People in Hongwu, from heavenly master to emperor master

Chapter 126 Killing and punishing one's heart, sir, you can't do it
"Math?"

Not only Xu Cunren, Kong Na was also dumbfounded when he heard these two words.

The relationship between arithmetic and the imperial examination cannot be said to be irrelevant, but it can only be said to have nothing to do with it.

Although the sage Kong said that a gentleman has six arts, arithmetic can barely be regarded as one of the six arts...

But in the long process of selecting talents, most of the content of the Six Arts has long been discarded, let alone appear in the imperial examination.

"Mathematics!"

Xu Cunren is a great Confucian after all, he tried hard to think back, and found that there is indeed a slight connection between mathematics and imperial examinations.

The imperial examinations started in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The imperial examinations in the Sui and Tang Dynasties included mathematics. In addition to the Mingjing subjects that are mainly tested today, there are also subjects such as Mingmath. However, with the development of the imperial examinations, arithmetic was gradually abandoned by the rulers.

With the Confucian tradition of judging scholars by literature, mathematics cannot be compared with the classics.

And even if you enter the official position through Ming Suan, you can basically only be the lowest-level official, and there is a difference!
In the Song Dynasty, although arithmetic was not included in the imperial examinations, Wang Anshi's reform set up the Taixue Sanshe method, which also gave students an additional way to become an official besides the imperial examinations.

But regardless of this, arithmetic is something that is not considered elegant after all, and can only be regarded as a supplement to the imperial examination system at best.

Even if Xu Cunren's mind is more open than others, he doesn't think it's important in today's world where Taoism is more important than art.

Mathematics can be a supplement to the imperial examination, but entering the imperial examination is nonsense.

He wasn't angry, he just acted like Zhang Yi was messing around and shook his head with a smile:

"This method won't work... Mathematics has been included in the imperial examinations since ancient times, but after practice in the past dynasties, I have already felt that this thing is flashy!
If you are just a little routine, I advise you to stop as soon as possible, so as not to make you laugh! "

Zhang Yi knew Xu Cunren's reaction clearly.

It would be strange if Xu Cunren agreed as soon as he mentioned it.

If the Confucian students before the appearance of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism had heard that Mathematics could be admitted into the imperial examination, they might still accept it, but after Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism completed the transformation of Confucianism, the semi-religious nature made it difficult for them to accept new things...

If you want to convince Xu Cunren, you can't use the method of chatting with Huang He.

Huang He is a low-level person. They can witness the changes brought about by some things to productivity, so Zhang Yi's rhetoric can empathize with him.

But Xu Cunren is a talent cultivated by standard Confucian education. They may be born poor, but their vision and spirit must be very high. Under the education of Confucianism, they take it for granted that all achievements in the world are under the guidance of "sacred learning" completed.

In short, these people are ungrounded, and it's no use talking to them about productivity.

To talk, only interests!

"Mister is wrong, what you think is not in your interest may not be in line with His Majesty's wishes!

As we said earlier, we'd better not get involved in economics and justice, because the water here is deep, and if one is not good, one will suffer!

That's why we need to start from the sidelines, counting learning to enter the imperial examination, it is an ancient system, not to mention sensationalism, if you suggest it to other emperors, maybe people will think you are fooling around,
But here with our Majesty, as long as the starting point is done well, even if His Majesty does not accept your opinion, at least he thinks that you put your heart into it!

First of all, let me tell you why your Majesty reformed the imperial examination last time. Xu Shi, you know it well. He just wanted to limit the growth of the scholar group and select a group of obedient people...

But why?It is simply because His Majesty wants to further centralize the monarchy, but the method he uses is not beneficial to the country...

This is also the reason why you were able to escape the disaster of killing yourself, sir, and finally listen to my bragging safely! "

Zhang Yi was the mastermind behind the rescue of Xu Cunren, Xu Cunren may not believe in other things, but Zhang Yi knew so much about the man in the palace, he was convinced.

As Zhang Yi said, the reason why Xu Cunren survived was because Zhang Yi knew that person's needs and what that person wanted, and he precisely used the psychology of that person in the palace to keep himself alive.

"So, let's simplify His Majesty's needs again. First, he wants to centralize power. Second, he wants better talents to serve him...

Then let's simplify this requirement again. If His Majesty wants to centralize power, he needs to prevent too much power, but he is the founding emperor. Now these ministers in the court are not a threat to him. Count down a few generations, you Judging from the example of the previous dynasty, the probability of a faint king is also small, so His Majesty's request for centralization is planning for the future, which belongs to planning for descendants...

Worried about the incompetence of the descendants, and the power to suppress the imperial power, this is a question that every emperor will think about, and there is nothing wrong with it!
But assuming that His Majesty is worried that the future power will be too great, in what form will he suppress the imperial power? "

The question raised by Zhang Yi made Xu Cunren and Kong Na fall into deep thought at the same time.

"The clan...formed a party..."

Conne raised his hand and began to list actions that might affect the monarchy.

Zhang Yi nodded and said:

"Nan Na is right, these are the possibilities that allow the power of the prime minister to override the power of the monarch. In fact, we can simplify it. In fact, what His Majesty is worried about is that the group of scholars will form a group in some way to bully the emperor!
The bond of holding a group can be blood, fellow countrymen, cliques, or other things.

As long as a relatively solid alliance is formed in the bureaucracy, the emperor does not like it!
In the past, His Majesty's way of dealing with it was to hope that the people selected through the imperial examination would not be too smart, but those who are not smart can't do anything, so just let it go!
But the problem is still the same problem, it always needs an ending, at least we need to let His Majesty see that we are helping him solve it, so I propose arithmetic, which is one of the reasons!
My husband said that mathematics was included in the imperial examinations in the previous dynasties, but it was eliminated in the final era, but I don't think so.

It is true that mathematics can be admitted to the imperial examination, but in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the group of people who passed the Ming calculation department were actually the lowest-level officials.
People from a powerful family don't take them to play at all. It's called imperial examination. In fact, everyone plays it differently.

So my husband arbitrarily thinks that mathematics is not good, but the students just think it is okay. Think about it, if those wealthy children also take the test of mathematics, what will be the result? "

"What result?"

"That is, the rules of the game that many people are familiar with have been broken, and many people who should have become officials have not been able to become officials. Mathematical science is different from the scriptures. If you don't know it, then you really can't...

It is not like the Four Books and Five Classics, which can be memorized. If you have a good gentleman, or someone in the court, you can probably know the thinking of the court's questions.

But arithmetic is different, right is right, wrong is wrong, this kind of uncontrolled examination method will naturally not be welcomed by the upper class! "

Although Zhang Yi's statement is a bit far-fetched, it also brings Xu Cunren into thinking.

In fact, Xu Cunren probably also understood what Zhang Yi said, which is to ask the emperor to teach another subject besides the classics.
In fact, since the examination was held today, some powerful schools of thought have long been formed among the people. These people have indeed mastered the methods of the imperial examination to some extent through their long-term research on the classics.

Once Enke is opened, it is conceivable that students from many places in the south of the Yangtze River, such as eastern Zhejiang and Jiangxi, will occupy a large number of positions in the court.

If the emperor opened another road and raised it to the same status as the scriptures,
It is tantamount to depriving these great Confucians of what they are good at.

This seemingly simple change, at least in the early days of the imperial examination, would make many people uncomfortable and caught off guard.

This achieves Zhang Yi's goal of dividing the class of scholars.

There are no more than a few ways for scholars to form groups, the most important type of grouping is fellow-townsmen and classmates...

Reducing a part of the advantage is tantamount to giving the advantage to other people...

From the king's point of view, this achieved the purpose of differentiation.

From the point of view of purpose only, Zhang Yi's formulation can indeed deal with the emperor.

However, including arithmetic in the imperial examinations and elevating it to the same height as Confucian classics is not in line with Xu Cunren's three views. Second, Zhang Yi's proposal is to strengthen the monarchy, which is not in Xu Cunren's interest!
After all, his hometown can be regarded as a place where talented people are born in large numbers. If there is one thing that affects the interests of Zhejiang students in the future!
Seeing Xu Cunren's hesitation, Zhang Yi sighed inwardly.

Trying to persuade a great Confucian to include mathematics in the imperial examination is in itself tantamount to persuading others to kill their own siblings.

Not to mention that they have a high regard for the scriptures and righteousness, such a thing as being admitted to the imperial examination is in itself a violation of their three views. Even if Xu Cunren doesn't care, he still has his own interests.

Taking a step back, whether Xu Cunren handed over these things can be approved by Emperor Hongwu is still unknown.

The promotion of this matter itself is much more difficult than the vaccination method.

To put it bluntly, it is too difficult for others who are Taoist priests to speak lightly, and it is too difficult to influence the court.

And he couldn't tell his true intentions.

Cutting in from the perspective of cutting power is the only thing that may impress Zhu Yuanzhang, but he dare not use the clan issue to point out the importance of arithmetic.

But Zhang Yi is confident that as long as Zhu Yuanzhang hears about the ability to divide the official structure, he will definitely be interested.

From the king's point of view, they certainly don't want all the officials in the court to come from one place!
"Well, it's not impossible to consider..."

Xu Cunren thought about it and agreed with Zhang Yi for the time being. It wasn't that he thought what Zhang Yi said was reasonable, but that Zhu Yuanzhang was forcing him to hand in something. The feeling of breaking a jar.

Satisfying the emperor's need to divide power is one of the points that cannot be said.

But what is handed to the emperor needs a high-sounding reason, which is to convince the emperor (at least on the surface) that the addition of mathematics can really screen more talents.

"So the second point you said, how to achieve it? The study of sages is the way to govern the country. If people who pass the imperial examination are not enough to prove their ability, how can they prove it through arithmetic?"

Seeing that Xu Cunren asked these words, Zhang Yi knew that at least he had passed the first test.

He thought for a while and said:

"There are many kinds of knowledge, and the test methods of mathematics and the study of sages are different. The mathematics test tests a person's logical ability, which cannot be trained in the Four Books and Five Classics...

For example, sir, you..."

Zhang Yi suddenly threw the question to Xu Cunren.

"Sir, you have been with His Majesty for ten years. His Majesty let you take charge of Guozixue. It is not distrustful of you. Your knowledge is also obvious to all. Compared with Song Lian and other masters, there are not many things like Confucian classics. No one can compare to you..."

Zhang Yi flattered Xu Cunren first, Xu Cunren nodded slightly.

Although he won't get carried away, Zhang Yi's appreciation for him is still very useful.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yi changed the subject:
"If you say that if you study the holy science well, you can govern the country well, why are you and Mr. Song Lian placed in an unimportant place instead of Zhongshu Sheng?"

Old Xu's smile froze on his face, and then he gave Zhang Yi a hard look.

When this guy praised you, there was a knife hidden behind him.

For Zhang Yi's behavior of pointing his nose and saying that he couldn't do it, Mr. Xu was inexplicably sad and indignant.

Killing hearts!

He accidentally made this kid sharpen again!
"Actually, I think there are several types of officials!"

After Zhang Yi pierced his heart, he started talking!

　Ask for a monthly pass, ask for a monthly pass!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)