Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Chapter 87: The Cone in the Bag
On the same day, in the afternoon, the emperor's carriage slowly arrived at the gate of the Imperial College. This trip was fully escorted and much more solemn than the emperor's previous trips in Luoyang City.

It was winter at that time, and Cao Rui learned from Zhong Yu that Taifu Zhong Yao's legs were getting worse and he had difficulty walking. Even if the emperor came to the Imperial College in person, Zhong Yao would not be able to come.

There was really no other way. A few days ago, the emperor conferred the title of Grand Tutor on the Grand Court. It was impossible for the Grand Tutor not to be present, right? With the emperor's special permission, Grand Tutor Zhong came to court in a sedan chair.

Since Taifu Zhong could not come, the only two doctors, Zheng Cheng and Gao Tanglong, stood at the gate of the Imperial College to welcome the emperor.

Zheng said that this person was the great-nephew of Zheng Xuan, the "God of Classics", and he absorbed the essence of Zheng's learning in a very comprehensive way. He can be regarded as the face of the Imperial College today.

Gao Tanglong was a descendant of Gao Tangsheng, a Confucian scholar of the Western Han Dynasty. In the third year of Huangchu, he was appointed as the tutor of King Pingyuan by Cao Pi. Like Zheng Cheng, he had the grace of teaching the emperor.

Zheng Cheng was a very traditional Confucian scholar who spent half his life studying, studying, and lecturing on the classics. Therefore, he was sent by Cao Rui to be in charge of the teaching of the Imperial College. Although Gao Tanglong was also good at Confucian studies, he was quite good at mundane affairs, so he was now in charge of the daily work of the Imperial College.

In fact, a few months ago, when Cao Rui asked Zheng Cheng and Gao Tanglong about their ideas, Gao Tanglong expressed his desire to go out and become an official, but Cao Rui kept him there on the grounds that the affairs of the Imperial Academy were more important.

After all, Imperial College is the most important part of Cao Rui's plan to cultivate talents.

After Cao Rui got off the carriage, he saw Zheng Cheng and Gao Tanglong bowing to him. One of them had been the tutor of Marquis Wude and the other had been the tutor of Marquis Pingyuan. Cao Rui quickly signaled them to stand up.

Zheng Cheng bowed and said, "I have heard from the Imperial Academy that Your Majesty will be on a southern tour soon. It is a great honor for the Imperial Academy that you have time to come to the Imperial Academy for inspection today."

Cao Rui smiled and said, "It is precisely because I am about to go on a southern tour that I came to the Imperial Academy today to take a look."

"Master Zheng and Master Gaotang have been in the Imperial College for three months, right? How is the Imperial College doing now?"

Zheng Cheng stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "The Imperial College has undergone a lot of changes recently. I will speak first, and then the senior doctor will speak after I finish speaking."

Cao Rui nodded. Zheng Cheng led the emperor inside and said, "Your Majesty once talked about unifying the teaching. The previous teaching in the Imperial College was that different teachers gave lectures separately, and students listened to the lectures according to their own needs, which was quite undisciplined."

"According to your majesty's instructions, I have tested the levels of the 500 students who entered this semester and divided them into three levels: A, B, and C according to their learning progress."

"There are about fifty students in the A-level. Most of them have already read the Five Classics, but because they did not have a famous teacher to teach them earlier, there are some deviations in the meaning and understanding of the classics. The A-level is the most advanced level."

"There are about 300 students in the B-rank, and they are familiar with at least two or three of the Five Classics. For these students, the most important thing is to teach them the parts they have missed. If they can learn all of them, they can be promoted from the B-rank to the A-rank."

"There are about 150 students in the C-rank. These students still need some basic teaching. It will take about two to three years to advance from C-rank to B-rank."

In fact, Zheng Cheng's words were very subtle. The emperor suddenly asked the Imperial College to recruit students. What could the Imperial College do? Naturally, it could only bite the bullet and recruit students.

Class A is for the best of the best, Class B is for normal students, and Class C is filled with all kinds of people with connections who should not be able to enter the Imperial College.

There is no way, the Imperial Academy also belongs to the imperial court, and it also needs to talk about politics!

Cao Rui nodded and said, "I think it's good enough to have 50 people enter the first rank. Selecting talents and educating them is a long and arduous task."

Gao Tanglong wanted to take over and report on the construction of the Imperial College, but Cao Rui interrupted him with a smile: "I have seen it all. The stone scriptures on the road and the Imperial College building. Master Gaotang has done a good job. I have seen it all."

Gao Tanglong's words were forcibly interrupted, but seeing the emperor's praise, the past few months were not in vain.

The Imperial College covers a large area, with many halls and classrooms. As they walked along the road, Cao Rui asked casually, "Master Zheng, where is Jiang Wei, the disciple from Liangzhou whom I asked you to recruit? How is he?"

The disciple Zheng claimed to be from Liangzhou was Jiang Wei, who had just been accepted as a disciple a few days ago.

When Zheng Cheng heard the emperor mention Jiang Wei, he bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, Jiang Wei is indeed an outstanding person. Before accepting him as a disciple, I had the intention of studying him, but after getting to know Jiang Wei, I found that his excellence is self-evident, just like a needle in a bag."

"Oh?" Cao Rui was quite surprised to hear Zheng Cheng's high evaluation of Jiang Wei.

Cao Rui thought about it. When he was in the Eastern Palace or in the Wude Marquis' Mansion, he had never heard Zheng Cheng praise the original Cao Rui in this way.

Of course there was no jealousy. Why would an emperor be jealous of a minister? They were all for his own use. Cao Rui was just particularly curious. After all, he had made many plans for the Liangzhou affairs, and now he had reaped a great harvest.

Cao Rui then asked, "How is Jiang Wei so outstanding? Tell me about it."

The relationship between a master and his apprentice is actually mutual. When a famous master receives a talented apprentice, he will feel that there is someone who can carry on the tradition. When an apprentice receives a famous master, he will also feel that there is hope for his future and he will work hard to climb high.

Two sides of the same coin.

When Zheng Cheng saw the emperor asking about Jiang Wei, he smiled and said, "Your Majesty, if you want to summarize the characteristics of Jiang Wei, I can use the two words 'realism'." Cao Rui did not speak, but nodded to signal Zheng Cheng to continue.

Zheng Cheng said: "Jiang Wei was older than other students of the same period. He was already 24 years old when he entered the Imperial College. Unlike many students, Jiang Wei was not vain and was pragmatic by nature."

"I have also asked other teachers. Jiang Wei never participates in idle chats and hanging out among students, or even in evaluating people and discussing family backgrounds. He also never shows off his talents to his classmates in such matters."

"Jiang Wei once served in the state. When he read the scriptures, he often compared the principles in the scriptures with the actual handling of daily affairs."

Cao Rui heard this and thought that this probably refers to combining theory with practice. Moreover, not being moved by small things is a quality for doing big things.

Zheng Cheng continued, "What surprised me the most about Jiang Wei is that he not only understands the classics, but is also willing to learn other knowledge. Law, arithmetic, prophecies, astronomical phenomena, whenever there is a teacher giving a lecture, Jiang Wei will definitely go to listen."

"I asked him about it in detail a few days ago. Jiang Wei not only listened a lot, but also really mastered a lot of knowledge. This is what impressed me the most."

Cao Rui understood that Zheng was saying that Jiang Wei had studied multiple subjects and was able to absorb the essence of other doctrines besides Confucian classics.

Cao Rui asked: "Why is Master Zheng so surprised? Is he surprised by his wide range of knowledge?"

Zheng Cheng shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, do you know what Zheng learning is? Zheng learning is not only about studying classics, but also about other practical studies."

"When Kang Chenggong was studying, he was proficient in the Five Classics at the age of thirteen, and in the Classics of Scriptures and Prophecies at the age of sixteen. It can be said that when Kang Chenggong was sixteen, he had already learned all the classics that many people would need to study for a lifetime."

Kang Chenggong is the "God of Classics" Zheng Xuan. The two characters Kang Cheng are Zheng Xuan's courtesy names.

Zheng Cheng continued, "Kang Chenggong came to the place of the great Confucian scholar Wu Yuanxian, and not only mastered the modern text classics of the Jingshi Yi and Gongyang Chunqiu, but also studied the Santong Calendar and the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art."

"After that, Duke Kang Cheng also mastered the ancient classics such as Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, Han Shi, and the Ancient Book of Documents. In addition, Duke Kang Cheng also learned the Law and Order under Chen Qiu."

"It can be said that Kang Chenggong's knowledge is far from being simply summarized by the word 'classics'. It is mainly based on classics, and extends to calendar, arithmetic, prophecy, law and order, etc. He is a talent who is well-versed in all subjects."

"It was from Jiang Wei that I saw that his personality had some similarities with Kang Chenggong's scholarship, and that's why I was pleasantly surprised."

The brain circuits of the emperor and the ministers are often different. Cao Rui is now instinctively sensitive to names and relationships. When Zheng Cheng introduced Kang Chenggong, he mentioned a person named Chen Qiu, whose name is really easy to remember.

Cao Rui did not respond to Zheng Cheng's words. Instead, he turned around and looked at Liu Ye who was accompanying him: "Minister, why does this Chen Qiu sound familiar to me? Is he the Chen Qiu from Xia Pi?"

Liu Ye was also very good at studying people. As a human encyclopedia beside Cao Rui, he was already accustomed to the emperor's erratic thinking, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, it is Chen Qiu from Xia Pi. Chen Qiu's nephew is called Chen Gui, and Chen Gui's son is Chen Deng."

Cao Rui then asked: "In which year did Chen Deng die?"

Liu Ye thought for a moment and said, "Chen Deng died around the 10th year of Jian'an. I don't remember the exact time. But I once heard someone say that Chen Deng loved to eat raw fish sashimi. His cause of death might be related to this."

Eating raw fish can cause parasites! Cao Rui knew about this historical material.

Liu Ye then added: "Your Majesty, Chen Jiao was also the Gongcao of Chen Deng."

Cao Rui was quite surprised and threw the question back directly: "Chen Shizhong was the Gongcao of Chen Deng? When did it happen?"

Liu Ye replied: "It was probably when Chen Deng was in Guangling."

Cao Rui nodded and did not ask any more questions. In fact, factionalism was everywhere in the court, and naturally there were many ministers who were quite opposed to each other.

Chen Jiao and Liu Ye were like this, so when Cao Rui arranged the shifts for the ministers, he divided Liu Ye and Huang Quan, Xin Pi and Chen Jiao into two groups. Obviously, Liu Ye did not miss the opportunity to make trouble for Chen Jiao.

Cao Rui turned back, and Zheng Cheng continued the previous topic: "I do have a question, how did Your Majesty discover Jiang Wei's talent and let me take him as your disciple?"

Cao Rui certainly couldn't tell the real reason, and he didn't want to lie to Zheng Cheng, the great Confucian scholar, so he could only change the subject.

Cao Rui said: "I also heard it from others. It just so happens that Longyou was the last to submit. I want to use your reputation as a great scholar to recruit disciples from Liangzhou and win the hearts of the local big families."

Zheng Cheng also knew what to do and did not continue asking. Instead, he smiled and said, "It is not easy to find a good disciple. I would like to thank Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)