Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 41: Seeking Knowledge and Truth, Routine Report [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

In the silence, the young man's loud shout was so abrupt that it not only interrupted Liu Song's subsequent words, but also made everyone around him look in the direction of the sound.

But under a camphor tree, two students were holding another student.

"Shen Lin, calm down!"

"Shen Huayu, are you crazy? With your talent, how can you be a minor official in the Ministry of Works?!"

"Don't pull me, I'm calm, not crazy... Let me go!"

The situation is clear.

It was this student named Shen Lin who had earlier shouted that he was willing to recommend himself to the Science and Technology Department.

But his two companions objected, believing that Shen Lin acted impulsively or even out of his mind, so they grabbed him and persuaded him to change his mind.

Seeing the three people frozen in place, Su Quan looked at Li Jing and asked, "Are these three also students of the Imperial College?"

This is an allusion to whether the three people's behavior in public is somewhat unruly.

Li Jing immediately shouted, "How can you be so disrespectful and pushy in public?"

The two people who were holding Shen Lin immediately let go of their hands.

Shen Lin did not change his mind because of the twists and turns. He straightened the wrinkles of his clothes a little and walked towards Minglun Pavilion.

A companion said behind him: "Shen Huayu, you will regret this!"

The students around looked at Shen Lin with surprise and confusion, and even whispered to each other.

"Shen Lin is actually going to work as a clerk in the Department of Science and Technology? He's an outstanding student at Ruxing Hall."

"I heard that if he gets two or three points in a few more monthly exams, he'll be recommended for an official position, and at the very least, a Baili Marquis. Now he's actually recommending himself to the Ministry of Works as an official. Is he really crazy?"

"Hmph, I think Shen Huayu thinks too highly of himself and was fooled by the strange words of that so-called Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department."

"···"

Shen Lin heard the students' puzzled and even mocking remarks, but they failed to slow him down.

He soon arrived at Minglun Pavilion.

"I am Shen Lin, a student. Greetings to all the teachers and to Deputy Minister Liu." After entering, Shen Lin bowed to several people in the cabinet.

Liu Kuan was delighted to see the student from the Imperial College who volunteered. He asked, "Are you Shen Lin? Would you like to apply for a position in the Science and Technology Department?"

Shen Lin did not answer directly, but instead asked, "Was there any truth in what Vice-President Liu said earlier about science and technology?"

Liu Kuan said: "It is absolutely true."

Shen Lin smiled and said, "What that student said outside the pavilion before was absolutely true. I am willing to join the Science and Technology Department!"

As soon as Shen Lin finished speaking, Liu Song beside him couldn't help but say, "Shen Lin, think it through! You've been in Ruxing Hall for less than half a year, and you've excelled in every monthly exam. Perhaps you'll be recommended for an official position early next year, and now you're going to work as a minor official in the Ministry of Works?!"

"Are you worthy of the teachers who taught you the Four Books and Five Classics by doing this? Are you worthy of your relatives, friends, and fellow villagers who have placed high hopes on you?!"

Although it is the 14th year of Hongwu, the Imperial College has not yet been renamed the Imperial Academy, but it is not without a system.

The method implemented was the "Six-hall Points Method" which originated from the "Three-She Method" of the Song Dynasty.

After a student is recommended to enter the Imperial Academy, he needs to spend at least one and a half years studying Confucian classics in the three halls of Zhengyi, Chongzhi and Guangye respectively.

Afterwards, those who passed the examination and were deemed proficient in both literature and science could enter the Xiudao and Chengxin halls to study the many historical texts. Generally speaking, this also took a year and a half.

Only those who are well versed in classics and history, and good at both literature and science, can be promoted to the final Ruxing Hall.

Students at Shuxingtang no longer study a specific type of classic books, but focus on self-study, but they are required to take monthly exams.

Those who perform well in the monthly exam will be given one point, those who perform well will be given half a point, and those who perform poorly will be given no points.

Because there are eight monthly examinations in a year excluding holidays, the best candidates can get eight points in a year, thus qualifying to be recommended as an official.

Under this system, only a very small number of people in the Imperial College could complete six courses in four years and obtain the recommendation qualification.

It takes most people seven to eight years, or even more than ten years to achieve it.

Shen Lin had been in the Imperial Academy for less than four years when he accumulated eight points in the Ratexing Hall, qualifying him for recommendation as an official. He was definitely a leader among the students.

Therefore, the students did not understand his choice to join the Ministry of Works as an official.

Even the Minister of Education Liu Song could not help but question him, hoping to pressure Shen Lin to change his decision.

Facing Liu Song's questioning, Shen Lin bowed and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, "Replying to Liu Siye, as Liu Fulang said before, students enter the Imperial Academy not only to enter the officialdom, but also to seek knowledge and truth."

"Such a miracle as a cross-river bridge appeared outside the city. Isn't Liu Siye curious? Who could build such a magnificent bridge? Can the Ming Dynasty?"

"If I could learn the truth behind this, or even learn how to build that cross-river bridge, I would be willing to do it even if I were just a minor official!"

"You!" Liu Song was so upset by what Shen Lin said that he didn't know how to refute. He was so angry that he pointed at Shen Lin with one finger and it was shaking.

At this time, there was a slight commotion outside the pavilion. Two more students came into Minglun Pavilion amidst the strange looks of other students.

"Student Ma Mengyang (Xu Zhen) greets all the teachers and Vice-President Liu!"

Although Su Quan was omitted from his address by the three students who had joined the cabinet, he showed no dissatisfaction. When he saw the two of them, he asked with a smile, "Are you also going to apply to join the Science and Technology Department?"

They both answered, "Yes."

Su Quan's smile grew even wider, and he took the opportunity to say to the students outside the pavilion, "Three people have already signed up to work in the Science and Technology Department. The rest of you should seize the opportunity and not regret it later."

Perhaps because of Shen Lin’s leadership, or perhaps for other reasons, two more students actually showed up to sign up.

This surprised Su Quan, Liu Yan, Zheng Zhiliang and Zhao Wenyuan - they had all been mentally prepared for the possibility of not being able to recruit officials at the Imperial College.

The undisguised discrimination of the Minister of Education Liu Song against the officials and his resistance to the recruitment of students by the Department of Science and Technology made them give up their last glimmer of hope.

Unexpectedly, although Liu Kuan's first speech in Minglun Pavilion fell flat, his later passionate speech, which sounded a bit strange, actually moved Shen Lin, an outstanding student of the Imperial College.

This broke the deadlock and allowed the Science and Technology Department to recruit five officials.

Seeing this, Su Quan shamelessly asked again loudly, but unfortunately after waiting for nearly a quarter of an hour, no one came into Minglun Pavilion to sign up.

Su Quan was very content and was not very disappointed when he saw this.

He said to Liu Kuan, "Liu Fulang, now that we have five people signed up, we have reached the minimum number we expected. How about we stop recruiting now?"

Because of what happened before, Liu Kuan also felt that being able to recruit five students from the Imperial Academy was quite good, so he nodded and said, "Okay."

"Then Deputy Liu will take Liu Yan back to the Science and Technology Department first. I will take Zheng Zhiliang and Zhao Wenyuan to handle the relevant procedures for Shen Lin and the other five, so that they can start working in the Science and Technology Department today."

Because the opposition of Li Jing, Liu Song and other officials of the Imperial College was too obvious, Su Quan was worried that things would change again after they left, so he planned to confirm the five people's employment in the Science and Technology Department first.

Liu Kuan also vaguely understood Su Quan's thoughts, so he responded and took his people away first - Su Quan was obviously better than him at dealing with other bureaucrats.

When he walked out of the three-hole gate tower of the Imperial College and stepped onto the dark clouds and snow, Liu Kuan couldn't help but turn his head and look at the Imperial College, which covered a large area of ​​buildings.

Thinking back on the experience of recruiting officials at the Imperial College, I feel quite emotional.

He knew that officials discriminated against clerks at that time, but he had not expected that even the clerks in the compilation system would be discriminated against in this way.

At the same time, the vast majority of students at the Imperial College were dismissive of his job as an official in the Department of Science and Technology, and were indifferent to what he said about science and technology. This made him realize that his influence in the Ming Dynasty was still very small, even almost non-existent.

And the road he has to take in Ming Dynasty is still very long...

Among the five students from the Imperial College who joined the Science and Technology Department, only Xu Zhen lived in the capital, and the other four were boarders.

Therefore, after Su Quan completed the formalities for the five people at the Imperial College, he also arranged accommodation for Shen Lin and the other four.

Each ministry has "staff housing". As a powerful doctor in the Ministry of Works, it is very easy for Su Quan to arrange accommodation for four officials.

After finishing these things, seeing that it was not too late, Su Quan entered the Forbidden City and made his routine report to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Fengxian Hall.

After Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Su Quan's account of the Science and Technology Department's recruitment of officials at the Imperial College, he could not help but snort coldly, "This Liu Song, I respect him as a veteran scholar, so I chose him to be the director of the Imperial College."

"But he ignored my orders, not only refusing to cooperate with the Science and Technology Department's recruitment, but also obstructing it. He truly has become a decadent and corrupt scholar!"

Su Quan knew very well that he could not stir up trouble in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Therefore, he did not exaggerate a single word about his experience at the Imperial College and described it truthfully.

Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry about Liu Song's behavior, which shows that his expectations and support for Liu Kuan and the Science and Technology Bureau were greater than he expected.

When coming out of Fengxian Hall, Su Quan couldn't help but shook his head slightly when he thought of Zhu Yuanzhang's words and expression when he talked about Liu Song.

"I'm afraid Liu Song's tenure as Minister of Education won't last long."

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(End of this chapter)