Chapter 1: Abolishing the Eight-Legends (Two)

After taking a nap for two hours, it was almost dawn, so Zhu Yinglong got up. Today is a big court, so he has to go to court.

Sitting north and south, Zhu Yinglong sat on the dragon throne, wearing a golden crown on his head to receive worship from all officials, and after shouting three times, he entered the substantial stage of court discussion.

The government affairs first and then the army. The heads of the ten cabinet ministries successively issued memorials, mostly about the court's continuous reforms, and also report on the phased achievements of the "Rectification Movement". In order to prevent the expansion of the movement from bringing huge harm to the local government, this time the Rectification Movement established a strict review and verification system. All cases found, regardless of size, must be reported to the cabinet and Zhu Yinglong himself after the three departments' argumentation, and finally the case can be finalized. He does not want to carry out any major purge. This is not a party battle. It is his purpose to eliminate corrupt officials and change the official atmosphere.

The military machinery pavilion’s disarmament work is coming to an end. This time, the country has disarmament of as many as one million. Most of these millions are the elderly and weak and have vacancies. After the disarmament, the military’s atmosphere has improved and its combat effectiveness has been greatly enhanced. However, it may take a long time to achieve the goal that Zhu Yinglong wants. Take it slowly. Some things cannot be rushed.

The military machine Pavilion once again made a request to form a South China Sea Fleet. Zhu Yinglong thought about it and decided to agree to this matter. The ocean trade with Western countries has achieved great results. Especially after the Netherlands surrendered, the exports of the Ming Dynasty grew rapidly. Silk, tea, porcelain and other items are extremely powerful in Europe. They usually have several times the profit. Even if a series of expenses such as sea transportation are deducted, the profits are still quite amazing. The profits of the maritime trade have also brought some negative effects, such as rampant pirates and huge profits have caused many people to take risks. Whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Netherlands, they have caused great losses.

Although the Dutch navy is powerful, the ocean is too big, and not everyone can ask for a Dutch warship to escort it. Moreover, the Dutch's maritime power in the East is not omnipotent, and the Ming Dynasty's maritime career will sooner or later reach the West. In order to obtain greater and more profits in maritime trade, it is extremely necessary to set up a fleet to protect the security of Daming's own maritime trade. The Ming Dynasty will sooner or later take the path of maritime expansion. Zhu Yinglong made an ambitious plan for the Ming Dynasty to turn the Eastern Pacific into the Ming inland sea, to Australia in the south and the Arctic Ocean in the north. The Ming ships dominate this huge sea area!

Whether it is the Netherlands or Portugal, they will sooner or later get back from here!

Of course, this is just an idea now. It is impossible to do without strong enough power, and it is difficult to achieve the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty. However, we must first turn the near sea and its own territorial waters into the Ming Dynasty’s own world. We must let those red-haired and blue-eyed Westerners know that Asia is the world of the Ming Dynasty. If we want to come in, we must follow the rules of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise we will not be able to talk!

The establishment of the South China Sea Fleet was put on the agenda. The Military Machinery Pavilion will next conduct a comprehensive argumentation and discussion on the scale of the South China Sea Fleet and the candidates for the fleet commander. According to Hong Chengchou's idea, it was Han Xin's order of troops, and the more it would be better. However, the court had difficulties with the court. Although the speculators made a fortune and the treasury was much more abundant, they could not spend money with their feet. Besides, there was no need for the Ming Dynasty to establish a huge South China Sea Fleet at this time.

The navy was not able to win if anyone had more warships, so the South China Sea fleet would still follow the path of elite troops, so it would not stimulate the Dutch too early. Moreover, the Dutch now defeated the Portuguese and occupied Malacca. This was the main way to enter the throat of the Indian Ocean. In order to develop the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty and earn more money to develop the economic and livelihood of the Ming Dynasty, there was no need to completely turn against the Dutch sea coachman at this time.

Although the domestic political situation in the Ming Dynasty has improved and civil strife has ended day by day, the territory is vast and the natural disasters have been constantly consumed, which has consumed a lot of national strength. Droughts, chatter, earthquakes, locusts, plagues and other major disasters have continued. The silver used by the court and local governments for disaster relief every year has been no less than ten million silver dragons every year, which has greatly delayed the development of the Ming Dynasty and the recovery of economic and people's livelihood. In this regard, Zhu Yinglong has no better way. He can only prevent and restore life and production faster and better after the disaster, and the dead are numb.

Without equipment, technology, and ability, the medical level is even lower. Under these objective factors, we can only watch the people suffer hard under natural disasters. When death has become commonplace, death is nothing.

However, this natural disaster is not without its benefits. At least one thing, Zhu Yinglong can use the natural disaster to send a group of incompetent corrupt officials to the guillotine, replace a group of young officials with capable and energetic spirit, accept new Confucianism and new ideas, purify the bureaucracy and enhance the execution ability of the local government!

Talents are still important for the country to develop. The imperial examination is an extremely effective means for the country to select and reserve talents. Although it is not the only one, since the establishment of the imperial examination system, all dynasties, whether in the local or in the temple, the officials of the imperial examination have been an important force. They are examples of scholars in the world, and there are many talents. Although the emperor and officials from the imperial examination may not occupy a great position in the center of power, I have never heard of any emperor having the idea of ​​abolishing the imperial examination. Even after the Mongolian Yuan entered the Central Plains, he accepted the imperial examination as the method of selecting talents. It is conceivable that the status of the imperial examination among scholars is that many people have been studying the classics for the sake of the golden list.

Therefore, the imperial examination cannot be abolished. Zhu Yinglong is very clear about this, and he cannot find a better way to choose talents instead of the imperial examination. In his opinion, the imperial examination is no different from the college entrance examination and the civil service examination in later generations, but the examination methods and contents are different.

As long as the exam exists, the methods of selecting talents are basically the same, and the names are the same, and of course there are some differences. For example, national talent selection and Ming-Internet selection will naturally be different, and the uniqueness of scholars' ways of finding them has also undergone tremendous changes, and people's thoughts will continue to change with the progress of society.

Abolishing the imperial examination is a big deal, and it will be attacked by all the scholars in the world. The Ming Dynasty is not in the late Qing Dynasty when the new and old ideas are turbulent, and there is no climatic conditions for the imperial examination. Zhu Yinglong didn't want to touch that bad intention. However, only a few people in the Ming Dynasty felt the urgency of time and the importance of emancipating their minds. To awaken more people to understand this truth, it is not possible to build a few universities or hold a few debates to solve it. Although the old and new Confucianism are still fighting each other, the power of the new Confucianism with simple materialist ideas is too shallow. If it weren't for the big tree Zhu Yinglong, he would have been strangled to death in the cradle by those masters.

Therefore, it is necessary to reform the imperial examination. Only by changing the content of national talent selection can we change the direction of scholars' reading. What the country needs, scholars should learn, so as to guide scholars to emerge from Confucian classics and implement the academic philosophy of "applying what you have learned and seeking truth from facts".

"I plan to reform the imperial examination!" Zhu Yinglong threw a bombshell at the court meeting.

The imperial examinations and the imperial examinations have little impact on military officers, and civil officials are different. At least 90% of the civil officials in the hall are from the imperial examinations, and the remaining 10% are based on ancestors. Of course, their knowledge is a little worse, but their abilities do not require those officials who are poor in the imperial examinations.

Now the civil servant group is like a blowout. Although the imperial examination is not static and minor changes are common, the general direction of raising Confucianism is not shaken at all.

Zhu Yinglong's philosophy of governing the country is very close to the Legalists, which has already made the Confucian students in the world very dissatisfied. However, for more than a thousand years of the evolution of Confucianism, Confucianism theory has become a tool for emperors to rule the world. First of all, it is to fool the people and then educate the people into slaves. This is better than what the Qing Dynasty has done in previous dynasties. Although Zhu Yinglong, an emperor who could not even memorize the Three Character Classic, turned the world around and achieved remarkable achievements, in fact, in the eyes of many Confucian masters, he was just a nobleman who looked down on him. When Zhu Yinglong had just ascended the throne, many people refused the enlistment of the court. At that time, a large number of officials could not escape, which made the Beijing court almost unable to maintain normal operation. Zhu Yinglong was so angry that he gritted his teeth at these ignorant old people, and wished he could send troops to kill these people.

The provincial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were divided into three equal parts. The first examination was the three meanings of the Four Books and the four meanings of the classics. The second examination was held in the next three days, and one examination was held in the trial, one examination was held in the trial, one examination, one examination, one examination, one examination, one examination, and one examination in the trial. The third examination was held in the trial, and the five principles of the classics, history, and the five principles of the current affairs were held in the beginning. During the Yongle period, the "Four Books" and the "Five Classics" were issued, and the "Four Books and Five Classics" were not used. There was only one examination in the court examination, and the test questions must be found in the "Four Books"

, "Five Classics". The text is slightly similar to the meaning of the Song Dynasty, but it must be based on the tone of the ancients. The body and use are arranged together, and it is called the Ba Foot (the eight essays began in the early Ming Dynasty and the other essays started in Chenghua), which is commonly known as the Jianyi. The provincial examination, the place where the imperial examination is also called Gongyuan. The students' seats are called the name of the room. The first of the test papers is the name of the three generations, the name of the person in the third generation, the place of the origin, age, the seals of the sutras they have learned, and the seals they have recorded. The words avoid the imperial names and temple names, and the prefaces are not allowed to be prefaced. The test papers are sealed and numbered.

The first test of the eight-legged essay is to be tested. Whether the test can be tested depends mainly on the quality of the eight-legged essay. Therefore, scholars often spend their entire lives on the eight-legged essay. The eight-legged essay uses the sentences in the Four Books and Five Classics to explain the meaning and principles according to the meaning of the title. The wording must be used in the tone of the ancients, which is the so-called establishing words for sages. The format is also very dead. The structure has a certain program, the number of words has certain restrictions, and the syntax requires dualism. The eight-legged essay is also called the essay, the time essay, the time essay, the eight-legged essay, and the four-book essay. The eight-legged essay is an article composed of eight pairs, which is generally divided into six paragraphs. Use the first sentence to solve the topic, the two sentences to follow the topic, and then explain why, which is called the origin. The main part of the eight-legged essay is the starting stock, the middle stock, and the back stock.

There are four paragraphs of slimming, each paragraph has two paragraphs. At the end of the article, it is called the re-collection of slimming. The eight-legged slimmings are extremely harmful and seriously restricted the thoughts of scholars. Zhu Yinglong had long wanted to abolish them, but the time has not come, and the eight-legged slimmings will be abolished at once. Some people have been studying the eight-legged slimmings all their lives, but in the end, the court did not take the eight-legged slimmings. The blow to these people can be imagined, so there must be a process, such as giving a year to give these people one or two chances, so the opposition will be much smaller. Moreover, the court will not not take any scholars when it is opened for a few years. If there is a buffer for a few years, the resistance to abolishing the eight-legged slimmings will be much smaller.

If it really doesn't work, you can divide the new and old subjects, so that the world's candidates can choose to rely on old subjects or new subjects. Treat the new and old subjects differently, and the development prospects are different. In this way, after a few years, someone will see the difference between the new and old subjects. In this way, the more people rely on new subjects for the future, the fewer people will have the old subjects. Then, it can be done on the list of admissions, and it can also be gradually abolished the eight-legged essays. It is difficult to find out what the imperial examination is appropriate after abolishing it. It will take a period of adjustment and change. These need to be practiced before you know it. So Zhu Yinglong wants to first look at the bottom and then decide which method to take is better and more appropriate. He doesn't care about the length of the reform time, and he has patience!

Of course, with the relatively relaxed political and academic atmosphere in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there are many knowledgeable people who call for the abolition of the eight-legged essays. For example, Zhang Pu, Zhang Cai, Gu Jiang (Gu Yanwu) and other people in Fushe. Now, Fushe is a party-like group second only to Donglin in the court. Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai all entered the court as officials, but they were not in the center. Gu Jiang was selected by Zhu Yinglong as an Imperial College and became a disciple of the emperor. These people are very famous figures in history. Zhang Pu, Zhang Cai and the two brothers also have a deep relationship with Zhu Yinglong. It is also counted as well.

It was from the secret residence, and it is difficult to define the Fushe and Donglin lineage. Many of them were Donglin Party members and Fushe. Originally, the Donglin Party members wanted to save the country with Confucian orthodox thought, but after Zhu Yinglong's intervention, the Donglin Party began to change, and there were fewer empty talk and more practical things. The Donglin Party became more urgent, pragmatic and tolerant. In Zhu Yinglong's view, Fushe thought was a bit radical. As young people, everyone was a little angry, so Fushe and the orthodox thought of the Donglin Party still had some friction from time to time.
Chapter completed!