Outside the hall, the students buried their heads in the test papers and answered the questions attentively. In the hall, Guangxu drank tea leisurely and watched the folds. Ignoring the anxious eyes of all around.

"Your Majesty, now the students outside the palace are answering questions. I don't know if the emperor's test questions have been selected? Li Hongzhang finally couldn't stand this quiet hall, and asked first.

"Don't worry, I've already thought about it, and I'll wait for them to finish answering these three papers. When the time comes, my question will come out. ”

Li Hongzhang saw that the emperor was confident, so he was relieved to retreat and sit back in his seat. Although it is in the main hall this time, it is not for the court, so there is no need to observe the court. Everyone was given at least one chair.

Someone started well, and Weng Tongyi then went out to play: "Your Majesty, it's better to inform the ministers of the test questions first, and let the ministers taste it first." ”

"Master Weng is worried that I am biased towards new learning, so I have to ask in advance. If all my questions are arithmetic and engineering, then the Gongsheng of Chunfu will not be wiped out. Master Weng didn't even feel at ease with me, and said.

"No matter whether you learn from the new or the old, what you have learned will eventually be used by the emperor. The emperor is the lord of the world, so naturally he will not be thin. Only now the new learning of foreigners is fierce, and the emperor's new policy is also to encourage industry and commerce, and the focus is also on new learning. There is even more in the court: the imperial examination will not be abolished for a day, and the school will never have any hope of prosperity. Weichen can only think with the heart of a villain. ”

Some people were not happy to hear Weng Tongyi's words. Rong Hong retorted: "Lord Weng is worried that the emperor will favor the new school and abandon the old school, so what Lord Weng said requires the emperor to treat the two schools fairly. But in the eyes of the lower officials, this statement is wrong. The emperor is biased towards the old school. ”

Rong Hong's words, not to mention Weng Tongyi, even Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Tang Shaoyi and others are also confused. It can't be.

"Your Excellency must not believe it, and you know everything from the questions in this exam. Let's talk about the third question first, which is from the six departments, which is to test the interests and strengths of the students, so that they can be selected by each department after the middle school. It is not mentioned here. The first question is a topic that Lord Weng, the Guozijian and the Ministry of Rites jointly evaluated, and it is an essay question, which is to quote scriptures and classics to prove and promote this kind of thinking. Although there is also a Department of Japanese Literature in the University Hall. However, this topic is not the strength of the students of the university hall, even if a small number of people can write it, but on the whole it must not be comparable to the spring tribute. If you believe this, you will have no objections. The second question is from the University Hall, and the original test papers from the University Hall are all arithmetic, astronomy, geography, etc., if it is really so questionable, it is only those who only know the Four Books and the Five Classics. Don't answer. It would be nice to be able to understand it. Who knew that the emperor would not allow it. In desperation, I can only come up with such an essay question. As a result, both questions are essay questions, and how can a university student who is good at arithmetic compare with a Gongshi who is good at essay questions. Isn't this the emperor's partiality? ”

As soon as the ministers heard Rong Hong's celebration, this was indeed the truth, but they didn't know the meaning of the emperor's move, so they all looked at the emperor. And Weng Tongyi and the others didn't reply, just laughed and retreated.

"That's true." Guangxu nodded and said: "Once the university hall is allowed to solve the problem, those Gongshi who only know how to study hard behind closed doors will not even buy food." Needless to say, the analysis questions involving geography and the situation at home and abroad are arithmetic questions that require accurate calculations. enough to wipe them out. At this time, it only takes a few students from the University Hall to do a good job on the topic of Guozijian, and then the University Hall will stabilize Guozijian. And the students of the Department of Chinese Literature in the University Hall have this strength in my opinion. Therefore, I can only force the university hall to change the topic, and only the students of the university hall are also superior to the gongshi in the essay questions, which can truly explain the necessity of new learning. Regardless of this examination, I have decided to set up a special department in charge of vocational education, the Department of Education, and integrate all schools in the country into its management, so as to focus on educating the world. What do you think? ”

"It is a great merit to open up the wisdom of the people and educate the world. My Emperor Shengming. It's just that I don't know if the emperor has a charter? ”

"What I mean is that the Department of Education is temporarily placed under the Ministry of Rites, and Yung Hong is the head of the Ministry of Rites as the Secretary for Education. The Tianxia School will be under the unified management of the Department of Education. Rong Hong wrote a plan, which I think is very actionable and can be implemented. However, I also considered that the ultimate goal was to carry out the whole country, because the scope was too large, and I thought that I would first choose a place to try it out and come up with a reliable plan before promoting it. And because the imperial court was not rich in finances, and in response to the Japanese crisis, too much money was set up in the military, and it was impossible to come up with such a large amount of money at once. Therefore, I would like to try it out from the nearest Zhili and the Northeast with a small number of people, and the necessary money will be spent from the Ministry of Internal Affairs first. My garment pharmaceutical factory, as well as companies such as Global Power, are still very profitable, and it is estimated that there will be no need for the imperial court to pay for it in two or three years. Let's wait until the Ministry of Internal Affairs can't support it anymore. I have not considered it in detail, but there are still a few months before the Department of Education will be established in the next year, and if you have better opinions, you should put them forward. ”

"Educating the world is the wish of literati like us. It's just that the emperor hasn't said the last question of the day yet. Weng Tongyi was a little unhappy, as the emperor, he found that his status in the emperor's heart was getting lower and lower.

"Master Weng is going to hold on to this topic." Guangxu leaned back and changed into a more comfortable position, and asked rhetorically, "Okay, I'll ask a few questions first." Why are all the scholars in the world taking the imperial examination? ”

"As the saying goes: learn to become a literary and martial artist, and the goods are the emperor's family. Participating in the branch is naturally an official. ”

"What is an official?"

"Benefiting one party also honors the ancestors."

"Since the purpose of participating in the branch is to become an official, then my exam questions will come out." Guangxu got up and sat up straight: "My topic is: If I am an official." ”

"An official?"

"Yes, it's an official. You can choose an official position from the court of the Qing Dynasty to the local government to explain how he will be this official. I originally wanted to be selected as the magistrate, but I thought what if people didn't want to be the magistrate and wanted to be the prime minister. ”

"Ridiculous. A county cannot be governed, how to assist the emperor to govern a country. Li Hongzhang pursed his lips. He is not happy, is this the emperor's dissatisfaction with him?

"Cut, how do you know no. What if people just want to be a book history? ”

Li Hongzhang opened his mouth and didn't speak, he couldn't say this. A big guy. A small history from the nine pins. But it can be heard that the emperor doesn't have an opinion on him, so that's good. It's just that there are seven pins to know the county inappropriately. After years of hard reading, but only for a new position, this question can see that this person is an official's ambition, and you can also study whether he has the power to be an official, and the emperor's topic is a stroke of genius. There are also people who disagree, believing that the official position of the court is the most important weapon of the country. After this test, it is known all over the world, and it is really inappropriate to make people play in this way.

Soon, the entire court was divided into two factions. Guangxu didn't bother to interject. But in the end, the new generation of officials, who had a majority, won the victory, and finally decided to do so, but the topic was still somewhat changed.

If I were a magistrate, it would be the final confirmed topic. You can choose a county at will in the Qing Dynasty. Assuming that you are the magistrate of the county, how should you govern it? It is also possible to choose an official position from among all the existing official positions in the Qing Dynasty. Assuming that you are an official, how should you be an official?

What is this title? Not only did the Chunyu Gongshi not know what it meant, but even the students in the university hall couldn't figure it out. There has never been an exam like this, not in ancient and modern times, in China or abroad. But you have to do it when the topic is out, but how do you write it?

The first three papers had already taken a full day until the sun went down. For a whole day, I can only do a simple activity in my position. The lunch was very rich, and it was delivered to the students' tables by the senior members of the DPRK and Central Committee themselves, and even the relief was taken into account. In front of the students, the adults pasted all the places where the students' names were written on the papers. Put the questions into three large boxes. Then I watched the palace people pull the wire stand lamp, and there was a table lamp placed on the students' desks. When night falls. The difference was evident when the orange lights illuminated the entire palace. While the spring priests praised the bright lights, the students complained that the lights were too dim. This simple difference revealed the differences between the students, and Kang Youwei knew that the tribute of Chunfu had lost this time.

After finishing dinner and fruits, and cleaning up, the emperor personally announced the exam questions, and there was still a time limit of one and a half hours. The huge clock hung up, and when it was time for the clock to hit ten times, it was time for the exam to end. It's a weird title.

On the second day after the end of the exam, all the senior members above the second grade in Beijing entered the palace and read the papers in the Taihe Hall for three days. During these three days, ministers and other personnel of various countries will not be received, and they will not attend to the government to listen to the government, and all ministries will be guarded by the second grade, and no non-emergency matters will be reported. The minister who read the file will also not be allowed to leave the palace without a will during these three days, otherwise he will be judged as fraud. The candidates' papers, as early as the night after the exam, were randomly placed by the eunuchs in the official palace, and the next day will also be randomly selected by the minister of marking for marking, and the only thing that saves a little is the duplicate transcription.

"Your Majesty, is an hour and a half too short? If you want to write this question well, even if you want to do it, you can't do it. Li Hongzhang put down the test paper and said with deep regret. In the test papers he read, he wrote: Zhixian is in charge of the governance of a county, deciding lawsuits, persuading farmers to help the poor, curbing for cunning and eliminating traitors, and promoting and establishing religion. In just one sentence, he will talk about the specific affairs handled by the county magistrate, such as education, criminal name, public security, and Qian Valley, and also explain the specific affairs handled by the magistrate, such as Zhengshi, Ren, Qian Valley, miscellaneous classes, editing and reviewing, Qingzhang, criminal name, armor protection, ceremony, upbringing, waste administration, general administration, promotion, etc., and expound his own ideas and governance methods. Each item is written in detail, taking into account workarounds if something goes wrong. What a good way to govern the county, but it hasn't been written. If this student can have more time to elaborate, I believe this must be a good county order.

"It's really good, just put it aside, and when this reading is completed, then call him in to finish writing." When he spoke, Guangxu's eyes didn't leave the scroll. Li Hongzhang also took pity and handed the scroll to the attendant eunuch, and repeatedly told him to put it away separately.

The whole hall was immersed in the sound of paper flipping, mixed with the sounds of pity or indignation. As the emperor, the first half of the day is basically fine, because the ministers are divided into arrays, and each minister will hand over their favorite papers to the team leader for evaluation, and each team leader will also hand over the good ones to the emperor for ruling. But the emperor was alone, and when the groups began to hand over the volumes they thought were excellent, Guangxu was busy.

Guangxu put down the volume he had just finished reading and picked up another one: "Oh, Lao Li." There are really people who don't like you. Look at the title that people wrote: If I were prime minister. With that, Guangxu looked at Li Hongzhang with a smile.

Li Hongzhang was not angry when he heard it, and said with a big belly: "If this person really has this ability, the old minister is willing to let the virtuous." I'm afraid this is a bookish atmosphere, young people. ”

Guangxu smiled and continued to watch. But this time, before he saw half of it, he was furious: "The book business is angry and boastful." Master Weng, what I see on this paper is that there is no practical way except for the big truth, which is to shout slogans. Is this also applauding? Dethrone. Guangxu threw the roll out.

Weng Tongyi didn't know why, so he stepped forward and picked up the scroll and looked at it: "Your Majesty, this scroll is indeed excellent." The emperor also looked at the above volume, now that the Qing Dynasty has won two consecutive battles under the leadership of the emperor, it is necessary to use the edict to boost the morale of the whole country, and then make a decisive decision with Japan. There is also this point, the north of the Beijing division is east of the border east of the Bohai Sea, this place is in addition to the north of the Great Wall can be defended, it is actually a dangerous place to move the capital to the hinterland of the Qing Dynasty Xi'an, then the Beijing division has no worries about foreign enemies. And ......"

"Shut up, you, is there still a strong training force below, and the law will become a rule. Isn't this the book on the bus that Kang Youwei did in Shanhaiguan in the first year? Open it and take a look, if it's really this bastard, Lao Tzu has to pull out his skin. ”

Before the "Emperor's ......" arrives, the emperor has to look at the name, which is not allowed by the etiquette law. Weng Tongyi was very angry: "What is written later is indeed about military training and changing the law, whether what he wrote is in line with the emperor's intentions, but now that the country is decadent, at least people have thought of some ways." ”

"The fart method is just shouting slogans. Not to mention that what he said about training and changing the law is a piece of in my eyes, just talk about his move to the capital. He is right, moving the capital can indeed temporarily avoid foreign threats. But how to move him, did he say? If you want to rebuild the city in Xi'an, where will the city be built, how much will it cost, and how long will it take? Just if these expenses are squeezed out of the already insufficient imperial court, how many years will it take for him to repair a new one? The palace can be moved, the government can be moved, but what about other subsidiary institutions? He didn't say a word. Who wouldn't shout slogans? "Speaking of slogans, that is Guangxu's absolute strength. Guangxu came as soon as he opened his mouth: "Strengthen national defense with domestic products." The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband. How bold is man, how fruitful is the earth. Make up your mind, not be afraid of sacrifice, overcome all difficulties, and strive for victory...... Grass, believe it or not, I don't repeat it until you spit it out. It's useful just to shout slogans, but what I want is a way, a way for China to catch up with the Western powers. Empty talk misleads the country, but hard work prospers the country. Such a simple truth, you don't understand it? Roll up and depose all those who only shout slogans. "While speaking, Guangxu also stroked, which was full of momentum. After speaking, Guangxu scratched his head: "The last sentence seems to be a slogan?" ”

Weng Tongyi had nothing to say, and the volume was really as the emperor said. So much so that Li Hongzhang said: "Strengthening national defense with domestic products, this sentence is not just a slogan." (To be continued......) u