Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 443
After hearing Jiang Fan's words, Zhao Xin got up and walked a few steps in the house. He opened the door, and the bitter cold wind rushed towards his face.A Miao saw that Zhao Xin was not wearing enough, so she hurried into the room to get a coat, and put it on him on tiptoe.

Zhao Xin stared at A Miao, embarrassed by the other party's look, blushed and lowered his head.At this moment, he said slowly: "Mr. Jiang, you must have never heard the words of a sage."

"Oh? Although Jiang dare not say that he has read all the books in the world, but he has read it when he asked himself 'three tombs, five canons, eight records and nine hills'. Excuse me, King Zhao, I don't know who is the saint, what did he say?"

According to the Preface to the Biography of Shangshu, the books of Fuxi, Shennong, and Huangdi are called the three tombs.The books of Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Tang Yao, and Yushun are called Wudian; the books of gossip are called Basuo; the records of Kyushu are called Jiuqiu.

The "tomb" in "Three Graves" actually means "big", so "Three Graves" is said to be a book explaining the Dao.

The "Dian" of the "Five Codes" means "Chang", that is, the Five Constants, namely father's righteousness, mother's kindness, brothers and friends, younger brother's respect, and son's filial piety.

"Basuo" is gossip, which is a metaphor for "Book of Changes". If you don't understand "Book of Changes", you don't know arithmetic and astronomy.

"Jiuqiu" is a classic that introduces ancient Chinese geography, that is, Yudi.

Jiang Fan spoke loudly, and he did have the capital.When he was young, he taught Confucian classics masters Hui Dong, Jiang Shuyun and Yu Gunong.He is well-versed in the classics, especially familiar with historical events.Compiled "Erya Zhengzi", and later wrote "Book of Changes Shubu".The most famous works written by him in history are "Guochao Sinology Master Chengji", "Guochao Songxue Yuanyuanji" and "Zhouche Wenjianlu".

"The people, and only the people, are the true motive force that makes history."

Jiang Fan keenly noticed that Zhao Xin said "the people" instead of "the people", and then he cupped his hands and said, "Oh? Dare I ask King Zhao, what is the 'people'?"

"The first 'people' refers to all the people in the world, regardless of emperors, grassroots, or virtuous and foolish. The second people refers to the people who created all these. Confucius and Mencius, all schools of thought, you, ah Miao, Yin Bingwei, street sweepers, watchmen, etc., and there are hundreds of millions of people outside who plow the land, weave cloth, and operate the machines. Without the labor of these people, the so-called sages are nothing!"

A Miao and Yin Bingwei, who were on the side, heard that Zhao Xin compared the two of them with Confucius and Mencius, and looked at Zhao Xin in surprise, thinking how could they stand shoulder to shoulder with a saint?

Jiang Fan let out a long sigh, saluted Zhao Xinshen, cupped his hands and said, "Why doesn't King Zhao mention himself? Now that the North Sea is up and down, if there is no King Zhao's painstaking efforts, how can we come to where we are today?"

"Me?" Zhao Xin stroked A Miao's black hair, and said with a faint smile, "I'm just a stealer."

After finishing speaking, he asked A Miao to close the door, walked past the table, sat down and said to Jiang Fan, "Mr. Jiang, I know what you are worried about. I don't plan to abolish the imperial examination for now."

Jiang Fan was overjoyed when he heard this. He talked for a long time, and his main purpose was this.

"However," Zhao Xin looked at Jiang Fan and said after seeing the surprise on the opposite side: "Most of the officials in Beihai Town's system will not take the imperial examination, let alone the administrative officials at all levels who only understand the Four Books and Five Classics, and have no understanding of the economy and people's livelihood. , A corrupt bureaucrat who raises a group of masters and servants, a group of slaves, who only know how to buy money and land."

Jiang Fan's face became ugly. He understood that this was a common problem of gentry and bureaucrats, and it has been like this since ancient times.There are very few officials who can really focus on people's livelihood and economy like Zhang Juzheng, Hai Rui, and Yu Chenglong.

"In the future, in Beihai Town's imperial examination, no matter what level it is, there will be a policy examination. There will be a question for economics, law, geography, mathematics, chemistry, etc., and scholars will choose to answer it. It takes at least two years of professional counterpart study before you can work as a clerical officer, and a clerical officer has worked for several years before you can become a political officer."

Jiang Fan let out a long breath, thinking that Zhao Wang's panting was really scary.

Policy theory Well, this is simple.People like Jiao Xun will definitely choose mathematics; Hong Junzhi will choose geography if he can't do it right.As for the professional study after winning, this is even more appropriate.

Scholars have to go through the stage of tribute students, and pass the "scientific examination" before they can be admitted to Juren; even Shuji scholars have to study in the Imperial Academy for three years, and they have to take exams from time to time, and they are not allowed to work unless they pass the hall.

I just heard Zhao Xin continue: "Donating officials will definitely not exist in Beihai Town."

Jiang Fan's face turned red immediately, and he bowed to Zhao Xin in excitement, stood up and said, "This is a great policy!"

In fact, Zhao Xin has been thinking about how to deal with the imperial examination these days, whether to keep or not.

It is impossible to abolish this thing at once.Not to mention the special significance of the imperial examination system for the scholar group, but the Confucian civilization has always been through this form, so that it can be passed down from generation to generation, and ultimately shaped the Chinese civilization of later generations.

Since it wants to become an industrialized country, absolute dictatorship is the first insurmountable threshold.In this process, it is necessary to establish the belief foundation of nation-building.

Unlike the Qing Dynasty, which was forced to modernize in another time and space, Beihai Town in this time and space cannot avoid the fact that Confucian culture is currently at its most prosperous stage, and its value and belief system is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and there is no identity crisis at all.

One very important reason for the demise of the late Qing Dynasty was that the legitimacy of traditional politics was impacted by foreign civilizations.

Unequal treaties broke the status of "Tao unifies respect" and cut off the core logic of the growth of traditional authority. The traditional concept of "using morality to govern power" has changed to "power to promote virtue".

The basic explanation of Taoism on the source of authority is "Only the Son of Heaven is ordered by the Heaven, and the world is ordered by the Son of Heaven." The logical chain of authority growth contained in it is "Heaven-Son of Heaven-Tianxia-Huaxia-Siyi".

It is precisely because of this that the institutional arrangements for dealing with Sino-foreign relations must be the "differentiation between Yi and Xia" and the system of paying tribute.The tribute system is an indispensable part of maintaining the "unity of Taoism". It not only outlines a "China-centered world picture" to the world, but also strengthens people's obedience to "the Son of Heaven is ordered by heaven".

If the system of paying tribute to Hua and Yi is not divided, the logic of "the Son of Heaven is ordered by Heaven" and "conquering the world" will be incomplete.Its further impact is that since "Yi" can not follow the summer, why should the world follow the emperor?
If it is said that the deconstruction of Taoism by Western religion and natural science introduced by missionaries is more or less theoretical, then the signing of the unequal treaty has undoubtedly made such a challenge a reality and has legal effect .

The problem is Bei Haizhen is a freak!

In terms of civilization, what Zhao Xin and the others introduced was actually a foreign civilization, but no one knew about it; and in terms of race, Zhao Xin and the others were Chinese rather than Westerners, so there was no worry of China's subjugation and extinction.

So this matter is very troublesome.

Zhao Xin does not want to follow the old tribute system, which means the collapse of the theory of "divine right of kings" established since Dong Zhongshu.Beihai Town's establishment of the country by industry means that the way of building a country that "emphasizes propriety and righteousness rather than power, and people's hearts rather than skills" is no longer tenable.

If the imperial examinations are to be abolished at this time, it will mean that the chain of "knowledge empowerment" that has lasted for more than 1000 years will be cut off, which will cause the collapse of the entire intellectual class's national identity and belief.

However, precisely in this period of absolute dictatorship, politically speaking, the country needs the assistance of the intellectuals to establish identity and belief, otherwise there will be wars everywhere, and it is impossible to guard against.

Someone said that a military government can be established, and it will be changed later.

From ancient times to the present, there are no more than four types of national power systems: wealth power, military merit power, birth power power, and knowledge power power.The first three have been abandoned by the Chinese, and only the empowerment of knowledge is relatively fair.

Do you want to learn from the good ones and learn from the bad ones?What else can there be but to satisfy personal ambitions?Look at Siam and Latin America in another time and space. Once the military power system is solidified, who will allow outsiders to touch the cheese on their plate?All those who wanted to move, either escaped the disaster far away in the end, or the whole family died.

emperor?The emperor was just a decoration at that time.

Therefore, the important question is not whether the imperial examination system should be abolished, but whether the new education system can replace the talent selection and educational functions of the imperial examination system, whether it can immediately assume the original political integration function of the imperial examination system, and whether it can strengthen The flexibility of the social structure is not conducive to the control of the society by the state.

Obviously, the current education system in Beihai Town is far from being able to do it.Compared with a large country with a population of more than 2 million, Beihai Town, with a population of nearly 40, is powerless even if everyone is literate.

Not to mention 40, in another time and space, the total number of students absorbed by the new schools before the 300 Revolution was nearly 2000 million. Compared with the [-] million imperial examination students, their social mobilization ability is far from sufficient.In a word from the squire, no matter the surname is De or Sai, stand aside for me!
How turbulent and chaotic was the society at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China?

Of course, it was precisely because of this turmoil that the top-down political integration failed, and the victory of the rural encirclement of the city was achieved.

In fact, the super-large territory of ancient China provided a broad living space for "knowledge empowerment", but the cost of decentralized social management and the financial capacity of the small peasant economy limited the scale of the knowledge bureaucracy.That is to say, because of the small-scale peasant economy, the state's fiscal revenue is simplistic, and its fiscal surplus capacity is too weak to support so many bureaucrats.

It's not that the imperial power doesn't want to go to the county, but that it can't afford the cost of going to the county at all.If it weren't for Yongzheng's painstaking management for more than ten years, Qianlong caught up with the population explosion after he succeeded to the throne, and the scale of cultivated land soared, so fighting against Qianlong like this would be impossible for the finances.

It was after a long time of deliberation, deliberation, and talking with many people that Zhao Xin figured out the problem and made a choice.

At this point, he has finally transformed from a greedy "knowledgeable person" to a beginner "politician", and he still has a long way to go to become a "family".

After Jiang Fan left Zhao Xin's house, he didn't go back to his residence, but went straight to the library.Sure enough, Duan Yucai, Liu Taigong and Hong Liangji were still there, and even Wang Zhong came.

For the nearly 230 volumes and 27 million pages of the "Siku Quanshu", it takes 100 days to print one sheet per second.From this point of view, Zhao Xin's collection of [-] silver dollars is really a loss-making price.

Hearing the door opening and footsteps approaching, Duan Yucai and Liu Taigong didn't speak. Hong Liangji looked up at Jiang Fan's expression and asked, "How did the talk go?"

Jiang Fan took off his hat and threw it on the table, stroked the braids at the back of his head with his hands, and after a while he let out a sigh of relief: "I don't understand."

Duan Yucai asked without raising his head, "What does Ziping mean by that?"

Jiang Fan didn't answer, but looked at Wang Zhong and said, "Senior Rong Fu, how much did King Zhao learn from you? Or, where did he learn from?"

Wang Zhong shook his head and said: "I'm so ashamed. Wang and Zhao Wang sat down and talked for less than ten times. Most of them were Wang asking him for new knowledge. As for the teacher's succession, Wang didn't know. What's wrong with you, Ziping?"

"Jiang seems to have an illusion that this Zhao Wang should have read the Four Books and Five Classics, and he has read a lot. It's just that for some reason, he is very resistant."

"Huh?" As soon as these words came out, both Liu Taigong and Duan Yucai looked up at Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan recalled the conversation with Zhao Xin and said: "He can easily read the words of the sage without any effort. Even if Jiang made a side note, he can understand what I mean after a little thought. But why doesn't he govern the country with etiquette and righteousness? Woolen cloth?"

"Because King Zhao's first men and horses were refugees from the Japanese country!" Wang Zhong explained: "Knowing small rituals but not great righteousness, fearing power but not being virtuous. To lead such people to conquer the world, you must use Xun Guan's skills. "

Hong Liangji nodded slowly and said: "Those who are close and do not obey will be troubled by the land; those who are far and do not listen will be endangered by appearance."

Wang Zhong continued: "Wang Mou told you before that Zhao Wang relied on three hundred refugees to make his fortune, and most of the refugees who came later were from the Guannei and the Japanese Kingdom. Orders can be done; if you are good at shape, you can seize the land of a big country and destroy the soldiers of a strong country; if you are good at power, you can unite the soldiers of the world and rule the princes."

Hong Liangji and Wang Zhong's words are all based on "Guanzi", which means to coerce countries that are disobedient nearby by occupying land, and to deter countries that are disobedient far away.Leading a group of refugees, living in a bitterly cold place outside the customs, and confronting a big country like the Manchu Qing, it is useless to talk about etiquette, justice and morality. We must start with strategy, form, and power.

"Hehe, it's still Rong Fu and Jun who saw it clearly." Duan Yucai nodded slowly in approval, looked at Jiang Fan and continued to ask, "Ziping, what else did King Zhao say?"

"The imperial examinations will not be abolished."

As soon as Jiang Fan's words came out, everyone was shocked.Even Liu Taigong couldn't hold back anymore, he leaned forward and said, "Is this really true?"

"Tell me personally. However, Zhao Wang said that in the future imperial examinations at all levels, a strategy theory will be added."

Duan Yucai frowned and said, "Policy theory? Restore the Tang system?"

"No. What King Zhao means is technical theory. There are economics, law, geography, mathematics, and chemistry subjects. Each subject has a question, and scholars choose a question to answer. For example, brother Junzhi is good at geology, so he can choose geography questions; Brother Rongfu is good at etiquette, you can choose legal questions."

"What if you win?"

"After winning the prize, it takes two years of skill study before you can become an official, and after several years of honing, you can become a political officer."

Without waiting for everyone to digest the content of the words just now, Jiang Fan continued: "King Zhao also said,"

Hong Liangji patted the table and said, "Hey! Ziping, why are you talking out of breath? Hurry up, hurry up!"

"There will be no donating officials in the future."

"it is good!"

Duan Yucai nodded and said: "Selling officials and nobles, greedy for power and stealing positions, although it has existed in ancient times, the imperial court only made petty profits, fostering the wind of greed and abuse, relying on the official body of the stick, the fish and meat village is foolish, there are some people's hearts, and I criticize it .And the high officials in the court rely on such officials as their confidantes, using them as claws, picking fat and devouring it, only seeking profit, and the customs have deteriorated to this point, which will eventually lead to disaster."

Everyone present knew who Old Man Duan was talking about, He Shen!As for the one behind He Shen, Duan Yucai dare not say so far.

Such things as selling officials and nobles have existed since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the purpose is to generate income for the court.However, once the opening was opened, it has never been closed in the past dynasties.

Scholars who are on the way to the imperial examination have no choice but to express their objection, so a chain of contempt has been created.The first class looks down on the second class, and the second class thinks that it is higher than the third class; while the third class, the first class, and the second class look down on "non-classes".

The donations in the Qing Dynasty were first opened in the 13th year of Kangxi. Because of the financial constraints caused by internal and external wars such as the San Francisco Rebellion, the recovery of Taiwan, the pacification of Junggar, and the fight against Tsarist Russia, the price was clearly marked.As for the saying of "searching for talents from other places and making up for the lack of subjects", it is purely an act of "thinking and thinking".

In history, narcissism is like Qianlong, frugality is like Daoguang, and sadness is like Xianfeng. At the beginning of Yuji, they all said that they would no longer accept donations.However, among them, Daoguang was the one who persisted in the policy of stopping donations for seven years; Qianlong was in the middle for three years;

In the feudal era, due to the high administrative costs of the government, there was a shortage of officials. As a result, this behavior left many scholars without officials.And those who donate officials act according to their own "hidden rules" and seldom follow the professional ethics that officialdom should have.

To put it bluntly, there is no food.Although everyone thinks that "once the power is in hand, the order will be carried out", but in the officialdom, eating is very important.

After that, several people kept discussing enthusiastically, and even called Jiao Xun and the other three who were still in class.When everyone's mouth was dry and the library janitor came over and said, "I'm sorry, can we talk tomorrow", everyone noticed that it was dark outside.

So a group of literati had to end the discussion and follow Wang Zhong to find a place to fill his stomach before talking.

Walking out of the library, Jiao Xun grabbed Jiang Fan and asked curiously, "Brother Ziping, if it were you, which subject would you choose?"

Jiang Fan looked up to the south, but it was a pity that Sirius had not yet risen.So, under Jiao Xun's watchful eyes, he said in a hoarse voice: "Ma Fubo is shut down for thousands of miles, and he can read his skills as a scholar, and he has the strength to stretch his bowstring!"

(End of this chapter)