Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1296: Chapter 1250: Textbooks

Chen Xi, looking helpless, watched Li Youu and Jia Xu leave. Conducting large-scale civil examinations was indeed very important, as this exam counted as the first formal instance of recruiting scholars through exams.

Previously, it was relatively more of a recommendation system. Even if a student performed excellently in the academy, there still needed to be a recommendation before they could be selected for recruitment. Without it, forget about the exam; Chen Xi wouldn’t even know about the person.

At the time, Chen Xi didn’t pay much attention to this method of selection. Basically, whoever the academy recommended, Chen Xi would approve, as the academy had only been running for a short while. Those daring enough to take the exam wouldn’t be mediocre, and those recommended were definitely outstanding.

Moreover, Chen Xi’s requirement at that time was that as long as the candidates were endorsed by academy elders, they could be slightly trained to serve as officials ranking from Hundred Dan to Six Hundred Stones without any issues.

This time, however, the large-scale exam was almost like a notice to the aristocratic families that the wolves nurtured by Chen Xi had finally been released. Of course, Chen Xi did not reject the participation of aristocratic members in the exams. Although the aristocrats’ probing intent was obvious, it wasn’t a big deal.

After all, the goal of the civil examination system was to restrict the absolute control aristocratic families had over knowledge, not to destroy them completely. In a way, a corrupt civil examination system isn’t much different from a corrupt aristocratic system; both are distasteful.

Therefore, Chen Xi conducted a unified exam with anonymous grading, where everything was transcribed, allowing even those who hadn’t studied in academies or at all to take the exam, although non-academy participants needed to pay an entry fee.

Chen Xi happily welcomed aristocrats trying to make a scene. If they could dominate the list, let them stay away from taking official positions under Liu Bei. If they dominated the list but didn’t come to serve, Chen Xi would simply continue recruiting. After all, there were additional training sessions and specialists hired by Chen Xi to save trouble. To put it plainly, Chen Xi didn’t aim for high total scores.

Like Zhuge Liang, those who could dominate the entire list without competitors were rare. To simultaneously top the overall rankings and dominate every category might occur only once or twice in centuries.

Besides, if Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Pang Tong, Lul Xun, and Lu Yu all participated in a comprehensive exam from ages eighteen to twenty-one or so, covering everything from astronomy and geography to military strategy, power schemes, and human nature, while Zhuge Liang could likely contend for the highest total score, completely dominating the board wouldn’t be easy.

Comprehensiveness and precision are indeed daunting, but trying to surpass someone who, even if slightly less intelligent, specializes in one field while also covering others is wishful thinking.

”Who could the aristocratic families send to make trouble around this time?” Chen Xi pondered while patting the stone battlements.

Actually, Chen Xi was overthinking. The aristocrats indeed felt a ’wolves are coming’ sentiment regarding this exam, but causing trouble was not in their plans. Participation was a given, especially since passing the exam clearly led to official positions, something the aristocrats wouldn’t reject.

Not to mention the benefits Chen Shang originally secured for the aristocrats, which destined aristocrats and commoners to start from different points. Do aristocrats not have private schools at home, regardless of Chen Xi having an academy?

Although Chen Xi offered partial scholarships for suitable children and teens to attend school, few truly excelled.

Most just learned mathematics and the Thousand Character Classic, then studied ’Disciples’ Regulations’ and ’Zhongyong,’ before moving on to crafts, plus a bit of Qu Qi’s agriculture course before graduating...

It wasn’t that Chen Xi didn’t want to teach more; it simply couldn’t be done. Originally, under Chen Xi’s education plan, mathematics and the Thousand Character Classic were compulsory for literacy and numeracy, and ’Disciples’ Regulations’ and ’Cai Gen Tan’ were essential for morals and self-cultivation.

Learning a thousand characters, mathematics to positive and negative numbers, cone volume, scale, algebra, and spatial geometry basics, plus moral and self-cultivation studies, were part and parcel of Chen Xi’s curriculum.

In the end, Chen Xi had to silently seal off most of mathematics and ’Cai Gen Tan,’ focusing on ’Disciples’ Regulations,’ as the full schedule couldn’t be completed. Even after cutting most of the math and self-cultivation, it still couldn’t be finished...

Yes, at least most couldn’t finish it. It’s said even many pre-qualified aristocratic family heads couldn’t complete it within Chen Xi’s stipulated education time. They claimed that ’Cai Gen Tan’ was exceptionally profound.

When Lub Su informed Chen Xi about this, Chen Xi felt, wasn’t this less than elementary school classes? With so much time, yet still unfinished! A thousand words in a year, up to mixed operations in math, then switching to ’Disciples’ Regulations,’ ’Cai Gen Tan,’ ’Zhongyong,’ and Wang Lie’s ’Virtue’... yet unfinished!

Ultimately, Chen Xi was rebutted by Lub Su’s comment, ”You think everyone in the world is like you?” Chen Xi could only feel frustrated and resign himself to letting teachers handle the instruction, feeling weary. ’Disciples’ Regulations’ and ’Cai Gen Tan’ were developed only after he swallowed his pride to consult Cai Yan.

Though Spiritual Capacity greatly amplified Chen Xi’s memory, it didn’t reach Pang Tong’s and Zhang Song’s level of memorizing with a glance. Nonetheless, Chen Xi could at least articulate every thought coherently.

Similarly, Cai Yan was impressively capable, remembering and articulating entire texts, relying on Chen Xi’s keywords and an overall outline. It was only after this incident that Chen Xi developed a deep insight into Cai Yan’s literary prowess.

Some anecdotes in ’Disciples’ Regulations’ didn’t exist in Cai Yan’s era. However, sociology doesn’t change much, and Cai Yan sourced from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States to Qin and Han, yet because of this, Cai Yan sometimes viewed Chen Xi oddly.

Probably because she felt Chen Xi didn’t read carefully, not even remembering anecdotes. But Chen Xi’s approach to literature was more about grasping broad concepts, unlike Cai Yan’s thorough readings, so there wasn’t much discussion between them.

The rhyme in ’Cai Gen Tan’ was particularly odd, especially during the Han Dynasty, an era of lyrical and poetic compositions. Yet, even so, Cai Yan managed to reconstruct it purely through Chen Xi’s few remembered couplets.

Faced with such a brilliant scholar, Chen Xi had nothing else to say. Anyway, old man, you continue to bear the blame. In the future, you will undoubtedly be a focal point of research due to your extensive classics, with countless devotees over the centuries.

In any case, every time Chen Xi thought of the wasted ’Cai Gen Tan,’ he felt heartache. As it was considered a textbook and broadly available, aristocratic families received a free copy, now viewing it as essential for self-cultivation.