If enlightenment is effective and reading the book of sages depends on the way of sages, then why is the process of imperial examination not designed for sages, but for prisoners? All candidates will be closely searched before the exam to prevent them from carrying suspicious cheat sheets. The examination room will also be searched one by one to prevent candidates from leaving cheating information in advance. Candidates determine the examination room by drawing lots, so that the person who reserves cheat sheets in the examination room and the person who uses the examination room may not be the same person. A three-foot-square "dormitory" can only hold a set of tables and chairs, while candidates have to work in this small "cell" for several days. Since the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination began to paste and copy the names of people, which would disrupt the sorting and seal the names. In order to prevent examiners from identifying candidates by handwriting, they will also send the messy papers to a special copying department, and then send them to the proofreading department to check whether they are copied correctly. Each processor should sign and leave a mark for future reference, and the answers after layers of camouflage removal will eventually be sent to the examiner for marking.
If enlightenment is ineffective, why can every candidate write an eight-part essay that meets the requirements on the topic of sentences in the Four Books and Five Classics, the so-called generation of sages? Why are there always many officials willing to die for the former dynasty every time they change dynasties?
? The author believes that the imperial examination system, as a talent selection tool to maintain feudal rule, has played a very good role. First of all, the threshold for registration is low, and both royalty and ordinary people can take the exam, which provides the largest reserve talent pool for the government to recruit people. Secondly, the procedure is relatively fair and just, similar to the current computer test, which reduces the possibility of favoritism. Finally, the examination framework remains unchanged, which ensures the unity of ideas presented by the reference personnel on the examination paper and is conducive to the stability of the political situation.
But we never really got anything, we just got something else. The political stability of the imperial examination system is achieved by restraining economic growth, and the side effect is that people's creativity and ideological vitality are weakened, and they no longer explore the world outside the Four Books and Five Classics. Correspondingly, the secular stability brought by the closed door means taking the risk of long-term foreign aggression.
Since life is alive, risks cannot be completely avoided and can only be transformed into each other. How to balance short-term risks and long-term risks? The author thinks that we should take the strategy of starting from the end and use the ultimate expectation to guide the current behavior. Only after we understand the short-term cost to realize the ultimate expectation can we go forward bravely. Suppose you want to be a hermit, the price you bear is that you have nothing to do with the prosperity of the world. After weighing, if you think the cost is too high, you can consider adjusting your goals and moving in the direction you can achieve. If you think the price is affordable, then practice it with your heart and don't change your way.