Jingming

Chapter 379 Two Capitals and Sixteen Provinces

The Emperor of Heaven turned his attention to Nanyang, so the wind started blowing there.

But as far as Ming Dynasty itself is concerned, there is no need to pay much attention there.

August is the time when the provincial examination is held, and scholars are concerned about their academic career.

Since the examination syllabus and academic system were changed in the eighth year of Jiajing, this year will probably be another milestone.

In Guangdong, Hai Rui, who is seventeen years old, is also preparing for the exam, and his classmates at Guangzhou Middle School are worried.

"The examination system will be changed every three years. When will it be changed?"

"Hey, I'm afraid this is the last year where it's easy to win..."

From the official documents issued by the Ministry of Rites, the system of primary schools, middle schools, and universities in all provinces and counties of the Ming Dynasty has been completed.Starting next year, although the provincial provincial examinations will still be taken every year, since many new official positions have been filled since the full implementation of the new law, the quota for the main list of the provincial examinations will be renegotiated in the provincial chief minister adjustment plan every year. .

Although there is no mention of reducing the quota, everyone knows that the pipeline for newcomers brought about by the implementation of the new law is narrowing.

Or change.

"What does Da Zongbo mean by exploring the degree and academic system of universities in each province, exploring the combination of rural examinations and provincial university entrance exams, and exploring a unified recruitment system for selecting talents and conferring positions with different academic qualifications other than Jinshi?"

"Didn't it say in the newspaper? Originally, during the four years of middle school, if you passed the government examination, you would be a student member. But then there were three paths. One is to become a student member, starting from the ninth grade. . The second is to take the provincial examination directly. The third is to take the university examination. After passing it, you can enter the university. After five years of study, you will be a qualified candidate if you have successful results. Think about it, what will the situation be like in these three years? "

Hearing this person's question, it was Hai Rui who answered: "The provincial examination happens every year, but not many people go to the university."

"It's exactly what Ru Xian said!" The man clapped his leg, "After five years of study, a candidate is admitted, so why are not many people willing to go? Isn't it because you can try again every year in the provincial examination?"

Another person sighed quietly: "I'm afraid that there will be a final conclusion after the major national policy conference. I see, not only will the number of regular candidates be reduced each year, but there will also be a threshold for age and the number of exams taken! To put it bluntly, the official list is for The road is narrow, but straight and fast for those with extraordinary talents! But most of the scholars in the world have only middle-class talents and can only rely on hard study. Should I still fail to pass the provincial examination for five consecutive years, or should I go to university? After five years of study, there will be candidates who will be admitted to the official list, and the imperial court is interested in these people this time."

"…Then what does the unified recruitment examination mean for selecting talents with different academic qualifications other than Jinshi?"

"This is easy." Hai Rui started studying in a new-style primary school, and now he can see through it at a glance, "It's not the same as before when it comes to recruiting, recruiting, and appointing people. Not to mention other things, official recommendation, The selection of officials will all change."

In the early Ming Dynasty, due to years of war, Zhu Yuanzhang used the recommendation system to recruit many officials in a short period of time.

In the past few years, the new law added so many official positions. In fact, it was through official recommendation and personnel selection. In a short period of time, it not only filled the gap of so many new official positions, but also attracted many officials to support the new law.

Now that the new law has been stabilized, it will naturally enter a more standardized stage.

Not only Guangdong is now concerned about these matters, but also the health workers in all provinces.In the capital, many people have coined two words: Jiupin test and Eighth product test.

"That's quite appropriate." Zhu Houcong smiled after hearing this, and then looked at Yan Song, "Do you really want to be the Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Education for another three years?"

Yan Song looked loyal: "Three years are too short. Students in various provinces still don't understand this new academic system. I just put up an airs and shamelessly admitted my merits to the state palace. In another three years, I can do all three things." Done well. The Ministry of Culture and Education is newly established. If you want to discuss the affairs of the Ministry of Education, I will do my part."

"Okay, then let's continue to suffer for you, father and son."

"How can I say it's so hard for you? These academic qualifications, university academic system, and unified recruitment are all planned by your Majesty's predecessors for thousands of years. I have the honor to help your Majesty try it out. It is a matter of lasting glory in history. I can't ask for it. I thank you. Your Majesty has great faith!"

Zhu Houcong is naturally very familiar with the academic system, as well as the national examination.

Today’s Ming Dynasty students cannot be said to have entered the era of writing, but they are indeed starting to take a different route.The practice of using a set of Four Books and Five Classics as the foundation to establish a scientific path is not conducive to the development of more fields in the future of the Ming Dynasty.

Nowadays, the meeting examination can be called the Sixth or Seventh Grade Examination, so those who are a scholar or a scholar will naturally be called the Eighth Grade Examination or the Ninth Grade Examination.

There is no way to go directly to the stage of recruiting based on position, and the gap in the initial appointment of Jinshi and Xiucai is too large. These are still practical problems: people must always have motivation and hope.

In fact, there is a solution: refer to the previous government-watching system.

Jinshi can initially be awarded seven grades, but they can no longer directly become county magistrates as in the past. Grassroots training is indispensable.

In this way, in actual work, what Jinshi, Juren, and Xiucai do are grassroots affairs of the eighth and ninth grades.When it comes to the selection, Jinshi will have an advantage simply because their initial level is sufficient.

Yan Song was willing to do this because he found that the emperor was wary of him.I wonder if it was his actions of supporting and supporting the underachievers in Zhejiang that made the emperor feel that he was ambitious.

Now that Yan Shifan had "committed something", instead of being attacked by others, he might as well step back and take on this important task that would offend many officials and scholars in a short period of time.

It reduces the power of officials to promote candidates and scholars, and makes scholars more confused about their scientific career. These are all unflattering things, but they are only in line with His Majesty's heart.

Only Yan Song, the Minister of Rites, knew how much the emperor attached importance to this new system, and even split the Ministry of Rites into the Ministry of Rites and Education and the Ministry of Culture and Education.

Maybe he has the tendency to go to lonely ministers, which will eliminate the emperor's wariness against him.

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there is a meeting in the National Policy Hall.

Yan Song came in advance to report to Zhu Houcong the reactions from various places after the academic reform. Now that he had finished expressing his attitude, he resigned and went to the National Policy Hall to wait for the meeting.

Zhu Houcong lowered his head and looked at the new map in front of him.

After more than two years, what Zhang Fujing petitioned at that time evolved into the adjustment of provincial administrative regions across the country, and now a draft that the current national policy makers think is acceptable has finally been formed.

As long as Zhu Houcong nods at the national policy meeting that will be waiting for a while, this draft will be discussed and finalized at the major national policy meeting at the end of the year.

The current draft can be called two capitals, sixteen provinces and five border areas.

The two capitals are naturally Beijing and Nanjing.They directly became provincial-level administrative regions, and still had various ministries and offices.However, the daily civil affairs of Beijing and Nanjing are respectively presided over by Beijing Zhaoyin and Nanjing Zhaoyin, who are one rank lower than those in charge of other provinces.

Under Beijing, only part of Shuntian Prefecture is included.Under Nanjing, in addition to Yingtian Prefecture excluding Liyang and Gaochun counties, there is also Zhenjiang Prefecture.

The two special titles of Southern Zhili and Northern Zhili will no longer exist, and Northern Zhili will become Hebei Province after excluding Beijing, Xuanda, Baoan Prefecture, and Yanqing Prefecture.This new Hebei Province also included Baoding, Zhuozhou and other counties that originally belonged to the south of Shuntian Prefecture.

South Zhili became the north of Lianggauguan River, and the four prefectures of Huai'an, Yangzhou, Xuzhou, and Fengyang were combined into Huaiyang Province. Fengyang Prefecture, which was too large, was also split into three prefectures, and was designed according to the needs of future management of Huanghuai. There are some small provincial prefectures, and the provincial government is located in Huai'an.

Except for Nanjing, the remaining part of the Yangtze River north and south includes Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Ningguo, Huizhou, Chizhou, Taiping, Anqing, Luzhou, Chuzhou, and Guangzhou, and together they became a new Jiangning Province, with the provincial government located in Suzhou.

In addition, all the other chief envoys were renamed as provinces, which can be regarded as setting the title that the chief envoys are actually controlled by the governors of the provinces.In the provinces, departments such as administration, inspection, capital command, punishment, public security, and taxation were established.At the provincial level, the distinction between military and political affairs was not clear in the border towns in the past, and five military and civilian districts were established in Ninggan, Xuanda, Jiliao, Hainan, and Taiwan.Taiyuan Town is a special case here, because everyone knows that His Majesty has decided to retaliate and expel the northern captives. There may not be a separate Taiyuan Town in the future.The two special cases of Hainan and Taiwan are due to His Majesty's consideration of the ocean.

Between the two capitals, sixteen provinces and five border areas, the Ming Dynasty had a total of 23 provincial-level administrative regions.

Although Nanjing's various bureaucracies are still set up, Beijing's meaning is already very clear: similar to the establishment of staff officers in the military affairs conference, Nanjing's bureaucracies are sinecures of mixed rank before and during the official career, so they do not grant real power and only give The right to advise on civil affairs can be called the "Six Science and Technology Committees of Nanjing".

No, it’s the Eighth Science and Technology Committee now.

The two extra provinces in Nanjing satisfy the needs of many third and fourth graders in the Ming Dynasty and have a few more steps to go to Tai Pavilion.The extra batch of provincial-level official positions is enough for many people to suppress some of the pet peeves of the officials and gentry in the southern Zhili prefectures.

As for Nanjing, since it is a backup, make a backup.The hardware facilities and personnel support are all there, and Ming Dynasty can still provide the money to support this group of officials.Could it be that providing advice and suggestions cannot achieve the strategic purpose of the emperor taking some people to Nanjing to quickly establish a new team in conjunction with existing personnel in case something happens in Beijing?
Huaiyang and Jiangning provinces also surround Nanjing.

Zhu Houcong felt that there was no problem on the whole. After all, it was the result of more than two years of discussion.

In the future, if some prefectures and counties are transferred from this province to the jurisdiction of another province, it will all be fine-tuning.

Entering the second decade of the Jiajing Dynasty, the stage pattern of the Ming Dynasty will be determined.

In the National Policy Hall, snacks and moon cakes were prepared on the table in front of each counselor.

Today is not only an important national policy meeting, but also the Mid-Autumn Festival.

After Zhu Houcong arrived at the National Policy Hall, the atmosphere of today's meeting was relatively relaxed.

"I have already gone through the political adjustment in detail, so let's finalize the draft." Zhu Houcong looked around them with a smile on his lips, "After today, this term of consultation has also entered the last few months. Ceremony. The six ministries of , officials, households, military, punishment, and industry were changed to eight ministries of Lijiao, personnel, civil affairs, finance and taxation, national defense, culture and education, justice, and industry and commerce. Together with the Metropolitan Procuratorate, this is the new Jiuqing. The Department of Public Security, the General Department The courts and the general affairs department report to me."

The split of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Household Affairs gave the imperial court two more departments.Civil Affairs manages land registration, disaster relief and other ordinary civil affairs. After the merger of the General Department of Taxation, the new Ministry of Finance and Taxation was the most important authority of the original Ministry of Household Affairs in the Ming Dynasty.What's more, the issuance of new money and the establishment of a unified national treasury will be decided at this year's major national policy meeting.

As for the Ministry of Punishment, which became the Ministry of Justice, it was responsible for the criminal names of the world and the criminal divisions of various provinces.In the past, the authority of the Ministry of Justice was eroded by factory guards.This time, the emperor made it clear that the Jinyi Guards would only intervene when some major or important cases required a joint trial by all departments.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate is responsible for picketing and impeachment, and the Dali Temple was renamed the Great Court. It will no longer be established only in the capital.In various provinces, prefectures and counties, the Supreme Court will also send personnel to participate in sentencing serial hearings as an independent recording and supervision process.

Zhu Houcong cannot make judicial improvements to a better level now, and can only try his best to strengthen his professionalism in this area.In the past, it was the local leaders who had the final say. How much energy can they devote to trying cases?
This national policy conference is really the most systematic change and tone-setting for the Ming Dynasty.

It inherits many ideas that have been spread out by the New Law and lays the foundation for the century-old system of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houcong looked at them and said slowly: "You must have gradually realized that this national policy meeting will be the place to set rules, laws, plans, and choose important ministers for the Ming Dynasty in the future. After the national policy meeting, various meetings will be held. Perform your duties. From now on, I’m afraid there will be more seats at national policy meetings, and it seems like they won’t be so prominent.”

Everyone listened silently, that was indeed the case.There were not so many people in the beginning, but now the position of consultant is no longer an important position, but seems to be a necessary qualification.

The nine people in the State Palace are the pinnacle of civil affairs.Several important members of the Military Affairs Council are the pinnacle of military affairs.A general assistant and a general staff are the civil and military arms of the emperor.

"But don't underestimate the national policy meeting just because it is not so dangerous to participate in the strategy." Zhu Houcong said solemnly, "What is being discussed here is just one or two ministries. A few important ministers cannot determine the major matter. It is where the Ming Dynasty will go. , a major matter of how the subjects of the world behave. Here, it is a place where we quarrel behind closed doors and then unify our opinions. Even if we disagree, we still need to follow the collective decision-making. If the national policy meeting is stable, the Ming Dynasty will be stable."

Fei Hong looked intently, knowing that what the emperor was reminding him was the battle for the advisory seat that had been going on for some time.

Who despised it?Everyone understands it very well.Being able to attend the major national policy conference held every three years is the first step leading to the State Council.To be able to become an important Jiuqing in Beijing's advisers is the second level.The final level is who can combine qualifications, prestige, and age to become the No. 1 civil servant.

Now the entire Ming Dynasty, level four and above, are fighting for these three steps.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival and before the end of the major national policy meeting, it will be the final decisive battle.

"Don't fight in private and miss your job. During this period, it's better to prepare more proposals and discuss them at the major national policy meeting." Zhu Houcong finally said, "Whoever comes up and who goes down will still have to be ordered by me. As long as you are loyal to the emperor. If you do your best, the king and his ministers will always be happy and happy as they are today."

At the "relaxed" national policy meeting, the emperor lightly discussed the current situation and once again made it clear to them that the emperor had absolute control over the selection of important ministers.

At this moment, the kings in the capital were not feeling relaxed.

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. The emperor gave a banquet to important ministers in the previous dynasty at noon, and a banquet to family members in Qianqing Palace at night.

Among the kings in the capital, there is only one Prince Rui who has a special status. He lives in Prince Rui's Mansion in the inner city's original Ten Prince's Mansion area.

Now, King Rui, who has reached the age of thirteen, and Mrs. Xia have lunch together.

In the afternoon, mother and son will enter the palace together.

Prince Rui was no stranger to the Forbidden City.Over the years, he has also entered the palace to study, and he is very familiar with the emperor.

So his mood is a bit complicated now.

"Mother, there is no need to worry."

Xia was the late emperor's queen, and her title was not deprived of her title, so Prince Rui could call her his queen.

It is precisely because of this that he, the vassal king, is the most special.

What's more, he had a past where he was kidnapped and used as a flag to rebel?

What's more, his biological father was also imprisoned in Fengyang High Wall because of rebellion?

Xia just hummed softly.

In the harem, Sun Ming was extremely busy, constantly directing Zhang Zuo to do this and that.

"Then where is the daughter of eight hundred Dadian?" She suddenly asked in the midst of her busy schedule.

"Back to the Queen, I've arrived in Huguang."

Sun Ming nodded: "Prepare the side hall of Zhongcui Palace in advance."

If there is one, then there are two. As a queen, Sun Ming suddenly felt a little dazed.

How many more will there be in the future?
(End of this chapter)