A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1281 The Flower Visitor

In early spring in February, the weather is warm but still cold, and the grass looks green at a distance but is not there when you get close.

This year is the first year that the new imperial examination system is officially implemented. The whole country attaches great importance to this imperial examination. When the results are announced this year, the tradition of finding a son-in-law under the list will naturally continue, and it will be even more lively.

Fan Lou.

Li Yifu invited his teacher Wu Huaiyu to dinner. He asked for a large private room and ordered a long banquet to celebrate his promotion.

He had just been appointed as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and the Academician of the Chongxian Hall. Not only had he entered the fifth rank and was wearing scarlet and silver, but he was also being called the honorable prime minister.

This position drafts imperial edicts, judges cases, and participates in secrets. Its power grows day by day, and it is said to be a necessary step for becoming a prime minister.

Li Yifu was the prince's confidant, and he tried his best to please him, but he was able to create an image of being upright and frank. In addition, he was born in a poor family, was a young Jinshi, and was a child prodigy. He was also good at writing and calligraphy. When he was a censor, he performed very well. Therefore, even though Wu Huaiyu's people had been suppressed before,
But he was able to be promoted again very quickly.

"This is the first year of the new imperial examination system, which takes place every three years. It is particularly lively."

In the past, the examination was held once a year with many subjects, but the number of people admitted was not that large, especially for the two subjects of scholar and jinshi.

But in recent years, the imperial court has reformed the shortcomings of the previous imperial examination system and gradually established a strict new imperial examination system. The biggest feature of this new imperial examination system is that it has changed from one examination per year to one examination every three years, and there are multiple levels of examinations.

This system originated from the civil service examination system piloted by Wu Huaiyu in Lingnan and Jiangzhou. Li Shimin thought this system was better, so some officials such as Li Yifu were responsible for the reform of this system.

The reason for Li Yifu's promotion this time, apart from the fact that he was the prince's confidant, had some good traits like being a young prodigy and a straightforward person, his main contribution was that he made a lot of efforts in the new imperial examination system.

The new imperial examination system first prohibited public recommendation. In the past, candidates would submit their papers to the powerful and influential and seek public recommendation from princes and examiners. This was no longer allowed.

The second is separation. Candidates who have clan or relative relations with the examiners must avoid the examination and take the examination in a separate examination room. The third is locking the room. Once the examiners are ordered, they will lock the room and isolate it from the outside world.

One of the most important reforms was to seal the candidates' names, native places, family backgrounds, etc. on the test papers, and to set up a transcription office to transcribe all the test papers, thus cutting off the possibility of collusion between examiners and candidates.

In addition, the original rules for the two types of examinees, students and tribute students, were changed. Students were government-run students who could take the exam after graduation, while tribute students were local scholars, mostly descendants of high-ranking officials, nobles and powerful people. After passing the preliminary examination in their own prefectures and counties, they could go to Beijing to take the exam.

These rural tribute students are basically the children of local aristocratic families, and ordinary people have little chance.

Now after the reform, examinations are the main focus.

Not only is there an examination every three years, but it is also divided into three levels: the first is the academy examination, the second is the provincial examination, and the third is the metropolitan examination.

The academy examination was divided into three parts: the county examination, the state examination, and the provincial examination, which were held in the county, state, and provincial examinations. The provincial examination was held in the provincial capital or the capital, and the joint examination was held in Chang'an. After the joint examination, there was also a palace examination.

The academy examination is held twice every three years, and the provincial and metropolitan examinations are held every three years.

The Xiucai subject was abolished, and the main subjects became Mingjing and Jinshi.

Those who passed the first-level academy examination were admitted to state and county schools and became official students, called students, tongsheng, or xiucai. The best students among them also enjoyed food subsidies from the court and were called liansheng.

Those who passed the second-level provincial examination were called Juren, and had general qualifications to become officials.

After the reform, the main focus was on Jinshi and the supplementary focus was on Mingjing. Although Mingshu, Mingsuan, Mingfa, etc. were still retained, their weight could not be compared with that of the Jinshi and Mingjing subjects.

There is also an increase in numbers. In the past, only 10 to 20 people were selected as Jinshi each year, but now the number has increased tenfold, to 100 to 200, or even 200 to 300.

Since all these Jinshi had to take part in the palace examination presided over by the emperor himself, and the palace examination only ranked them and would not lead to dismissal, these Jinshi were all disciples of the emperor. They could participate in the selection in the Ministry of Personnel and start from the lowest rank of county lieutenant or county magistrate.

Because this strict new system of examinations, especially the new rules of covering names, copying, separate examinations, and prohibiting public recommendations, gave scholars a fairer opportunity.

No matter if they are from an aristocratic family or the children of high-ranking officials and nobles, they all start from the same starting line as the children of poor and common people.

Of course, when it comes to the final exam, the children of aristocratic families must have received better educational resources and still win at the starting line, but this is naturally much better than the situation in the past where the places had already been decided before the exam.

"On the gold list this year, there are many more children from poor families and many fewer children from wealthy aristocratic families," said Li Yifu.

Back then, he was also a child of a poor family, the son of a small county magistrate. If Wu Huaiyu had not greeted the examiner, he would not have had a chance to pass the imperial examination even if he had real talent and knowledge.

"This is a good thing. It shows that the reform is quite thorough and not just superficial." Wu Huaiyu said with a smile. From the selection of filial and honest officials to the Nine-Rank System, to the imperial examination system, and then to the new imperial examination system today, it can only be said that there has been progress.

Even with the emergence of this new system, the main way for the Tang Dynasty to recruit officials was still through family connections, recommendations, and non-official recruitment, and then the imperial examination.

The imperial examination system can only be regarded as a supplement.

The official system of the Tang Dynasty still had a strong atmosphere of inheriting the father's business, and the sons of noble and high-ranking officials could directly enter the civil service as officials.

Even the children of mid-level officials could enter officialdom through many channels, such as the Three Guards, Imperial Academy students, and academy students.

Just like the Wu family, when Wu Huaiyu became rich, his sons were also granted titles and official positions at a young age, without having to go through the imperial examination process.

Then some of the Wu family's disciples and old friends were recommended and became officials through the recruitment and recommendation of Wu Huaiyu's shogunate.

"Alang, good news. Balang has passed the imperial examination and has been awarded the title of Jinshi (Jinshi Ji), and is named Tanhua (Tanhua)."

Someone from home found Fan Lou and couldn't wait to report the good news to Wu Huaiyu.

Li Yifu smiled and crossed his arms to congratulate, "Congratulations, teacher, Ba Lang has won the third place in the imperial examination."

Although the new imperial examination system had several subjects such as Jinshi, Mingjing, and Mingshu, it only emphasized Jinshi. The status of Mingjing declined and it was listed together with Mingshu, Mingsuan, and Minglu.

After the joint examination, those who are admitted will also have to take part in the palace examination, which will only determine the ranking but not elimination.

The palace examination admissions are divided into three categories. The first category has only three people, who are awarded the title of Jinshi, a number of people in the second category are awarded the title of Jinshi, and a number of people in the third category are awarded the title of Tong Jinshi.

The eighth brother Wu Chengyuan took part in the imperial examination this year and was a Jinshi. The results are now announced and he ranks first in the class, ranking third, so he is called Tanhualang.

In fact, many descendants of the Wu family took part in the imperial examinations this year. Some took the Jinshi examination and some took the Mingjing examination. However, Wu Huaiyu did not use any backdoor channels. After all, this year was the first year of the reform and all aspects were stricter.

"I was a little surprised too." Huaiyu said with a smile. Judging from the look on Li Yifu's face, he must have known the result long ago.

The eighth son, a bastard, passed the imperial examination and became the third place in the imperial examination. He has made great progress.

It can be predicted that he has a promising future. After all, he is the son of Wu Huaiyu, the son-in-law of Ma Zhou, and the brother-in-law of the crown prince. With such an identity, plus he is now a third place winner of the imperial examination.
If he wasn't directly selected to work as a proofreader in the Secretariat, he would have to be a county magistrate at least. After all, there were only three people in the first rank in three years.

"I heard that the court is planning to hold a military imperial examination?" Li Yifu asked with a smile.

Wu Huaiyu just smiled. There is still a big difference between the military imperial examination and the civil imperial examination. He is more inclined to strengthen the construction of the Military Academy and select a group of elite low-level military officers from the army for training. This is more reliable than the military examination that he is planning to hold now.

Of course, some of the existing systems of the court, such as the Three Guards system, are themselves a form of officer training, but they are not systematic and comprehensive enough. Moreover, the current Three Guards system is based on family background. They must be either the children of high-ranking nobles or the children of high-ranking officials. Ordinary people have no chance of being selected into the Three Guards.

The Tang Dynasty was an era of status, and background was important in everything.

Zhang Xingcheng had now risen to the positions of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice and Junior Secretary to the Crown Prince, but the emperor still openly made fun of him at palace banquets for being an unofficial official during the Sui Dynasty.

Wu Huaiyu was also often ridiculed before for being a money-grabbing historian.

Even if the imperial court reformed the imperial examination system and did not use the public recommendation system, and relied entirely on examinations, ordinary people would still not be able to pass the examinations as well as those from noble families. For example, Wu Balang was enlightened by famous teachers and scholars since he was a child, and later studied at Qujiang Academy in the south of Chang'an City.

Although this Qujiang Academy was the Wu family school, Wu Huaiyu invested a lot of money and invited many famous teachers and scholars to teach rigorously and have a good academic atmosphere.
Such educational resources are not available to children from poor families or even ordinary people.

Therefore, the imperial examination system can only try to give everyone a fairer opportunity.

The ones who truly gained the upper hand in the end were the aristocratic families, especially the top-level aristocratic families like the Five Surnames and Seven Families in Shandong. Their resources were far beyond what the new military elites could achieve.

Therefore, the Five Surnames and Seven Families became increasingly powerful in the Tang Dynasty, thanks to the imperial examination system. They had a great advantage, and a large number of their children entered officialdom through the imperial examinations, and even produced prime ministers.

In fact, it was a gradual monopoly of the imperial examination.

This is how Huang Chao, the failed scholar, later came to think of "When the flowers bloom, all the other flowers die, The whole city is covered with golden armor, The inner treasury is burned to ashes, and the bones of the nobles are trampled on the streets."

In peaceful times, the military nobles were not as powerful as these aristocratic families.

Halfway through the dinner,
Wu Huaiyu and Li Yifu returned to the Taiwei Mansion.
At home, people were already beating drums and gongs to celebrate, and the clerk who brought the good news was happily receiving the reward money.
Balang Wu Chengyuan had already changed into a brand new robe. His biological mother Cao Shisan Niang was so excited that her eyes were filled with tears. She happily put a big red flower on her son's head. His newlywed wife Ma Qinnan was also so excited that her face was flushed.

Everyone congratulated him, and neighbors came to the party.

Fan Xuanfu was also generous and magnanimous. He asked his servants to bring several boxes of money and kept scattering the money to share his joy.

In the past, it was always Wu Huaiyu's students who passed the imperial examinations. This time, it was finally the turn of a son of the Wu family to pass the imperial examination. Wu Chengyuan was the first son of Huaiyu to pass the imperial examination, but he was not the first person in the Wu family to pass the imperial examination.
His third uncle Wu Huailiang was also a Jinshi. Even Wu Sansi and Hou Sanxing, the sons of former slaves of the Wu family, were Jinshi in the same class as Wu Huaiyu. Although the previous Jinshi were different from this year's Jinshi, they were still Jinshi.

Wu Huaiyu patted Chengyuan on the shoulder and said, "Good boy, you really bring honor to our Wu family. Well done."

The people from the yamen over there were going to welcome him to the provincial ministry, saying that there would be a horse parade ceremony for the new scholars, and there would be a Qujiang Banquet tomorrow.

The clerk who brought the good news smiled and said, "Fortunately, the third place winner did not go to see the list today. There would have been a huge crowd in front of the list today. Many noble families in Chang'an have sent many people to wait under the list, waiting to pick a son-in-law according to the list."

This year's new imperial examination focuses primarily on Jinshi.

In the past, although the Jinshi examination was held once a year, only about 10 to 20 people were admitted each time. However, this year, with the new imperial examination, 108 people were admitted to the Jinshi examination at once.

These 108 Jinshi were also jokingly called the reincarnations of the 108 stars in the sky.

As for other subjects such as Mingjing, a total of 252 people were admitted this time, known as the successful candidates in all subjects, and their names were posted on another list.

A total of 360 people were admitted in the Jinshi and other subjects, which is almost catching up with the total number of people admitted in the imperial examinations in the first 16 years since the Zhenguan period.

"Ah Lang, our Qujiang Academy has done very well this year. We have five Jinshi and eighteen Mingjing and other subjects."

There were five Jinshi in the first list and eighteen Mingjing and others.

All five sons passed the imperial examinations.

Qujiang Academy was the Wu clan school. Although there were some children of Wu's relatives attending the school, it was mainly composed of children of the Wu clan.

This time, there were five Jinshi candidates in the list, and twenty-three candidates passed the eighteen subjects.

This year, a total of 108 Jinshi were admitted, including 252 in various subjects. The admission rate of Qujiang Academy is amazing.

"There were thousands of students in the Imperial College in Chang'an, but only nine of them passed the imperial examinations."

The Imperial College was the highest institution of learning in the Tang Dynasty. They had a large number of students taking the imperial examinations, with nine Jinshi in one list, which was actually a bit low.

In previous years, the Imperial College accounted for the majority of the Mingjing and Jinshi exams.

Qujiang Academy is now truly famous throughout the world. The Wu family used to be called nouveau riche and was classified as a new noble with military merit.

But this time, there were five Jinshi in one list and eighteen successful candidates in various subjects. It can be said that this made the people of the world recognize the Wu family again, and that they were both capable of literature and martial arts.

Good news comes one after another.

Later, another angel delivered the imperial decree.

The emperor appointed Wu Chengyuan, the top scholar in the imperial examination, as proofreader in the Secretariat.

This is a special treatment only available to the top three people in the first class. They do not need to go through the examination of the Ministry of Personnel or wait for selection. They can be directly appointed as officials, and the appointment is to such a good position as Proofreader.

"Only the third place in the imperial examination can be awarded the ninth rank?" After hearing this, Cao Sanshi Niang felt that the official position awarded was too low.

Yang Muyun laughed and said, "Thirteenth Lady, you don't know this. Although the rank of a secretary is low, the requirements for the position are high. The Imperial Secretariat, the Donggong Sijing Bureau, the Hongwen Academy, and the Chongxian Academy all have the position of proofreader, but those who are granted this position must be extremely talented.

This position belongs to the sequence of honest officials, the post is leisurely, the remuneration is generous, the promotion is fast, and the future is bright. This is recognized as a good choice for scholars to start their careers. It is not given lightly unless they have passed the imperial examination, or are outstanding in writing and judgment, or have a clean mind and conduct. "

This is what an important official is.

Even if you get the rank of seventh-rank county magistrate, you can't exchange it for this proofreader.

"In the future, our family may have another prime minister." Yang said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)