When the time came to the beginning of June of the seventh year of Tang Wude, at this time, the reform comrades meeting organized by Zhang Chao had begun to enter a steady development. At present, they are not recruiting people on a large scale, but Zhang Chao is focusing on some training for those "comrades" who have been recruited, telling them what they should pay attention to in officialdom and clarifying their future goals. The main thing is to instill some ideas in them, so that they can all be prepared to deal with the future situation. Because the struggle with the scholars is a struggle between two classes, it is not so easy to deal with. This is bound to be a long-term struggle, so it is impossible to distinguish the winner without more than ten or twenty years, and the key to this depends on how quickly Zhang Chao and his support for their own interest groups and reserve talents. If you can support the interest groups behind you as quickly as possible, and then eat away at the economic base of the scholars, then the scholars can collapse. And as long as the nobles fall, they can carry out reforms without scruples. Therefore, the biggest resistance to future reform comes from the scholars. However, Zhang Chao should be glad that the scholars of this era do not know much about the so-called economic foundation factors, and their understanding of political economy is still very shallow. In the ancient feudal period, the political and economic ties were not too tight, and even the relationship between military and political was not very proficient. Although some of them understand some superficial things, they also know it but don't know why. Therefore, Zhang Chao thinks that they are not his opponents, as long as they continue in the long run, victory is inevitable. Therefore, Zhang Chao must explain clearly to those subordinates the situation of the struggle, so that they can see the future development prospects.

"We now have more than 50 comrades, and every time we have a new batch of people who enter the imperial examination, they will also be the foundation of our development. They will not be valued by the scholars, and the scholars are very disdainful of them, and they disdain to win them over, so the only thing they can rely on is our organization. And the emperor has also agreed and will do his best to support us, so we don't have to worry. Zhang Chao said to Liu Renliang.

And Liu Renliang was still worried and said: "We don't have any strength at the moment, and we may be killed by the Shi clan at any time!" ”

"Don't be afraid, the scholars will not easily use the means of killing. Because even without us, the emperor will support a group of people to fight against the scholars, so it is useless for them to deal with us. At best, they are restricting us, not trying to destroy us physically. Naturally, they are not so stupid as to think that killing us will be the end of it, unless they can kill all the poor people in the world, otherwise they will not have any chance of killing us. So, you don't have to worry. Next, we're going to give it to you

Let's talk about the battle in officialdom. Only by letting them learn how to fight, and so that they can learn how to fight for their own interests, can I get a steady stream of support. I don't know where they can follow us, but I hope they can become our foundation well. Zhang Chao said.

"Okay, we're going to hold regular gatherings and talk to them about some officialdom. Are we going to be secret or public, though? Liu Renliang asked.

Zhang Chao said: "It's open, and every time I ask the emperor to send someone to supervise, this can dispel the emperor's doubts!" ”

At present, Li Yuan, the emperor, is still needed to support him, and if there is a secret assembly, it will inevitably make Li Yuan feel uneasy. Therefore, if there are only public activities, so that Li Yuan can see that they are just a group established to fight against the Shi clan, then Li Yuan will also rest assured. As for saying that the gentlemen are not the party, it is completely a historical joke, and Li Yuan certainly will not believe this kind of joke. Compared with other secret parties, Zhang Chao's method of openly forming a party can make Li Yuan feel more at ease, and every time Zhang Chao has a meeting, he will ask Li Yuan to send someone to supervise, so what else does Li Yuan have to worry about? Anyway, Zhang Chao and they are all poor people, and they are all people who fight for power and profit with the Shi clan. And the Hanmen and the scholars are vying for power and profit, so this is what reassures Li Yuan. If the world is all a monolithic of scholars, then what does Li Yuan, the emperor, mean? Therefore, since Zhang Chao wants to form a party and gather the cold to oppose the scholars, Li Yuan only has a reason to support, not a reason to oppose it.

For this situation, Li Yuan must support it, otherwise the next scholars will oppose Li Yuan in an ironclad manner, which will definitely not be good.

"Director Zhang, the Duke of Yiyuan County invites you to take a look at the newly formed academy." Someone came over and said right away.

"The prince of Yiyuan is here, so is the academy already formed?" Zhang Chao asked.

"Yes, the academy has been formed, please go over and have a look!"

Zhang Chao had previously said to Wu Shi Tong that he hoped that he could lead the merchants and then set up various academies, so that he could cultivate all kinds of talents. Zhang Chao knew that although businessmen could not be officials, they were not unable to have their own political influence. Merchants have wealth, and although they are usually suppressed by the government, they are not able to gain political influence. In ancient times, when many businessmen became rich, they would also find ways to become officials, and then join the political scene.

However, this has little effect, because businessmen and officials and politicians are completely two-minded creatures, and they cannot be able to hold two positions at will. And Zhang Chao thought that he wanted to form an alliance with the merchant class, which naturally would be inseparable from the businessman to exert his political influence in the future. The best way is for businessmen to support a group of political groups to enter the officialdom, so that businessmen can also exert their influence. In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party, in fact, they were also the spokesmen of big businessmen and big landlords, and many of them were supported by businessmen. And Zhang Chao asked Wu Shi Tong to lead the merchants to form the academy, in fact, he hoped that the merchants could help him cultivate talents, so that the students who graduated from the academy in the future would have two identities, one identity was the son of a poor family, but on the other hand, they were also the spokesmen of the interests of the merchant class. After entering the officialdom, they are also the cooperative bond between the poor landlord class and the merchant class that Zhang Chao currently represents.

Zhang Chao does not think that the landlords are all bad, and he will choose to gradually change the landlord class behind him through political means in the future, so that they can gradually develop into farmers, instead of always being a landlord who exploits the people. Zhang Chao believes that he can gradually change his economic base through political means, and change from the past to another form of agricultural production by exploitation, so that the people can also be liberated from the land.

"Director Zhang, this is all according to your requirements, select the world's poor students, and then select children between the ages of eight and fourteen, and then we can hire excellent teachers to teach. In the past few months, we have been searching for those poor students who have a certain amount of talent, and then we plan to teach them intensively. And they will learn from us the general knowledge, as well as all kinds of governing strategies. In addition to teaching Confucian classics, students also need to learn arithmetic and other abilities. Even according to Zhang's requirements, exercise their management and organizational skills from an early age, so that they have the foundation to be officials. At first glance, these teaching methods of Director Zhang seem to be useless, but they can perfectly exercise their various comprehensive abilities and lay a solid foundation for them to become officials in the future. They are not like those other poor students, who will face direct and indirect rejection from the scholars as soon as they enter the officialdom, and then they will not be able to break the situation. And when they have this knowledge, it means that the starting point is much higher. Samurai said.

Zhang Chao also nodded immediately and said, "Yes!" If there is no perfect education, there is no education from an early age, then we are too backward from the poor family. Therefore, we must and must establish our own talent training capabilities, so that we have the same continuous flow of talents as the scholars. The biggest thing that our poor family suffers most is not in what official position, not in any money, and the most important thing is that we have not established our own talent cultivation system. As soon as the children of the scholar clan are born, they begin to be arranged for their lives, and then they begin to learn various knowledge from an early age, and when they grow up, they can smoothly join the official career, and then they can be engaged in various affairs. However, poor students have to work every year, and then rely on leisure time to study, even if a small number of rich people of the Shu clan are rich, then it is difficult for them to obtain official positions, and they do not have perfect talent inheritance rules. We also want to establish our own talent inheritance rules to ensure that our talents will not be disconnected. Talent is the most important thing for a country and a group, and once talent is cut off, it will inevitably face decline in the end. ”

This academy is actually Zhang Chao's preparation on the other hand, he cooperates with businessmen, and the merchants are mainly samurai tong, and samurai tong, a businessman-born bureaucrat, is often suppressed by the scholars in his official career, and he will be very hateful to the scholars. So now he is also willing to cooperate with Zhang Chao, and then open a academy together. Anyway, these academies are all written by Gao Chao, and then they can exercise their talents from all aspects, so that they can study effectively, and even after becoming officials in the future, they will not face the problem of becoming officials and will not be officials at that time.

And these children are selected from all kinds of poor students in the world, and they are the essence of the poor family, and in the words of later generations, they are all academic tyrants. They will receive the best education possible, and then hope that they will be able to fight for the interests of their poor class and the merchant class, and they will be the vanguard of the class struggle. This is also the selection system for poor talents that I want to establish, which is similar to the education system of later generations, and then gradually selects a person from childhood to adulthood, and then carries out an almost assembly-line education process. After more than ten years of study, these people dare not say that they will become an excellent top talent, but it is good to be able to become an excellent middle-level talent. In this era, the education penetration rate is very low, so everyone who has read is a high-level talent.

Zhang Chao asked these businessmen to invest in education, in fact, he hoped to use the money used by businessmen to enjoy to do something meaningful, as long as they can popularize education, they can accumulate talents for themselves in the future, and then let them enter the officialdom to compete for their own interests, forming a virtuous circle. Otherwise, it would be a waste for the businessman to have no political status on one side and only be able to enjoy the money on the other side. Instead of that, do something meaningful.

Anyway, the establishment of a academy was a noble thing in ancient times, not only did it have a good reputation, but also those scholars could not oppose it. When a businessman opens a academy, it is a matter of accumulating virtue and doing good deeds in the eyes of many people, and even those old antiques have to be praised. Anyway, the sages of Confucius also said back then, there is no class in teaching, can you still deny the merit of a merchant to open a academy? If anyone dares to stop a businessman from opening a academy, he will definitely be scolded in the end. Even if the scholars knew that the merchants had opened academies, they would not be able to stop them.

"Director Zhang, what kind of academy is this academy called?" Samurai asked.

Zhang Chao thought for a while, and then said: "It's called Hope Academy, these children are our hope for the future, and they are all our hope that we can fight for the interests of our poor family in the future." That's why we call them the Hope Academy, that is, let them be the light of hope for our future. Let them bring a glimmer of hope to those of us who have been oppressed and ruled in darkness by the nobles. ”

"Okay, Hope Academy, that's the name. In the future, this academy represents what we think and think, and we can help us obtain wealth in the future, and we can obtain a bright and prosperous place for our poor children, so it is not an exaggeration to call it a hope academy. Samurai replied.

Zhang Chao looked at this academy that didn't look luxurious, and nodded in his heart. This academy is actually not luxurious, it is just a courtyard given by ordinary merchants, and it is not a special academy. However, Zhang Chao knows that the real wealth of a school is not something like a building, but those excellent teachers and their excellent learning style. If a school does not have a certain amount of time, no matter how good the building is and how complete the facilities are, it will be useless. The reason why many students aspire to go to a century-old famous school, and even many Chinese and foreign schools also boast of their long history, in fact, it is their perennial accumulation of academic style that allows them to maintain it. The school is not a place that can be maintained by wealth and facilities alone, but more importantly, the style of study, if the style of study is not good, it cannot be reversed.

"Who are the best students here?" Zhang Chao asked.

"It's a student from Jiannan Dao, ten years old this year, called Li Yifu." Samurai said.

"Li Yifu? Call him over! Zhang Chao said.

When Zhang Chao heard this Li Yifu, he naturally remembered that he was one of several traitors in the early years of the Tang Dynasty. However, Zhang Chao does not think that there are absolute traitors and absolute loyal ministers in this world, in fact, loyal ministers and traitors are just a thin line. Everything depends on their own interests, and if a loyal minister has greater interests for himself, then he is naturally a loyal minister. When a traitor has greater interests, he is also a traitor. As an official, it is naturally impossible to have any absolute distinction between loyal and traitorous ministers.

"I've seen Mr. Zhang!" A ten-year-old boy took the initiative to salute Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao took the initiative to ask: "You are Li Yifu?" ”

"Yes, the student is none other than Li Yifu!" Li Yifu said.

"What do you think of the Scholars?" Zhang Chao asked.

Li Yifu immediately said: "The Shi clan pretends to be high, and hinders the future of countless Han families, they control a large amount of land, and their appetite is endless. In the end, they will definitely endanger my Tang Dynasty, so the gate valves of these big families must be contained. ”

Zhang Chao nodded, this Li Yifu still satisfied Zhang Chao. Zhang Chao would never believe in the original history, the reason why Li Yifu was called a traitor in the original history was because he and the scholars stood on the opposite side. He advocated the suppression of the nobles and the lowering of their status. Li Yifu once proposed that as long as the official position is enough for the five grades, then they can become "scholars", that is to say, the official positions above the five grades can also become scholars. But this made the scholars hate it very much, because if anyone can become a scholar, how can the prestige of the scholar clan still exist? After hundreds of years of "deification", the scholars have established a so-called noble system, but now Li Yifu is actually trying to break this system, thinking that the "style" of the scholars is lowered, so that those scholars cannot accept it. Coupled with some of Li Yifu's strategies to restrict the scholars, the scholars have to oppose it even if they are desperate.

As for why he became a traitor in the end, it was because he failed, because he failed to be a traitor, and if he succeeded in attacking the nobles, then he would also be an excellent politician. And Zhang Chao knows that history is a. The son wrote that there is no discipline at all, and it has always been a king and a loser. Li Yifu failed, but he was also the first person in the early Tang Dynasty to dare to stand up to restrict the development of the Shi clan and attack the Shi clan, so Zhang Chao also felt admiration for him. Even if his personal character is not very good, who can know that his so-called bad character is not a means to attack the scholars? Because he failed, perhaps his political tactics were also described as a sign of bad character, but in fact this is simply inexplicable.

"Li Yifu, how do you want to deal with the Shi clan in the future?" Zhang Chao asked.

When the warrior next to him heard this, he immediately muttered, Zhang Chao actually asked Li Yifu such a difficult question, can such a ten-year-old child answer it? However, Li Yifu's answer next surprised everyone.

"Mr. Zhang, I think the reason why the scholars are able to have privileges is because they are small in number, which makes them appear noble. Because there are few people and it has caused dignity, then we will also mix water into it, so that once the whole world is full of scholars, then how can their scholars reflect their dignity? In the future, as long as those who become officials can become scholars, then the number of scholars will increase suddenly, but in the process of increasing, the scholars will no longer have the sacred and non-humiliating situation in the past. At that time, everyone thinks that it is so easy to obtain status, as long as you are an official, you can obtain the status of a scholar, so how can such a scholar still be noble? ”

Zhang Chao nodded, this Li Yifu hopes to fight the Shi clan by attacking the "divinity" of the Shi clan. These scholars, in fact, are similar to the Brahmins in India, they are political lords, scholars, and chaebols gathered together, and their identity as scholars gives them an identity that everyone in the world recognizes. They have seized the power of public opinion and molded themselves into a noble status, as if their blood is noble, and everyone else has to submit. However, after hundreds of years of propaganda, many ignorant ordinary people have also recognized this result, believing that the scholars are naturally noble.

Li Yifu hopes to let a large number of people become the so-called scholars, so that once the ranks of the scholars expand a lot, then once the number of scholars expands, then what dignity do they have? The dignity is reflected in the gap, the gap between them and the general public, if there is not much gap with everyone, then how can it be noble? If all the officials in the world also obtained the so-called "scholar" status, so that ordinary people can become scholars as long as they become officials, the identity style of the scholars will be lowered a lot. The nobles would not have the sacrosanct divinity of the past, so how could they rule in front of the people?

"Okay, Li Yifu, you are studying here for a while now, and when you pass the imperial examination in the future, I will personally tutor you!" Zhang Chao said.

Although Li Yifu was not able to attack the scholars from the economic base, he also put forward the idea of attacking their divinity and making their foundation unstable. This is also a very good idea, he was born in a poor family, although in the original history he had the idea of hoping for the scholars. But now he can train him to go in the direction of fighting the scholars, as long as he can approve of the fighting scholars, he will definitely do it. The so-called "divinity" possessed by the nobles, once it is diffused, must be of no value in the end. It's like if everyone can become a god, then in the end the god will be worthless. If everyone can become a scholar, instead of relying on bloodline inheritance, then the natural scholar clan will not be valuable.

Therefore, Li Yifu is definitely a talent, and his original historical failures may just be that he was born at the wrong time. If he had been born some time later, he might have become an important assistant to Wu Zetian in his fight against the Gate Lords.