It is said that there will always be brave men when there is a big reward. Lu Chen felt that one hundred thousand taels of silver was really not a small amount. In the future, even if someone from a certain region was admitted to Peking University or Tsinghua University, the local reward could not be more than this.
In Lu Chen's opinion, as soon as this news gets out, the threshold of the Chinese Academy of Sciences will definitely be trampled by this group of candidates the next day.
But the reality was very different from his imagination. The next day, the streets were deserted instead of being packed with people.
Before the reward of 100,000 taels of silver was announced, there were still groups of scholars at the door worshiping the statue of Confucius.
But ever since the news of the 100,000 taels of silver was released, these scholars all stopped coming as if they had agreed to do so.
Later, after some inquiries, I found out that the scholars all felt that Lu Chen was using such a dirty thing as money to measure their value, which was simply a desecration of their knowledge.
They believe that books contain golden houses, beautiful women, thousands of bushels of grain, and numerous carriages and horses.
What they pursue is a bowl of rice and a jug of water. They live in a humble alley, and people cannot bear their worries, but they do not change their happiness when they return.
"You're not enjoying it, you fool. Forget about the golden house and beautiful women in your uncle's book. If that were the case, how could you bastards still visit brothels all day long? And after becoming officials, would you still be obsessed with making money?"
"It's not that I think a hundred thousand taels of silver tarnishes your scholarship. I think if you can really win the top prize, you can definitely earn a hundred thousand taels in a more elegant way, and others may not know about it."
Lu Chen was very angry. He had witnessed the arrogance of these scholars.
Today's scholars have this poor and inexplicable sense of superiority, which is the common responsibility of the entire society.
"Old Mou, how are things going over there? Did the Ministry of Rites give you the list?"
Mou Ping said with a frustrated look on his face, "Master, I've already gone to the Ministry of Rites to make a request, but they said that the information about the candidates is confidential and they can't just give it to me. They also said that our Jinyiwei is in charge of food and drug hygiene and has no authority to access this information."
"Look, take a good look at this! You're not taking our Jinyiwei seriously! Shame, this is a huge shame. It's because you bastards don't live up to your expectations that I have to endure this humiliation. How long has the Jinyiwei been established? Why haven't I been able to bully men and women on the streets of the capital for so long? Have you ever reflected on whether this is your own fault? Are you working hard enough?"
"Forget it, I'll handle this matter. I'll treat the Minister of Rites to a meal in a couple of days. How's Zhang Laoba? How's your side? Have you sorted out the rooms for the candidates?"
Zhang Laoba hurriedly stood up and said, "Master, everything has been arranged. In fact, this is not a difficult task for us. The Chinese Academy of Sciences still has many empty rooms."
"Does that mean you're free now? If so, I'd like to build a library next to the main building of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I've thought about it carefully, and the main difference between us and the Imperial College is that we don't have a deep foundation."
"What's heritage? It's the family heritage. In places like ours where we study, heritage refers to the number of books we own. I heard that the Imperial College houses a lot of ancient classics, many of which are even rare copies. Is that true?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion, and finally Ma Tong said with a brave face: "I seem to have heard such a rumor. Some precious classics are indeed collected by the Imperial College and the Hongwen Academy."
Lu Chen pinched his chin and thought for a moment before saying, "It doesn't matter. If all else fails, I'll just go to the palace and ask His Majesty to issue an order. We'll just go to these two families and copy a copy. If they dare to say no, I'll take you all with me to confiscate their property!"
"By the way, Old Mou, do you think there are some classics and historical books in the palace? Are there any rare copies?"
"Master, the collection of books in the Imperial Palace is actually no worse than that in the Imperial College. In fact, many books are impossible to be found in the Imperial College because they are considered taboos."
Lu Chen excitedly slammed the table and said, "Great! This will make things much easier. Given our relationship with His Majesty, would His Majesty be so embarrassed as to not show it to us?"
Now that the problem of books has been solved, shouldn’t we address the problem of teachers?
The reason why those candidates flocked to the Imperial College and the Hongwenguan was because there were great scholars there. If they were lucky enough to meet a great scholar who was willing to answer their questions, they could avoid many detours.
The quality of a school can be judged by its infrastructure, student enrollment, and teacher quality.
In terms of infrastructure, Lu Chen felt that his Chinese Academy of Sciences could beat the Imperial College and the Hongwenguan.
As for the source of students, this is a fight for them.
Lu Chen had ideas to deal with both of these, but when it came to good teachers, he was a little troubled.
It is obvious that he is planning to poach Confucian talents. Now he wants to find Confucian people to teach. Who will come?
At first, Lu Chen wanted to use a large sum of money to hire some great scholars, but then he thought again, since they are already great scholars, would they care about the little money he gave them?
If there is a problem that cannot be solved with money, then that is a really big problem.
If an enemy is too powerful, how can we defeat it?
In fact, our ancestors have already given the answer. First, look for possibilities to divide the enemy from within. Second, unite all forces that can be united.
Lu Chen frowned and thought for a while, then waved to Ma Tong who was standing beside him and said, "Go and ask if there are any fans of Xunzi in the capital now?"
As mentioned before, even Confucianism is not a single school. There are many small factions within Confucianism, including Xunzi's theory of human nature being evil.
Unlike Mencius' theory of human nature, Xunzi believed that people are not born with an insurmountable morality, but rather constrain so-called morality through subsequent behavior.
You should know that the fact that Mencius can be called the second sage shows his status in the Confucian system and proves how many supporters he has.
Xunzi proposed the theory of human nature being evil, which is opposite to the theory of human nature being good. This theory is obviously not in line with the mainstream of Confucianism. Therefore, many people within Confucianism have reservations about Xunzi's doctrines.
Later, Xunzi broke the tradition that "Confucians were not allowed to enter Qin", which led some more radical Confucianists to call for expelling Xunzi from Confucianism.
However, from the perspective of later generations, Lu Chen was more accepting of Xunzi's teachings. He was the one who had a clear understanding of human nature.
Since Xunzi's teachings do not conform to current values, I believe his followers must have lived a very frustrating life.
In that case, if the great national teacher comes to save you, shouldn't you cry for your parents and crawl to join the warm family of the Chinese Academy of Sciences?
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