligent scholars to study at the Imperial Academy."

Minister of Personnel Yang Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty collects a tax on powerful families. Now that the Imperial Academy has been re-established, if no additional places are allocated to the sons of powerful families, I fear that officials and powerful families may harbor resentment."

According to the Tang Dynasty system, powerful families who paid a clan tax would have educational privileges, such as direct access to the provincial examinations. Now that the Imperial Academy has been re-established, in order to balance the rights between the aristocratic families who paid the heavy clan tax and those who did not, the Imperial Academy also needs to specifically collect taxes from the sons of powerful families.

Zhang Yu patted the dirt off his hands and said, "The Imperial Academy is a place of learning in the capital, and it should recruit good students from all over the country. If it only recruits children of powerful families, it will inevitably harbor filth and corruption, and how can it live up to the name of the Imperial Academy?"

"Then why not set up a separate academy specifically for the sons of powerful families, so as to distinguish it from the Imperial Academy?" Yang Jun suggested.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu frowned slightly, pondering the pros and cons.

The example of Yang Jun establishing a separate academy to recruit sons of powerful families is not uncommon in history. For instance, when the Sima clan usurped the Western Jin Dynasty, they established the Imperial Academy specifically for the sons of nobles in order to win the support of the gentry. Only sons of officials of the fifth rank or above were admitted.

The parallel operation of the Imperial Academy and the National Academy led to a national financial bias towards the Imperial Academy. Furthermore, due to the prestigious status of Imperial Academy students, their teachers also rose in rank. In contrast, the National Academy, which was attended by students from humble backgrounds, suffered from financial and administrative deficiencies and gradually declined. Many National Academy students, seeking to enhance their reputation, often boasted about attending the Imperial Academy.

Taking the Imperial Academy as an example, it is clear that if Zhang Yu had listened to Yang Jun's advice, the decline of the Imperial Academy would have been only a matter of time, since powerful clans naturally possessed more administrative and financial power.

"inappropriate!"

After hesitating for a long time, Zhang Yu shook his head and said, "Powerful clans are everywhere in the court and the provinces. Now that a special academy has been set up to recruit scholars, the Imperial Academy will inevitably decline!"

"What is His Majesty's intention?"

“The Imperial Academy currently offers various subjects, such as the study of the Book of Poetry, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. The Imperial Academy should be reformed to include subjects such as Classics, Law, Calligraphy, Mathematics, Engineering, and Geography. Classics should focus on Confucian classics, Law should focus on Tang Dynasty laws, Calligraphy should focus on calligraphy and poetry, Mathematics should focus on arithmetic and astronomy, Engineering should focus on construction, and Geography should focus on geography and hydrology.”

Zhang Yu organized his thoughts and said, "Children of noble families can study in the four subjects of calligraphy, mathematics, geography, and engineering based on their status, but once enrolled, they cannot change subjects. If they wish to study the subjects of classics and law, they must take the family law exam with the other students."

The inclusion of mathematics, law, and calligraphy as subjects of study is not unprecedented in history. When the Tang Dynasty unified the country, it included calligraphy, mathematics, law, religion, and feng shui in the curriculum of the Imperial Academy.

Now, Zhang Yu is pioneering various disciplines, not only to develop Zhang Tang's science and technology, but also to recruit the sons of powerful families. These sons come from privileged backgrounds, and they not only have the right to refuse official positions, but also the economic means to learn unorthodox methods.

For the above reasons, Zhang Yu opened up more subjects to facilitate admission for the sons of powerful families, allowing them to enter based on their special talents. "Your Majesty," Yang Jun said, carefully choosing his words, "the subjects of calligraphy, mathematics, geography, and engineering are unorthodox and not the learning of sages. Is it appropriate to use them to recruit sons of powerful families?"

"What's wrong with that?"

Zhang Yu disagreed, saying, "Both the Prime Minister and Lord Cai were skilled in calligraphy; the former was a wise prime minister of the country, and the latter was a great Confucian scholar. If the sons of powerful families can achieve great things, why can't they be admitted to the above-mentioned disciplines?"

"Moreover, canals, water conservancy, and city construction are subjects of engineering. Geography involves water conditions and terrain; how can governance be separated from these?"

Once enrolled in the Imperial Academy, Zhang Yu treated everyone equally, hoping to establish strict standards to weed out the incompetent and recruit the talented into officialdom. However, Zhang Yu's core requirement was that while aristocratic families possessed educational privileges, they did not necessarily have the same privileges as officials.

"The four subjects of engineering, geography, mathematics, and calligraphy have few classical texts to refer to, unlike Confucian classics which have clear guidelines. Therefore, we need Your Majesty's guidance on how to teach them." The Imperial Academy was under the jurisdiction of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and Zhang Lu, knowing his duties, stepped forward from the crowd to ask for instructions.

After a moment's consideration, Zhang Yu said, "The Nine Chapters is about arithmetic; the Lingxian is about astronomy. For now, we can make these two the essential texts for study, and recruit doctoral students to specialize in the remaining subjects."

"I would like to ask Mr. Cai to give me his guidance and instruction in calligraphy."

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at Zhong Yao and said with a smile, "The Prime Minister's calligraphy is world-renowned, and he can also guide students in their studies. We will also recruit a Doctor of Poetry and Prose to teach poetry and prose."

"The remaining two disciplines can be set up in the same way, first recruiting doctoral students, and then having the doctoral students compile the books."

Ancient China's ability to rule over a vast territory and establish a brilliant civilization must have been based on corresponding advanced technologies. However, Zhang Yu, having traveled to the present day, is most struck by the fact that many technologies, while advanced, are not necessarily scientific.

For example, Zhang Yu wanted to develop more advanced ships, so he summoned outstanding shipwrights from all over the country. However, while the shipwrights could pass on their techniques through oral traditions and experience, and build a high-quality ship, upgrading it was difficult. This was because the shipwrights were illiterate; they could only rely on experience to summarize certain patterns.

Therefore, upgrading ships requires shipbuilders who understand the principles of ship operation, have relevant systematic writings, and innovate based on that knowledge.

Therefore, if we want to see systematic works in certain fields, we need a large number of cultured, wealthy, and time-rich people to invest in fields such as mathematics, engineering, and earth science.

From this perspective, Zhang Yu could only recruit sons of wealthy and powerful families who received excellent educations from a young age. Even if the direct descendants needed to serve in official positions, their collateral descendants and illegitimate sons could have corresponding choices.

After all, not all children of powerful families can enjoy abundant resources; many illegitimate sons have to fend for themselves. Now, the Imperial Academy has opened many courses specifically for them. If they can focus on their studies, they may have a good future.

As for the way out?

Aside from entering officialdom, the best outcome for these children was to serve in the Imperial Academy. As the number of students grew, they might be able to establish prefectural schools, allowing their graduates to teach in the prefectures and counties. Alternatively, those who did not wish to serve in official positions could rely on their families for support and dedicate their lives to scholarship.

Expecting the state to support them?

From a practical standpoint, this was feasible when Zhang Yu was alive, but later emperors would hardly allow it, and it might even have created a new rentier class.

Actually, it would have been better if Zhang Yu had been a little selfish, but he just couldn't bring himself to be. He always hoped to leave something for future generations, even if his accumulated wealth was squandered, at least it wouldn't be completely gone.

Therefore, Zhang Yu's only hope was that, during his lifetime, he could reform the education system, enabling the emergence of comprehensive works and doctoral degrees in various disciplines, allowing people to understand not only what is done but also why it is done, so that it could be passed down from generation to generation and used as a foundation to go further.

(End of this chapter)