Ye Chunqiu's words made Chen Rong and Zhang Jin stunned. Chen Rong was slightly stunned and fell into deep thought. He could not deny that the standards and rules that Ye Chunqiu mentioned were indeed refreshing.

Ye Chunqiu looked at their expressions and knew that they had understood the profound meaning of his words. At this moment, he smiled and continued: "In fact, for Taizu, he didn't care what scholars really had. What he cared about was that most of the people who read were gentry families. Ordinary people couldn't even have enough food to eat, so where would they have leisure to study? Only those who had leisure, if they didn't give them a little work and didn't spend their energy on the places that Emperor Taizu wanted to use, then they would have some reputation in the local area, some family background, and some knowledgeable people gathered together. If they were slandering the public or had bad plans, then the Ming Dynasty would have a big trouble."

"So the level of learning is not important. What he wants is that everyone has seen the expectations of the Golden List. They have spent all their energy on this Golden List. At the same time, if these people are in high school, they will be used by Taizu, but as for those who fail, they have to expect to take the exam again next year."

"Therefore, it doesn't matter whether the eight-legged essays or not. If the eight-legged essays do not select scholars, you can also select scholars. If the poetry does not select scholars, even if you use mathematics to select scholars, what if you use mathematics to select scholars?"

"The key to the problem is the rules!"

Speaking of this, Ye Chunqiu no longer felt relaxed. Instead, he suddenly showed off his dignity as King Lu and said seriously: "Setting rules means that who has talent and who is a fool is the final decision. Today, he has set new rules. A year ago, no matter how good a talented man in the eight-legged essay was, he would be useless if he did not obediently learn new knowledge."

"So, what Chunqiu means is to test poetry?" Chen Rong was stunned for a moment, and asked at Ye Chunqiu with a frown.

"No." Ye Chunqiu said seriously: "Does the eight-legged essay have any effect on governing the country? What's the use of governing the people of one side? It's useless. In the rules set by Emperor Taizu, the so-called eight-legged essay is actually a stepping stone. They asked them to knock on the door and become officials, and then let these smart people understand how to be an official by themselves. Now that they need to change, what's the point of replacing the eight-legged essay with poetry? It's meaningless. Now that new rules are needed, it is still necessary to be pragmatic while setting new standards."

Chen Rong also listened to Ye Chunqiu's analysis one by one. At this moment, he nodded repeatedly and said, "Chunqiu is right, but it is neither a essay nor a poem. So... what should we choose as a scholar?"

Ye Chunqiu smiled and said, "How is the law?"

"Law?"

Chen Rong thought about it and couldn't help but ponder. The law is indeed practical. After all, reading this book of law carefully and understanding the law is not a bad thing. At least if you become an official in the future, you will need to take on lawsuits from the people.

But in fact, many scholars who started out as eight-legged essays became officials. They were afraid that their knowledge of the provisions of the law was limited. When verdicts were sentenced, they mostly rely on free hearts to prove it. If you say you are guilty, you are guilty, and if you are not guilty, you are not guilty. Many times, the so-called unjust case is not something that officials protect each other or accept property. In fact, it is all arbitrary sentence by local officials.

At this time, Ye Chunqiu said again: "Laws and orders are also the rules of the court. In this rule, everyone is required to abide by them. The Ming Dynasty has always had laws and orders, but the people do not take laws and orders seriously. Brother Chen, what do you think is the reason?"

Chen Rong smiled bitterly and said, "Don't always ask me back, don't keep it in your mouth."

Ye Chunqiu smiled cheerfully, took a sip of wine, apologized and said, "It's mine, no, okay, I'll just say it straightforwardly. In fact, the Ming Dynasty has its own laws and regulations. In addition to the Ming Dynasty, Taizu also issued a special imperial edict. In order to deeply root the great edicts, Emperor Taizu even required all households to collect the great edicts. But in fact? In fact, the people did not take these seriously. This is not because the people were stupid, but because even the local officials who decided the criminal law still had a little understanding of the laws and regulations. So what if you people abide by the laws and regulations? Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, there was not much difference between laws and regulations and a piece of waste paper. Officials didn't know much, and they were too lazy to read the various laws and regulations that were piled up like mountains. But the people knew that what determines everything was not the articles in the laws and regulations. So, who would take the laws and regulations seriously?"

"So, only in this way can scholars all over the world learn the Daming Law, and become officials, and they can apply what they have learned. Once officials start looking for various provisions in the laws and regulations to determine cases, then ordinary people know the benefits of the laws and regulations, so no one dares to touch the taboos in the laws and regulations. Therefore, the people will learn some laws and regulations, and even more so, scholars. Once officials make cases, once they break away from the laws and regulations, they will have to be criticized by those scholars who are proficient in laws and regulations, and question them by those people who know a little bit of the laws and regulations. Such unjust and wrong cases can be restrained. Even if officials protect each other or collude with others, it will not be so easy."

Chen Rong kept saying yes, and even Zhang Jin nodded in agreement with him with great reason.

Using the rules as standards is indeed of great benefit. This will make a large number of people read the rules and regulations as if they are familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, and memorize the rules and regulations thoroughly. The more people are proficient in any case, if an official is too much judged, it will be easily questioned and criticized by others. How can officials dare to make random judgments for the sake of official voices?

But Chen Rong thought about it, but frowned and said, "But the problem is that the law is dead, just like the Four Books and Five Classics. How many scholars can memorize it in a few years? Then wouldn't everyone be able to dictate the Ming Dynasty law after an exam? I wonder how many people will be in high school because of this? Besides, how can scholars distinguish the quality of their grades?"

This is indeed a difficult problem, but Ye Chunqiu said: "Law is just a kind of examination, not just one law. Do local officials, even ministers of various ministries, need not understand some economic methods? If you are blind and know nothing about money and food, you will be a confused official if you become an official."
Chapter completed!