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Chapter 953 Initial results
Among these 401 Jinshi, there was 1 Jinshi and first-class Jinshi, 129 were Jinshi graduates, and 271 were Tong Jinshi graduates.

In terms of numbers, the old school occupies the majority, and the new school has only 19 people, including 5 university students. However, in terms of quality, the new school has the upper hand. The only Jinshi who passed the exam was from Tongzhou Wendao Academy, and the remaining 18 were all Jinshi graduates.

To put it another way, the new school candidates are better at integrating the knowledge of the new and old systems, while the old school candidates are relatively few who can grasp both the new and old. Many candidates know very little about the world, or are indifferent to it, and don't even know how many major countries there are around the Ming Dynasty.

Hong Tao was very satisfied with this new attempt, and even a little surprised. Although only five people passed the entrance exam for the university he advocated, the admission ratio was very high, reaching seven to one. And the quality was also quite good, all of them were Jinshi graduates.

In this way, the university's reputation would be established, and the source of students in the future would be settled. The common people did not know the specific differences between the old and new schools of thought. They only cared about where to go to school and who to study under to get a better chance of passing the exam. In the words of later generations, it was the rate of admission plus the rate of employment. Hard indicators spoke louder than words.

In addition, Ma Jinglun’s Wendao Academy also became popular. In addition to producing 8 Jinshi graduates, it also won the only Jinshi degree, which is basically equivalent to the top scorer.

But when Hong Tao saw the name of this number one scholar, he was indeed somewhat surprised and astonished... Hong Chengchou was a famous figure in the Chongzhen period and also an important official in the Qing Dynasty, with both good and bad reputations.

Hong Chengchou, 28, was born in Nan'an County, Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province. His father was a scholar. At the age of 6, he studied at a local private school, Xiyiguan, and at the age of 11, he transferred to a new school in the town.

During his time at the new school, he passed the examination for a scholar at the age of 15 and a juren at the age of 23. However, he did not take part in the imperial examination immediately, but went north alone to Wendao Academy to continue his studies. Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager passed away, and the imperial examination was suspended, so he studied for seven years.

As the saying goes, hard work pays off. Hong Chengchou got the first place in the imperial examination the first time he took it, and he was the only one. Although he did not have the title of top scholar, his score was more valuable than that of top scholar.

"Let him go to Yunnan and work with Yuan Keli for a few years." Should he reuse this famous traitor in history? Hong Tao couldn't come to a definite conclusion, so he simply threw the trouble away.

It's not really blaming others. Given Yuan Keli's ability and the situation in Yunnan, it would take less than three years to roughly see a person's character and ability. It would not be too late to decide whether to reuse him or give up at that time.

In addition to Hong Chengchou, Hong Tao also saw two familiar names in the list of Jinshi graduates, Lu Xiangsheng and Shi Kefa. At this time, these two were young men in their early twenties, and their talents were not much worse than Hong Chengchou.

In history, Lu Xiangsheng was gentle, fair-skinned, and thin, a typical image of a scholar, but he was very strong and his fighting ability was comparable to that of a man from a family of military generals. He was also very interested in military affairs.

In this case, Hong Tao sent him to the Army General Staff to observe politics based on the principle of learning from people's strengths, and then see whether he has the talent to be a leader after three years.

Although Shi Kefa had led troops, his record was very poor, which shows that he had no military talent. However, he was a member of the Jinyiwei and had served as a prosecutor. He would rather die than surrender when defending Yangzhou alone against Duoduo's army, which should be considered a tough person. Such a person is most suitable to be a judge, so he should go to the Ministry of Justice to observe politics for three years.

Ma Baoguo and Ma Baofa were also new Jinshi who received the emperor's attention. They were twin brothers from Tongzhou, Zhili. Their father was Ma Jianshun and their grandfather was Ma Jinglun. Yes, the twins were Ma Jinglun's grandsons, and they turned 25 this year.

His elder brother Ma Baoguo had some talent for languages. In addition to his good grades in Latin, he could also speak Mongolian, Korean and Japanese. Of course, such a good potential diplomat could not be buried, so Hong Tao asked him to go to the Ministry of Rites to observe government affairs.

His younger brother Ma Baofa was a chemistry expert in the academy, and he liked to tinker with bottles and jars and conduct experiments when he had nothing to do. It was because Ma Jinglun's family was well-off that they could afford to support their grandson. If it were an ordinary family, half a year's living expenses might be gone after a few puffs of smoke.

However, there is currently no institution in the court that can regularly come into contact with chemistry, and it would be a pity to let such a promising researcher drift in the officialdom.

So Hong Tao wrote a letter to Ma Jinglun in a private capacity, suggesting that Ma Baofa be first assigned to the Ministry of Industry, but that he go to the Yongding River Soda Factory to work for a few years, and it would not be too late to be transferred there after the new department was established.

What new department? Of course it is the Ministry of Chemical Industry. As the budget law is implemented more and more thoroughly in the court, the situation of some units is becoming more and more embarrassing. For example, oil refineries, alkali factories, gunpowder factories, soap factories, rubber factories, etc.

The Ministry of Industry will not care about these factories, and will not fight for more budget for them. Hong Tao does not want to always use the internal treasury to fill the gap, mainly because the number of factories is increasing and the scale is getting bigger and bigger. They are all doing their own things, and there is no unified planning and management, which affects their development. Can we temporarily set up a department under the Ministry of Industry to manage these enterprises first? Of course, we can, but Hong Tao does not want to make do. Sooner or later, the chemical industry will grow stronger, and similar problems will arise at that time, so we might as well do it all at once.

Ma Baofa is the candidate for the position of Minister of Chemical Industry. He is young, and the Ministry of Chemical Industry is even younger. Most people don't know what this department does. He is not experienced in government affairs, and Ma Jinglun is here. As a grandfather, he should not slack off in guiding his grandson on how to get along with others in government affairs.

Ma Baofa is described as a technocrat by Hong Tao. He is knowledgeable about technology and has been educated in the officialdom. It is much more efficient to let such a person manage a group of pure technicians than to let pure technicians or pure politicians take office.

At the end of April, Shadi Khoja, who had traveled to Bukhara and the Kazakh Khanate as a lobbyist, returned to the capital. Along with him came good news: the trade route to Persia was finally opened.

After the battle with the Yarkand Khanate, Bukhara and the Kazakh Khanate fully realized the strength of the Ming army. In addition, with Shadi Khoja's personal testimony and Abdulqiyim Khan's change of position, most of the nobles of the two countries felt that instead of continuing to fight each other, which might not win, it would be better to join forces to do business and make money.

As long as there is a principled attitude, it will be easy to handle. Both parties can discuss the remaining details slowly and continue to adjust and make up for them in the subsequent specific implementation stages.

In this era, transporting goods over long distances by land is no less risky than transporting them by sea. The main challenges at sea are shipping routes and climate. Although the natural conditions on land are not as dangerous as those at sea, there is another uncertain factor: people.

If a person becomes bad, it would be worse than being lost at sea. However, the merchants of this era were not so squeamish. As long as the imperial court could solve the basic problems and make it feasible, they would solve the rest of the troubles themselves.

When the news that the trade routes in the Western Regions were basically unobstructed and merchants could go directly to Kashgar via the north-south roads was published in newspapers, in less than two months, there were not enough horse-drawn carriages from Xi'an to Lanzhou.

A large number of merchants from inland and coastal areas flocked to Xi'an, intending to load their goods onto rail carriages and transport them to Lanzhou, and then change to rail carriages from Lanzhou to Hami and Ruoqiang.

The unfamiliar Western Regions are full of dangers in the eyes of others, but opportunities in the eyes of businessmen. The more unknown the place, the more opportunities there are.

Of course, they were not unprepared for unknown risks. Most merchants formed caravans of different sizes according to their closeness and proximity to the merchants, and equipped themselves with necessary armor and weapons.

This brought a new industry that no one expected, the weapons shop. As more and more merchants gathered in Lanzhou, someone soon discovered the business opportunity.

Every merchant who wanted to go out of the country hoped to buy armor and weapons approved by the court. Although they still could not fight against the army, they could still provide protection against bandits.

Sun Chengzong was not only good at training soldiers, but also good at doing business. As the main base of the new army, Lanzhou received a lot of armor and weapons previously equipped by the frontier army. Most of them were stored in the warehouse and only a small part was used for daily training.

After consulting the Army General Staff, Sun Chengzong found a local military family and asked them to provide manpower, money, and stores, and the new army training base to ship the goods, and started an arms business in Lanzhou.

From the standard armor of the border troops to weapons, except for crossbows, all other items are available in as many quantities as required, including older war horses and pack horses.

It doesn't matter if the quantity is insufficient. Contact the Inner Mongolian Marquis in the north and ask them to drive the horses and camels of average quality to Liangzhou. Buy weapons and armor in Lanzhou, and go to Liangzhou to equip horses and camels.

If you are willing to pay, you can also hire Inner Mongolian herdsmen who are familiar with the roads and language as guides, and a complete industrial chain will be formed!
The goods from the mainland were not sold to Persia at all, but some people made a lot of money, including the Inner Mongolian Marquis and the imperial court. Sometimes the right policy is more efficient than raising taxes, has fewer side effects, and will not be criticized.

(End of this chapter)