Chapter 8 King Sejong Chapter 11 The University of Political Science and Law
Chapter 2136 Sejong Chapter 11 Political and Legal University
In the autumn of July of the first year of Jianlong (1018), Luan Jia personally visited the first comprehensive political and law university in the empire and delivered a speech to the teachers and students of the school to offer advice and encouragement. The full name of the university is Dahan University of Political Science and Law.
Loujiang College, located in Kunshan, Suzhou, was a foundation and a treasure trove of talents in the early "Linzi King Group". Over the past ten years since its establishment, the school has also provided Jiangnan and Liu Wenji with a large number of official talents, and
After so many years of development and practice, the earliest batch has been promoted to imperial officials, and the one with the highest official position has reached the important position of chief official of a county.
Not just ordinary officials, but top talents like Fan Zhongyan are a complete surprise, and they also come as a gift to his brother Fan Zhongwen. And after so many years of practice, it has been initially proved that the path of specialist officials can be achieved.
If it works, it has even taken a solid step.
Of course, there are still sufficient prerequisites. First, there must be strong enough support from those in power. Second, there must be open educational ideas. Third, there must be enough high-quality students.
These conditions were barely met by the Han Empire in the first year of Jianlong. In the past few decades, thanks to the strength of the empire, continuous military victories, rapid economic development, and continuous progress in productivity have naturally led to the empire's ideological thinking.
With the development and evolution of the world, various ideological trends have emerged, including the secular school, the Xikun school, the reform school, the conservative school, and various local schools. It can be said that there are endless changes in the social atmosphere, and the concept of education is also constantly evolving.
During the reign of Emperor Shizu, there was actually a lot of suppression of literati and ministers, but after entering the reign of Emperor Taizong, culture, thought, education, etc. were gradually relaxed. It was also from Yongxi that the land of China once again ushered in a bright and prosperous period.
A prosperous cultural era.
Including during the Kangzong period, due to the emperor's neglect, the official administration changed from clean to rough, which aroused many ideological resonances in society. The past twenty years have also given various academicians and educators opportunities to come to the fore.
Of course, in the imperial era of autocratic monarchy, the emperor's attitude played a vital role in everything. For example, today's emperor Liu Wenji attaches great importance to ideological education and supports the official school.
When he was still the king of Linzi, Liu Wenji established Loujiang Academy as an experiment and a practice. But after he ascended the throne and firmly established himself on the throne, he began to formally apply and promote the results obtained from more than ten years of exploration, practice, and demonstration.
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As early as the beginning of the third year of Duan Gong, Liu Wenji issued an edict to upgrade Loujiang College to a Taoist-level administrative school, which was placed under the direct jurisdiction of Jiangnan Chief Secretary and managed by academic officials, completing the transition from a semi-official school to an official school.
evolution.
If we say that students who graduated from Loujiang College were mostly supplied to Su, Xiu and Shang three places before, then starting from the third year of Yongxi reign, they will be supplying administrative talents to the entire Jiangnan Province. This is a leap forward and even subversive.
The change.
Even though it is just a school that mainly trains junior college officials, the powerful people in Jiangnan Province have really smelled the unusual atmosphere, which is almost a prelude to a major change.
For local dignitaries and bureaucrats, when the court wants to downsize its personnel and eliminate redundant officials, no matter how loud the noise, there are ways to deal with it. They have the means and time to deal with the central government.
From the time when Shizu Kaibao was established, to the entire Yongxi era, even Emperor Kangzong had shouted the slogan of abolishing mediocre officials and redundant officials. But in fact, even after Liu Wenji ascended the throne as emperor, the problem of redundant officials and redundant officials was still not a big deal.
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In the past twenty or thirty years, certain results have been achieved, but they have only treated the symptoms rather than the root cause. Even as early as the Kaibao period, Shizu issued an edict to regulate the number of officials and their corresponding salaries in government agencies at all levels in prefectures, prefectures, military counties, towns, and townships across the country.
A comprehensive set of regulations and restrictions.
But there are often policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. The people have hidden households, the land has hidden fields, the officials have hidden officials, and the officials naturally have hidden officials. The establishment is limited, and there are temporary workers outside the establishment.
In an era of restricted information, transportation, and limited regulatory capabilities, many problems can only be alleviated but not cured. They can only fall into a cycle of conflict outbreaks, improvement, suppression, and outbreaks again.
And just from the perspective of "official affairs" affairs, the emperor's establishment of such an official school system has a somewhat touching meaning. The reason why local dignitaries are powerful lies in the privileges and treatment given to them by the imperial system. Fundamentally,
The problem cannot be solved by directly digging up the root causes, so the reform of staff supply combined with administrative supervision became the solution that Liu Wenji figured out.
To be honest, this is still an improvement, and some of the ideas must have come from Emperor Shizu. However, if this matter is implemented, it will be beneficial to strengthening the authority of the imperial center, controlling redundancy and local supervision, and improving the quality and ability of the imperial officials.
It is of great positive significance.
In Liu Wenji's conception, there is a further plan to clean up the officials, that is, to completely prohibit all levels of government offices from privately appointing officials. Even if this power cannot be confiscated to the central government, it must be de-established and institutionalized.
.The final form will be that one day in the future, officials at all levels in the Han Dynasty will be selected from students who have been trained and studied in the official school, rather than purely based on the likes and dislikes of bureaucrats at all levels.
To do something is obviously not that easy. It requires more accumulation, more practice, a better system, broader awareness, more support, and more authority.
Moreover, even if Liu Wenji's idea is really promoted and finally implemented, some new problems will inevitably arise in the process, and no one knows what the final result will be.
However, although the purpose of doing things is to succeed, it is of great significance to make certain progress in the process of chasing success. And with Liu Wenji's character of being soft on the outside and strong on the inside, it is impossible to achieve success before hitting the wall.
He was considering turning back, and at the same time, with his always cautious style, it was difficult for him to get into trouble.
In the summer of the third year of Duan Gong, as the Chief Secretary of Jiangnan Province completed the "incorporation" of Loujiang College, the emperor issued another edict, asking Wang Xuexin, the dean of Loujiang College, to select elite professors to come to Beijing and officially start the establishment of a direct-administered college.
The official school in the center.
When it comes to the Gyeonggi level, naturally we can no longer make small fuss with Loujiang College. We have to raise our qualifications and levels. At the same time, we are no longer simply cultivating "official" talents, but truly cultivating officials.
A comprehensive school that pursues elite education.
For this reason, Liu Wenji even issued an edict to integrate the Imperial College into the university hall, which shows its high standards. Regardless of whether successive emperors attached great importance to it, the Imperial College was the highest institution of learning in the Han Empire, and it was also the unlimited aspiration of civil servants and bureaucrats, and scholars all over the world.
A place whose status is sacred.
Therefore, when the emperor wanted to carry out the "university" reform of the Imperial College, it caused a huge controversy between the government and the opposition. It was so loud that conservatives from all walks of life jumped out. There were various opinions, ranging from firm opposition to conservative controversy.
, for a time, Beijing was filled with criticism.
The emperor was obviously not easy to mess with, so some people paid attention to knocking down Wang Xuexin and other officials who were organizing the establishment of the university. All kinds of criticism and accusations rained down on the professor, saying that he was deviant, flattering, and holding his head high.
Mr. Wang, who had entered the capital with great ambitions, was infamous. If the emperor had not been behind him and sent people to care for him from time to time, he would have given up his career a long time ago amid the huge whirlpool of public opinion.
Although the voice of opposition was loud, to be fair, its influence on the central decision-making of the empire was limited after all. The emperor strongly promoted it, the nobles sat back and watched, and the group of Jianlong prime ministers selected by Liu Wenji, even though
Although he had objections, he did not challenge the emperor on this matter.
Outside the highest decision-making circles of the empire, there are still the same group of people who choose to support the establishment of the university hall, and all of them have equally good combat effectiveness. The role of words is not to win or not, but to avoid one-sided public opinion and make it easier to fish in troubled waters.
The value also lies in allowing those in power to achieve their ultimate goals.
Liu Wenji's goal was naturally realized in the end. The University of Political Science and Law was finally established in a methodical state with constant criticism. In the later period, many people could only hold their noses and join in because they had no choice but to join in.
We cannot let the highest academic institution in the empire really fall into the hands of a "heretic" like Wang Xuexin. In order to maintain orthodoxy, we have to endure the humiliation and bear the burden of temporarily cooperating with "Xie Mei".
At this point, Wang Xuexin alone was no longer enough to control the university. Even if Liu Wenji gave him the title of Minister of Rites, he could only become one of the vice presidents.
As for the first president of the University Hall, his standards were also raised to a very high level. He was Prime Minister Zhang Shixun. The doctors, professors and other teachers in the school were all non-human beings. Bachelors from the Three Halls, great Confucians from Beijing, and local academics all gathered together.
, and more importantly, the high-ranking officials and ministers in the imperial ministries and yamen who are familiar with state affairs and are well versed in government affairs are also required to teach in the school regularly. The local feudal officials who hold the above-mentioned positions, who have outstanding political achievements and make good achievements, are also ordinary
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As for the teachers of the "Loujiang School" who followed Wang Xuexin to Beijing, they could only stay low and small in the capital. However, as Wang Xuexin practiced and planned in the early years, and participated in the general affairs management of the university in the later period, he
His name has also been directly imprinted in the history of the University Hall, and even the educational history of the entire Han Empire. Such a reputation is a sufficient reward for Mr. Wang.
With the strength of the teaching staff, the students will naturally not be ordinary. To put it simply, people with no status or background will never be able to enter the university unless you are a genius and know it from birth, or you are lucky.
In this way, the establishment of the University of Political Science and Law is a great progress and change in the imperial talent training mechanism, even though in essence it is just a place to train the elites of the imperial ruling class and is basically insulated from the common people.
There is no doubt that the Han University of Political Science and Law was destined to be the cradle of imperial bureaucracy from the day it was born.
PS: While Jiangnan Province was ordered to bring Loujiang College under the administration of the Chief Secretary, a similar operation was also done in Yanshan South Province in the north, except that the objects of the integration were the "Zhao Family" established by the Guangyang Marquis Mansion.
In the past few years, more than 200 students have been trained by the Zhao family. After graduation, relying on the influence of the Zhao family, they were placed in some government offices in Yannan and Hebei.
Regarding this situation, Liu Wenji, as the emperor, was of course unable to allow it to exist again after he became aware of it. However, even if it was incorporated, the Zhao family's influence in the Youzhou Political College and even in the officialdom of the entire Yanzhao region was still very high.
It has been preserved to a large extent and even more profoundly. As Zhao Kuangyi said during his lifetime, those who prosper their family must learn from the family, and the foundation of a hundred years
After the situation about the "Zhao family education" spread among the upper echelons of Beijing, many people really reacted. Zhao Dechong, who presided over the "Zhao family education", was not taken seriously by others. What made people sigh was Zhao Kuangyi's scheming. Of course,
Some people also call him a cunning old man.
But that's it. Even if you want to follow suit, you have no chance. The court has not allowed it. Especially those with noble backgrounds, after all, they are easily attacked with ulterior motives.