A live-streamed Chinese language lesson under the sky—the ancients were taken aback.

Shen Moyan opened the textbook, glanced at the lesson plan, and then looked up.

When she was lecturing, the textbook was just a prop; her eyes were always on the students.

"The imperial examination system has a second advantage: it helps the country select truly talented individuals."

Before the imperial examination system, the emperor relied on recommendations to appoint people.

The people recommended are sometimes useful, but more often they are the nephews of a high-ranking official or the sons-in-law of a general.

Some emperors wanted to employ talented individuals, but these talents were buried among the common people, and no one spoke up for them.

The imperial examination system turned the nation's talents into a list. Each examination attracted tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of participants, from whom the court selected the best few hundred.

Almost all the famous officials in the Song Dynasty came from the imperial examination system: Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, and Wang Anshi.

These people's names are etched in history, and they all entered history through the imperial examination system.

"The third benefit is breaking the monopoly of powerful families."

Before the Sui and Tang dynasties, it was easy to change dynasties, but difficult to shake the status of powerful families.

No matter who becomes emperor, those powerful families will still wield considerable influence.

With the introduction of the imperial examination system, the source of power changed. Previously, it was based on blood ties and land; now it was based on examinations.

Exams don't discriminate based on blood ties.

Even if your father is the prime minister, you still won't pass the exam.

This competition is brutal, but it ensures constant social mobility, giving those at the bottom a chance to climb up, while those at the top who don't work hard will be pushed down.

"But," her voice suddenly became heavy, and she turned around and wrote four words on the blackboard: "A Change in a Thousand Years."

Xianyang Palace.

Ying Zheng frowned.

He frowned not because he disliked it, but because he was confused.

"Tens of thousands of people... how did they manage to study?"

He looked at the thin booklet in Shen Moyan's hand, which was about the same thickness as bamboo slips, and each page was a thin sheet.

"Is this the book of later generations?"

A complete set of the Spring and Autumn Annals was engraved on bamboo slips, filling an entire room.

Unlike the bulky bamboo slips, this book is light, thin, and portable.

Moreover, since so many ordinary people can afford to go to school, the cost of this item could not be high.

He instructed Li Si: "Send the Mohists to study this object."

Weiyang Palace.

When Liu Che heard Shen Moyan explain the three benefits of the imperial examination system, his eyes lit up.

"Fairness, mobility, talent—isn't this exactly what I want?"

The sky continued to fall.

When Shen Moyan mentioned that before the Sui and Tang dynasties, "the upper class had no poor families, and the lower class had no noble families," Liu Che frowned slightly.

He hated the powerful and wealthy families.

"If this system were implemented under my rule..."

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it won't be easy," Sang Hongyang said, pointing to the object in Shen Moyan's hand. "Now, if you want to study, you can't even find books."

"Then quickly send someone to study it." Liu Che pondered for a moment, "and the Imperial Academy will also begin to expand its enrollment this year."

Shen Moyan continued speaking in a heavy voice.

"The imperial examination system was never designed to allow everyone to live a good life."

Its core purpose was to help the imperial court select officials.

Over the course of a thousand years, it has gradually deteriorated, becoming increasingly standardized and rigid.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, standardization reached its extreme, giving rise to the eight-legged essay, which consisted of four parts: breaking the topic, continuing the topic, beginning the discussion, getting started, starting the argument, middle argument, later argument, and concluding argument.

Each step has a fixed format, every sentence must quote from the Four Books and Five Classics, and every viewpoint must conform to Zhu Xi's annotations.

The test takers weren't writing an essay; they were assembling parts.

The origins of the eight-legged essay are generally traced back to the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He stipulated the scope of the examinations and the format of the answers. By the time of Emperor Chenghua of the Ming Dynasty, this format had been further solidified into the "cannibalistic system" that we later criticized.

She paused for a moment.

"The acceptance rate is getting lower and lower. Tens of thousands of people take the exam each time, but only a few hundred are admitted."

What about the rest? They can take the exam again in three years.

If you still can't pass the exam? Try again in three years, or for the rest of your life.

Their entire lives were compressed into one thing: taking exams.

Their entire knowledge consists of the few books required for the exam.

They don't know how to farm, they don't know how to work, and they don't know how to do business.

They know nothing but taking exams.

And what if you fail the exam?

She opened her textbook.

"They are Kong Yiji."

The bell rang, signaling the end of get out of class, and the students below stirred up a little.

Shen Moyan quickened his pace, "Next class we will begin the formal analysis of the text. get out of class dismissed."

"Thank you, teacher."

Zhu Yuanzhang endured until the curtain of the sky fell, then abruptly rose from his throne.

"What did she say was that I was the one who messed things up?" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head. "She really is an ignorant woman."

"I have established these rules simply to provide a unified set of regulations for all scholars in the land."

His voice was very low, as if he were talking to himself or arguing with someone.

"Why did I reinstate the imperial examination system? It was to give a way out for those from poor families! How many years did the Yuan Dynasty abolish the imperial examination system? Decades! Scholars had no future and all went to work as clerks for the Mongols. The first thing I did after conquering the country was to restore the imperial examination system. I set the scope of the examinations so that I wouldn't let the examiners set questions to make things difficult for the candidates. With a unified format, those from poor families wouldn't be eliminated because they were unsophisticated and didn't understand the rules of officialdom. My intention was to help them!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was born into a peasant family.

When he was a child, he herded cattle for a landlord. He was so hungry that he ate tree bark. His whole family starved to death, and he was the only one left.

His proudest achievement after becoming emperor was not how many people he killed or how many battles he fought, but rather that he opened a path for the poor.

He issued an order to establish schools in all prefectures and counties so that children from farming families could also receive an education.

He reformed the exam format to ensure fairness.

As a result, Tianmu told him that the rules he set himself were gradually turning into a cage.

And these events that happened in later generations were real, leaving him no room for rebuttal.

He sat down in silence.

As darkness fell, no one knew when Shen Moyan's next class would be.

However, less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the sky brightened again. (Two consecutive Chinese language classes)