From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 775

The Imperial Academy has not been peaceful recently.

Rumors of reform are rampant, causing panic among the people. Many old scholars have come out to publicly state that the Imperial Academy is the highest institution of learning in the Jin Dynasty and the temple of the Holy Way, and reform is absolutely not allowed.

Naturally, another group of people have come out to say that the Imperial Academy is the Imperial Academy of the Jin Dynasty and the Imperial Academy of everyone. It is the Imperial Academy's responsibility to offer other courses so that outstanding talents in every field will not be buried.

The two camps are clearly divided. The conservatives are often aristocrats who also rely on the Holy Way for their livelihood. The reformists are obviously mostly civilians, and they also want their children to have more opportunities.

In fact, Zhou Yuan had already decided on this matter, and there was no room for negotiation.

This was not the first time Zhou Yuan came to the Imperial Academy. He had come once before he went south to inspect the salt and participated in the so-called poetry meeting. At that time, the protagonist of the poetry meeting was still Tang Yichao.

This time it was not so lively. After all, it was not done by a successful Jinshi, but just a few dozen students who were in a circle.

"There are things you can't guess here."

Zhao Jianjia had a smile on her face. The weather was good and she was obviously in a good mood. She even put on light makeup when she went out in the morning, and she looked very energetic.

After entering the Imperial Academy, there were naturally countless eyes cast at her. After all, it was really rare for a woman to appear here, let alone a beauty of this appearance.

But they soon recognized Zhou Yuan and exclaimed for a while.

"It's the Duke of Wei!"

"The Duke of Wei has returned to Beijing!"

"Duke of Wei, has the battle in the south been won? Can you tell us about it!"

"Will the Great Jin Times publish an article about the suppression of the rebellion by the Tusi in the southwest?"

Zhou Yuan lowered his voice and said, "It's not advisable to stay here for long, Jianjia. There will be more and more people, and we won't be able to move by then."

Zhao Jianjia smiled and said, "Why think so much, just follow me."

She strode forward with Zhou Yuan, followed by a group of fans, and the whole Imperial Academy became lively for a while.

There were students in front to meet them, and the leader was the 14-year-old prodigy Bai Yu. He was shocked when he saw the surging crowd.

"This way! Duke, go this way!"

He led the two of them into a smaller alley and then to an ancient courtyard.

There were fewer people, and the surroundings were much quieter.

Bai Yu and the others saluted Zhou Yuan first, and then said: "Duke, this is our war seminar in the Imperial Academy."

Zhou Yuan was slightly stunned.

Bai Yu said: "The Imperial Academy is a place to practice the holy way, but in the past two years, more and more people like to study war strategies and the way of using troops, but the gentlemen do not allow it, so we have to discuss it secretly."

"After the Imperial Academy is restructured, we all plan to enter the martial arts academy to practice, so that we can directly join the army in the future."

The martial arts academy teaches martial arts and naturally teaches military affairs.

This is Zhou Yuan's idea, but he never thought that the so-called "group" had been born in the Imperial Academy.

He couldn't help but say: "How long has this war seminar been established?"

"A little over a year."

Bai Yu was a little shy and whispered: "After the Duke bombarded the enemy chief, we couldn't help it, so it became a war seminar. We usually discuss military strategies and are very interested."

Zhou Yuan was silent and didn't know what to say for a while.

Then he shook his head and laughed, sighing: "The reform of the Imperial Academy is to meet the needs of the times."

"But there will always be people who stand at the forefront of the times and have quietly begun to act."

"Young people are indeed always the most avant-garde in society."

"Even if you are said by the older generation to be idle, it is undeniable that your ideas are the seeds of the most advanced ideas."

Bai Yu was a little excited and couldn't help saying: "Duke, we don't quite understand these, but we know that this seems to be praising us."

"To be honest, I have wanted to find an opportunity to ask the Duke for advice a long time ago. If there is a chance today, it would be great."

Looking at his young face, with passion and vitality for the future, Zhou Yuan was also inexplicably excited.

He took a deep breath and said with a smile: "Okay! Let's talk to you today! Go and call everyone in your group. Do you have a sand table?"

Bai Yu jumped up immediately and said quickly: "We have simple ones. We made a sand table for the Central Plains and Shanhaiguan ourselves, and we also asked someone to draw a map."

"Duke, please follow me!"

He shouted quickly, obviously very excited.

Zhou Yuan followed him to the back of the courtyard, in a side hall, where there were indeed two sand tables. They were very simple, but the key places were markedThe annotations are very clear, and the location relationship is also very accurate.

Especially in the Central Plains, they used the map to show Kaifeng Prefecture, Yancheng, Yingcheng, Chenzhou, Runing, Nanyang, Luoyang and many other places, including the terrain and rivers.

"Where is it! The Duke of Wei is really here!"

"Where is it! Bai Yu, don't lie to us!"

Excited voices rang out outside, the door was pushed open, and the world seemed to be quiet.

These dozens of Confucian scholars in long gowns stared at Zhou Yuan blankly at this moment, looked at each other, and then bowed down together.

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: "Come here! I will review the battle to recover the Central Plains for you! I will also teach you the truth by the way!"

A group of people suddenly boiled up and rushed in.

"Pour tea, pour tea, pour tea for the Duke!"

"Oh, don't squeeze the Duke's wife, you don't have eyes!"

The noise continued, and Zhou Yuan also began to review.

Everyone listened very attentively, sometimes exclaiming, sometimes puzzled, and the atmosphere was very good.

Zhou Yuan was inexplicably excited, so he spoke in great detail, as if he had experienced the Central Plains War again, and his sense of substitution was directly pulled to the maximum.

It was unknown how long it took before Zhou Yuan let out a long breath and took a few gulps of tea.

Dozens of students were moved, with different expressions, some thoughtful, some excited.

Bai Yu gritted his teeth and said first: "Duke, I heard from my father that the Duke is about to go south to recover the coast and fight those foreign weirdos."

At this point, he flopped and knelt on the ground, knocked his head down, and said loudly: "Marshal, please take the students with you! The students are willing to be a small soldier and can endure any hardship!"

Before Zhou Yuan had time to refuse, others also knelt down and kept saying their requests.

"Stop!"

Zhou Yuan shouted, "Stop arguing, listen to me."

"You are still young, it is not time for you to fight, study hard, whether it is the way of the saints or the military, only when you have learned it, you will be good for fighting."

"You haven't learned it yet, what's the point of following me south? Besides, you don't understand naval warfare."

Bai Yu said, "Duke, I have learned it, I can pass the imperial examination, but I just want to join the army, I want to fight with you, and serve the country!"

"Yes, we also want to serve the country!"

"For the Great Jin!"

Most of these young children are only seventeen or eighteen years old, full of blood and eager to go to the battlefield immediately.

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "Stop it, you are still too young, it is not time for you to go to the battlefield."

"Following me may not be beneficial. The army is a place that relies on strength. Even if you follow me to the south, you will not be taken care of by me, and it is meaningless."

Bai Yu said loudly, "You can ask for anything, the Duke, and we will definitely do it. We must go to the sea."

Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Okay, you will learn about warships and naval battles in the next few days. I will give you a test paper before going south. If you can pass it, I will take you."

"At the same time, you also need to get the consent of your family."

In Zhou Yuan's view, their families would not agree, and they would not be able to do well in the test paper they gave in a short time.

Of course, today was not in vain, as Jianjia said.

At least he saw the blazing ambitions of the young people. These children have grasped the pulse of the times.