Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 920 0915 [Ugly Champion]

When the Ming fleet set sail from Ceylon, the second imperial examination after Zhu Ming ascended the throne ended.

The opening of the palace examination papers left the southern officials speechless.

Among the top ten, seven are from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, Luoyang Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture. The remaining three are from Zhejiang Province and Fujian Province respectively.

This is completely different from the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, when most of the top candidates in the palace examination came from Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi. Not to mention Henan and Shaanxi, even Huainan was in chaos, so how could northerners have any chance in the imperial examination?
Now Sichuan was the first to stabilize, followed by Shaanxi and Henan, and they were the first to promote subjects such as mathematics.

In addition, the prosperity of the printing industry also plays a very important role.

There were three major printing centers in the Northern Song Dynasty, namely: Meishan, Hangzhou and Jianyang.

The Ming Dynasty added two more: Hanzhong and Luoyang.

In all these five places, the papermaking industry was well developed, and paper could be obtained nearby to print books. In addition, the literary style was extremely prosperous, and village and community schools were very popular, and even the children of self-cultivating farmers could read.

Hu Anguo carefully counted the data and said, "First, Jiangxi measured the land, then dismantled the clans. This lasted for nearly two years. The scholars may not have been interested in learning. This time, none of the top 20 Jinshi candidates from Jiangxi were included. The total number of Jinshi candidates is 12 fewer than the previous session."

After reviewing the birthplaces of the newly-appointed Jinshi, Zhu Ming said to Hu Anguo, "In the next imperial examination, set up a separate list for the former Liao and Jin regions and northern Goryeo with three Jinshi quotas. Otherwise, the scholars there will never pass the exam. After 20 or 30 years, merge these places back into the northern list."

"Yes!" Hu Anguo bowed.

The imperial examination always puts politics first, don’t talk about whether it is fair or not.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has been suppressing the three provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi because there are too many officials in these places. If it is allowed to develop freely, the court will be full of southerners at a glance!

However, now that Sichuan, Shaanxi and Henan are on the rise, the south can relax somewhat.

Zhu Ming continued, "Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces can each increase the number of candidates by two."

"Yes!" Hu Anguo accepted the order.

Zhu Ming said, "Let's announce the names tomorrow."

The cabinet and Ministry of Rites officials withdrew, and Zhu Ming continued to review the memorials.

The memorial submitted by the Ministry of War is a headache. It is almost time to end the war in the southwest.

Last autumn, troops were sent out from southern Sichuan, eastern Sichuan, western Hunan and Guangxi to clear out the barbarian chieftains who were hypocritically disobeying their orders along the way, and then to attack Luodian State, Ziqi State and Temo Road.

Faced with Yang Zaixing's army, the local chieftain of Temodaonong was the first to surrender.

This kind of surrender is the same as not surrendering at all, because Temodao had already submitted to the Ming Dynasty. But it was just a surrender, not paying tribute, not obeying orders, and often looting surrounding tribes.

Yang Zaixing asked the chieftain of the Nong clan to surrender in person, but the other party hid in the mountain stronghold and refused to come out.

Then we can only attack the mountain and start fighting!
In just two days, Yang Zaixing conquered the barbarian village, but the chieftain of the Nong clan escaped. He then gathered the remnants of the tribe and fought guerrilla warfare in the vast mountains, occasionally forcing or plundering other small tribes.

After four full months, the Nong clan chieftain has not been defeated yet. Who knows where in the mountains he is hiding.

Yang Zaixing was so angry that he attacked and burned the barbarian camps. He burned down twelve barbarian camps in total, which forced the barbarians in Temodao to unite against a common enemy.

The latest news we received is that the chieftain of the Nong clan seems to have fled to the territory of Dali.

So Yang Zaixing sent a memorial to the court, saying that the weather there was about to get hot, and requested to withdraw his troops first. Another chieftain named Nong Dezhi had been very obedient throughout the battle, and hoped that the court would appoint him as the envoy of Temo Road.

It was already difficult to fight in Temodao, and it was even more difficult to deal with Luodian Kingdom and Ziqi Kingdom.

The terrain of those two small countries was even more complex, and they shared the same origin as the thirty-seven barbarian tribes of the Dali Kingdom.

The Ming army charged forward and won several battles in succession.

The barbarians immediately changed their tactics, not only engaging in guerrilla warfare among the mountains, but also retreating to Dali whenever they encountered danger. Then they returned with the thirty-seven barbarian tribes of Dali and set up an ambush in the mountains.

The Dali Kingdom agreed to help, but was powerless.

From the Nanzhao Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty to the current Dali Kingdom, they have never been able to conquer the Thirty-Seven Barbarians. They could only force these barbarians to surrender, and then they would rebel from time to time, killing two prime ministers of the Dali Kingdom.

The Ministry of War has summarized these situations and has given solutions:

First, withdraw troops before the weather gets hot.

Second, the two countries of Qi and Luodian must abandon their country names and submit to the imperial court.

Third, in Ziqi, Luodian and Temo, a local chief was appointed as the envoy of propaganda and pacification in each of them.

Fourth, speed up immigration around these three places.

Zhu Ming picked up his pen and wrote, "Yes."

This approach means strategic failure.

The four armies attacked, and if the local soldiers and civilian laborers were also counted, the total number of people mobilized was nearly 100,000.

Countless money and food were wasted, and although the barbarian population was drastically reduced and heavy casualties were inflicted, not even a king or a chieftain was captured. The only thing they could do was to force the barbarians to surrender, just like the Dali Kingdom, and who knows when they will rebel again in the future.

Juzhou had been changed to Guizhou. Zhu Ming added a sentence in red ink: "Within five years, no more troops will be used against Temo, Ziqi, and Luodian. The most serious criminals in Sichuan will be exiled to Guizhou. The southern Sichuan army will encroach on the three barbarians of Mahu, Nanguang, and Luoshi, and recruit landless farmers to build villages and cultivate the land."

Damn, Southwest can’t be defeated!

After all, Zhu Ming was not Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Di, and he really couldn't bear to carry out large-scale immigration.

When Zhu Yuanzhang and his son Zhu Di conquered the southwest, they often relocated hundreds of thousands of people. In the process of forced migration, countless families were separated and countless people died in Yunnan and Guizhou.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Ming added: "For those who voluntarily immigrate to Mahu, Nanguang, Luoshi, and Guizhou, all those who are guilty will be pardoned, and those who have debts will be written off. The government cannot pursue their crimes, and creditors cannot collect their debts! This order will be announced to the world in an imperial edict, and those who voluntarily immigrate can register with the local government."

It seems that the southwest region will have to be managed for a long time, and the Dali Kingdom can continue to exist for many years.

Zhu Ming decided to turn the direction of expansion to the northwest and destroy Xixia first!
Although the northwest is barren, the immigration environment is better than the southwest, and it is more convenient for the court to send troops to suppress. …

The Grand Ceremony of Chuanlu.

"The first person in this imperial examination is Zhao Kui from Zizhou."

A short, thin, ugly 19-year-old young man with acne all over his face took the lead with a confident step.

Since the establishment of the imperial examination system from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, there has never been such an ugly top scholar!

At this moment, everyone looked sideways.

This Zhao Kui was called "Little Dongpo" by Zhao Gou in history, and was called "the pockmarked top scholar" by the people.

Because he advocated resistance against the Jin Dynasty and was at odds with Qin Hui, the top scholar was sent to a remote place to serve as a minor official.

He could have been appointed as a proofreader directly, but it was delayed for three years. On his way back to Beijing, his luggage was searched. As a result, except for the travel expenses, all he brought were books.

Qin Hui was unable to punish him for corruption and abuse of power, so he brought his family to the capital, claiming to take care of them, but in reality it was a threat. Still no use, Qin Hui's followers impeached him for writing poems that resented the emperor.

Unfortunately, this person died young.

The newly-appointed scholars changed into their unranked official uniforms and lined up to enter the main hall to pay homage to the emperor.

Zhu Ming waved his hand and said, "Top Scholar, please come closer."

Zhao Kui walked forward.

Zhu Ming observed the pox carefully for a while and said, "After the Qionglin Banquet, you can ask the imperial physician to treat it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern!" Zhao Kui bowed.

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Tanhualang, you go and pick the flowers."

"Yes!"

Sun Yaochen gladly accepted the order.

Sun Yaochen is 31 years old this year. He is from Shaanxi. He is unknown in history and most people think he died in the Jingkang Incident.

He happily left Donghua Gate with a few palace guards and became the first Tanhua scholar after the resumption of the Tanhua activity.

The group rode horses around Luoyang City and first headed straight for Tianwang Temple, where there were more than 100,000 peonies.

Since the capital was set in Luoyang and the palace examination happened to be in the blooming season, it was natural for the Jinshi candidates to wear peonies as their hairpins when parading through the streets.

When Sun Yaochen was selecting flowers at Tianwang Temple, many Luoyang citizens came to him after hearing the news, especially flower merchants, who came to recommend themselves with samples and asked the winner to select their peonies.

The newly-appointed Jinshi was already waiting outside Donghua Gate, and Sun Yaochen returned with three hundred peonies.

After putting on the flowers in their hair, everyone started to parade on horseback.

Cao Tuan, the Xixia envoy, stood by the road, looking at the triumphant Jinshi and hearing the cheers of the citizens of Luoyang. He could not help but sigh, "Scholars should be like this!"

Taira no Kiyomori, holding a Japanese sword, asked, "Cousin, can we reform the imperial examination system?"

"Difficult." Hanoi Ching Kuo shook his head.

Japan also had an imperial examination system at this time, but it had been abandoned for over a hundred years.

All Japanese candidates must be recommended by a powerful person. As long as they take the exam, they will definitely pass. If their essays are too bad to pass, the recommender will help change the result to pass.

This is similar to the imperial examinations in Goryeo and Joseon.

Especially North Korea’s special examination, the results have already been announced, and the poor scholars only found out that there would be an examination this year.

Taira no Kiyomori said: "I know why when the Ming Dynasty became strong, people with talent could become officials, rather than being promoted based on aristocratic bloodline. Japan also has many heroes, but without a distinguished origin, they can only be buried among the people."

Hanoi Ching Kuo said: "Anyone who dares to reform the imperial examination system will die a miserable death. Don't mention such things again after you return to your country."

"I know." Taira no Kiyomori was quite helpless.

Hanoi Ching-kuo asked again, "How are you doing at the Imperial College?"

Taira no Kiyomori said, "I have already completed my elementary education, and much of it is what I learned in Japan. If I take the exam again, I will be able to move up to the inner house to study the scriptures."

"The Confucian classics contain the principles of governing a country. You should study them carefully," Hanoi Jingguo advised.

Taira no Kiyomori was too lazy to argue. He still wanted to learn military tactics, but unfortunately the military academy did not accept international students.

After the parade with flowers in the hair, people would worship at the Confucian Temple the next day.

Next was the Qionglin Banquet.

At the banquet, Zhao Kui showed up again.

When Zhao Kui, the ugly champion with pimples all over his face, wrote two lines that became famous in Luoyang: "Thousands of champion flowers bloom, but I am the first to bloom."

Zhu Guoxiang also attended the Qionglin Banquet. After eating and drinking, he returned to the palace and said to his son, "I will move out in a few days."

"So soon? Stay for two more years." Zhu Ming tried to persuade her to stay.

Zhu Guoxiang laughed and said, "Luoyang is boring. I'll be at ease in the villa. I'll farm, grow flowers, and go fishing every day. When I have free time, I'll go hunting and invent things with the craftsmen. Haha, you can only enjoy this kind of retirement life after a few decades. No, you may never be able to enjoy it in your entire life. It's very difficult for an emperor to retire!"

(End of this chapter)