The Nameless of the Common Clans

In the 16th year of Han Shou, more and more noble families opened academies. Basically, no matter how big or small, there are academies in every county. Some are opened by noble families themselves, and some are led by the noble families in the county. They invite some retired celebrities to establish academies in the name of celebrities. Generally, the more noble families there are, the more academies of this pattern there are.

"Although there are many academies at present, they are just beginning to be established. It is hard to say how effective they are for the time being." Looking at Ni Heng who came to discuss with him, Chen Mo smiled and said, "But there is one thing that Zhengping should prepare for early."

"Please let the king know." Ni Heng bowed.

"Although there are many academies, the court recruits scholars from the Imperial College, but these academies are not qualified. There is no problem now because these academies have not recommended people to enter the officialdom, but in three to five years, I am afraid that this problem will be highlighted." Chen Mo smiled.

"My lord, are you going to accept disciples from these academies?" Ni Heng asked in confusion.

"Yes, you should prepare for this earlier. In three to five years, more and more people will come to ask for admission to the Imperial College. It will be too late to prepare then, so we need to sort out the structure of the Imperial College first." Chen Mo nodded. This is an inevitable problem.

Ni Heng frowned and said, "In this way, isn't it unfair to the three school disciples?"

The three school disciples are now mainly the children of military meritorious soldiers, some poor families, and commoners. Generally, after ten years of hard study, they can basically be arranged to enter the officialdom after two years of study in the Imperial College. But if these county academies are counted, let alone two years, there may not be a chance even after ten years.

"So we have to plan ahead." Chen Mo nodded and smiled, "The only thing we can think of now is to set some thresholds for them."

"Your Majesty, you mean... assessment?" Ni Heng asked. The promotion between the three schools is through assessment, but the children of the noble families are not bad in this regard.

"Selecting the best has always been the principle of the Imperial College. In recent years, the students of the three schools have been mixed. Adding some difficulties and pressure is also a good thing for them. Even if it is difficult for them to become scholars, they can learn other things. The world needs more than just officials. There are great craftsmen like Ma Jun and Liu Yi, commanders who are good at layout, and people who are good at calculation. The world needs more. We can't take entering the officialdom as the only standard." Chen Mo smiled.

Scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans... Sometimes Chen Mo feels that if the status is really measured by this standard, the world will become deformed, because other industries also need talents. In addition to craftsmen, there are almost no medical craftsmen who specialize in medical skills and talents who study shipbuilding and navigation.

Is there a lot of people in the Imperial College? Many, a lot. The whole world has only more than a thousand counties, and the total number of officials needed is no more than 100,000. However, there are thousands of disciples coming into the Imperial Academy every year, and this number is still increasing year by year. After the world is unified, the number will probably be even greater. If they are all put into officialdom, Chen Mo feels that it is a waste of talent, and it is actually of no use to the development of the world.

Over the years, the more Chen Mo understands, the more he feels that the so-called righteous path of Confucianism is not so righteous. It is just something to consolidate the imperial power. It is useful to want peace in the world before the population is saturated, but if you want to make the world bigger and stronger... Confucianism can't do it. It can't increase grain production, nor can it keep the people warm and well fed. The biggest benefit is stability.

Among the hundreds of schools of thought, Confucianism can become the final winner not because Confucianism is better than other doctrines, but because it is more conducive to stability and is regarded as a doctrine of the mean. In fact, each school has its own strengths, and it is a mistake to completely deny a doctrine.

Chen Mo wanted to take advantage of this chaotic world to change the situation. He felt that agriculture was the most important. After all, if people couldn't even eat enough, what else could they talk about? The second was the scholars. The country needed order, and the maintainers of this order were the scholars. The third was the workers and merchants, but there was still something wrong. He felt that there were still some problems in dividing the world in this way. If divided according to the ideal, the scholars would be responsible for managing the world, the farmers would be responsible for food, the workers would be responsible for clothing, housing and transportation, and the merchants would be responsible for circulation, forming an efficient and harmonious political system in a certain proportion.

But the reality is that such a political system cannot exist. The human heart cannot be manipulated as you wish. It is like water. It may be guided, but it cannot be really controlled in the hand to control the shape and size. The tools for guidance are morality and law. There is no order between the two.

Ni Heng shook his head when he heard this: "I can understand what the lord is worried about, but it is impossible to do it."

Ni Heng is no longer the high-spirited man who dared to beat the drum and scold Cao Cao naked. Time will wear away the edges of people, especially when people have a clear goal in their hearts and learn to bow to reality in many things, they will consider more things. He knows that Chen Mo's idea is very good, but it is impossible to do it. The human heart is very complicated. To put it bluntly, it is selfish. Unless everyone in the world becomes a saint, it is impossible.

"Now that you have a direction, just try to get closer. As for whether it can be achieved, you and I have tried our best. There is no regret." Chen Mo smiled.

"I understand." Ni Heng nodded and stood up to say goodbye.

Chen Mo looked at Ni Heng's back as he left. Perhaps, this person's future achievements will be those of the deceased great Confucian scholars such as Cai Yong and Zheng Xuan, but he may also be infamous for thousands of years. Who knows? People live in the present and do things with a clear conscience. As for how future generations comment, it is none of their business.

The 16th year of Han Shou was a very peaceful year for the whole world. It was so peaceful that nothing worth writing about happened. However, many things began to brew in this peace, such as the prosperity of academies. From this year on, studying was no longer a privilege of a certain class. Ordinary people could choose to study as long as they wanted, or they could choose not to study. After all, the grain production in those days was not large enough for an ordinary farmer to support a child to study. Without some family background, it was enough to learn to read at most.

In addition, Yu Sheng and Liu Yi's capture of the Three Han did not cause any waves. First, the court deliberately suppressed the news. Second, even if they knew, the Three Han was no longer remote and desolate for the Han Dynasty today, and it was even worse than the Xiongnu and Xianbei.

The court only set up a county here, named Han County, and sent people to educate and govern. The county towns added up to no more than 20, and most of them were small earthen towns.

But this is of great significance to Chen Mo. According to the battle report sent by Yu Sheng, the battle of the Three Han lasted only one month. The Three Han navy was almost defeated without any resistance in front of the Han warships. The city was easily destroyed by crossbows. The Han soldiers attacked the city without going through the city gates. They directly blasted the city walls and rushed in. Although it was poor, the wealth obtained from the nobles of the Three Han tribal alliance surprised Chen Mo. The wealth obtained from the royal family and nobles of the Three Han could fully support 100,000 navy for five years!

This is a very scary number. You must know that even in the Central Plains prefectures of the Han Dynasty, except for large prefectures such as Nanyang and Runan, there are few prefectures that can support so many troops without affecting people's livelihood.

Although the annual tax revenue of Han County itself may not be able to support an elite force of 10,000 people even if it develops, the royal family's supplies have made Chen Mo taste the sweetness. Perhaps plundering at sea is a faster way to get rich.

Chen Mo appointed Liu Yi as the governor of Han County, and Yu Sheng as the general of Henghai. While expanding the navy, he used Han County as a base to explore whether there were other island countries like the Three Han around, which could be used to train the navy and subsidize military expenses to reduce the burden on the court.

In addition to the navy, the development of the Central Plains also made Chen Mo feel comfortable. As the territory gradually stabilized and Guangling and Jiujiang accumulated heavy troops, the Central Plains could develop more easily in the Anyi environment than other places. The terrain here is flat and the soil is fertile, especially in the Jianghuai area. Not to mention that there can be two harvests every year, but even if it is harvested alone, the grain output is higher than other places.

By the 17th year of Han Shou, food was no longer a problem that troubled the people. A large number of small workshops for pottery and spinning began to appear among the people. Previously, due to the war and economic recession, there was a situation of bartering, but now it has gradually returned, and the five-zhu coins began to circulate normally. In the same year, Chen Mo officially announced the restart of the Silk Road and began to encourage merchants to trade in the Western Regions. The Western Regions Protectorate began to truly enter the Western Regions. Dunhuang, Zhangye, Jiuquan and other places were successively recovered, and the Western Regions countries began to pay tribute to the court again.

However, there is an old saying that goes well, blessing and misfortune are dependent, and misfortune and blessing are dependent. Although good things happened in the 17th year of Nodding, bad news came one after another in the 18th year of Nodding.

In February, Li Ru died of illness in Tianlao at the age of 83. Li Ru's death made Chen Mo very sad. This counselor who had followed him and made suggestions for him since Chang'an ended up dying in prison! This made Chen Mo very upset. He personally took Li Ru out of prison and conferred him the title of Pinghou. His eldest son Li Yu inherited his title.

Li Ru's death seemed to be a signal. Xu Rong died of illness on the way to the battle of Cheshi at the age of 78. Hua Xiong followed closely behind. After breaking through the front of Cheshi, he also died of illness in Jiaohe City at the age of 65.

In a year, the three civil and military officials that Chen Mo relied on the most passed away one after another. For Chen Mo, it was a big blow, especially the death of Xu Rong and Hua Xiong, which made the originally quiet Western Regions restless again.

Chen Mo replaced their fathers' titles with Xu Kai, the son of Xu Rong, and Hua Rong, the son of Hua Xiong, to continue to guard the Western Regions. Chen Mo had seen the abilities of these two people, and they were enough to guard the Western Regions. However, things were not just like this. In the autumn of the 18th year of Han Shou, the intelligence brought by the spies in Jingzhou made Chen Mo alert...