After dealing with the affairs left by Wen Zhenmeng, he began to inspect the education system of six prefectures and one city in the south of the Yangtze River in February of the 11th year of Chongzhen.

It is said that it is six provinces and one city in the south of the Yangtze River, but in fact, it is mainly around the Taihu Lake area. Since the Wuhu Rebellion, the well-dressed tribes of the Central Plains crossed the river to take refuge, and the land of Wuyue began to become the most economically and culturally developed region in China.

The reason for such changes is that the favorable natural conditions of the Taihu Plain are one of them, and the reading atmosphere brought by the well-dressed people of the Central Plains is the second. Although since the Song Dynasty, it has become the consensus of Chinese society that everything is inferior and only high in reading, but this atmosphere of respecting scholars is not all respect for knowledge, but regards scholars as reserve candidates for officials.

However, the social atmosphere in the Taihu Lake area is slightly different, although the people here also have this kind of utilitarianism, but they still have some different views on the matter of reading, even if they are not officials, it is good to read some books to cultivate their temperament and broaden their knowledge.

This culture of advocating education has made the literacy rate in this region much higher than in other parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the people's open-mindedness has also exceeded that of other regions.

Whether reading can be rational may be two words, but it is probably not wrong that reading can open up people's wisdom. The cultural heritage of the Taihu Lake region is admired even by Wang Chaopin. Even when he walked through the streets and alleys, he could occasionally hear a few insightful words from the ordinary people in the market.

Although today, the name of the land of fish and rice has gradually shifted from the Taihu Lake area to Huguang Province, but this kind of reading atmosphere in the south of the Yangtze River can not be introduced to the Huguang area at a moment.

The reform policy that began in the first year of Chongzhen, the only thing that the gentry and people in Jiangnan did not object to was about the reform of education. Although there were already a large number of private schools and seowon in the Gangnam area, the people here were not resistant to adding another kind of school education for the common people.

In contrast, the inland gentry were opposed to a school education that was not based on scripture. Circumnavigating around Taihu Lake, Wang Chaopin vaguely understood why the emperor wanted to incorporate these private schools and academies into the school system. Private schools have almost all become places for frustrated bureaucrats and literati to vent their grievances.

If this kind of indulgence continues, the scholars cultivated by these academies will become the most staunch backbone of the opposition to reform, which is obviously not conducive to the future of the Ming Dynasty.

However, although Wang Chaopin is reluctant to fight with others, he also knows that these Jiangnan Academies are in the same spirit, and they will affect the whole body. Carrying out reform from Jiangnan Academy is obviously a mistake for Meng Lang. As a child of Xianghu, he naturally thought that it was better to start the change from his hometown.

With the support of the children of Xianghu, the process of college reform has been much smoother. And after having a few examples, it can be implemented in other regions, which can also dispel the concerns of many intermediaries.

After determining that it would be difficult to shake the academy supported by the Jiangnan gentry on his own, Wang Dynasty went to Huguang in June and inspected the Yuelu Academy in Changsha in July. Standing in front of this academy built in the eighth year of the Northern Song Dynasty Xiangfu, looking at the masters of the academy who had a lot of friendship with him, Wang Chaopin finally understood why the emperor asked him to start reforming from this academy first.

In July, Changsha is the hot season, but the academy, located on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, is located at the foot of the mountain in the east of Yuelu Mountain, because it is in the midst of a lush forest, and the breeze blowing from the Xiangjiang River through the forest brings a lot of heat to this place. Therefore, Wang Chaopin walked on the forest avenue in front of the academy, but he did not feel much heat.

Looking at the gate of Yuelu Academy in front of him for a long time, Wang Chaoping suddenly smiled and said to the teachers and students of the academy who came to greet him: "Before I left Beijing and went south, His Majesty once gave me a pair. I'm ashamed to say that there have been so many mundane things this year, and I haven't been able to come up with any good pairs.

When I came to the academy today, I remembered this couplet, so I thought it would be better to let you Xiaoxiang children help me think about it, I don't know if you are interested? ”

The young scholars of the academy immediately became very interested, and they asked this old-timer for advice, wanting to know what kind of Shanglian the emperor had produced.

Wang Chaoping, who was standing on the stone steps, turned around, smiled at the teachers and students of the academy and quieted everyone down, before clearing his throat and saying, "Your Majesty's Shanglian is only four words, but Chu is talented. ”

The students of the academy under the stone steps suddenly whispered, for the people of Hunan, this sentence can be said to be of far-reaching significance. And this sentence is from "Zuo Chuan: The Twenty-sixth Year of Xianggong", so everyone did not dare to speak out easily, so as not to live up to the emperor's expectations.

Some students who are not well-educated still don't know the origin of these four words, so they can't help but ask their classmates everywhere, so some people quietly explain the origin of these four words for their classmates.

“… Jin Qing is not as good as Chu, and his doctor is virtuous, and he is also talented. Such as wolfberry, leather, from Chu to also. Although Chu has materials, Jin is practical. If you want to match this connection, the best nature must also be found from the scriptures, but I think it is extremely difficult to think of it in a short period of time..."

At this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "Yes, Yu Si is sheng." ”

The students of the academy who were still discussing in a whisper just now suddenly fell silent, and soon some of the top students of the academy clapped their hands and exclaimed: "Good one: Yu Si is sheng." The upper link is taken from the "Zuo Chuan", and the lower link is from the "Analects", and the content is... Hehe, which brother is so talented? ”

In the applause of the students below, Wang Chaopin has found the scholar who has just come out of Shanglian, who is his second son Wang Shenzhi, who is studying in the academy. Seeing that he couldn't help shouting just now, but now he was trying to hide in the crowd to hide his second son, Wang Chaoping couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.

Just as someone in the crowd just talked about, only Chu is talented, and Yu Si is prosperous. It is indeed against neatness. But the current Yuelu Academy is really not worthy of these eight words, Yuelu Academy has been going downhill since Wanli, and academically it has also become the foil of Southeast Academy, which is in stark contrast to the peak of talent when Wang Yangming lectured here.

Now that this couplet is spreading, it is estimated that it will only be laughed at by those Jiangnan scholars. Wang Chaopin naturally wouldn't turn this couplet into the laughing stock of Yuelu Academy, and it was impossible for his son to jump into this fire pit, so he quickly said: "That's right, Changsha is the hometown of Chu, and Chu has always had many talents, Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu, Fan Li, Li Si... Zhang Jiangling and others, isn't that my Chu person?

Now is the time when the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is working hard to make the country prosperous, spit out the old and accept the new, and it is also the time for the Ming Dynasty to open up the four seas and look forward to the world. In such an era, it is an opportunity for you young people to work hard and show your talents.

Chu Cai has been in the world for a long time, Chu Dilong is Pengfen, how can it be counted. The only academic system is missing, and it can't be met in the clouds, but what? We Chu people should break down the barriers for the children of the next generation, so that the Chu talents can come out from generation to generation, so as not to live up to Your Majesty's expectations..."

With the dynasty hiring such a senior of the academy as a representative, the Hunan gentry naturally would not refuse the emperor's kindness. In the past, when it was called Huguang Province, the essence of Huguang was mainly near the Yangtze River, that is, the Hubei gentry were more powerful in the province. Compared with the Jiangnan gentry, the Huguang gentry occupied a subordinate position.

Now that they have the opportunity to revitalize Yuelu Academy and let Hunan's education be supported by the resources of the imperial court, they naturally immediately changed their position, and most of them have become supporters of the imperial court's educational reform. In the autumn of the eleventh year, Yuelu Academy hung two signs, Hunan Higher Normal School and Hunan University.

With the restructuring of the academy, Shixue, which was already more popular among students in Yuelu Academy, immediately overwhelmed other academics and became the mainstream academic of Hunan University. The Huxiang School, which focuses on the application of the world, once again innovated itself, and Tongcheng Zhu Lixue completely parted ways.

Although there are still many differences between the Huxiang school and the Xinxue that is popular in Beijing, this school of thought, which is rooted in traditional Chinese Confucianism, is the most willing to absorb the scientific theories put forward by Xinxue and thus strengthen its own Neo-Confucianism. It is not the same as the conservative and conservative theorists.

In contrast to the traditional doctrines, the new learning, which grew up from within Confucianism, was disgusted by the theorists, but it was more easily accepted by the younger scholars. It is obviously unacceptable for these young scholars to have read the scriptures for more than ten years, and now let them completely abandon them and study new learning.

On the contrary, it is the practical learning that advocates the application of the world, and it can also make their past efforts not in vain. Therefore, after the establishment of Hunan University, Shixue quickly spread to the Lianghu region. Gyeonggi's Shinhak, the Shihak of Liangho, is attacking traditional Confucianism from both inside and outside, disintegrating the power of Confucianism over society that has been stable for more than 2,000 years.

This kind of ideological innovation is also dismantling the privileges of the gentry and landlords in front of the lower classes. It laid the ideological foundation for the imperial court to promote further social changes.

The undercurrent surging in the domestic ideological circles is unaware to many people. Especially Mu Tianbo, who followed the prince of Fu to visit North Korea and Japan, is even more worried about his marriage at the moment.

As the prince of the Qianguo Mansion in Yongzhen Yunnan, Mu Tianbo's greatest hope is to return to his fiefdom when he becomes an adult and inherit all the authority of the Qianguo Mansion. In Yunnan, he is the emperor of the soil who does whatever he wants, but in the capital, there are too many vassal ministers who press on his head.

However, with the help of Mu Qiyuan's unknown cause of death, the emperor who moved the Qianguo Mansion to Beijing did not plan to let the prince of the Qianguo Mansion go back to Yunnan again. Even interfered in his marriage, which made Mu Tianbo quite dissatisfied, but he didn't dare to complain in front of the emperor.

Unlike his father, who grew up in Yunnan in an environment where he did whatever he wanted, Mu Tianbo was severely disciplined in the capital. At the age of twelve, he was thrown by Chongzhen into the Naval Officer Academy to board and study, and under the strict orders of the emperor, this school, which enrolled a large number of noble children, completely ignored the identity of these noble children and gave them quite a harsh lesson.

With Mu Tianbo's identity, even if he graduated from the Naval Officer Academy, he didn't have to consider serving in the Navy, after all, he still had a large fief to inherit. But with the emperor's measures in Yunnan, he realized that there was little hope for this fiefdom.

Mu Tianbo is also an elite who received seven or eight years of education in the naval officer academy, when he set foot on Japanese soil and heard about the blind date order conveyed to him by the prince of Fuwang. He realized that if he didn't plan to join the navy, he would probably be dumped by the emperor and become a little white face in Japan. Well, the biggest advantage of studying in a military academy is that it allows the children of Xungui to learn a lot of stories in the market.

While he was still thinking about whether to be a white-faced strong man in Japan, or to go to the Navy to accept an appointment and join the stinking sailors. The Japanese female emperor came to greet him in the costume of a court official and quickly made a decision for him.

Even sailors who exude a foul smell are better than these so-called ** who have shaved their eyebrows and blackened their teeth. Walking behind these female officials, looking at the long and dim corridor, Mu Tianbo always had the urge to run back.