amaotonovel Chapter 190 I Hired a Scholar to Beat You
Chapter 190 I Hired a Scholar to Beat You
"Dealing with intellectuals?"
Magistrate Yang Shaofeng stared blankly at Wang Qiong, asking with utter bewilderment, "Do we really need to deal with scholars?"
No, could it be that Old Deng is just bored and deliberately sent Wang Qiong to Ningyang County to amuse me?
Because no matter how hard he tried, Magistrate Yang couldn't understand how Zhu Chongba, the emperor, could be so ruthless as to not know the weaknesses of these scholars.
Faced with Magistrate Yang's question, Wang Qiong couldn't help but sigh and say, "Those scholars keep shouting that they want to be loyal to Hu Yuan and would rather die than serve as officials. What can His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince do? They can't arrest and kill them all, nor can they send them all to Ningyang County to do hard labor, can they?"
It is not impossible.
Forcibly swallowing those five words, Magistrate Yang looked at Wang Qiong and asked, "So, His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince want to force those scholars to become officials?"
Wang Qiong feigned displeasure and snorted, saying, "Brother Yang, you're wrong. It's clearly His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince who are eager to find talented people."
Magistrate Yang chuckled, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Brother Wang, do you know why these scholars are unwilling to serve as officials? Or rather, compared to the Yuan Dynasty, where does our Great Ming fall short?"
Wang Qiong was slightly taken aback, then shook his head and said, "Brother Yang, you've stumped me. In my opinion, our Great Ming Dynasty certainly has many shortcomings, but no matter how bad our Great Ming Dynasty is, it is still a thousand times, ten thousand times better than the Yuan Dynasty."
Magistrate Yang nodded first, then shook his head and said, "That may be true for Brother Wang, and it may also be true for the common people, but it's a different story for scholars."
“Back in the Yuan Dynasty, these scholars were all Confucian households. They didn’t have to pay taxes or perform corvée labor. They could even ride horses. They were much better off than ordinary people. Naturally, they felt a sense of superiority when facing the common people.”
Wang Qiong nodded, and Yang Shaofeng continued, "But in our Great Ming Dynasty, His Majesty frequently exempts taxes, and common people can ride horses and cattle at will. These scholars no longer have their original sense of superiority. How can they be happy about that?"
"Of course, if it were just this sense of superiority in status, it wouldn't be so bad for them. But what they really can't accept is that His Majesty and the court would rather exempt taxes than release them for them to buy—the inability to buy taxes is what they find most unacceptable."
Wang Qiong stared blankly at Magistrate Yang, "Buying taxes? If we let them buy taxes again, wouldn't our Great Ming become another Yuan dynasty? This..."
Yang Shaofeng sneered and said, "Does he care whether you are the Ming Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty? Brother Wang, do you believe that if the Yuan Dynasty's Tartars launch a counterattack, and once they show any signs of success, these scholars will frantically wag their tails to the Tartars?"
Wang Qiong paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "What do you think, Brother Yang?"
Yang Shaofeng smiled, stood up and said, "Wang Qiong, why don't you accompany me for a walk around the county school?"
Wang Qiong didn't understand what he meant, but she still obediently stood up and followed Yang Shaofeng out of the county government office, and then walked towards the Confucian Temple to the east of the county government office.
When they arrived near the Minglun Hall of the Confucian Temple, they could already hear the sound of reading coming from inside. Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "The students in the county school are all children from the families of the eight communities and sixteen neighborhoods of Ningyang County."
Wang Qiong nodded, "Brother Yang has never forgotten to teach and guide, which is truly commendable."
Yang Shaofeng smiled and continued, "Then you probably don't know, Brother Wang, that after His Majesty's three-year exemption from taxes and corvée labor ends, I will continue to exempt the families of these children from corvée labor. If any of these children are able to pass the county school entrance exam, I will continue to exempt them. If they are able to pass the prefectural school entrance exam, I will exempt their families again, until the child leaves school."
Wang Qiong nodded again. "Brother Yang's method truly considers the people's well-being and will allow more children to attend school in the future."
Yang Shaofeng said, "If a child passes the county school exam but fails the prefectural school exam twice, in your opinion, should we continue to exempt them from corvée labor, or should we impose corvée labor on them?"
Wang Qiong said, "Supporting a scholar is not easy. It not only costs a lot of money, but also reduces the number of laborers working in the fields. So it should be given preferential treatment."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Then may I ask you, Brother Wang, if all the children from the more than 500 households in Ningyang County come to study, will there still be corvée labor to be conscripted in Ningyang County in the future? Therefore, it is appropriate to exempt them from corvée labor while they are studying, because we must consider the people. However, once they leave the school and go home, the corvée labor cannot be exempted anymore, because we must consider the court."
"In other words, if these scholars from the Yuan Dynasty were unwilling to serve as officials, what kind of scholars were they? If they were no longer scholars, what did it matter to them whether they were exempt from taxes and corvée labor?"
"Just because they know a few words, do they think they're superior to ordinary people?"
"Isn't that bullshit? There are over two thousand people in Ningyang County now. You can pick any one of them and they can recognize three to five hundred characters. Aren't they scholars? Will the imperial court still collect taxes and corvée labor in Ningyang County in the future?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba initially genuinely valued scholars. Whether it was establishing numerous community schools, standardizing school uniforms, or providing students with stipends for meals, these actions sufficiently demonstrate Zhu's emphasis on scholars and should be considered one of his achievements in civil administration.
Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang ruined this policy of encouraging people to study. In the later years of the Ming Dynasty, too many scholars were produced, and even the joke of "I hire a scholar to beat you" emerged. This was because scholars had a series of privileges, such as not having to kneel before officials. However, official positions were always limited, with only one person per position. The number of people recruited in each imperial examination was limited, and the opportunity to become an official was also limited. Therefore, the scholars in the later years of the Ming Dynasty simply formed gangs and became literary scoundrels.
"After that, the young scholars became increasingly arrogant, often using the Qin dynasty's 'burial' to coerce their superiors. The local gentry feared them like accomplices. Occasionally, when wealthy people held banquets with beautiful women, they would invite one or two scholars to sit in the seats of honor to prevent any unforeseen events."
“With a single call, dozens would gather, forcing prefectures and counties to deal with matters that were beyond the reach of the law. If their wishes were slightly displeased, they would raise their arms and shout, rising up in a clamor, leaving the prefectural officials powerless to stop them. Thus, the title of ‘Blue-Robed King’ arose, and the virtuous were implicated by the unworthy.”
Of course, all these messy and messy things only appeared in the late Ming Dynasty, but from another perspective, when the Ming Dynasty was first established, could it also be said that it was the late or end period of the Yuan Dynasty?
Does that mean that scholars in the late Yuan Dynasty were any better than scholars in the late Ming Dynasty?
Yang Shaofeng sneered and said, "If you don't become an official, you're just a commoner. As a commoner, you have to pay taxes and perform labor. It's really that simple."