Father can be an enemy to the country

The Hanlin Academy of the Ming Dynasty was located on Qinglong Street on the south side of East Chang'an Street, opposite the Zongren Mansion and the Civil Service Department. Such a good location is not because of how important it is, but because Boss Zhu made it easier for the Hanlin officials to study for him, so he set up their Yamen closer to the palace gate, that's all.

In fact, the Hanlin Academy during the Hongwu period was far less prominent than in later generations. Because Boss Zhu clearly distinguishes between knowledgeable people and people who can do things. After the initial superstitious stage, he discovered that people with good knowledge are often just good at reading, which does not mean they are also good at other things. And many nerds ruin their brains by reading and will only make a mess.

Therefore, he soon stopped being superstitious about those so-called great Confucian scholars, and only regarded them as human trumpets to lecture him and tools to help polish the imperial decree. Therefore, officials with Hanlin background will not receive special preferential treatment. Instead, Boss Zhu will regard them as nerds and be unwilling to let them take on important responsibilities.

But the Hanlin officials obviously don't think so. They firmly believe that the truth of all things can be found in the books of sages. If they are familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics and are well versed in the ways of sages, they are the best talents. The fact that Boss Zhu doesn't reuse them only shows that he is a blind and ignorant boss, rather than their own problem.

Therefore, the Hanlin Academy has always been rich in "direct ministers" who are against Boss Zhu, second only to the Metropolitan Procuratorate who specializes in trolling people.

After a group of Confucian bigwigs such as Song Lian and Dai Liang were killed by Boss Zhu as the Hu Party, they took the initiative to assume the responsibility of leading Shilin and became the new backbone of the civil servant group.

At this time, the four heads of the Hanlin Academy, Hanlin Bachelor Liu Sanwu, Attendant Bachelor Dong Lun, Wenhua Palace Grand Scholar Zhang Pu, and Wenyuan Pavilion Grand Scholar Zhu Shan, were discussing something in Liu Sanwu's duty room.

Outside the door, there were Liu Sanwu's family members watching, obviously the matter was confidential. It cannot be known to outsiders.

What they were discussing was the upcoming examination of the Ministry of Etiquette.

At that time, Boss Zhu proposed that each of them take a step back and let the King of Chu set the questions and the civil servants would admit them. Although they reluctantly agreed on the surface, they were already celebrating each other secretly.

Because if civil servants were responsible for admissions, they could abolish the very important subject-based selection process in the reform of the sixth imperial examination. What nonsense are science, household studies, and engineering studies? As long as you don't take the Confucian classics exam, you can't even hope to be admitted!

"Has the list of examiners come out?" Liu Sanwu, a Hanlin scholar, asked. He is over sixty years old, but his beard and hair are black, his eyes are bright, and his voice is full of energy. At first glance, he seems to be an energetic person.

"Zhao Butang has already submitted the report. Although the emperor hasn't had time to read it, it is estimated that these people will be the ones in the end." Zhang Pu, the bachelor of Wenhua Palace, replied.

Zhu Shan, the scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, also nodded slightly, indicating that this was the case. Then the two revealed the list to Liu Sanwu from memory.

Five years ago, after Boss Zhu deposed the Prime Minister and removed the Central Secretary, he finally enjoyed the joy of monopolizing power, but the workload also increased suddenly... Of course, the main burden was on the Crown Prince. Zhu Biao actually did the work of the Prime Minister and the Central Secretary in these years. .

After enduring this year after year, looking exhausted, Boss Zhu felt sorry for his son and had been seeking to create a new auxiliary government system. After the failure of the four-auxiliary officer system, Zhu Yuanzhang imitated the Song system in the 15th year of Hongwu and established the Huagai Hall, Wuying Hall, Wenhua Hall, Wenyuan Pavilion, Dongge and other academicians as Hanlin Academy officials, whose main task was to serve the emperor. or so, in preparation for advisors.

Although at this time, the status and role of the Diange bachelor were not as high as those of the Hanlin Academy bachelor, and he was still managed by the latter, but after all, he was always with the emperor and his information was far better informed than the latter's.

~~

After listening to the two bachelors, Liu Sanwu nodded slowly and asked Dong Lun, the lecturer on the side: "Have you remembered everything?"

"Yes." Dong Lun nodded slightly. People with good knowledge must have excellent memories.

"Let's talk to them privately and tell them that no one from the three schools of science and industry should be admitted to the Jinshi." Liu Sanwu said solemnly: "The reason is that 'poor arts and sciences and shallow knowledge' are not enough to be a Jinshi."

"Not admitting anyone?" Dong Lun frowned slightly and said, "Isn't it too obvious?"

"At this point in the struggle, everything is obvious, so what's the point of keeping it secretive?" Liu Sanwu chuckled and said, "If you want to cover up the obvious, you will only add laughter."

"That's right, we just want to let the people like Lao Liu know that if you don't read the books of saints and sages, you can't even think about becoming a Jinshi, not even one!" Zhang Pu firmly agreed: "The correction must be overcorrected, so as to kill this unhealthy trend. , let’s see who dares not to read the books of sages!”

"I also agree that we must cancel the selection of scholars by subject." Zhu Shan continued: "Back then, Lao Liuyi slapped his head and dug out something that had been abandoned in the Tang Dynasty. It is simply unrealistic to imitate it as if it were a treasure. Realistic and ridiculous. Completely unfeasible!"

"Okay." Dong Lun nodded in agreement: "I'll send a message to Zhang Xin and the others."

"Pay attention to confidentiality. Contact must be one-way and no gatherings are allowed." Liu Sanwu warned again.

"Don't worry, I have learned how to deal with Jinyiwei's spies over the years." Dong Lun nodded: "It won't attract their attention."

"Okay." The two bachelors nodded, but Liu Sanwu still frowned and said:

"I think this is not enough."

"How do you say it?" the three asked.

"I asked people to find out secretly. More than 70% of college students are studying Confucian classics. We can't exclude them with this method alone." Liu Sanwu said worriedly:

"And it's Lao Liu who sets the questions. He will definitely come up with some questions that can't be learned outside Guozi University to help his college students pass the Jinshi exam."

"That's for sure." The three of them agreed. Zhang Pu twisted his beard and thought: "Actually, Confucian classics, legal studies, and even Cantonese are all good. The most troublesome thing is arithmetic. Which of the other subjects should be considered better or worse? People still have different opinions, but in arithmetic, right is right, wrong is wrong, and wrong means wrong."

"Yes, everyone still has to take the exam..." Zhu Shan and Dong Lun nodded in distress: "Lao Liu will definitely cause trouble here!"

In fact, according to Zhu Zhen's original design, only those who want to be a Jinshi in arithmetic need to take the arithmetic test, but Boss Zhu believes that arithmetic is too important, and officials who don't know math will just wait to be fooled by the people below. Therefore, arithmetic was made a compulsory subject. The status is higher than that of Confucian classics. You can say it is irritating or not.

Although local schools in prefectures and counties also offer corresponding subjects, those wealthy gentry families with heirlooms of poetry and calligraphy also invited famous mathematicians to tutor their children who were taking the exams. But after all, the candidates who are taking the exam have only been exposed to mathematics for a short time, and many of them have not even started. Even for those talented students, who dares to say that all difficult problems can be solved?

If you fail in this exam, it will be useless no matter how good you are in the other two exams, you will simply fail.

Therefore, Lao Liu can really rely on this subject to block people outside of Guozi University from becoming a Jinshi.