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

(PS: When writing the chapter "Kong Yiji", I found that without classroom interaction, the whole story would be too dry. So this chapter is presented in the form of classroom interaction between teachers and students.)

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It has been half a month since the last episode of "Blessing" ended.

Did the changes occur between different dynasties?

It seems like there isn't, but it also seems like there is.

The air was filled with an atmosphere unlike any other.

At least those women who were forced and exploited had the faint courage to shout, "I did nothing wrong."

At least they won't be so hard on themselves anymore.

During the Hongwu era, Zhu Yuanzhang threw the folding tablet heavily on the ground.

The above mostly describe groups of women from a certain area who band together to avoid production and defy their masters.

He also noticed that some ministers had taken the opportunity to slip folds into these folds.

"You want to abolish the practice of funerary sacrifice? Funerary sacrifice... ordinary women are not qualified." Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "It is a blessing for these women to be able to accompany the Zhu family."

In the early Ming Dynasty, it was not encouraged for common people to be buried alive with their ancestors; only imperial concubines and wives and concubines of princes were forced to be buried alive with them.

Most of these unfortunate women came from the families of court officials, so it's no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang knew it was the "selfish motives" of his ministers.

"There are already enough matters in the court; why do these women have to meddle?"

He glared out the window; the sky hung silently in the sky. "This sky..."

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to say something more, but suddenly the sky brightened.

The familiar Shen Moyan is still on the screen, smiling as he stands in front of the podium, with a clean blackboard and projection screen behind him.

"Attend class."

Hello, students.

"Hello, teacher."

Please sit down.

Only then did everyone realize that there were students sitting in front of Shen Moyan, but after they sat down, they could only see the backs of the students in front of them.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly, "This woman is truly a scholar, not someone to be used for show."

As the sky began to light up, Empress Ma, along with Zhu Biao and a group of children who had stayed in the palace, came to find him and happened to hear this.

"If a woman has real talent and learning, why can't she be a teacher?"

After Empress Ma finished speaking, she vaguely saw Zhu Yuanzhang's displeased gaze.

She changed to a teasing tone, "How come your arms are so long? You're even meddling in future generations."

Zhu Biao stepped forward: "Father, Mother, the curtain of heaven has begun."

On the sky, Shen Moyan turned around and wrote three words on the blackboard: Kong Yiji.

"Class, we previously taught 'The New Year's Sacrifice,' a very difficult text. I know some of you got teary-eyed while we were teaching it, and some of you felt that Xianglin's wife was too weak. These reactions are all normal."

She turned around and said, "Today we're going to talk about another text, by the same author, about someone who is also being eaten up by society."

But this time, it wasn't a woman who was eaten, but a man.

He was literate, could write, and wore a long gown, but he also died.

He didn't freeze to death; he was devoured by the imperial examination system.

She opened her textbook. "His name is Kong Yiji. Open the textbook and turn to page thirty-seven."

"Before I tell you about Kong Yiji, let me ask you a question."

Shen Moyan leaned against the podium, holding a textbook but not opening it. "Does anyone know what the imperial examination system was?"

A girl with a ponytail in the front row raised her hand: "It's like the civil service exam in ancient times."

The classroom was filled with laughter.

Bianjing, Li Gefei's residence.

Li Qingzhao was seventeen years old that year and had not yet married Zhao Mingcheng.

Her father, Li Gefei, was an official in the Ministry of Rites, and his family possessed a vast collection of books.

At this moment, she was sitting under the sycamore tree in the backyard with her best friend Zhao Minghui, her future husband's cousin.

As the sky brightened, Shen Moyan's voice filtered through the dense sycamore leaves, clear and melodious.

Zhao Minghui exclaimed in surprise, "There are female students in schools in later generations?"

Li Qingzhao gazed at the sky and smiled faintly, "The later generations are truly getting better and better."

Shen Moyan's smile on the sky seemed to be responding to her.

Shen Moyan waited until the students in the class finished laughing before slowly answering, "Yes, more or less."

"To be precise, the imperial examination system was an examination system for selecting officials in ancient China. It was born in the Sui Dynasty, perfected in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, became rigid in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and was finally officially abolished in the 31st year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, which was 1905. It survived for a full 1,300 years in Chinese history."

She wrote on the blackboard: 605 AD - 1905 AD.

What does 1,300 years mean?

If we start counting from the Tang Dynasty to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination system lasted for more than half of the time in ancient Chinese society.

When you go to university, get a job, and retire, living to eighty years old will be considered a long life.

The imperial examination system lasted a full 1,300 years.

A few students below gasped softly in surprise.

"Why has it been able to live for so long?"

She turned around and wrote three keywords on the blackboard: fairness, mobility, and talent.

"Because when it was first created, it was indeed a great invention."

How did the Chinese bureaucracy operate before the imperial examination system?

In the Han Dynasty, this was called the recommendation system, where local officials recommended virtuous people from their local area to serve as officials.

It sounds good, but in practice, who are the people being recommended?

A scion of a wealthy family, a relative of a prominent local clan.

Ordinary people don't even qualify for a recommendation.

She took a step forward. "During the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was called the Nine-Rank System, where officials sent by the imperial court to various regions would evaluate the local scholars."

The person in charge of the evaluation was himself from a noble family, and all the top scholars he selected were his own people.

There's a saying that describes that era: "The upper class has no poor families, and the lower class has no noble families."

Wealthy families produce high-ranking officials generation after generation, while poor families produce low-ranking officials generation after generation.

You will die where you were born.

She paused for a moment.

"Then the imperial examination system came along. It was designed so that no matter who your father was or what family you came from, as long as you studied, you could register, and if you passed the exam, you would become an official." (Ideal state)

She turned around and wrote a line of poetry on the blackboard: "In the morning a peasant, in the evening an official in the emperor's court."

"This poem was written by someone from the Song Dynasty. In the morning you are a poor boy farming, and in the evening you are standing in front of the emperor. This was unimaginable before the imperial examination system. It took the opportunity of becoming an official away from bloodline and birth and returned it to knowledge and hard work."

Yingchuan Commandery, during the reign of Emperor Zhang of Han.

A farmer named Zhang Laoshi was squatting on the edge of the field, eating dry food.

When the sky brightened, he didn't intend to look up. The sky had been telling the story of Xianglin's Wife for half a month. He could understand it, but Xianglin's Wife was a woman, a widow, and he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

But today is different.

Shen Moyan said, "No matter your background, as long as you study, you can register. If you pass the exam, you will become an official."

Zhang Laoshi opened his mouth, and the dry rations fell to the ground.

"You can become an official by taking an exam?" He tugged at the person next to him. "Old Li, she said you can become an official by taking an exam?"

Old Li also opened his mouth: "I heard it."

Zhang Laoshi couldn't stay squat any longer, so he stood up and spun around twice.

You can become an official by passing exams.

His family had been farmers for generations; his father farmed, and his grandfather farmed.

The highest-ranking official he had ever met was a minor clerk who went to the countryside to collect taxes every year; that was someone whose entire family would kowtow to.

Tianmu said that as long as you study, you can register, and if you pass the exam, you will become an official.

He decided to go to the private school at the village entrance tonight and ask if they would accept twenty-year-old students.

Old Li impatiently pulled back his sleeve. "Are you stupid? They're saying it started in the Sui Dynasty. Does this look like the Sui Dynasty?"

"Ah, yes."