"Your Majesty is a sophistry, there is no reason to say, I think..."

"Sir, I know that I have never liked to read classics and history, and I have learned sloppyly. How can I remember so many words of sages? I only know that things that are beneficial to the country and the people should be done. Why care so much? Besides, saints are not gods, so I will never understand what will happen thousands of years later, and I can't imagine what is going on today!"

Lu Xiufu saw that the two masters and apprentices were still arguing, and Deng Guangjian was so angry that his beard was raised up by the emperor's "fallacies and theory", but he still couldn't convince His Majesty. His Majesty was often speechless by Deng Guangjian, but he still insisted on his own principles. He could only make trouble and make jokes, but he was not annoyed.

Seeing His Majesty helpless and having to show his sincere education, Lu Xiufu did not disturb them. Instead, he thought about His Majesty’s actions over the past few years, suppressing the families of officials in Jiangnan, which made them lose the opportunity to become an official and unable to exert influence on the government. Later, through the sinking of power, the direct rule of the court touched the village, causing the gentry to lose their traditional dominance, which can be said to have changed the current situation.

The emperor also weakened the influence of the current prevalent Neo-Confucianism through the imperial examination system, increased the posts in the law subjects, and used the Imperial Academy to promote his ruling philosophy, changing the pattern of Neo-Confucianism unifying the world, allowing the academic community to present a sensation of a hundred schools of thought, thus changing the current lifeless situation of Confucianism for a hundred years and showing a vigorous momentum.

Lu Xiufu was immersed in the officialdom for more than 20 years and held a high position for a long time. Of course, he would not simply think that the emperor had such a big battle just because he hated the family of officials and gentry and was afraid of being interested in Neo-Confucianism. He had already seen that the emperor was preparing for the rule of the country by Confucianism and Law, using the imperial examinations to select talents in the world, and cultivating officials who were proficient in governing the country.

Today's conversation involves the topic of treating northern scholars. The emperor unconcealed his intention to completely destroy the traditional aristocratic families. Lu Xiufu thought that in addition to his belief that northern scholars betrayed the nation and served the enemy, he also wanted to change the situation where the children of aristocratic families controlled the officialdom and the poor scholars had no way to rise, and then create a new political situation and ultimately realize his ambitions.

Zhao Bing now felt that the emperor thought so and did this. When he was in Qiongzhou, in order to solve the weakness of officials' laziness and neglecting politics and neglecting political affairs, he began to select officials from officials and participate in political affairs. After entering Jiangnan, he even chose outstanding officials from clerks and outstanding scholars to enter the officialdom instead of passing the imperial examination.

As he has been living in Jiangnan for many years, the imperial court's selection of officials comes roughly 50% from scholars who took the third-level imperial examination, 30% from outstanding officials in the imperial administrative system, and 20% from military personnel who retired from active service. The ministers also suggested that the emperor recruit famous scholars in Jiangnan, or hide in the countryside and famous scholars in the market become officials, but they were politely rejected by the emperor.

Lu Xiufu once asked Your Majesty privately why he did not recruit those famous scholars as officials, so that he could increase the prestige of the court and leave his Majesty with a reputation for seeking talents. Your Majesty said that if these famous scholars want to realize their ambitions, they can only participate in the imperial examinations or enter the officialdom through other schools, but they are not pretending to be noble and famous. Moreover, since those hermits have no intention of entering the officialdom, why should they force others to do things? Let them do their academic research, and it is not bad to teach disciples and write books among the people.

Lu Xiufu was puzzled at first about Your Majesty's negative attitude towards great scholars and famous scholars, but he quickly understood. The emperor always puts ability first in hiring people, and does not judge heroes by his background. This can be seen from the people around the emperor, such as Zhou Xiang, Hao Yuntong, Zhuang Shilin, Lin Zhiwu, Zhuang brothers, etc., and a group of generals in the army were mostly from rural farming and studying, even merchants, or low-level officers in the army.

Of course, there are also family members of the officials and important officials around him, but these people are also talented at the moment. They are more familiar officials who are familiar with the laws and procedures of the court, and middle- and low-ranking officials who are well-known to the court, and middle- and low-ranking officials in the army who are familiar with the battle formation, mountains, rivers, geography and tactics.

However, these people did not become successful as soon as they entered the inner court. Many people were cleared out every year. Even Yingxi, the son of Ying Jieyan, was released from the public and was only a low-ranking state tutor. In this way, those great scholars who only know how to talk big, do not be pragmatic, and lack experience in governance naturally find it difficult to catch the emperor's eyes.

Lu Xiufu remembered that the time when His Majesty had proposed in the court to further reform the Imperial College, and to divide the subjects of those scholars who were shaded and promoted from local state schools in detail, set up subjects such as law, administration, and finance, and teach in different categories to cultivate professional talents in the imperial court.

At the same time, it is recommended that the Ministry of Revenue opens junior colleges such as agricultural administration, taxation, customs and accounting; the Ministry of Industry opens junior colleges such as metallurgy, water conservancy, transportation, construction, machinery manufacturing; the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War should also gradually open corresponding schools to cultivate professional talents. Instead of being as snatched in the past, and knowing nothing about what you belong to after entering the officialdom, everything must be learned from scratch.

The emperor's proposal also sparked a debate after the court discussion. According to his plan, he wanted to choose from county schools and prefecture schools for high school entrance examinations and awarded them to be an official position after completing his studies. It can be said that the scholars had more ways out, instead of just passing the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination. However, some people were worried that once fully implemented, those scholars would naturally abandon the past Confucian classics and history, thereby weakening the Confucian status in the court and the opposition, and gradually fading out of the court decades later.

Lu Xiufu naturally understood that the principle of specializing in art and had some examples. The emperor made major changes to martial arts and divided into multiple disciplines to train professional soldiers, which changed the situation where generals or officials either came from generals or made their fortunes at the bottom of the military, making the entire army more professional, and improving overall literacy, and also making combat efficiency higher.

In addition, Lu Xiufu thought that some scholars who failed the imperial examinations turned to military and military forces and infiltrated the military, which to a certain extent alleviated the long-term confrontation between civil and military forces. However, this not only did not weaken the influence of scholars in the military, but instead allowed scholars to participate more in the military, breaking the shackles between the two, which would inevitably reduce the conflict between civil and military forces, and be conducive to stabilizing the court situation. In the long run, it is beneficial to Confucianism but not harmful.

However, Lu Xiufu, a family of officials, also had some thoughts in his heart. After all, the children of aristocratic families can receive a good education from childhood, receive family influence, and have rare insights and visions than ordinary people. After entering the government, they can get started quickly and will be taken care of by the clan and old friends and promoted. The disadvantages are also obvious. They have been frugal since childhood and cannot experience the sufferings of the people.

More importantly, children of aristocratic families are protected by their families, so they must protect their families, especially when state decrees will affect family interests. They often do things that harm national interests from their own perspectives, and even harm the country and the king. There are countless examples in history, and Lu Xiufu thought that this might be the reason why His Majesty was determined to eradicate them.

The children of poor families have obvious advantages and disadvantages to joining officials. It is difficult for them to study. Even if they study, they cannot hire famous teachers, and they are difficult to be recommended to enter academy for study. They only rely on their own abilities to participate in the imperial examination and enter the officialdom. Therefore, they experience the difficulty of survival of the people at the bottom. When they are in power, they will consider the sufferings of the people, safeguard their interests, and speak out for them.

In addition, these poor children often have strong ambitions after entering the government, work hard, speak out, and dare to advise. They are barefoot and are not afraid of wearing shoes, and they will spare their lives to accomplish things. Moreover, they lack the bonds of their families, are loyal to the court and the king, and can put the interests of the country and the people first, becoming the king's capable and reliable help.

However, poor families and aristocratic families are naturally weak in their origins, so they lack vision and means, and they are inevitably "vulgar" in their actions, and even have no bottom line. When they grasp power, they often consider their children and families when they think of their hardships in the past, and want to give them a rich and stable life, but they often go astray for this, and then embezzle bribes, use their power to embezzle property, and live the person they least want to be.

Your Majesty immediately proposed to govern the country by Confucianism and Law. Lu Xiufu thought that this was also the emperor's consideration of this, restraining his behavior with morality and regulating his actions with laws, so as to achieve political peace, integrity and dedication to the public, and a happy life for the people.

However, I think the emperor has made a lot of efforts to achieve this goal. When His Majesty chose the queen for his wedding, the empress dowager and the court officials were in the goal of stabilizing the people's hearts and the court affairs, so he chose the Wu family daughter as the queen. The emperor was very resistant to this. In the end, the empress dowager had to threaten the rule to submit, but it also left behind the hidden worries of the emperor and the empress.

At the Shangyuan Lantern Festival in the year of the wedding, the Wu family's children ran into each other. This was said to be a trivial matter, and just punished them slightly. When the emperor used this as a reason to ruthlessly suppress the Wu family, forcing all the children of the Wu family to withdraw from the officialdom and not be allowed to participate in the imperial examination within ten years. This was equivalent to cutting off the way for the Wu family's children to enter the officialdom. Ten years later, the Wu family was just an ordinary foreign relative and nobleman and could not control the court.

Later, Wu, who was unwilling to give up, also tried to reverse the situation and secretly promoted the establishment of the crown prince after the queen gave birth to the eldest son, in order to raise his status in order to raise his status, but was suppressed by the little emperor's stern decree. With the birth of two more princes, the position of the crown prince was full of variables. Anyone with discerning eyes could see that Wu's status in the emperor's heart had plummeted, and no one agreed.
Chapter completed!