Chapter 5 Children of the Eight Banners are the only ones

He Shen started his enlightenment education in the private school in his home.At the beginning, He Shen and his younger brother He Lin, who was three years younger than him, specially invited the private school teacher to enlighten him, and only taught some introductory books such as "Hundred Surnames", "Three Character Classics", and "Thousand Character Classics".Of course, I also had some sporadic contact with the knowledge of the Four Books and Five Classics, but I didn't study it systematically and standardizedly.When He Shen was ten years old, he and his younger brother He Lin were successively selected to study in the official school of Xian'an Palace, and began to receive systematic education.

The Xian'an Palace Official School is located in the Xihua Gate of the Imperial Palace (the place where the crown prince Yinreng was detained during the Kangxi period), adjacent to the Wuying Hall.In the Ming Dynasty, it was the residence of the concubine, and the wet nurse of Emperor Tianqi, the Hakka family who once colluded with the great eunuch Wei Zhongxian once lived here.After the Qing soldiers entered the customs, it was once idle.After Yongzheng ascended the throne, in order to strengthen the ideological education and control of the clan and the children of the Eight Banners, and consolidate the imperial power, he decided to use this place to set up a school to make up for the lack of homework of the Jingshan officials and students (located on both sides of the North Mountain Gate outside the Shenwu Gate), and to facilitate their own direct supervision and control.

This school is not a school in the general sense, but an extraordinary government school.It was founded in November of the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728). Emperor Yongzheng personally proposed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs be responsible for the establishment.Order to select 50 or 60 or more than 100 handsome young children and officials and students under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and assign Hanlin to live in Xian'an Palace to teach.In April of the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), the Ministry of Internal Affairs Zunzhi selected more than 90 students from Jingshan official students, as well as idle children under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were considered handsome and could be cultivated.

The official school of Xian'an Palace is headed by one person from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who is responsible for supervision and inspection.In addition to the teaching and learning of various subjects, there is one person who is responsible for the clerical work.At first, the students didn't live in the school's dormitory, and they left early in the morning and provided lunch.In addition to the pen, ink, paper and inkstone used for study, bows and arrows and horses, etc., which were provided by the government, each student was subsidized with five qian per day for food and vegetables, one liter of rice, and two taels of silver per month as pocket money.

The Xian'an Palace official school is divided into twelve rooms of Hanshu and three rooms of Qingshu, each with one teacher, and three teachers who teach riding and archery and Manchu.The school's courses mainly include cultural courses such as Manchu, Chinese, and Mongolian languages, as well as classics and history.In addition, every student must also learn military courses such as riding and shooting and practicing firearms.The academic system of the Xian'an Palace Official School is generally five years, and the assessment is completed at the end of the term.The first and second grades will be given to the seventh and eighth grades, and will be rewarded with satin, brush and ink, etc.; the rest will stay in school to continue their studies when they are young;In addition, you can also participate in the triennial township and general examinations.Since the provincial examinations and general examinations for the clan and the Eight Banners' children are held separately, the admission rate is high. Therefore, as long as they enter the Xian'an Palace Official School, they have half a foot into the official career and embarked on the fast track to prosperity.

From this point of view, the purpose of this school from the beginning was mainly to train outstanding children of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.During the Qianlong period, the nature of the school changed. In addition to continuing to study for outstanding children of officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the main source of students was a large number of outstanding children of officials from the Eight Banners. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods, Wu Zhen, who served as the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou and the editor of the Hanlin Academy, wrote a detailed description in his book "Yangjizhai Conglu": Xian'an Palace official school, in the Da Nei Xihuamen, reads for the children of Eight Banners officials place.The president is filled with two members, Yiman and Hanhanlin.Later, it was filled by the Zhang Yuan, with two full members and four Han members.According to the daily inspection class, those who read Manchurian scripts in Xipei Hall will be evaluated by the president of Manchuria.The teachers who lecture in this school are mainly Hanlin, at least they must be Jinshi or Juren.The school is divided into twelve rooms for Han books and three rooms for Qing (that is, Man) books.He mainly teaches civil and military subjects.There are Confucian classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics, Qing (Manchu), Mongolian, and Tibetan, and there are trainings in poetry, calligraphy and painting.Wu includes riding and archery, wrestling, and military lessons on how to use firearms.Students are regularly assessed every year, and those with excellent grades are awarded corresponding official positions.Generally speaking, the first-class is the Bitie style (Bakshi in Manchu, meaning scholar; translated into Chinese as secretary, mainly engaged in recording, transcribing files, documents, and translating Manchu and Chinese memorials, etc.).Also, according to the records in "Ting Yu Cong Tan" written by Fuge (zi Shenzhi), a descendant of Ying Lian: The pen and post style is a place for civil servants to store materials.The second-class ones are treasury envoys and treasury guards.

During the Qianlong period, the school system changed.In February of the first year of Qianlong (1736), Emperor Qianlong personally ordered that 30 outstanding students be selected from among the 90 students of the Shangsan Banner under Xianghuang Banner, Zhenghuang Banner and Zhengbai Banner under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In addition, the eight banners will be ordered to be unified, and ten handsome children who can be cultivated will be selected from each banner. If there are those who are willing to study among the ministers' children, they can also be admitted to Xian'an within the quota. An Gongguan learns to read.All students studying in Xian'an Palace, in addition to receiving subsidies, are not only limited to ten years of study time (students of the Eight Banners official schools must complete their studies within ten years), until they become officials, they can study at school.

Xian'an Palace Official School was an excellent school at that time, where you could study civil and military subjects systematically, and the benefits were good.Therefore, many elites in the Qing Dynasty had studied in this school.For example, Dashi Yinghe's father Debao, military aircraft minister and university scholar Agui, Zhongcheng Liangqing and others have all studied in this school.They all left the school after winning the Juren or Jinshi awards.The foundation of all kinds of knowledge they have learned is very solid, and some people can even recite the Four Books and Five Classics backwards in their seventies.From the above narration, we can see that the students of Xian’an Palace’s official school are by no means ordinary idlers, they are all carefully selected from among the many Eight Banners disciples, and the students are not only excellent in character and learning, but also suave and suave. , all of them are outstanding talents, and they are truly elite teachers.

There is nothing to say about the teachers in the school. Most of them are Hanlin scholars who came from Jinshi.The school has diverse, comprehensive and regular courses, strict requirements, good teaching effect and remarkable achievements, and has cultivated a large number of cadres who serve the feudal ruling class.Xian'an Palace is a veritable key university. He Shen is gifted and intelligent, with a strong memory and a photographic memory; in addition, he has an upward spirit and works very hard, so he is often praised and commended by his teachers.For example, Wu Shenglan, Li Huang, and Li Guangyun were among the teachers who later gained his trust, care and promotion (some of them had taught in his home).

Due to Heshen's erudition and strong memorization, he not only recited traditional Chinese classics fluently during his study at Xian'an Palace, but also became proficient in Manchu and Chinese characters.In addition, he also mastered the Mongolian and Tibetan languages ​​and the secret spells of the Western Regions.At the same time, his poetry, calligraphy and painting levels have also improved to a certain extent.He Shen eagerly absorbed rich nutrition, completely surpassing other students at that time.This can also be seen from Yuan Mei, a famous scholar at that time, commending Heshen, and the Helin brothers who were young when they heard poems and passed ceremonies.

He Shen stands out among all the classmates.Because in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, most of the children of the Eight Banners had become depraved and degenerate. They were immersed in the environment of debauchery and luxury all day long.So, they go to the theater and go to the place of fireworks all day long, and enjoy it, not to mention any skills, and completely become playboys.Compared with these Eight Banners children who are idle all day long, He Shen is indeed a diligent and outstanding figure. Here, He Shen not only mastered all kinds of knowledge and skills, but also got acquainted with a group of famous people with backgrounds, which are valuable network resources.In addition, the students who go out from here are like graduates from prestigious universities. With this super hard brand, they are especially valued by the emperor, and it is indeed the best stepping stone to start their official career.It was during this period that he systematically and comprehensively accepted and accumulated all kinds of knowledge, which enabled him to fully display his talents when he became an official in the future.