dognovel Chapter 321 The worst thing about being a person is having a conscience.
Chapter 321 The worst thing about being a person is having a conscience.
From the day the imperial examination system was established until the Jurchens entered the Central Plains, there were two emperors in Chinese history who abolished the imperial examination system.
One was the famous painter-emperor Zhao Ji, and the other was the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Chongba.
The former was not completely abolished, and in the end, he was forced to engage in the humiliating act of stripping naked and leading sheep.
The latter also turned the abolition of the imperial examination into a failed project, and in the end had to reluctantly restart the imperial examination system. He himself has been criticized for hundreds of years, and there are countless kinds of messy and ridiculous accusations against him.
Yang Shaofeng is now thinking about what kind of people would criticize Lao Deng if he were to persuade Lao Deng to completely abolish the imperial examination system and never reopen it, and instead adopt the system of taking civil service exams to get a government job.
Of course, we can't be too obvious in instigating Lao Deng to do this. After all, this is more hateful than canceling the preferential treatment for scholars. It's enough to let Lao Deng take the blame alone. There's no need to make me take the blame as well.
Regarding the examination issue in Ningyang County...
When it comes to exams, Yang Shaofeng can't help but want to curse.
The imperial examinations in ancient times did not only test humanities subjects!
Liberal arts is at best a threshold!
The truly deadly subjects are mathematics, law, and calligraphy!
Poor handwriting will displease the examiner, making mistakes in arithmetic problems will result in a significant deduction of points, and violating the law will have extremely serious consequences.
The county examination, the prefectural examination, the provincial examination, and the township examination—these four examinations were almost always included in each one. Only by doing well in all of these aspects could one's essays be ranked.
When it came time for the imperial examinations, the content became even more diverse, including questions on military matters.
In the final palace examination, there was no need to test the eight-legged essay, mathematics, law, military affairs, calligraphy, etc., because none of those who made it to this round were stupid people who had bad handwriting or couldn't do math.
This round of exams focuses on policy essays, which involves giving candidates a topic like "I want to respect Heaven and serve the people diligently, what do you think we should do?" The key point is that the emperor wants more than just the four words "respect Heaven and serve the people diligently"; he wants candidates to describe their philosophy of governing the people based on these four words.
So, does memorizing a few ancient poems guarantee you'll become a top scholar in ancient times?
Don't be silly. The level of the top scholar in ancient times was equivalent to the first place in an exam where all the students were liberal arts students from top universities. Even if their science scores were terrible, they were still at the level of a top university student.
A modern person traveling back in time to take the imperial examination? Forget about memorizing a few ancient poems, even if you memorized all the Tang and Song poems, plus the Chu Ci and Han Fu, it would be of no use.
Of course, whether the imperial examination was difficult or not had nothing to do with Yang Shaofeng. If there was any connection, it was that Yang Shaofeng chose to present the students of Ningyang County with difficult questions.
Chickens and rabbits in the same cage?
The number of things is unknown?
A mouse digging a hole?
And what about humanities questions, such as poetry, classical texts, and policy essays? What kind of questions should be asked about these?
The questions are too difficult. These students from Ningyang County definitely won't pass. After all, they haven't studied for long enough. If they end up with nothing, it won't be good for the county magistrate.
However, the questions couldn't be too easy, because these students couldn't stay in the county school in Ningyang County forever. They would eventually have to take the prefectural and provincial examinations, and it would be even more embarrassing if they did poorly.
Yang Shaofeng became increasingly uneasy as he thought about it.
Why should I, a county magistrate of the sixth rank, have to do the work of an eighth-rank instructor?
I have not received your salary as an eighth-rank instructor!
After letting out a resentful snort, Yang Shaofeng simply turned his gaze to the farmland on both sides.
In July, sorghum, soybeans, and cotton are diligently absorbing nutrients from the soil in the fields. By September, the sorghum ears will turn red, and the cotton bolls will burst open, revealing clumps of cotton inside. From a distance, they look like clumps of white snow, intertwining with the fiery red sorghum ears to create a beautiful picture.
By September, the soybeans will turn yellow, and the mature pods will split open slightly. After the harvest, soybeans will be scattered all over the field. Generally, older people will take their children to the field to pick up the scattered soybeans.
If you're lucky enough to have a good harvest, you can harvest at least a pound or two, or even more, of beans from an acre of land.
It may not seem like much, but it's still a meal. If it's cooked together with millet, a pound of beans can last for several meals. No ordinary person would be willing to waste these beans.
Well, the above content is purely a scene imagined by Yang Shaofeng.
In reality, sorghum, soybeans, and cotton are growing well along both sides of the road. However, due to the earthquake and tsunami in the second year of Hongwu's reign, the entire Dengzhou and most of Laizhou, from Weihaiwei to Weifang, were flooded by seawater. Hongzhou City was completely submerged. Although the land on both sides of the road is not truly saline-alkali land, there is certainly no hope for a good harvest.
The sparse sorghum, soybeans, and cotton were barely enough to keep the people from starving. Hoping to store more grain and harvest a few more kilograms of cotton was pure fantasy.
The thought of the people after autumn gave Yang Shaofeng a headache again.
The worst thing about being a person is having a conscience.
However, Yang Shaofeng felt that he could not completely abandon his conscience.
Because he said I am the sun at eight or nine in the morning…
With his eyes fixed on the fields on both sides of the road, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but sigh again.
I'd rather travel back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
If I could travel back to the Tang Dynasty, I would have a blast with the Hu women in Chang'an!
Hmm, Hu Ji... playing with flowers... Hu Ji flowers... peanut oil... Dengzhou is not suitable for growing peanuts, but Ningyang County is quite suitable. The key is that Zhongyuan Tangkou does not grow peanuts on a large scale now, and I have never seen this thing before.
So, we still need to send someone to Yindian to look for them?
As his thoughts inexplicably veered off course once again, Yang Shaofeng quickly shifted his focus from how to create exam questions for the county school to how to find new crops from Yin Di'an.
……
The distance from Dengzhou Prefecture to Ningyang County is not short. If you walk on foot, it would take five days without rest. If you include rest time, the one-way trip would probably take ten days or more.
Fortunately, all the guards of the Prince Consort's mansion were cavalry, which enabled them to travel from Dengzhou Prefecture to Ningyang County in five days.
Once outside Ningyang County, Yang Shaofeng had to slow down his journey.
From Fushan to Zhanyue Gate, the north gate of Ningyang County, it took Yang Shaofeng most of the day to walk this short distance.
Limpy Wu and the commander of the Imperial Son-in-Law's personal guards listened to Yang Shaofeng cursing all the way.
"You unruly people! You're all unruly people! You're treating me like a pig!"
"Get the hell out there and get to work! You're all just standing around me, do you think the farm work can do itself?"
"..."