I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 646 The first Guangdong champion is gone again
This year's Ming Dynasty, the north is fully preparing for the Mobei War, and Southeast Asia is also experiencing explosive colonial expansion.

When we arrived in Nanjing, the new imperial examination had already ended successfully.

Since the last reform of the imperial examination system, the North and South rankings have been re-determined, and a separate examination ranking has been divided overseas.

In this session of the imperial examination, the quota of tribute scholars admitted to the south list has been reduced to 50% of the tribute scholars admitted to the third list, and the places allocated from it were evenly divided between the scholars in the north list and the middle list.

Although the overseas examination area is in Gongyuan for reference with mainland candidates, it is not included in the total admission number. There is only a separate examination area, and only two people are admitted.

After the examination, the candidates can be called Gongshi.

The tributes then take part in the palace examination, which only determines their ranking and will not be eliminated. Only those who are named on the gold list will be considered as new scholars.

By the way, just like the overseas examination areas, three people were admitted as tribute scholars in Guangnan Province, which is the examination area for this time.

Of course, this is not because the scholars in Guangnan Province worked hard and their degree of Chineseization was high enough, but because the examiners deliberately took advantage of it.

Ever since Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty set up the Chief Secretary of Jiaozhi, basically every time he opened a subject to recruit scholars, he would always take the initiative and admit one or two people as Jinshi.

Although this is unfair, it is also for the sake of political balance.

Speaking of which, one of the three Gongshi admitted by Guangnan Province stepped on this threshold and moved his registered residence from the mainland to Guangnan, and then successfully passed the exam all the way to Nanjing.

There are many scholars like him, but most of these scholars failed in the provincial examination in the first half of the year, and some even failed to pass the provincial examination.

After all, relocating one's household registration can only solve part of the threshold problem. The key is to learn enough on one's own, especially to understand the new learning of the imperial court and overseas vassal affairs.

After the general examination is over, the candidates have no time to make friends and drink to celebrate.

The next palace examination is the highlight. The examination also includes eight-legged essays, new learning, and understanding of overseas vassal affairs. The examination is also based on a point-based system. After basically completing the examination, some candidates can estimate whether they will succeed or not.

But the palace examination is different. Since the Ming Dynasty, the palace examination has no longer tested the eight-legged essay. Instead, it has set questions based on the current political situation of the government, allowing the candidates to give out policy strategies.

Looking at the imperial examination articles of the past dynasties, it is not so much that the emperor is testing the knowledge of the candidates, but that the imperial court is asking these top talents in the country how to govern the country and quell rebellion.

And it's not just empty talk, the emperor and the court will really adopt useful strategies.

For example, when Lao Zhu ascended to the throne, the exam question he gave was how to eliminate the Northern Yuan Dynasty. The top scholar's essay was to learn from the Tang Dynasty's military system and set up garrison camps in northern Xinjiang. He worked step by step to continuously encroach on the northern Xinjiang territory.

If you want to see the real changes in the situation of a dynasty, you can actually see some clues by reading the articles about the number one scholar in the palace examinations of previous dynasties.

Take the old unfortunate Chongzhen as an example.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, during the third palace examination, the topic of the policy discussion had become: "I belong to the Yi tribe in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the land is narrow and the people are few. Once the troops invade the Shun Bing and the three Han Dynasties do not defend, what is the reason? And the rogue bandits have been spreading for a long time. The amount of money and food is in short supply, and the people who speak are not concerned with the country's affairs. The people are the foundation of the country, and the government does not know it. But if it wants to care for the people and support the army, how can it be done in the Tang and Song Dynasties? In the past, the military ministers were the chief ministers and the privy envoys, and the civil and military affairs seemed to be indistinguishable. My great ancestor, Emperor Gao, once used Zhiting as the chief executive and Dianshi as the capital. How can it be unbreakable now? "

The side view of the test questions at this time showed that the late Ming Dynasty had been attacked from both sides by Tatars and bandits, making it difficult for them to breathe.

Especially in the seventh year of Chongzhen, a decisive battle broke out, which caused the Ming army and the rogue bandits to gradually change their offensive and defensive positions.

Chongzhen was ill and rushed to the doctor. He even went to the palace to ask a group of eight-legged candidates how to solve the rebellion problem. The situation was really serious.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, during the fourth palace examination, in just three years, Chongzhen had gradually become hysterical.

This year's policy essay topics, in terms of number of words, almost caught up with the imperial examination articles. Most of the topics asked the candidates about civil affairs and military matters, and at the end, they asked the candidates a soulful question: "Why did Liu Yan and Liu Yan be appointed in the Tang Dynasty? Li Baozhen can make the country rich and strengthen the army in less than three years? Why can’t he do it now?”

Just from the imperial examination questions in the later period of Chongzhen, we can know that the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, the emperor completely distrusted everyone, and the Central Army was no longer able to cope with the invasion of the Tatars and rogue bandits.

Returning to this year's palace examination, Zhu Yijiong penned down the policy essay question: "Policy Essay on the Mobei Grassland and the Debate in the Western Regions."

In one sentence, combined with the current situation of the court, it is concise and clear.

The imperial examination questions that began in the later period of Chongzhen were full of questions. Not only will they not get any valuable answers, but they will also leave the candidates at a loss.

There was no way. At this time, Chongzhen was almost collapsed due to the threat of national subjugation. He tried every means, but the situation became worse and worse.

No one can bear this.

After the palace examination was over, the ministers followed the usual practice and selected the top three candidates. They also prepared ten backup papers, for a total of thirteen papers, and submitted them to the emperor for review.

The top three papers plus ten backup papers are the tradition of the Qianming Palace Examination. If the emperor is not satisfied with the top three, he can choose from the bottom ten. But most of the time, it was just a formality, and the emperor would not be so disrespectful to the grading minister.

However, now is the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor has always liked Qian Gang to be arbitrary. In the previous few palace examinations, not to mention the top three, there were even almost a hundred people approved directly, and the judging minister was disgraced. As usual, Zhu Yijiong did not ask the ministers to read the papers, but spread out the top three papers and read them himself:

The first place, Zhuang Yougong, comes from Panyu County, Guangdong (from Huangpu, Guangzhou).

The second place, Qin Yongjun, comes from Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province.

The third place, Huang Sunmao, comes from Qufu County, Shandong Province.

……

After reading the top three papers quickly, Zhu Yijiong couldn't help but smile. Among the three policy essays, except for the third one, there wasn't much that stood out. The first and second policy essays were not only excellent in writing, but also in style. It is also more radical than the imperial examination articles in previous years.

Just from the style of writing, it can be seen that the first and second place winners are definitely deeply involved in new learning. They may have even read the "Qian Shu" published by the prince's teacher Wang Wenyuan through the monthly newspaper.

In particular, Qin Yongjun, the second person, first discussed the wars in Mobei and the Western Regions from a military perspective, and then based on this, made suggestions for the future governance of the Mobei Grassland and the three frontiers of the Western Regions (Southern Xinjiang, Northern Xinjiang, and Eastern Xinjiang). Think before you act.

For example, in the Mobei Grassland, the candidate named Qin Yongjun believed that the Mongolian Zasak system used by the Tatar court could be imitated. The Mobei Grassland was too far away from the Central Plains and was difficult to effectively control.

We can refer to the Zasak Mongolia of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to divide and manage the Mobei Mongolian tribes, and then use the Lamaism in the snowy areas of Tibet for religious and political control.

This guy actually knows about Lamaism in the Snowy Land of Tibet, and has obviously done some research on it. This insight alone has actually surpassed most of the local officials.

After all, many local officials did not know much about the Lamaism in the Snowy Region of Tibet and the political purpose of the court and the emperor in bringing the people from the Snowy Region to the capital to practice Zen.

Even now, some local officials occasionally persuade the emperor not to be overly obsessed with Buddhist matters and to focus on state affairs and people's livelihood.

In comparison, the first place Zhuang Yougong's policy statement is obviously more immature, maybe because he is too young, but his overall style is more radical than the second place article.

The second place, Qin Yongjun, only made suggestions for Mobei and the Western Regions. Overall, he tended to be conservative and govern the people, as well as political stability.

But the core point of Zhuang Yougong's policy can be basically summarized as, if anyone is dissatisfied, then beat him.

After the war is over, immigrants from the mainland will be immigrated to carry out Chinese rule. The local Han people must have absolute say.

Compared with Qin Yongjun's religious and political restrictions, divided canonization, and Zasak system, Zhuang Yougong, who ranked first, was indeed too radical, and at the same time radical, he was not irrational.

In his policy articles, he discussed in detail how to Chineseize the immigrants in the later period, give both kindness and power, and build civil projects.

After only reading the papers of the top three, Zhu Yijiong knew that the ministers had indeed taken the trouble. Even the third place, Huang Sunmao, who was not outstanding, had a high degree of agreement with the emperor and the court.

It is also beneficial for the emperor to be arbitrary. These officials who grade the exams, as well as the scholars who are taking the exams, have completely transformed into the shape of the emperor.

Whatever ideas the emperor likes, ministers and scholars will follow them. This is absolutely true.

After scanning the top three, Zhu Yijiong then went to look at the bottom ten. There was basically no problem. They were all about the same level. Their household registrations were also very consistent. They were all from the south.

This is normal. The palace examination is not like the general examination. The admission quota will be determined based on household registration, and the ranking of the palace examination will all depend on genuine materials.

In fact, despite the fact that admissions from the South List accounted for the largest number of places in the National Examination, if there was no such admission ratio, how could there be matters such as the North List and the Middle List in the National Examination?

In the end, the real unlucky ones are the scholars in Nampang, who have the largest population and candidates, but they have to go crazy to squeeze in only 50% of the places.

Especially in Jiangxi, as a major imperial examination province, any scholar here who fails the examination can unilaterally defeat most of the candidates in the northern and middle examinations.

After reading the last ten, Zhu Yijiong randomly selected a few more subsequent papers and found no problems.

The grading ministers now judge the papers completely according to the emperor's wishes, unlike the previous years, where there were hundreds of papers at a glance, and the rankings of the ministers were completely useless.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Zhu Yijiong did not touch the bottom ten, but only swapped the second place with the first place. Qin Yong was ranked first and Zhuang Yougong was second.

This Guangdong Jinshi named Zhuang Yougong is still too young and his articles are too radical. Although he has his own considerations, the overall situation is a bit immature and still needs to be sharpened.

As for Qin Yongjun, he is just right. His older age does bring richer life experience, but he could use less training.

Making such changes would also give the grading ministers face.

It's a pity that the first number one scholar in Guangdong in the Ming Dynasty was changed by the emperor with just one word.

(End of this chapter)