Chapter 212 Zhu Houcong’s schooling and new education (two in one, 5,000 words)
Zhu Houcong bid farewell to his parents and officially embarked on his way to Beijing.
However, at this time, Zhu Houcong did not know that in history, he was the next Ming emperor after Zhengde Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Houcong is only seven years old now. To many people, he is still a naughty child.
However, Zhu Houcong has shown to be extremely intelligent and is familiar with Confucian classics such as "The Book of Filial Piety" and "The Great Learning". At the request of his father, he has begun to participate in presiding over royal palace ceremonies and sacrificial activities.
In general, Zhu Houcong's father, Zhu Youqi, paid great attention to Zhu Houcong's education, so that the young Zhu Houcong already had a basic Confucian cultural foundation, knew how to abide by Confucian etiquette, and was quite famous in Huguang.
This is also the reason why in history, after Emperor Zhengde was killed, the civil servants elected him as emperor.
When the officials from the capital came with Zhu Houzhao's decree to let him study in the capital, although Zhu Houzhao said goodbye to his parents with tears, he did not cry like a child of the same age. It seemed that at such a young age, he had already understood the emperor's order. A principle that cannot be violated.
However, Zhu Houcong was not familiar with the current emperor Zhu Houzhao at this time. He only knew that he was Zhu Houzhao's cousin, but he had also heard many cruel rumors about his cousin.
Therefore, when Zhu Houcong met Zhu Houzhao for the first time, he was still a little scared and nervous.
However, Zhu Houcong was fortunate that there were many royal children accompanying him to Beijing. He believed that as long as he abided by the rules, his emperor cousin would not notice him.
But in fact, when Zhu Houzhao met these royal children, the first thing he asked was not whether Prince Ning's heirs were here, but Zhu Houzhao.
"Where is Prince Xing?"
Zhu Houcong had no choice but to stand up after hearing this: "My brother has seen your Majesty!"
Only then did Zhu Houzhao recognize what the young Jiajing Zhu Houcong looked like. Seeing that he was much calmer than other royal children, he couldn't help but think to himself, no wonder this man was chosen as the emperor by Yang Tinghe, and no wonder this man could be the emperor. He was better than the civil servants in the grand ceremony, but now his demeanor is different from others.
But Zhu Houzhao knew that his cousin must have a very high IQ and strategy, otherwise he would not be able to trick the civil servants without relying on eunuchs. Although he was later defeated by the civil servant Xu Jie, most of the time he was in power. The power of the government is in his own hands, and a series of talents have emerged.
Wen such as Hai Rui, Zhang Cong, Xia Yan, Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, Tan Lun, Yang Bo, Wang Chonggu, Hu Zongxian, Tang Shunzhi, Wu Ruoyu Dayou, Qi Jiguang, Chen Lin, etc. all appeared in the Jiajing Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao naturally would not look down upon Zhu Houcong, who was only seven years old. He just nodded and said with a smile:
"I heard that you are smart and eager to learn, so I would like to give you a test. Please tell me what arithmetic thinking revealed by the method of cutting a circle, and what the value of pi was after Zu Chong."
It is not difficult for Zhu Houzhao to take the exam. These common arithmetic knowledge are arithmetic achievements that have long appeared in ancient China. The art of slicing a circle is an achievement of Liu Wei, a mathematician in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and Zu Chongzhi accurate pi to the seventh decimal place. As long as Zhu Houzhao is true It is impossible not to know that he is well-read.
But Zhu Houcong blushed at this time. If he was asked to memorize Confucian classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics, or even write an eight-legged essay on the spot, he could do it. He could even touch on some of the Taoism popular in his hometown of Huguang. But now when he was asked to talk about what circle slicing was and what pi was, he really had never heard of it.
"Zhu Zailei, tell your uncle, tell him what is the art of circumcision and what is pi." Zhu Houzhao called out his own son Zhu Zailei, but Zhu Zailei read it out without thinking:
"Circle cutting is a method of calculating the area of a circle, which is used with the idea of limits...and pi...since Zu Chong...".
Zhu Houzhao nodded after hearing this, and only patted Zhu Houcong on the shoulder: "You still need to study more. You are a child of the royal family, and you don't want to take the first prize. Why do you only read Confucian articles?"
Zhu Houzhao said and asked Zhu Houcong and others to retreat.
Meeting the descendants of the royal family who came to Beijing today was nothing to Zhu Houzhao, but this incident brought a great shock to Zhu Houcong's heart.
Zhu Houcong had always been a proud man, but he could tell that the emperor was not optimistic about his talents, and it seemed that he did not know as much as the little prince beside him.
"Has King Ning sent his son to Beijing?"
At this time, Zhu Houzhao suddenly asked Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, that although the son of the vassal king was summoned to Beijing to study in the palace this time, although it was mainly to educate the children of the Zhu family according to his own will, he also wanted to test the vassal king's thoughts. meaning.
After all, his current reforms can be regarded as infringing on the interests of many people, especially the interests of many gentry and officials. It is naturally impossible for many literati and gentry to encourage the feudal princes to rebel. Zhu Houzhao hopes to control these feudal princes by The opportunity for Si Zhao to study in the palace let these vassal kings know that the court was alert and not to go too far.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao knew that he could not stop Prince Ning by doing this.
After all, Prince Ning himself has been preparing for so many years, and there are many officials who have been bribed and colluded with him. Naturally, it is impossible to stop even if he says to stop.
"Sent! When I was presenting to His Majesty just now, the fat one on the right was Prince Ning's second son," Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, replied.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking that King Ning could really be as forbearing as King Yan Zhu Di, but he forgot that he was not the emperor Zhu Yunwen.
Zhu Houcong, Zhu Zailei and other royal children began to enroll in school on August 16, after the Mid-Autumn Festival in the ninth year of Zhengde. Although they were royal children, the palace school they studied was much more luxurious in terms of architecture than the folk social studies. The procedures and content are basically the same as those of folk sociology.
Zhu Houcong was no stranger. He had seen some children in Huguang carrying schoolbags to school every day. He was envious and wanted to get out of school with a few playmates like ordinary children, but he did not expect that one day he would have to go to school. Like the common people in Huguang, he will go to school with other children of the royal family.
But what made Zhu Houcong feel inferior was that his Prince Xing's Mansion did not give him much money, so that he could not show off himself in front of other royal children, nor could he buy a new canvas bag on the market. He was not very popular in the palace. He was seen by many people, but the eunuchs in the inner court were not very affectionate towards him.
On the contrary, Zhu Houcong found that the second son of Prince Ning's Mansion was very popular with the eunuchs below, because the second son of Prince Ning's Mansion was rich and generous, which made Zhu Houcong feel even more inferior. Of course, what bothered him even more was that the knowledge he was proud of did not attract the attention of His Majesty the Emperor. Even the eldest son of the emperor who was only four years old beside him knew more than he did.
Therefore, Zhu Houcong studied very seriously in palace studies, and it was from this moment that he began to receive education in arithmetic, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, etc., in addition to Confucianism, as well as education about the country.
Zhu Houzhao also took the time to come to a palace school. Just like when he inspected the social studies in Shuntian Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty, he would give an ideological class to these students who were still in the basic education stage, talking about the history of the Ming Dynasty and instilling some concepts of the country and the nation.
Zhu Houzhao would personally shake hands with the members of the Ming Dynasty Young Pioneers in each school and tie red scarves for them together with other accompanying officials.
Because of Zhu Houcong's cultural foundation and his diligence, his academic performance in Gongxue was also very good, and he directly became a member of the first Young Pioneers of Gongxue.
When Zhu Houcong saw Zhu Houzhao personally tying a red scarf on himself, he felt extremely proud. He knew the meaning of the red scarf, which meant that it was the corner of the flag dyed red with the blood of countless heroes of the Ming Dynasty. And he wore the red scarf and became a member of the Young Pioneers. It means that he will become a young hero in the future.
Zhu Houzhao saw Zhu Houcong's excited face and was equally happy. He knew that putting some things from later generations into the basic education of the Ming Dynasty would indeed have the same motivating effect. He believed that this would make more young and innocent people Children want to get better grades and get praise from teachers.
It has been three years since basic education has been universalized. Next year will be the four-year graduation period for the first class of children to receive compulsory education. What Zhu Houzhao needs to consider now is how to make use of this group of four-year-old students who were trained by the imperial court at a great expense. Years of education for schoolchildren.
"Your Majesty, according to the data reported by the Ministry of Education from various provinces, approximately 1.7 million students will graduate next year. According to previous regulations, these students will be admitted to county schools on a hundred-point basis. According to past careers, Scholars who enter the county school must be students. Now they can enter the county school after only four years of study. I am afraid that students all over the world will be dissatisfied;
In addition, county schools have always admitted only a small number of students. Every county has more than a thousand children enrolled in four years. Most of them must not be admitted to county schools. Therefore, I believe that new schools should be built and new schools should be established in each county to accept students. Teach them again to the students all over the world, and teach them more in-depth knowledge, so that when they become adults, they will have talents and be used by the court!
As the saying goes, it takes ten years to cultivate trees and a hundred years to cultivate people. Four years is not enough to cultivate the world's talents. You need to persevere. Only then can all the world's talents come out of the Ming Dynasty after a long period of accumulation! ”
Kang Hai, the Minister of Academic Affairs, reported to Zhu Houzhao truthfully.
"Naturally, these millions of schoolchildren cannot be allowed to go home to work in farming, at least most of them cannot be allowed to go home to work in farming. However, the county school cannot be changed for a while, and if the county magistrate is asked to write questions, it is expected that only some eight-part essays will be produced;
I agree with what you said, establish a new school, and send a decree to all the county officials to establish a new higher elementary school. I will ask the Ministry of Civil Affairs to immediately appoint a group of candidates who are studying at the Capital University to serve as teachers in each county and to serve as higher elementary schools. The position of principal is specifically responsible for the establishment of higher primary schools. ”
Zhu Houzhao knew that as a result, the imperial court's education expenditure would have to increase, but to make the people of the Ming Dynasty strong and no longer numb and ignorant, education was necessary, so what should be spent should be spent. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty had already started colonization. By expanding, we can earn a lot of property from Manlajia and other areas in the future, and these properties can only be spent on education in the short term.
However, the establishment of Gaodi Primary School was not something Zhu Houzhao could do just by saying something, and then the cabinet drafting and enacting the decree in accordance with Zhu Houzhao's wishes. The next step was to make personnel and financial arrangements.
"Your Majesty, there are so many counties in the world, and each county has to appoint a Jiaoyu to manage the higher primary school, and the original Jiaoyu has to be transferred to other places to be promoted to the county magistrate. This is not an easy task! The candidates currently studying at the Capital University are also Just a hundred people are not enough to serve as edicts throughout the world
Therefore, I suggest that a group of Juren who have studied at the Capital University should be appointed to serve as magistrates in the northern and southern Zhili areas to be responsible for the establishment of Gaodi primary schools. However, in other areas, the county magistrates and magistrates should still be ordered to establish them according to the requirements of the imperial court. Formation, order the academic officer to supervise it, so that the scholars all over the world can understand that those who come to study at the Capital University can be directly reused to teach in good places like North and South Zhili, so as to encourage more scholars to study at the Capital University . ”
Zhang Cai, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, truthfully stated the difficulties in establishing a new school in the Ming Dynasty, which was presided over by the cabinet under the orders of Zhu Houzhao. He was not a die-hard who adhered to Neo-Confucianism and did not object to His Majesty the Emperor's intention to establish a new school and promote Baidu. However, as a pragmatic official, he needed to let the emperor understand that many things are easier said than done overnight.
"What Zhang Qing said makes sense. What do you think about the cabinet and the academic department?"
Zhu Houzhao also knew that implementing universal education in the Ming Dynasty and establishing an education and training system from childhood to adulthood would not happen overnight. It not only required more financial support, but also more human support. There was no shortage of scholars in the Ming Dynasty, but what was lacking was For normal talents, Beijing Normal University was originally a comprehensive university to promote natural sciences and social sciences, but now it has mainly become a training base for new education normal students.
Even though the Capital University has relaxed the admissions threshold to the level of candidates, it still cannot meet the empire's huge demand for normal students. Moreover, due to the existence of the imperial examination system, there are still a large number of candidates who are unwilling to enroll in the Capital University and instead enjoy the benefits provided by the Empire. The official treatment and privileges will continue to participate in the joint examination and the palace examination.
Although after the imperial examinations in the third year of Zhengde, the sixth year of Zhengde, and the ninth year of Zhengde, many Jinshi were willing to enroll in the Capital University for further study because they saw that Zhang Cong and Xia Yan were obviously favored by the emperor.
However, the first batch of Jinshi graduates in the second year of Zhengde and the sixth year of Zhengde totaled no more than a hundred people, and they had to be appointed to important official positions in the six ministries and localities. After all, the empire now lacks new administrative and military methods. As for the educated talents, some Liubu Tang officials and local chief officials were unwilling to let go of these talents after experiencing the abilities of the Jinshi graduates from the Capital University, and even hoped that the imperial court would appoint more such officials to themselves.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also understood the difficulties of Zhang Cai, the Minister of Civil Affairs.
At this time, Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, and others also expressed their approval one after another. Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao nodded again and said: "In that case, as Zhang Cai, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, said, the Ministry of Personnel will first appoint those who want to study at the Capital University. He served as a lecturer in Zhili in the north and south and established a new school. However, since it is a higher primary school, he has to study more subjects. The general knowledge subject should be divided into two subjects: society and nature. The specific curriculum syllabus is formulated by the school department;
How students graduating from social studies in each county, village and town are promoted to higher primary schools will still be in the form of examinations. The admission ratio should be calculated and implemented nationwide by the Ministry of Household Affairs based on the maximum budget for education from the national treasury and local tax revenue. After higher education, how many students who graduate from social studies should be guaranteed to enter higher primary schools! ”
"I accept the decree!" Kang Hai, the Minister of Academic Affairs, and Wang Qiong, the Minister of Household Affairs, stood up and replied in unison.
"Your Majesty, I have something to worry about." At this time, Liu Yu, the deputy assistant to the cabinet, stood up and said.
Zhu Houzhao hurriedly ordered him to explain.
Liu Yu then said: "Last year, I inspected Huguang, Sichuan and other places according to His Majesty's orders. I found that a large number of social studies still only teach eight-legged essays. When I asked the reason, they all said that it was the initiative of the local senior squires who were appointed as sociology teachers. They said that because of the world's The imperial examination is the right path. If you don’t teach children the Four Books and Five Classics, if you follow the right path of the imperial examination, wouldn’t you be misleading your children?
Even if they follow the imperial order and teach them common sense in arithmetic, they will be complained by their neighbors. Some people even said that if the government did not force their children to go to school, they would not let their children go to school, because this would leave no pigs or sheep at home. Feeding, no one has the main meal!
But the scholars and the people did not know that the imperial court was reforming social studies to cultivate various talents, and it was actually a strategy to benefit the people!
Therefore, I am worried that even if His Majesty intends to set up a new school, it is estimated that the common people in the world will not respond positively. Today, the people still know that the imperial examination is the correct way to select officials. Therefore, I am worried that even if a new school is established, the rich will only be let go. The children of the family go into business, and the poor will only let the children of the family go home to farm or go to market towns to become apprentices, and few actually take the new school entrance examination. ”
"As the Second Assistant was worried, I was ordered to inspect Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi in March to survey the population loss. I found that since the compulsory social education, the number of children who died young and disappeared has increased a lot. This is all due to the fact that they were detained by the government during the day. Forced to go to school, forced to work at night by family members, bitten to death by venomous snakes or other causes; disappearances are also caused by no news after school or missing after school;
Although His Majesty intends to benevolent to the common people and does not hesitate to spend a lot of money to educate them, few of the common people are lucky enough to receive the favor, either because their parents are cruel or because their parents are incompetent, so that the children cannot have the joy of childhood;
In addition, there are also corrupt officials and subordinates in the government who are rampant, so that many sons of common people are forced to become children by the government in the name of going to school. There are also handsome people who are sold by their subordinates. The common people dare not be angry. It is said that in order to avoid compulsory education, some people moved their families into the mountains;
What was originally good governance turned into bad governance;
I think that if the new school is re-established, and your Majesty imposes an order on the sons of the common people to take the exam, I am afraid that it will make the people more resentful and even provoke a civil uprising. If there is no force, even if the new school is established, no one will take the exam. At that time, it will only waste money and increase the redundancy of the court. ”
Hu Kedu responded to Yuan Zongru during the incident.
Many thanks to book friend Zhou Tian Meridian for the reward of 1000 starting coins. Many thanks to book friend 20170325152534678100 for the reward of starting coins. Many thanks to book friend Zheng Weiqi for the reward of 399 book coins
(End of chapter)