Chapter 97: Building a School
After the imperial examination was over, the questions for the palace examination were widely circulated in the court. Leaving aside the first and third questions, what exactly did the second question mean?
Many officials discussed this matter privately. Some thought that the emperor might have just asked casually, while others felt that this matter was unusual. Considering the imperial examination rankings, those who said that men and women each had their own strengths were ranked at the top, while those who said that women were incompetent and useless were excluded and ranked at the back.
Especially Su Qihui from Suzhou, he was originally ranked second in the imperial examination and thought he would be in the first place, but he didn't expect that after the palace examination he was ranked in the back of the second place. It was really unbelievable. Is the emperor preparing to fill his harem?
If you want to gain a firm foothold in the court, you have to figure out the emperor's intentions and go against the emperor, otherwise your career as an official will end.
Sun Ying, the Advisor, is a typical example. He is over 60 years old this year. Last year, Song Yuzhu issued a decree that officials over 60 years old can retire according to their health conditions. But he refused to leave, thinking that he was in good health. He occupied the toilet without doing anything, and often took advantage of his age and said some disgusting words.
Other officials were too lazy to argue with him, but he pushed the issue even further. After the imperial examination, he picked out the essays of the new Jinshi candidates and criticized them, especially Li Jie's paper, which he criticized from beginning to end and belittled as worthless.
When Song Yuzhu heard this, he became angry. Li Jie was a newcomer whom he valued, so how could he allow others to insult him at will? He simply ordered him to retire and return home.
Sun Ying was naturally unconvinced, and knelt in the hall and kowtowed, saying: "I am a veteran of three dynasties, and I have devoted my heart and soul to the country. The emperor cannot dismiss me for no reason!"
An official who had a decent relationship with him pulled him aside and said, "Sir Sun, don't try to take credit for the past with the new emperor. Just retire, or you will end up in a bad situation."
If Sun Ying had listened to the advice, he would not have reached this point today. He shook off his colleague's hand and said, "I won't leave. I'll wait here!" Then he knelt outside the hall.
Song Yuzhu was so annoyed by him that she ordered Xuanyilou to go to his house to investigate and see if this man was as loyal to the emperor and patriotic as he appeared to be.
You won't know the result until you check. Once you check, you will be shocked to find out that this man is not only greedy for money but also lustful. At the age of over 60, he actually has more than ten concubines at home.
There is nothing wrong with having concubines, but not all of them were willing. He even forced several girls back home to be his concubines when they were underage.
The youngest of them is only twelve years old this year, but she has already served in the mansion for three or four years, and was forced to give herself to him before she was ten years old. This is completely in violation of Daqi's child law. According to the law, she should be caned thirty times and exiled a thousand miles away.
Song Yuzhu showed no mercy and directly sent people to beat him into prison. Thirty strokes of the stick took half of Sun Ying's life, and it was unclear whether he could survive until the exile place with the remaining half of his life.
After hearing this, some of the court officials shook their heads and sighed, saying it was a pity that he had been an official for his entire life, but at the end of his life he challenged the imperial power without knowing the consequences.
Xu Bing applauded, he had long hated this man for slandering his wife behind her back, now he had deserved this fate.
This incident did not cause much stir in the court and everyone soon forgot about it.
But the emperor dropped another bombshell. Today in the court, he actually proposed that women be allowed to take the imperial examinations...
Since ancient times, there has never been a precedent in which women could take the imperial examinations. This matter was so shocking that it was resisted by almost all officials as soon as it was mentioned.
Even Xu Bing asked Song Yuzhu to think twice. Whether in the previous dynasty or the Wu Dynasty, the status of women was relatively low. Nearly a thousand years of oppression had already formed deep-rooted ideas in them.
Now there is a sudden proposal to allow women to take part in the imperial examinations. Does that mean that in the future women will also be able to serve as officials in the court?
The thought of serving in the court with women in the future was unbearable for these ancient people, and they petitioned the emperor not to set a precedent, fearing that women entering officialdom might disrupt the government.
Song Yuzhu was also confused. He didn't expect the officials to react so strongly.
After the court session, he returned to the Shangshufang with a grim look on his face. Song Yutong was sitting on a small stool reading a book. When he saw his elder brother coming back, he quickly put down the book and went to greet him.
"elder brother!"
Song Yuzhu picked her up and touched her hair: "Why did you come here alone today? Where is Ping'er?"
"Sister Ping'er caught a cold yesterday and is resting at home."
Song Yuzhu put her down, sat on the chair and sighed.
"Is there something that makes my brother unhappy?"
"yes."
Song Yutong said seriously: "Tell me about it, I will help you find a solution!"
Song Yuzhu was amused by her serious look: "Brother wants the girls to learn to read and write, but the boys disagree. What should I do?"
"Why wouldn't the boy agree?"
"They are afraid that if the girls learn to read, they will no longer be obedient."
Song Yutong said: "Brother said that reading can make you wise, and reading more is a good thing. Does it mean that boys will become disobedient after reading?"
Song Yuzhu spread his hands and said, "Yes, there is nothing wrong with studying. They are afraid that girls will study better than them and take the imperial examinations to become officials in the future, thus taking their places."
Song Yutong said: "This is even more wrong. If you don't study hard yourself, how can you restrict others from studying?"
Qin Fengtu and Xu Bing outside the door paused, looked at each other, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
They had originally wanted to persuade Song Yuzhu, but they didn't expect to be ashamed by what a child said. Even a four-year-old child could understand the truth, but they didn't understand it at all, and they were the emperor's right-hand men.
"Your Majesty, Lord Qin and Prime Minister Xu are here."
"Let them in."
Soon the two walked into the study: "Greetings, Your Majesty."
Song Yuzhu looked at the two and said, "Are you here to persuade me too?"
Qin Fengtu said: "At first I did want to persuade Your Majesty to withdraw the proposal, but after listening to Princess Changle's words just now, I feel really ashamed."
"Hmph, you are honest." Song Yuzhu pulled her sister to sit next to her. This time she didn't let her go to play nearby. It was time to listen to state affairs.
"I am terrified."
"Xu Xiang, what about you?"
Xu Bing said, "I feel the same way, but your Majesty's proposal to allow women to participate in the imperial examination is indeed inappropriate."
Song Yuzhu thought he was going to persuade her again, but Xu Bing suddenly changed the subject and said, "Let's not talk about whether the officials will object to this matter. The scholars in the world will be the first to jump out and accuse you."
The tongue of a scholar is like a blunt knife, and Song Yuzhu also knows the pros and cons of it.
"So what do you think we should do?"
"Your Majesty should proceed step by step and let the world accept that women can read first."
Song Yuzhu pondered over it and felt that he was indeed a bit too aggressive.
Because we wanted the ancients to accept the idea of gender equality of later generations, we ended up getting carried away.
How could a feudal society that had lasted for thousands of years change so easily? Even in later times, there were still many remote areas where boys were valued more than girls, and girls still had no opportunity to go to school.
"You're right, I was too anxious. Let's do as you say."
Qin Fengtu and Xu Bing said at the same time: "Your Majesty is wise."
Allowing women to study is the first step, which is a good start. Perhaps after subtle influence, the status of women can be improved in the next generation or several generations. Those are not things that Song Yuzhu can consider.
*
At the morning court the next day, Song Yuzhu cancelled yesterday's proposal and changed it to allow girls to go to school.
Both sides took a step back, and no one from the hundreds of officials jumped out to oppose. Just kidding, if the emperor forced them to rebel, they would be in trouble.
However, even if the imperial court issued a decree to allow women to study, not many people would implement it. After all, studying is a very expensive thing, and ordinary people simply cannot afford such a large expense.
Song Yuzhu had considered this problem a long time ago. He ordered the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds to establish experimental primary schools in several prefectures near Shangjing, and later to establish 3,000 enlightenment schools across the country.
Experimental primary school is the enlightenment school.
The imperial court funded the school and hired local students to teach, providing free education for children under the age of fourteen.
Song Yuzhu did not expect everyone to pass the imperial examinations. As long as they could recognize reading and numbers, that would be enough. Only when the people's wisdom was awakened could society develop rapidly.
The school adopts a three-year teaching system and students can enroll as young as six years old, regardless of gender.
Originally, Song Yuzhu wanted to use a six-year system, but later he thought that the time was too long, and three years would be enough for just the initial stage of education.
Three years is not full-time. After all, children are also part of the labor force. Children of seven or eight years old from farming families can do a lot of work. If they are asked to study every day without working, their family members will definitely not be happy.
So it was planned that classes would start at noon every day and end at noon, and the children could help with housework in the afternoon.
The imperial court would give the teachers in charge of teaching the courses a ninth-rank teaching position, pay them a salary of two taels of silver per month, and an additional five shi of grain at the end of the year.
After teaching for fifteen years, teachers can choose to retire. After retirement, they will still enjoy the benefit of five stone of grain every year until their death, which is equivalent to a pension.
This order instantly solved the problem of lack of teachers. Although everything is inferior except studying, one still needs to have enough food to study, right?
The first-grade enlightenment textbooks selected were Three Character Classic and Thousand Character Classic. Song Yuzhu also participated in the compilation of mathematical multiplication tables. In addition, the Imperial Academy and Hanlin Academy were responsible for the compilation of textbooks for grades two and three.
Both parties are trying their best to stand out in this regard. After all, these two academies represent the highest cultural centers of Daqi.
As a result, the textbooks they compiled are obscure and difficult to understand. They are not suitable for children at all. Even teachers can hardly understand them.
Song Yuzhu rejected it after reading it once, and asked the two academies to re-edit it, with the focus on making it understandable to the children and stimulating their interest in learning.
The Hanlin Academy was the first to catch on. The second-grade textbook, edited by Jiang Rufeng, a grand scholar of the Hanlin Academy, selected ten simple ancient poems, five lively and interesting travel notes, five educational stories, and three vernacular texts.
In order to make children love reading, Jiang Rufeng specially invited his good friend, the calligraphy and painting master Zhang Wei, to draw illustrations for the textbooks.
You should know that Zhang Wei's calligraphy and paintings were sold for three hundred taels of silver per foot. When he learned that his paintings would be printed in textbooks for children across the country to use as enlightenment, Zhang Wei refused all his invitations and spent half a month to draw the illustrations for the book and handed them to his friends.
The Hanlin Academy proofread the books, bound them into volumes and delivered them to the palace.
Soon the Imperial Academy also sent books over. As one of the editors-in-chief, Qin Fengtu actually invited the calligraphy master Huang Ming to write the inscription for the book.
The content is a little deeper than that of the second grade, but the children can also understand it. On the last page of the book, Qin Fengtu personally wrote: Compiled in the fourth year of Changzhi in the Daqi period, long live the Daqi period!
Song Yuzhu flipped through the two books with mixed feelings in her heart. They both put a lot of effort into them. These two books are beautifully made and have content. In the future, countless children will learn the knowledge in them.
Although this dynasty was backward, poor and feudal, he still wanted to use his abilities to make it better.
(End of this chapter)
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