Text|Editor: Zhang Qingfeng
Many people will take the civil service exam when they are young, and the exam will become the top priority in their lives.
However, these madness are not worth mentioning in front of the ancients, in order to become an official through the imperial examination, the ancients were really overhanging and stabbing at the head, and they couldn't wait to take their lives.
The imperial examination system was simply too important to the ancient people, and it has been shining for feudal society since Emperor Wen of Sui introduced the imperial examination.
But who would have thought that in the later years of Emperor Wen of Sui, there was still a risk that the imperial examination would be abolished!
A hundred wastes are waiting to be rebuilt, and Emperor Wen of Sui ascends the throne
Speaking of the imperial examination system, we have to start with the founder of the imperial examination, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, who is known to be the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, so how did he come up with the method of imperial examination?
In fact, this has something to do with Emperor Wen of Sui's own "history of the ascendancy", because he was an aristocrat in the previous dynasty, and at that time, aristocratic collusion simply became a social trend.
As we all know, before the imperial examination, the imperial court used the nine-grade Zhongzheng system when promoting talents, and the most direct consequence of this system was that poor students could not even touch the threshold of becoming officials.
Yang Jian was also a nobleman in the previous dynasty, received a good education and also entered the court as an official, and saw the intricate chaos in these officialdoms.
Although Yang Jian at that time disdained to be in the company of these people who formed a party for personal gain, he could only sigh privately because he could not pry the entire officialdom and needed to be an official and fulfill his duties.
But an opportunity appeared that gave Yang Jian to subvert the system and kick out the officialdom of this group of corrupt families who colluded with each other, and this opportunity was the establishment of the Sui Dynasty.
Now that Yang Jian became the emperor, he had the final say on how to select talents! In this way, he introduced the imperial examination system, which was called "looking for talents."
Under Yang Jian's vigorous promotion, not only the education level of the people has been improved, but the people's hearts have also rekindled their expectations for entering the court as officials, which is called winning the hearts of the people.
Although the saying that "water can carry a boat and can also overturn a boat" only appeared in the Tang Dynasty, Yang Jian has long understood this truth and firmly grasped the hearts of the people with the imperial examination.
So, did the imperial examination system bring Yang Jian the talent he desired?
Xingkeju took the opportunity to suppress the clan
The imperial examination system of the Sui Dynasty was actually not as strict as that of the later ones, and at the beginning there were only two subjects, "Xiucai" and "Ming Jing", which required several years of hard study and examinations before they could be selected.
But even so, the imperial examination system still brought fresh talents to the Sui Dynasty, and the most important thing is that the talents selected by the imperial examination were the power of the emperor and were not controlled by the old nobles.
You must know that when the Jiupin Zhongzheng system was implemented, you didn't need to take an exam to be an official, but as long as you were recommended by a senior official, you could pass, and as long as you were selected by the "Zhongzheng official" who had a good relationship with the family, you could be promoted and make a fortune immediately.
So where did the "Zhongzheng Guan" come from? Of course, they were also selected from among the educated aristocrats, so the bias of the Zhongzheng Guan's selection of talents was obvious -- they did not choose the right ones, but only those who were close to them.
Therefore, in the book "Shishuo Xinyu", which records the literati during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, you can see that those literati and nobles who were officials were either surnamed Xie or surnamed Wang, not only the names were stupid and unclear, but the relationship was also intertwined, and sons-in-law and uncles and nephews abounded.
At that time, if you want to be an official, you only need one condition, you can be reincarnated, and those who can't be reincarnated can't show a little bit no matter how big your ambitions are.
Under such a rotten system, the officialdom of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties can be said to be harmonious, after all, when I looked up at the last dynasty, I saw that it was all relatives, so how could I quarrel!
is even more excessive, skip the emperor directly, discuss it yourself, and don't put the emperor in his eyes at all, Yang Jian didn't see such a thing when he was an official, and now that he is the emperor, he will definitely not be happy to see it.
In this way, Yang Jian came up with a good idea to use the exam to select talents, even the children of the family need to take the exam first, and if they want to be an official, they will do the emperor's exam paper first!
This strategy launched by Emperor Wen of Sui is like throwing a catfish into a pot of sardines, which scares the sardines into running around and becoming active, after all, those who pass the imperial examination will really take away their right to speak.
The method of taking scholars through the imperial examination can be said to kill two birds with one stone, which can not only appease the people and strengthen their wise image as emperors, but also frighten and scare the clan and weaken their power.
After all, if the people want to be officials, they will study harder, and the patriotic ideas of loyalty and patriotism hidden in the book will of course imperceptibly educate them.
And the gate lord clan is eager for their rights not to be taken away, and when they realize that they have to rely on the emperor to earn a living after all, they will try to please the emperor and dare not make a mistake.
In this way, the emperors of the Sui Dynasty watched the group of ministers in the court come and go as if they were watching ants fight, and in the end they all had to rely on themselves, not to mention how happy they were.
Not only that, but the imperial examination system did bring some talents to the Sui Dynasty, although the Sui Dynasty was very short, with only two generations of emperors, and the imperial examination system lasted a long time in each round, but the emperors still found some good talents.
And the most important thing is that the imperial examination system has established a strong atmosphere of scholars, and a large number of scholars have been established by Taixue official schools, which also provides new talent candidates for future generations.
But such a good system can't escape being abolished, and it is even an order personally issued by Emperor Wen of Sui himself, why is this?
The abolition of the imperial examination has a hidden meaning behind it
There are many reasons behind the abolition of the imperial examination, the first of which is the laxity of the imperial examination system, which is a very serious problem.
Why is it said that the imperial examination system is not rigorous? Because as early as the Sui Dynasty, although the imperial examination was also an examination, the names of the people who took the examination were not blocked.
The big families who were originally entrenched in the officialdom were worried all day long when they heard that the emperor was going to take the exam, but they didn't even cover their names when they saw it, isn't it a waste of worry!
After all, this group of rich and powerful old fritters may not be able to govern the country and be officials, and buying people's hearts and favoritism is simply a passive skill that comes with being born.
So there are policies and countermeasures, the emperor selects people for the imperial examination here, and the corrupt officials bribe the examiners on the other side, and stuff the names of their children directly into the passing list, opening the back door openly.
After a long time, the emperor saw that there was still such a group of people in the court? Only then did he realize that he had been deceived, and he had no choice but to cancel the imperial examination.
Although there are really poor children who have been selected, how can a single-handedly scholar be able to fight against a group of traitors with nepotism? As a result, many scholars who have been admitted can only be a small official, and they will not be of much use.
The most important thing is the power of feudal superstition, probably because he wants to live longer, and in his later years, Emperor Wen of Sui also liked to worship Buddha and seek scriptures like other feudal emperors, which is a big problem.
You must know that the students of the imperial examination studied Confucianism, which was a subject in conflict with Buddhism at that time, and now even the emperor does not want to see Confucianism, what else do they have to live?
However, things did not turn around, and after closing many Taixue, Emperor Wen of Sui found that he had no one available, so he realized that the suspension of the imperial examination was nothing more than a waste of food due to choking, and opened the door to Taixue again.
Although the imperial examination system of the Sui Dynasty still had drawbacks, it had certain reference significance for the selection of talents in later generations.
Emperor Wen of Sui's brief abolition of the imperial examination and its reinstatement proved that the system was authentic and reliable.
The imperial examination provided a steady stream of talents for the ancient Chinese kings, allowing traditional culture to develop.