Do you know: I, a commoner prime minister

Chapter 64 The Terrifying Nature of Habit

Zhou An raised his hand to bow, but paused upon hearing the old man's words. He then cupped his hands and said, "This student greets Scholar Hu and Academician Du!"

"No need for formalities!"

Hu Yuan waved her hand and said, "Sit down and let's talk!"

"Scholar Xie Hu"

After Zhou An expressed his gratitude, he sat down in the chair on the left and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Scholar Hu, do you know Instructor Lu?"

"Instructor Lu?"

Upon hearing Zhou An's address, Hu Yuan burst into laughter, saying, "That shameless old man is so smug, saying he's taught a good student. I thought he'd already accepted him as a student!"

"Forehead…"

Zhou An didn't know how to respond for a moment, but from Hu Yuan's words, he could tell that Hu Yuan not only knew Lu Wang, but also had a good relationship with him.

After Lu Wang went to Bianjing, the two met again and mentioned each other.

Hu Yuan smiled and said, "Xuewen and I are old friends. I only found out you participated in the provincial examination when the list of successful candidates was announced! Although your policy essay was slightly lacking, you were very bold and daring. There aren't many people like that nowadays."

"Scholar Hu is too kind."

Zhou An still didn't understand why Hu Yuan wanted to see him, so he could only go along with what Hu Yuan said.

"I'm not just praising you."

Hu Yuan said, "Policy essays are nothing more than criticizing current affairs, but most people know the problems, but they hold back when writing them because they think too much and have too many concerns."

If the court selects only officials like this, it will not be a blessing for the court.

Many people are actually aware of the problems with the imperial court and the solutions to those problems.

But the waters here are deep, and most people are unwilling to discuss them in detail.

If one has so many concerns before becoming an official, then once one becomes an official, all sorts of concerns will only increase.

Can we expect these people to be selfless and dedicated to public service when they hold important positions in the future?

Zhou An found it even more difficult to respond to such words, so he could only listen with a smile, appearing to humbly accept them.

However, he also had some doubts. The Great Zhou Dynasty mainly focused on defense in its external affairs, which was advocated by Grand Chancellor Fan, and Hu Yuan was also involved in it at the time.

However, his own articles leaned towards advocating war, which Hu Yuan seemed to appreciate.

"However, your article has many flaws and is too one-sided. If I hadn't seen that you dared to write it, you would have had almost no chance of passing the exam," Hu Yuan said.

He read Zhou An's policy essay, and it was because of his support that Zhou An was able to pass the examination.

But he spoke of it quite frankly.

Because he didn't know that the article was written by Zhou An, in addition to anonymizing the names of candidates for the provincial examination, people would also be arranged to copy the answers after they were collected.

The answer sheets that the examiners saw were copies, not the originals.

Because of the large workload, it takes about half a month to grade the papers.

Under this strict system, examiners can only recognize a candidate's essay if they are very familiar with the candidate's writing style.

However, this is not absolute. After all, policy essays are different from other types of essays, and their writing style is not so easy to judge.

"Please enlighten me, Scholar Hu!" Zhou An said, his face immediately turning serious as he cupped his hands in greeting.

The imperial examination system was implemented in the Sui Dynasty, but it was perfected in the Tang Dynasty.

However, the imperial examination system in the Tang Dynasty was not as comprehensive as it is now in the Zhou Dynasty, and there was no tiered examination system like the county and township examinations.

Candidates who wished to participate in the imperial examinations needed a recommendation from an official to qualify for the examinations in the capital. Those who passed the examinations could then become officials.

In reality, the so-called recommendation is just a preliminary review by local officials, not a compromise with powerful families as many people believe.

From today's perspective, the best choice would undoubtedly be the one selected through multiple rounds of screening.

However, to achieve this, fixed examination venues need to be established in the prefecture and county, which requires a large expenditure.

The emergence of a new system, especially regarding the method of selecting officials, is always the result of a long period of continuous exploration and improvement.

The imperial examination system first appeared, and its core was actually the selection of officials through examinations. The specific procedures and what to test were all explored and perfected step by step.

At that time, to participate in the imperial examination, one needed to obtain a recommendation from a local official, and the local official judged whether the candidate possessed the corresponding talent and learning by submitting a written application.

The so-called "presentation of scrolls" refers to candidates compiling their poems and essays into scrolls and sending them to local officials and literary figures for viewing.

Thus, they would be recommended by them and qualify to participate in the imperial examinations.

By the time of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the imperial examination system had been further improved, and no recommendation was required to participate.

The scroll still exists, but its purpose has changed.

The practice of sending scrolls nowadays involves presenting one's poems and essays to learned individuals in order to gain their guidance.

As mentioned earlier, before Su Shi took the imperial examination, his father took him to visit Ouyang Xiu, hoping that Ouyang Xiu would point out the shortcomings in his writing.

Readers were happy to send their writings to officials who had passed the imperial examinations, because these officials had all achieved high honors and had relevant experience.

Hu Yuan said his article had many flaws, and if he didn't take the opportunity to ask for advice, he would be truly foolish.

"In your article, you disagree with the strategy of the Great Zhou Dynasty to prioritize defense and peace when facing Liao and Xia. But do you know that there are no natural defenses between Zhou and Liao? Unless the Liao Kingdom is completely driven to the grasslands and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun are recovered, the gain or loss of a single city or place is completely meaningless?"

Hu Yuan paused for a moment, then said, "It's similar with the Western Xia. The imperial court doesn't have the capacity for a protracted war. There are numerous internal problems plaguing the court. Only by resolving these internal issues and replenishing the national treasury can we have the capacity for a prolonged war, and only then can we recover lost territory and hold it!"

After pondering for a long time, Zhou An said in a deep voice, "Thank you for your guidance, Scholar Hu. These are questions I truly hadn't considered!"

The order of priority between external defense and internal pacification is never absolute.

When faced with foreign invasion, advocating for internal pacification first is certainly not feasible.

However, when the situation is stable, internal problems must be resolved in order to better unleash our power.

"But the students still have different opinions!" Zhou An said.

Hu Yuan was initially pleased to see that Zhou An understood his meaning. However, before he could speak, Zhou An said he had a different opinion, which made him frown slightly.

Tell me about it!

"Perhaps Prime Minister Fan initially advocated for a defensive strategy to address the deep-seated problems within the court, but the people of the world may not necessarily see it that way!"

Zhou An shook his head and said, "What people see is that seeking peace and submission can bring tranquility. But if we suffer defeats in foreign wars in the future, officials in the court will think of seeking peace in exchange for tranquility."

If he hadn't had reservations, he would have even pointed out that all emperors throughout history had done the same.

Wasn't that exactly what happened in a later dynasty? They could quell a war by ceding territory and paying reparations. Whenever they suffered a defeat, a bunch of people would call for peace negotiations.

For the emperor and his court officials, the indemnities paid in various regions did not affect their status or rights.

Habit is a terrible thing. If you can't win a war, you can buy peace with money. Not only will officials without integrity get used to it, but even emperors who lack courage will gradually get used to it.

Zhou An even felt that the unresolved internal problems were also related to these issues.

Although the imperial court paid a considerable amount of tribute to Liao and Xia, it was a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of fighting the war.