Rule over Ming Dynasty

After the Qionglin Banquet, 600 new scholars entered Honglu Temple for "pre-job training", mainly to learn official etiquette such as various court gatherings and sacrifices.

Compared with the previous distribution model of new scholars, the imperial examination and appointment system of the Ming Dynasty has undergone great reforms.

In one fell swoop, Hongzhi Chao broke with the traditional method of appointment based solely on imperial examination results and personal background. Instead, he adopted a dual examination of imperial examination results and interviews to identify more outstanding talents.

Li Wei got up early today, bought sesame cakes and pickles from a street stall, walked through the busy Chang'an streets, and then came to the solemn and mysterious Xijiang Rice Lane.

The towering courtyard walls and the majestic stone lions in front of the door all made him feel an unprecedented pressure. It was also the place he longed to join.

If you can enter these yamen and serve, not only will you be ahead of other new scholars, but you will also be able to better contribute to the construction of the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, he came to the destination of his trip, a government office with a brand new plaque "Foreign Affairs Department".

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now one of the twelve ministries of the Ming Dynasty. Its main responsibility is to liaise with overseas governor-general offices. It must not only serve the overseas governor-general offices, but also restrain some inappropriate behaviors of the governor-general offices.

This is a yamen in a new field, but it is also the place where Li Wei longs to work.

For him, he has the opportunity to take a boat overseas to see the vast world, and he can also work in Beijing to take care of his family. It can be said that he kills two birds with one stone.

Li Wei took a deep breath and stepped into the Yamen of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I thought I had arrived early enough, but when I entered the courtyard, I discovered that there was already a team of dozens of people lined up here, all of whom had come to attend interviews with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Although everyone is of the same age, they are actually competing with each other now, so they no longer care about the polite etiquette of official circles, but queue up nervously to wait for the interview.

"I'm so nervous!"

"I'm nervous too and want to change clothes again!"

"Who wouldn't be nervous about something like this? Just relax!"

……

The relationship between the few new scholars is quite good. Although they came to the Foreign Affairs Department together to face each other, they encouraged each other, but the tension lingered.

"The Master has arrived. The interview has officially begun. All candidates whose names are called should come to me!" A middle-aged man wearing a sixth-grade official uniform appeared in front of them and announced in a businesslike manner.

Li Wei's palms were sweating unconsciously. He looked around and found that the previous interviewers seemed calm and leisurely, and even seemed confident of winning, which made him feel even more nervous.

Their right to stay or stay depends entirely on the yamen they interview for, but these yamen are bound to engage in malpractice for personal gain, and the admission quota may have been predetermined by the previous new scholars through their relationships.

"Will we, the top three, only go through a formality?"

"If you think so, you will be failing His Majesty!"

"Your Majesty avoids falsehood and is truthful. What you want is someone who wants to do things. Even if someone like Chen Kuan is the second best, he will not be able to help the Ming Dynasty at all!"

……

As more and more new candidates came out after their interviews, everyone observed their reactions and saw some clues. Everyone agreed that the top three candidates were not just going through the motions.

As for whether there are a large number of appointed personnel here, it is unknown.

For example, there have been rumors that Tang Yin, the number one scholar, befriended the wealthy Xu Jing and bought the examination questions from Song Cheng. Until now, some people think that there is an inside story, but more and more evidence shows that this is indeed malicious slander.

Li Wei felt even more nervous because he was not only a top-ranking scholar, but also had no family background. He would definitely be a remote county magistrate or a government official in the future.

"Li Wei!"

Finally, it was his turn for the interview.

Under the gazes of other interviewees, Li Wei walked towards the interview room nervously.

In order to relieve his tension, he raised his heart, reached out and pinched his thigh flesh hard, diverting his attention through the physical pain.

Following an official into the room, I saw several interviewers sitting upright with blazing eyes, and sitting in the middle was naturally Liu Zhang, the new local uncle of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Li Wei, if you follow a general and are ordered to go to a large tribe on a certain island, and after this general rules the tribe, he wants to stay here and make himself king, what should you do?" Liu Zhang, the new uncle of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was blind. Lift, the question is asked by the subordinate officer next to you.

Liu Zhang's attention at the moment was not on Li Wei, but on the sudden thought of his luck in life.

Although he did not actually rebel against the court, he eventually chose to resign from the court and already had the idea of ​​moving his family to the American continent. Therefore, Hongzhi was very kind to him by not pursuing him and retaining his title.

He also realized his political mistakes, so he took the initiative to promote potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn in the following years. In addition, he actually secretly brought back some golden potato seeds, which made a great contribution to the entire China.

It was originally his act of atonement, but unexpectedly gained the emperor's attention.

The imperial court established a new Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Emperor Hongzhi suddenly summoned him to the palace for an interview. Since he really wanted to work for the Ming Dynasty, the emperor handed over the newly established yamen to him.

Today, the Foreign Affairs Department he is in charge of, like other ministerial-level yamen, screens the new candidates who come for interviews so as to retain the talents he thinks are the most suitable.

Of course, although he, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, has absolute personnel power, he knows that this is the emperor's trust in their minister, so he also aims to select the best talents.

As for those who wanted to get inside the relationship, they were directly turned away. This was not only the basic loyalty to the emperor, but also the inevitable way for his foreign affairs department to stand out in the competition among various ministries.

Now that the emperor has given him a chance to come back again, he must not only run the Ministry of Foreign Affairs well, but also strive to reach the top and become a famous official who helps Emperor Hongzhi create a new prosperous era.

Li Wei didn't even think about it, and immediately gave the answer: "I will follow it!"

Huh?
When several examiners heard this answer, they couldn't help but look at Li Wei in surprise. None of the candidates in front of him dared to give such an unreasonable answer.

"Why is this?" Liu Zhang slowly raised his head and carefully looked at the unattractive young man in front of him. Li Wei seemed to be encouraged and replied with certainty: "If you stand up to oppose each other, he will only use it to sacrifice the flag! His Majesty taught: empty talk harms the country, but hard work will make the country prosperous. If you are just for a little personal honor, you will ignore the Ming Dynasty. If you ignore the thief, that is disloyal! Even if you die, you should die in a proper way, rather than not thinking about killing the thief for the emperor. "

"So, you are a thief, is this really an expedient measure?" The Minister of Foreign Affairs next to him heard the implication and smiled slightly.

Li Wei seemed to be offended by this knowing question, and immediately stopped talking nervously: "Of course it is an expedient policy! The emperor cares about all the people in the world. All the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the country has strong soldiers and horses. This is a situation that has not been seen in thousands of years!" The thief has no regard for the emperor and the country because of his own selfishness. This thief should be eliminated quickly... The thieves can gather together for a while, but over time there will be gaps. When the time comes, they will recruit the available people and kill them with one blow, so as to eliminate them for the Ming Dynasty! Harm... all those involved in the case will not know their way back until they die, and they will kill the Nine Clans!"

It was as if this place had become Li Wei's home court. He stood in the hall and talked eloquently under the gaze of other examiners.

Perhaps he has a firm heart to respect the emperor, or perhaps he has a deep hatred for such traitorous people, so he has performed exceptionally well in this interview.

Finally, after he finished his answer, he won the whole house's applause.

After the interview, Li Wei walked out of the gate of the Foreign Affairs Department, as if he was in a dream.

When a ray of sunlight fell on his face, he seemed to gain a touch of enlightenment. He looked up in the direction of the Forbidden City and saw the towering city wall.

Although he is an extremely inconspicuous one among the 600 new scholars, he respects the current Emperor Hongzhi from the bottom of his heart, and it is impossible to tolerate thieves betraying the Ming Dynasty.

Although he did not experience the prosperous era of Kaiyuan, nor did he see the prosperous reign of Renzong, he saw with his own eyes that the lives of the hungry villagers were getting better and better.

If China really has a prosperous age, then he thinks it is the prosperous age of Hongzhi in front of him. Because in this prosperous age, not only the people's lives are getting better and better, but also the country is getting stronger and stronger. The Ming Dynasty is slowly becoming a world empire.

The interview is still in full swing, and Li Wei is not an exception.

These 600 new scholars all witnessed the rise of the Hongzhi Dynasty and saw a prosperous empire. Many of the new scholars were loyal fans of Emperor Hongzhi, and they all had the determination to do practical things for the country.

Due to the reforms of the Hongzhi Dynasty, every new scholar now has the opportunity to stay in the central government office and take a job. They can choose a central government office for an interview to show their expertise and appearance.

This is good news for most of the new scholars. The worst outcome for them is to be sent to other places as usual, but now they have the opportunity to stay in the central government office. At least they want to be familiar with the big bosses in the capital.

In the next three days, some people successfully passed the interview, some failed repeatedly, and some people who only knew Zhihu were sent to other places to serve as non-county magistrates.

The talent selection in the twelfth year of Hongzhi has ended, and these Ming Dynasty's best scholars will be sent to various places to become the new seeds of Ming Dynasty's second entrepreneurship.

The suburbs of Beijing in April seem to be the palette of nature.

The spring breeze blows gently, and the green leaves sway gently, as if telling the story of spring. The golden rapeseed flowers on the fields are spread out into pieces of golden ocean, fish can be seen happily shuttled in the winding river, and a few butterflies dance gracefully among the flowers on the wild flower field... This place contrasts with the blue sky and white clouds, forming a beautiful picture. A beautiful pastoral picture.

As the term of the new Jinshi comes to an end, the officials who have received the letters of appointment will go to various places to take up their posts.

Tang Yin looked very smart in his white clothes. After receiving the entry fee from the court, he spent money to buy two good horses, and took the old slave to prepare to take office.

Although he was the No. 1 scholar, the Hanlin Academy was no longer the cradle of prime ministers in the past. Now it has declined under the pressure of Emperor Hongzhi.

The place he was assigned to was the Indian Ocean Governor's Mansion controlled by Wang Zhi. He served as the general judge of the Indian Ocean Governor's Mansion, so he had to travel from the capital to the Indian Ocean Governor's Mansion to take up his post.

Since the Ming-Myanmar Highway has been repaired, Tang Yin planned to go southwest along the post road to the Indian Governor's Palace City located at the port of Baigu Kingdom.

Although the journey is long, not only is the Ming Dynasty's navy invincible, but the local army is also getting stronger and stronger. If bandits dare to rob officials, the local army will quickly suppress the bandits, so Tang Yin's trip will not be too dangerous.

Under the warm sunshine of spring, the suburbs of the capital are full of life.

Wearing a brocade robe and a high crown, Zhu Yunming and several friends came to the Ten Mile Pavilion to wait. They had already prepared drinks in the pavilion to see off their close friend Tang Yin.

"Thank you, brothers!" Tang Yin has become more mature and steady, and he thanks Zhu Yunming for coming to see him off.

Zhu Yunming raised his glass to toast Tang Yin, his words seemed sincere: "Brother Bohu, it's a long way to go. I wish you a safe journey and make great achievements as soon as possible."

"No! Don't take any credit for going to the Indian Ocean. Everything must be done with stability!" Tang Yin thought of the emperor's advice to him and immediately shook his head bitterly.

Among several overseas governor-generals, the Indian Ocean Governor-General commanded by Wang Zhi was the most aggressive and aggressive government, and the army under his command was a tiger and wolf division.

Under the guidance of Vasco da Gama, the Governor-General of the Indian Ocean is sailing westward along the path Vasco da Gama came from. The latest developments have already grasped the west coast of the Indian Ocean, and it looks like it is going to kill Western Europe.

Although it was Wang Yue who was awarded the title at that time, everyone knows that it was Wang Zhi who originally came up with the idea to raid Weininghai, and Wang Zhi was an out-and-out military madman.

Now that Wang Zhi serves as the Governor-General of the Indian Ocean, he has the absolute trust of the emperor.

In recent years, the Governor-General of India has asked for food from the court, soldiers from the court, and weapons from the court. Wang Zhi is simply the biological son of Emperor Hongzhi.

Of course, although Wang Zhi was very crazy in military operations, he was absolutely loyal to the emperor. He snatched the Indian princess away just because he heard that she was beautiful.

Today's Emperor Hongzhi has great talents and strategies. Although he originally proposed the strategic concept of a military power, he has never been a war maniac, so it is obvious that he wants to suppress Wang Zhi's eager heart.

After all, the Ming Dynasty has not yet reached a period of uncontrolled expansion, and its main focus now is to develop domestically.

Zhu Yunming naturally knew that Wang Zhi was a war madman, and seemed to understand very well: "I heard that Governor Wang once again went to Shu to request westward expansion, or that he might be appointed governor of the east coast of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, but the emperor rejected it!"

"The smallpox epidemic is currently raging in various European countries, but here there is neither gold, silver, nor food, nor even furs! Your Majesty has a long-term plan, and today is really not the time to enter!" Tang Yin entered his new role well and headed towards the city of Beijing. The direction is Gongshou Road.

Or I am about to go to the Indian Ocean, so my mood is obviously different. What he was thinking about was not how much territory he would occupy, but how much resources he would bring back to the Ming Dynasty. He was obviously becoming more pragmatic.

Zhu Yunming looked at his friend who was ten years younger than him with great satisfaction. He could clearly feel the changes in Tang Yin. Not only was he no longer frivolous and unruly, but he was also obviously more mature and wise.

The emperor sent Tang Yin to Wang Zhi's side, perhaps to create a perfect civil and military match, allowing Ming to fully control the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean.

Zhu Yunming was in a good mood and immediately decided to write: "We say goodbye today. I don't know when we will see you again. I will compose a poem for my brother and practice it for my virtuous brother!"

As he spoke, the tip of his pen ran over the white rice paper, and he wrote down a poem that will be passed down to future generations: "The willow branches will not break the plum blossoms, bringing the beauty of old things to the West Sea. The white snow and yellow clouds are confusing the shadows of the geese, and the sails will be tomorrow." India." (End of chapter)