The Yellow River and Mengjin River are very lively. Ferries ferries on the north and south sides of the Yellow River, cargo ships and passenger ships traveling from east to west according to navigation rules. Thick smoke comes from the chimneys on one steamer after another.

Vessels coming from the upstream have priority access according to navigation rules. Under the speed reduction of the ferry, they pass through the Mengjin River section and head downstream.

On an official boat, in the first class cabin, Yang Ji sat by the window, looking through the "Exam Outline" (one of the volumes).

This volume is as thick as a brick. The above sections classify the content of the imperial examination in detail. As Yang Ji looked at it, more than an hour passed without realizing it.

The "Examination Outline" and "Teaching Outline" took many years to compile and completed, proofreading, supervising and printing for the Ministry of Rites, and then released on a large scale.|

During the process of writing, countless scholars participated, worked together to pick up the leftovers and fill in the gaps. Only after continuous discussion, modification and supplementation were made can they be improved.

These two sets of books have become the general outline for guiding examinations and teaching, and are of great significance.

All over the world, as long as students who are enrolled want to take the imperial examination, public and private school museums must teach according to the "Teaching Outline".

The formulation of the examination questions of the imperial examinations at all levels is based on the "Exam Outline". If candidates want to prepare for the exam, they must review their homework according to the "Exam Outline", exercises and "mock test papers", and the questions are also formulated according to the "Exam Outline".

It can be said that the "Exam Outline" and "Teaching Outline" are the foundations of Mingde's study and politics, just like two legs, and neither is missing.

These two sets of general outlines are "the treasure book for rapid imperial examinations". Countless poor students in the world who study for the purpose of the imperial examinations are guided by these two sets of general outlines, so they can concentrate on reading, studying, and compete with the children of aristocratic families.

The knowledge points and test points of the imperial examination are all in the "Exam Outline" and "Teaching Outline". In this way, the profound family education that the children of aristocratic families have always relied on has been invisibly weakened. Students with poor foundations can be on the same starting line as the children of aristocratic families after more than ten years of hard study.

As Yang Ji, who had taken the imperial examination in that lifetime, he knew exactly how important the "Exam Outline" and "Teaching Outline" were.

The imperial examination system that has been officially implemented is now part of the establishment of Yang Ji's part. The examination was divided into four levels, which was what he strongly advocated, because this was the case in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, eight-legged essays are not possible, so there is no need to talk about them.

The imperial examination is of course good, but Yang Ji now has a clear understanding of the shortcomings of the imperial examination.

The imperial examinations in history were formed in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and were scheduled to be in the Song Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, it was improved. Compared with the filial piety and honesty, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system was used to select the imperial examinations, which was fairer and more just, and had many advantages, but later, the disadvantages were also obvious.

By the Ming Dynasty, the content of the imperial examination had changed into "eight-legged essays". Many scholars studied hard in order to achieve fame and fortune, and did not pursue real talents and real learning.

So later, the content and methods of the imperial examination were seriously rigid, and the selected talents were actually very limited.

Most readers are gradually bound by the narrow Four Books and Five Classics and the pedantic eight-legged essays. Whether it is vision, creative ability, and independent thinking, they are greatly limited.

Moreover, the rigid imperial examination meetings have led to abnormal teacher relationships. The candidates selected will be appointed as the chief examiner as the "teacher" to form a nepotism. These teachers and the so-called disciples form cliques in the officialdom, and the party is the same and the internal friction is serious.

The rigid imperial examination system has actually become a chronic poison, poisoning the entire bureaucracy and damaging the future of the country.

"I focus on humanistic ethics, despise other disciplines, and create 'everything is inferior, but I can only study well'. Therefore, the court wanted to modify the calendar and actually seek the assistance of Western missionaries. What is this?"

"The gunpowder invented by the Central Plains is first put into actual combat firearms. If you get it later, you have to rely on the red cannons salvaged from the Western Barbarians' shipwreck to help. Do you blush?"

"The three treasure eunuchs went to the West, and the treasure ship fleet was so majestic. The countries in the South China Sea were despised. What was the result? Later, all the Nanyang was occupied by the Western barbarians, and the Taiwan at their doorstep was also occupied by others. Isn't this a prodigal family?"

Yuwen Wen's words echoed in Yang Ji's ears. He put down the "Exam Outline" and looked out the porthole.

He and Yuwen Wen have discussed the issue of the imperial examination many times.

The imperial examination is a talent selection system. The selected talents are not suitable for use. The problem is not that the examination selection system is not good, but that the examination content is rigid, and the selected talents are not further cultivated. Therefore, as time goes by, the imperial examination has become more scented.

The so-called talents selected for the change of imperial examinations are all people who study for the sake of becoming officials. Such people are officials who are willing to form cliques for personal gain in order to improve themselves and then fight against differences. This is of no benefit to the country.

Therefore, there is no problem with the imperial examination itself. The problem lies in the rigid examination content, which is "those who sing with the top scholar outside Donghua Gate are good men", and in the eight-legged essay.

It depends on the employment needs of the court: what kind of talents should be selected from above, and students will become that kind of talents.

The court only examined the Four Books and Five Classics, believing that "half of the Analects of Confucius governs the world", so the selected talents will only know the Four Books and Five Classics, which will inevitably lead to the decline of other miscellaneous studies and will inevitably lead to the inferiority of literary nobles and martial arts.

Yang Ji and Yuwen Wen discussed the shortcomings of the imperial examinations very clearly. So, what kind of talent selection system will the new imperial examinations born during the Mingde period be?

Yang Ji wanted to know how effective it was. The emperor appointed him as the academic and political observation commander to Henan for invigilance. This was the intention of it.

Demand determines "supply". What kind of officials the court needs determines what talents the people selected from the selection system have.

In the era when the Four Books and Five Classics were written, there were no steam pumps, steam cranes, steam ships, no circulation coupons, rail carriages, large mines and workshops, no trading companies, and no various steamships.

The country is increasingly inseparable from these new technologies, new equipment and emerging industries. It is simply unrealistic for the rulers to govern the world by relying solely on the Four Books and Five Classics.

An official who only knows how to "thing" and loses his book bag will only be as at a loss as a fool when facing various new technologies, equipment and emerging industries.

The court needed "new-style officials", so the new imperial examination system must select "new-style talents".

Those children of aristocratic families who passed on classics and classics face a new era, steam engines, steamships and various changes, their original academic advantages have disappeared, and they stand on the same starting line like poor children.
Chapter completed!