After Du Xian returned to Beijing, he was invited to participate in the state banquet set up in the Lin De Palace, and even Xue Chongxun also participated in this banquet, which was indeed a rare thing. Everyone speculated that the Son of Heaven, who had always disliked ordinary banquets, went this time because he was celebrating Du Xian's success. The seizure of Yingzhou was regarded by many scholars as more than worth the loss, and the huge consumption of military expenditures and the tension between various ethnic groups in the northeast caused tensions, and it was not wise to open up another front when the center of gravity of the military department's strategy had not been adjusted in the northwest direction, and some people even privately predicted that Yingzhou would be gained and lost in the future. But Xue Chongxun seemed to be very sure of this victory, and everyone also saw that Du Xianam's favor was undiminished.

Sure enough, within two days, Xue Chongxun summoned Du Xian alone in the greenhouse hall to discuss matters, and it was by no means common for the emperor to be summoned alone.

Although Du Xian had just returned from the war in Yingzhou, Xue Chongxun did not talk to him about military affairs this time. There are very many times when Xue Chongxun is suspected of being stubborn and self-serving, even if he finds out that something is wrong in hindsight, he will not change it, and the decisions that sway from side to side in his mind should be avoided than insisting on the wrong decisions. Therefore, he believes that strengthening defense in the northeast is already a foregone conclusion, and there is no need to discuss it anymore.

As expected, Xue Chongxun didn't have any other nonsense when he met, and asked Du Xian directly: "I want to improve the imperial examination system, take scholars no longer follow the lintel, and at the same time change the law to avoid courtiers from affecting the fame of the imperial examination (the appreciation of the prime minister of the imperial examination was very important in the past), do you think this is appropriate?" ”

Du Xian was reminded by Zhang Xiaozhen when he was still in Yingzhou, and he had already prepared for this, as soon as he returned to Beijing, he asked Zhang Jiuling for a mathematical "book of heaven" written by Xue Chongxun himself, and pondered for a while overnight, the time was too short to understand the basic part in front, and most of the things were unknown, but this did not affect his preparation for this question and answer in advance.

Hearing Xue Chongxun's question, he calmly said first, "The minister thinks that the imperial examination is imperative and conducive to the society", and then he first established his position. But this is not enough, why does Xue Chongxun consult with Du Xian whenever he encounters controversial decisions, and often takes him as a confidant? Naturally, it is not that Du Xian has no opinions and only cares about pandering, he is a person who has a tacit understanding with Xue Chongxun. He glanced at the two women behind the incense case next to him with casual eyes, one was the princess of the river he had seen at the banquet, and the other was Xue Chongxun's close attendant Yao Wan who had also seen it when he was in the Jin Palace, in any case, he should pay attention to the wording at this time, some words could not be said too directly, so he continued to say slowly: "The Shi clan of the Wu Zhou Dynasty has been greatly weakened, and the former Tang Dynasty has been chaotic for many years after the restoration of Li Tang. The imperial examination is gradually accepted by the world, but today's imperial examination still requires birth and fame, and it is difficult for the poor to seek fame. His Majesty innovated the imperial examination system and was the only way to do it, which was the desire of the people of the world...... It's just that it will further affect the entry of the scholars, and there will be criticism. ”

The last sentence reminded Xue Chongxun, he remembered that he was going to join the mathematics that people were unfamiliar with at this time, and I was afraid that it would become someone else's handle, which was obviously very detrimental to the change of the implementation system. He asked, "Have you seen the book of Mathematics that I showed to the courtiers?" ”

Du Xian replied: "The minister has read some of them, but he has not finished reading them in a hurry." ”

Xue Chongxun asked again: "How about adding it to the subjects of the imperial examination?" ”

Du Xian knew that Xue Chongxun would ask this question, so he calmly replied: "Your Majesty has this question, since Bichen foresaw that this move would increase the difficulty of changing the imperial examination; Since this is the case, His Majesty still has to ask, and there must be another deep meaning. ”

Xue Chongxun smiled and said, "Then tell me, what do I mean?" ”

Du Xian said: "The minister has not finished reading this book, so he does not dare to speak falsely." ”

Xue Chongxun felt that Du Xian understood him very well, so he still couldn't help but say something: "People in the world pay attention to the classics of the sages, but they still attach importance to astronomical calendars and other knowledge, because the four seasons are actually used in farming. And I advocate mathematics because it can provide a practical foundation for households, workers, and soldiers. For example, the cannon you used in the Battle of Yingzhou, the gun table for adjusting the range involves mathematical calculations. The country not only needs talents who have the ambition to help the world and save the people and handle things wisely, but also needs talents who can promote the progress of the world, so that the country can become stronger and stronger, and the people can get better and better. ”

Du Xian had seen the calculation method of the cannon table, and had also heard the anecdote that Xue Chongxun used the survey ship to calculate the weight of grain, and this time he was able to write a book and say that he couldn't understand how Xue Chongxun figured out these things, and the Son of Heaven was indeed a bit of a miracle, and he couldn't be treated by ordinary people.

He hurriedly said, "Your Majesty is a saint, more than a sage. ”

Xue Chongxun felt that such praise was a bit too much, so he smiled and said, "I can't accept your words calmly." ”

"Ministers are not flattering." Du Xian said seriously, "The sages ruled the world by living and working in peace and contentment without hunger or cold, but His Majesty's ambition is far from this." ”

……

When Du Xian returned to the cabinet yamen, the other three people asked him if he had any questions and answers about the imperial examination, and Du Xian himself was a cabinet scholar, so he told Xue Chongxun that he wanted to reform the imperial examination and included the book in the subject of the scientific examination. Wang Changling immediately said that the emperor was disgusted that there were not many people who opposed the reform of the imperial examination, and Du Xian said that the doctrine was equivalent to the astronomical calendar, which was beneficial to the country, and did not express any opinion. Zhang Jiuling still said the same thing, it doesn't matter what you test, what matters is how you take the test, as long as it's fair.

Su Jin Dao The Son of Heaven is a person who has received the seal from heaven, that is, a saint, the books of ancient sages can be used to govern the country through the world, why can't the books of today's sages? He is the first meritorious person to support the establishment, and it is also his job to deify Xue Chongxun, so this proposition is also a firm position, one way to the black, not everyone who is an official can be Dou Huaizhen, and his political views and standing are trustworthy.

The four ministers together decided to let the emperor go down, and the cabinet yamen only needed to put forward the construction and list the foreseen dangers.

At this time, when the end of the year was approaching, the four of them divided their work and asked people from the government hall to summarize the gains and losses of the various ministries in the past year, and then summarized them in the name of the cabinet and put forward their own views. At the same time, it is necessary to plan in advance for next year's policy and adjust the national policy.

The imperial examination is the first major policy change; After that, there was the policy of the Ministry of Households' finances, and the cabinet and others did not propose to still build it, and in their opinion, the only thing that could be done was to separate the Internal Affairs Bureau and the National Treasury, but no one put it forward, and the accounts of military expenditure were only used to treat the symptoms but not the root causes, and the new money law still implemented a conservative policy, because there were no real economists at this time, and those people in the household department formulated the plan of "green money" only on the basis of physical objects such as hard currency and textiles actually stored in the treasury, and conservatively printed money to avoid economic turmoil. Xue Chongxun's banknotes were similar to silver bills, and he did not give full play to the role of banknotes;

The military affairs in the coming year were changed, because of the battle of Yingzhou and Xue Chongxun's personal expression in decision-making, it was no longer meaningful to oppose the use of troops in the Northeast, and the cabinet could only adjust the national policy in the message and increase the investment in the defense of the Northeast (before that, the Tang Dynasty had been shifting westward after the destruction of Goguryeo, and most of the elite soldiers were in the northwest, which was basically the keynote of the national policy); The strategy against Tubo was still to use the northern Mo clan to hold the Luo some cities, and the ministers should try to increase troops to the Mo clan region in addition to aiding armaments, as long as they deployed troops in the northern part of Tubo, they could change the passive situation that the southwest, the western regions, and Helong were all contained;

Since the defeat of the Turks in the northern steppes and the de facto control of Monan by Chang'an, the Turkic state has changed from an enemy state to a force that contains the unification of the Hui tribes, and the Chang'an court is improving relations with it. Although the Hui had always had good relations with the Central Plains since the Tang Dynasty and had never been hostile, the cabinet ministers believed that those tribes should be wary of their vast areas of activity and large populations.

This set of military strategies was full of the shadow of the original Jin Dynasty Shogunate, which was completely contrary to the policy of the former Tang court, and even the Hui was included in the precautions. Many people in the government and the opposition must disagree, but most people don't know about this kind of central secret text, and there are up to ten people who can participate in Nanya. Most of the members of the cabinet were people from the former Jin Dynasty shogunate, and this has always been the way of thinking; Zhang Shuo, the special minister of the Political Affairs Hall, has also been influenced by Xue Chongxun for many years and has long accepted this set of views. Therefore, the direction of the great imperial policy is actually in the hands of a dozen or so people. G