Chapter 4997 South List and North List
What is the so-called struggle and compromise about? What's the compromise?
Nothing more, just a quota.
Be it Li Chengqian or Confucianism, as well as the military and civil servants, all forces knew that the imperial examination could never become the sole authority of Confucianism. Other arithmetic, physics, astronomy, medicine, etc. must have a place. The empire not only needed the morality educated by Confucianism. Role models require professionals in all aspects.
Once the Confucian family dominates and occupies all the imperial examination places, is it possible for all the officials in the world to rule the world with a copy of "The Analects of Confucius"?
This is no longer just a matter of suppressing aristocratic families and supporting ordinary people from poor families, it will completely affect the operation of the country.
No matter how selfish the bureaucrats of the Tang Dynasty were, they never lacked such simple insights.
To take a step back, even if Confucianism reaches this point of blind selfishness, it will still be attacked by various schools of thought in the world...
……
In the imperial study room, the atmosphere was rigorous and tense.
Yan Shigu shook his beard and glared at Fang Jun: "In today's unified world, the people who lead the land are all the royal ministers. They are all common people of the Tang Dynasty and your Majesty's subjects. They should be treated equally! The Taiwei originally advised Emperor Taizong to resume the imperial examinations of the former Sui Dynasty. The purpose is to recruit talents from all over the world, regardless of whether they are descendants of aristocratic families or ordinary people. But now how can we live up to our words? There is no distinction between people, north and south, so this is definitely not feasible!"
Kong Yingda on the side also frowned: "The land south of the Yangtze River is a little remote, and people's hearts are not close to the imperial capital. Since the Sui Dynasty, several emperors have tried to win over them and strengthened their rule, for fear of alienation. If the imperial examination limits the number of southern scholars, they will definitely It is believed that the court treats them differently, which leads to turmoil.”
The two great scholars were suppressing their anger at this moment. When they learned that Fang Jun had advised His Majesty to assign "South Ranking and Northern Ranking" for the imperial examination, they immediately became furious and rushed to the palace to try to stop the matter.
Li Chengqian looked embarrassed and said warmly: "Two teachers, please calm down. The Taiwei advised us to separate the southern and northern rankings. The reasons are sufficient and may be considered."
Yan Shigu looked serious, shook his head and said: "The Taiwei may have a reason, but once the southern scholars feel resentful and make noise and cause trouble, what should be done?"
This remark is not without purpose.
Since the Wu Hu moved south and the Jin Dynasty moved south, the division between north and south in the world has become increasingly obvious. Even if the Sui and Tang dynasties unified the north and the south, these differences did not disappear. The most obvious thing is that when Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty usurped the throne, he was not supported by Guanlong and Shandong. He had to go south many times to contact the Jiangnan nobles, hoping to get their help and control the court. This shows the aloofness of the Jiangnan nobles.
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Xiao Mian was entrenched in the south of the Yangtze River and gained the support of the local nobles. He had a large army and wanted to rule across the river with Li Tang. Even though he was ultimately defeated and died, the unity of the Jiangnan region was evident.
Even now, the Jiangnan nobles have always been on their own, wary of both the Guanlong clan and the Shandong aristocratic families...
Li Chengqian looked at Fang Jun helplessly.
He recognized Fang Jun's advice, but he did not have the eloquence to persuade the aggressive Kong and Yan, so he could only rely on Fang Jun.
Fang Jun, who had been listening to the complaints of the two men, put down his tea cup and said to Li Chengqian: "These two old thieves are selfish and have ulterior motives. They don't care about the interests of the empire at all. Your Majesty can order them to be driven out. And decreed that he would never be summoned. ”
Li Chengqian was speechless. If he could really do that, why should I ask you to tell me?
What are the identities of these two people? The banner of Confucianism, the emperor and master of the current dynasty, with peaches and plums all over the world, and disciples all over the court. If you dare to drive these two people away today, tomorrow all the civil and military officials of the dynasty will have to gather with the Chengtian clan to call him a coward...
< br>
Yan Shigu had a bad temper. Hearing Fang Jun's words, he was so angry that his beard stood out and his old face flushed. He angrily shouted: "This child is arrogant and has no tutor. It's Fang Xuanling's fault!"
With his age and status, even if Fang Xuanling stood in front of him, he would still adhere to the principle of being a disciple, let alone Fang Jun?
Kong Yingda was also very dissatisfied: "He speaks without reason and slanders wantonly. He simply doesn't know what to say!"
He didn't mind that Fang Jun called the two of them "old thieves". In fact, Fang Jun respected them very much, but now that the negotiations involved their own interests, they would do anything they could...
Fang Jun turned a blind eye to the pressure from the two great scholars. He drank tea leisurely and said to Yan Shigu: "I said that you are selfish and disregard the interests of the empire. Naturally, I am not talking nonsense. The Langya Yan family has a long history and is the number one in the world. Waiting for the famous family Yan Sheng, the 24th generation of Yan Hui, served as governor of Qing and Xuzhou successively during the Wei Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms. When he was appointed governor of Xuzhou, he moved the Yan family from Qufu City where he lived to the vicinity of Linyi City in Langya State under his control. County Hope.”
Yan Shigu had already guessed what Fang Jun was going to say, and his face was gloomy, but he couldn't stop it, because everyone knew these things and couldn't refute it.
Fang Jun paused and continued: "In the Yongjia Rebellion, Yan Sheng's great-grandson Yan Han crossed the river with Emperor Jin and Yuan. For the next nine generations, he served in the Southern Dynasties. Emperor Liang Yuan was defeated, and brothers Yan Zhiyi and Zhitui moved north and divided their official positions. Zhou, Qi... However, to this day, the descendants of the Langya Yan family still live in Jin. Mausoleum. The Yan family has a well-established family tradition of Confucianism, and their children are all talented. They are well-prepared to take part in the imperial examination, and there are many people who will become officials. However, once the imperial examination is divided into southern and northern rankings, the number of places for southern scholars is limited, and the number of Yan family's children is limited. Naturally, it will be suppressed.”
Yan Shigu asked back: "Now not only has the nine-grade Zhongzheng system been completely abolished, but also the recommendation system has been gradually banned. Everyone in the world is awarded officials based on the results of the imperial examination. What is wrong with the Yan family's children to select scholars based on their true and solid academic subjects?" Jiangnanzi What I'm asking for is nothing more than fairness. If the achievements of the scholars from the north are really higher than those from the south of the Yangtze River, I will only regret that they are not good at what they have learned. I should try harder, but if they are differentiated because of the southern ranking and the northern ranking, I will naturally not accept it. ”
Fang Jun was a little impatient. He naturally respected Yan Shigu. He was a famous Confucian at that time, and he was definitely not a corrupt Confucian like those who only read in later generations. He was a leader in Confucianism, literature, philosophy, and history. He was a true scholar. scholars.
Precisely because of this, how could Yan Shigu not know the true purpose and necessity of the South and North Bangs?
He knows everything and is just fighting for his own interests.
"The Jin Dynasty moved to the south, and all the noble families in the North moved to the south of the Yangtze River, taking with them the collection of books, accumulated knowledge, and cultural roots accumulated over hundreds of years. However, the North was invaded and tyrannically ruled by aliens, and everywhere The disease and population decline have not been completely restored to this day. If the imperial examinations are all treated equally, will it be fair to the scholars in the north? "
Kong Yingda said: "This is the reason created by history and cannot be reversed by personal will. This is the case. What can be done?"
This is his reason. The cultural gap between the north and the south is caused by historical reasons and has lasted for hundreds of years.
Fang Jun looked at Li Chengqian again and said, "Has your Majesty seen this? Such great scholars in this world are admired by everyone and have peaches and plums all over the world, but they only focus on the interests of one family, one surname and one faction, and never put the interests of the empire in their eyes or in their hearts. , let alone Make sacrifices for the interests of the empire. The imperial examination is to recruit scholars for the country. We should learn from each other's strengths and develop the overall situation. We should nourish the poverty of the north with the culture of Jiangnan. This is the long-term way."
Then he looked at Kong and Yan and said with a murderous heart: "Did you really see the day when all the officials in the dynasty were descendants of Jiangnan?"
Historically, the Ming Dynasty established an imperial examination at the beginning of its establishment. As a result, all the scholars on the list were from the south, while the scholars from the north were completely defeated. This eventually led to the confrontation between the north and the south, and almost caused the newly born Ming Dynasty to fall into civil strife...
The reason why the South and North Rankings were established was not only to take care of the northern scholars and promote harmonious development, but Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention was to put an end to the dominance of southern scholars. Once the officials in the court were all southern scholars, The aristocratic families, landlords, officials, and gentry in the south have always married each other and colluded with each other. Does he still want to be the emperor?
Checks and balances are always the core of the emperor's art.
For example, Su, Song, Jia, and Hu were the most heavily taxed areas in the Ming Dynasty. In addition to filling the scarce national treasury with the wealth of these areas, more importantly, it prevented them from hoarding wealth and becoming dominant, which was a hidden danger to the country.
Kong and Yan were speechless when faced with Fang Jun's heart-wrenching words.
If everyone is treated equally in the imperial examinations, it is very likely that in a few years there will be a situation where, as Fang Jun said, "all the people in the dynasty are descendants of Jiangnan". But is that really a good thing?
But as a result, the number of scholars in Jiangnan will be sharply reduced.
At present, due to the Zhenguan Academy, the interest of northern scholars in Confucianism has been greatly reduced. The students prefer mathematics, physics, astronomy, medicine and other subjects, and are determined to become professionals and contribute to the development of the empire, rather than the overall development of the empire. It is as if Heaven is holding Confucian classics.
Philosophy is a very complex subject. It can be used in all situations, but it is useless in many situations...
Until this moment, Kong and Yan understood Fang Jun's true intention.
He really didn't care if Confucianism continued to suppress the other schools of thought, because today's Tang Dynasty was changing rapidly, and it was far from being able to govern the country by relying on just one philosophy. The development and progress of the country required more practical talents.
Shipbuilding, cannon casting, steelmaking, medical treatment, architecture, astrology...this is something that Confucianism is not capable of.
In particular, the rise of Taoism has increasingly made Confucianism as a whole feel a huge threat. In terms of deep-rooted and huge influence, Taoism is not actually inferior to Confucianism. It is just because of its consistent low profile that it has been wandering in the upper echelons and has not been able to settle down. That’s all.
Once Taoism puts down its arrogance and enters the secular world, it will not only deal a heavy blow to Buddhism, but also challenge the status of Confucianism. In his heart, Li Chengqian fully agreed with the advice of Nanbang and Beibang, but he just didn't want to conflict with Confucianism. Seeing that Kong and Yan had restrained themselves under Fang Jun's aggressive "persuasion", he quickly struck while the iron was hot: "Both of you are my emperor's masters and heroes of my country. You, the virtuous people of the world, should understand my difficulties and contribute to the empire's pioneering progress. However, don't worry, the South and North lists are just a temporary measure. Once there is a breakthrough in the education of the North, you should be the North and South. As one, there is no distinction between one and the other. ”