Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 276: The Scholars of Fangshan
The results of the Ming Dynasty imperial examination will be announced on April 15th.
From the end of the examination on February 15th to the announcement of the results, the two months were the time for examiners to review the answers, for relevant staff to count, for the allocation of admission quotas according to the unique Ming Dynasty system of the North and South, for the identity confirmation and even political review of the candidates to be admitted, and for the ranking of the new candidates.
During this period, Zhu Youdong did not interfere with the work of the Ministry of Rites: too much is as bad as too little, and his interference in the imperial examinations was already big enough. If he continued to provoke the Ministry of Rites, Wu Daonan, the weak Shangshu, would probably not say anything, but the censors would impeach this great minister to death.
How could Zhu Youdong, such a flexible minister, be willing to give up? So, just bear with it.
During this period, Zhu Youdong focused more of his energy on the reconstruction of the Yellow Book.
In fact, starting from January of this year, with the help of local banks, local governments at all levels obtained the special yellow book paper produced by Fangshan Laboratory. Then, based on the household registration cards and ID cards that were rechecked in the past three years, local governments began to re-fill the yellow book with the help of local garrisons.
This year, the new salary system was implemented for civil servants, clerks, and servants. Regardless of whether these guys would continue to be greedy after the big salary increase, Zhu Youdong at least achieved one thing: people who work for the country can live well even if they are not greedy at all - when I start to fight corruption vigorously in a while, you will have nothing to say.
This year was also the first year that the Daming Royal Naval Academy, established in Tianjin, officially opened. Of the 500 students in the first class of the Daming Royal Military Academy, which opened in the second half of 1613, 136 chose the Naval Academy after two years of basic learning. Li Guozhu and Yan Siqi also recruited some literate backbones from their old brothers and stuffed them into the academy, bringing the number of students in the first class of the Naval Academy to 200.
This year, Zhu Youdong commissioned Wei Zhongxian to start hybrid rice research when he was four years old, and later Xu Guangqi took over. Eleven years later, last year, Xu Guangqi finally harvested a rice variety with full grains, more ears, and better drought resistance than other rice varieties. Zhu Youdong has commissioned this generation of Shu King Zhu Zhishu to experiment with new rice varieties in Chengdu after the beginning of spring this year.
This year, Zhu Youdong arranged for the six major newspapers to once again report on the unearthed cultural relics from the Yinqueshan Han Tomb. Many documents on military strategy, Taoism, and Yin-Yang were published. Since Confucianism unified the Chinese ideological world, the works of various schools of thought have once again been known to quite a number of Chinese people. The resulting brainstorming is about to begin...
In short, by 1616, the Ming Dynasty had seen the dawn of hope in terms of household registration, economy, military, administration, people's livelihood, and ideological reform.
…
"Your Highness, this is the list of candidates admitted to the imperial examination. Please take a look."
"Alas, Grand Master, the Imperial Examination is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites. You can decide it yourself. I will not interfere."
He rolled his eyes unconsciously with his head lowered. When Wu Daonan raised his head, his face was already full of smiles: "No, the so-called selection of talents for the country is to select talents for Your Highness and the Emperor, right? So, please take a look at it, Your Highness."
"Haha, Grand Master, you can't let this be spread. Otherwise, the censors will accuse you of being flattering and shameless."
Although Zhu Youdong had a smile on his face, his hands quickly snatched the list of new Jinshi from Wu Daonan's hands.
I took a closer look. Hmm? The name of this champion is Li Jia?
"Uh, Grand Master, this Li Jia, I remember, he is a student of our Fangshan School, right?"
"I don't know about this. However, the chief examiner of this examination, Sun Shenxing, praised this student's essay and commented on it as 'precise'. Although many of the examiners were not satisfied with this student's essay, his later poems and classics were also very good. So, on the whole, Sun Shenxing still selected this student as the champion."
"Hmm." Looking at Wu Daonan below, Zhu Youdong fell into deep thought: Sun Shenxing, isn't he a member of the Donglin Party? Isn't he setting a trap for me? However, it stands to reason that Sun Shenxing should not have known the name of the examinee or even the source of the answer sheet in his hand at that time under the watchful eyes of the public.
Regardless, although I certainly cannot admit all of the 12 students from Fangshan this year, if the civil officials all select my students as the top scorers, and I, as the head of the school, actually dismiss them to avoid suspicion, then I, as the head of the school, would be too cowardly.
So, let me be the first place. Even if someone attacks me for having shady dealings in scientific research, I will feel wronged and just keep silent.
Skip Li Jia's name and continue reading. Well, the names of Hong Chengchou, Qu Shisi, He Tingshu, Bi Zisu, Fang Kongzhao, Ruan Dacheng, Wei Dazhong, Huang Zunsu, Hou Xun and others appear in order. The names of Sun Chuanting and the brothers Song Yingxing and Song Yingsheng are also found in the middle and lower part of this list of more than 300 people.
That’s fine, as long as I can win, Zhu Youdong doesn’t really ask for anything like a high ranking.
In addition, there were exactly six Fangshan students who made the list, including Li Jia . It seemed that these guys had communicated with each other and made their own arrangements this time, so as not to embarrass themselves as the head of the mountain.
"Grand Master, I have no objection to this list. If the Ministry of Rites does not find any problems, then please ask Grand Master to work with the Imperial Household Department to prepare for the palace examination."
"Yes, I obey your command."
On the 15th, the list of candidates admitted to the imperial examination was announced, and naturally some were happy while others were sad.
"Brother Boyun, congratulations."
"Hahaha, congratulations to you, Yunong, Ziqin, Zhenzhong, Zhiyou, and Suhua. Well, speaking of which, we have received so much kindness from His Highness, and now we can finally repay His Highness."
"Yes, think about Wang Shunwen. He used to be the last in our class. Who knew that after the Battle of Sarhu, he couldn't stop. I just heard from other classmates that this guy followed Commander Cao to the Mongolian expedition this year and took the heads of several taijis. Who knows, he will be a captain when he comes back this time."
"Humph, Wang Shunwen used to be the last in the group mainly in terms of gun training. In terms of studying, he is actually better than us. I didn't expect that he would be like this in the army..."
"Hahaha, Brother Boyun, you are obsessed with it. Now that we have become Jinshi, we can also use our expertise in our respective positions, and we may not be worse than that guy."
"That's right, everyone. What do you think about this career?"
"My father used to be a minor official in the county government's criminal department. My family has been studying the laws of the Ming Dynasty for generations. Now that the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi have been discovered, I am more interested in laws. So, if I could choose for myself, I would like to go to the Ministry of Justice."
"Well, considering your highness's vision, when you truly become the emperor in the future, you will definitely want to carry out large-scale reforms. If Ziqin really goes to the Ministry of Justice, he will definitely have great potential. What about Yunong?"
"I remember when I was a kid in Fangshan, when His Highness took us to play the killing game, my performance was always the best. At that time, His Highness said that I was a good candidate for the Imperial Guards. Although I have passed the imperial examination, it doesn't mean that a Jinshi cannot become an Imperial Guard, right?"
"Hahaha, our Highness has done so many shocking things since he was enlightened. This kind of thing is not a problem for His Highness at all."
"Well, I think that after I get the status of Jinshi, I will go to the Military Academy to study."
"Well, Zhenzhong has a good ambition. No matter how fast Wang Shunwen climbs in the future, you may still be his supervisor!"
"That makes sense. As for me, I have no objection. I will go wherever Your Highness needs me to go!"
"Hahaha, Zhiyou was a jack of all trades in school. He could get along with anyone. He was good at everything he did. In my opinion, this is an extraordinary ability to reconcile people. He is a natural candidate for the position of Minister!"
"Excuse me, Su Hua, how about you?"
"Me? Hahaha, you all know that I am terrible at physical training, and my only decent writing skills are decent. If Your Highness doesn't mind, I would like to start as a secretary."
"Very good. If Su Hua becomes your Highness's secretary, your Highness will be able to relax a lot."
After briefly talking about their respective ambitions, Li Jia said solemnly, "We have received too much favor from His Highness, so, in my opinion, we should just work hard for His Highness after we enter the government, and we don't need to think too much about other empty names. To be honest, this time His Highness asked us to have only six of the twelve people. Zhang Hong, Zheng Wei, Du Youning, Diwu Qingrou, Ji Seyu, Luo Xiong and others voluntarily gave up others, so how are they worse than us? So, we have to cherish our blessings.
I was the first to hand in my paper in the first exam, but I never expected to win the first prize. For this palace exam, I suggest you be more cautious. We must not take all the first-class places, because then His Highness will be under great pressure."
"That's right, that's right. It's enough to do things for His Highness. False reputation is not important."
"Well, everyone, see you at the palace examination!"
"Brother Boyun, see you at the palace examination!"
