"Master, those old literati are making trouble outside and have arranged this Enke to be extremely ugly...If this continues, this scientific examination will probably become a joke."
In the Imperial Academy, Fang Xiaoru was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, circling around Zhu Su. "Those people ignore the facts and talk nonsense. They are about to ruin this Enke exam... You, don't you think of a way?"
These days, Fang Xiaoru transformed into a new scholar fighter, debating scriptures and fighting with others outside every day. He was already well-read, and his knowledge was among the best among the younger generation. After switching to Xinxue, it was as if he had opened up the two branches of Ren and Du, and integrated all the knowledge he had learned in the past. There were scholars from Cheng and Zhu who debated with him on the basis of Cheng and Zhu's teachings. Fang Xiaoru was able to quote scriptures on the spot, refuted them with the words of Confucius and Mencius, and bluntly pointed out the shortcomings of Cheng and Zhu.
Cheng Zhu's theory of natural principles and human desires is riddled with holes. He only made a new start based on the knowledge of Confucius and Mencius after he had his own opinions. Now that this layer of window paper has been torn by Zhu Su, it is like a broken window effect. No matter how you look at it, you feel that there are many flaws. Fang Xiaoru was always successful in arguing with others, and even some famous Confucian scholars were refuted by him in public.
After all, no matter how powerful these scholars praised Cheng Zhu, they could not hide the fact that Zhao Song, who admired Cheng Zhu, was weak and ill, and the Northern Yuan Dynasty was unethical and cruel.
However, even though Fang Xiaoru has become famous now, he alone is still unable to reverse the trend of anti-new learning that is emerging in the scholarly world. Everyone has a herd mentality, and most of the so-called scholars are no exception. No matter how eloquent Fang Xiaoru is, and with all the talk, he is completely unable to withstand the storm of public opinion.
Enke, which is now sponsored by the Imperial College, is also affected. After all, the Imperial College is recognized as the base camp of the new learning, and it has long been on the same level as those old literati.
"Haha, Xi Zhi, don't be impatient." Zhu Su comforted Fang Xiaoru while looking at the latest new learning article written by Song Lian. "The so-called Enke is to select talents for the country. Nowadays, one name can exclude all those pedantic old literati. Isn't this a blessing?"
"Besides, this Enko is a task imposed on our country's sub-prisoners. Why should we be so concerned about it? Haven't we already reported more than a hundred people? When the time comes, won't we be able to do it with these more than a hundred people?"
Zhu Su said this with a lot of resentment.
Li Shanchang's strategy was indeed a good one. Liu Bowen suggested that Li Shanchang be the host of this encore, and Zhu Su also agreed with both hands.
After all, this time Enke obviously touched the cakes of those literati, which was an act of stepping up several steps at once. If it weren't for Lao Zhu who is the emperor now, it is very likely that this unique Enke would not be able to handle it, and the emperor would be offended and become a joke in history.
Let Li Shanchang be the examiner, firstly, let him do such dirty work, let him completely offend the civil servants, and also set a boundary between him and the civil servants. Second, Li Shanchang does have this ability. Let him fight with those civil servants. No matter how hard the civil servants stumble, with Li Shanchang's skills, he can keep those people in submission.
But Lao Zhu thought it was inappropriate to let Li Shanchang be the examiner. He no longer trusted Li Shanchang. If he was asked to be the examiner, wouldn't it mean that all the tax officials who passed Enke would be in his name, Li Shanchang? Originally, many civil servants from the Huaixi line had been detained, but many of them are still imprisoned in imperial prisons. If Li Shanchang had so many more disciples, wouldn't it mean that the toothless tiger was given a pair of dentures for him to bite?
Therefore, although Zhu Su and Liu Bowen agreed, Lao Zhu firmly opposed it, and it was difficult to decide who should be the examiner. Finally, Zhu Biao proposed: This unique scientific examination will be sponsored by the Imperial College, and the Korean public will serve as a deputy examiner. After all, this scientific examination is different from usual. It cannot be handed over to the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of Personnel to select from the bottom up. Instead, the candidates need to be selected They took the initiative to register... Then naturally we need a trustworthy yamen to take over this matter, and the civil yamen that Lao Zhu trusts most at this time is undoubtedly the Imperial Academy which has been purged.
Lao Zhu was overjoyed and followed the good advice. He ignored Zhu Su's dark face and appointed the Imperial College to host the scientific examination. By the way, he gave the important task of conducting the examination to Zhu Su, who was already very busy.
However, Li Shanchang, who took the sub-examination, knew that it was sponsored by Zhu Su, the leader of the New School, and did not come forward to participate in the scientific examination. He only "sensible" and became a target for scolding...
"But..." Fang Xiaoru became even more anxious after hearing Zhu Su's angry words. "In ordinary scientific examinations, the number of people admitted to Jinshi is hundreds. When we hosted Enke for the first time, the total number of candidates was only a hundred..."
"What, you feel embarrassed?" Zhu Su still didn't raise his head. "Now is the time for you to have some free time. Do you hope that the people who come to our Imperial College to register their names will be busy with traffic every day, so that you can keep your busy feet off the ground?"
"We are asked to undertake the scientific examination, and the imperial court has not allocated any funds, so why waste so much effort?"
"Disciple, I wish I could use more strength..." Fang Xiaoru muttered. "In this way, you can live up to the emperor's favor. But Master, you are too lazy..."
Zhu Su rolled his eyes at Fang Xiaoru, how could he complain so much about his master. This Fang Xiaoru is still too pedantic. He takes as many free days as he can. Why is he so anxious all day long? "You still don't know what's going on."
"Let him talk about the gossip outside. Just be prepared and prepare to register the candidates."
"In a few days, you will be busy."
"Master, does he already have a clever plan?" Fang Xiaoru's eyes lit up.
Just as Zhu Su was about to explain, he saw a young supervisor running in a hurry outside. As soon as he saw Zhu Su, he said to Zhu Su: "Sacrifice wine, something serious will happen!"
"Many Confucian scholars gathered outside, threatening that this act of encourage would tarnish the way of the sages."
"A few people occasionally came to register today, but they were all driven away. Just now, a student who came to register had his head broken, and something bad is about to happen!"
"You actually hit someone?" Zhu Su was startled, and his expression finally turned serious. He knew that the public opinion storm outside was controlled by that group of civil servants. If these people only dared to use public opinion to build momentum, he would not want to pay attention to them.
After all, there are always people who want to be an official. Even if some people wait and see in the early stage, in the next few days, there will definitely be people who can't resist the temptation and come to sign up. Public opinion alone cannot stop it.
Therefore, he was not anxious at all, but was happy to have a few days of leisure.
But now that he has actually taken action, this is already a sign of crossing the line, and Zhu Su naturally cannot ignore it.
Soon Zhu Su took the prison student and Fang Xiaoru to the outside of the Imperial College. As soon as he stepped out, he frowned because the crowd gathered outside was beyond his expectation. Many literati wearing Confucian shirts actually came to the Imperial College. The prison door was tightly blocked.
Many of them had angry looks on their faces, pointing at a short soldier with blood flowing from his forehead, as if they wanted to choose him to devour. There were even people who kept throwing gravels and rotten vegetable leaves, turning the gate of the first university in the country into like a vegetable market.
The student's face was pale and he looked like he had lost a lot of blood. Several Imperial College students who were originally responsible for taking names were busy trying to stop the bleeding while dodging various objects thrown by those people. They were in a rather awkward shape.
"You are a scoundrel who reads the books of sages in vain! Today, I, Qi De, will kill this scum for Zhu Zi!" A scholar shouted, picked up a sharp stone, and threw it towards the little student.
"Stop!" Zhu Su was furious and stepped forward quickly, waving his sleeves to block the stone for the student. Seeing Zhu Su suddenly appear, the man looked directly at Zhu Su with a pair of angry eyes, but he also saw clearly that he was wearing a royal robe embroidered with dragon patterns, and his angry eyes instantly turned into fear.
"Come on!" Zhu Su put his fingers together and pointed at Qide. "This man threw a sharp stone at my king, intending to stab him and kill him!"
"Bring this assassin to me!"
(End of chapter)
