Chapter 49 Section five
After leaving the archery range, Pan Zhaolin suddenly asked in a low voice: "My lord, has the Holy Majesty's order come down?"
"Not yet, but it's basically decided. Chang Zhi and Lu Huiqing are both examiners, and the chief examiners, Feng Jing and Chen Yi, were hand-picked by the emperor." Shi Yue replied lightly.
"The two examiners are not a good match, right? Chen Yi is not strong enough to compete with Feng Jing in any way." Pan Zhaolin frowned and guessed Zhao Xu's intention of appointing personnel in this way.
Shi Yue smiled and said: "Brother Qianguang, you don't need to think too much. The emperor's heart for reform has never wavered. Therefore, opening a course to recruit scholars is nothing more than appointing officials for the new law, but the emperor is very wise, and it is absolutely impossible to let Wang Anshi One person monopolizes power, and Feng Jing and I stepped in for this purpose. The other dozen or so examiners are all officials of the New Party."
"I don't know how much Baishuitan can hit?" Pan Zhaolin was very concerned about this.This is also reasonable. The students who go out of Baishuitan College all have a strong sense of pride. They don't need to deliberately form cliques, and they will naturally form the Baishuitan Department.As the founder of the academy, Shi Yue, the more disciples who enter the official career, the more beneficial it will be.
"It's hard to say. Changqing made statistics a while ago. Baishuitan College has obtained the qualification of tribute students, and there are more than 1,100 people who can participate in the examination of the Ministry of Rites. In addition, the emperor ordered that the Ministry of Rites organize examinations in Baishuitan. The top 50 can take part in the Ministry of Rites Examination, they are called Yuangong students, and there are a total of about 1,200 people. As for how many of them will be successful, no one knows." Zhao Xu is very proud of Shi Yue, but in order to show fairness All the academies in the world benefited from this, Songyang, Hengqu, Yingtian and other academies with more than 300 students, all granted five tribute students, and the examinations were organized by various academic officials.This measure has greatly promoted the development of private colleges in various places-in fact, this is very close to Wang Anshi's ideal. Wang Anshi has always hoped that all students who take the state and county examinations must enroll in state and county schools for three years before they are eligible. It was seriously opposed by the ruling and opposition parties.On the contrary, this kind of practice of granting tribute quotas to colleges gradually developed. After more than 20 years, it finally became more than 90% of the provincial examination candidates in the country, all of whom were graduates of major colleges. Whether it is Wang Anshi or Zhao Xu, they are both dead.
"This year, the number of places in the provincial examination is more than 300 and less than 600. However, there are more than 10,000 scholars in the country who take the exam. Those who pass the exam will be worth a hundred times, but those who fail the exam will always be the majority. .After these people have obtained the qualifications of tribute students, they still have to sit in the warehouse of the imperial court. One day, the country will be overwhelmed." Pan Zhaolin couldn't help but sigh.
"The country values scholars, and this is the only way to go. They will not be willing to let them engage in so-called 'low labor'. If they are forced to do so, then the world will be in chaos. There will be thousands of graduates in Baishuitan next year. Scholars, those who entered the Arms Research Institute, those who continued to study at the Elementary Research Institute, those who were hired by various colleges as teachers, and those who entered newspapers and publishing houses. Mr. Chang Qing and Mr. Cheng Hao made estimates, and there are more than 100 people who are nothing. There are not many students in the first year, so it’s easy to handle. The problem will be more obvious after the second batch of students graduate.” Shi Yue faced this ancient problem of talent idleness, and his brain was troubled.
These people do not have the problem of unemployment. Generally, they can become young masters after returning home, and the worst ones can also cultivate and study in family heirlooms, and continue to wait for the next opportunity of scientific examination-but in Shi Yue's view, the number of educated people in Song Dynasty is not Not many, in the industrial and commercial sector, there is actually a need for quite a lot of educated talents, especially the students of Baishuitan College, who are quick-witted, have a good foundation in arithmetic, and are competent in doing trivial tasks—even students from ordinary colleges, Those who have received education are much better than those who have not received education-but the crux of the problem is that these students, even those who graduated from Mingli College of Baishuitan College, have an extremely strong sense of industry superiority and industry discrimination.They would rather go home and farm while studying than work for industry or business, let alone be the subordinates of businessmen.
Promote the equality of "scholars, farmers, businessmen"?The slogan was shouted, but although there was no saying at that time that "everything is inferior, only reading is high", there was already such a concept.What Shi Yue took for granted might have been a great shame to the scholars at that time.
On the one hand, there is a lack of talents, and on the other hand, talents cannot be utilized. Shi Yue asked himself that he is not a god, nor is he the kind of agitator who responds to everyone. Facing this kind of problem, he can only do nothing.Waiting for them to wake up slowly, or one day, when the number of scholars in the country suddenly reaches 30% or even 50%, scholars will no longer feel that entering industry and commerce is an act of self-deprecation.At this moment, we can only see a small number of people going into business or industry consciously or unconsciously.
Pan Zhaolin is a person who has a serious lack of interest in imperial examinations, but he also does not understand Shi Yue's troubles. What kind of scholars do business need?At most, you can know a few words, and you can do arithmetic and counting.Even someone as smart as Pan Zhaolin couldn't understand Shi Yue's worries.Only at this moment can Shi Yue realize the helplessness of fighting against the windmill.
In this world, there are only a handful of people who can really talk about these novel ideas with Shi Yue and understand these novel ideas-Wang Anshi can be counted as one, but he is Shi Yue's biggest political enemy; Sang Chongguo is one, but since the incident was reported Afterwards, although the two were still intimate, they both deliberately avoided that matter, and both of them were careful not to mention it; there was also Ouyang Fa, whom Shi Yue had only met a few times, that young man was really outstanding, unfortunately now Living in mourning far away in his hometown - Shi Yue knew that because of the young man's departure, Sang Chongguo felt as if he had lost his right arm...
Shi Yue likes to go to the free school run by Sang Chongguo, and sometimes tells stories to children impromptu. He didn't know the reason before, but later he realized that maybe the real change must start with those children. Although the students in Shuitan are closer to his ideal, in reality, they are still far away...
"My lord, look..." Pan Zhaolin interrupted Shi Yue's feelings.
Shi Yue raised his head, only to realize that he and Pan Zhaolin had entered the fencing hall of the gymnasium. At this time, the preliminaries of the fencing group were in progress. The swords used in the competition were special edgeless swords, and generally there would be no casualties.But Pan Zhaolin obviously didn't let Shi Yue look at the two students who were competing, but a few people watching the match.
That was Sima Mengqiu and others that I met in Huixian Tower a few days ago.
Cao Youwen couldn't wait for this grand meeting, so he went to Qiantang a long time ago, and now Sima Mengqiu is with three other people: Wu Conglong's style is Ziyun, Fan Xiang's style is Zhonglin, and Chen Liang's style is Zirou.Today, the four of them were all wearing white silk robes, standing aside to watch the game, pointing and pointing from time to time.These four people stand together, Sima Mengqiu has an elegant demeanor, giving people the feeling of a good son in troubled times; Wu Conglong is a little older, and he is a little too hardworking when studying, his eyes are slightly short-sighted, but he is upright, like a white water pool Cheng Yi's student; Fan Xiang is the youngest, very thin, he is a student of Songyang Academy, he has a bookish spirit in his bones; Chen Liang is also in his thirties, he is the same as Wu Conglong, the eldest son has ten He's old, so he's naturally quite stable, but perhaps because of his desperation for fame, his demeanor is a little more laid-back.
Although Shi Yue didn't know these people, he paid attention to Sima Mengqiu's temperament.Shi Yue has also seen people with this kind of temperament, Wang Xi, whose eyes are higher than the top, but with a more violent and crazy attitude; Yan Jidao, the son of Yan Shu, who is a little more wealthy and bookish; and Ouyang Fa, the eldest son of Ouyang Xiu ——It's a pity that his health is not very good, and he doesn't have the sense of vicissitudes of life in the person in front of him.At a glance, the man in front of him knew that he had been to many places and experienced many things.
Shi Yue was about to go over to talk, but he saw a military officer in a green robe leading a person in front of him, saluted, and said, "Lord Shi."
This military officer, Shi Yue, knew him, his name was Kang Datong, he was Xining's No. However, he is still an eighth-rank petty official.Shi Yue didn't put much airs in the first place, and since Kang Datong was a champion of martial arts and a serious imperial guard, he was even more polite.Raising his hand, it was a half-respect, and said: "You don't need to be too polite, why are you interested in coming to Baishuitan?"
Kang Datong smiled shyly, and said: "Xiaguan's cousin came to Beijing to take the exam, and brought him to Baishuitan to see and see. My side is full of rough people, staying for a long time will be harmful to his knowledge."
Shi Yue looked at the person next to him, and saw that this person was wearing a gray cloth robe. Although he was handsome, his face was so indifferent that there was no smile on his face. Ming, but he was completely indifferent.Judging by his expression, he is basically the kind of person who would keep everyone in the world away thousands of miles away. If Kang Datong wants him to make literary friends, I'm afraid it's a wrong idea.
Shi Yue didn't know that this person was in the same restaurant with him a few days ago, and even choked Sima Mengqiu to death.At that moment, he smiled at Kang Datong: "This is Cousin Ling?"
"Exactly. Zhenqing, this is Master Shi, who is well-known all over the world." His cousin's surname is Wu, Wu Anguo, and his name is Zhenqing.
Wu Anguo glanced at Shi Yue, saluted slightly, and didn't even move his lips, which was extremely rude.
Seeing him like this, Shi Yue looked back at Pan Zhaolin, and they smiled at each other.Shi Yue smiled and said to Kang Datong who was extremely embarrassed: "Young people should be arrogant, it doesn't matter, you can show my cousin around."
Immediately, he resigned from Kang Datong and walked towards Sima Mengqiu and his party.Sima Mengqiu had noticed Shi Yue's approach long ago. He was deeply impressed by Wu Anguo. Seeing that Shi Yue was in a high position, he didn't care about this man's rudeness, so he couldn't help but secretly marveled.
"We met that day, and we didn't have time to talk about it. Unexpectedly, we will meet again today. This brother is safe and sound." Shi Yue clasped his fists and said loudly.
"Don't dare, student He De, how dare Master Shi care about you." Sima Meng begged and returned the gift without being arrogant or humble.According to the general etiquette, Wu Conglong, Fan Xiang, and Chen Liang reported their families to Shi Yue.People like Wu Anguo are always very few, and Wu Conglong and others will inevitably say something of admiration.Shi Yue returned the gifts one by one.He is also a fifth-rank official at this time, and he is favored by the emperor, and he is famous all over the world, like a master of a generation, and some people even put him after Confucius and Mencius, but he has no official airs at all, the contrast is so Intense, it makes people feel like a spring breeze.
Sima Mengqiu's unintentional imperial examination is true, but it is not unintentional fame.Chinese "scholars" pay attention to being assisted by their own people. If they can't find a wise master, they would rather work in the countryside, sacrifice their lives, and be a hermit all their lives. This is an independent aspect of the personality of the "scholar" class. .He traveled all over the world, visited Xingsheng, and made friends with the three religions. He had a strange experience in ten years. The big tree of Da Song was covered with moths, and everyone tried their best to suck up the sap of this big tree.
It’s hard to look forward to Wang Anshi, who has been famous for more than 30 years. As a result, his three major generals, Han Jiang, are children of a family, and he can’t see below the first-class households; At the same time that their wealth has risen sharply, their Lu family's land and money have also increased; Zeng Bu's relatives in the county are not even looked down upon by the county magistrate, and they bully the good and the good. You can see below.Even though Wang Anshi himself was clean and honest, he still wanted to recommend relatives, but he didn't dare to lift a finger when dealing with corrupt officials.They only know that they are shouting "open source" desperately, but in fact, the past dynasties have levied and miscellaneous taxes, and this dynasty has all kinds of taxes.And the so-called famous ministers of the old party made Sima Mengqiu wonder what to do, whether these people were all discouraged by the failure of the Qingli New Deal, and they only know how to oppose but not make achievements—even the blind I know that the situation in the Song Dynasty will not change, but these gentlemen don't seem to know.
Before the "Bianjing News", there was a palace newspaper circulated in the market in the Song Dynasty. Although it was not an official newspaper, it was a must-read for scholars who cared about current affairs.Therefore, although Sima Mengqiu was in other provinces, he knew Wang Anshi's every move and the changes in the government and the opposition, but the more he knew, the more disappointed he became.He almost thought that the Great Song Dynasty was in a crisis of change and perish, and that he would perish if he remained unchanged, and he almost wanted to be ordained and become a monk, so that he would stop asking about worldly affairs.It wasn't until he read "Government of Three Dynasties" and "Political Gains and Losses of Past Dynasties" in Chengdu, and read the Di Bao about the improvement of the young crop law, that he was aroused with hope again.
Sima Meng wanted to know that "it is better to act on the ground than to promise empty words", so he left the Jiange non-stop, went down the Yangtze River, and went straight to the Jianghuai and Zhejiang provinces to personally understand the implementation of the improved green crop law and the pros and cons of borrowing money from the bank. .After staying there for more than a year, he knows all the pros and cons.On the edge of the Songjiang River, he saw tens of thousands of households. The government struggled to regulate the planting of cotton and rice. The contradiction between the two has not been resolved so far; , personally planned the urban map of Hangzhou, and taught the nearby people how to use the coal mines; what impressed him most was a small official named Cai Bian, who was only a teenager, but he managed everything in an orderly manner. The common people are required to plant cotton and rice for 30-70%, and the newly reclaimed fields can be 60-40% for cotton and rice, which easily solves the problems that the officials on the Songjiang River cannot solve.He severely cracked down on the usury of rich families and monitored the interest rates of banks. Regarding the problems of some poor households that the government was unwilling to solve, he ordered that the poor of these fifth-class households could be investigated by the county government and bonded for work. Bao, let them go to the bank to borrow money to buy seeds—the counties that Sima Mengqiu has visited are the counties where the signed authors of "The Analects of Confucius" Tang Di, Chai brothers and others are located. No one can do better than Cai Bian. better.
What he saw and heard over the past year slowly ignited Sima Mengqiu's hope.So he went back to the capital, just to see what kind of person this Shi Yue Shi Ziming, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, was.
And Shi Yue was also deeply impressed by Sima Mengqiu, and said with a warm smile: "I never expected to see so many heroes today. Mr. Sima, it is inconvenient to have a long talk today. If you don't give up, can you come to us with your friends some other day?" What about the government?"
Sima Mengqiu knew that it would be inconvenient to talk here, so he glanced at Wu Conglong and the others. Except for Chen Liang, Wu Conglong and Fan Xiang had eager eyes. He smiled slightly and replied, "We will definitely visit some other day."
Pan Zhaolin smiled and said, "How about making an appointment the day after tomorrow?"
Shi Yue was taken aback, not knowing why Pan Zhaolin wanted to set a date, but he immediately changed his mind. He knew that Pan Zhaolin was very thoughtful, and he was worried that Sima Mengqiu and the others were Gong students. People gossip.Immediately, he smiled and waited for Sima Mengqiu's answer.
Sima Mengqiu smiled lightly, nodded, and clasped his fists in agreement: "This is the day after tomorrow."
"Then it's a deal."