Chapter 1637: Imperial Examination

There are many services in Hebei. After the Ding tax was exempted, Jiangsu Province also encouraged prefectures and counties to export labor services. A large number of river services, roads, city defenses, industries and mines needed people everywhere, and these people were put to good use.

At the same time, states and counties are also encouraged to develop five small industries, which can also absorb and relocate some of them.

In fact, Suyou had implemented such a policy in Ningxia before, but that time it could only be regarded as half a success.

Firstly, the Third Road of Ningxia was newly included in the Song Dynasty, and it was easy to draw on a blank sheet of paper. Secondly, the original Xia government oppressed the serfs too much and welcomed the New Deal. In addition, most of the Xia people who were originally oppressing the serfs were killed.

Therefore, it is not difficult to implement.

But if you do this in Hebei, the hinterland of the Song Dynasty, you need to be extremely careful and careful. Until Su You finds a source of profit for Hebei landlords and finds a way out for the vast middle and lower class labor force, there is no need to mess around.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small one, especially after entering deep water. Every step must not be taken carelessly.

Therefore, there was no dramatic improvement in the financial situation of Hebei No. 4 Road last year. Su You mainly focused on sorting out the relationships between the parties, finding the crux, and laying the foundation.

Even Gao Taotao wondered when he got last year's fourth-way financial report. Could it be that Su Mingrun was not able to turn stones into gold?

At the beginning of this year, Hebei's production capacity began to gradually explode. The successive output of several large industrial bases made the court heave a sigh of relief. This is still the same Su Mingrun!

After everything was settled, Su You started to inspect again, this time focusing on Jingdong East Road.

The route is along the Yellow River to Linqing, turns into the canal and enters Liangshanbo, passes through Yunzhou and Rencheng, enters Weishan Lake, and then passes through Liguojian to Xuzhou.

Board the train in Xuzhou and inspect Yizhou, Mizhou, Jiaozhou Bay Beiyang Naval Base, Laizhou, Dengzhou, and Dengzhou Naval War College.

Afterwards, we took a warship to Qingzhou at the mouth of Jishui River, passed through Zizhou and Qizhou, returned to Yunzhou, and then returned to Daming along the canal.

The planned time is another half year.

In fact, there was another reason Su You didn't say, which was that deep down in his heart, he was a little nervous about Colander's imperial examination. For the Su family, passing the Jinshi examination could only be regarded as passing the exam. Their biggest hope was to enter the second class, which was the top ten.

name.

In fact, with Su You's current status and the two children's current abilities, this thing is dispensable. As Su Shi once said, even if he is stupid and reckless, he can still "reach the official position without any disaster."

But what parent doesn’t want to see his or her children succeed?

In order to relieve this tension, Su You decided to find something to do for himself.

In March of the sixth year of Yuanyou, Su You boarded the repaired and adjusted small steamer again and embarked on a tour of Jingdong Road.

Jingdong Road is quite prosperous and relatively safe. This time Su You only brought one platoon, and the shogunate attaché, 500 guards and supplies were not needed.

In the third month of the lunar month, Geng Shenshuo visited the Youying Pavilion, and Lu Dafang reported the thirty-six things written by Renzong, and asked Tu to set up a seat and follow them.

Guihai, "Records of Shenzong", compiled by historians Fan Zuyu, Zhao Yanruo and Huang Tingjian.

The emperor bowed to the east again, and then began to write. Lu Dafang read in front of the curtain.

Not long after, I was crying in the curtain, stopped reading, and ordered me to go in.

At Renwu, the Ministry of Rites announced that the Jinshi should enter the palace, and the final examination to determine the ranking of the Jinshi—the palace examination—officially began.

This imperial examination attracted the attention of both the government and the public because of the participation of three young men.

Wang Yanbi is the son of Princess Xu, Chen Wu is the son of Chen Zhaoming and Su Xiaomei, and Colander is the son of Su You.

All three of them were favored early. In addition to serving as generals as supervisors and weapons supervisors, they were also three companions of the official family who were specially ordered by Gao Taotao.

Therefore, this imperial examination not only concerns the three families, but also concerns the vision of the Empress Dowager.

In order to prevent fraud, this election of examiners put Lu Dafang and Liu Zhi in a difficult position.

The power of the Su family academic clan is terrifying, unparalleled in the world in terms of philosophy, articles, poetry, science and engineering. Almost all the famous scholars in the Song Dynasty have a close relationship with the Su family.

In such a large Hanlin Academy, it was impossible to find a bachelor who had no connection with the Su family to promote him!

The final candidates were General Xu and Liu Fengshi.

Although Liu Fengshi had a good friendship with Su Shi and others, he was a master of Confucian classics and history and had minimal academic interaction with the Su clan. Apart from contributing Mozhuang's books to Ke Zhentang for reprinting, he had no direct connection with Su You.

General Xu's qualifications are also good. He was a top scholar and was no stranger to science and engineering. When he restored the instrument platform, it was Su You who borrowed instruments from other people's collections to figure out the key.

But that was many years ago.

However, Gao Taotao disagreed, and summoned Lu Dafang and Liu Zhi to the palace and asked: "Recently, because of the Ningxia Three Roads issue, General Xu was impeached by Su Che, and General Xu resigned from Shangshu Youcheng. Is this appropriate?"

Lu Dafang had no choice but to say: "I have chosen Hanlin all over the place, but only two people can quell the public opinion."

Liu Zhi also said: "Because of the actions of the three young masters, the government and the public have been in a commotion. In the previous Kaifeng government examination, the three ranked too high. The scholars thought that Deng Runfu's questions were too difficult, and there was some discussion."

"After the examination of the Ministry of Rites, the three young masters were still in high school. The scholars thought that Liang Tao's questions were too difficult, and there were still discussions."

Gao Taotao couldn't help but laugh: "Isn't this so unreasonable? You must let the three children fail the exam, so you just took advantage of their wishes?"

Lu Dafang bowed and said: "My court is very strict. After much deliberation, I can only stop the discussion if General Xu takes action."

Gao Taotao was a little dissatisfied: "You only think about being accountable to the scholars, but you have never thought about whether it is fair to the three children? General Xu was impeached and removed from office by Su Che. Can you protect him from personal grudges?"

Liu Zhi said: "General Xu is the number one scholar in Jiayou's eighth year. He is both civil and military, and he is honest and dedicated to public service. Su Zhe impeached him because of the mobilization of the new army. The joint meeting of the capital and provinces had already decided to pass it. General Xu was present and also expressed his agreement.

Later, I thought it was inappropriate and asked the Empress Dowager to slow down."

"If it was not in agreement at the time, it should not have been agreed. Later, if it was not considered appropriate, we should first ask the two provinces to impeach Su Zhe. There is nothing wrong in that."

"General Xu's reason for objecting later was that he believed that the two armies were transferred five thousand miles apart, which was difficult to understand and might lead to accidents. It would be better to do less than to do more."

"From what I can see now, Xu Jiang actually worried too much about himself, so he wrote a letter requesting that he be relieved of his provincial post."

"The Empress Dowager was retained in Su Che's impeachment, so General Xu did not leave because of Su Che's impeachment."

"Even if it is counted as a fight between two people, it is still a matter of state affairs. They are both magnanimous people, and it will not be unfair for me to protect my general."

Seeing that Gao Taotao was still hesitating, Lu Dafang said: "In fact, from my perspective, Deng Runfu's test questions are not strict, and Liang Tao's test questions are not wide. It is just because the world is careless and ignorant, and it is just causing trouble over nothing."

"In the eyes of noble people, it is actually not a smile."

"I think that the eldest princess of Xu State, Chen Xueshi, Su County Lord, Situ, Xianqing, Xu General, and Su Zuocheng are all noble and open-minded people, and they will not have this grudge. Therefore, whoever did this will only stop everyone's chaos.

Just the mouth."

Gao Taotao pondered for a long time, and finally agreed.

In the main hall, the scholars were writing. Zhao Xu was sitting in the hall with a poker face. The thumb and index finger of his right hand gently pinched a bit of silk on the robe and rubbed it on his thigh. Speaking of which, this boy was working harder than the other three.

The candidates who wrote were still nervous.

Neo-Confucianism has become a prominent science. In this imperial examination, many candidates included the content of Neo-Confucianism in the examination papers, hoping to be looked upon by the examiners.

However, some of the contents in those papers are really absurd. In the eyes of Zhao Xu, an expert in Neo-Confucianism today, it can be seen at a glance that these examples are not proficient in Neo-Confucianism at all, and they are just temporary separation of some materials and memorization by rote.

During the exam, I forcibly filled it into my own paper.

Heavenly principles and human relations are a big article. It is an indestructible tower formed by the tangle of the three outlines of literature, science and philosophy. The foundation is not solid, and there will be loopholes everywhere in the face of rigorous logical thinking, making it untenable.

In fact, Deng Runfu and Liang Tao, who were responsible for the examination and the Ministry of Rites examination, were not proficient in Neo-Confucianism, but they were people who knew the quality of articles and were extremely clear in literary thinking.

The two people's sophisticated eyes were able to spot the piling up of these children's terms among the students at a glance, and then dismissed them mercilessly.

Only articles that can be understood and make people admire the truth are considered good articles.

But after the exam results were announced, no one knew that Deng Runfu and Liang Tao were actually secretly frightened in their hearts.

The two of them really did not deliberately suppress anyone or promote anyone. When selecting materials for the country, they all chose good articles with sophisticated writing styles, concise views, and very insightful opinions.

No one would have thought that those examination papers, which were rigorous in literature and science and as straight as pens written by old officials, were actually written by three children.

Not to mention the new students, even those in the Hanlin Academy who have no knowledge of affairs and only know the ignorant and poor are no rivals!

And it is very consistent with my own wishes. If I write those words myself, that's about it.

The imperial examination lasted for one day, and the first person to hand in the paper was Colander, followed by Chen Wu. When Wang Yanbi also handed in the paper, nothing happened in the exam. An accident happened. Zhao Xu, who thought he had completed the escort mission, stood up, turned around and left.

Already.

The next step is to seal the test papers, the court presents candles, food and wine, Zhao Xu inscribes, and waits for the results.

Needless to say, Xu Jiangzi, almost all the top scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty were not real masters, and their writing skills were at their peak for thousands of years.

Moreover, General Xu was similar to Su Song and Su Shi, and had a wide range of interests, including astronomy, geography, epigraphy, calligraphy, and mechanical calculations.

It's just that Xu Jiang was born in the top 100. He valued his literary reputation more and was unwilling to make public in science and engineering.

However, even out of hobbies, Xu Jiang also copied and restored many astronomical instrument models from ancient China. Even Su You came to ask for help.

When Qin Guan and others sent up the selected test papers, Xu General selected ten people from them. After checking the remaining papers to confirm that no talented people were missed, he proudly said to Liu Fengshi: "The quality of the imperial examination papers this time is the best."

Gao, if I hadn't judged the case, a whole bunch of people would have been exhausted!"

Speaking of this, Liu Fengshi had to be convinced: "The world is deteriorating, and people's hearts are not as good as they used to be. Students are trying to advance, and their writings contain details of Neo-Confucianism and even science and engineering. If Xu Gong doesn't discern clearly, I'm afraid some people will succeed."

Xu Jiang laughed loudly: "They are all nonsense. They are talking about science and engineering in their articles. Regardless of whether they are truly proficient in it, their character is inferior. I will not accept even one article."

"As for Neo-Confucianism, it's usable, but it has to be exciting. You can't write about science and engineering, but you have to understand it, otherwise you won't be able to write thoroughly about the application of Neo-Confucianism."

"When the imperial court selects scholars, it is to select people who can handle the country and the people, not to be workshop managers or bank accountants, so we can't get hung up on details."

"Most people in the world think that Neo-Confucianism is learned from below because of its use. In fact, it is a big fallacy. It is just a place for its arguments, and the foundation is based on reality."

"So if you don't understand, you can't pretend to understand at all. It's better to just draw arguments from the words of the saints, and you can still explain it."

Liu Fengshi said: "So among the ten people, there are six people who do not adopt Neo-Confucianism in their opinions. Even the scholars in the world have nothing to say this time, right?"
To be continued...