The fourth year of Longqing is the year of Gengwu Horse.
This year, the world has changed neither big nor small.
In the east, the Battle of Anegawa broke out in Japan. Asai and Asakura were defeated, and they were no longer able to fight against Oda Nobunaga, and were finally destroyed by Oda Nobunaga.
In the west, Denmark and Sweden ended the Seven Years War in the North, and the two sides concluded the Peace of Szczecin. Sweden paid huge compensation to Denmark to redeem Elfsburg, its expansion into the North Sea and its attempt to compete for Baltic Sea hegemony. also contained. However, although the war ended with Denmark gaining the upper hand, it was no longer able to restore its hegemony in the Baltic Sea.
In the south, because the Ming Dynasty began to try to relax the maritime ban, the first port of Fujian Yuegang began to form a "sea eye" effect, and the Spanish Philippines began a net outflow of silver that lasted for nearly two hundred years in its original history. The place of outflow: China .
In the Ming Dynasty, on March 15th, according to the calculations of the Qin Tianjian, it was appropriate to go to school and avoid getting married.
On this day, Prince Zhu Yijun officially left the court to study.
Gao Gong, the great scholar of Jianji Palace, and Zhu Xizhong, Duke of Cheng Kingdom, both of whom were appointed by the emperor to know the banquet, were both civil and military. They were also dressed in python robes and stood at the top left and right in front of the Wenhua Palace. The emperor ordered Shen Shixing, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, who also knew the banquet, to lead the six lecturers Chen Jingbang, Shen Li, Xu Guo, Gu Yangqian, Zhang Wei and Chen Yubi, who were the prince's lecturers on the banquet day, each wearing official uniforms. Stand still.
The trickle of time passed by, and it was now the second quarter of the hour. The sky was dawning, and the sky in the east turned white.
The prince's ceremonial guard was fully deployed and he entered the Wenhua Palace. The prince Zhu Yijun was wearing a royal robe. Standing slightly behind him on the left side was Gao Xiangjing, who was wearing a blue official uniform. The two of them came forward one after another to meet the teachers together.
The difference is that the prince bows, while the minister bows.
The prince bowed once, and the minister bowed three times.
Then, all the teachers, led by Gao Gong and Zhu Xizhong, bowed three times in return.
The king of heaven and earth is close to his teacher, and the distinction between ruler and minister is still greater than that between master and disciple.
The time of this ceremony is not set randomly. Mao hour is also known as the beginning of the day and the dawn. Around the second quarter of Mao hour in March in the capital, it is when the sky breaks out. The ceremony for the prince to leave the pavilion to study is set at this time. Dot has the profound meaning of "the rising sun".
Later generations of Westerners like to pay attention to the sense of ritual, and some "petty bourgeoisie" in China always feel that the sense of ritual of Westerners is particularly powerful. Little do they know that these things have been played to perfection by their ancestors.
For example, during the Ming Dynasty, it was widely said that it was a great ceremony for the prince to leave the court to study. Even for daily life such as the tea ceremony, there were "Thirteen Yis" and "Seven Taboos" in the Ming Dynasty. When it comes to the sense of ritual, there are also Which Western country’s daily life rituals can match this?
But in fact, Gao Pragmatic felt that the "ceremonial sense" of the Ming Dynasty was a bit excessive - a major feature of the Ming Dynasty since the founding of the country was that there were too many rules. Starting from the royal family, there are regulations on everything including food, clothing, and housing. If you are not careful, you will break the law. The rules of palace education are even more stringent.
Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a poor family and had not read many books himself, but he obviously understood the principle that "no matter how poor you are, you cannot afford education". He basically established the rules of education in the Ming Dynasty court. This is divided into two links: one is the daily education of the emperor himself, and the other is the education and training of the prince.
There is no need to go into details about the education of the emperor himself at the moment. Anyway, the emperors in the late Ming Dynasty became more and more slack in their own studies. Three days of fishing and two days of drying nets still required hard work. Here I will only talk about the education of the crown prince.
Unlike the emperor himself who was slack in his studies, as the father of the prince, the emperor also had the same desire as ordinary fathers to "hope that his son will succeed", so the prince's studies have always been supervised and implemented in the best way (Wufeng's note: Jiajing may have to be removed here) ...), there is rarely any time to relax.
The education and training system for the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty was first formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang. The early education of princes has been introduced in the previous article of this book, and there is no need to mention it here. The one that had a greater impact on later generations was the education system for princes founded by Zhu Yuanzhang - setting up Wenhua Palace bachelors to tutor princes. Below is the story of Zhan Fu Zhanshi, Shao Zhanshi, Chunfang University Scholar, concubine, Yude, Zhongyun, Praise for Goodness, Horse Washer, School Secretary and other official positions. Together, these formed the prototype of the education system for the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty.
Before the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty, there was actually no clear etiquette for the prince to study. By the time of the Zhengtong period, the etiquette for the prince to go out to study was also officially established: On the morning of the prince's first time out of the cabinet to study, the Ministry of Rites and the deacon of Honglu Temple were invited to attend the ceremony. After the four bows were held in the back hall of the Hua Hall, the officials of Honglu Temple saluted the prince and invited the prince to study in the Wenhua Hall. On this day, the emperor would attend in person. The three masters, three young masters, and other officials would bow to the emperor in order. Then each official would exit. The chamberlain would lead the prince to his seat in the back hall. Every day, the attendants, lecturers, and lecturers would come in turn.
From then on, the prince's study life began, and today's etiquette inherits the previous system in these aspects, without any difference. But today's etiquette for the prince to study abroad has been slightly improved or...increased from before.
That was the scene just now - the prince met the teacher.
Although the prince only bowed once, and the teacher had to return the bow three times, you must know that this was not said before. This new system was not decided by Gao Gong, but was a change proposed by Emperor Longqing himself. However, Gao Gong did not say why the emperor wanted to change like this in his exchange with Gao Pragmatic. Gao Pragmatic himself estimated privately that it was probably because Long Qing felt that Gao Gong was his teacher, and now he worked tirelessly to shoulder the heavy responsibility of educating the prince. He is truly the "Teacher of the Two Dynasties Emperors" and deserves such honor.
But speaking of it, among the prince's teachers, the most difficult one was the lecturer. When they teach, they must speak clearly; if the prince makes a mistake, he must correct it boldly; if the prince does not learn, he must dare to criticize. Failure to do any of the above will result in failure as a rule.
However, Gao pragmatically knew that this seemingly reasonable principle had become increasingly flawed in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Many emperors in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, when they were princes, were all full of behaviors such as skipping school, playing and enjoying themselves, and were picky. The teachers who were carefully selected seemed to be increasingly reluctant to do this. One of the important reasons is that the prince who goes out to study is still a child after all.
According to the perspective of later generations of pedagogy, generation gaps are often easy to appear between children and adults. The greater the gap between teachers and students, the deeper the generation gap between them is likely to be. Regarding the prince's education, most of the teachers who are in charge of the prince's studies are middle-aged or above, and some are even elderly. In addition, early education is mostly based on old academics with profound knowledge and strict scholarship. It is basically impossible to have anything in common with the prince. If you have a naughty prince, rebellion will definitely appear.
In addition, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the power of eunuchs became increasingly important, and those who accompanied the prince to study were mainly the eunuchs who served the prince. When it comes to things like skipping classes, it's even more collusive with the prince. The most typical example is when Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, was the crown prince. Because he did not like to study, the eunuchs who served him often made excuses to cancel the lectures of the day. Even the scheduled lectures were disrupted by them with excuses instead of ending get out of class early. Even if they cause trouble in class, normal education cannot be guaranteed. The eunuch who contributed most to helping Prince Zhu Houzhao skip classes was Liu Jin, who later became very powerful during the Zhengde Dynasty...
In fact, the knowledgeable people among the civil servants have long recognized this problem, but they have never been able to find any good solution. However, this time unexpectedly, the emperor "took the initiative" to ask for a civil servant who was similar in age to the prince. Although everyone envied the high pragmatism that finally obtained this position, the reason why they had not opposed it before was that, in addition to the excitement of the "Prince's playmate" incident, it was because they themselves were also I feel that having a young civil servant by his side can have a positive influence on the prince.
