Chapter 135: Going to Beiping to Open a New Branch
When returning, he had to be more careful on the road, carrying the coffin with him. It was already the end of September when Chen Biao returned to Yingtian. In three months, Zhu Yuanzhang would ascend the throne.
Chen Biao was full of hope, waiting to watch Zhu Yuanzhang's coronation ceremony, but was urged by his beloved lord to go to Beiping to serve as prefect.
Chen Biao's face immediately fell.
This is the Hongwu Emperor's coronation ceremony! It's going to be in the textbooks! How could I not be there?
I, Chen Biao, have contributed so much to my lord, how can I not have a seat at the founding ceremony!
I don't accept it, I'm dissatisfied, I want to pretend to be sick!
Chen Biao cursed and swore, and Zhu Yuanzhang comforted his son with a wry smile.
To be honest, if he was not Zhu Yuanzhang but Chen Guorui, he would also think that his lord was quite unkind.
Even if Biao'er needs to go to Beiping to take charge, he can still come back temporarily to watch the temporary ceremony. What a great honor this is, doesn't Biao'er deserve it?
Not only was Chen Biao worthy of standing among the ministers as a mascot, he was also worthy of being offered sacrifices to heaven together with Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt extremely guilty, so he gave Chen Biao a month's vacation and asked him to set off for Peking at the end of October.
Chen Biao quit all his jobs. Apart from teaching the generals to read and write, he was too lazy to even take care of the teaching work in primary schools and handed it all over to the "Prince's companion".
Anyway, when he left Yingtian, the teaching work was handed over to the "Prince's Companion".
Zhu Tong, Liu Lian and Song Yin followed Chen Biao. Originally, they were supposed to obey Chen Biao's teachings and become his right-hand men, but they were unexpectedly assigned by Chen Biao to manage Yingtian Primary School and the generals' literacy class.
The three of them complained bitterly, but they could not even do their teaching work well, so they did not dare to ask Chen Biao to assign them more tasks.
After learning that Chen Biao was the greatest hero of the Northern Expedition and had cursed Chen Zuren to death, they dared not question Chen Biao's arrangements anymore.
After King Ming ascends the throne, Yingtian Primary School will be upgraded to the Imperial College, but it will not be the Imperial College of previous dynasties. Instead, it will be divided into primary school, middle school and university.
Primary schools serve as an education for the children of nobles and officials, middle schools can recommend outstanding candidates for admission, and universities are places for further training of officials.
After becoming the Ming Emperor, the imperial examinations would also be held. Jinshi candidates would enter the Hanlin Academy for further education, and those who excelled would be granted official positions.
Now Hanlin scholars also have to go to universities for further education, and universities have taken away some of the original functions of the Hanlin Academy.
The reason why we say "originally" is because the Hanlin Academy later almost lost its "re-education" function and became a place for many Hanlin scholars to spend their days accumulating experience.
Zhu Yuanzhang initially disliked the imperial examination system, believing that studying the Four Books and Five Classics would not necessarily be useful if one did not apply them to ordinary affairs.
What's more, he has never been liked by the followers of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, but he was not happy about the fact that the imperial examination required him to test Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.
Zhu Yuanzhang wanted all places to recommend talents, and wanted to recruit the talents who were praised by the world first.
According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang initially disliked the imperial examination system and attempted to abolish it, allowing local governments to recommend candidates. Later, he implemented both the imperial examination and the recommendation system simultaneously.
Later, however, Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that the talents recommended during prosperous times were completely different from those recommended during troubled times. When he was the Marshal, the people recommended from all over the country were truly capable people; now that he was the Emperor, the people recommended from all over the country were all children of wealthy and aristocratic families. Their talents were not yet recognized, and their ability to find jobs for them was first-rate, but they were not as good as those selected through the imperial examinations. So he gave up.
Later, the powerful families used the North and South List case to test Zhu Yuanzhang, which is another matter and will not be elaborated here for the time being.
In this time and space, Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Biao discussed and learned about the advantages and disadvantages of the imperial examination and recommendation, and still chose to give equal importance to the imperial examination and recommendation.
Only the subjects of the imperial examination would be changed. After taking the imperial examination and recommendation, one would have to go to university to study for three years and pass the university graduation examination before being appointed as an official.
Excellent students can apply to graduate early; clumsy students can delay their studies for three years and then return to their hometowns, lose their status as Jinshi or recommended, and have to take the imperial examination again.
Li Shanchang found a total of one hundred civil officials who were evenly distributed across the north, south, east and west, and jointly wrote a memorial to Zhu Yuanzhang proposing the reform of the imperial examination system, taking the blame for Chen Biao and Chen Guorui.
Chen Biao was so moved that he burst into tears, and personally made a large cream cake for Li Shanchang, which was very difficult to make in that era.
Li Shanchang looked at the exquisite cream cake and almost couldn't bear to eat it.
Unexpectedly, a lord who was about to ascend the throne suddenly appeared and brought his three old brothers to grab the cake. Li Shanchang only got a small piece.
Li Shanchang looked at the three Ming Wang lackeys Xu Da, Tang He and Zhou Dexing who came back from all over the world to attend the Ming Wang's enthronement, and he really wanted to fight against four of them alone and smash the heads of the four people, including his lord .
After Chen Biao learned from Li Shanchang that his father and three of his most familiar uncles had eaten Uncle Li's cream cake, he couldn't help but say to his father, "Dad, you're not a human being, you're really a dog!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was shameless: "I am a dog, and you are a dog cub. Go ahead and curse me, but you are only cursing yourself anyway."
Chen Biao: “…”
What should I do if I have a dog dad who is becoming increasingly shameless?
What else can I do? I can’t abandon my biological father.
Zhu Yuanzhang's three childhood friends all returned to Yingtian, and the Chen family became lively again.
Zhu Yuanzhang ate, drank and boasted with his three childhood friends every day. Occasionally, he would bring up Chen Biao's younger brothers to play with them, and then sighed and lamented why Biao grew up so fast.
Chen Biao rolled his eyes repeatedly.
Although he missed Uncle Xu, Uncle Tang and Uncle Zhou very much, when he saw them, he wished that these three people and his father would get out of here together.
Who wants to see their dad and his friends doing nothing but drinking and bragging at home every day?
The four of them have all the characteristics of middle-aged greasy old men.
Because these four people boasted in the Chen family every day, Chen Biao was very active when he left the Chen family and went to Peking. He did not hesitate at all and even did not want to attend the lord's coronation ceremony.
When Chen Biao left, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Chen Biao to take his four younger brothers with him.
Zhu Yuanzhang lied, "During the war, the Chen family controlled the lord's purse. When the lord becomes emperor, the Chen family's affairs will be transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. The Chen family should retire after their success to avoid suspicion. Therefore, the Chen family will move its center to Peking to expand the frontier for the lord. Our whole family will move to Peking."
Chen Biao was not surprised: "That's right. Anyway, I am the head of the Chen family. I am guarding Beiping, so the Chen family should move to Beiping."
Xu Da: "Yes, yes, yes."
Tang He: "Yes, yes, yes."
Zhou Dexing: "Crunch, crunch, crunch." He was cracking melon seeds.
After these three men returned to Yingtian, they completely degenerated from marshals and generals into lackeys of "Boss Chen Guorui". They were responsible for supporting Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Biao during their normal conversations every day, as if they had nothing of their own to do.
Chen Biao and Xu Da worked together for a short period of time.
Looking at Uncle Xu now and thinking about Marshal Xu on the battlefield, Chen Biao suspected that Xu Da had a split personality.
The Chen brothers had no objection to leaving Yingtian and going to Peking, where the environment was even worse.
As long as they followed their brother, they were happy.
Only Ma Xiuying was sad.
Ma Xiuying knew that she would probably have to stay in the harem for a long time, managing it for Zhu Yuanzhang, and would not be able to leave easily.
The young sons were in Beiping, under the care of Chen Biao, so they would be fine. But as a mother, Ma Xiuying felt very guilty for not being able to see her sons for so long.
Ma Xiuying had been hiding her sadness and didn't want Zhu Yuanzhang to know. But how could Zhu Yuanzhang not know?
He decided to give Ma Xiuying a surprise.
What's wrong with the harem? He didn't plan to add too many people to the harem, so he would manage it the same way as before.
Biao'er is in the Chen family. Although Yingtian will become the temporary capital, not to mention the queen, even he, the emperor, does not necessarily have to stay in Yingtian.
Zhu Yuanzhang had read through history books and knew that emperors of all dynasties considered themselves lucky if they could spend three months in the imperial palace. Most of that time, they would either escape the heat or the cold, or spend time in the gardens outside the capital. Wherever the emperor was, the court was also there.
It's not that he doesn't want to enjoy himself, he just wants to "guard the border". The ministers won't say anything to him, and he won't listen even if they do.
What Chen Biao did not expect was that when he took his younger brothers to Peking, the three princes' companions also boarded the ship to Peking with the first batch of students from Yingtian Primary School. They were going to Peking with the first principal of Yingtian Primary School to open a branch of Yingtian Imperial College.
Song Yan said, "My lord said that the sons of noble families cannot stay in the safe environment of Yingtian forever. They should go to Beiping to experience the wind and see the battlefield in the north."
Chen Biao's face turned dark: "What if something goes wrong?!"
Song Yan said, "My lord, please rest assured that their fathers will take turns to lead the troops to Beiping. If anything goes wrong, their fathers will handle it themselves."
Chen Biao's face immediately brightened: "Oh, that's okay."
In other words, even after arriving in Peking, he still had to worry about these noble children. Never mind, he'd been worrying about them for years.
Chen Biao held his head and lamented, "My lord, you really are oppressive. If you keep oppressing me like this, I won't grow taller!"
Liu Lian and Zhu Tong were laughing foolishly, and Song Yan, the only one who knew Chen Biao's identity, sighed.
What can we do? You are the prince. If the lord doesn’t exploit you, who else will he exploit?
Chen Biao asked again: "If these people follow me to Peking, how will they live in their daily lives?"
Song Yan felt even more sorry for Chen Biao: "My Lord, you can do whatever you want. They usually live on campus anyway."
Chen Biao: “…”
Chen Biao: "Destroy it. I will resign from my post now. Don't stop me."
It's fine if I just have to take care of my four younger brothers, but I also have to take care of the daily lives of these students?!
"Hey, Biao'er, don't be so angry, I will help you." Song Yin looked at the furious Chen Biao and comforted him.
Liu Lian said, "Yes, yes, don't worry, I'm here."
Zhu Tong said seriously, "I can do that too."
Chen Biao angrily said, "How can you be so? Have you ever lived alone? Have you ever left home? Besides those students, I need to take care of you three!!!"
The three of them fell silent at the same time.
Although they wanted to refute, they were truly unsure. Even if their father was away on business, they had their mother and elders to look after them when they stayed home. Now that they were living alone... were they really going to be taken care of by Biao'er?
No, our pride won't allow it!
Liu Lian said arrogantly: "Don't underestimate me!"
Song Yan and Zhu Tong nodded.
Chen Biao chuckled and took their servant away, letting them try to spend a few days on the boat by themselves.
Not to mention a few days, even on the second day, the three of them were afraid to go out because they couldn't dress properly or comb their hair properly.
The three of them could be considered from humble backgrounds, but even humble backgrounds still had servants to take care of them.
Chen Biao said expressionlessly, "I'll have someone teach you how to dress and comb your hair on your own first."
Chen Chong Chen Chong: "What? There are people who can't dress themselves or comb their hair!"
Chen Gou'er and Chen Mao'er: "Not as good as us?"
Song Yan, Zhu Tong and Liu Lian were extremely ashamed and angry.
