Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 505 Instructions and Measures

Since the establishment of the imperial examination system in the Sui Dynasty, its content has not remained static, but it has always been based on the Four Books and Five Classics and poetry, with only a small amount of mathematics and law.

By this point, not only is it extremely difficult to make minor adjustments to the exam content, but the format has also gradually become solidified.

This is nothing to worry about. After all, the Central Plains dynasties, including the Yuan Dynasty, have always been open. Even without official guidance, various technologies still have a broad living space among the people, and the trend of the Central Plains dynasties leading the world has not changed much.

But with the development of the times, the possibility of a technological explosion is getting higher and higher. If the Ming Dynasty does not act in time, its annihilation seems to be just around the corner.

On the surface, with this understanding, everything else can be done just by talking, but if you want to popularize scientific knowledge, you have to start with education, and this education is dominated by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. If you don't come up with some surprising ideas, it will probably be difficult to achieve results.

The logic here is not difficult to understand.

After all, the Ming Dynasty was a country dominated by power. Apart from rebellion, studying the teachings of Confucius and Mencius was almost the only way to seize power.

Under such circumstances, even if Zhu Cilang spent manpower and resources to introduce various scientific knowledge into the school, the best talents would inevitably be attracted by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius.

At this point, a huge contradiction emerges.

If one wants to invest the best talents and the most powerful resources in the development of science and technology, the best way is naturally to use the imperial examination to guide them.

Of course, this does not mean that a person with top mathematical talent should be appointed as the prefect. It is just that we need to go too far to correct the wrong. The strong inertia of more than a thousand years must be offset by an equally strong force.
Zhu Cilang had been planning this since he established himself in Yingtian. He first used the actual situation to strengthen the power of the clerks, and then used a series of measures to subtly infiltrate the bureaucratic system.

By this time all officials had acquiesced to this incongruous system, and the time seemed ripe to launch a frontal attack on the imperial examination system.

As long as he could break the immovable nature of the content of the imperial examination by means of "characterization", all that remained was to press the crowbar.

However, it is easier said than done and there are always some obstacles.

In the final analysis, all officials believed that this "characterization" was openly intended to punish the northern rebels, but secretly to absolve the previous emperor of responsibility. Faced with such a situation, although most people wisely chose to avoid it, it was not unimaginable that one or two moralists would emerge.

But the development of things ultimately exceeded Zhu Cilang's expectations.

When "Explanation of Several Major Historical Issues Since the First Year of the Tianqi Period" and "Several Measures on Strengthening Our Stand and Improving Our Position" were introduced to the public through the county-level gazette, the scholars were not dissatisfied with the addition of examination content. Instead, that issue of the gazette was sold at a sky-high price.

Zhu Cilang was somewhat confused about this.

After all, adding new content will greatly increase the uncertainty of the exam, so it is reasonable for students to resist it.

For this purpose, he specially summoned Xu Yu, the governor, to the Qianqing Palace. After some questioning, he finally had to admit that he had not yet fully integrated into this era.

For thousands of years, the political life of the Central Plains dynasties has always been extremely elitist. Not to mention ordinary people, even the scholars who were on the fringes of the system only knew how to collect taxes and perform labor service, and were completely clueless about the political operations at the top.

However, with the spread of these two documents, this situation was unexpectedly broken. The "Explanation" not only recorded in detail the struggles between various factions, but also pointed out a series of serious consequences caused by these struggles; while the "Measures" formulated corresponding measures from various perspectives to address these problems that had been discovered, in order to prevent party struggles from becoming a disaster for the Ming Dynasty again.

For scholars who are eager to get in touch with high-level operations, it is tantamount to revealing the top secrets. In this way, adding some relevant content to the imperial examination is like the court testing the results of cultivation, and everyone will naturally not have any resistance.

Driven by this endogenous motivation, subsequent events developed in the direction that Zhu Cilang had expected.

Whether actively or passively, a trend of studying the "Explanation" and "Measures" soon swept across the government and the public, and one after another "Insights" and "Reflections" written by big names flowed into the academic community through various channels.

At this point, there were some subtle differences in the focus of the government and the opposition.

The focus within the imperial court system was mainly on criticizing the officials who had surrendered from Beijing and expressing disgust with factional struggles, while the public focused on criticizing the bureaucratic system and praising Zhu Cilang.

Honestly speaking, this trend did not surprise Zhu Cilang, or in other words, guiding public opinion was already part of his plan.

But then again, everything has a limit.

Although the power of the big families had been reduced several times by Zhu Cilang at this time, the court's control over the grassroots was only slightly better than nothing. If someone really took over this matter, it would still be a troublesome matter. Therefore, with the tacit approval of Zhu Cilang, the cabinet suppressed a few of the high-jumping ones, and the wave gradually subsided.

At this point, Zhu Cilang's various methods of dealing with the bureaucratic group had already converged into one. What remained was to gradually add natural sciences into the "mathematics" research project by using the methods of boiling a frog in warm water and selling dog meat under the guise of selling mutton.

But the Ming Dynasty was a vast empire after all, and hundreds of important events were reported to Yingtian every day. Even though the cabinet had helped him filter out some of the less important reports, Zhu Cilang could not focus his energy on just one thing.
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Jincheng, Gansu
This city is located at the southern foot of the Qilian Mountains. It is not only a strategic location for controlling the Hexi Corridor, but also the final stop of the Silk Road.

Hundreds of years ago, caravans traveled between the East and the West through here, and their wealth far exceeded the limitations of the natural environment.

But flowers do not stay in bloom forever, and people do not stay happy forever.

When the main route of East-West trade gradually moved to the sea, its economic value was completely lost and it became a simple military fortress.

"Once Marshal Li and Marshal Sun leave, I'm afraid Haoge will start to think about Hanzhong again."

After speaking to Li Chengdong who was standing beside him with some concern, Dayan turned his attention to the distance again.

There are two routes from Xining to Yarkand, one is along the edge of the Gobi Desert, and the other is through the Hexi Corridor.

According to the original plan, they intended to enter Yarkand along the edge of the Gobi Desert, and then use powerful military force to force Abdullah to give up the idea of ​​attacking Khoshut.

But just as they arrived at the crossroads of Jincheng, two pieces of news came in succession from the north and south, and then the original plan was completely changed. They could only wait in Jincheng.

"It's okay. The vacancy in Hanzhong will be filled by people from Sichuan. We only need to worry about this meeting."

(End of this chapter)