Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 595: Insufficient Currency in Circulation
"Mr. Richelieu, you have lived in Beijing for almost a year. Are you used to it?"
"Your Majesty, except for the fact that it's too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, everything else is good here."
Your answer really leaves me speechless.
"Ahem, sir, what do you think of the major changes to the organization of our Ming Dynasty?"
"Oh, Your Majesty, this is your country's great move to constantly pursue perfection and surpass itself. In my opinion, the previous Ming Dynasty official system was already very perfect, but after Your Majesty's improvement, I saw a world beyond perfection."
It seems that I can't communicate with you, an old man. That's not right. According to the information passed on by Fang Zhenghua, Tian Ergeng and others, this guy gave Sun Chengzong and others a lot of effective suggestions in this major organizational reform. How come he turned into a bootlicker when he saw me?
Forget it, forget it, you'd better not stay by my side, otherwise both of us will be ruined sooner or later.
"Uh, well, the reason I asked you to come here today is because I need your help with something ."
"Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty. I am willing to do it for you..."
"Okay, okay, let me get straight to the point. About eleven or twelve years ago, I set up a special school for the Spanish in Yangon, mainly to train white children as killers, spies, and prostitutes... Now, the first batch of students in this school are in their twenties , and the youngest are sixteen or seventeen years old. In other words, it is time for them to play a role.
However, the teachers who trained them were still officials of the Ming Dynasty. Although they have tried their best, they are still not very familiar with the various court etiquettes and customs of various ethnic groups in Europe, so..."
"There is such a school in Rangoon? Oh, I hadn't met your Majesty at that time, so it's understandable that they didn't tell me." After immediately enlightening himself, Richelieu immediately put himself in his position: "I understand, your Majesty, if you allow me, I will set off for Rangoon as soon as possible."
"Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Richelieu. How about this, to make it easier for you to do things in the Ming Dynasty, I will confer you the title of Viscount of the Ming Dynasty."
The flattering face disappeared, replaced by a very aggrieved voice: "Just a viscount?"
"Hey, Richelieu, you have been in our Ming Dynasty for a long time. You must have heard . You should go to Yangon and work hard. As long as you do a good job, why would I be stingy with the title?"
"Well, as you wish, Your Majesty. I will silence those who are jealous of me through my work."
Seeing the chubby Richelieu walking out with difficult steps, Fang Zhenghua, who had been silent and standing behind Zhu Youdong, snorted softly: "This red barbarian is really ungrateful."
"Hahaha, Fang Zhenghua, don't underestimate him, this guy is very capable. Well, let him help me improve the spy school that targets the Middle East and Europe. Then I will give him a new job." After saying this, Zhu Youdong glanced at the figure of Richelieu who was about to disappear from his sight and said, "Send someone to the navy later to tell them that we must sail directly to Yangon this time, and not stop along the way. Let this guy starve on the ship for a while. Damn it, if he keeps eating like this in Beijing, he will get sick sooner or later."
"Yes, I obey your command."
"Yeah." He looked up at the clock in the room and asked, "What else do you have to do this afternoon?"
"Your Majesty, there are two things to do this afternoon. First, the Grand Chancellor will report to you on next year's civil service examination. Second, the new Royal Bank President Li Guojun has some economic issues to consult with you privately. They are all waiting outside now."
"Eh? It seems that there are not many things to do today. I can make some arrangements for the evening. Um, the Queen and the Imperial Concubine haven't come back yet, right?"
"According to His Majesty's order, the Empress went to Hunan to visit the local schistosomiasis patients, and the Imperial Concubine went to the newly built Jilin Provincial Government to visit the Fuguo, Guiguo, and Japanese laborers on the local farms. Neither of them has returned yet ."
"Tsk tsk, this is rare. Ahem, you should call Mr. Sun first. Then arrange Richelieu's affairs. What else do you need to do?"
"Puff~" I couldn't help it: This emperor of ours has achieved his word in the court. In addition to not liking to kill people so that officials are not very afraid of him, his prestige has surpassed that of Taizu and Chengzu of this dynasty. But in the harem, this emperor seems to be a little afraid of his wife? He even has to come secretly to taste the new things?
"Yes, I understand. I will make sure that His Majesty is satisfied with the arrangement."
Seeing Fang Zhenghua walk out with an ambiguous look on his face, Zhu Youdong twitched his lips: You eunuch, what do you know? Am I afraid of my wife? In this world, there are no men who are afraid of their wives, except for men who live off their wives. The so-called fear is just another expression of love. This is a kind of fun in life, you don't understand!
"Your Highness, your servant Sun Chengzong pays homage to His Majesty."
"Mr. Sun, you don't have to be so polite."
"Etiquette cannot be abolished." After strictly and accurately completing the process, Sun Chengzong said: "Your Majesty, according to the requirements of this major institutional reform, starting from next year, the responsibilities of national and local civil service examinations will all be transferred from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Personnel. After receiving this task, since the Ministry of Personnel, which was born out of the Ministry of Personnel, has never organized a large-scale examination before, I have communicated with the Grand Master of the Imperial Household many times. Fortunately, Junyi is a humble gentleman and taught me everything he knows. Then I and my colleagues in the Ministry of Personnel discussed repeatedly and now have a good examination plan. Please approve it, Your Majesty."
In this plan, the content of the exam is not much to say: poetry 10%, practical test 40%, essay 50%. Finally, according to the ranking of the test scores, a certain proportion of candidates will enter the interview... It can be said that except for taking into account the habit of most scholars of this era to pick out sentences from books, a little poetry content was put into the exam, and the rest is no different from later generations.
However, the civil service examinations of later generations are in the information age: registration, identity verification, anti-substitution, anti-cheating, and anti-examiner partiality are all supported by information technology. The Ming Dynasty in this dimension has just entered the steam age. Therefore, there is nothing much to say about the examination itself, but the emperor and his ministers discussed matters outside the examination for a long time.
"Mr. Sun, the examiners for this exam are mainly from the Ministry of Personnel, with assistance from the Ministry of Education, the General Administration of Etiquette and other relevant departments. Because local civil servants in each province are recruited separately, the time of local exams does not need to be unified.
I suggest that the local civil service examination be divided into two rounds. The first round will be organized by each prefecture, and the main task is to screen out those who can't even read and write and cause trouble. The second round will be organized by each province. The national civil service examination will also be handled in the same way. Those who fail the prefecture examination should not come to Beijing. "
"Yes, I accept your order."
"As for the anti-fraud issue, I have just said so much, and Mr. Sun has also proposed many methods. Let's do it according to Mr. Sun's suggestions. In short, this year we will recruit 5,000 national civil servants and 100,000 local civil servants. In short, we will set up the framework first. Then, we will strive to use three to five years to gradually enrich the personnel of government offices at all levels."
"Yes, I will obey the emperor's order. But your majesty, the armed police forces in various places have not yet been established. The local clerks and runners originally thought that the emperor would directly make them full-time local civil servants. If the entire examination plan is announced, I am afraid that the local areas will be in chaos."
"Hmph, how chaotic can it be? Rebellion? I want to see what those local tyrants can stir up. Many of my mines are still in need of laborers!"
This... Looking at the emperor in front of him, who was in his prime, the 68-year-old Sun Chengzong smiled bitterly and shook his head: the absolute loyalty of the army is the confidence of this emperor.
"Your Majesty, I have something else to ask."
"Mr. Sun, please speak."
"Does the national civil service exam still have north and south rankings?"
"Well..." After thinking about it carefully, Zhu Youdong shook his head helplessly: "Let's just follow the old rules."
There is no way. The economy of Jiangnan has always been more developed than that of the North. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, except for the Shanxi merchants who had the capital to enter the industry, the gentry in other provinces were far inferior to those in the South in terms of foundation. The key was that their awareness had not kept up - as a result, one step slow leads to another. Although the economy of the North is also developing now, it is far behind that of the South.
The economy is poor, so naturally there is less money to support children's education. The country has just started to promote compulsory education, and it has not yet achieved full coverage. Therefore, we have to make a north-south list at this time.
"Your Majesty is wise. But Your Majesty, I think this ratio needs to be adjusted."
"What's wrong?"
"I have received personal letters from Prince Fu, Prince Gui, and the Japanese Chancellor. The scholars in their countries also want to take part in this exam."
"Ah? Oh, this is a good thing. How about this, Mr. Sun, give 5%, no, 3%, no no no, 1% of the admission quota to the scholars outside the Ming Dynasty. This 1% can be cut from the 55% in the south."
"Yes, I understand. In that case, I will take my leave."
"Take care, Mr. Sun."
After Sun Chengzong stepped down, the new president of the Royal Bank, Li Guojun, was brought in.
"President Li, how do you feel about taking office? I heard from the Imperial Household Department that you have important economic matters to discuss with me."
"Your Majesty, I find this position much more troublesome than collecting taxes before. As for my request for an audience with Your Majesty today, it is because after three months at the bank, I discovered a huge hidden danger."
"Um?"
"Your Majesty, the silver circulating in the market seems to be a little insufficient."
