Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 599 Civil Service Examination
The special operation of the Ming Dynasty to rectify Buddhist temples was unexpectedly smooth and peaceful. Although the troops directly under the East Factory and the Imperial Horse Administration cleaned up so many Buddhist temples, took back so many precious metals, and made so many monks and nuns return to secular life, there were many conflicts across the country, but there was really no Buddhist temple that openly raised the banner of rebellion.
But this is normal: Chinese Buddhists have never been known for their warlike nature. In addition, Zhu Youdong was an emperor who controlled public opinion. Therefore, his rectification of Buddhist temples was much smoother than the three Wus and one Zong in history.
Of course, no matter how smooth the process was, there were still many Buddhists in the vast territory of China, and some of them were devout believers. Therefore, in the process of rectifying Buddhist temples, civil unrest was inevitable - but even these not-too-strong noises disappeared in May of the 13th year of Tianqi (1631).
Because there is a new hot spot in the Ming Dynasty: national and local civil service examinations.
According to the tone set by the court's institutional reform last year, the civil service examination this year planned to recruit 10,000 national civil servants and 100,000 local civil servants. After the announcement of such a scale, all literate people across the country saw the hope of becoming an official in the court.
God have mercy on us! The Ming Dynasty has been established for more than 200 years. How many Jinshi have been admitted through this imperial examination? During the reigns of Taizu and Jianwen, only more than 100 people were admitted in each examination. From Chengzu to Yingzong, there were about 200 people in each examination. From Xianzong to the current Taishang Taihuang, there were no more than 300 people in each examination.
You know, the imperial examination is held every three years. Only two or three hundred people are admitted every three years. How many Jinshi have been admitted in the past two hundred years? A little over 20,000, right?
If we count all the 20,000 Jinshi who are related by father, son, brother, grandfather, grandson, nephew, uncle, or in-law as one family, then how many Jinshi families were there in the Ming Dynasty over the past 200 years? There will definitely not be more than 500!
The imperial examination system, although it is fair, is actually a monopoly of the noble families on the resources to become officials!
Although in the old Ming Dynasty, Juren could become officials and ordinary people could become clerks. However, except for the oddballs like Hai Rui, the former could only reach the fifth rank. For those who were born as clerks, it was extremely difficult to become an official, and the ceiling was extremely low: generally, they could not go up to the eighth rank.
But this civil service exam will recruit 110,000 people at a time! This means that countless families in the Ming Dynasty who have never entered the officialdom will truly obtain official status for the first time!
This is the emperor's great benevolent policy. Under such a benevolent policy, things like officials and gentry paying taxes together and renovating Buddhist temples are no longer a problem!
Therefore, when May came, the focus of national attention was all on the civil service examination.
…
At 3 a.m. on May 10, there were already crowds of people outside the Jiangnan Imperial Examination Hall in Nanjing. Although it was drizzling that day, the enthusiasm of the crowd at the door made the raindrops not only fail to cool down the room, but also add a different atmosphere to the noisy examination hall in the misty mood.
"My lord, please be careful not to get the paper and pen in the exam basket wet."
"...Hehe, Mr. Ando, the Tokugawa Shogunate has been destroyed for many years, so don't call me that."
"The shogunate has fallen, but the Tokugawa family will continue to exist. As the only surviving descendant of Tosho Daigongen, you are the current head of the Tokugawa family. It is natural for your subject to address you as my lord."
"Hey, you."
The man called Lord is an older young man of about 30 years old. Although he has grown his hair long, anyone with a discerning eye can find that the hair on his forehead and top of his head has only grown recently and is obviously different from the hair on the back of his head.
Yes, he is Japanese, his official name is Tokugawa Yoshinobu. In the Tokugawa War, he was the commander-in-chief of the Korean Front of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
That year, the White Armored Jurchens defeated the Tokugawa Shigaru, and Sanada Yukimura, a subordinate of the Toyotomi family, defeated the Incheon defenders. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Ming troops advanced from two directions... As a result, the more than 100,000 Japanese troops were trapped in a desperate situation in just six days. Their commander, Tokugawa Yorinobu, was naturally captured.
After the war, the Ming Dynasty released him. After returning to Japan, he was imprisoned and interrogated for a period of time by the Toyotomi regime. After that, Toyotomi Toshihide did not continue to embarrass him, but gave him a fief of 3,000 koku as the territory of the entire Tokugawa clan, and retained his official position as the major general of the imperial guards.
This was of course deliberately done by Toyotomi Tsuchiya in accordance with Gao Panlong's advice to win people's hearts: You see, the Tokugawa family wanted to kill all of our Toyotomi family, but now our Toyotomi family still has some blood left for the Tokugawa family. It is clear who is kind and who is cruel.
However, the Tokugawa family was such a large family, and there were so many retainers who had lost their fiefs. What was a mere 3,000 koku of fiefdom enough for? So over the years, this fiefdom of the Tokugawa family was a rare place in Japan where there were almost no farmers, and all the land was cultivated by the samurai themselves. This made it a model for the samurai class, and the Toyotomi family could not force it too much. So Tokugawa Yorifusa survived.
At the beginning of last year, the Ming Dynasty received news that the Ming Dynasty would hold a civil service examination, and scholars from the various vassal states of the Ming Dynasty could also take the exam. Upon hearing this news, Tokugawa Yorinobu's mind became active: living in Japan, being monitored all the time, and living in fear every day, the key is that he is also living in poverty. After all, he has received a good Chinese education over the years, so why not give it a try? If he passes the exam, won't he be able to get out of his current predicament?
Once this thought came to mind, he couldn't control it. Then he asked someone to buy special preparation materials for the civil service exam and essay from Guiguo, and prepared carefully.
Registration started last October. For local citizens of the Ming Dynasty to take the civil service exam, they must first trace their three generations of ancestors to a clean family background, with no record of breaking the law or rebelling. However, for people from vassal states, this restriction was not very strict: in Zhu Youdong's opinion, the literacy rate in vassal states was much lower than that of the Ming Dynasty. If there were too many restrictions on family background, no one would take the exam.
However, although there were not many restrictions on the family background of the vassal state officials, they had to take an additional exam compared to the local scholars of the Ming Dynasty: the Chinese proficiency test. Those who passed the Level 4 test could take the local civil service exam. Only those who passed the Level 6 test could take the national civil service exam.
It can be said that this one reason alone blocked more than 90% of the scholars from various vassal states, because the Chinese language was too difficult for people of other ethnic groups.
Tokugawa Yorinobu still remembers that in the Chinese proficiency test last November, there was a question: "What does 'In winter, wear as much as you can. In summer, wear as much as you can.'" When he saw this question, he was still a little confused even though he had been learning Chinese and writing Chinese characters since he was a child.
Fortunately, the full score of the Chinese language test is 100 points, and 80 points is considered a pass. As a former top Japanese aristocrat, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who had been immersed in Chinese studies since childhood, still passed the Level 6 test without any danger and obtained the qualification to take the national civil service examination.
Because there were so many people to be recruited for this exam, the number of applicants was also extremely large. Therefore, for the national civil service exam alone, two examination halls were set up in Nanjing and Beijing. And the scholars from the vassal states, except for Fukuoka, were all arranged to take the exam in Nanjing.
After getting the Chinese language test certificate in January, I set off immediately and rushed to Nanjing. After submitting the identity certificate issued by the Japanese governor at the Shangyuan County Reference Reception Office, I had to go through another preliminary examination: the questions of this preliminary examination were exactly the same as those of the local scholars of the Ming Dynasty. Its purpose was to eliminate those who did not have much ability but took the exam with a fluke mentality. According to the Shangyuan County Magistrate, if there was no preliminary examination, I am afraid that on the day of the formal examination, there would be more than 100,000 people taking the exam. Jiangnan is the place where the Ming Dynasty's literary style flourished the most, and there are too many scholars here!
The first round of the exam was not difficult, at least in Tokugawa Yoshinobu's opinion, it was not as difficult as the Chinese Level 6 exam. But even so, it was said that about 60,000 to 70,000 people were eliminated.
When he first heard the news, Tokugawa Yoshinobu was a little bit unconvinced: How could such a simple question eliminate so many Ming elites? But when the results came out, those who were eliminated gathered to make trouble. After he sent his men to investigate, he understood.
This civil service exam had a huge impact on all levels of society in the Ming Dynasty. So many people took the exam with a fluke mentality. Therefore, among the 60,000 to 70,000 people who were eliminated, many were people who were slightly literate but had average talents. It was reasonable for such people to be eliminated.
Some of the people who were rejected were really well-read scholars. Although these guys were good at picking out sentences, they were not up to the task .
For example, there is a question in the qualifying exam: After the six ministries of the Ming Dynasty were split into many ministries, the newly established ministries all have general offices. Please discuss the responsibilities of the general offices.
This kind of question is not difficult for candidates like Tokugawa Yoshinobu who have been immersed in the top of Japanese politics for many years: Isn't it just the senior officials of the shogunate? But for ordinary candidates whose families have not produced officials for hundreds of years, they have no idea why it is so. How can they pass the test?
In short, after more than half a year of hard work, Tokugawa Yorifusa finally stood outside the gate of the Jiangnan Imperial Examination Hall, waiting for the examination to begin.
"My Lord, I have already inquired about it. There are only 325 people in Nanjing who applied for the Audit Office with you this time."
"Hiss, only? As I recall, the General Audit Office is only recruiting fifty people this year? There are so many people applying from Nanjing alone? If we include those from Beijing, wouldn't it be that many?"
"My lord, please keep your faith. There is absolutely no problem with your knowledge."
"Haha, I'll just do my best."
Following these words, the gate of Jiangnan Imperial Examination Hall creaked open slowly...
