The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 478 Transformation
At this moment, the palace examination has ended.

After attending Cao Mao's banquet, the scholars left and waited for news.

Cao Mao was responsible for reviewing the memorials they finally submitted.

This was their first time submitting a memorial to the emperor, so they were very serious about it.

But before Cao Mao had time to finish reading these, he received several explosive pieces of news.

The first is the death of Xiahou Ba.

Cao Mao could only express regret about this.

He actually wanted to bring the old man back and let him live out his days in his hometown. Unfortunately, he was already old and had many illnesses. It was not easy for him to hold on until now.

Then Chen Qi passed away.

Cao Mao was quite surprised when he heard the news. He knew that Chen Qi would not live long, but it seemed that he died earlier than he remembered.

Is it because the current situation in Shu is more dangerous than before and requires him to do more?

Cao Mao sighed and shook his head.

Although he was happy about Chen Qi's death, he also felt a little regretful.

This man was also a talented person. Although he was close to Huang Hao and left with a bad reputation, and was generally regarded by later generations as the culprit that led to Huang Hao's coming to power, Cao Mao felt that this was somewhat unfair.

Huang Hao's position was not given by Chen Qi. Even if Chen Qi did not make friends with Huang Hao and suppressed and attacked him everywhere, would Liu Chan kill Huang Hao for Chen Qi?

On the contrary, Liu Chan liked Chen Ji because he never caused trouble for him and got along well with his confidants. Huang Hao spoke well of Chen Ji in his ears every day, which allowed Chen Ji to stabilize the situation.

If Chen Qi had executed Huang Hao regardless of the consequences, causing the emperor and his ministers to be wary of each other, the Shu Kingdom would have perished even faster.

The fact that Huang Hao came to power cannot be blamed on Chen Qi. It can be said that he failed in his duty and failed to get rid of this villain. However, his successors, including Jiang Wei, were also unable to get rid of this man?

Even after his death, they couldn't even put any limits on it.

The death of Xiahou Ba only made Shu lose another person who could serve as the commander-in-chief in Jiangling, while the death of Chen Qi basically caused the stable situation of Shu to collapse.

Although there were conflicts between local and foreign factions in Shu Kingdom, and there were endless debates within the Kingdom on the Northern Expedition, their conflicts were relatively not so public. At least in the temple, they were relatively peaceful. But after Chen Qi's death, eunuchs came to power, and many problems suddenly became intense.

Liu Chan's extreme favor for eunuchs made everyone feel insecure. The scholars began to feel disappointed with Liu Chan's rule and confused about the future. Then, works and ideas such as the theory of hatred for the country began to take root in people's hearts.

When the Shu Kingdom was destroyed, among the new three giants in the other side's court, except Zhuge Zhan, Fan Jian and Dong Jue both chose to surrender.

Another thing is that Jiang Wei also lost his supporters in the court.

His relationship with Huang Hao would become increasingly strained until a few years later, when he petitioned for Huang Hao's execution. The conflict between the two sides then became public, with Huang Hao preparing to support someone else to replace Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei dared not return to Chengdu.
After reading the news, Cao Mao sighed and put the document aside.

Zhang Hua and Guo Ze stood in front of him respectively.

There was a smile on Zhang Hua's face, and it was obvious that things between him and Liu Lu were going very smoothly.

Zhang Hua looked at the documents Cao Mao had set aside and said, "After Chen Qi's death, Huang Hao will certainly not miss this opportunity. From now on, the government of Shu will fall into the hands of the eunuchs. They will no longer be a match for the Wei Kingdom."

Cao Mao shook his head and said disdainfully, "The decline of Shu is related to Huang Hao, but it's not entirely due to him. Huang Hao is just a servant who rose to power through flattery. Ultimately, he only helped Liu Chan do what Liu Chan wanted."

"After he came to power, he dismissed and exiled those ministers who were not close to him, and promoted his own people. And who of the people he promoted was not close to the emperor?"

"Liu Chan wants people who won't bother him, who won't be constantly admonishing him, writing petitions, or discussing matters of governance. Can Huang Hao make such personnel changes without Liu Chan's approval?"

Cao Mao concluded: "In the end, this is all because of Liu Chan's problem."

Zhang Hua and Guo Ze naturally agreed with this statement.

Cao Mao ignored this matter. Chen Qi's death was just the beginning. The road to destruction had just begun. There was no need to keep an eye on it. He had to believe that Huang Hao could come up with more tricks.

Cao Mao once again looked at the many memorials on the side.

In the previous palace examination, Cao Mao mainly did two things.

Further spread the influence of Wang's philosophy, and at the same time see whether these young scholars can come up with their own understanding.

Cao Mao managed to achieve these two goals.

The first is Wang Xue. Almost all the scholars who can reach the palace examination are from top families. Their ability in classics is unquestionable. Moreover, as the younger generation, they have a stronger ability to accept new things. After briefly looking at Wang Su's newly annotated Taixuan, these people suddenly became excited.

Some of them even had their performance in the exam affected by this.

But they all felt it was worth it.

They were also very curious about this classic, but they had never had the opportunity. They had never thought that the palace examination would become such a good opportunity. Cao Mao also looked at their faces.

At this time, Wang Su was considered the greatest Confucian scholar in the Wei Dynasty. His knowledge was called Wangxue, and was on par with Zheng Xuan. No one could match him, even Du Yu, who had grown to his peak and become a great Confucian scholar. He wrote "Collected Commentaries on the Zuo Zhuan of the Spring and Autumn Annals".

This book is also a hodgepodge, but unlike Wang Su's, Du Yu's hodgepodge mainly absorbs many Confucian classics.

In terms of pure classic level and influence, he is somewhat inferior to Wang Su.

In addition, Du Yu's behavior of combining multiple classics, rearranging and fabricating them is very similar to Wang Su's. It is hard not to doubt whether Du Yu was influenced by Wang Su in the process of studying the classics.

Although the academic theories of the two sides are different, even Wang Su was partially influenced by Zheng Xuan, so it is almost impossible for Du Yu not to be influenced.

Every generation of Confucian scholars will learn from the experience of their predecessors. Even if you want to oppose it, you have to read and learn first.

Du Yu studied the classics when he was old and had free time, and he has not yet reached the stage where he can delve into them. As for the other classicists, such as those in the Bamboo Grove, they are more talented in poetry and prose, but their attainments in the classics are so profound that they even have difficulty in annotating Taixuan.

Wang Su's level represents the strongest level of the Wei Dynasty today.

Showing his knowledge to these youngsters is like a dimensionality reduction attack. Want to refute it? ? Go and understand Taixuan first.

They were quickly captivated by its content.

The greatest role of Wangxue is to solve the confusion in the minds of scholars.

As strong as Du Yu was, he actually had a very complicated mind. He adhered to Confucian doctrines and morals, but he could not use those doctrines to verify what he saw, so he finally tried to explain it himself.

Wang Su directly used the Three Worlds and Nine Praises to help them resolve their worries.

This was truly a powerful weapon. Cao Mao could see the ecstasy on the faces of the scholars, and the memorials they submitted were also very interesting.

Some people think that great unification should be achieved as soon as possible, as only great unification can bring about a peaceful world.

Some people think that the income of the government should be increased and the amount of arable land in the world should be increased in order to see a peaceful world.

Some people feel that everyone should be called together to continue studying, as only classics can lead them to a peaceful world.

To be honest, the difference between these memorials and those from the Secretariat is enormous.

However, Cao Mao was extremely happy.

Finally, these people no longer talk about such absurd things as living in seclusion in the mountains or everyone taking care of themselves!
Even if it is about governing the country by classics, it is said that we must study the classics, right? As long as we do things, we are pragmatic!
Cao Mao liked these pragmatic answers very much.

He looked at the music chart beside him, and the smile on his face never disappeared.

The third year of Zhengyuan was really a very good year for Cao Mao. Everything went very smoothly. After paying the price of a large number of officials' lives in the previous two years, his luck finally turned this year.

This shows that the Wei Dynasty's carriage has been pulled out of the quagmire and back on the right track.

Wang Su pointed everyone in a direction.

Looking at the smile on the emperor's face, Zhang Hua couldn't help but feel happy.

After Cao Mao had finished submitting another memorial, Zhang Hua spoke up, "Your Majesty, after those scholars left, they all discussed the new contents of the Taixuan Sutra with their close associates. Luoyang was in great alarm, and everyone wanted to get their hands on the book. Lord Zhong's residence was even robbed!"

"Now almost all the scholars are discussing these three generations. They all hope that the prince can come forward and explain this knowledge to everyone."

Cao Mao laughed.

"Okay, what about the ministers' attitudes?"

Zhang Hua said, "The prince said earlier that these studies were compiled by the ministers and written down by him, so the ministers were very happy."

Cao Mao shook his head. "Even if they're happy now with just rewarding Situ Gong, they'll definitely have complaints later. We can reward the other ministers as well. I hope they can help build momentum for the prince. Send a set of documents to all the ministers involved in this matter, instructing them not to leave the house, and even to not tell their children about it."

Zhang Hua laughed and quickly said yes.

At this moment, part of Wang Xue's content has already been spread, and this part alone has caused heated debate.

The Bamboo Forest Brothers could no longer bear it and began to actively look for this classic.

Cao Mao finally felt relieved. He no longer needed to figure out a solution for Wang Xue's matter. He would just let Pei Xiu handle it slowly. He had to believe in Pei Xiu's ability. Although this man looked unreliable, his operation was indeed amazing and he lived up to his name.

Next, it’s time to set a new goal.

Destroy Shu.

(End of this chapter)