Qufu, Confucius Temple, the site of the first Confucian Conference.
Zhao Kai had already finished answering the questions, and most of the more than 400 Confucian scholars who listened to his answers felt chilled in their hearts.
Can it not be cold? Their high-ranking officials have lost their salaries!
Zhao Kai's meaning is very clear. If you want to be an official in the future, especially a high official, you must have real talent and practical knowledge! You must also have real skills in governing the country, managing finances, using troops, and diplomacy.
And these skills, especially financial management and military use, are not just about bragging, they can all be tested in practice - this financial management can be tested with less management, and a small county can be established first. The same goes for using troops. Give three to five hundred soldiers to take them to kill the Tatars!
Moreover, it is easy to inspect only thirty or fifty Jinshi in one subject. After three to five years of inspection, it will be clear whether they are good or not.
Therefore, by making such a request, Zhao Kai is embarrassing the majority of Confucian scholars!
There were so many Jinshi in the Song Dynasty. How many of them could manage finances and how many of them could use military force?
Not to mention now, even in the Renzong Dynasty where famous ministers gather, who among those famous ministers with good reputations in history would dare to say that they can use troops? Li Yuanhao is waiting for them to use troops in the northwest!
And financial management is not good either! During the Qingli period of the Renzong Dynasty, he was already unable to make ends meet, so he had to ask the famous minister Fan Zhongyan to implement the Qingli New Deal. In the end, nothing was accomplished, and the financial hole continued to get bigger and bigger...
Although Zhao Kai is clearly trying to embarrass everyone, it is not easy to refute him. Because Zhao Kai’s line of “imperial examination to select real talents” has been tested in practice. Not only was the imperial examination system in the Northern Song Dynasty always like this, but even the Southern Song Dynasty under the rule of Zhao Huan paid more and more attention to the martial arts of Wu Jinshi after "abolition of military force and favor of Wen", and the career of Wu Jinshi in the Southern Song Dynasty gradually overwhelmed Wen Jinshi.
"Official! I have something to say!"
Just when everyone's hearts were getting colder and colder, someone had already raised their hands to speak. Everyone took a closer look and saw that the person raising his hand was none other than Zhao Huan's mentor Geng Nanzhong, the old Xianggong Geng.
Zhao Kai smiled and said: "Mr. Geng, please tell me if you have anything to say!"
Geng Nanzhong stood up slowly, bowed to Zhao Kai first, and then said: "In the official family, I heard that Confucius was wise and wiser than Chang Hong, so he bravely obeyed Meng Bi, followed the example of a dodder, and used all his strength to attack the city gates. There are many abilities. However, I don’t know about bravery and skill, and I only teach the way to become a prime king... It can be seen that we Confucian students should give priority to moral character, not bravery and skill."
The "Confucius's Tong" he mentioned is the original words in "Huainanzi", which means that Confucius was a man of great ability, unparalleled in resourcefulness, superb in martial arts, and boundless in strength. However, he was unwilling to show his true identity, but concentrated on teaching and preaching, and eventually became the so-called Su Wang. That is to say, a king without political power, land, or people, only with prestige.
Zhao Kai laughed loudly after hearing what Geng Nanzhong said, "What Mr. Geng said is exactly the answer to the second of the three questions I asked."
What's the meaning?
Geng Nanzhong was stunned and thought to himself: Is this what Wang Gu was talking about him?
Zhao Kai said: "Mr. Geng, you said that King Wenxuan has no knowledge of bravery and skill, and only practices teaching... So what is this teaching?"
"Of course it's the way to educate people's hearts!"
Zhao Kai asked: "How to educate?"
Geng Nanzhong said: "Confucius taught rituals and music with poems, books, and music, and he had three thousand disciples."
"That's it," Zhao Kai nodded and said with a smile, "Confucius taught without distinction and taught three thousand disciples. He was a teacher for all generations... This is what I, a Confucian scholar, should do! Everyone , how many disciples have you taught?"
On a!
Geng Nan Zhongxin said: I have taught you a disciple, your useless brother, who can’t even be an official. He is so stupid... If I had known this, I should have taught you, a smart and intelligent man. The rebellious officials and traitors!
Zhao Kai didn't know that some people regretted choosing the wrong apprentice, and he was still expressing his opinions with a smile.
"There are more than 400 Confucian scholars gathered outside Dacheng Hall today. If one person can teach three thousand disciples, that would be hundreds of thousands of disciples!
Is this probably why Confucianism has become a prominent school? I teach Confucianism without distinction and have many disciples, many of whom have outstanding talents, so they can be used by the country... If Confucius did not teach three thousand disciples at that time, but only accepted three disciples, he would have heard that The Great Dao may not be passed down to this day!
Shouldn’t we, the Confucian disciples, follow the example of our forefathers, set up schools and teach disciples, be role models for others, teach without distinction, and teach three to five thousand disciples who are capable of literature and martial arts? If all the famous scholars and scholars in the world could imitate Confucius and educate the people as their own responsibility, why worry about the world being unjust and the barbarians not surrendering? "
This time Zhao Kai finally found the value of Confucianism and the way for Confucianism to continue to survive and develop without the support of the imperial examination system.
This method is to learn from Confucius, educate and preach, use academies and schools as the foundation, and establish a foothold among the people.
"Guan family, I have a word for you!"
At this time, someone raised their hand to speak again.
Zhao Kai took a look and saw that it was a middle-aged woman, of course Li Qingzhao.
Zhao Kai said: "Ji An, please tell me if you have anything to say."
Li Qingzhao also stood up, bowed to Zhao Kai, and then said unhurriedly: "The officials asked us to run a school and teach apprentices, but how to raise the funds to run the school? Where will the students come from? If there is no exam to become an official How many people are willing to study this way? I think back then, King Wenxuan, Confucius, could teach three thousand disciples. Isn’t it because these disciples of Confucius had the opportunity to serve in various countries?"
Zhao Kai nodded and said: "Master Yi An asked a good question... I think the key to getting funding for running a school and students is whether there is an opportunity to become an official. As long as you can become an official, these can be easily solved." .”
Of course, if you have the opportunity to be an official, you won’t have to worry about money and students! But the question is, is it so easy to pass the exam?
Zhao Kai paused and then said: "As for becoming an official, you don't necessarily need to be admitted to the Jinshi in one step! You can also examine officials in various schools, and you can take the exams for court officials and craftsmen. In the past, hundreds of people were admitted to the Jinshi in one subject. There are more officials who enter the officialdom than Jinshi, so that the official career is monopolized by Jinshi and Mengyin. Officials are not allowed to be promoted, and meritorious soldiers are rarely promoted to official positions. Therefore, only those from poor families prefer the imperial examination."
There were many redundant officials in the Song Dynasty... It was not that there were too many officials to do things, but that there were too many officials with high grades. Before the war was declared, the number of officials was almost 50,000!
These are not officials and captains without grades, but officials with grades! With so many officials piled up above, it will certainly be difficult for the officials and military academies below to get promoted.
Zhao Kai separated "honorary titles", "noble titles" and "official titles", and also opened five military schools and universities including artillery, infantry, cavalry, engineering and supplies, to attract the children of nobles (civilians, of course). You can also pass the exam (there is a quota for civilians, but there are many civilians, so it is naturally difficult to pass the exam), so that the hole in the door shade can be blocked.
After the hole in the door shade is blocked, there will be more room for the promotion of officials, that is, court officials and magic officers.
Therefore, in the Northern Song Dynasty under Zhao Kai's rule, half of the court officials and all the art officers had to pass the exam to become officials. Another half of the shogunate officials can take the path of conquest...
Zhao Kai went on to say: "But now that the dynasty has been reopened, everything is done diligently, there is no disadvantage of family background, and the number of Jinshi is also small. Therefore, there are many opportunities for promotion of shogunate officials, magic officers, and officials who entered the school. And help It is what the famous Confucian scholars need to do for people from poor families to be admitted to the official schools, the art schools, and the government-run schools."
"Officials," Li Qingzhao then asked, "I wonder what the examinations for officials and art officials are? How should we teach the students so that they can pass the examinations?"
Probably only Li Qingzhao wants to figure these issues out, right?
Because she is a woman and lives in ancient times that discriminate against women, she cannot be admitted to the imperial examination and can only be a teacher... As for the others, they definitely want to be officials themselves!
Zhao Kai said: "Both the court officials and the art officers have to do practical things...of course they have to take practical exams!
Since you are an official, you must be prepared to defend your country. So not only should you study literature, but you should also practice martial arts. Therefore, you must master the three studies of literature, martial arts and practical studies. Moreover, these people can not only take the exams for civil service officers, military officers, but also Jinshi. They can also take the exams for artillery, infantry, cavalry, engineering, supply and other five military schools and universities, and maybe the naval academy, so there are many things to learn. There are still many!
But don’t let students continue learning endlessly...Teaching should be graded, from shallower to more advanced. It takes three to five years for a bachelor's degree to last from enrollment to completion. If you fail to pass any exam, you can change your career as soon as possible to avoid wasting your life and becoming a big problem. "
It turns out that what Zhao Kai wants to run through these Confucian elites are some private middle schools... There are more than 400 Confucians here, all of them are big or medium Confucians with some reputation. If an average of ten Confucians can support one Private middle schools, that is more than 40 middle schools!
And one middle school can also have ten elementary schools, which means more than 400 elementary schools.
Isn’t a Confucian education system basically taking shape?
After taking shape, it can be gradually expanded. In ten, twenty, or thirty years, the forty middle schools will become four hundred or even four thousand. On average, how many students can be taught per year? And of course these students are all Confucian scholars.
In this way, wouldn’t the foundation of Confucianism be solid?
Moreover, with Zhao Kai's cause of colonizing the world, these Confucian middle schools and elementary schools can also expand outwards, and won't the Confucian education career also follow?
In addition, these Confucian schools are also organizations! Moreover, Confucian schools not only spread culture, martial arts, and skills, but also spread the Confucian worldview... such as "preserving the principles of nature and destroying human desires" or something else.
"But the officials," Li Qingzhao frowned slightly, "do you think we Confucian scholars can teach practical knowledge of literature, Taoism and military strategy?"
yes!
These people know how to write moral articles, but they don’t know how to practice and kill people!
Zhao Kai smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if you are not as knowledgeable as Confucius, you can just concentrate on teaching Taoism. As for the knowledge to be taught, we can slowly discuss it, decide on a set of teaching materials, and then teach students according to their aptitude... Because of your ability Materials, come and teach.”
