Li Hong naturally knew that his thoughts were too idealistic, but he had to take a step forward in everything, only then would he know where the next problems would arise and how to solve them.
But if this situation is maintained, with recommendation and imperial examination coexisting, although recommendation will be replaced sooner or later in history, the development pace of Datang is extremely fast now. If this aspect cannot keep up at all, then it is very likely that in the history of Datang, it will be replaced by recommendation. After the glory is over, it will return to the starting point, and there will even be a certain setback in the historical process.
Therefore, if we want to prevent the wheel of history from rolling back, we must allow wealthy families to set up private schools, and the government to vigorously open schools, thereby banning them on a large scale and completely eliminating the momentum of the five surnames and seven hopes, so that they will either decline or blend in. In these private schools and schools, instead of being the benchmark that scholars all over the world look up to, it became their standard.
Wu Mei also had her own ideas. For a period of time, Li Hong was very optimistic about officials who came from famous families. He believed that their high level of officialdom and all aspects of their contact with them were far better than those from poor families. It's higher, but it hasn't been many years, and Li Hong is now taking the initiative to deny his decision back then.
Even though he had not yet ascended the throne at that time, as a prince, after taking charge of the Shangshu Province and becoming the Shangshu Ling, he vigorously implemented the decision-making in the Ministry of Officials. But now that he is the emperor, and he actively overturned his own decisions like this, he Have you never considered the face of being an emperor who speaks eloquently and keeps his word
Li Hong shook his head and smiled, then raised his head and said: "Compared to the government of the court, what does your face mean? If you can do what you want, you won't care about your face." , not to mention you don’t know..."
"Yes, you are not only the best emperor in the world at reciting poems and writing poems, but also the thickest-skinned emperor." Wu Mei looked at Li Hong coldly and said helplessly sarcastically.
Although she said so, in her heart, she was quite in favor of Li Hong's further reforms after she understood Li Hong's ultimate goal.
"In your heart, Li Hong, the noble families and the world's scholar-bureaucrats are not as good as the officials who passed the imperial examination even if they were from poor families?" Li Zhi thought for a while, but still felt that such a simple abandonment could make suggestions for Jiangshan Sheji. The idea of a scholar-bureaucrat ruling the world together with a humble scholar is somewhat unreliable or unreliable.
In any case, although the Tang Dynasty is now peaceful and prosperous, his son's temperament is unpredictable and he can overturn his own decisions. Who knows that a hundred years from now, this guy will be without the supervision of himself and the queen. , will the governance of the court and the country become even more chaotic
"In troubled times, heroes and prime ministers emerge; in times of great governance, wise rulers and ministers emerge; in prosperous times, foolish rulers and corrupt officials emerge. This is an unchanging rule of history. Scholars in the world can serve as officials for fame and fortune, but it is better than a prominent family constraining the court for greater interests. Interfere in the government affairs. What's more, just like the simple lyrics and music sung by Erchen Rang Wenwen, if you want more people to read and read, of course you must read the books of sages, but some simple and easy-to-understand truths are better than what the scholar-bureaucrats used themselves to do. Isn’t it much easier to enlighten people’s wisdom by understanding the annotated collection of classics and history?” Li Hong said with a smile.
"It is too idealistic to cultivate one's moral integrity, manage one's family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. There is no such person at all. After all, no one is perfect. And among those scholar-bureaucrats, famous scholars from famous families, which family does not have messy things? Which one does not have messy things in his family? Can one truly cultivate oneself and manage one's family well? In class thinking, what maintains and takes root in their thoughts is class. In their eyes, poor families are the same as untouchables, but in the eyes of the royal family and even the court, in this prosperous Tang Dynasty, if according to the They understand that in today's peaceful environment, our royal family should set up a monument for them, but why?" Li Hong shook his head helplessly. He knew very well that if he wanted to avoid the gentry in this society, The human class, the political affairs of the court, and the national policy system reach the bottom, so it is necessary to bypass these intermediate classes and their interests, so that the stability of the royal family can be rooted in the people, and the needs of the people can be achieved. In this way, as long as the people do not rebel , the scholar-bureaucrat class and the famous families want to rebel and stop the court's decision-making, it is as difficult as going to heaven.
"In ancient times, if you want to bring enlightened virtue to the world, you must first govern your country; if you want to govern your country, you must first regulate your family; if you want to regulate your family, you must first cultivate your body; if you want to cultivate your body, you must first rectify your mind; if you want to be righteous, you must first rectify your mind. To be sincere in one's heart, one must first be sincere in one's intention. To be sincere in one's mind, one must first know how to understand things, and then understand things. After knowing things, one can then be sincere in one's mind. If one's mind is sincere, then one's mind can be upright. If one's mind is upright, then one can cultivate one's body, and then one can cultivate one's body. If the family is harmonious, the country will be governed, and if the country is governed, the world will be peaceful.”
"Having said that, the words in the Book of Rites, to put it bluntly, still depend on the individual's self-cultivation. But now look at the families of famous families, and then look at our royal family of the Tang Dynasty, from the father and mother, to the princes of the clan, except for Li Xianzhi Besides, our royal family in the Tang Dynasty is not as harmonious as those famous families, haven't we already gone ahead of their great scholars and set an example for the people of the world?" Li Hong said at the end, looking at Li Zhi's sneer, he suddenly asked. I felt that what I said was a little rude, and I brought up Li Xian's father's heartache again.
As expected, Li Hong no longer had the chance to talk as he had just now, and Li Zhi and Wu Mei listened attentively. Instead, Li Zhi sneered at him and looked in the direction of Anxi with sadness.
But overall, this trip to Luoyang has completely broken away from Li Zhi's original intention of rushing to Luoyang, and has instead become a trip for members of the royal family.
The horse-drawn train can stop and go whenever it wants. When a mountain passes by the car, Father Long will order it to stop, and then he starts touring the mountains, rivers and land.
From Chang'an to Luoyang, whether taking the official road or the horse-drawn train running on the unprecedented railway track with no end in sight, the Yellow River cannot be avoided.
Occasionally, you can see the turbulent Yellow River flowing from one side, and occasionally you can see the gentle Yellow River, being used by farmers in the world to irrigate the seedlings in the world.
But whenever a horse-drawn train passes by, there will always be more nearby troops from time to time, guarding the royal party from a distance, so that the people in the world can immediately understand that this is the emperor's guard of honor.
Some farmers looked at the groups of people and the vague ceremonial guards in the distance, and their hearts were filled with excitement. It was obvious that their life had not been in vain. Unexpectedly, they were driven out to the fields by their wives, and they saw the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. A group of people.
Although he could not see a clear face due to the distance between him and the royal guard of honor, but even looking at the grand formation that he had never seen in his life from a distance, he could guess that this should be the way the emperor went out. .
Along the way, Wu Mei thought about Li Hong's words from time to time, especially when Li Hong said with great disdain that those scholar-bureaucrats had never governed a township or county, let alone served as state or government officials, and some were just Studying the books of sages at home, and then summing up the experience from the ancient books, the ability to talk eloquently is no different from Zhao Kuo's armchair tactics. If you give them one government and one state to govern, I am afraid that in the end the people will be hungry. Anyone who understands it.
This is not a fair thing for the people. The people of Li do not want much. As long as they can live and work in peace and contentment and have enough to eat, it is enough for them. As for the rest, to them, it is like a distant place. The farmers looked here with the same eyes, it was too far away after all.
From time to time, there were troops guarding Li Zhi and others when they passed by, so this also attracted the attention and interest of Li Zhi and Wu Mei, because every time these cavalry saw them, they were different troops that were dusty and not the same. has been following the arriving troops from Chang'an.
This made Li Zhi and Wu Mei very curious. They had more or less heard about the reform of the Ministry of War in the past two years. Now it is a bottomless pit, and the annual budget completely exceeds what Li Zhi originally thought when he was in office. You know, and it’s increasing exponentially.
Even though there is no war in the Tang Dynasty now, except for Jiling City outside Anxi, which resists from time to time, or takes the initiative to fight against the princes of Dashi, there has been no war in other places.
But even so, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry are still the two government agencies that spend the most money in the imperial court today. Even Li Zhi felt trembling with fear after hearing about the annual expenses, and murmured to Wu Mei from time to time. : "Did Li Hong be deceived by the two ministers? Where did all this money go? Could it be that he was embezzled?"
"You can ask him in person. If that doesn't work, you can also send someone directly to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry to check the accounts, right?" Wu Mei, who was teasing Li Hong's youngest son, said absently.
"I have been in Zen position for many years, and I have long stopped asking about government affairs." Li Zhi saw that Wu Mei was not interested, so he gave up the idea of questioning Li Hong.
But this time, seeing these dusty troops again, such doubts arose in the minds of the two men again.
Although these troops did not seem to have the aura of killing or blood in them, they still had a faint sense of fatigue and a fighting spirit that had not faded away after just fighting.
I don't know when it started to drizzle in the sky. At this time, the royal guard of honor who should have returned to the carriage and continued on his way was stalled because of Li Zhi's stubbornness. Although it was raining, Li Zhi was in high spirits and wanted to We set up camp at the foot of a mountain not far away and waited until the rain stopped before continuing on our way.
In desperation, Li Hong had no choice but to accept his fate and obey Father Long's will. In the drizzle, he began to order his followers to set up camp and feel the difference in the drizzle journey.
(End of chapter)