Chapter 70 Section 70 Appointed to verify the county school

Because Liu Chuanying traveled around the provinces for many years and entered the country late, there were not many words left behind, and even fewer of them could be published in the world.It took Zeng Guofan more than a dozen nights to sort out more than 50,000 words for him, including more than 10,000 words of diary and miscellaneous transcripts. In the afternoon of one day, Zeng Guofan invited Liu Chuanying's former friends one by one, presented the compiled manuscripts, and took out Liu Chuanying's last letter.Everyone knows what Zeng Guofan meant, that he wanted to collect some money to publish Liu Chuanying's posthumous works.So without waiting for Zeng Guofan to speak, each person pledged a little to make up one hundred and thirty taels, and Zeng Guofan took out seventy taels to make up an integer.

A few days later, Zeng Guofan took Liu Chuanying's manuscript and two hundred taels of silver during his lunch break, and found an engraving shop with relatively fine workmanship in the capital, intending to publish five hundred of Liu's posthumous works for the world. At the end of the year, it is time for the Ministry of Rites to evaluate the pros and cons of county schools and academies in various provinces.County schools are established by the imperial court, and generally there must be a county school in a county.The county school is the place where all the scholars in the county study. The teachers and teachers of the county school are all appointed by the imperial court.The academy is different.Most of the academies were founded by governors or local gentry, and teachers such as mountain chiefs and Jiaoyu were hired from celebrities from various places or officials with two backgrounds in the field.These teachers do not take the state's salary, but are provided by the academy, and the academy collects it from the students.

Regarding the assessment of the Academy, the Ministry of Etiquette is relatively relaxed. To put it bluntly, it is just a quick look at the flowers, and it is over after a symbolic look.The focus of the Ministry of Rites assessment is on the county school.County schools are government schools and the roots of the country's prosperity. The quality of county schools is directly related to the lifeline of the country. Zeng Guofan listed the officials sent by the Ministry of Rites to each province one by one, and attached the assessment items, and then submitted them to the palace. He could only leave Beijing after the emperor's approval.

The provinces Zeng Guofan set for himself were Fujian and Jiangxi.The distance between these two provinces is relatively long and relatively poor. In the past, the inspectors dispatched to charge were all assigned to inspect by the Imperial Academy, and officials above the doctorate level would never go.This resulted in the overall decline in the quality of county schools in these two provinces, and the lowest admission rate for Jinshi.Zeng Guofan then decided to go in person this year. That night, Emperor Daoguang summoned Zeng Guofan. After the ceremony, Emperor Daoguang asked, "Why aren't Shun and Feng two mansions listed?"

Zeng Guofan replied: "Returning to the emperor, the county schools of the Shun and Feng prefectures will not be checked by the Ministry of Rites, and will be managed by the clan's mansion." "Is it like this in the past?" Emperor Daoguang asked again. Zeng Guofan replied: "Responding to the emperor's words, I have checked the case records of the Ministry of Rites. This has been the case over the years." After a pause, Emperor Daoguang asked, "Do you want to go to Fujian and Jiangxi yourself?" Zeng Guofan replied: "Responding to the emperor's words, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces are far away from the capital, and the roads are not easy to travel. The Ministry of Rites has sent reviewers from the Imperial Academy over the years. But although the reviewers are dedicated to their duties, they are insignificant. The situation cannot be fundamentally reversed, so I want to go to these two provinces myself."

Emperor Daoguang couldn't help admiring: "It's rare that you are not afraid of hard work!" After thinking for a while, he suddenly said to himself: "The situation in Shun and Feng Erfu is not very good either!" Zeng Guofan didn't know what Guangdi's words meant, so he didn't dare to speak.After being silent for a while, Emperor Daoguang finally stood up and said: "As usual, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces should also send people to review. Who do you think is suitable for the Imperial Academy?" Zeng Guofan thought for a while, and replied: "Returning to the emperor, there are currently four reviewers in the Imperial Academy. Chen Bingnan Ding Jian (father's funeral) is at home, and Zhao Danian's visiting relatives have not returned. The emperor can only choose one of Wang Shuanghong and Chen Yanyin. Please make a decision."

Emperor Daoguang said casually: "Let them both go. If there are more than one person, there will be someone to take care of them on the way. Zeng Guofan, I have decided that starting from this year, the county schools of Shun and Fengfu will also be inspected by the Ministry of Rites. Shuntian Mansion Only Xing and Wan counties have county schools. You should focus on rectifying these two counties this year. Fengtian Prefecture will send someone else to go. The children of Manchu nobles have always favored martial arts over literature. This situation must be changed. .You go down, I will ask the Military Aircraft Department to draw up an order later."

Zeng Guofan said in his mouth: "The minister obeys the order." But he knelt and did not move. Emperor Daoguang took up a pen and filled in Wang Shuanghong and Chen Yanyin in Fujian and Jiangxi on Zeng Guofan's memorial, and then approved the approval. Emperor Daoguang put down his pen and yelled casually: "Come here!" Then he found Zeng Guofan who was still kneeling on the ground, and couldn't help asking: "Zeng Guofan, what else do you need?" Zeng Guofan replied: "Returning to the emperor, I have received the emperor's grace. I have been working in the Ministry of Rites for some days, but I don't know anything about the affairs of Shun and Fengfu. I want the emperor to make it clear that the county schools in Xing and Wan counties Are inspections treated the same as everywhere else, or is it said otherwise?"

Before Emperor Daoguang could answer, Eunuch Cao walked in.Emperor Daoguang signaled Eunuch Cao to stand aside, but said to Zeng Guofan: "What to do in other provinces, Xing and Wan counties also do the same. By the way, you can rectify the administration of these two counties for me. Go down!" Zeng Guofan kowtowed and withdrew. When he retreated to the door, Zeng Guofan heard Emperor Daoguang say "Xuan Wenqing", which was obviously meant for Eunuch Cao. The two counties of Xing and Wan are Daxing and Wanping counties, which are under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture.Shuntian Mansion is stationed in the capital, so it is naturally the capital.The county under the jurisdiction of the capital is naturally Jing County or Shou County.As usual, the county magistrate of Jing County is held by a sixth-rank official.

In order of distance, Daxing was thirty miles away from the capital, while Wanping was eighty miles away.Neither county is based in the inner city.Zeng Guofan went to Daxing County first. Daxing County had already received the official document from the Ministry of Rites, and as usual, officials went out of the Chengguan to greet them.According to the usual practice, the county magistrate of Daxing County is the same as the first county of Fengtian Prefecture. Manchus are in charge, and the Han people have nothing to do with it. As a rule, the county schools under the jurisdiction of Shuntian and Fengtian prefectures should be inspected by the clan's prefecture.It was the first time in the Qing Dynasty that Han officials were allowed to get involved in Manchu affairs.

Zeng Guofan was both excited and apprehensive about his errand.What is exciting is that Zeng Guofan can see from Emperor Daoguang's actions that the emperor attaches great importance to Han officials, but what is disturbing is that he is afraid that he will not be able to handle this mission, which will make the emperor lose confidence in Han officials. The magistrate of Daxing County is full of people.Duo Ze's ancestral home is Fengtian, and he was born in martial arts. He is in his fifties, with thinning hair and a small braid hanging behind his head. He has a big face, big eyes, thick eyebrows, and a big mouth. The inspection of the county school is nothing more than the curriculum arrangement and character of the professors and disciplines of Daxing County in the past year, especially whether there is any fraud in the process of enrolling students from the county.As for the assessment of official administration, it is an on-the-spot assessment of all county officials from magistrates to non-influential officials.Although it is not the point, because there is a special purpose, it cannot be sloppy. The Qing Dynasty was a cause achieved by force.Manchus have a long history of advocating martial arts and despising literature.Although there were changes after the Kangxi Dynasty, these concepts could not be eliminated from the bones.Therefore, most of the professors and disciplines in the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian and Fengtian prefectures are the foundation of martial arts.The imperial court occasionally sent one or two Han officials with two rankings as professors, but most of them were driven away by the Manchurian scholars.Whether it is Emperor Kangxi or Emperor Qianlong, they knew that the situation of the Manchus would become less and less stable if this continued, but they couldn't change it for a while.It has been like this for decades. Emperor Daoguang had long wanted to change the professors and disciplines of the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian and Fengtian prefectures; lighten the aspect of martial arts and strengthen the aspect of literature.This is the main reason why he separated the county schools of Xing and Wan counties from the clan mansion.He hoped that Zeng Guofan could come up with a good suggestion and make a substantial breakthrough. Zeng Guofan read the recent teaching case books of the county professor in Xingyuan, Daxing County overnight, and found that the teaching problem of characters was not as serious as Emperor Daoguang thought; scholars had to write a poem every seven days, half a month Submit one stereotyped essay, which is basically similar to the curriculum of other counties and counties. After that, Zeng Guofan reviewed the homework done by more than a dozen scholars.Only by looking at it can we see the problem.Let me first talk about the poems that scholars write every seven days. There is a scholar named Ai Hong who entered the school in the 22nd year of Daoguang. It should be said that he is an old scholar who has read poetry and books. He chanted Liu like this: This is probably a five-character quatrain, and the professor's comment is "appropriate and excellent". Zeng Guofan read this poem, which the professor called "appropriate and excellent", twice, but he still couldn't figure out what is so good about it.There is also a song dedicated to praising war horses.The person who wrote this poem was Nana Xiong, a scholar in the 24th year of Daoguang.When Zeng Guofan was reading this horse poem, he was holding a sip of tea in his mouth, before he finished reading a sentence, the sip of tea spit out first. Marsh wrote: The professor's comment was: "Well written!" If there were a few more such horses in the Qing Dynasty, the overseas countries would be unified in an instant, and the best would be better.Originally stereotyped articles were written on behalf of saints, but Zeng Guofan read three of them, one of which scolded saints, and the other two also wrote saints and literati in a bad manner.It is said that the literati harmed the country, and the literati lost the country.What else to say, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty is a saint, and the saint is the emperor of the Qing Dynasty.All the same nonsense! Zeng Guofan had no choice but to pass on the words to Jinyuan Wen, a professor of county studies.