At noon on the twenty-fifth day of the first month of the first year of Dingxin, in the east of Chang'an City, outside the city gate, there were more than 100 people.

As far as the eye can see, all of them are Confucian students, senior talents, and all the sages: there are not only great Confucians like Wei Xian, but also many young doctoral disciples.

Although there was no one to direct the ordering, the Confucian scholars stood in an orderly manner.

Those with high fame are in the front, and those with shallow fame are in the back; Those with high knowledge stand on the right, and those with low knowledge stand on the left.

Respect and inferiority are orderly, the young and the old are different, and everywhere conforms to the Confucian etiquette system.

At the top of the list are the seventy-year-old Wei Xian, Wang Shi and Hou Cang, who are Confucian seniors.

Some of the later ones are Xue Guangde and Tian Wangsun who are around forty or fifty years old.

Then there are Wei Xuancheng and Liu Anmin, who are in their thirties, and these prime-aged Confucian students.

Those who stayed at the end were naturally Liang Qiuhe, the doctoral disciples in their early twenties and the officials of Tianzi Lang.

But whether it's in front or behind, on the left or on the right, everyone is waiting for it.

They padded their feet, stretched their necks, and followed the official road in Dongchengguo, where they could not see the end at a glance, looking far away, and their faces were pious.

Today, all the Confucian scholars naturally came to welcome Zhongni's twelfth grandson, the counselor Kong Ba.

Yesterday, the Confucian students in Chang'an City received news that Kong Ba and Kong's disciples had settled near Baqiao, and they would be able to enter Chang'an City at noon today.

The Confucian scholars of Chang'an City can wait so respectfully, and in this whole world, there is only Kong Ba.

Not only because Kong Ba is highly talented and has a deep insight into Jingyi, but also because he has a blood relationship with Zhong Ni.

……

In the past few days, the weather in Sanfu has been exceptionally good, the sun is in the sky, the sky is blue, and there are only a few white clouds to embellish.

The warm spring breeze blows from the east day and night, making everything in this world that has been dormant for a winter begin to sprout.

Farmers have begun to plough the ground to raise seedlings, birds and animals have begun to run in the wilderness, and trees and flowers have spit out a little new green......

Except for some ice slag hidden in the dark part of the ditch, the chill of winter is barely visible.

Many of the events that took place this winter have been gradually left behind.

Spring has come, who wants to think about those cold, terrible and bloody things?

As in the past few days, it was still a great day.

The Confucian scholars came to this city gate early and had been waiting for more than an hour.

During this time, a lot of freshly painted Ancha drove out of the city gates.

Although the curtain on the car was tightly covered, the bursts of aroma and clever smiles that passed by the car made the Confucian students' hearts tremble.

I think it's the daughter of a big family who went to Dongcheng Guo to go out into the wilderness - after suffocating in the mansion all winter, they can finally breathe.

Older Confucian scholars can naturally ignore these Anche, but young Confucian students who are young and unmarried will keep their eyes on these Anche and stay away for a long time.

It wasn't until these Anche were blurred out of sight that they couldn't help but retract their gaze after a sigh.

All things are competing, full of spring, and of course, including people's hearts.

However, everything in this spring is beautiful, but in the hearts of many Confucian scholars, there is an invisible dark cloud hovering.

Because, for the first time, they experienced the fear of precariousness.

Three or four days ago, the news that the Son of Heaven was going to "abolish the probationary examination, change the recruitment, cut the appointment, and open the imperial examination" spread in Chang'an City.

Although the edict of the Son of Heaven has not yet been posted in the various notices, all signs indicate that the matter is ready to be launched.

Moreover, in the additional issue of "Chang'an Monthly" issued in the past few days, those easy-to-understand memoirs began to "blow the wind" openly and secretly again.

"Huo Guang's Unauthorized Power Originates from the Renzi System", "Filial piety and incorruptibility of the father's don't live; Ju Mao Cai does not know the book", "On the Expropriation System and the Chaos of Friends", "The Words of the Sage Should Be Unified", ......

All intelligent people can see that as long as the Son of Heaven can adjudicate the popular version of the scriptures in the Shiqu Pavilion debate, the edict of the imperial examination system will be posted immediately.

At that time, the fate of Confucian scholars and officials in the whole world will irreversibly change dramatically.

This news naturally caused an uproar among Confucian scholars, and for a time became the focus of discussion among Confucian scholars in the streets and alleys.

Confucian scholars from big families often felt indignant about this, and made wild remarks about the new policy, and many Confucian scholars even spoke wildly in public, scolding "the great Han died in the imperial examination".

But those who come from small families and even those who come from humble backgrounds are very much looking forward to the imperial examination system.

These Confucian scholars, who had less than 100,000 yuan, were naturally considered wealthy compared to the peasant craftsmen.

However, they have no connections in the court, and they have no money to make friends and clings everywhere, and it is unlikely that they will seek a future through "Renzi", "Zhengyuan" and "Chaju".

After reading the Confucian scriptures for more than ten years, he couldn't get out of office in the end - even if he did, he could only start from the lowest envoys and fighting food.

In the future, I can only keep working hard and wait for the rank to slowly rise.

Confucian students who were even less fortunate either opened a retreat as a lecturer and relied on the bundles sent by their disciples to make ends meet; Either put yourself under the high-ranking family and be a mere doorman.

This is still a very small privilege - the level of governance is the same, the moral character is the same, but because of the different origins, the future is different.

What's more, if you are born in an ordinary family, it is also extremely difficult to "learn and excel".

Although Yan Hui praised Yan Hui in the "Analects" for "eating and drinking, in the alleys, and not changing his pleasure", the great Confucian scholars are very important in front of him, how can everyone teach them.

If there is a choice, the Confucians will definitely prefer to teach those who are more family-minded "children of good families".

If you can't "learn and excel", it is naturally impossible to "learn".

But today, if the Son of Heaven had really implemented the imperial examination system, the situation would have been very different.

No matter how many families there are, no matter who they are educated at, no matter whether the ancestors are Jiuqing or the landlords in the township, they can compete in the imperial examination system.

The starting point of the deputy is either 200 or 600 stones—the children of the great families may not be eye-catching, but it is a good path for ordinary Confucian scholars.

And the most important thing is the word "fairness".

As a result, the two factions of Confucianism expressed their own opinions, which turned into verbal arguments – and often even conflicts.

From Shangguanli to Qili, from Beique Jiadi to Beicheng Guo...... The Confucian scholars wearing Confucian crowns were foaming at the mouth and arguing in every corner.

In order to gain the support of their peers, the Confucian scholars picked out two words from the "Chang'an Monthly" as their own labels.

And these two words are the Shu and the Shi.

These two classes, which should not have "appeared" so early, came to Dahan in advance by chance.

The Shu and Shi clans are roughly bounded by 100,000 yuan of family money, and the following ones are Shu clans, and the above ones are Shi clans.

The former accounts for more than 80 percent, while the latter accounts for only 20 percent.

In terms of numbers, the Shu people have the advantage; Judging by the power in hand, the nobles won.

……

At this time, these Confucian scholars gathered outside the city gate were the best among them, and they were also the main force in this debate.

They had been waiting here for an hour, and at first they were quiet, but when they were tired and bored, they began to argue with the people around them again.

At first, it was just the young Confucian students standing in the back who "talked about it", but soon, the argument came to the front like a wave.

Among the Confucian scholars present, more and more people joined in the controversy.

At the beginning, because there were great Confucians like Wang Shi, Hou Cang and Wei Xian in front of them, the Confucian students didn't dare to make a loud noise, and they tried to keep their voices low when arguing.

But suddenly, a loud voice suddenly emerged from the crowd.

"In my opinion, the opening of the imperial examination by the county officials is a great benevolent and benevolent act." The person who said this was called Shi Yun, and he was the best among the young generation of Confucian scholars.

He came from a humble background, his father died when he was a child, and his mother took him to remarry someone else, and the family didn't say that it was 100,000 yuan, but it was estimated that there was not even 10,000 yuan.

Although he was unfortunate in his childhood, Shi Yun was very intelligent, and after enlightening and reading the Bible, he showed a very high level of understanding.

When he was thirteen years old, he was recommended by the three elders and scripture teachers in the township to the doctor of the Book of Changes, Guan Tian Wangsun, and became a doctoral disciple of Taixue.

In the next ten years, he became a leader among the Confucian scholars of this generation.

Shi Yun is good at reading the scriptures, and he is a chivalrous man, and he dances with a good sword, and Confucian scholars of his generation praise him for having "the legacy of the sub-road".

In the recent controversy in Chang'an City, Shi Yun naturally became the leading figure among the Shu people.

As soon as Shi Yun's words fell, a sneer came from the crowd around him.

"Hmph, Shi Gong has a few bowls of bean rice in his stomach today, and he dares to make such a loud noise."

The surrounding Confucian scholars followed the prestige, and soon saw two young Confucian scholars wearing silk and satin not far away, looking at Shi Yun with contempt.

The Confucian scholars immediately recognized these two people, one of them was called Liang Qiuhe and the other was called Meng Xi—both disciples of Tian Wangsun.

Suddenly, the argument in the audience gradually subsided, and some people even retreated faintly, leaving a small open space for the three people who spoke.

It seems that these "Tianmen Three Heroes" are going to have another debate today.

Others can only stand aside.

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(End of chapter)