Liu Bei's "Chang'an Recruitment of Scholars" is indeed a strange thing.
In the first half of this policy, it seems like an extension of the imperial examination system, and a bit like Cao Wei's nine-level Zhongzheng system, which requires the recommendation of local celebrities or state and county officials.
In other words, this is still beneficial to the powerful local families.
In these days, after all, the children of aristocratic families have the conditions to read and write. The ordinary children of poor families are still unable to compare with the children of aristocratic families in terms of knowledge.
But in fact, Liu Bei is not that strict in identifying celebrities in this place, and it is not limited to only one or two places in a state, and celebrities are not required to evaluate the recommended people, only recommendations are required.
As for the second half, you may want to say that it is the Chaju system or the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng system. It uses examinations to decide whether to admit someone, rather than judging whether a person has talent through celebrity evaluation.
And if you want to say that he is unethical, this examination was also personally presided over by Liu Bei, the emperor of Han Dynasty. If you really want to talk about it, at the end of the inspection and promotion system, the emperor also needs to personally inspect the moral character and knowledge of the recommended talents. This can also be regarded as a a way of examination.
But you want to say that it is the imperial examination system. Anyway, Zhang Xi refuses to admit it to death, this thing is the imperial examination system.
The imperial examination system did not just allow the emperor to organize examinations in person. It was a complete talent selection system that integrated rural examinations, general examinations, and palace examinations.
But Zhang Xi also knew that if he rashly started the imperial examination system in this era, his reputation would not be any better than that of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. Zhang Xi had no choice but to compromise.
For Pang Tong and Huang Quan, they also felt that they had compromised and agreed to use the examination as the final step of the examination system, instead of using the evaluation of local celebrities to determine whether a person was qualified to serve as an official.
After all, in these years, the shortcomings of the imperial examination system have also become apparent. Especially in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there were many nonsense things that were used to make up for the number. There was even such a ballad circulated during the Huan Ling period.
He is a scholar, but he doesn't know how to read.
If you are filial and honest, your father will leave.
Hansu is as white and turbid as mud,
Gao Diliang will be as timid as a chicken.
Although there are factors in this that Emperors Huan and Ling sold their offices and received titles, facts have also proved that the inspection system cannot actually find good officials who can truly understand practical matters and manage the people.
Instead of doing this, it is better to compete in knowledge, with the capable ones at the top and the mediocre ones at the bottom.
As for the recommendation of local celebrities, on the one hand, it was the insistence of Pang Tong and Huang Quan to ensure the interests of local aristocratic families, and on the other hand, it was also to screen out as many talented and unvirtuous people as possible.
The Chinese people's concept of employment has always been more biased towards employing people with virtue.
A person with virtue but no talent is at most a mediocre official. Such a person cannot do anything bad, and even if he exercises more, it is not impossible for him to become a mediocre official.
But if people with talents but no virtues use them well, they can naturally play a big role. But if they use them poorly, they can easily bring disaster to the people and even the world.
You can't expect every superior official, or even the emperor, to make good use of people who are talented but not virtuous. After all, not everyone has such qualifications. Even in Cao Wei, only Cao Cao dared to say that I am "a meritocracy". Even if it were Cao Pi, it wouldn't work.
When considering the employment mechanism from Liu Bei's perspective, you can never only consider the present, but must also consider the future. Therefore, this celebrity recommendation, although Zhang Xi felt that it would cause some poor people to have no chance to serve as officials, Liu Bei felt that it was still necessary.
But even so, when Liu Bei announced to the world that he had recruited scholars in Chang'an, it still aroused a lot of discussion among the nobles all over the world.
This method of selecting scholars is different from the previous inspection and examination system, but it can also be regarded as an extension of the inspection and examination system. The aristocratic families are all discussing this method of selecting scholars.
The biggest controversial point is - should the children of aristocratic families take this kind of examination based on the emperor's personal will and become an official in this way? !
The arrogance of aristocratic families in this era far exceeds the imagination of the public.
It's not that these children from aristocratic families disdain to compete with children from poor families, because they think it's a loss of status. In this era, the structure of aristocratic families is not that small, and children from aristocratic families don't feel that they will lose to children from poor families in the examination room.
After all, the reality gap between the two sides is still very large.
The true arrogance of the children of aristocratic families in this era is reflected in this - this world is not the emperor's world alone. The emperor requires talents, so he should treat the virtuous corporal and invite me to serve as an official, instead of using an exam to determine my future.
The primary and secondary issues here cannot be reversed.
This is also the reason why in this era, and even in the following decades, many gentry had the opportunity to be elected to serve as officials, but they refused to become officials and played games in the mountains and forests.
I have decided that you, the emperor, are not worthy of my assistance, so even if you ask me three times, I will not come to help you. This is the character of a scholar.
For example, most of the famous Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove are like this. Although the reasons behind them are quite complicated and it would be too many words to describe them in detail, at least on the surface, they just refused the call from the imperial court and are respected by the world.
And the most important thing is that you, Liu Bei, are not kind.
When you were not the emperor of the Han Dynasty, you knew how to visit the thatched cottage and ask Zhuge Liang to help. Now that you have only been the emperor for three years, you are just putting on airs and setting up some kind of exam for the world's talented people to take it? !
Go ahead and dream! ! !
This is the biggest reason why today's aristocratic families scorn Liu Bei's "Chang'an recruitment".
Of course, some people scoffed, but some people were moved.
Guanzhong is such a big city, with forty-six counties. It is necessary to select officials, even from assistant officials at the state level to county magistrates and county lieutenants. There are hundreds of vacancies.
It doesn't matter to you, the big family, you have already made a lot of money in this state, but for the many small and medium-sized families, who will guarantee their interests? Can their survival and development be maintained only by relying on the big family? ? !
The big families sneered at Liu Bei's idea of "recruiting scholars from Chang'an."
As long as you can become an official and have a way to rise, who knows if there will be a third son in your family in the future? !
Even if there are no three sons, as long as there are several generations of children of high-ranking officials in the state and county, my family can achieve a leap forward, from a small and medium-sized family to a large family. By that time, who will laugh at whom? !
Small and medium-sized aristocratic families think so, let alone children from poor families.
In the past, the only way out for children from poor families was to rely on aristocratic families and become official officials in prefectures and counties through the family's recommendation. Being able to serve as an assistant official in a prefecture or county was already a highlight. Most of the children from poor families did not even become officials in their lives. Opportunity.
But now, although they still need letters of recommendation from aristocratic families, they can at least rely on their test scores to determine their future, instead of blindly seeking advancement by pleasing aristocratic families. This is a change that makes them very satisfied.
Therefore, unlike the cynicism of the big aristocratic families, and the weighing of the pros and cons of the small and medium-sized aristocratic families, the children of the poor family have now begun to think of ways to find people to trust and recommend, and then prepare to leave for Chang'an.
This is the reaction between the aristocratic family and the humble family, and the official reaction is somewhat interesting.
When the news of Liu Bei's "Chang'an Recruitment" reached Jiangdong, Sun Quan laughed at Liu Bei in public, saying that Liu Bei was "famous in his lifetime, but he is confused in his old age." He also said, "Is there any reason in the world not to acquire virtue and to test talent?" !”
On the one hand, Sun Quan really felt that Liu Bei's approach was inappropriate and would risk offending the family.
On the other hand, Sun Quan is very aware of these things within his own family. Whether it is the Huaisi Group or the Jiangdong Family Group, they are actually from aristocratic families.
If Sun Quan dares to think that Liu Bei's approach is good, then even the Huaisi Group will probably no longer support Sun Quan, let alone the Jiangdong Family Group, which has always been a bit unruly.
Therefore, Sun Quan said this just to laugh at Liu Bei, thinking that Liu Bei was really old and could not see the reality clearly.
As for Cao Wei, after learning about this incident, Cao Pi also mocked Liu Bei severely at the Luoyang court meeting, saying that Liu Bei "cut off his own roots and there is nothing to worry about."
But in private, Cao Pi found two dog-headed military advisors, Sun Zi and Liu Fang, and carefully studied whether it was possible to follow suit.
By the way, although the war on both fronts was over, Cao Pi did not return to Yecheng. Instead, he stayed in Luoyang and moved the court team to Luoyang, as if he wanted to stay there for a long time.
In this regard, Cao Pi still embodied the courage and responsibility of the Emperor of Wei.
He had left Liangzhou before, but at least Guanzhong Sanfu and Chang'an were blocking him in front, and no one said anything when Cao Pi returned to Yecheng.
But now that even Chang'an has been lost, if Cao Pi returns to Yecheng, it will give people the feeling that he is afraid of Liu Bei. The political loss in this will be huge.
Furthermore, Cao Pi is not a temperless person. Although he cannot compare with his father Cao Cao in courage, his political vision is really not bad. He knows that he must not retreat now. If he retreats, the people of Wei will be destroyed. Hard to say.
Therefore, when Liu Bei had occupied Chang'an and was only 900 miles away from Luoyang, Cao Pi did not back down. Instead, he stayed in Luoyang and handled government affairs in Luoyang.
To be honest, Cao Pi actually felt guilty, but at this time, he really couldn't retreat and could only bite the bullet and fight hard.
Fortunately, after Liu Bei occupied Chang'an, he no longer had the energy to continue advancing eastward. With the end of the war between Cao Wei and Qingxu, Cao Pi also had the energy to defend the two passes and the Central Plains. There was no big problem for a while.
But within two days of Cao Pi's silence, he received news about Liu Bei's "Chang'an recruitment". Although Cao Pi relied on his political sensitivity to criticize Liu Bei immediately, privately, Cao Pi still felt that, This is a very good way to weaken the family's voice.
Just like the three provinces and six ministries system of the Shu Han Dynasty, although it seems deviant, for a country, it is a good way to improve the efficiency of national administration. Although the current Wei Dynasty still has the three-province-nine-ministerial system on the surface, in fact, the inside and the Similar to the Shu and Han Dynasties, Cao Pi re-divided the responsibilities and powers of each ministry, and each was in charge of its own affairs and not subordinate to each other. In essence, it was a system of three provinces and six ministries.
Cao Pi thinks that the current method of recruiting scholars is not to modify it and then use it for his own use.
After all, this system of selecting scholars does look very similar to the ninth-grade Zhongzheng system.
(End of chapter)
