Since the initial introduction had already taken a lot of time, Zhang Shou followed his previous preparations and started giving formal lectures.
"There are thousands of students from the Imperial College. Among them, those who serve seriously and have been promoted to Suixing Hall mostly want to take the imperial examination and gain fame. However, most of the students from the Banshan Hall do not take the imperial examination. They are different from the other six halls. But today
, Since we are in the Imperial College and this is our first history class, I will casually tell you the story of the imperial examination."
"There was a monk in the Tang Dynasty. Of course, his name was not Tang Sanzang."
Zhang Shou's first sentence was just shaking his bag out of habit, but he immediately laughed. When he heard someone shouting about Journey to the West, he realized that it was probably Emperor Taizu again.
I released Journey to the West early.
Fortunately, he had never had the extravagant desire to become a literary giant, so he just pretended not to hear the noisy voice and continued talking on his own.
"The monk was tired of it, and suddenly thought that Taoist priests were not bad, so he grew his hair and returned to secular life, and went to Mount Lu to become a Taoist priest. However, after three years of eating wind and drinking dew, he could not become an immortal. He finally realized that there was no way to become an immortal.
He was a good official. So he worked hard and prepared to take the imperial examination, and then... he passed the exam."
Hearing the uproar below, Zhang Shou said with a smile: "Do you think it's ridiculous? In fact, it's not ridiculous at all. In the Tang Dynasty, getting into the imperial examination relied on reputation. As long as you were a monk, your reputation was not great, but your poetry and songs
But if you write a good poem, if you can be appreciated by powerful people, you will certainly be selected. With a few clicks from the examiner, this person who has been involved in both monks and Taoists has been selected."
Since he was a child, his father thought he had no talent for reading. Zhang Chen couldn't help it and burst out six words: "This is sensationalism!"
Zhang Shou ignored Zhang Chen and continued: "This scholar who was born as a monk, some people even claim that his articles can be compared with Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan. Of course, most of us now only know about Han Liu and not about this monk.
. But he has served as a censor and a governor, which is considered a great achievement. Oh, this monk is called Liu Ke. If you are interested, you can check it out. "
Before Zhang Chen could interrupt again, he said with a smile: "There was a monk in the Tang Dynasty. He probably admired Master Tripitaka, so he was given the Buddhist name Zangji. He was fond of Buddhist scriptures since he was a child, so he became a monk at Daci'en Temple in Chang'an and also worked as a monk.
He became a great virtue and became famous in Guanzhong. But for such a monk, during the Guangming Rebellion, he was frightened by Huang Chao who was sent to Chang'an."
"A generation of young eminent monks, but because of the great changes in the times, he quickly returned to secular life and grew his hair, and took his elderly parents to escape the war. He stayed in hiding for more than ten years. When the chaos finally subsided, he finally realized that in troubled times,
"Being a monk who can't even take care of himself may not be a good destination, so he decided to follow the example of his senior monk Liu Ke and take the imperial examination."
Zhang Shou paused for a moment, and seeing Zhang Chen's brows raised, he said slowly: "And this former eminent monk was not as lucky as his predecessor. He met an upright examiner.
When I saw him, a famous monk from Daci'en Temple, coming to take the exam, I despised him so much that I dismissed him without even reading the paper. But Monk Zangji didn't give up. After thinking about it, he applied for Bo Xue Hong Ci again."
As soon as these words came out, there was a sudden exclamation in the Banshan Hall. Although he is a dandy, he still has common sense. Although the system of this dynasty is not often opened, there are still occasionally the Erudite Hongci Department, which is aimed at the elegant people who live in the mountains and forests.
——The famous Master Ge once won a Zhiyuan in this subject.
As for the difficulty of this subject, because Taizu did not like hermits very much, it is known as the most difficult in the world.
Zhang Shou paused for a moment and then explained: "The erudite poets in the Tang Dynasty were not as good as those in our dynasty, but the difficulty was not low either. And this Tibetan monk was elegant in his diction and thought he was sure of success. However, he was unlucky.
I bumped into the former chief examiner again, and at this time, he was already the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. There is no doubt that he was deposed again."
"However, Monk Zangji was not convinced. He went to defend himself in person and cited his senior monk Liu Ke as an example. As a result, the examiner angrily cursed. Although the Liu Ke you mentioned became a monk, he was not as good as you.
You have a great reputation. Your father was in charge of economic affairs, but you became a monk for no reason. I took the exam ten times and dismissed you ten times. Not only that, I also publicized the matter widely!"
Hearing this, Zhang Chen applauded loudly: "A monk who has returned to secular life actually wants to take the Jinshi exam. He has six impure roots and deserves to be deposed!"
However, some people raised objections, feeling that the times had changed so much that monks had to return to secular life, and that the examiner was too unkind.
The third prince, who had just murmured with his fourth brother and figured out what deposed meant, couldn't help but said nonchalantly: "I've already made people fail the exam, that's enough, why does the examiner still want to publicize it?
My father often said that you should show mercy to others, is this examiner too intolerant?"
When the emperor outside the door heard the word tolerance, he couldn't help but smile, but Zhu Ying snorted angrily: "One doesn't think carefully when he becomes a monk, and the other is too harsh and unkind. However, monks make more mistakes,
My parents are still here, why should I become a monk? Then I learned about filial piety, so why did I leave so early?"
In the half-mountain hall, Zhang Shou did not answer the third prince, but glanced at the others. He saw everyone else whispering to each other in twos and threes, but no one rushed to spoil the story. Obviously, such an outlandish story did not work.
Not many people have read it.
At that moment, he continued: "Monk Hidden Machine knows how to do tricks after all, so even if he was blocked twice, he still managed to trick him and entered the Guangwen Museum as a doctor. He has a strong memory of knowledge and good writing articles.
Several Jiedu envoys rushed to recruit him to join the shogunate, and when he finally went to Zhu Wen as an envoy for a Jiedu envoy, he was retained by Zhu Wen as Jieduzhang secretary, and later recommended to the court."
"Zhu Wen had military power at that time, and Monk Zangji was personally recommended to the court by him. Naturally, his official career prospered, and he became a member of Zhongshushe and a Hanlin bachelor."
At this point, Zhang Shou casually popularized the extremely chaotic history of the late Tang Dynasty. Seeing that many of Guijie's disciples who did not seem to read books or history were gradually curious about the follow-up, he said calmly: "Then after that
, Zhu Wen replaced the Tang Dynasty and became Taizu of Liang Dynasty, and this former Tibetan Buddhist monk first became the minister of the Ministry of Industry, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and later became the prime minister."
At this time, the third prince finally couldn't help but asked: "But where is the examiner?"
"How can someone who can't even get used to a monk taking the Jinshi exam get used to Zhu Wen in the Tang Dynasty?"
The corners of Zhang Shou's mouth dropped and he said calmly: "Of course, he couldn't stand it and couldn't say anything. Just a year before Zhu Wen took over the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Chong, the examiner who had already entered the official position as one of the three princes,
Together with Pei Shu, the Prime Minister at that time, and a hundred or so others, they were condemned to death in Baimayi, and even their bodies were thrown into the Yellow River. Monk Zangji made a great contribution in this matter."
"Damn Fu Tu!"
It was not Zhang Chen who made a fuss, but the fourth prince. The little prince, the shortest in the entire Banshan Hall, turned red with anger, raised his fists and shouted loudly: "No wonder Emperor Taizu strictly forbids Buddhist temples in the world to ordain monks on their own.
They are not allowed to have more than three hundred monks, they are not allowed to own more than a thousand acres of land, and they are not allowed to enter government offices without permission... It's simply too bad!"
The emperor in front of the door also frowned when he saw Zhu Ying, and he was clearly indignant. He didn't even have to step forward to know how delicate the expressions of Zhou Jijiu, Luo Siye, and those Guozi doctors would be.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Shou actually used the monk to tell the disciples of Guijie who could not listen to the Four Books and Five Classics about the extremely tragic White Horse Disaster in the late Tang Dynasty, and interpreted it from another angle.
"Zhu Wen replaced the Tang Dynasty. To be more precise, it was Zhu Wen who usurped the Tang Dynasty. He killed hundreds of people at Baimayi. It was brutal and brutal. But to put it bluntly, Zhu Wen had military power at that time. Even if these civil servants were acting as chariots, they could not stop them at all.
He usurped the Tang Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, and some people had no intention of resisting him. So, why did he kill so many people?"
Zhang Shou paused for a moment and said in a low voice: "Because, in one fell swoop, he wanted to eradicate in one fell swoop those high-ranking families in the past who thought they were clean and looked down on him, eliminate potential opponents in the future, and make room for those former downtrodden scholars who worked under his command.
More seats will also give them an outlet to vent their anger. And why do these people vent their anger? To a large extent, it is just for four words: the imperial examination is unfair."
"The imperial examination began in the Sui Dynasty, but rules gradually came into being, but it was in the Tang Dynasty. It is different from the county examination, government examination, college examination, rural examination, palace examination, and first-level examination in the Tang Dynasty.
Relatively formal, the selection under the examination is far less rigorous than it is now."
"Moreover, even for the Jie Examination and the Ministry of Rites Examination, when the candidates were selected, they asked everyone to give orders and their friends passed the list. It was like a chaotic dance of demons, and I don't know how many people were jealous. It is said that they are tested every year, but only ten people are admitted to the Jinshi every year.
There are just a few, leaving countless talents. And because they have to take the exam every year, I don’t know how many people dare not go home. They live in the capital year after year, begging for food from their fellow villagers, and are extremely poor."
"At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were many vassal towns. Talents that the examiners in your court looked down upon, but the vassal towns couldn't ask for. Therefore, when the vassal towns overran the central government, the Qingliu gentry who used to pride themselves on their authority naturally became the fallen gentry back then.
You are now the target of revenge by the counselors in the feudal town. Even Huang Chao, who was involved in the Guangming Rebellion, rebelled angrily because he failed despite repeated attempts."
"So, from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the present, the imperial examinations have become more and more fair, from anonymity to transcription, from one examiner setting everyone's ranking, to examiners in each room reviewing the papers, the examiners reviewing, and even searching and rejecting the papers. At least, it is common.
People finally have a way to rise. The rich and powerful also have a wake-up call."
The third and fourth princes were still young, so they understood the first meaning of the monk killing the examiner. However, most of the noble disciples, including Zhang Chen, understood that the monk used the opportunity to seek refuge because of the unfairness of the imperial examination.
Zhu Wen, who had usurped the throne, severely retaliated against the examiner and a group of Qingliu scholars. However, Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu and a few people understood the third meaning.
There are no aristocratic families in this dynasty, because when Emperor Taizu granted the title of meritorious officials, he established a permanent system in which no great achievements were made, and the titles were reduced from generation to generation. Among the meritorious officials of Ruizong, except for the three hereditary Dukes of Zhao, Chu and Qin, they were not demoted.
The rest are all in descending order. Cabinet bachelors are not allowed to be members of the same clan or clan, and fathers and sons and clan members are not allowed to avoid official appointments, and other principles.
Therefore, most of those sitting here today are the descendants of the distinguished officials of Ruizong. The descendants of civilian officials can be traced back three generations, and many of their ancestors are unknown. No matter how wealthy the family is now, if there are no outstanding descendants to inherit it, there is no need for five generations.
Maybe it will be ruined after two or three generations.
How many unlucky people like the Hidden Machine Monk are there in this world, staring at aristocratic families occupying high positions?