In the side hall, Lao Zhu was half lying on the couch, rubbing his forehead.
I was very upset.
"Yang Xuan, in your opinion, how should this matter be handled?" Lao Zhu asked.
"Your Majesty, my intention is to first find out whether there is any fraud in the imperial examination, and then find out the reason why all the students selected are from Jiangnan."
"Finally give the right medicine."
Yang Xuan said slowly.
"Okay, just wait!"
Lao Zhu had a headache.
"yes."
That night, no one slept.
Hundreds of officials fought all night in Fengtian Hall, and finally finished reading the test paper before noon the next day.
Zhang Xin and others also selected the test papers.
Now all these test papers were sent to Lao Zhu.
"Your Majesty, all the selected test papers are here."
"Um!"
Lao Zhu hummed slightly, and then asked Yang Xuan to unpack the missing parts of the test paper.
Then, he picked up the test papers and read them.
Lao Zhu didn't speak, but frowned from time to time.
When he finally picked up the test paper selected by Zhang Xin and others, he was stunned and cursed.
"Damn, what the hell is this written? It makes no sense!"
It turned out that the test papers selected by Zhang Xin and others were not only poor in arts and sciences, but also contained taboo words.
After putting down the test paper, Lao Zhu had a headache again.
The situation now is obvious. The fifty-one students admitted were all admitted on the basis of their talents and there were no problems whatsoever.
But just because there was no problem, it gave Lao Zhu a headache.
If there was fraud, it would be easy. Just kill the examiner to calm the public anger, and then re-open the exam and re-admit the candidates.
Lao Zhu had a headache as to how to handle this matter properly, but out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Yang Xuan beside him.
He told Yang Xuan the results, and then asked: "Yang Xuan, this is the situation now. How can we handle this matter?"
"To appease the grievances of northern students?"
Hearing this, Yang Xuan thought for a while and replied: "Your Majesty, since all the students we have chosen are from the south, let's start another scandal against the students from the north."
"It's called... Enko North Field."
“And this time it’s called Enko South Field.”
"Of course, we have to think of a valid reason."
"For example, students from the north have a long way to go, and Enke didn't even get to the capital before he started."
"The imperial court considers that it is difficult for students to study hard in a cold window, and hereby opens the Enke North Course."
After listening to Yang Xuan's words, Lao Zhu also had a smile on his face.
The matter that gave him a headache was solved just like that.
"But..." Yang Xuan spoke again.
"Say!" Lao Zhu glanced sideways at Yang Xuan and said.
"yes."
"Your Majesty, this kind of separate test for the north and the south will only be done once."
"It must not become a routine!" Yang Xuan said with cupped hands.
"Why?" Lao Zhu asked.
"Your Majesty, because if things continue like this, there will only be one result."
"That means there will be Southern Party and Northern Party in the court."
"Leading to the emergence of party strife."
"It is also not conducive to the integration and unity of the North and the South."
Yang Xuan explained.
After saying this, Lao Zhu understood immediately.
It's not that he can't see it, it's just that he is older and his reaction is a bit slow.
After all, he is already seventy years old.
"According to what you said, is there any solution?" Lao Zhu asked, with expectation in his eyes.
"Yes." Yang Xuan replied, and then continued: "Your Majesty, we can do this."
"Each imperial examination stipulates the total number of people admitted."
"Then these places are allocated to each province, and each province admits a few people."
"In this way, every province can be taken care of."
"Of course, based on the results of the imperial examination, the court can increase or decrease the total number of admissions at its discretion."
After listening to Yang Xuan's words, Lao Zhu nodded secretly.
This is indeed a good method, better than the North-South split exam.
You know, Yang Xuan's method was based on the college entrance examination of later generations.
All major universities have admission indicators and need to take care of candidates from each province.
Focus on a balance.
"His Majesty!"
"I thought about it for a while. The reason why students from the north cannot pass the exam is because of the uneven educational resources."
"Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms have been in chaos. Many people began to move south to avoid the war."
"In this process, the economic and cultural center began to move south."
"With the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, the political center also moved to the south."
"It will enable the south to be further developed and its economic and cultural accumulation will be deepened."
"At the same time, the north was still under the rule of the Jurchens."
"After that, Mongolia rose, the Liao and Jin Dynasties were destroyed one after another, and the Southern Song Dynasty was also destroyed after surviving for decades."
"Then came the Yuan Dynasty's nearly one hundred years of rule."
"During this period, the Han people were deeply oppressed."
"Although Yuan Ting will also conduct imperial examinations, you know the specific purpose."
"Over hundreds of years, the cultural heritage of the north has been severely damaged."
"It has been thirty years since the Ming Dynasty was founded."
"Your Majesty, although you are working hard, I don't know how long it will take to restore the cultural heritage of the north."
"The gap between the north and the south is so huge that it is simply impossible for students from the north to pass the exams of students from the south."
"So the imperial court can only support students from the north!"
"Although the method I mentioned is good, it only treats the symptoms and not the root cause."
"If we want to close the gap between students from the north and the south, we still need to enhance the cultural heritage of the north."
Speaking of this, Yang Xuan bowed his hands to Lao Zhu.
"Do you know that this was not achieved overnight?" Lao Zhu said.
"I know, but this is what must be done."
"Your Majesty, I have another idea." Yang Xuan thought for a while and offered his hand to Lao Zhu again.
He decided to take this opportunity to promote punctuation.
Although there were punctuation marks in this era, they were not systematic.
Yang Xuan came from a later generation, and his understanding of punctuation marks was naturally far beyond that of people of this era.
You must know that scholars in this era, if they want to study, must first become a disciple, otherwise they will not even be able to understand the classics of saints.
After all, in this era of unsystematic punctuation, you have to ask your teacher for advice on the segmentation and meaning of many sentences.
As for the classics of saints, take "The Analects of Confucius" as an example. The most widely used version now is Zhu Xi's annotated version.
But in the north, other versions are most widely used.
This results in the same sentence having several different meanings.
Under such circumstances, it can be imagined how difficult it would be for the North to get on the imperial examination list.
Yang Xuan said so much, and his meaning is very simple: unify teaching materials and carry out preliminary educational reforms.
Let the gap between students from the north and the south be narrowed.
…
