Early the next morning, Gao pragmatically followed the rules and went to the Hanlin Academy first - his real "work" place was of course in the palace, but the situation was different today. The detailed arrangements for the prince's Sutra banquet and the Japanese lectures drawn up by Gao Gong and Shen Shixing had been It was sent to the Hanlin Academy, and as the special official for the prince's study abroad, Gao Jingshi also had to go to the Hanlin Academy to get this "curriculum" so that he could know his "work" tasks and time schedule.
Under Long Qing's extreme attention, the prince's outing to study was extremely grand, comparable to the emperor's study, and was divided into two types: daily lectures and classic banquets. Daily lectures are for learning ordinary knowledge, while Jingyan is a special lecture for the emperor to teach classics, biography and history; daily lectures are regular learning, and Jingyan is irregular lectures.
Because the prince was young, Japanese lectures were particularly valued. Gao Gong served as Emperor Longqing's master when he was living in his residence. This experience was an important factor in his unparalleled pilgrimage to Longqing. Therefore, under Gao Pragmatic's instigation, he took on the task of arranging the prince's studies without hesitation. Yesterday afternoon, after discussing with Shen Shixing, Gao Gong immediately wrote to Prince Zhu Yijun to preliminarily arrange a rest and daily lecture schedule: rest on the third, sixth, and ninth day of each month, and daily lectures on the remaining days.
This means that out of every ten days, there are three days of rest and the remaining seven days of daily teaching. This arrangement fully took into account the fact that the prince was young and needed to study, and gave priority to daily lectures over rest, which was unanimously recognized by the emperor, concubines and courtiers. Regarding the content of each daily lecture, Gao Gong specially presented the "Eight Notes on Daily Lectures" and made quite detailed regulations on it. These eight items are exactly what Gao Pragmatic received at the Hanlin Academy today:
1. Lecture and read "University" and "Shangshu" every day. First read "The Great Learning" ten times, then read "The Book of Shangshu" ten times, and the lecturers will follow suit. After that, retreat.
2. After finishing the lecture, the prince went to the Nuan Pavilion to rest for a while, and read and discussed with the prince what he had just said, in order to review the past and learn something new. He also picked up one or two affairs about the current affairs of the court and some tickets to check with the prince. The prince read and read with him while the ministers retired to the west wing to wait on them. If the prince has any questions, he will summon the ministers to wait in front of the emperor and explain everything in the book clearly. I, the prince, will open the book tomorrow, and I will naturally become familiar with the affairs of the country over time.
3. After reading the book, the ministers and others will lead the Zhengzi officials to respectfully wait on the prince as he finishes typing. If the prince wants to go to the Nuan Pavilion to rest for a while, the ministers will still retreat to the west wing to serve him. If the prince does not enter the Nuan Pavilion, the ministers and others will lead the lecturers to go to the afternoon lecture again.
4. At the beginning of noon, the key points of "Tongjian" will be lectured. Talking about official affairs will directly explain the rise and fall of previous generations. After the speech, everyone retreated, and the prince returned to the palace.
5. After each official reads the book every day, the prince and his companion will review it for a while. If the prince has any doubts about the meaning of the book, he can ask his ministers and others to explain it using common sayings to make sure he understands it.
6. On the rest days of the third, sixth and ninth day of every month, lectures and readings are temporarily exempted. The prince is still expected to be in the palace. When he has free time, he will read with the prince and review the scriptures calmly, or look at the calligraphy scripts and write at will. No matter how much or how little, the work will not be interrupted.
7. Treat the prince to breakfast at sunrise every day, and then go out to give a lecture. After lunch, return to the palace.
8. If you find out the examples first, you should not stop reading them unless you encounter severe cold or severe heat. If there is wind and rain today, the edict will be temporarily suspended.
This can be said to be a simple "curriculum" of Zhu Yijun: you need to get up before dawn every day, and go to the Wenhua Hall after breakfast to listen to Japanese lectures. The first class is to study the Confucian classics "The Great Learning" and "The Book of Documents". First, there is a traditional reading and recitation, and then there is a lecture by officials. During the break, with the help of the prince's accompanying reader and the eunuch who presides over rituals, several memorials must be reviewed to hone the practical ability to deal with state affairs in the future - this item was added by Gao Gong at Gao Pragmatic's instigation. There was almost no such precedent in previous dynasties and generations. That is to say, Emperor Longqing attached great importance to his son and approved such a system.
After all, the prince is still in charge and the emperor is reigning well. What memorial do you want to read? But Gao Gong's reasons are also valid: apply what you have learned, and while reading, select a few memorials to compare and see how the emperor and the cabinet handle world affairs. This will be good for the future.
If it were not an emperor like Emperor Longqing, this article would definitely not be passed. Gao Gong, who proposed this system, would probably be deeply doubted, but Longqing was Longqing after all, and he had enough respect for his eldest son Zhu Yijun and his teacher Gao Gong. He didn't feel that this was taking away his power at all - well, he wanted to delegate all the power to Gao Gong regarding the affairs of the outer court, so it didn't make much sense to say this.
But one thing that must be said is that although Gao Gong had no selfish motives when he proposed this system, in fact Gao Pragmatically had obvious selfish motives when he gave him this suggestion - only the prince could see the memorial, and he Only this prince's companion could have the opportunity to quietly instill some "useful" ideas into him at certain times, and even in extreme cases, he could use the prince to say things that were useless or inconvenient to say by himself.
So in this matter, Gao Gong was out of public motives, but Gao Pragmatism was really out of selfish motives. But he didn't blame himself in his heart, because his defense to himself was also very clear: After all, wasn't everything I did to save Ming Dynasty? It’s not like I intend to use the prince for corruption or bribery.
The second class is the orthography class. The prince needs to write a number of pieces carefully. The orthography officer will give guidance and accept their pertinent opinions. The following third lesson is mainly about selectively explaining "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", by exploring the laws of the rise and fall of past dynasties, and learning from the experience of imperial rule.
After three classes, it was already noon. After lunch, the prince set off and returned to the palace. The day's lectures were over. In addition, even on rest days, that is, days when lectures are not given, the prince still needs to review scriptures or practice calligraphy. If he encounters difficult questions, he should ask his assistant ministers in time after the official lecture. Apart from this, there are no other holidays throughout the year except for the New Year and severe cold and hot weather.
As for the ceremony of the banquet, it is much more grand than that of the Japanese banquet. The cabinet bachelors and officials of the six ministries are personally involved in it. The feast is held in spring and autumn. Three times a month, every two is performed. The spring lecture starts on February 12th and ends on May 2nd; the autumn lecture starts on August 12th and ends on October 2nd. Fifteen times throughout the year. The Sutra Banquet mainly explained the Four Books and Five Classics. After the end, Guanglu Temple hosted a banquet in the east veranda of Huangji Hall to entertain the officials who participated in the Sutra Banquet.
Gao pragmatically took this "curriculum" and thought to himself: It seems that my working time is roughly in the morning, and the prince's rest days are also my rest days. I have about nine days of rest every month, so I can go to work with future generations. The rest days are almost the same - so my working hours are pretty reliable, after all, the afternoon can be regarded as my private time.
