Chapter 380: Imperial Academy Pilot Expansion

Everyone followed the sound of the voice and looked over—it turned out to be Cui Chengxiu, Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

After seeing Cui Chengxiu, many people furrowed their brows.

This fellow had colluded with Wei Zhongxian and acted without any bottom line. Over the past year, he had been promoted several times, and now he had risen to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief. His bag of dirty tricks was truly overflowing.

Clearly, when it came to thinking up vicious schemes—and daring to voice them out loud—this man ranked at the very top.

"Oh? Minister Cui has an idea? Then let's hear it." Zhu Youxiao looked at Cui Chengxiu and said with a smile.

In truth, Zhu Youxiao had no idea what Cui Chengxiu wanted to say. But as for what Cui Chengxiu was about to say, Zhu Youxiao was genuinely curious in his heart. After all, Cui Chengxiu was a man who truly had no shortage of vicious schemes, and he had absolutely no bottom line.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Cui Chengxiu hastily bowed and said, "It's just that this humble minister's plan may or may not be feasible. I'm only putting it out for everyone to discuss. Please, all lords, do not take it too seriously."

The meaning of these words was: I've said it, so you can't be too particular about it.

Upon hearing this, everyone furrowed their brows once again.

Everyone knows your Cui Chengxiu's character and audacity well. For you to speak such words, just how vicious must this plan be?

"Your Majesty, when the Imperial Academy was established, there was already talk of abolishing the academies across the realm. The local academies have been abolished, but their buildings and properties still remain. If they are left idle, or put to other uses, that would be a waste for the court. It would be better for the court to spend money to purchase these academies outright and directly convert them."

"Your humble minister has heard that many local academies were built through donations—local gentry donated to build such an academy to give their hometown's scholars a chance to study and to educate the youth of their native place. For academies like these, the court can directly convert them into Imperial Academies."

"Of course, the academy owners' consent would be required. After conversion into Imperial Academies, the teachers in these academies can likewise continue to stay and teach. In this way, both public and private interests are served, and it can also avoid a storm of public criticism."

At first hearing, this plan truly seemed like a perfect solution that satisfied both sides.

On one hand, the academy people could continue teaching and educating; on the other hand, the construction costs of the Imperial Academy could be kept to a minimum.

But those who knew the real situation were all cursing Cui Chengxiu in their hearts—your plan has committed a grave sin against virtue!

What does "the court spends money to buy them" mean? What does "voluntary" mean?

If you don't sell, your academy gets taken over anyway. As for how much the court should pay—how is that to be measured? Would you dare demand an exorbitant price from the court, opening your mouth like a lion?

Who would handle this matter? The Eastern Depot? The Embroidered Uniform Guard, or you, Cui Chengxiu?

Just think about it and you'll know—the court certainly won't spend too much money buying academies. At most, it'll be half purchase, half gift.

As for the words Cui Chengxiu said later, they were even more venomous. What did he mean by "donated academies"?

Everyone knows very well what donating to build an academy is all about—it's for retired high officials returning to their hometowns, or for renowned local great scholars. Most of the donors are wealthy local merchants or gentry.

They build such academies, on one hand, to polish their reputations, and on the other hand, to cultivate their own spokespeople in officialdom.

Many who couldn't afford to study received financial support from these people, and in daily interactions, it was mostly these people footing the bills.

Not to mention other things—"red sleeves adding fragrance" sounds beautiful, but where do these women come from?

The famous "slim horses of Yangzhou"—do you really think those salt merchants cultivated these Yangzhou beauties for their own enjoyment? Most of them were given to the scholars from these academies who passed the examinations.

People getting together to forge connections and form cliques for private gain—all of it happened within these academies. The wealthy and powerful colluding with each other here—that was the real truth of the matter.

If the court wants to establish Imperial Academies and convert your donated academy into one, would you dare refuse? Go ahead, try to come up with a reason for refusing!

You donated academies for your local high officials and great scholars, yet you won't donate an academy for the Emperor—how many heads do you have to lose?

At that point, all the donated academies under heaven would be converted into Imperial Academies for nothing. Asking for money would be impossible. If you dared not hand them over, then you'd be guilty of harboring treasonous intentions—let's have an investigation, shall we?

As for letting the original teachers continue teaching at the Imperial Academy—who actually calls the shots at the Imperial Academy?

It would definitely be people like Feng Congwu. You can tell from what the Imperial Academy teaches.

When those teachers continue teaching at the Imperial Academy, will they teach their own learning, or will they teach what the Imperial Academy tells them to teach?

You should know that the teachers at the Imperial Academy all hold official positions. Once you enter the Imperial Academy as a teacher, you've become a court official. If you can't keep your mouth shut and spout nonsense instead of obeying your superiors—are you tired of living?

Just like that, these teachers were also dragged into the net.

Cui Chengxiu's scheme could be said to be extremely, extremely vicious—on one hand, it takes your money and land; on the other hand, it also takes your people.

As for saying you don't want to teach and want to retire—then just go home quietly. If you start jumping around again, don't blame anyone else.

Once this order was carried out, there would certainly be complaints and grievances from below.

They could come up with reasons if they could find them; even without reasons, the bigwigs in the court would all be targets of their furious cursing. It might even dissolve many factions—this was practically the rhythm of a reshuffle.

From now on, when you study, you're no longer a disciple of the Confucian school, but a student of the Imperial Academy; your teacher is a teacher of the Imperial Academy, and your teacher can no longer become an official—at most, they can only network with classmates and fellow graduates; wanting to elevate a teacher to form a faction would be impossible.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Cui Chengxiu, the expression on his face extremely colorful.

It had to be said, Cui Chengxiu truly had ideas—he was a man of talent, and he had no bottom line, acting without any scruples. He was practically the exemplar of a treacherous minister.

Of course, to himself, this man was loyal. Considering the state, considering the Emperor—there was no better minister than this.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Cui Chengxiu, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Truly an excellent plan. Do any of you ministers have anything else to say? Or if any minister feels there's something inappropriate about it, you may speak up."

Looking at the Emperor's brilliant smile, those present felt helpless.

Clearly, the Emperor had already been swayed by Cui Chengxiu's words. At this moment, what was needed was figuring out how to dissuade the Emperor from this idea.

At this point, trying to dissuade the Emperor would not be so easy.

Cui Chengxiu's plan had many benefits. The simplest thing was saving money—there wasn't even a need to establish Imperial Academies in the two capitals and thirteen provinces; it could be rolled out directly across the entire nation.

Anywhere that had an academy could be converted. And once the decree was issued, local officials everywhere would also carry out the conversions. After all, the achievement of education and moral guidance also counted as a local official's merit. If education and moral guidance was substandard, their performance evaluations would also be substandard.

As for performance evaluations, they directly affected officials' promotions and appointments.

In many matters, officials didn't care much, but at the critical juncture of promotion and demotion, they would do anything. By then, those local academies—whether you wanted to convert them or not, you'd have to convert them. If you didn't want to convert them, those local officials would force you to convert them. They might even convert more and convert bigger—they had to achieve "what others have, I have; what others don't have, I have" to showcase their own merit and face.

And incidentally, pick two who converted well and promote them directly. When those above have a preference, those below will surely outdo it—how could the local people resist that?

Beyond that, bringing the teachers of those academies into the Imperial Academy and giving them official positions was equivalent to supporting them. Let them teach well and teach obediently. Although some would be unwilling, those willing to do it would certainly be more numerous.

In this way, there might even be people within the academies supporting the conversion to Imperial Academies—this became a tactic of pulling one and striking another.

With so many benefits stacked up, the Emperor simply couldn't possibly disagree. Trying to dissuade His Majesty would be harder than climbing to heaven.

Some people's gazes toward Cui Chengxiu turned very unfriendly.

To this, Cui Chengxiu paid no attention at all, wearing an utterly composed and unconcerned expression.

Cui Chengxiu knew very well in his heart that although the current Emperor was very strict, had a bad temper, and would kill people at the slightest provocation, there was one thing that made his ministers extremely satisfied—meritorious service was always rewarded.

As long as you sincerely worked for His Majesty and handled matters well, His Majesty would certainly protect you, and the rewards he gave were not few.

Under such circumstances, Cui Chengxiu had nothing to worry about. Once His Majesty adopted his opinion, this would be his opportunity for promotion and wealth. If he could be put in charge of the Imperial Academy reform, then the benefits would be even greater.

"Your Majesty, is this matter not too big? We should deliberate over the long term." Sun Chengzong stepped forward and spoke with a somewhat worried tone.

With Sun Chengzong taking the lead, the other ministers quickly chimed in as well, "Indeed!"

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Sun Chengzong and understood his meaning—he was mainly afraid of causing unrest.

These ministers at court prized stability above all else; no matter what they did, they wanted everything to proceed steadily and securely.

Better to do nothing at all than to make a mistake.

On this point, Zhu Youxiao agreed. A country this large absolutely could not have policies implemented on a whim.

Once a policy had flaws, amending or retracting it would be very difficult. Even if the decision-maker was not afraid of making mistakes, changing decrees from morning to night was not a good approach either.

So Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "What all of you say makes sense. Since it's too big, then let's find a place to try it out—let's first try it here in the capital's Shuntian Prefecture."

"I recall the capital also has academies, doesn't it? Let's reform them."

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao looked at Cui Chengxiu and said directly, "For this matter, Minister Cui, you will be in charge—consult with Minister Feng Congwu about it."

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Youxiao added another sentence, "I will have the Shuntian Prefecture yamen cooperate with you. In addition, the six ministries will also transfer some personnel to form a preparatory office for the Imperial Academy. If anything comes up, report to me promptly."

Upon hearing these words, ecstasy spread across Cui Chengxiu's face.

His Majesty truly had not let him down.

He quickly knelt to the ground and said, "Your servant receives the decree!"