Chapter 686

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“Split Bowen Academy?”

Pang Yukun and the assembled officials were greatly surprised.

Xiao Ming nodded, “Since conquering the States of Wei, Yan, and Liang, the number of scholars from these three regions who flocked here, attempting to enter the academy to study, has increased several times over. The original purpose of Bowen Academy was to provide talent for the former feudal state. Now, with scholars from across the Great Yu Empire, this academy is no longer sufficient.”

After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Ming continued, “Specialization has its own merits. Bowen Academy gathers the strengths of various schools, making it broad yet unfocused, and at the same time, it is not conducive to the confidentiality of secret technologies.”

Pang Yukun nodded and said, “Your Majesty, overall, the Great Yu Empire currently lacks effective governance over Bowen Academy and various other schools.”

When it came to this, Fei Ji and others had no input; compared to Pang Yukun, they were not very familiar with these matters.

“Senior Grand Secretary Pang is right. When I was King Qi, my feudal state was small, and fewer talents were needed, so Bowen Academy being a bit casual didn’t matter. Now that the world is unified, and more talents are needed, this matter should be put on the agenda. This is the second item of the reform: the establishment of the Ministry of Education.”

“Ministry of Education?”

The officials discussed animatedly. They were familiar with the Secretariat, which was the government office responsible for handling confidential matters and issuing imperial edicts.

However, despite the discussion, no official strongly objected this time. Since Xiao Ming dismissed Yu Ming last time, the officials in the imperial court clearly understood that the Emperor was determined to implement reforms.

The abolition of the four classes of society was the first item, and now the second item had appeared.

Fei Ji did not object, but he needed to ask some questions for clarification. So he said, “Does Your Majesty intend to abolish the imperial examination?”

“There’s no need to abolish the imperial examination, but it does need to change,” Xiao Ming said. “After the Ministry of Education is established, it will oversee all schools in the Great Yu Empire, and the reform of the imperial examination will also be carried out by the Ministry of Education.”

After studying at Bowen Academy for some time, the officials were actually mentally prepared for this. In the future, the imperial examination would no longer test the Four Books and Five Classics; instead, it would focus on various unique knowledge.

Clearing his throat, Xiao Ming continued, “The principal official of this Ministry of Education will be called the ‘Academic Commissioner.’ The Qingzhou Ministry of Education will be responsible for overseeing the Ministries of Education in other provinces.”

“Provinces?” This not only shocked Fei Ji, but even Pang Yukun was surprised. This was something they had never heard of.

“Your Majesty, what is this ‘province’?” Pang Yukun asked.

Xiao Ming smiled lightly and said, “This is the third item of the reform: abolishing the feudal states and establishing provinces, strengthening the imperial court’s governance over various prefectures and counties.”

Although Xiao Ming had now conquered areas such as the Wei territories, Yan territories, and Liang territories, just like Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s conquest of the six states, the common people in these places still retained their habits from the feudal state period.

This was naturally intolerable to Xiao Ming. His purpose in killing these feudal lords was to establish centralized power. How could he tolerate the common people in these regions still calling themselves people of Wei or Yan?

Therefore, after careful consideration, he decided to abolish the feudal states and establish provinces. The former State of Wei was to be set up as Jinling Province, with Jinling Province governing the thirteen former prefectures of the Wei territory, and then prefectures governing counties.

The former Yan territory would establish Bozhou Province, with Bozhou as its center governing the ten prefectures of Yan. Then came Kaifeng Province, Chang’an Province, Liang Province, Youzhou Province, and finally his Qingzhou Province.

In this way, he divided the occupied territories into seven provinces, thereby greatly strengthening local governance.

After expressing his thoughts, Xiao Ming looked at the officials, awaiting their opinions.

At this point, Pang Yukun and Fei Ji both fell silent. This time, Xiao Ming’s reform steps were simply too grand.

Pang Yukun said, “I know Your Majesty is eager for reform, but the north is not yet stable. If we push it rashly, I’m afraid it will not only be ineffective but will also cause chaos.”

“I have already considered this point, so this reform will not be implemented in all parts of the Great Yu Empire. I also know that you, my beloved ministers, harbor doubts about the reform. As the saying goes, a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat. For you, seeing is believing to prove that the reform is correct. Therefore, I have decided to implement the reform first in Qingzhou Province. The success or failure will depend solely on the rise and fall of Qingzhou Province.”

To put it plainly, because the Great Yu Empire had not been crushed by advanced civilizations, the officials currently lacked enthusiasm for reform. The lack of external impetus made it difficult for a country to spontaneously reform.

In Europe, if it weren’t for the invasion of the Scourge of God opening a door for Europe, Europe would not have sought reform and emerged from the Middle Ages.

Similarly, if it weren’t for the invasion of the West bringing advanced civilization, the feudal dynasty would have continued in its cycle.

“The Great Yu Empire needs enemies.” Sometimes, Xiao Ming suddenly thought this.

He gradually understood why contemporary nations constantly create international conflicts and choose imaginary enemies, because all of this is the reason for a nation to continue to strengthen itself.

However, the Great Yu Empire did have an enemy, an enemy that all recognized: the Golden Tent Khanate.

However, the Golden Tent Khanate was a country with a lower level of civilization than the Great Yu Empire. If the Golden Tent Khanate were replaced by a country with a higher level of civilization than the Great Yu Empire, the current Great Yu Empire would definitely reform and imitate it with all its might.

Of course, invaders with a higher level of civilization than the Great Yu Empire had already arrived, and this was something Xiao Ming planned to seize. He planned to invite the Dutch army stationed in Ryukyu to visit Qingzhou.

He believed this would give those officials who opposed reform a clear understanding.

While he was deep in thought, Pang Yukun loudly said, “Your Majesty is wise. I believe that implementing the reform in the six prefecture of qingzhou is most suitable.”

Fei Ji and others also breathed a sigh of relief. They were just afraid that Xiao Ming would implement drastic changes. They said in unison, “Your Majesty is wise.”

Looking at the officials, Xiao Ming nodded with satisfaction. This time, his plan was successfully implemented.

In fact, his purpose this time was to set up a pilot area, which was similar to the steps of contemporary reform and opening up: first, delineate a portion of the region for a pilot project.

If it succeeded, implementing reforms in other places would be simpler, and at the same time, the areas that underwent reform first and became prosperous could also drive the development of other places.

Moreover, because the reform area was small, it was conducive to focused supervision, and at the same time, this place had to have the foundation for reform.

After much deliberation, his former feudal state was the most suitable. If the reform succeeded, he would then implement it in coastal areas such as Youzhou Province and Jinling Province.

“The matter of reform involves many policies, so we will not discuss it further in court.” Xiao Ming then motioned to Qian Dafu.

Stepping forward, Qian Dafu shouted, “Report any matters early, otherwise, roll up the screen and adjourn the court.”

The officials cheered, “Long live!” They dared not say much now. At today’s court session, the Emperor had thrown out too many unbelievable things, and they needed to go back and discuss them carefully.

After the court adjourned, Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu left through the side door of the council hall. They did not return to the imperial residence but instead prepared to inspect the production of railway tracks.