Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 544 Gengchen Chunwei ([-])
Eighth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty, Gengchen Year of the Dragon.

From the perspective of the whole world, the number one world news this year should be Spain and Portugal forming a Commonwealth of Monarchs.That is, King Philip II of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon (combined with Spain in the usual sense) died in the War of the Three Kings against Morocco while Portugal was fighting King Sebastian I After the succession crisis, it annexed Portugal this year (concurrently serving as the king of Portugal), and actually unified the Iberian Peninsula.

The most obvious result of the merger of Spain and Portugal was the birth of the world's number one colonial empire.At this moment, the Atlantic system from Europe to the Americas, and the Indian Ocean and Pacific systems from Europe to Asia bypassing Africa are politically merged into one.In short, the sixteenth century witnessed the creation, construction and monopoly of Iberia, especially Spain, to the Atlantic Rim System.

Of course, this has little to do with the high level of pragmatism at this time. If you have to talk about it, it is probably that Portugal began to use the power of Spain to strengthen its colonial development in the Spice Islands (roughly speaking, Indonesia), and Spain also Instead, relying on Portugal's colonial roots in Asia, it began to enter the Luzon Islands (roughly speaking, the Philippines).

The Nanyang region, including Luzon, is the "Pan-Great China Sphere of Influence" that Gao Pragmatism has long established by default, so the main impact of the merger of Spain and Portugal on him is that there may be one more "Southern Nanyang" in the future (maybe it still needs to be counted Two, because the internal contradictions of the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires were very serious, and they were not merged in jurisprudence, but were only powerful maritime rivals in the nature of a Commonwealth of Monarchs.

However, Gao Yushi is not in a hurry. Nanyang is the doorstep of Daming. As long as Daming comes to his senses, Gao Yushi feels that after the reform of the New Deal, he can still wrestle with the Spanish and Portuguese Empires in this area.The first, of course, is to bully others because the homeland is far away, and the second is because the Spanish-Portuguese United Fleet-the Armada will be defeated by England eight years later.

Although Spain at this time is the highlight moment, even the first defeat of the Armada Fleet failed to damage Spain's vitality. In the second to third years, Spain once again built a more powerful Armada ( Windless Note: For details, see Jeffrey Parker's "Philip II's Grand Strategy", and "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Era of Philip II", "Spain-Portugal: The Rise and Fall of the Empire" and other works), but so far Spain The empire fell into a long-term sea tug-of-war with England (the Netherlands would be added later), and later because of a series of wars such as the Netherlands War of Independence and the Thirty Years War, Spain was severely damaged by land and sea. By 30, not to mention that the Netherlands was not preserved, even Portugal became independent.

Therefore, the highly pragmatic Nanyang strategy is still very stable, and it is gradually advancing in an orderly manner according to the predetermined plan.

At the end of last year, he acquired the official ports of Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou through deals with the Ministry of Industry. Now he is trying to find ways to further expand the ports and improve operations. At the same time, he has also begun to absorb a large number of ocean-going shipbuilders Just go to Nanyang), sailors who have traveled to Nanyang and other talents related to Nanyang maritime trade, and are planning to establish the first Jinghua Shipyard in the south... All in all, he is not in a hurry because of his youth.

The overall situation of the world has little influence on Gao Pragmatism, but Gao Pragmatism is very concerned about and attaches great importance to matters in China.

That is this year's Gengchen Chunwei.

Daming is a society that places the most emphasis on academic titles since the introduction of tribute examinations, and is extremely particular about qualifications.The distinction between the first list and the second list is very clear.In the eyes of the world, the wealth of Jinshi and Juren is even more disparate.

Especially after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, everything was based on the imperial examination, and everything was based on the qualifications of birth.Although Jinshi is the same way, Juren and tribute are the same way, both are the right way, but in fact, when it is used, tribute students are not as good as Juren, and Juren is not as good as Jinshi, so there is a popular saying among the people that "there is a person who has an empty pot, and a Jinshi who has no empty pot" and so on. proverb.

Non-jinshi can't do high-ranking officials and important positions.

Since the second year of Tianshun (1458), after Li Xian made the decision, he compiled a special selection of Jinshi, and since then, he has not been admitted to the cabinet unless he is a Hanlin.The Minister of Rites, the Minister of the North and the South, and the Minister of the Right of the Ministry of Officials are all non-Hanlin.Shujishi must be selected by Jinshi, and when Shujishi first entered, he was regarded as a "prime minister" by the government and the opposition.

It is precisely because once a person is a Jinshi in high school, he can be released as an official. If he is in the court, he will find a minister, censor, and chief officer. , magistrate, get a county-level leader, powerful and powerful, and the future is limitless, and even the ministers, cabinets, etc. are all from them, so Jinshi is worth a hundred times, far from being comparable to others.

Ordinary people call Jinshi, and the word "Master" must be added after it. It is one of the proofs that no one is called Jinshi alone.

Even if a scholar is a Jinshi, even if he does not become an official, or he returns home, or even resigns on his own initiative, he will automatically become a local celebrity when he returns to his hometown.No matter where the Jinshi is an official, if there are weddings and funerals in his hometown, the magistrate will send someone to give gifts. If the Jinshi’s home is in the county, the magistrate will often be there in person; Cheng, master book, and instructors act on their behalf.All local gentry who came from the two lists of Jinshi can use their name cards to resist courtesy if they want to see the governor or inspector, but Juren can't.

If these are just social status, then the gap in the ability to make money is even greater.

If you win the Juren, you can get rid of poverty, and if you win the Jinshi, you can get rich.According to Gao Yushi's understanding over the years, a school teacher needs to complete 50 taels of study every year to maintain his family's life in Beijing for a year (standard for scholars).Instead of a Xinzhong Jinshi who stayed in Beijing as an official, he would spend at least 100 taels of silver a year, usually about 700 li, and even a little more than [-] taels was not uncommon.However, many of them were from poor families with meager means. Where did they get so much money?

In fact, since high school, these new scholars have been supported by carriages, horses, attendants, clothes, utensils, and food and drink expenses.Even if you are not an official, there are people who send money to the house to curry favor.Because anyone relying on a Jinshi master is equivalent to relying on a big tree that can enjoy the shade.

For example, if a businessman committed a crime and went to the Yamen to plead for mercy, it might not be possible to get it done by spending thousands of taels, but if a Jinshi master helped him, he could solve the problem with a piece of paper two fingers wide.

And the test that determines whether a person can carp jump over the dragon gate is the test.

In the Ming Dynasty, those who took the examination in Beijing to take the examination of the Ministry of Rites were called huijian, which means centralized examination.The general examination is scheduled for three years, and it will be held in the year of the rural examination.Since the township examinations are all held in the Zi, Wu, Mao, and You years, the general examinations are all held in the Chen, Xu, Chou, and Mo years.Township examinations are often held in August, while general examinations are held in February.

Similar to the method of the township examination, the first test is held on the ninth day of the month, the second test three days later, and the third test three days later.

Since the examination was presided over by the Ministry of Rites, the location of the examination was of course the Gongyuan of the capital—Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty, and Beijing after 13 years of Yongle.

The general examination in the Ming Dynasty was different from that in the Song Dynasty. All the candidates who passed the provincial examination could participate in the general examination indefinitely. It also caused some problems, the most important of which is that the number of people who will take the exam is very large.

In fact, as early as the first year of Zhengtong and the first year of Hongzhi, the imperial court twice stipulated that those who fail to pass the examination three times would not be allowed to participate in the examination again. However, because this action ruined the future of most of the candidates, it was difficult to do so, so they did not insist on it. After a while, the court couldn't bear the pressure and canceled it.

So just after the Spring Festival, there was a large influx of Juren who came to take the exam in the capital. Although it was impossible for Gao Yushi to send someone to count, it is estimated that there were at least tens of thousands.

But now, these tens of thousands of candidates are waiting for one thing, waiting for the emperor to announce the chief examiner and deputy examiner for this exam.

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(End of this chapter)