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“In a nutshell, by checking your energy consumption, we can roughly infer your output. If the difference between energy consumption and output is too big, no matter how good your account is, there will inevitably be suspicion of false accounting.
All of this requires quite professional people to know, and even only people working in that industry know the inside story, so during the training process, I think it is necessary to hire such people to serve as instructors. "
Different fields are like different mountains. Department officials who require some professional knowledge should of course be trained by the top talents in this profession, and the top talents in an industry are often not officials, but people who work in this industry.
For example, when it comes to accounting, the top talents are definitely not the officials in the Ministry of Revenue who are well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, but rather the accountants of major businesses, as they are the only ones who know the ins and outs of it best.
Sima An, Lu Zhenfei and others knew all this very well, so Qin Mu proposed to hire top talents in these professions to be instructors and to train officials in charge of this area. Several cabinet ministers thought it made sense and therefore agreed.
What they didn't expect was that Qin Mu proposed to train and assess the officials of these departments, and at the same time hired top talents from all walks of life to serve as trainers. In addition to improving the officials' professional knowledge and management capabilities, thereby improving the administrative efficiency of the entire department, Qin Mu also had a deeper intention.
Just imagine, if court officials also have to study, would the status of the corresponding subjects also be improved accordingly
For example, officials of the Ministry of Revenue must learn knowledge of mathematics, geometry and other subjects, which can be further divided into finance, auditing, warehouse management, accounting, etc. The Ministry of Works, Military Equipment Bureau, Water Conservancy Bureau, Sinology Temple, Imperial Household Department, Imperial Astronomical Bureau and other departments must learn relevant professional knowledge such as physics, chemistry, machinery, agriculture, and animal husbandry.
After the training, if they fail the assessment, even if they are not immediately dismissed, they will basically lose the opportunity for promotion. In this case, officials will spontaneously pay attention to these subjects, and even those scholars who aspire to become officials will take the initiative to learn the knowledge of these subjects in advance.
After a full circle, the status of related disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geography, agriculture, livestock, etc. will be greatly improved without people realizing it.
The imperial court did not explicitly stipulate that scholars must learn these, but do you want to be an official? Do you want to be promoted after becoming an official? Do you want to enter the cabinet and become a prime minister, bringing honor to your family
If you want to, then please study hard! Otherwise, even if you pass the imperial examination, you may only be an eighth-rank official for the rest of your life and will not have the opportunity to be promoted.
The status of the talents in the corresponding disciplines and professors who have served as training officials for a long time will certainly rise. As representatives of various disciplines, they also have the influence to promote various disciplines and improve the status of these disciplines.
In this case, do we still need to worry about no one studying natural sciences, or about the social deformities caused by the exclusive advocacy of Confucianism
Of course, a country like China, with a vast territory and complex situations, cannot rush for success. As Lu Zhenfei said, even if training is needed, it must be done department by department, not all at once, otherwise it will be a mess.
When the officials of these departments are subject to vocational training and assessment, the status of relevant disciplines will be basically raised.
In addition, although Song Huizong was a king who lost his country, some of his practices can also be used as reference. Qin Mu remembered that this king had set up a painting academy to recruit top talents in the industry for exchange and creation. As a result, many first-class calligraphy and painting works appeared in that era, such as Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and so on.
So, if Song Huizong could set up a painting academy, why couldn't I, the founding emperor, set up an academy of sciences to support a large number of academicians
The imperial palaces of past dynasties could support tens of thousands of eunuchs and palace maids, but couldn’t they support hundreds of academicians
What's more, just like the Internal Supervision Research and Development Department, not only does it not need Qin Mu to support it, on the contrary, the research results of the Internal Supervision Research and Development Department have become one of the main sources of royal income.
By analogy, no matter how many academicians we have, it doesn’t matter; the benefits they create may far exceed the cost of supporting them.
The title of "Academician supported by the royal family" alone is probably enough to make many people scramble for it, and there is no need to forcibly incorporate it into the current system of the court.
There is no need to be restricted by court officials. I can support as many academicians as I want, and you have no right to interfere.
To take a step back, everyone has some hobbies. As the founding emperor, Qin Mu forcibly incorporated the Academy of Sciences into the court system. Who could forcefully oppose it
With the establishment of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Royal Science Award, coupled with the above-mentioned measures to train officials in related fields, I believe that the status of various natural sciences will be improved. With hope, a large number of people who like natural sciences will devote themselves to study and research.
As for the imperial examination system, let it continue on its old path and continue to go into its dead end. When it can no longer move forward, it will naturally be abolished, and it will not lead to the abnormal development of the entire society.
Of course, there is no need to reveal these thoughts to the cabinet ministers present. I just need to arrange them step by step and guide the general trend in this direction.
Qin Mu's actions were relatively small, and the negotiation with the six cabinet ministers in the Huagai Palace went smoothly. Sima An finally pondered and said, "Your Majesty, when conducting training and assessments for officials, it is necessary to consider them in detail. Some older officials have limited energy, and their chances of promotion are relatively small. If they are forced to participate in training and assessments, it is inevitable that these officials will complain, and it is also unfair."
He Liang said: "What Sima Ge Lao is worried about is not unreasonable, but as the saying goes, it is not the lack of resources that is worrying, but the inequality. If some officials participate in the training assessment, and some do not have to participate, then those who participate will inevitably complain.
Your Majesty, I suggest that you declare in advance that all officials of relevant departments must participate in training and assessment. As the saying goes, one never stops learning. Even if they are older, participating in training and assessment can always increase their professional knowledge and improve their ability to govern.
As for the assessment results, they will not be used as a basis for removing officials. Even if an official fails the assessment, he or she does not have to worry about being dismissed as long as he or she does not make serious mistakes in his or her work. He or she can still be transferred to another position or remain in the original position.
The results of the assessment are only used as the basis for promotion. Only officials who pass the training assessment have the opportunity to be promoted. This can not only motivate those officials who are willing to serve the court to study hard, but also avoid resistance and backlash from all officials. "
Lu Zhenfei, Yang Tinglin, and even Sima An all agreed, "Minister He's words are very good. Your Majesty, we second your proposal."
Qin Mu thought about it and thought this was fine, so he nodded and said, "Well, let's do as Minister He said. How about this, we start with the training and assessment of the officials from the Military Equipment and Water Conservancy Bureau. What do you think, elders?"
As soon as Qin Mu asked, everyone agreed that the Military Equipment Bureau was actually very large, with many officials, and they were very professional, involving almost all subjects such as mathematics, geometry, physics, chemistry, etc.
The Dushuijian was in charge of water conservancy, and the subjects involved included mathematics, geometry, mechanics, etc. Although these two departments were involved in many subjects, in terms of system, neither of them belonged to the core departments of the court.
In some dynasties, these two departments were even just supervisory departments under the Ministry of Works, and the rank of officials in charge of these two departments was relatively low. If training and assessment were implemented in these two departments first, the backlash would not be too great.
After reaching a consensus on this matter, Qin Mu said, "It takes ten years to grow a tree, and a hundred years to cultivate a person. All dynasties have attached great importance to education. The Imperial College, the Prefectural College, the State College, and the County College not only exempt students from education expenses, but also provide each student with a corresponding monthly ration.
These systems to support education can be said to be unique to China, and are the basis for the continuous inheritance of Chinese culture from generation to generation. However, I have noticed that all previous dynasties have only focused on the cultivation of talents, but not on the cultivation of teachers.
Teachers bear the important task of disseminating knowledge. A good teacher can cultivate many outstanding talents, otherwise he will mislead students. How important is it.
Moreover, there is a big difference between teaching and research. A person with profound knowledge may not necessarily be good at educating and guiding students.
In view of this, I think it is very necessary to set up some normal colleges to train professional teachers, and through some professional title evaluations, give corresponding treatment to encourage those excellent teachers to teach and educate people better. "
... (To be continued...)
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