Chapter 527: The Fifty Extra Scholars of Mathematics

Adding fifty extra slots for mathematics scholars in the metropolitan examination was also a form of violence. Zhu Yijun did not distinguish the scholars by their background, but he used their mathematics scores to make these additional appointments. His goal was to dig up the roots of Confucianism and challenge the Confucian scholars' monopoly on power and culture. The Ministry of Rites chose to comply, the Grand Secretariat chose to agree, and the court officials of the Great Ming had no objections.

Once things reached this point, they were already unstoppable.

Originally, metropolitan scholars were the disciples of the Son of Heaven. For Confucian scholars, they either had to separate the concepts of monarch and teacher, or choose to ***—this kind of world-turning imperial examination was not worth taking! Or they could choose to endure it silently; if they couldn't out-compete others in the Confucian path, they would go to another track—mathematics—to compete.

Not taking the imperial examination was impossible. Even during the North-South Ranking Case at the beginning of the dynasty, when the Emperor ordered a re-examination, the scholars of the Great Ming had no choice but to swallow their pride and accept it. The Emperor's barbaric and crude interference in the imperial examinations could also be considered an ancestral precedent. After all, didn't they study for a lifetime just to "master the arts of civil and military, and sell them to the imperial family"?

Is it really "selling to the imperial family"? In fact, looking at the imperial examination system, since the Sui and Tang dynasties, no matter which family was the emperor, didn't they all have to select officials through the imperial examinations? Admittedly, the world belonged to the Zhu family, but the control of power was in the hands of the Confucian scholars. The conflict between monarch and minister had been a universal contradiction since the concept of "the world" first existed.

The court officials said nothing about this matter because... the Emperor bribed them, bringing out 7 million silver all at once to build a paved road from the capital to Kaifeng!

Anyone who has worked on engineering projects knows exactly how much profit can be skimmed from such an expensive, large-scale project!

Since the Great Ming began its general trend of promoting literature and suppressing martial arts, it had been repeatedly engaged in construction: the Great Wall, border fortresses, isolated cities deep in enemy territory, repeatedly repaired city walls—these repeatedly built projects were all accounts that could never be cleared, and everyone could carve up this feast!

From the capital to Kaifeng, everyone along the way, from local officials down to the impoverished laborers, could gain some benefits. The Great Ming was full of displaced people; no normal person wanted to live a life of wandering. Having work and being able to eat was exactly what the displaced people wanted most.

Seven million silver—that was fourteen Longqing Imperial Tombs! It was enough to buy the silence of all the court officials.

In the eleventh year of Wanli, the imperial examination finally took action against the foundation of the Confucian scholars. While the court officials chose to stay silent, the imperial students of the Imperial Academy exploded with rage. Just like the expansion of the Maritime Academy back then, it became a huge uproar.

The Maritime Academy uproar was very intense at the time. Shen Shixing called people over to scold them, but still went his own way. At the final moment, the sailors still chickened out, because if they didn't get on the ships, the Great Ming naval sailors would arrive, and by then, whoever clamored would lose the qualification to board forever.

Expanding the quota was a good thing, but expanding the quota in a field they weren't good at was a big bad thing.

This was destroying ancestral precedents. For so many years, the imperial examination had never changed! Now that it was suddenly being expanded, there must be a dark secret! It was to open a convenient door for the descendants of certain high-ranking officials!

Even though there were imperial students shouting hoarsely: "The Great Ming has recovered the Hetao and established Suiyuan, and then managed Liaodong and established a province; thirteen provinces have become fifteen. The Great Ming needs more metropolitan scholars. Even if they are mathematics scholars, they can help the Great Ming with surveying, mining, auditing, and so on." But students at this age were easily incited and provoked. For a time, the public sentiment was indignant, and there was an atmosphere of "When will this day perish? I will perish with you" brewing.

This atmosphere made people feel uneasy. Zhu Yijun was very worried about the Confucian scholars of the Imperial Academy gathering to clamor.

"Prepare the carriage for the Yilun Hall. I want to see what they are actually trying to do." Zhu Yijun looked at the report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, immediately slammed the table, and decided to go in person. He wanted to see what these imperial students of the Imperial Academy were really trying to do.

The Mingli Hall and the Shuixing Hall were the two "upper halls" in the Imperial Academy. Only those who could score above eighty in mathematics could enter the Mingli Hall, and the Mingli Hall could take the examination for the Imperial Academy of Sciences, or go to the Imperial Institute of Technology to teach. The Xiudao, Chengxin, and Pangtong halls were the middle halls, while the Zhengyi, Chongye, Guangye, and Dushu were the lower halls.

The Dushu Hall, Pangtong Hall, and Mingli Hall were the three levels of mathematics halls in the Imperial Academy.

Zhu Yijun had established the Mingli Hall as early as the second year of Wanli, just to cultivate mathematics talent. Later, most of the people in the Mingli Hall entered the Ministry of Revenue and did auditing.

They became commissioners of the Great Ming Imperial Audit Bureau, specifically helping the national treasury and the Tax Inspection Bureau to audit accounts. Zhu Yijun encouraged mathematics through personal example. He himself would regularly go to the Yilun Hall and the Mingli Hall to check the students' mathematics studies.

The Great Ming's demand for computational power was extremely vigorous. Surveying, auditing, and tax inspection—without mathematics talent, none of these could be done.

The expansion of the imperial examination quota was something that had been foreshadowed long ago. Mathematics, the general management of the three talents of heaven, earth, and man, was the foundation of the division of subjects and study. The Wanli Reform had already been going on for eleven years, and the Mingli Hall had been established for ten years. Why did they think of making a fuss now?

Zhu Yijun intended to meet these imperial students of the Imperial Academy in person. He wouldn't do anything; he would just chat with them face to face.

Feng Bao asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, should we summon three thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards to escort you? My meaning is, to maintain order. That chaotic scene is really not fit for your ears."

Feng Bao actually didn't approve of the Emperor going to the Imperial Academy. The imperial students were still in school, didn't understand the ways of the world, and were most easily incited by others. If they did something under the influence of public indignation, that would really be the biggest joke in the world.

If he summoned three thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards to escort him, he wouldn't have to worry about these problems.

With the military equipment of three thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards, let alone the Imperial Academy, it would be enough to fight from the Xizhi Gate to the Dongzhi Gate and then back to the Xizhi Gate.

"I think it should be so." Zhao Mengyou hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, why not call Luo Sigong back from the Quanchu Guild Hall?"

In the matter of protecting the Emperor, Zhao Mengyou didn't trust his son Zhao Zhenyuan, who was also a sparring partner. Of course, Zhao Mengyou didn't even trust himself much. When truly facing a life-and-death crisis, a person's weighing of pros and cons in that short instant would let the only critical moment of protection slip through their fingers.

But Zhao Mengyou trusted Luo Sigong. This stubborn mule of a man was enough to protect the Emperor.

"If a scholar is angry, two corpses will lie, and blood will splash five steps." Assassinating the king and killing the driver didn't need so much design and thought; just firing that musket at the critical moment was enough to blow someone's brains out on the spot.

"Why do I feel like you've learned that set of remonstrance methods from the base Confucian scholars?" Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "You just don't want me to go, so you propose an unacceptable suggestion to prevent me from going to the Imperial Academy?"

Zhu Yijun keenly sensed the original purpose of Feng Bao and Zhao Mengyou.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I don't want you to go. Let Hai Rui go instead. I think Hai Rui is the most suitable." Feng Bao also admitted it directly. His proposal of three thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards was just because he didn't want the Emperor to go.

"Your Majesty, this conflict has just stirred up a little ripple. If you show up in person, and the conflict intensifies, we will only be exhausted in dealing with it." Feng Bao stated very frankly that it was unwise for the Emperor to go at this time.

Struggle also requires art. The Emperor is the highest-value target in the camp. Going out easily is very dangerous. And even if there is no danger, if the conflict escalates further, what will we use to deal with it?

The method Feng Bao proposed was actually, in general, a delaying tactic: turn big problems into small ones, and small ones into nothing. Now that the imperial students of the Imperial Academy were making a fuss, let them make a fuss. "At the first drum, courage is aroused; at the second, it wanes; at the third, it is exhausted." First, send the upright official Hai Rui to understand the situation, then send the Great Ming's greedy official Wang Chonggu, then send the Emperor's teacher and Grand Secretary, and then send the eunuch representative of the Emperor to go. With both kindness and authority, at this step, the Emperor would then appear as the final protagonist.

This is the gradual nature of struggle.

Feng Bao explained his response plan and bowed his head, saying, "The dynasty raises scholars and ministers—aren't they used when conflicts intensify? If we don't use them now, when will we?"

"Reasonable. Issue an order to the Censorate, let Hai Rui go, and bring Shen Li along by the way." Zhu Yijun nodded and approved Feng Bao's plan.

Shen Li had an excellent reputation. As a fellow townsman of Gao Gong and a metropolitan scholar of the 44th year of Jiajing, he should have been Gao Gong's subordinate no matter how you looked at it. But Shen Li had an upright spirit and bravely said no to the teacher-disciple system. Of course, he also suffered an iron fist and spent several years repairing the Yellow River embankment. Shen Li did not flatter, did not chase power, did not climb the social ladder, and even dared to contradict the Emperor. His reputation among the scholars was extremely high.

Zhu Yijun was also willing to talk, first to see the demands of the imperial students of the Imperial Academy, and then to discuss.

Hai Rui received the imperial decree and was immediately annoyed. He was currently with

Li Youzi watching the fun. To be precise, it was the censors of the Censorate, who were arguing endlessly about the matter of carrying water. Now they had argued out a result. After nearly half a year of arguing, the rules were set.

The struggle of the censors was very spectacular. In order to avoid carrying water, they used all kinds of methods. At first, they wanted to raise funds to hire people to carry water, but no water carriers were willing to come. After all, the previous water carriers had been humiliated. Carrying water for the Censorate was equivalent to self-inflicted humiliation. And with the Emperor backing them, the water carriers weren't afraid of these censors.

If the Emperor hadn't interfered, the Shuntian Prefecture would have helped solve this matter by arranging for a water station to deliver water regularly. It wasn't a big deal; many poor laborers were scolded. But with the decree, even if the Shuntian Prefecture Magistrate Shen Yiguan wanted to help, he couldn't.

Later, the censors decided to let the censor Liu Kongyuan, who had scolded people, carry the water by himself. As soon as Liu Kongyuan saw this situation, he immediately submitted a resignation, and the censors ultimately didn't succeed.

Until the day the metropolitan examination results were about to be released, the censors finally reached a consensus: every day, one person would take turns carrying water with Liu Kongyuan. The censors carrying water became the second most talked-about scene in the capital after Wang Chonggu chasing his son.

Hai Rui, who was watching the fun, suddenly received an order to go to the Imperial Academy to inquire about the demands of the students gathering to clamor. He could only scold the base Confucian scholars for being pretentious. Originally, Hai Rui planned to go to Wang Chonggu to learn from his experience. Mainly because Wang Chonggu had extremely rich experience in corruption in construction, he could ask Wang Chonggu for experience to formulate anti-corruption processes and priorities for major construction projects.

Hai Rui tidied up simply and took a carriage to the Imperial Academy. When he arrived in front of the Imperial Academy, he met Shen Li.

Hai Rui and Shen Li didn't know each other before. Later, after Hai Rui returned to the court, the two became friends. They weren't a faction in the court; mainly, they were both excluded by the hundred officials. The Great Ming officialdom didn't have a survival space for truly upright officials. Being an upright official meant going against everyone.

It was only since the Wanli Reform that Hai Rui and Shen Li could be said to have gradually gained a foothold in the court.

Although Confucian scholars loved to talk about the sublimity of morality, they didn't want truly sublime morality to exist in reality, otherwise it would make them look extremely despicable. When they really encountered a moral model, the entire bureaucratic system from top to bottom was extremely exclusive.

So Hai Rui and Shen Li were very close, just sympathizing with each other, lamenting that the righteous path in the world was full of hardships.

"Go and call Li Kaizao over." Hai Rui and Shen Li arrived at the Imperial Academy and went to the Yilun Hall.

The Imperial Academy sat north and faced south, with the Yilun Hall in the north in the superior position. Behind the Yilun Hall was the Jingyi Gate. The "Jing" (respect) and "Yi" (one) of this Jingyi referred to the Emperor. Inside the Jingyi Pavilion was a stele inscription personally written by the Jiajing Emperor when he built the Jingyi Pavilion. But ever since the Jingyi Pavilion was built, except for ceremonies, the students never came over.

On the left and right sides of the Yilun Hall were the east and west lecture halls, where several lecture halls were located.

Hai Rui and Shen Li waited in the Yilun Hall.

Li Kaizao was famous. He was the one who led the public opinion this time, and he didn't hide his identity as the leader at all. Instead, he was proud of it, gathering people everywhere to talk, gathering the students together, drumming up noise, brushing up his reputation, and winning fame. Being beaten with a heavy rod was the backbone of a scholar. This kind of upright spirit had never been rare throughout history.

This way of winning fame was to prove that one had the backbone of a scholar. As for whether it was a rebellious bone or a backbone, it had to be analyzed according to specific matters.

Before the Wuzong reign, the heavy rod would never beat anyone to death. Asking for the heavy rod became an excellent way to brush up one's reputation. But ever since the Wuzong reign produced the "standing emperor" Liu Jin, this great eunuch was extremely vicious, and since then, the precedent of beating people to death with the heavy rod was opened.

Li Kaizao and his brother Li Kaifang were both from Fujian. Li Kaizao was a strong contender for the top scholar in this year's golden list. He had been talented since he was young, reading books at four, writing poetry at seven, and interpreting the word "Ren" (benevolence) at a private school at eight, saying: "The place where the original heart is at peace is Ren." He participated in the county examination at nine and became a provincial graduate at nineteen. In the eleventh year of Wanli, Li Kaizao, who was twenty years old, came to the capital to participate in the metropolitan examination. Everyone who talked to him said he was extremely intelligent and quite talented.

If Li Kaizao didn't win the top scholar, or even didn't pass the metropolitan examination, then the talent he had been managing since he was four would be useful. If he, Li Kaizao, didn't pass, it must be that someone was cheating in the imperial examination! There must be a dark secret! Otherwise, how could he, Li Kaizao, not pass!

Hai Rui had seen Li's article in the court gazette.

Kaizao's article was written with great order, and he was well-versed in the theory of contradictions and the discussion of public and private, and highly praised production. He was a Confucian scholar of the new school.

"A fun thing happened in the capital recently." Shen Li said with a smile, "The fun thing about the Grand Secretary and his confidant You Qi having a falling out recently."

"Oh? I'd like to hear the details." Hai Rui's eyes lit up, and he said with a full face of smiles, "Watching the Assistant Grand Secretary chase and kill his rebellious son all day, and the censors of the Censorate carrying water—now there's a new fun thing. Tell me quickly."

Hai Rui, the fun-seeker, liked watching all kinds of fun things besides fighting corruption. He didn't need to carry a coffin to remonstrate with the Emperor to be diligent, and with the revitalization of the world as the foundation, his official life had become comfortable.

"The Grand Secretary is from Jingzhou, where it's very poor, and he likes eating chili peppers very much. But because the Grand Secretary sits for a long time and has hemorrhoids, he can't eat spicy food. The Emperor watched very strictly before, and you couldn't see even one chili pepper in the whole mansion. It's just that recently, the Grand Secretary's mother had a birthday, and relatives and friends from Jingzhou sent a portion of chili peppers. The Grand Secretary's mother likes this hometown flavor, so she asked people to buy some."

"The Grand Secretary hides chili peppers in the mansion, and You Qi looks for chili peppers all day. For a time, a tug-of-war began."

Hai Rui frowned and said, "Isn't this You Qi committing an offense against his superior?"

Shen Li explained with a smile, "You Qi has a decree, a proper imperial decree with a silk surface. As the chief steward of the Quanchu Guild Hall, You Qi cannot let the Grand Secretary eat spicy food. The stubborn Luo Sigong is also watching. So You Qi is not committing an offense against his superior, and the Grand Secretary is not defying the decree. After all, it was given by his mother, and he also saw a doctor and felt he could eat a little."

"Who won in the end?" Hai Rui asked curiously.

Shen Li leaned forward and said, "You Qi won. Luo Sigong borrowed a dog with a keen sense of smell from the Embroidered Uniform Guard camp and found all the chili peppers in the Quanchu Guild Hall. You Qi gave the chili peppers to the vegetable delivery man from the vegetable household camp. The interesting part is, do you know where this matter came from?"

Hai Rui was stunned and asked suspiciously, "Where?"

"It spread from the palace. I heard that after the Emperor heard about it, he laughed very happily." Shen Li explained the source of the information. This fun thing came from the imperial palace—to be precise, it was a fun thing that the Emperor deliberately spread.

Zhang Juzheng was a living person, and he also had his own desires, such as chili peppers.

Chili peppers were introduced to the Great Ming, and the first clear record appeared during the Xiaozong reign. Scholars called them "foreign peppers." The route of introduction was very clear: one was from the Silk Road into Gansu, Shaanxi, and other places, hence the name "Qin pepper"; the other route was from Toungoo into Yunnan, where it spread rapidly in Yunnan and was called "millet pepper." Qin pepper and millet pepper eventually formed spicy regions in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, such as Sichuan and Hunan.

There were many reasons for the widespread spread of chili peppers, but in the final analysis, there was only one: chili peppers make rice go down well. The water routes in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River were developed, and places where passenger and cargo ships gathered all had wharves. The laborers working on the wharves didn't have enough oil and meat intake, so they could only use chili peppers to make rice go down.

This was the reason why chili peppers rapidly formed spicy regions in Sichuan and Huguang.

Li Kaizao arrived. Neither Shen Li nor Hai Rui liked such people. Look at that dress—dressed in silk and satin, wishing he could hang eighteen trinkets on his waist, holding a folding fan in his hand. It was still the cold spring of the second month; what was the use of this folding fan? Looking at Li Kaizao's past resume, his parents had started building a persona for him since he was a child—an extremely intelligent scholar, leaping off the paper between the lines.

"I've read the article you asked someone to write for you and publish in the People's Daily. Who was the ghostwriter?" Hai Rui asked directly, making Li Kaizao, who was originally arrogant, widen his eyes immediately. How did Hai Rui, the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, know about such a confidential matter!

"I wrote it myself! I wrote it myself!" Li Kaizao was directly broken by the question and shouted loudly. Once this matter was exposed, all the honor he had managed for so many years would vanish into thin air.

"What are you in such a hurry for?" Shen Li said unhappily, "Censor-in-Chief Hai is an upright person. Since he asks you, he has his reasons. You tell the truth. Censor-in-Chief Hai won't go around talking about it. Besides, Censor-in-Chief Hai is a second-rank official, and I am a third-rank official. Do you really want to lie in front of both of us?"

"If you want to add a crime, why worry about not having an excuse! I wrote it myself!" Li Kaizao still shouted loudly.

Hai Rui had led the

Censorate for eleven years, and he had spent eleven years with the base Confucian scholars, summarizing some patterns. The base Confucian scholars were just like this: the less reason they had, the louder they shouted. Obviously, Li Kaizao indeed had talent, but that magnificent article on the evils of current politics in the People's Daily was not something that a base Confucian scholar like Li Kaizao could write.

Hai Rui shook his head and said, "Forget it. Asking you is asking in vain. I will investigate it myself. Once I find out, it won't be so easy to pass."

"The world-famous Censor-in-Chief Hai, Hai Gangfeng, is also going to bully the weak with the strong and the small with the big! As a dignified court official, are you going to bully a provincial graduate like me?" Li Kaizao was extremely angry. It seemed that Hai Rui's failure to live up to his reputation made him angry, but it was more like embarrassment turning into anger.

Li Kaizao played a moral kidnapping card that had been tested repeatedly.

Hai Rui and Shen Li immediately smelled a strange odor. This was exactly the same as those base Confucian scholars in the court, carved from the same mold.

"Trouble the Embroidered Uniform Guards to investigate." Hai Rui said to the two thousand-man commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhu Yijun let Hai Rui fight corruption and catch greed, not by letting Hai Rui rely on his own upright spirit to handle it, but by transferring two thousand-man commanders to help investigate the case. Each of these two thousand-man commanders led five hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards, a total of one thousand, to investigate all parts of the Great Ming at any time.

Zhu Yijun had always used this Great Ming divine sword very well. Every year, Hai Rui would have gains, and it would often be a major earthquake in the officialdom.

The reason why he had to use the Embroidered Uniform Guards was that there were some things that were inconvenient for officials to investigate, such as those involving imperial relatives, military nobles, and high-ranking court officials. Hai Rui, a second-rank official, investigating a first-rank minister was always a bit inconvenient. A higher rank could crush a person to death.

"No trouble." A thousand-man commander turned and left.

Hai Rui stood up and said, "I won't talk to you. You are not honest, and there isn't a single true word in your mouth."

Hai Rui denied Li Kaizao. He was not an upright person, and talking to him had no meaning. Hai Rui threw down this sentence and began to walk out of the Yilun Hall. Outside the Yilun Hall, scholars who had heard the news were gathering.

When Hai Rui's figure appeared, the noisy scene finally quieted down. When it came to the ability to cause trouble, all the imperial students of the Imperial Academy put together were no match for Hai Rui alone. Hai Rui walked forward, and the scholars began to retreat, making space.

Hai Rui stood still, looking at everyone, looking at those young and enthusiastic faces. They were all very sincere.

Hai Rui held one hand and said calmly, "The Emperor asked me to persuade you. These fifty extra slots are for the Great Ming dynasty, not to open a convenient door for the children of the powerful. Mathematics is something I have studied, and you have also studied. Is learning mathematics opening a convenient door?"

"Do you want to chat about how Xing Yunlu calculated the length of the tropical year? Chat about why the speed is faster recently and slower in the distance? Chat about how to calculate the circumference of an ellipse? Chat about the method of differences?"

Hai Rui got a headache when he thought of mathematics. He was a very studious person, but he was old, and he really couldn't understand mathematics. The mutual calculation of differentiation and integration was already very difficult. The things that the Imperial Academy of Sciences was tinkering with now were really complicated and required some talent.

Hai Rui took a deep breath and said, "But today I am standing here, looking at you, and I feel that it is better not to talk about these, nor about the imperial examination. Let's talk about this major construction project, the paved road from the capital to Kaifeng."

"Are there any students from Henan?"

"I am from Kaifeng Prefecture." A student raised his hand and said quite nervously.

"How long did it take you to walk from Kaifeng Prefecture to the capital?" Hai Rui asked with a smile, "Don't be nervous, I don't eat people."

"Three months." This student answered Hai Rui's words truthfully. Hai Rui, a figure of such high status in the temple, was exceptionally kind.

Hai Rui said with great emotion, "Three months. If the paved road is completed, it will only take you three days from the capital to your hometown. It will only take you three days to go home to visit your parents and return. What a good thing."

"The gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal of Womagang and the coal and alkali of Suiyuan can be transported to the hinterland—that is the purpose of the court building the paved road. Do you really think the Emperor took out 7 million silver to block the opposition of the court officials?"

"The court officials don't oppose it because

these fifty extra slots are talent that the Great Ming urgently needs right now. This is the reason why the court officials are silent. If it were really a chaotic policy, let alone me, Hai Rui, even Wan Shihe, whom you call 'Wan No-Bone' or 'Wan Soft-Bone', would oppose it."

"Actually, it's quite good."

The student from Kaifeng Prefecture asked blankly, "Quite good?"

Hai Rui nodded and said, "Yes. The Wanli Reform has been going on for eleven years. You haven't seen the precariousness of the late Jiajing years. Since you were old enough to understand, the Great Ming has been fighting north and south, beating the grassland suzerain Khan Tumanhan into hiding in the capital, beating Altan Khan until he was beheaded and displayed, developing Liaodong, and the officialdom has been extremely efficient. Against the background of various great debates, all kinds of novel knowledge have enriched your lives. You haven't seen those filthy things, so you think the sky is about to fall."

"Building a paved road requires hundreds of land masters to survey along the way, determine hydrology and distance, requires engineering corps to build official factories along the way, provide materials needed for road construction along the way, requires coordination from the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Revenue, and Ministry of War, requires transporting grain and grass, requires many, many things. In short, it requires a great country to do it."

"So it's really quite good. You don't have to experience those tragedies. It's really quite good. Beautiful things are happening every day."

Yan Song was a treacherous official, a muddy stream. At that time, everyone hoped that the clear stream Xu Jie could lead the Great Ming to reform and make this terrible world better. Yan Song fell, but Xu Jie was even greedier than Yan Song! At the time of the country's defeat, Hai Rui stood up and submitted a memorial on public security, but it was still of no avail.

Facing the Great Ming that was going downhill, any person with lofty ideals would be anxious.

Now these troubles are happy troubles. Just learning some mathematics is already excellent, as long as they don't learn to write Qingci.

Qingci was the talisman for Daoists to memorialize the heavenly court or summon gods. During the Jiajing years, if you wanted to climb up, you had to learn this, and you had to write it well. The "Qingci Grand Secretary" was one of the chaotic phenomena of the late Jiajing years.

These imperial students didn't actually go through that era. They felt that the court was forcing them to learn mathematics. If you speak emptily, you can completely regard this behavior as a kind of coercion. But if you speak pragmatically, it is that the Great Ming indeed needs more Doctors of the Five Classics.

Therefore, the court officials were silent, and it wasn't entirely because their mouths were blocked by silver.

"You can make a fuss if you want. I still have things to do." Hai Rui stopped persuading, flicked his sleeves, and planned to leave to find Wang Chonggu. How to fight corruption in major construction projects was also a new challenge for Hai Rui.

The thousand-man commander who went to investigate returned quickly, whispered a few words to Hai Rui, and Hai Rui and Shen Li talked a few more words.

Only then did Hai Rui stand up straight and say, "That person inside, Li Kaizao, don't believe what he says. He indeed has some talent, but those amazing remarks were all written by his cousin Li Kaifang. Just because Li Kaizao is the main branch, Li Kaifang's achievements were all attributed to Li Kaizao."

"I think you don't want all your future achievements to be wedding dresses for others, right?"

"Make a fuss if you want, but don't follow him. He is a person who is unbenevolent, unrighteous, unfilial, and untrustworthy. He sells you, and you still help him count the money."