When Zhu Xiang took little Cheng Jiao to the medical clinic to observe and learn, Ying Xiaozheng, although busy with government affairs, also followed him with his hands behind his back like a little old man.
He must see his brother cry!
Xue Ji was worried that Ying Xiaozheng and Xiao Chengjiao would disturb the patient, so she went with them.
A family of four went to the clinic. Xue Ji carried little Cheng Jiao to see the miserable condition of the patients. Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng were in the back yard, chatting with Bian Que, whose face was still rosy.
Bian Que had difficulty walking, and a few years ago he claimed to be writing books behind closed doors. But when the weather was better and his legs and feet were not so painful, Bian Que would still hide his identity and pretend to be a barefoot doctor in the countryside, go to the village for free medical treatment, and only charge a small amount of medicine money.
"Practicing medicine requires experience, and accumulating case records is much more important than reading books." Bian Que said, "Please, Lord Zhu Xiang, help me print out the case records after I return to my soul."
Zhu Xiang said: "It's my job."
They didn't mention the money because they couldn't come to an agreement.
Bian Que thought printing books was very expensive and hoped to give all of it to Zhu Xiang; Zhu Xiang wanted to leave some money for Bian Que's family.
Bian Que was very stubborn, and Zhu Xiang could not argue with him, so he just put it off for now. After Bian Que finished compiling the book, he would discuss whether to give the money for printing the book to Bian Que's family or to establish a scholarship for studying medicine.
Otherwise, he would wait until Bian Que passed away and talk directly to Bian Que's descendants. By then, Bian Que had already passed away, so there was nothing he could do to object.
Bian Que didn't know that Duke Zhu Xiang, who seemed to be a bright and upright person on the surface, actually had a bad side of bullying the dead and speechless people, and thought that Zhu Xiang had given up.
Ying Xiaozheng complained: "I originally thought that paper and printing would be more convenient than bamboo slips and wooden tablets. But it seems that they are not very convenient."
Zhu Xiang said: "The technology still needs to be developed. The newly established Academy of Sciences in Xianyang Palace is used for this."
Before industrialization, papermaking and movable type printing were actually not very efficient.
Cai Lun had already produced relatively practical paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but in the early Wei and Jin Dynasties, bamboo slips and wooden tablets were still the main writing tools.
After hundreds of years of development of papermaking technology during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, paper replaced bamboo slips and wooden tablets to become the main writing tool.
The Agricultural College not only grows food crops, but also cash crops. There are also agronomists who study other byproducts after food harvesting and how to create more economic value.
Papermaking and winemaking are the simplest ways to increase the added value of farming.
At that time, handmade paper was already sold as a specialty product. Zhu Xiang had visited the production of handmade paper and had some impressions. When his memory of his previous life was not very clear, he made some paper of average quality and high cost based on his vague memory. After he fell into trouble, he got the help of Lin Xiangru with these papers.
When in Zhao State, Lin Xiangru recruited many craftsmen to study Zhu Xiang's improved papermaking technique, which he did not remember clearly; after entering Qin State, the King of Qin also strongly supported papermaking.
Zhu Xiang was not very clear about the history of paper development, but since the Qin State had already used paper to replace bamboo slips as the main carrier of official documents, and academies in various places also used a large number of paper books, the paper manufacturing technology at that time should have reached the level of popularization at least in the late Wei and Jin Dynasties.
But it is still too difficult to popularize knowledge to this extent.
Even in modern times, handmade gift paper has the help of modern tools, but it is still very expensive and ordinary people will not write with it.
What's more, in ancient times.
Ink, brushes, etc. are all money. In ancient times, the so-called farming and reading family had at least 100 acres of land, and there was a scholar in the family who could exempt the land from tax, so that they could support their sons to study for generations.
Zhu Xiang could only comfort Ying Xiaozheng, saying, "At least it's better than when we used bamboo slips and wooden tablets."
Ying Xiaozheng said: "I know. At least now as long as you have a little money, everyone can become a scholar."
Ying Xiaozheng crossed his arms and said, "I still remember when I was young in Handan, those people came to debate with my uncle, and they all laughed at my uncle for not having the family scriptures, and wanted to borrow the books of Lin Weng and Xun Weng to read."
Zhu Xiang thought about it, and his memories of that time became blurry.
He was helpless. Was Zheng'er's extraordinary memory used for holding grudges
Bian Que sighed: "Yes, if there were no paper, the family would have obtained a few volumes of books, which would have been passed down from generation to generation."
Zhu Xiang nodded. Isn't it
The origin of the honor of the aristocratic families in the Wei and Jin Dynasties did not come from the genealogies they compiled blindly, but from the "family tradition of poetry and books."
The aristocratic families in the Eastern Han Dynasty had already solidified, and the basis of their solidification was the "Five Classics and Fourteen Schools" officially recognized by the Han Dynasty.
The so-called "Fourteen Families of the Five Classics" refers to the fourteen families who have complete versions of the "Five Classics" passed down in their families and have the most complete annotated versions of the "Five Classics".
Later, these "fourteen families" underwent several changes and expanded through disciples and former officials, forming a huge network of relationships in the Eastern Han Dynasty and monopolizing the officialdom of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Yuan family was the most important family that inherited the "Five Classics and Fourteen Families".
The "Five Classics and Fourteen Schools" are the orthodox Confucian families, and they have the highest status. The status of other families that have inherited "miscellaneous studies" is slightly lower.
For example, the Sun family, to which Sun Jian, who wanted to squeeze into the central powerful group, belonged at that time when the Eastern Han Dynasty had not yet been destroyed, had fragments of Sun Wu's Art of War passed down in their family; the Yingchuan Guo family, to which Guo Jia, who is highly praised in modern society, belonged, had a family that originally passed down laws and decrees from generation to generation.
Neither the Sun family nor the Guo family could be considered one of the top aristocratic families in the Eastern Han Dynasty. They had to become disciples of the "Five Classics and Fourteen Schools" or form an alliance with them before they could enter the court and become high-ranking officials.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, if you studied the scriptures annotated by the "Five Classics and Fourteen Schools", you had to accept their "right to annotate" and "leadership", which was more old-fashioned than the academic cliques of later generations.
To be an official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, one had to either be selected as a filial and honest official or be a former official of a great family. Most of the channels for selecting filial and honest officials were controlled by the "Five Classics and Fourteen Schools". This is why the Yuan family was so powerful all over the world.
When someone controls the academic and official advancement channels, there will be others who want to replace them.
The "Five Classics and Fourteen Schools" were the official literature of the Han Dynasty and were written in official script, so they were called "Modern Text Classics", such as "Spring and Autumn Annals" by Guliang and Gongyang, and "Book of Songs" by Qi, Lu and Han.
A group of scholars used the reason that "archaeology has discovered real classics buried underground and in walls by ancient sages" and relied on the ancients to re-annotate the classics. They recommended "Zuo Zhuan Spring and Autumn Annals" and "Mao Shi" to fight against them. Because the bamboo slips unearthed were written in large and small seal scripts, they were called "ancient text classics."
Since the top bureaucratic class could not squeeze in, they followed the example of their predecessors, opened private schools in local areas, recruited many disciples, and spread the knowledge of "ancient text classics" to the grassroots to compete with the "modern text classics" that were only passed down from generation to generation and led to rigid thinking.
Liu Bei's teacher Lu Zhi was an important figure in the "Ancient Text Classics" school.
When the struggle between the "ancient text classics" and the "modern text classics" was at its peak, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, destroying the foundation of the Han Dynasty. Then it became a war between warlords, and no one mentioned academic struggles anymore.
However, because the "Ancient Texts" opened up private schools, broke the academic monopoly, and weakened the relationship between teachers, students, and former officials, the number of officials was dominant during the Three Kingdoms period.
At that time, Cao Cao issued a decree to seek talents throughout the country, and he also wanted to break the monopoly of the academic cliques during the Han Dynasty.
However, he could not control his lower body and slept with his aunt, which led to the death of his carefully trained successor Cao Ang. His subsequent successor Cao Pi was inferior to Cao Ang in both administrative talent and crown prince status, so he compromised and accepted the Nine-Rank System.
The academic struggles between the Old Text Classics and the Modern Text Classics were unified, but the reshuffle turned into another kind of academic clique, creating even more powerful aristocratic families.
In order to earn funds, the archaeological community in later generations reignited the debate between the Old Text Classics and the Modern Text Classics.
There are no papers without debate, and everyone understands that. This has nothing to do with politics, but only with funding and titles.
Zhu Xiang, a business trip partner who had nothing to do with the Four Books and Five Classics, was influenced by everything and heard a lot of gossip.
When Ying Xiaozheng talked about the family heirlooms and classics, Zhu Xiang remembered this incident. He changed the topic of the dispute over ancient and modern scriptures that lasted from the end of the Western Han Dynasty to the entire Eastern Han Dynasty, and talked about it in a speculative tone, giving Ying Xiaozheng a shot of prevention.
Ying Xiaozheng's face was full of disgust. "Hey, he has hidden a few broken bamboo scrolls at home, and he claims to have the right to interpret these scriptures. If others can't interpret it in the same way as him, they are wrong. If others interpret it in the same way as him, they are imitating him. Then aren't all the people in the court who are studying and serving as officials his disciples? Does the king want him to be his successor?"
Zhu Xiang blinked and said, "Why not?"
Ying Xiaozheng snorted: "I burned his books and buried him alive. Let's see if he can still do this!"
Bian Que: "Cough, cough, cough!" He was choked by fear.
Zhu Xiang laughed and pressed Ying Xiaozheng's head into his arms, rubbing it hard, and ruffling the awkward high ponytail that Ying Xiaozheng had put on just to imitate his dislike of wearing a crown.
"You, stop saying such vicious words. Is this the only skill you and Xunzi have learned? Can you cut people and their hearts? It's just like your uncle forbade you and Cheng Jiao to eat candy, but you and Cheng Jiao insisted on eating it in bed. The more you forbid it, the more people want to learn it."
Ying Xiaozheng didn't bother to protect his head, so he let his uncle rub it casually: "Ah, what do you say, uncle?"
Zhu Xiang let go of Ying Xiaozheng's messy head and said, "Think for yourself. You are the future King of Qin, don't count on others for everything."
Ying Xiaozheng muttered, "I don't have any hope. Well, forget it. My uncle is always like this. He asks me a lot of questions and never gives me answers."
After Ying Xiaozheng finished speaking, he took advantage of Zhu Xiang's inattention and quickly made a move, pulling Zhu Xiang's hair bun crooked: "Haha!"
Bian Que was originally frightened to the point of breaking out in cold sweats by Ying Xiaozheng's violent words, but when he saw the uncle and nephew making a fuss again, his anxiety was slightly relieved.
He looked at Duke Zhu Xiang, who was playing a childish hair-pulling game with his nephew, regardless of the presence of outsiders.
With Duke Zhu Xiang around, even if Crown Prince Zheng was a tyrant like King Zhaoxiang of Qin, he would not bring too terrible tyranny to the world.
When Xue Ji came back carrying Cheng Jiao, whose eyes were swollen from crying, Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng were helping each other comb their hair.
As soon as Xue Ji saw the floating hair on the ground, she knew what these two childish guys were doing.
She sighed and pretended not to notice: "Cheng Jiao's voice became hoarse from crying, and he scared the patient to tears."
Zhu Xiang asked with a smile: "Little Chengjiao, are you still hiding under the quilt to eat?"
Xiao Chengjiao said in a hoarse voice: "No more eating."
Ying Xiaozheng sneered.
Zhu Xiang leaned close to Ying Xiaozheng's ear and lowered his voice, "I took you to see other people's tooth extraction before, and it scared you who loves to eat sweets. Why didn't you just learn from your uncle when you taught Xiao Chengjiao?"
Ying Xiaozheng rolled his eyes: "Uncle, you have taught me so many tricks, how can I remember them all? I am too busy with government affairs to spare time, and I am still thinking about how to coax Cheng Jiao? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for me to let my uncle teach me directly?"
Zhu Xiang and Xue Ji left with their two children, one big and one small. Bian Que said to his grandson who was standing behind him pouring tea and water, "How is it? Did you understand what Duke Zhu Xiang said?"
The grandson answered honestly: "Duke Zhu Xiang's words are brief and precise, but the truth they contain is very profound. It is as if he is standing at a very high place and can see the distant past and future. I feel dizzy after listening to them. I seem to understand, but also seem to understand nothing."
Bian Que sighed and said, "When I was still alive, I would always bring you along when chatting with Duke Zhu Xiang. When you can understand the truth in Duke Zhu Xiang's words, I will sacrifice my reputation. Although Duke Zhu Xiang will not accept you as a disciple, I will let him take better care of you in the future."
He took the tea from his grandson and moistened his throat, then sighed and said, "If you were stupid, I wouldn't bother with all this. Only virtuous and benevolent people can approach Duke Zhu Xiang, do you understand?"
The grandson said with a gloomy face: "Yes, grandson will try hard."
Bian Que relaxed his frown and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter if you can't meet my requirements after your efforts. How many people in this world can hear so many teachings from Duke Zhu Xiang like you? There are many people in this world who have listened to Duke Zhu Xiang's teachings and secretly follow the name of Duke Zhu Xiang's disciples as a guideline to walk in the world. You can also be one of them."
The grandson nodded vigorously immediately: "Yes!"
Bian Que narrowed his eyes and recalled what Duke Xiang of Zhu had said when teaching Crown Prince Zheng.
Although he was a doctor, he had also studied the classics that scholars must learn. In addition to writing medical books, he also wrote some miscellaneous talks to record the words and deeds of Zhu Xianggong that he had heard personally to educate future generations, which can also be a book that can be passed down from generation to generation.
After Ying Xiaozheng returned, he worked while thinking hard, and then kicked open Zhu Xiang's door with what he had thought of.
Zhu Xiang was talking to Bai Qi about growing sweet potatoes. When he saw Ying Xiaozheng rushing in, he said speechlessly, "Zheng'er, even if you don't knock, can you push the door open with your hands?"
Ying Xiaozheng, who was holding a pile of manuscripts, raised his eyebrows: "My hands are not empty!"
Zhu Xiang said: "Are the people behind you just for show? You can ask them to help you carry things and knock on the door."
The people serving behind Ying Xiaozheng showed expressions of fear and anxiety.
Ying Xiaozheng said: "If I didn't tell them to do anything, they wouldn't dare to do anything."
Zhu Xiang took the manuscript from Ying Xiaozheng's arms and said, "We still need to let them take the initiative. Otherwise, when you are assassinated, others will cheer behind you and dare not come forward to help."
Ying Xiaozheng's face changed and he glared at his uncle with bulging eyes.
Did my uncle know something, or was he just joking and happened to hit the mark
Forget it. Never mind.
Ying Xiaozheng, who had already reached a tacit understanding with his uncle, put the matter behind him and said to Zhu Xiang: "Uncle, please take a look at my homework."
Zhu Xiang was puzzled: "What homework?"
Ying Xiaozheng slammed the table and said, "Uncle! You assigned me homework, but you forgot what homework you assigned me?"
"Why are you banging the table? Doesn't your hand hurt? Oh, why are you getting more and more irritable? This is not good." Zhu Xiang first stopped Ying Xiaozheng from banging the table, then picked up the manuscript, "Homework? Why can't I remember... Ah, this."
Zhu Xiang was speechless. He had just had a casual chat with Ying Xiaozheng, how did it become a homework assignment
However, it is not a bad idea for Ying Xiaozheng to consider the trade-off between ideological unity and the unity of all schools of thought. Burning books is still too brutal, as it puts all the scholars in the world on the opposite side. Using one faction to fight against another can unify thoughts without making the contradictions too sharp.
Feudal dynasties needed scholars to serve as officials. The relationship between the emperor and the scholars was one of mutual complementation and restraint, and they could not be truly hostile.
After the hostility, who will govern the country
Ying Xiaozheng came up with two main solutions.
Ideological unity is essential. Ideological unity requires academic unity, so that academic cliques based on the master-apprentice relationship cannot be avoided.
Ying Xiaozheng believed that first of all, the official Qin State should increase investment in local colleges and universities to dilute the "favor" of teaching between teachers and students.
When investing in local colleges and universities, the government should print more approved annotated scriptures and prohibit private printing of scriptures. In this way, the scriptures spread by the people are all officially recognized ideas. Even if the books are not burned, the ideas that do not conform to their will can be slowly eliminated.
After achieving this, Ying Xiaozheng believed that it should be supplemented by a broader channel for the King of Qin to directly select talents.
At present, the three levels of examinations and recommendations for colleges, universities, and palaces give professors too much power, which can easily lead to the formation of what Zhu Xiang called "disciples" and "old officials". If the first level of examinations are directly selected through official examinations and the examiners are rotated to review, the "favor of recommendation" can be further weakened.
Zhu Xiang smiled and sighed.
Both of Ying Xiaozheng's measures started from "favor", replacing the "favor" between teachers and students during teaching and recommendation with rewards from the monarch to officials. This was the reason for the implementation of the imperial examination system in later generations.
However, the imperial examination system did not have this function.
The misunderstanding by the world that "Emperor Yang of Sui was the first to introduce the imperial examination system" is actually wrong.
Emperor Wen of Sui abolished the Nine-Rank System and established a subject-based examination system, with two subjects: the Mingjing subject and the Xiucai subject. Emperor Yang of Sui only added the Jinshi subject.
In the Sui Dynasty, if one wanted to take the exam, one had to be recommended by an official of the fifth rank or above; one was not allowed to take the exam on his own. In essence, this was the change from the Nine-Rank System of the Wei and Jin Dynasties back to the Recommendation System of the Han Dynasty.
An important feature of the "Imperial Examination" was "submitting a petition for self-recommendation", a system that was only formed in the Tang Dynasty.
However, this does not mean that the subject-based examination system of the Sui Dynasty had no progressive significance. A meal is not eaten until the last bite. Without Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty establishing subject-based examinations, there would be no Tang Dynasty allowing "self-appointment through submission of a petition".
After the examinations conducted by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, local tyrants could no longer be recommended to be officials in their local areas, but were assigned to places far from their hometowns to take root and sprout. Just like the Enfeoffment Order of the Han Dynasty, the entrenched aristocratic tyrants in the local areas were gradually disintegrated.
When the big trees of those powerful families were dismantled, the imperial examination system changed from a "recommendation examination" to a "self-nomination by submitting a petition", the open examination became a blind examination, and the decision of the examiners became a palace examination.
Emperor Wen of Sui's subject-based examinations were not the imperial examinations, but they can indeed be said to be the first of their kind.
Ying Xiaozheng, who had grown from the cub of the First Emperor to the young First Emperor, lived up to his reputation as the greatest emperor of all time. He took a step towards truly ascending the throne by submitting a petition under an anonymous name.
After reading it, Zhu Xiang looked at Ying Xiaozheng's lower garment with a very strange look.
Ying Xiaozheng couldn't help but close his legs: "Uncle, what are you looking at!"
Zhu Xiang said slowly: "I think your steps are too big, will it pull your little balls?"
Ying Xiaozheng said angrily: "My balls are not small... No, uncle, what are you talking about? Can you please speak directly and stop beating around the bush!"
Bai Qi, who was listening in front of the backdrop, almost spit out the wolfberry and red date tea in his mouth.
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "I meant it literally."
Zhu Xiang flicked at Ying Xiaozheng's manuscript and said, "You did come up with a good idea, but have you ever thought about the resistance?"
Ying Xiaozheng frowned and said, "There is resistance, I..."
"Just chop him off?" Zhu Xiang scratched Ying Xiaozheng's brows, making him relax. "Zheng'er, is it true that governing a country only requires chopping off those who disobey you? Is it that simple? Then isn't it also the correct way to govern a country that the King of Zhao wants to kill me?"
Ying Xiaozheng immediately said: "This is different!"
Zhu Xiang said, "Okay, don't compare me. You see, although the Qin State says that a prince cannot be granted a title without merit, the Qin royal family is actually supported by the Qin State, even if they are several generations apart in blood relationship with you and have hardly ever met. Can you just say you don't want to pay me?"
Ying Xiaozheng frowned again, and when Zhu Xiang was about to reach out again, he quickly relaxed his brows: "No."
"Don't you understand very well?" Zhu Xiang said with a smile, "Look, although your king and father have abolished the title of 'guest official', when he used you, Xun Weng and your two uncles, the other high-ranking officials in the court were people who had been in Qin for several generations. When selecting from the Xianyang Academy, they mainly selected local Qin scholars. Is it because your king and father looked down on the people of the six countries and was afraid that spies would sneak in?"
Ying Xiaozheng thought about it, shook his head slowly, but didn't say anything. He vaguely knew something in his heart, but didn't want to admit it, because admitting it would make him very unhappy.
But the way to govern a country has nothing to do with whether the monarch is willing or not.
Zhu Xiang said: "I once told you that the current structure of the country is a conical tower. The monarch is at the top, the common people who are looked down upon are the foundation, and the scholars are in the middle. The monarch wants to sit firmly at the top of the tower..."
Zhu Xiang was drawing on the table.
“The king often ignores the common people at the bottom, because even if the bottom is hollowed out a little, the whole tower will not collapse immediately. But if the bottom is ignored, when the foundation of the tower is shaken, the tower will be impossible to repair and can only be abandoned.”
"The most direct impact on the stability of the monarch's position is that the closer you are to the monarch's position, the easier it is to shake the monarch's position."
"The nobles and scholars of the past are the closest to the king."
"Zheng'er, if you want to replace the layer of the tower closest to you, you can only reinforce a part first, then take out a very small part. Only by replacing it bit by bit, the tower will not collapse."
"If you open and close it directly, the layers of the tower will change, but the tower will also fall down." Zhu Xiang sounded like he was joking, but only he knew that he was telling the truth. "But if you do this, it won't do much harm to the people of the world. It will just be that future generations will build a new and more solid tower based on your foundation. You will just lose your position as the king, which is still a good deal."
"What a bargain!" Ying Xiaozheng's face flushed with anger. He snatched the manuscript from Zhu Xiang's hand, turned around and ran, shouting as he ran, "Uncle, wait! I will definitely write a more perfect homework!"
The attendant behind him, who was so frightened by Zhu Xiang's words that he wanted to cover his ears, quickly followed him and left.
Zhu Xiang sighed: "I said it's not homework... Why does this kid always add homework to himself?"
Bai Qi couldn't help but roll his eyes: "You have already taught the way for a monarch to rule his subordinates, and you still say it's not a lesson for the crown prince."
Zhu Xiang was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh and suddenly realized: "It's true!"
Isn’t the imperial examination the way for feudal emperors to rule their subjects
Bai Qi was also stunned, then he held his forehead and smiled bitterly.
When Zhu Xiang was "chatting", did he have no idea what shocking things he was saying? !
(End of this chapter)