Chapter 138 Jixia Academy
In the north of Ji County, a magnificent academy stands quietly like a giant.
The architectural style is simple and solemn, with vermilion columns supporting the flying eaves and brackets, and the staggered buildings showing elegance.
The courtyard is deep, with study rooms scattered around in an orderly manner. Plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum are cleverly distributed everywhere. Every blade of grass, every brick and tile displays a unique charm.
In the center, three huge palaces stood side by side, with a magnificent momentum. On each of them hung a plaque, with the huge names of "Wanshu Pavilion", "Lunxue Pavilion" and "Baijia Pavilion" shining in the sun.
At the south gate of the academy, the tall gate tower demonstrates unparalleled majesty and grandeur. The four ancient and powerful characters written in strokes make people stand in awe.
Jixia Academy!
Looking at this most luxurious and magnificent building under his rule, Tian Ze felt filled with pride.
As a descendant of the Tian Qi Dynasty, he lived up to his ancestors' wishes and restored their glory by recreating the former splendor of the Jixia Academy.
Behind them, Chen Gong and others looked at the huge Jixia Academy, and they could hardly suppress their excitement and shock.
They seemed to see a grand and prosperous era about to begin, and they, as participants who created all of this with their own hands, would surely leave a strong mark in this historical canvas and live forever.
"My lord, there are tens of thousands of houses in the Jixia Academy, and thousands of waiters are prepared. All supplies are extremely exquisite, and the environment is elegant and pleasant. It can accommodate 100,000 students." Chen Gong's voice was steady and powerful, with a hint of pride.
"It houses the 'Ten Thousand Books Pavilion', the 'Learning Pavilion', the 'Hundred Schools Pavilion' and many lecture halls."
"There are tens of thousands of classics in the 'Wanshu Pavilion', including not only all the books in the Dongguan Collection, but also many books provided by Tian Lao, Zigan Gong, Bo Kai Gong and others."
"Of course, they are not original copies. They are all photocopies made using printing techniques. The originals have been properly preserved. In addition, there are many backup copies in the academy, which can be supplemented at any time."
Speaking of this, Chen Gong couldn't help but feel deeply moved.
I think most of the books in the world are gathered here!
Needless to say, the collection of books in the Dongguan was also extremely rich. The collections of Cai Yong, Lu Zhi and others were also extremely rich.
The most crucial person is the Wuzhong Tian family, now it should be said that the patriarch of the Wujun Tian family, Tian Yan, actually provided a large number of rare books, almost catching up with half of the Dongguan collection!
Moreover, many of the books were rare treasures, which really opened his eyes.
I'm afraid the world has misjudged it. Perhaps this seemingly insignificant small family is the one that has inherited the most of Tian Qi's legacy.
"There are three large halls and dozens of small halls in the 'Learning Hall', which can be used for students to debate. There are several large halls in the 'Hundred Schools Hall', which can be used for hundreds of schools of thought to preach."
"There are also agricultural halls, medical halls, work halls, martial arts halls, etc. in the academy. There are a large number of various types of farmland, medical facilities, workshop equipment, simple sand tables, etc., which can be used by people from hundreds of schools for practical practice."
"In the square in front of the academy, there is a teaching platform, which can be used by various schools of thought to publicize their own learning and debate."
"The palace has selected a group of officials with relatively good talents and potential from among the officials in various places, and they are preparing to take turns to study and further their studies."
"In addition, there are talented people from colleges in various places, as well as children and teenagers with excellent grades, high comprehension, and good moral character selected from a large number of schools. There are about 10,000 of them. When the scholars from all over the world arrive, they can enter the school as disciples..."
Tian Ze listened to Chen Gong's report, nodded slightly, and felt relieved.
Finally, it’s time to begin!
This is the moment for him to completely reveal his cards and declare war on the aristocratic families!
Although he had encountered resistance from the aristocratic families before, he was not overly feared by them.
Because although he had no shortage of petty officials, he lacked senior officials. Most of his officials were from poor families or aristocratic families, and only a small number were talented people he had trained.
Relying solely on a large number of petty officials to govern the country can be maintained in the short term, but once the time span is extended, a large number of problems will inevitably arise.
Now, under Tian Ze's rule, there are already signs of bad things such as inefficiency and internal conflicts.
Because at the beginning everyone was a new refugee with little property, the resources distributed to each other were relatively fair, there were not many problems, and they were all similar, so it was relatively easy to manage.
However, after several years of development, some people have accumulated a certain amount of wealth through hard work, while others are still standing still for various reasons, resulting in a certain degree of wealth differentiation.
It is no longer possible to continue to manage in the same way as before. This situation poses a great challenge to the comprehensive quality of officials. If it cannot be solved, the problem will become bigger and bigger.
In the eyes of the aristocratic families, Tian Ze has such flaws that he will eventually have to bow to them.
Because the training of officials cannot be done by just a few books, it requires a large number of teachers.
Just looking at the few upright and humble people that Tian Ze recruited, not only did they have shortcomings in ability, but their numbers were also small.
There are not enough officials to be trained, and it is very difficult to manage a state.
However, there are many shortcomings in allowing petty clerks who have been trained through cramming education with modern knowledge to serve as officials.
Having not received a systematic education, they mostly just carry out their work mechanically, have not developed independent personalities, and lack a deep understanding of history.
As a result, they lack their own thinking and mature ideas for action. In terms of leadership decision-making, management coordination, knowledge and quality, adaptability and innovation, they are indeed far behind the children of aristocratic families who have been systematically trained. Most of them can only be executors, but not decision-makers.
Due to the lack of teachers, Tian Ze has been committed to popularizing education, which is just to let ordinary people and children learn to read, have a certain ability to distinguish right from wrong and basic management skills. Then select some talented people from them and train them as low-level officials.
It is highly unlikely that Tian Ze can train qualified middle and high-level officials with only modern knowledge and some books, because the thinking and cognitive level of the people in this era can hardly support them to grow to this level, and there is not enough time.
The aristocratic families have an extremely systematic and complete training system, otherwise they would not be able to cultivate so many heroes. After all, this is not an era where corrupt scholars are rampant. There are many Confucian scholars with real talents and the ability to govern the world.
In this era, resources such as book collections and teachers are firmly in the hands of the aristocratic families. No matter how powerful Tian Ze is, he will inevitably be infiltrated by the aristocratic families.
Because the Eastern Han Dynasty had cultivated aristocratic families for hundreds of years, they knew too well how to secretly influence or even control a political power. As long as Tian Ze wanted to govern the country well, he needed them.
This is why Emperor Lingdi of Han chose to build Hongdu Academy even though the Han Dynasty had Taixue. Even so, he could only find another way to train a group of people who were good at poetry and songs to serve as officials.
Did Emperor Ling not want to cultivate talents for governing the country? Or was it simply for his own preference? I'm afraid not, because he had no choice. If you want to cultivate talents for governing the country, you must rely on teachers from aristocratic families. With their assimilation ability, after a long time, it will become another imperial school.
And how could Tian Ze not be aware of his own shortcomings? It's just that the time is not yet ripe, so he doesn't dare to take action easily.
He has been busy in Liaodong for so many years, and it seems that he has made quite a lot of noise, but the aristocratic families don't care about such a small place.
Moreover, whether it was land, taxes, education or official selection, Tian Ze only implemented it secretly and did not fully roll it out or reveal it in the open.
The previous trial in Youzhou had caused such a huge response. If Tian Ze really used a big move, it would cause a huge uproar.
A big part of the reason why Tian Ze and Yuan Shao reached a truce was to wait for the opportunity.
And now, the time has come.
"If we want to truly break the monopoly of the aristocratic families, we must solve at least four problems." Tian Ze murmured.
"The world is in chaos and we have absolute control by force. This is the basic guarantee for breaking the monopoly."
"The control of land, the reform of taxation and the rational distribution of wealth will break the economic monopoly."
"The popularization of education, the improvement of people's quality and relatively extensive systematic education have broken the monopoly of culture."
"A relatively fair and smooth official promotion system breaks the political monopoly."
"With this Jixia Academy, the last piece of the puzzle will be filled in. Now, we have everything we need."
Listening to Tian Ze's calm words, Chen Gong and others felt their eyes turn red and their blood boiled. They seemed to see a brand new era coming.
“The time to change the world is almost here!”
(End of this chapter)
