"Because the ancients paid more attention to the meaning of scriptures, emphasized morals, and emphasized articles. They didn't know much about the truth of all things in the world, and they were not very interested in understanding it. This makes me feel very sorry. In fact, in my opinion, the classics have been studied by previous generations. It's almost done. If we continue to research, we won't be able to come up with anything more innovative.
The reason why classics are classics is because the principles in them can be used throughout the ancient and modern times. They are important existences that we cannot abandon. It is precisely because of this that the contents of the classics no longer need to be read by scholars and inquire into the details.
In contrast, there are subjects such as engineering, science and law, which have great achievements. Among other things, they talk about the firearms that the army relies on when marching and fighting. The golden thief calls it "shaking the sky and thundering", so we also Just shouted.
At first, the power of Thunder Thunder was limited. Later, after many improvements by skilled craftsmen, the amount of gunpowder and the ratio of gunpowder ingredients were modified to continuously improve the effect of Thunder Thunder explosion. So now, Thunder Thunder has become an indispensable weapon for our army. The important main battle firearm is missing.
The reason why our army can defeat the golden thief is indispensable with the strong help of Zhentian Lei. Can Zhentian Lei be obtained by studying the classics? No, Zhentian Lei was improved bit by bit by craftsmen who risked their lives.
This requires the investment of a large number of engineering and science scholars, sufficient knowledge, and sufficient practice. These cannot be obtained by studying classics, but they can fully enhance military and national strength.
Therefore, I believe that the focus of the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations and future education reform should be on these three subjects in addition to liberal arts, and fully promote and encourage them. "
Su Yonglin put forward the key points of his future education reform at the State Council without any scruples, which made the Shandong officials feel dizzy.
In addition to the Yuancong clan, the officials of the Yanyun clan and the foreign clan also knew that they could not compete in a short period of time with the Shandong Han people who had been involved in the Confucian classics examination for hundreds of years.
Ask them to read classics and write articles, and they will definitely be bored to death.
However, in terms of engineering, science and law, in these fields where traditional Confucian scholars are not very good at, they have the possibility of overtaking them in a corner.
In terms of engineering, science and law, they will basically be on the same starting line as Confucian scholars. If they receive proper education, they can still be very competitive in the future. Even if more people take the imperial examination in the future, they will still be Not afraid of being swept to death.
The emperor's imperial examination reform plan and education reform plan were aimed at this point.
Use military power and their support to suppress the Shandong clique's power to a minimum, and cut off this possibility before the Shandong clique takes advantage of its traditional advantages to completely occupy political advantage.
After Wan Yanliang's manipulation and the suppression of the Jin Kingdom's ethnic policies, as well as the impact of the Liberation Army uprising led by Su Yonglin, the power of traditional Confucian literati in the Central Plains was destroyed by the Jin Kingdom and the stalls were established in the early Ming Dynasty. It is the lowest point in history since the Song Dynasty.
During this period, Su Yonglin's ability to unite reached its highest peak.
So Su Yonglin united the Yanyun clique and the foreign clan, based on the Yuancong clique, and passed the education reform bill and the imperial examination reform bill with overwhelming support.
There are still many areas for discussion in the specific details of these two bills, but the basic spirit will not change, which is to abolish the basic rules of the imperial examination that select scholars by subject and classics and justice, and re-establish the spirit of selecting scholars by subject. Introducing more teaching materials, cultivating students to develop in many aspects, and opening up the future of the country.
Expanding the imperial examination, the most common path for advancement, from the original one path to four paths, greatly broadened the capacity of the advancement channels and gave the lower classes more ways to advance.
In addition, Su Yonglin also stipulated that the Ming Empire would also hold martial arts examinations and establish martial arts accordingly.
On this point, the Song Dynasty after Wang Anshi's reform actually had a lot of experience that could be adopted.
Wang Anshi's reform made some improvements to martial arts and martial arts, and indeed cultivated a group of relatively outstanding military talents. The supporting reform measures in generals and tactics gave the military a brief revival in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, and beat Xixia to the ground.
Unfortunately, the results of this reform could not be sustained for a long time. With the support of the country's overall policies and social customs, the Song army was soon exhausted.
Su Yonglin said that he must learn from the excellent experience of his predecessors. The country must not only have literature, but also martial arts. The central government must not only have the Imperial College, but also special central military academies to train military talents.
Many dynasties either have martial arts but no martial arts, or they have martial arts but no martial arts. The military relies entirely on the inheritance of generals and the occasional genius, without a stable inheritance.
This will greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the army.
This was something Su Yonglin couldn't tolerate.
Not to mention before reunification, even after reunification in the future, this unified country will need a strong army to maintain the unified situation. The decline of military power is fatal to a unified country.
He now has no shortage of military talents. The military talents he grew up during the battle with the Jin Kingdom are enough for him to use for several decades, but the Ming Dynasty will not only have those few decades.
Establishing martial arts and organizing martial arts competitions are important measures to maintain the professionalism and combat effectiveness of the military.
Because the military aspect was the sole discretion of Su Yonglin, no one would object to whatever martial arts and martial arts examinations Su Yonglin wanted to do, so all the content about martial arts examinations and martial arts were passed smoothly without any disturbance.
Therefore, a series of reform measures including establishing the Central Military Academy, selecting outstanding military students from civilians and the army to study, accepting ambitious people to participate in the martial arts examination, and the content of the martial arts examination were successfully passed.
Su Yonglin allocated special funds and appointed dedicated personnel to select sites around the location of the Martyrs' Shrine in the northeast of Zhongdu City to build a military academy directly under the central government, specifically responsible for cultivating military talents.
Military issues are always much easier to pass than civil affairs issues. No one dares to make irresponsible remarks on what Su Yonglin wants to do in the army.
Even if military academies were established to cultivate military talents and continuously elevate the status of military talents, no one would object.
Of course, this can be regarded as taking advantage of the Kingdom of Jin. If such a thing is done in the hometown of the Song Kingdom, I am afraid it will be hindered.
The Kingdom of Jin does not have a tradition of valuing civility over military affairs. Naturally, there will be no obstacles to military reform in the land that the Kingdom of Jin once ruled, and no one will choose to hinder it.
But in other aspects, it was not so smooth.
Shandong civil servants may not care about martial arts examinations and martial arts, but it has to be said that they cannot care less about the plan to recruit scholars by subject.
When Su Yonglin announced this decision at the imperial meeting on October 27, many Shandong officials protested.
On the first day of November in the first year of Hongwu, one month after the founding of the Ming Empire, the protests began.
Some Shandong civil servants believed that Su Yonglin's actions disrespected the saints and lowered the status of the saints. It was not in line with the ancient traditions and would bring huge uncertainty to the world.
In connection with Su Yonglin's political declaration that he wanted to be emperor rather than emperor, which was widely spread throughout the world, they were very worried about the stability and continuity of the Ming Empire.
Although the previous dynasty had many shortcomings, couldn't hundreds of years of Guo Zuo prove the effectiveness of this strategy?
Some civil servants from Shandong Province submitted a request to resign after protesting.
For example, Wailang Wu Zhongli, the priest of the Ministry of Rites, expressed his protest to Su Yonglin and then submitted a request to resign.
His colleagues Fu Huarong and Ding Yuan also protested against Su Yonglin and requested to resign.
Some people protested by going on a hunger strike, trying to stir up public support and subvert Su Yonglin's decision.
For example, Ge Xingxian, a fifty-year-old Confucian and a doctor in the Ministry of Rites and Ceremonies, told his family that he would go on a hunger strike to protest Su Yonglin's behavior.
"If Your Majesty doesn't take back his life, I won't eat until I die!"
He decided to follow the example of the ancient sages and the famous remonstrators and strong figures in history, and pull the high-speed carriage called the Ming Empire, which was gradually out of control, back on its original track to avoid further derailment.
