Chongzhen's speech in front of the martyr's cemetery was quickly spread. People from all walks of life in the capital also have mixed evaluations of this speech, and the army and the lower classes of the people in the capital are more respectful of this speech, thinking that the emperor showed his concern for ordinary people in his speech, and did not disdain the sacrifices made by ordinary people, and only cared about adding officials to the generals and scholars, which made them feel an inexplicable excitement, and many people also applied for the army military academy because of this, trying to change their future from then on.

However, the officials and scholars in the capital had some different opinions on the emperor's speech. Feng Quan and Sun Zhiqi, who were regarded as fortunate ministers around the emperor, naturally applauded the emperor's behavior, thinking that Chongzhen had the heart of a saint who sympathized with the suffering of the people.

And some officials who are not deeply involved in the world, although they disdain the behavior of officials such as Feng Quan and Sun Zhiqi, but they still nodded in agreement with their comments this time. They also believe that although they can't foresee what kind of emperor Chongzhen will be in the future, the attitude of being able to care about the lives of the people at the bottom is the basis for becoming a Ming monarch.

As for some other officials, although they could not deny the emperor's concern for the people at the bottom, they criticized the emperor's remarks for being too crude and exaggerated the role of ordinary soldiers in this war, and some belittled the role of the scholars and doctors who assisted the emperor in governing the country.

These different views began to spread to the surrounding areas from the capital, and for a while they became the focus of heated discussions among the people of the capital. However, the people of the capital did not pay attention to this matter for long, and were distracted by two new incidents.

One of these two events is that the marking of the supplementary examination for this year's general examination has ended, and the number of people who have passed the examination has reached 257, and the palace examination will be held on April 15. Among the 257 students who passed the examination, 34 were said to have come from Yenching University, which is almost half of the number of students who participated in the examination this year.

After this news came out, many scholars in the capital who went to the examination were shocked. If it weren't for the fact that the list hadn't been officially posted, someone would probably have to go to the Ministry of Rites to question the fairness of the exam.

However, it was precisely because of hearing this rumor that Zhou Yanru and Sun Yuanhua, who presided over the palace examination, were extremely cautious about this palace examination. However, their prudence was finally broken by the emperor.

After Zhou Yanru and Sun Yuanhua heard about the emperor's palace test questions, they strongly objected. Zhou Yanru said in shock: "Your Majesty, now the scholars who have failed outside have been dissatisfied with the results of this examination, and now Your Majesty has let a group of outstanding scholars appear on the talent selection ceremony as the test questions for the undergraduate palace examination, will this add fuel to the fire, so that those scholars who have failed on the list have found an opportunity to play by taking advantage of the questions?" ”

Zhou Shilang was right, and the minister also thought that this move was not very appropriate. Although His Majesty changed the way the questions were asked in the palace examination, it was also in order to change the way of selecting talents, so as to select talents who are truly useful to the country. But people outside don't know that His Majesty's intentions are good, and they will only think that His Majesty has changed the system of the imperial examination, which is a contempt for national talents. Sun Yuanhua also followed Zhou Yanru and persuaded Chongzhen.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the two of them disapprenosingly and said: "The imperial examination is indeed a national talent ceremony, but in recent decades, the outdated method and content of the imperial examination have been mostly criticized by local scholars.

These scholars all believed that the current method of the imperial examination could not select talents who could truly rule the country, but because of the fixed mode and examination content, it was easier for some mediocre talents who memorized by rote to win the favor of the examiners. The current examination rules and the way the test questions are set are also easier for the examiner to get up and down and create fraud in the field.

Why, now that I have responded to the request of these scholars and made some changes to the rules of the imperial examination, some people have heard the opposition of the people, and some people can't hold their breath and think that it is better to make the world more peaceful, so they want to restore the old rules?

Am you worrying too much now? The opponents outside of the reform of the imperial examination are only shouting a few words, and you are already scared to retreat. If this continues, what else can the imperial court do in the future? Is it that in the future, as long as a few rumors are circulated among the people, the imperial court will stop moving forward? ”

Regarding the emperor's questioning, Zhou Yanru and Sun Yuanhua glanced at each other, and they were a little speechless. These two people did not have any ability to adapt, and they opposed the emperor's adjustment of the content of the palace examination, indeed because they were worried that the outside world would react too much, and when the emperor pointed out their concerns, they had nothing to say.

Zhou Yanru was silent for a moment, and then said to the emperor in a compromise: "Actually, Your Majesty can be a little flexible, as long as the performance of advocating excellence in the palace is canceled, the minister thinks that the reaction from the outside world should not be so big."

Moreover, the minister thought that the test questions of the palace examination could be expressed in words, and did not have to be performed by advocating excellence. Why should Your Majesty provoke those outside scholars to insist on this? ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Sun Yuanhua, who nodded again and again, and couldn't help but be silent and think for a while, before continuing to speak: "You all know that the imperial examination is a ceremony to select talents for the country, but what kind of talents will be selected to meet the needs of the country?" Or what kind of talents does today's Ming need? ”

Zhou Yanru thought for a long time before reluctantly replied: "Naturally, we should select upright men and gentlemen with high character and profound knowledge, so as to meet the needs of the country to set up a talent selection ceremony." ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "A righteous gentleman with high character and profound knowledge, can he solve the problems that my Ming Dynasty is currently encountering?" Aren't there enough righteous men and gentlemen like this in my dynasty?

In the past, when everyone was in the prosperous dynasty, wasn't it the most powerful time for the old slaves to toss in the Northeast? Those righteous men and gentlemen not only did not quell the rebellion set off by the old slaves in the northeast, but provoked a rebellion in the southwest.

These righteous men and gentlemen did not play a good role in governing the country, but they fought against the same party in the court, setting off the biggest party struggle since the emperor's grandfather, so that the officials in the court of the Ming Dynasty only talked about their positions in everything they did, and did not talk about right and wrong.

Let's just say that above today's court, Mr. Qishan's bottom can be called a gentleman. However, if this gentleman is allowed to take charge of the government, how many days do you think the government and the opposition can endure it? ”

Zhou Yanru and Sun Yuanhua were silent for a while, Liu Zongzhou's knowledge and character are good, but this person is talking about Shen Du, he has done a good job of doing scholarship and cultivating his own character. But if you want him to do a few practices, I'm afraid it's harder than climbing to the sky.

As the ruling minister of the imperial court, whether one's own character is good or not is secondary, and it is important to be able to handle practical affairs well and restrain other officials from acting too inferiorly. Relying only on the idea of prudence and independence, only caring about one's feathers and not being defiled by others, then it is not a clay sculpture bodhisattva who is erected in the air by his subordinates; It is a situation in which the government and the opposition are in turmoil, and everyone is vying for power and profit.

Seeing that the two continued to remain silent, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but continue: "I have always thought so, if you want to change the status quo of the Ming Dynasty and let our country return to the upward momentum of the beginning of the country, then you need to get the support of the majority of the people in your country. It is only by relying on the strength of the majority of our citizens that we can turn the tide and put the country back on an upward trajectory.

If we assume that Daming is a truck full of heavy loads, and wants to climb the ramp up, the more people pulling the cart in front and the people pushing the cart behind the truck, the better. But there can only be one voice directing the carriage forward. If there were too many voices, the carriage would either stand still or retreat backwards.

Therefore, I thought that the reform of the Ming Dynasty needed the support of the majority of the people; But to direct the people on how to change this society, we only need a few like-minded people.

Now that both the Scientific Progressive Party and the Chinese Revolution have reached a consensus that if reform measures are not taken, various problems will arise in the Ming society, and the country will be at risk of being destroyed. Then, today's imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty is naturally to select talents who support the reform of the social evils of the Ming Dynasty.

If they even look at the imperial examination questions that are interpreted in a new way, and they feel that the sky is about to fall, then how can I expect such a group of pedantic people to govern this country well? ”

Under Chongzhen's tough statement, Zhou Yanru and Sun Yuanhua, who were not very strong in personality, finally gave in to the emperor. So in Chongzhen's three-year palace examination, more than 200 new science and technology scholars sat on the solemn Jianji Hall and watched several servants perform a short play in front of them.

When many scholars watched the servants appear, they immediately felt dissatisfied in their hearts, but when they subconsciously looked at the emperor sitting under the plaque of the emperor's building, they found that Chongzhen was sitting upright, and there was no contemptuous look on his face, which made them endure it and turned their eyes back to the performers in the palace.

This short play is not performed for a long time, but it tells a small story about a father and son going out into the city. The father and son go out, the son rides a donkey, and people slander him; The father rides on a donkey, and the man slanders him; Father and son are the same donkey, and everyone slanders them; had no choice but to carry the donkey back as father and son. Since this skit is used as a test question for the temple examination, all witty words are removed from the skit, and the content is only expressed in concise movements.

After reading this, these new science and technology scholars finally eliminated a lot of resentment in their hearts, and reluctantly admitted that this was a test question given to them by the emperor. But when they accepted the skit as an exam question, most people were a little at a loss, because this simple skit looked like a fable, but they didn't know where it came from.

I don't know the origin of the story, how can I get them to solve the problem and inherit the problem? Among the Four Books and Five Classics, it seems that it is difficult to find similar subtle words.

Zhu Youzhen picked up the small hammer in his hand and knocked on the small gong beside him, so that the scholars in the hall turned their eyes over, and then he spoke: "This fable is not from our country, but from "Aesop's Fables", the full name is "The Collection of Esopian Stories", which is said to have been written by a philosopher in ancient Greece.

The reason why I want to use this fable as the test question for today's temple examination is because I know that if you can sit in the Jianji Palace, it means that you are at least familiar with the classics of the saints.

But having memorized the scriptures of the saints does not mean that you have truly understood the thoughts of the saints. The country's selection of talents is to take talents who understand the thoughts of the saints to govern the country; It's not a two-legged bookcase that memorizes a few classics, and fills up the number in the court.

So today I have come up with a parable that is not found in the scriptures, and I would like you to explain what you see in it. In today's temple test, I have no restrictions on the genre you use, except for poetry.

In addition, if a sage's words appear in the article, one point will be deducted. The total score is 100 points, and each of the eight graders today can score 0-10 points for each paper, and I score the remaining 20 points, and the one with the highest score is the top student in this subject..."