What the court wants is useless? ”

In Zhang Juzheng's study, Wanli chewed these words repeatedly in his heart, but he still didn't understand why his teacher would respect Baguwen.

The examination of the same thing, it is completely possible to emphasize the policy theory and ignore the eight shares, the eight shares are just a style of official writing, and its disadvantages can be seen by everyone - the restrictions on content and variety are too strict.

At this point, Wanli seems that the eight-strand text is far inferior to the policy theory, which can be cited and magnificent.

"Your Majesty knows that this imperial examination has a children's examination, a hospital examination, a township examination, a meeting examination, a palace examination, and a bagu examination, and the talents who are finally sent to the Beijing division are selected layer by layer, and they are given the opportunity to be questioned by the palace examination.

"All exams, its purpose is to select talents, but it is not set up specifically for talents, including the palace examination is just a threshold, there are too many people in the Ming Dynasty, who does not feel that they are the best among the people, and they should have a wealth and fame? Isn't the reform that Your Majesty has been doing pay more attention to the lower classes, so that they can be fed and clothed, have the opportunity to read and write, and have the opportunity to change their destiny whether they go to sea or at home? ”

Zhang Juzheng smiled, arched his hand and said: "The eight strands of literature that the minister said are useless, it is useless here, it has nothing to do with governing policies and current affairs, and it is a test of the student's understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, and no personal play is allowed...... The minister told His Majesty about what he had seen and heard recently, and His Majesty also knew that the minister had a habit of being an official in Beijing since he entered Beijing. ”

"Every year, there are foreign officials or students from outside Beijing enter Beijing, the minister will invite to drink and eat to entertain, inquire about the current affairs that happen in various places, in order to enhance their own experience, this year the minister knows a Fujian Jinshi, his name is Ye Xianggao, and when he was invited to dinner, the minister heard about such a thing."

Zhang Juzheng told the story and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty's reform of the primary school has achieved initial results, in Huai'an Mansion on Ye Xianggao's road to Beijing, the local professor led the students to watch the Nanyang steam warship, and even asked the Governor Hu Liangpeng to board the ship to take a look, because of the military law, the Governor could not let him board the ship, and took pity on his painstaking teaching, so he personally went ashore for two consecutive days to teach more than 200 children and students in the entire Huai'an Mansion about steamers and warships. ”

"This is a good thing, the empire has a governor like this, a professor like this, and a student like this, which is a great blessing."

Wanli was also very excited when he heard this, and said one after another: "After these students grow up, they will definitely do something." ”

"Yes, they will do something, but Your Majesty has ever thought that this is Huai'an Mansion, the hub of the canal, and the children who grow up here, as long as their husband has a heart, there will always be a chance to ask the passing ships to board the ship to have a look, if the governor of Hudu does not agree; In the future, there will also be Wang Dudu, Li Dudu, and Zhang Dudu who agree, and these children will always get such opportunities. ”

"The growth of their experience is not accidental, but inevitable. If Your Majesty is a scholar based on the people's understanding of the steamer, they are useful to the imperial court, and they will surely be favored by the Holy Family, the students of the frontier lands? They never saw a steamship in their lives, their teachers never saw a steamer, they didn't know what it was, they didn't even see a ship in their lives, what would they do? ”

"Why does the imperial court want to take the soldiers with eight shares? Guy Bagu only examines the Four Books and Five Classics and Zhu Zi's proofnotes, and the empire can make any rural social school have the ability to get a set of Four Books and Five Classics, and have the ability to get all Zhuzi proofnotes, and anyone who reads the Four Books and Five Classics can rule the world? The minister thought that this was not the case, and the scholars who learned Zhu Zi's proofreading could demand themselves in the way of a saint, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness? The minister also thought that this was not the case. ”

"But it doesn't care about the student's background, experience, and knowledge, it's fair."

"It doesn't matter if it's a student of Jingshi, a student of Songjiang, a student of Jinzhouwei or a student of Qingyuanwei, it doesn't matter if he is born, whether he is rich or poor, or even smart and dull, as long as he is willing to read and study, the whole book is more than 600,000, and the school notes are more than 100,000 words, and he can be admitted to the Gongguang Sect by rote memorization."

"Eight shares, is to kill the origin, experience, knowledge, wealth, all the sharp blade, such as a grate brush out all those who want to take the official career, select children, students, to keep food and clothing worry-free, so that they have the opportunity to enhance their experience, increase their knowledge, people think that the imperial examination is over, in fact, only the imperial court knows, after the imperial examination, the real imperial examination begins."

"For people with background and experience, the imperial examination is not difficult for them; People who have no background and no experience, they can also be tested by hard work, everyone is given similar opportunities and possibilities, Chen Shuai said a word called upside, this is a way to give everyone upside. ”

"Baguwen is not the goal, of course the minister hopes that His Majesty can find a more suitable method than Baguwen, but Baguwen is the means, before His Majesty finds it - Baguwen is the best means."

Wanli was stunned, and he was speechless.

He was still thinking back to what Zhang Juzheng mentioned earlier, that Southern Jinshi Ye Xianggao, he seemed to have seen a little impression during the palace examination, those lucky people in Huai'an Mansion who Ye Xianggao saw and heard, they will definitely make a difference when they grow up, but don't children in other places deserve to do anything when they grow up?

Zhang Juzheng's words were like an initiation, and Wanli suddenly understood that the significance of the imperial examination is not to select talents, but to give people in the world a chance to become talents.

"What the teacher meant, the students understand, the reason why the imperial examination uses eight shares to take scholars is precisely because of the rigidity of the examination form of eight shares, so it is used to agree on the framework to select talents, otherwise once the prospective students play on their own, the imperial court will naturally be able to obtain talents, but more people who originally had the opportunity to become talents have no chance to study and have no chance to be reused by the imperial court due to birth restrictions."

Zhang Juzheng arched his hand: "Your Majesty is smart." ”

"Speaking of which, it's just a trade-off."

Zhang Juzheng sighed helplessly and said: "There will always be a family in the world, three generations of practicing medicine, and it is a medical family; Three generations of generals will become generals, and three generations of politicians will be gate valves; Once the family rises, the empire is dying, dying of old age, rigid, and estranged from the top and bottom. ”

"There are many friends in the world, and the relationship is complicated, and at that time, the emperor will trust the minister, and the minister will be autocratic; letter to relatives, relatives to interfere in politics; Believe in eunuchs, eunuchs in chaos, believe in ......"

Zhang Juzheng didn't go on to say that the letter sect was on the side of the Qingjun, and the conversation changed and said: "Emphasizing literature and ignoring martial arts, losing battles year after year; Heavy on military and light on literature, and the feudal towns were divided. ”

"The imperial examination can't stop the family, but if you can compete with the best among the common people in the world in the examination and in the office, in fact, for Your Majesty, no matter what, you can find talents, and the heirs of the officials of the Shixun Shilu will also have talents, everything is just a trade-off and balance."

Trade-offs and balances.

Wanli bowed his head slowly, and then asked, "Then why didn't the teacher bring this up when the students wanted to merge with the township school?" ”

"The minister does not think that it is a bad thing to merge the township school and add mathematics, physics and medicine to the original four books and five classics, as long as he comes up with an examination method like Baguwen, to ensure that the examination questions are all in the learning of all students, let everyone become talents first, and then select who will be used by the empire from among the talents."