Rebirth: Overthrow Song Dynasty

On May 15, Zhao Chen convened the fourth military meeting to discuss the reform of education and imperial examinations.

Everyone sat together with different faces.

It has been a month since the first discussion on the educational imperial examination. Zhao Chen originally thought that everyone could go back and think about it, but the dispute became more and more serious.

"Teacher, I did not deny the orthodoxy of Confucianism! In the schools of the future, Confucianism will still occupy the mainstream position! Why do you firmly oppose joining practical learning?" Zhao Chen looked at Li Gang and said.

"Your Majesty, practical learning is a skill! If you add it, because these skills are really helpful to the world, the world will value it, and will despise the learning of a sage in the future!" Li Gang road.

"Your Majesty, Master Li is right! If we promote practical learning, it is very likely that we will overwhelm the host in the future! Even if there is only a slight possibility, we cannot allow it to happen! Therefore, the best way at present is not to conduct practical learning. Only Confucianism is the right way!" Li Ruoshui said.

Zhao Chen frowned, he didn't expect people like Li Gang and Li Ruoshui to be so stubborn.

"Your Majesty, you and I have known each other for many years, and I have seen you step by step to the present! My Great Song Dynasty has unified the world, and the country is becoming more and more prosperous! The Great Song Dynasty is already very good, and we can adopt the ancient system for many things. , why do you want to make changes?" Li Gang said.

"Teacher, when I set up the Military Aircraft Office and General Staff Headquarters in Hanzhong and Guanshan, and implemented the rent reduction order, you were able to support me at that time. Why can't you support me now? It was a change then, and it is a change now!" Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, this is different! Confucianism is fundamental to the world, and it is the truth that has existed for thousands of years! If Confucianism is touched, the world will experience great turmoil. At that time, the country will not be a country, so Confucianism must not be changed!" Li Gangdao .

"If I really forcibly reform education and imperial examinations, do you really want to resign, sir?" Zhao Chen said after a long silence.

"That's right! If at that time, the country will not be a country, I would rather retire and return to my hometown than watch the country become like that!" Li Gang said.

"Your Majesty, if that time comes, I will retire and return home with the Prime Minister!" Li Ruoshui also said.

"Let me think again!" Zhao Chen frowned and said.

After the military aircraft meeting dispersed this time, Zhao Chen came to Li Gang’s mansion, personally persuaded Li Gang, and even agreed to Li Gang’s experiments in some areas of the country instead of promoting education and imperial examination reforms throughout the country. Who knows that Li Gang has not even agreed to this now! Li Gang believes that "practical learning" is the source of cholera, and it must not be implemented!

Not only that, but in the next few days Li Gang and Li Ruoshui jointly wrote hundreds of Confucian scholars in Yanyun area to write a letter to Zhao Chen, claiming that the ancestral system cannot be changed.

*** ***

It has come to the 21st day of the fifth lunar month, spring has passed quietly, and summer has arrived.

At dusk, Zhao Chen and Wang Shu were walking by the lakeside of the palace.

The breeze blows, a burst of coolness.

"Wang Shu, if you are allowed to be prime minister, will you be able to do it?" Zhao Chen had been thinking for a while, and then suddenly asked.

"Ah! Your Majesty, what do you mean?" Wang Shu was taken aback and said.

"Nothing! Many things are difficult to decide!" Zhao Chen shook his head, left Wang Shu and walked forward.

After dark, he came to Li Gang's mansion again to persuade him, but Li Gang still refused! Zhao Chen listed all kinds of reasons, but Li Gang could not refute them, but he still insisted that Confucianism is the knowledge of sages, all schools in the world can only learn Confucianism, and imperial examinations can only test Confucianism!

After Zhao Chen returned from Li Gang's residence, it was already midnight.

He was standing by the lake, looking into the distance, when a woman in white came to him from behind.

"What's on the emperor's mind?" came a faint voice.

"I am very troubled by the affairs of the imperial court! Li Gang is my teacher. I have shared weal and woe with him for many years, and I even treat him as my father in my heart, but now he is the first to oppose me. I really don't know what to do." Zhao Chen turned his head and smiled wryly.

The woman in white behind her was Qin Yuzhen, her eyes were unusually bright, and there was a trace of concern in her eyes.

"Your Majesty, if you are really reasonable, you should be able to convince him." Qin Yuzhen said.

"Now it's reasonable and I can't explain it! No matter how many reasons I tell him, he won't listen! He has established a concept in his heart, and no one can persuade him. I used to think that the teacher was wise and smart, but I didn't expect him to have the same idea." Stubborn side." Zhao Chen said.

"Everyone has something to insist on!" Qin Yuzhen said.

"What do you insist on in your heart?" Zhao Chen asked.

Qin Yuzhen shook his head, with a confused look in his eyes.

She is an outstanding disciple trained by the Tianshan School. Back then, her master asked her to go down the mountain to save the world from disasters, but now the world's disasters have long since disappeared, and she doesn't know what to do. As for cultivating Taoism, that is just her way of life, there is not much difference between being in the world and in the mountains. If it is said that she insists on the Tao, it seems a bit wrong, at least she does not agree with it very much in her heart, and sometimes she even thinks that she can give up the Tao.

"Yuzhen, the 'Tao' is an illusory thing, and no one can verify it! There are yin and yang in heaven and earth, and men and women in people! Since heaven and earth have made people into men and women, it is for the purpose of combining each other. This is the right way of heaven and earth. I don’t know. Do you agree?" Zhao Chen suddenly smiled and said.

"This..." Qin Yuzhen was stunned for a while, then nodded.

"I have a lot of worldly truths in my heart! Do you know why human beings are the spirits of all things? Why can human beings enslave other creatures?" Zhao Chen laughed.

"Because human beings are favored by heaven!" Qin Yuzhen said.

"This statement is wrong! Human beings have only a million years of history to become the spirit of all things! Millions of years ago, there were other species that ruled the world, but not human beings! Taoists try to understand the origin of all things in the world through the study of 'Tao', Knowing the truth of the world, I have never agreed with it." Zhao Chen said.

"How do you know this?" Qin Yuzhen asked curiously and surprised.

"Natural selection, survival of the fittest, this is the fundamental reason why human beings become the spirits of all things! As for why I know these things, I have already told you some time ago, there are fossils and ancient objects in the world, through these you can Know a lot of things!" Zhao Chen said.

Qin Yuzhen nodded slightly.

"Actually, I am also curious about your Taoism and Buddhism. I am curious about many things, including how I came to this world... It is too lonely to live alone in the world. Only when you are with the one you love can you feel Warmth. Yuzhen, from now on, you and I will be together, rely on each other, never leave, and explore the truth of the world together, do you agree?" Zhao Chen took Qin Yuzhen's hand and said softly.

Qin Yuzhen gritted his silver teeth lightly, and nodded after a long time.

Zhao Chen was overjoyed, and immediately hugged Qin Yuzhen into his arms, and Qin Yuzhen hugged him tightly.

The two stood by the lake like this, not separated for a long time.

"If you are in my position and can't convince others at all, what should you do?" Zhao Chen said.

"Cut the mess with a sharp knife! You know so much, what you say should be right, then do it according to your ideas." Qin Yuzhen said.

This time it was Zhao Chen who fell silent, and after a while he said: "Li Gang is my teacher, so it is always difficult to make a decision! If it were someone else, I would not even bother! Regarding the reform of the education and imperial examinations, I have already thought about the stakes. Except for a few Confucian scholars who will oppose me, the vast majority of people will not oppose me! Especially the army and the Production and Construction Corps will not object! Central Plains, Yanyun, North, Liaodong People from all over the world just because I can eat enough, the matter of educating the imperial examination has little to do with them on the surface, and they will not oppose me! And this matter is indeed beneficial to the world, so let's do it like this!"

*** ***

On the morning of the second day, Li Gang was dealing with government affairs, and Zhao Chen called him into the imperial study.

Li Gang sat there, looked at Zhao Chen, and said, "Your Majesty, do you have something to say?"

The look of hesitation on Zhao Chen's face flashed past, he sighed a long time, and said: "Teacher, from Kaifeng to Tongguan, from Tongguan to Hanzhong, and then to Jiangnan and Yanyun, you have always accompanied me and escorted me ! Without you, there would be no me now!"

Li Gang was listening, but gradually Li Gang's face changed slightly. He stared at Zhao Chen, only to see Zhao Chen turned his head away from him, and he suddenly guessed Zhao Chen's plan.

"Your Majesty, do you still want to reform education and imperial examinations?" Li Gang suddenly stood up and said.

"Not bad!" Zhao Chen nodded.

"Your Majesty, you are forcing me to leave the court!" Li Gang said.

"Teacher, I hope you can still stay in the imperial court and still guide me! But education and imperial examinations are related to the future of the country and the nation. I clearly know that it was wrong before, but now I can't change it. I can't agree to this!" Zhao Chen said. .

"Your Majesty, don't say any more! In fact, sometimes I also think that what you said is reasonable, but I grew up reading the book of sages, and I can't accept the change of the status of the sages! It’s time to return home! After leaving home for so many years, many relatives don’t know what’s going on.” Li Gang said with a wry smile on his face.

"Teacher, you and I just have different political views. The relationship between you and me remains unchanged. Teacher should have brought relatives to Yanjing long ago. From now on, I will take care of you, Teacher." Zhao Chen said.

"I can't see the status of Confucianism changing, so I would rather leave Yanjing! From now on, I will hide in an old house in the country like an ordinary old man, and never ask about world affairs again!" Li Gang shook his head and said.

"Teacher, why bother? Let's make a bet. Ten years from now, after the education and imperial examinations are completely reformed, the country will definitely be better than before, and the official situation will also be better than before. I don't know if the teacher believes it or not?" Zhao Chen said.

"I'm old, I don't care about what you said." Li Gang said with a cold face.

"Teacher, you have to stay no matter what." Zhao Chen said.

"No need! Now that His Majesty has made a decision, the old minister will retire and return home! Farewell!" Li Gang left without looking back.

In the afternoon of the same day, many ministers of the Military Aircraft Department got the news that Li Gang was dismissed. After that, Li Ruoshui, Li Chuwen and others also wrote letters to return home, and Zhao Chen all agreed.