Chapter 708: The Treasure of the Kong Forest (Seeking Subscriptions, Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"Is this not somewhat improper?" The Chongzhen Retired Emperor seemed to have noticed something amiss. "My son, you say you want all the children of nobles and aristocrats to enter school, and only after it grows larger recruit commoners? This business of 'a farm boy in the morning, ascending to the Son of Heaven's hall by evening'... began as early as the Sui and Tang, and from the Song dynasty onward entered the hearts of all under Heaven! If We remember correctly, has this dynasty not already gone several years without holding examinations to select scholars?"

"Imperial Father remembers incorrectly," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, shaking his head. "This dynasty holds examinations to select scholars every year. It is only that the jinshi examination has been abolished, and juren are admitted into office instead."

What he said was not entirely accurate — in truth there was no real system of juren entering office either. It was merely low-level bureaucratic examinations. These official recruitment examinations were administered by the Ministry of Personnel at court and by the personnel bureaus at the provincial and prefectural levels. The Ming bureaucratic apparatus under Zhu Cilang's rule was clearly different from before and had undergone enormous changes. The most conspicuous of these was the disappearance of the long-defunct guard-battalion bureaucratic system, while the central ministries and the local provincial, prefectural, and county offices that actually handled affairs had expanded.

Now the central government had six ministries, and the provinces and prefectures at the local level had established six bureaus. The six ministries corresponded to the six bureaus, and a certain degree of vertical management relationship still existed between them.

And both the Ministry of Personnel among the six ministries and the personnel bureau among the six bureaus possessed the power to select officials! And their method of selecting officials was, primarily, still examination!

To become an official, one still had to take the examinations!

But whether one took the examination at the Ministry of Personnel or at a personnel bureau, the most one could obtain was a minor office of the lower ninth rank. If one did not do very well on the examination and still wished to enter government service, then one could only strive to become an unranked clerk.

Moreover, whether official or clerk, the post was not so easy to hold. There were assessments every year, with quotas for promotion, demotion, and even dismissal from the rolls — this method of eliminating the lowest performers was naturally hated!

But in the process of contending for supremacy in a chaotic age, no one could achieve internal harmony. Contending for supremacy in a chaotic age was itself a form of "survival of the fittest" — the capable rise, the incompetent fall, and this is only natural. If one could not even accomplish this, then there was only a dead end.

Of course, Zhu Cilang's "elimination of the lowest performers" had been unfair from the very beginning. For "partners" such as the Overcome-Difficulty meritorious officials, there was a bottom line. No matter how much they were "eliminated," they would not be dismissed from the rolls, and once demoted to a certain point, they would be placed in a sinecure — even if they did no work, they would not be demoted further.

For subjects without the "Overcome-Difficulty" meritorious title, however, there was no bottom line. Great Ming held no shares for them! So every year a small number of people were demoted to commoners! This officialdom, truly, was not easy to hold!

Yet precisely because some people were dismissed from the rolls, obtaining office was not too difficult either. What was difficult was only rising upward.

"Since there is already juren entering office," the Chongzhen Retired Emperor said with a frown, "then this school for nobles..." He suddenly paused. "We understand now. Our son still does not greatly trust the scholar-officials of the southeast!"

In the rear garden of a certain residence by the Qinhuai River, within a pavilion that commanded a view of the Qinhuai's beauty, several scholar-officials in Daoist robes and gauze caps sat separately, drinking tea and conversing.

"Emperor Guangwu was a lord of restoration. In founding his enterprise and sweeping across the realm, he could not have done without the aid of the heroes of Hebei and the powerful families of Nanyang. To look after the powerful families and heroes, to regard them as trusted confidants and right-hand men — that is only human nature."

"But what of the scholars of the realm? Since ancient times, conquering the realm has depended on heroes and powerful families, but governing the realm depends on scholars! Yet Emperor Guangwu wanted the sons of powerful families and heroes all to become students of the Imperial Academy, blocking the path of advancement for the scholars of the realm!"

"Indeed. Since Emperor Guangwu ascended the throne, the civil examinations have been suspended, the juren degree has been abolished, and even xiucai are no longer selected... If a scholar wishes to enter office, he can only take the examination for a petty clerk, and then waste away slowly!"

"Fortunately the Northern Dynasty and the Western Dynasty do not hold civil examinations either. Otherwise the scholars would all pledge their hearts to those two dynasties, and then this dynasty would..."

"Mizhi, what are you saying? Today we are discussing Han history. What 'this dynasty' is there?"

These several scholar-officials had originally been studying "Han history," discussing the merits and demerits of Emperor Guangwu's reliance on the Nanyang powerful families and Hebei heroes after the restoration... But one of them, a scholar nearing forty who was called "Mizhi," had for a moment let slip a mention of "this dynasty," and someone immediately cut him off.

The one who cut him off was Chen Zhenhui, a jinshi of the special examination of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, son of the Donglin faction leader Chen Yuting, and one of the Four Young Masters of the Restoration Society. He now held the post of Bureau Secretary of the Tongwen Institute in the Ministry of Rites, overseeing the translation of books and documents from the Western countries.

And the one he interrupted was also one of the Four Young Masters of the Restoration Society, named Fang Yizhi. He was a jinshi of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen. When Beijing fell, he had fled with the three brothers Zhu Cijiong, Zhu Cizhao, and Zhu Cihuan — he was the lecturer for Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cizhao, so of course he had to flee with his students. This flight had lasted for many years, and now he was the Capital Liaison Commissioner of the Shuofang Military Commission.

The so-called Capital Liaison Commissioner was the "Beijing office director" of a military province, holding a special position in Nanjing officialdom, and therefore comparatively bold in speech.

Mao Xiang, another of the former Four Young Masters of the Restoration Society, was also in this small pavilion. Mao Xiang was likewise a jinshi of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen — he had caught the last jinshi examination, and his official career had been decent enough. He was now the Vice Chancellor of the Imperial Academy of Natural Science.

The fourth of the Young Masters, Hou Fangyu, was not present. Hou Fangyu and the other three were no longer on the same path!

For Hou Fangyu was a man of Henan, and his ancestral home of Shangqiu had been occupied by the Qing army, making him a "northerner with empty hands." Moreover, his father Hou Xun was an Overcome-Difficulty meritorious official, now serving as Governor of Jiangnan, and had also been enfeoffed as the Overcome-Difficulty Marquis of Shangqiu — a civil meritorious noble within the northern faction. Hou Fangyu was naturally a second-generation meritorious noble and a first-generation northerner, and his allegiance naturally sat with the northern meritorious nobles. His official career was also beyond comparison with Chen Zhenhui and Mao Xiang. He was now Vice Commissioner of River Works, deputy to the Governor-General of River Works Fang Yuegong. Once the Yellow River and Huai River were fully brought under control, a provincial governorship immediately awaited him!

A man like him naturally approved of establishing schools and abolishing the civil examinations... And those former Restoration Society members gathered today at the residence of the Earl of Warm Springs, Qian Qianyi — now the backbone of the southern faction of the Donglin party — all opposed abolishing the civil examinations, and all had some objections to Zhu Cilang's school-building line.

Although the elementary school had not yet opened, people like Chen Zhenhui and Mao Xiang were part of the circle of scholar-officials around the Zhu Emperor, and naturally understood the Zhu Emperor's intentions — what the Zhu Emperor wanted to cultivate was an elite of elementary school students, accomplished in both civil and military arts, and moreover learned in both Chinese and Western learning.

The Imperial Academy of Natural Science, which had grown out of the Nanjing Practical Academy, was in a certain sense training elementary school teachers for this not-yet-opened aristocratic elementary school. Since the beginning of the second year of Hongxing, the Imperial Academy of Natural Science had opened three new courses: one was Elementary Mathematics, one was Elementary French, and one was Elementary Martial Arts. Were these not the future elementary school textbooks? And among them, Elementary Mathematics had been personally compiled by Zhu Cilang, which showed the importance the Zhu Emperor attached to elementary education.

And that Elementary Martial Arts was even more extraordinary. It was said to have been compiled by the heir-apparent Duke of Yansheng, Kong Yinzheng, and included swimming, rowing, charioteering, swordsmanship, horsemanship, archery, firearms, military formations, and more! This was plainly high-cost aristocratic education, training outstanding students for the Imperial Academy of Natural Science, the Nanjing Military Academy, and the Shanghai Naval Academy!

If one thought about it further, would the officialdom of Great Ming in the future form a promotion route of "aristocratic elementary school — aristocratic middle school — Imperial University of Natural Science, Army Military Academy, Naval Academy — mid-to-high-level civil and military officials"?

Once such a route took shape, what future would commoner scholars have then? Would they waste away their entire lives in petty clerk positions?

The several Restoration Society scions who cherished the realm all furrowed their brows, not knowing what to say, and their gazes turned to Qian Qianyi, now the leader of the southern faction at court.

Although Qian Qianyi was an earl and an Overcome-Difficulty meritorious official, his disciples and followers were mostly commoner scholars — by "commoner" they were not, of course, laboring people, but rather the so-called scholar-official landlord class.

Qian Qianyi merely smiled faintly, noncommittal: "How many people were the meritorious nobles of Guangwu? And how many scholars are there in all the realm? If selection were fair, and men were tested by their abilities, within ten years the court would be filled with purple-robed nobles, and all of them would be scholars..."