This was also one of the reasons people condemned him as a muddleheaded ruler.
But Emperor Ling's actions had not actually been wrong, because anyone able to study literature, calligraphy, and painting already came from a reasonably well-off family.
These people had received an orthodox education, but they did not belong to the upper ranks of the scholar-gentry; they were the lower-ranking Humble Families.
By promoting them directly, Emperor Ling had effectively bypassed the recommendation system and gained his own channel for selecting talent.
Unfortunately, only a few years after the Hongdu School was founded, uprisings erupted across the land, and the school fell into complete decline.
In essence, however, the Hongdu School and the imperial examination system shared certain similarities: both established examinations as a new system for selecting talent.
The difference was that the Hongdu School had been a selection mechanism outside the recommendation system, whereas Liu Xie wanted to replace the recommendation system with imperial examinations.
"Exactly. Zhen developed the imperial examination system from the Former Emperor's Hongdu School. Zhen intends to establish examinations anew."
"And selection will not be limited to the scholar-gentry and Humble Families. It will be open to all common people."
Liu Xie spoke with a bright, intent gaze. But after hearing him, Guo Jia and Jia Xu looked at each other in dismay. They exchanged a glance before Guo Jia finally spoke. "Your Majesty, opening the imperial examinations to common people... might that not be somewhat inappropriate?"
"Your subject means nothing else by this. It is simply that common people lead hard lives. Merely having enough to eat is difficult, so how could they afford to study?"
"Your Majesty's vision is admirable, but putting it into practice may well be impossible."
Studying was something people could consider only after they had enough