The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 131 A Serious Confucian Disciple

Being named on the list of successful candidates in the imperial examination is the most glorious moment for countless scholars.

Especially in the Northern Song Dynasty, passing the imperial examination meant wealth, status, and beauty.

The so-called "catching a son-in-law under the list" and so on are symbols of these scholars' class advancement after their names are on the list of successful candidates.

Ma Xun said to Zhu Biao seriously, "Your Highness, this is just to get a feel for the level of the students in the Imperial College. To be honest, I am not optimistic about this imperial examination."

Zhu Biao knew that "some talented people have already entered the court as officials, and those who are still in the Imperial College must be less talented."

Although nothing is absolute, this is the case with Imperial College today.

The real academic masters and top students were basically recruited to serve as officials, so those who were still studying in the Imperial College were naturally not the best.

Moreover, the students of the Imperial College nominally come from the entire Ming Dynasty, but at most there are more students from Jiangnan and other places.

Zhu Biao then smiled and said, "I will only focus on policy essays this time. There is no need to test for several days like in the formal examination."

This is also what Ma Xun meant. This is just a baseline test. There is no need to test the understanding of the classics, which is the basic skill of students in the Imperial College. Policy essays are the most important.

Moreover, the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty, especially those in the early Ming Dynasty, were different from those in the Northern Song Dynasty.

There was no set number for how many people would pass the imperial examination in the early Ming Dynasty. It depended on the level of the students and the number of officials missing in the court.

This means that it is normal to have more than ten people pass the examination, and it is simply casting a wide net to select more than 50 people. It was estimated that it would take until the middle and late Ming Dynasty to select two or three hundred people in one examination.

There is no "chain of contempt" in the officialdom today, and there is no rule that only Jinshi can become Shangshu or Prime Minister.

Therefore, many students are now happy to become officials even if they are just scholars. As long as they have the ability, their career will not encounter a ceiling because of "education issues".

Many people in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty were scholars or juren, or some even had no official titles. This naturally meant that the imperial examination was not the only way for scholars to enter the officialdom.

Zhu Biao looked at Ma Xun and said happily, "My uncle is now planning for next year's imperial examination. My parents will definitely be happy."

Ma Xun said modestly, "This was just a spur-of-the-moment idea, mainly because I got angry with Wei Guan."

Zhu Biao became serious, "What's going on?"

The reason why he was so serious was because Zhu Biao thought he knew Ma Xun better. His uncle was a good-tempered person, and it was not easy for ordinary people to anger Ma Xun.

What's more, Ma Xun didn't like Wei Guan, and the two of them didn't get along very well. Zhu Biao was also aware of this.

Ma Xun smiled and said, "I thought Wei Guan was selfish before, always thinking about the civil officials in eastern Zhejiang and the scholars in Jiangnan. Now I look at him again, I still underestimated him."

After hearing what Ma Xun said, Zhu Biao was not worried anymore, because everyone knew the little thoughts of Wei Guan and others.

Ma Xun explained, "When I went to the Imperial College just now, he complained a little. In the end, he wanted to ask for a place for the children of civil officials and clansmen to enter the Imperial College, and I was unhappy."

Zhu Biao could not help but frown, "The court has already given preferential treatment, and the children of civil officials have been pardoned for entering the Imperial College."

That is to say, the standards for some children of civil servants to enter the Imperial Academy have been relaxed.

This is why Ma Xun felt annoyed. Wei Guan and others were still a little greedy. After getting enough benefits, they still wanted more privileges.

Ma Xun said, "I also said it bluntly, saying that he wanted to see the entire Imperial College filled with the children of their Jiangnan civil officials. The children of the clans would be enrolled, and their teachers and disciples would also be stuffed in."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "That's right, it seems that Wei Guan is thinking the same thing."

"When the relatives and disciples of the school come, they will stick together." Ma Xun analyzed, "When they find a master, they will be recognized as a teacher. These people will be very powerful in the court in the future."

This is one of the reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao disliked the civil service group in eastern Zhejiang. These people wanted to form a group.

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Not only that, most of these people are of the same lineage, and their knowledge is similar. If these people really become powerful, the court will be filled with Cheng and Zhu."

Ma Xun was stunned for a moment, but he was not too surprised. He had long known that Zhu Biao had a very clear understanding of some situations in the court and that he was a far-sighted crown prince.

But if you think about it carefully, the thoughts of those civil servants in eastern Zhejiang are obvious, and many people have seen it.

Not to mention Zhu Biao, Li Shanchang and others also know this clearly. This is also one of the reasons why there is fierce struggle in the Secretariat now.

The struggle between the Huaixi nobles and the Zhejiang eastern civil officials was not just a party struggle or political disagreement.

Zhu Yuanzhang intended to support Hu Weiyong and others because he did not want to see those civil officials in eastern Zhejiang have the opportunity to become powerful. After all, the situation before the founding of the country was very clear. The military generals must be those from Huaixi, and the civil officials were Li Shanchang who could suppress those in eastern Zhejiang.

But even so, the base of the Zhejiang East Civil Service Group is too large to be easily shaken.

Ma Xun looked at Zhu Biao and asked with a smile, "Master Song and others have praised your highness for his knowledge of classics and history and his extensive knowledge of the past and present."

Zhu Biao was not modest either, and said, "When I was six years old, my parents asked Master Song and other great scholars to teach me classics. I learned a lot, and compared to my younger brothers, I have indeed read more books than them. I can stay calm, but they can't sit still."

Ma Xun nodded in agreement. Zhu Biao really looked like the orthodox crown prince who had received Confucian teachings in some people's minds.

Zhu Biao lowered his voice and whispered, "It doesn't matter what other people say. My parents often say that I am a Confucianist. I don't quite agree with that. I still prefer Confucianism."

Zhu Biao himself probably didn't believe this, let alone Ma Xun.

He knew that Zhu Biao learned what Zhu Yuanzhang learned. It didn't matter whether he was a Confucian or not. The most important thing was to be able to do things in a down-to-earth manner.

But sometimes, we need to pay attention to the name, etc. After all, it has been more than a thousand years since the Confucianism was promoted, and Confucianism has many merits.

At most, we can learn from people of previous dynasties, constantly inject new content into Confucian thought, and constantly annotate and understand new meanings of the classics.

Many people did this in the past. Confucianism is just a general term, and there are many schools of thought within it.

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Uncle, do you know that I once longed for the way of saints and wanted to become a Confucian disciple?"

Seeing Ma Xun shaking his head, Zhu Biao explained, "I have been taught Confucianism since I was young, so it is natural that I will not be influenced by it."

Ma Xun definitely believed this. He had been taught by Confucian disciples since he was a child. It was obviously unrealistic to say that he had no influence at all.

Zhu Biao continued, "When I was about twelve years old, the year before I returned to my hometown, my parents scolded me badly, and I suddenly realized my mistake."

When Zhu Biao was thirteen years old, he returned to Fengyang once, one reason being to pay homage to his ancestors, and the other being to take the opportunity to train his skills to be a ruler in the future.

It was also during that time that Zhu Biao inspected along the way and learned about the hard work of riding horses, observed the people's livelihoods to understand their difficulties in food and clothing, and understood the people's likes and dislikes to understand the good and bad of their customs.

After arriving at his hometown, he carefully visited the elders and offered sacrifices to the city gods, mountain gods and river gods of every county he passed by.

So, although Zhu Biao was born into a wealthy family and was accustomed to a comfortable life, he knew what the real people were like and what kind of life the common people lived.

This is much better than Zhu Chong and others. At most, they know some situations in the army and the living conditions of the people in the capital.

"At that time, a Confucian scholar told me that the Northern Song Dynasty did not restrict land annexation, so there was a lot of private land transfer, and the people were happy to produce." Zhu Biao smiled and said, "It is said that scholars have many ideas. They think about the tax farming in the Yuan Dynasty and the land transfer in the Northern Song Dynasty."

Ma Xun's face changed, and he immediately said, "This man deserves death!"

The Northern Song Dynasty did not restrict land annexation, which seemed to allow land to circulate and stimulate some people's labor and productivity.

But the result was that a large amount of land was annexed by the big landlords, and the people who lost their land could only become tenants or refugees. At that time, the court could only recruit refugees to join the army.

What’s even more terrible is that after the land annexation, those big landowners will not think about paying more taxes, but will try to reduce taxes as much as possible or even not pay taxes.

Zhu Biao laughed and said, "I was young at that time and didn't understand many things. I thought that he was trying to help the court. But my parents were furious and the scholar was driven away by my mother."

Ma Xun said, "If there is still someone in the main hall who dares to teach like this, I will beat him up first. I am a relative by marriage, so it doesn't matter if I am a little domineering."

"Don't worry, uncle. I am so close to and admire Master Song. Oftentimes, Master Song says his things, and I think of mine." Zhu Biao said proudly, "My parents also said that I am the best at pretending to be confused. I won't listen to anything I don't want to hear."

Zhu Biao would not refuse to listen if he didn't want to. Even if he didn't want to listen or didn't agree, he would still listen patiently, and basically there would be no expression of annoyance on his face.

Sometimes, he would even give people some wrong signals, making people mistakenly believe that he had convinced the prince.

But when it comes to doing things, he will suddenly realize that no matter how much he said before, the prince did not listen at all, and even found problems from those "suggestions" and made targeted arrangements.

Zhu Biao deliberately lowered his voice and said, "Father and mother also said that uncle doesn't like some of the current Confucian scholars, and they are on the same path as us."

Ma Xun was speechless, and then said, "Don't spread this. You are the emperor and the crown prince, and others dare not say anything. Then those people will attack me and use me to establish their authority."

Zhu Biao smiled and joked, "Uncle came back too late. Dad was sighing before. If you had come back a year or two earlier, he would have carried the Second Sage out of the Confucius Temple."

Ma Xun was even more speechless. Zhu Yuanzhang still had a grudge against Mencius. It was not enough for him to change the "Mencius", he was even thinking about carrying the statue of Mencius out of the Confucius Temple!
(End of this chapter)