The disasters in various places had not yet subsided, and the Nanjing Baoquan Bureau had not yet begun to mint money. Wang Yuan suddenly received a new task.
The prince Zhu Zaiyu, who had just turned four years old, was about to leave the court to study. Wang Yuan gave a lecture on "Shang Shu". Not only that, the emperor also ordered the seven-and-a-half-year-old Wang Ce and the three-and-a-half-year-old Wang Su to go to the Wenhua Hall to accompany the prince.
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In the Ming Dynasty, the prince usually left the court to study between the ages of eight and fifteen. The specific age of study depended on the emperor's wishes.
For example, Zhu Biao left the cabinet at the age of six; another example is Zhu Qizhen, who left the cabinet at the age of two.
The age at which Zhu Houzhao left the imperial court was the most standard. This was because Emperor Hongzhi abided by etiquette and arranged for his son to study as soon as he reached eight years old.
Emperor Jiajing was more superstitious and believed that the two dragons could not meet each other, so he delayed establishing a prince. He thought of a workaround, sending his son to study in the palace and training him according to the treatment of the prince. From then on, the Ming Dynasty had princes studying in the palace.
, that is, the unspoken rule of recognizing the identity of the prince.
Wanli wanted to abolish the eldest son and establish a younger son, so the civil servants relied on this rule and proposed that the eldest son of the emperor should go out to study in the palace, thereby establishing the crown prince in disguise. However, such a delay resulted in Zhu Changluo not leaving the cabinet until he was thirteen years old, and he started school very, very late.
Zhu Changluo's son was even worse. Because of the harem dispute, Zhu Youxiao left the court to study at the age of seventeen.
In the Ming Dynasty, the princes started studying later and later, and Jiajing should be blamed for it. It was Jiajing's superstitious ideas that linked the establishment of a prince with the prince's resignation. As a result, when the candidate for the prince was undecided, the emperor and officials did not allow the prince to formally study.
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Only princes who leave the court to study will be educated by ministers. Before leaving the court, they are educated by concubines and eunuchs.
Most of the emperors in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were educated by their concubines and eunuchs. When the ministers took over, they had already missed the best age for school entry.
Zhu Houzhao only had one son, and he was very anxious to educate his descendants, so he let the prince leave the court at the age of four, becoming the second oldest prince to leave the court in the Ming Dynasty.
October 8th.
Wang Yuan took his two sons to the Wenhua Palace together.
From the late Zhu Yuanzhang period to the Zhengde period, the prince's study place was all in the back hall of Wenhua Palace. Therefore, the status of Wenhua Palace bachelors among cabinet ministers was extremely sensitive, and they often seemed to be entrusting ministers to help them. Generally, they would not act casually.
Give the cabinet minister this title.
Two years ago, Zhu Houzhao wanted Wang Yuan to be a bachelor of Wenhua Palace. As soon as he said it, he shocked the ministers.
What is Wenhua Palace?
To put it more simply, it is the Royal Library of the Ming Dynasty. The literal meaning of the bachelor of Wenhuadian is the director of the Royal Library.
Wang Yuan took his two sons to the back hall, where the East Class Attendant was still seated.
The prince's attendants, that is, the accompanying officials, are divided into the east class and the west class. The east class accompanies the prince to read the "Four Books", and the west class accompanies the prince to read classics and history. This is really called "accompanying the prince to study".
Wang Yuan's two sons were recruited to be the crown prince's companions, but it was the emperor who was fooling around because there was no such thing as a crown prince's companions in the Ming Dynasty.
"Wang Shilang!"
Cui Xian, the leader of the East Class of the Attendants, led all the Attendants to stand up and greet him.
Wang Yuan cupped his hands and returned the greeting: "Cui Shidu!"
Both the lecturer and the reading officer were selected by Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Houzhao knew that he was ridiculous, but the teachers he found for his son were more serious than the others.
Take Cui Xian in front of him, for example, he had made the emperor unhappy many times. If Wang Yuan hadn't flapped his butterfly wings and the emperor was not in Beijing at that time, Cui Xian would have been forced to resign by Quan Huan.
Cui Xian belonged to the reformist faction in the Qing Dynasty. He had a bad relationship with the emperor's close officials, but he was also at odds with Yang Tinghe. At the same time, he had no good feelings toward Wang Yuan. His enthusiasm for reform was stronger than that of Yang Tinghe, but much weaker than that of Wang Yuan. You
It can be understood as a young version of Yang Yiqing and others.
The most sensational thing this man ever did was that he offended Liu Jin and was thrown to Nanjing. At that time, he was just the head of the small seal inspection department, but he dared to inspect the grain warehouses in Nanzhili and uncover the scandals in the grain warehouses in Susong and other places.
The Minister of Civil Service at that time was alarmed and personally wrote to Cui Mian to stop, but Cui Mian investigated and dealt with all those responsible. The Nanjing officials were frightened, and the powerful officials in Beijing were also worried, so they quickly transferred Cui Mian back to the central government.
Throw it to the History Museum of the Hanlin Academy for compilation of history.
To put it simply, Cui Xian couldn't get rid of the dirt in his eyes, and he would talk about things he didn't like. Historically, this guy had three rises and three falls. He lost his official position once in the Zhengde Dynasty and twice in the Jiajing Dynasty. They all had such a arrogant character.
Just for making trouble.
It can be said that Zhu Houzhao made this kind of person the leader of the Dongban who serves as the prince's aide, which is very thoughtful. Well, he himself is not a good emperor, but he wants to train his son to be a good emperor.
European clocks have been transformed and have hour and minute hands, but there is no second hand yet. Now there is one in the classroom.
The hour hand pointed to eight o'clock, and Prince Zhu Zaiyi appeared.
Cui Mian led a group of court officials to kowtow to the prince. As the chief speaker, Wang Yuan only had to bow to the prince, and the prince had to return the bow.
Zhu Zaiyi was four years and three months old at this time, and he was born with a beautiful face. Although he was polite and polite, his eyes were wandering around, and he was obviously a child with an out-of-touch personality.
The accompanying eunuch opened the "Book of Secrets". Cui Xian, on behalf of the reading officer, stepped forward and recited the "Book of Secrets". He recited it ten times in a row, which impressed the prince a little. Then he returned to the reading class and handed the class over to the lecturer Wang.
deep.
Wang Yuan did not start the lecture immediately, but asked: "How many words does the prince know?"
Zhu Zaiyi replied: "My mother taught me how to read last year, and I can already recite the Three Character Classic, but I still can't write some rare characters."
Wang Yuan asked again: "Do other keynote speakers directly lecture on the Four Books?"
Zhu Zaiyi replied: "Master Yang (Yang Tinghe), Master Jin (Jin Gui) and Master Jiang (Jiang Mian) all asked me to learn "The Thousand Character Classic" first, but did not ask me to learn the Four Books."
Yes, the prince's lecturer has become a monk.
The Ming Dynasty stipulated that the prince should leave the court to study at the age of eight, in order to allow the harem to complete the enlightenment education. The ministers directly taught the prince the Four Books and Five Classics.
But Zhu Houzhao was too impatient, so the lecturers could only start with kindergarten readings.
Wang Yuan asked again: "Where did the two teachers talk about "The Thousand Character Essay"?"
Zhu Zaiyi replied: "The dragon master, the fire emperor, the bird official, the human emperor. He first made characters and wore clothes."
"Then let's continue talking," Wang Yuan said to Cui Xian. "Cui Xian is busy reading. He only needs to read eight sentences."
Cui Xian stepped forward and recited again, ten times in a row, and then returned to the train.
Wang Ce sat next to him and yawned profusely. This kid had already memorized the "Thousand-Character Classic". Wang Suze looked confused. He was only three and a half years old and had not even finished reciting the "Three-Character Classic".
They are all of different ages, but the prince reading with me and the prince playing with me are pretty much the same.
Wang Yuan said to his son: "Cer, please tell me what it means to give up the throne and give up the country, and there will be Yu, Tao and Tang."
Wang Ce immediately replied: "Tang Yao and Yu Shun were both wise kings, so they took the initiative to give up their positions as emperors to meritorious officials?"
Zhu Zaiyi said in confusion: "My father said that when I grow up, I will be the emperor. Then I should also be a wise king and give up the throne to meritorious officials and wise men? What is a meritorious official and what is a wise man?"
The expressions of Cui Xian and other attendants changed slightly. This question was not easy to answer, and answering it carelessly might harm the prince.
However, Wang Yuan was very satisfied. This prince was not a fool. He knew how to ask questions at a young age and his thinking was very clear.
Wang Yuan did not answer directly, but asked: "Is the prince still breastfeeding?"
Zhu Zaiyi shook his head and said: "I stopped breastfeeding when I was three years old."
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "The prince is fed milk when he is three years old and eats when he is four years old. This shows that the prince is growing up. The same is true for the emperor and the country. Yao and Shun had to give up the throne, but our Ming Dynasty does not need to give up the throne."
"Why?" It was Wang Ce who asked the question this time.
Wang Yuan explained: "Because at the time of Yao and Shun, the country was not as big as it is now, the food grown was not as much as it is now, and the army was not as powerful as it is now. At that time, there were many enemies around the country, and there were also many wild beasts inside the country. At that time,
The emperor must be elected by his subjects to be the most capable person. The emperor must lead his subjects to grow food, lead his subjects to defeat wild beasts, and lead his subjects to conquer enemies."
"Oh," Wang Ce asked again, "What about now?"
Wang Yuan replied: "The country is too big now, and the emperor's responsibility is to manage the country. If the emperor still abdicates, the country will be in chaos, which will make the people's lives difficult."
Wang Ce asked again: "Why is the country in chaos?"
Wang Yuan was not annoyed by his son's curiosity and explained: "I heard from the chamberlain that Su'er snatched toys from the prince yesterday. Is this the case?"
Wang Su muttered: "That's my toy, and the prince insists on snatching it away."
Zhu Zaijun said angrily: "I'm just going to borrow it to play with for a while. You are too stingy."
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "This throne is just like a toy. If the toy is not fun and has to be carefully cleaned and kept every day, then no children will snatch it. The throne of Yao and Shun at that time was just a toy that was not fun. The current throne is not a fun toy.
It’s very fun, and naturally there are many children coming to grab it.”
The three children understood the truth instantly, but Cui Xian's group of attendants had strange expressions.
Zhu Zaiyi asked: "Then I don't have to give up the position of emperor to others in the future?"
Wang Yuan replied: "No need."
"Oh." Zhu Zaiyi didn't feel anything about this.
The prince only needs to study in the morning every day and can have fun in the afternoon. Wang Ce and Wang Su also went to play.
In the evening, Zhu Houzhao and the imperial concubine called the prince over: "Xun'er, all four teachers have given lectures, which one do you like best?"
Zhu Zaiyi said: "I like Mr. Wang."
Zhu Houzhao laughed: "My son is similar to me, and my father also likes Mr. Wang the most."
The imperial concubine asked: "Why do you like Mr. Wang?"
Zhu Zaiyi said: "I can understand Mr. Wang's lectures. When other teachers lecture, I can't understand them half-heartedly. When I ask them, they won't explain clearly. They just ask me to remember the big principles."
Zhu Houzhao was very satisfied: "It seems that Erlang is as good at being a teacher as he is at fighting. Before learning the Five Classics, let Erlang teach alone, and the other three can take the title of teacher."