Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 178
"Among the 51 Jinshi, not a single one is from the north!"

"Tell me, is this because the imperial court does not have an official school in the north, or because there is no one in the north!"

In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Yunwen, who had just finished his morning court, had just returned to the Wuying Hall. Soon after, the news that Ding Chou had committed fraud and that the Northern Juren had gone to the Ming Dynasty officials to file a complaint was reminded by Song Zhong and reached his ears.

Faced with this news, his first reaction was that it was impossible, because all the examination papers were reviewed by him and Grandpa Huang personally, so there was no possibility of fraud in the palace examination.

However, when Song Zhong reminded him that all the tributes participating in the palace examination were from the south, Zhu Yunwen finally realized it later.

It's not that northerners can't beat southerners in the palace examination, but that northerners don't have a chance to take the palace examination.

When he realized what he was doing, he immediately summoned all the ministers from the six departments of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Looking at these six ministers, Zhu Yunwen was very good at cultivating qi. His expression did not change, but his voice revealed a chill.

He set his sights on Bao Zhao and the others, as if he wanted to see something on their faces.

When he saw Bao Zhao and others lowering their heads, he immediately remembered what his grandpa Huang had said in his mind.

"The foreign minister is not from the same family as you and me..."

Recalling this sentence, Zhu Yunwen could understand why Bao Zhao and others concealed his actions.

They wanted to place a bet, but they failed to protect the powerful men in Jiangnan, so they had no choice but to do things on their own to test the emperor's will.

"It's just an illness, can't you bear it?"

Zhu Yunwen clenched his fists hidden under the desk, his face still calm. He wanted everyone to give him an answer.

"This matter needs to be thoroughly investigated!"

Among the crowd, Yu Xin, the minister of household affairs, was the first to stand up.

After he came forward, some officials also expressed their opinions. For example, Zhang Xin, the number one scholar in the Jiaxu Division, said openly: "In the imperial examinations before, northern candidates could occupy [-]% of the Jinshi quota. This time, no one was admitted. There must be something fishy. Please forgive me." Sun ordered a thorough investigation!"

"Please order a thorough investigation!!"

More than a dozen officials bowed and bowed. Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen also questioned Du Ze, the official minister in the palace:

"Du Shangshu, didn't you find any problems before releasing the results?"

Zhu Yunwen questioned Du Ze, but Du Ze's eyes were silent at the moment. Facing the inquiry of Zhu Yunwen, the grandson, he slowly said: "Back to grandson, I am just publishing the list truthfully after His Majesty's review. The imperial examination conceals the name, and the place of origin of the candidates cannot be seen, so how can it be possible to commit fraud..."

In just a few hours, Du Ze seemed to have changed into a different person and started to shirk the blame.

Faced with Du Ze's pushback, Zhu Yunwen clenched his teeth, and his energy-raising skills almost broke.

He didn't understand why Du Ze, who looked so loyal and upright yesterday, had become a cunning and cunning villain today.

"you……"

"May your Majesty be blessed with good health!!"

Before Zhu Yunwen finished speaking, the sound of singing came from outside the hall. Everyone was shocked when they heard the singing.

Zhu Yunwen stood up, and the ministers from the six departments in the palace and the Metropolitan Procuratorate also turned around and looked at the palace door.

Under their gaze, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been diagnosed with cold by the imperial doctor yesterday, miraculously stood at the door.

Although his complexion was still sallow, his gaze was as sharp as a knife, and he almost wanted to open the chests of all the officials present to see what kind of hearts they had.

"Grandfather!"

"Your Majesty, may you be blessed and well..."

Zhu Yunwen walked down the golden stage, and all the ministers knelt down and kowtowed five times and three times.

When Zhu Yunwen came to Zhu Yuanzhang's side, Zhu Yuanzhang ignored him and went straight to the golden platform, standing overlooking the kneeling ministers.

"I heard that the Jinshi admitted this time are all from the south, not a single one from the north, Du Ze!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice suddenly rose, making Du Ze, who was still trying to shirk the blame, want to bury his head in his chest.

"Your Majesty, it is true that all the people recorded in this imperial examination are from the south, but the imperial examination is based on talent. This..."

Du Ze still wanted to fool him, but Zhu Yuanzhang squinted his eyes and asked, "I'm surprised. Since the first year of Hongwu, the imperial court has organized five imperial examinations, and this is the sixth time!"

"During the first imperial examination that year, the war in the north had just ended. The land in the north was still in a miserable state of waste and no roosters crowing. But even so, the northern scholars still accounted for [-]% of the quota that year! "

"In the following four imperial examinations, although northern scholars were not as good as southern scholars, they could still occupy [-]% of the places. How come this time, they can't even get a single place?"

"Is it because this year's southern scholars are super talented, or is it because someone is practicing favoritism and corrupting the imperial examination!"

The words in Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth were heavier than the last, and every word was like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of the ministers.

A moment ago, they were trying to push back in front of Zhu Yunwen, but now they were lying on the ground obediently. This contrast made Zhu Yunwen look gloomy.

Before he could figure out who was practicing favoritism, he saw Song Zhong walking into the palace quickly, walked to the golden platform, knelt down, bowed five times and kowtowed three times, and then reported:
"Your Majesty, hundreds of scholars from the north of Ding Chou are surrounding the entrance of the civil service department and are suing the examiners Liu Sanwu and Bai Xintu, who are from the south."

“On the streets of the inner city, dozens of candidates from the north were shouting grievances and even stopped the carriages of some officials from the Fifth and Sixth Ministries to petition and complain.”

As soon as Song Zhong finished speaking, there were heavy footsteps outside the hall.

More than ten civil servants appeared outside the palace. They walked to the palace gate angrily, but they didn't want to see Zhu Yuanzhang standing on the golden platform. They immediately fell to their knees:
"May your Majesty be blessed with good health!!"

Their singing attracted everyone's attention. When everyone looked back, they secretly thought something bad.

These more than ten civil servants were all from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and this situation was something that no one had expected.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, the imperial censor Yan Zhen, goes directly to your superiors. Your Majesty, please strictly investigate the matter of Ding Chou's imperial examination fraud!"

It's this guy...

When Yan Zhenzhi's voice came, everyone turned their eyes to Yang Jing, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, who was still kneeling in the hall.

Yan Zhenzhi, who was also the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but the censor of the right capital, was a veteran of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. In the year of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he donated more than ten thousand stones from his family to raise food and grass for the Northern Expedition for the army, so his status was not low.

Although he was deeply involved with some nobles in Huaixi, he was an upright man and loved to fight injustices. Therefore, when he was in the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Punishment, he caused quite a lot of trouble.

Others can bribe everyone, but they cannot bribe Yan Zhenzhi.

Yan Zhenzhi's appearance here means that the Ding Chou imperial examination incident has become a big deal.

Thinking of this, Bao Zhao and others were ashamed, and all their actions were under Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

Looking at the timid group of people, Zhu Yuanzhang knew in his heart that this matter was by no means something that could be organized by one party or another.

This matter may have something to do with my move to a wealthy family in the world...

"Your Majesty, please thoroughly investigate Ding Chou's imperial examination fraud and provide justice to the northern scholars!"

Before Zhu Yuanzhang could figure out how to deal with this matter, he saw more than ten supervisory censors at the entrance of the palace singing a salute loudly in unison.

Facing more than a dozen imperial censors and northern scholars who were in turmoil in Nanjing, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Liu Sanwu and Bai Dunxin who were standing in the palace at the moment.

After the two of them looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, they stepped forward one after another to bow:

"Your Majesty, there is no possibility of malpractice for favoritism in this imperial examination. I would like to ask your Majesty to order someone to review the examination papers in order to clear the innocence of the two of you..."

Liu Sanwu and Bai Duoxin's confident appearance made many people hesitant, but they also knew very well that it was impossible for none of the northern candidates to be admitted, so they all remained silent and waited for the emperor to speak.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at everyone, but only Zhang Xin came out and bowed: "Your Majesty, I would like to read the exam papers for this exam!"

"Okay!" Zhu Yuanzhang knew Zhang Xin. Although this person was a bit pushy and stubborn, he was relatively fair in doing things, so it was appropriate for him to check the papers.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered without hesitation:

"The attendants were called to read Zhang Xin, the attendant Dai Yi, the right praiser Wang Junhua, the director Zhang Qian, the secretary Yan Shuzai of the Economic Affairs Bureau, the Zhengzi Dong Guan, the long history Huang Zhang, Ji Shan Zhou Heng, Xiao Yi, as well as Chen and Yin Changlong who were admitted by the imperial examination. ﹑Liu Shi'e and others will investigate the papers and give justice to the world's scholars!"

"I want to see if the southerners are super talented or if there are people who are engaging in malpractice for personal gain!"

"I have received my order..." After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, all the ministers bowed in response and their hearts sank.

Not long after, the twelve officials summoned by Zhu Yuanzhang began to review the papers, while Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the golden platform and watched all this with a cold face.

At the same time, various rumors swirled about the imperial examination fraud.

On the streets, some said that Liu Sanwu, the examiner, had received money, and some said that the examiner discriminated against northerners. Various claims made the examiners unclear.

In the next three days, Liu Sanwu, Zhang Xin and others checked the papers in Wuying Hall, and they were under the supervision of Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Jixi.

When the news spread in the palace, many northern scholars suppressed their anger and gritted their teeth waiting for the answer.

Three days passed by in a flash. When Zhu Yuanzhang dragged his sick body to Wuying Hall on the eighth day of March, Wuying Hall was already full of ministers.

Officials from the Six Ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and various civil servants arrived one after another. As the singing ceremony of pushing the golden mountain over the jade pillar ended, Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the golden platform with a golden sword, waiting for the answer from Zhang Xin and others.

"I have something to report when I read Zhang Xin..."

"Say!"

Not surprisingly, the morning court held in Wuying Hall started with Zhang Xin's words.

With Zhu Yuanzhang's permission, Zhang Xin began to report the results of the examination: "Your Majesty, the ministers and others have reviewed it. The examination papers submitted by the northern Gongsheng students are not good in literature and science, and contain taboo words..."

"I judged based on the candidates' level. The 51 southern tributes admitted were all admitted based on their talent and learning. There are no problems!"

In front of Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, the investigation conclusions reached by Zhang Xin and others after three days of review made everyone stunned.

"What are the so-called "poor textures" and "taboo words"? There are so many northern scholars, is it possible that we can't find even one person whose article has no problem with the content..."

On the golden platform, Zhu Yuanzhang tried his best to suppress his temper and questioned Zhang Xin, the attendant who responded.

This was someone he once trusted, so it was impossible for him not to see what he meant.

I don't want to pursue this matter. All I want is to add some names of northern candidates to the Ding Chou Emperor list.Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were deep, but Zhang Xin pretended not to understand and held up a stack of memorials with his hands:
"Back to Your Majesty, this is the list of Jinshi given by 12 people during this review. Your Majesty, please read it."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Yunwen walked down the golden stage, took the twelve memorials in his hands, and presented them to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang took these twelve memorials and read them one by one.

Zhu Yunwen, the ministers, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Jixi and others looked at him, watching his expression change from calm to patient at the beginning, and then to calm at the end.

"Something bad..."

Looking at Zhu Yuanzhang's expression, everyone's heart skipped a beat.

"Why are the names of northern scholars included in the memorials written by Dai Yi and Yin Changlong among the twelve memorials, but not by the other ten of you?"

"Back to Your Majesty..." Zhang Xin and Liu Sanwu stood up to answer respectively, but their answers did not satisfy Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Your Majesty, I believe that there are many taboo words in the exam papers for northern candidates. For example, the words 'If the king is not virtuous, the minister can abandon him' is mentioned many times."

"If you are elected as a Jinshi with such remarks, people in the world will definitely follow them in the future, causing the morals to deteriorate!"

"Your Majesty, I feel the same way..."

There is nothing wrong with what Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin said. After all, since Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Liu Sanwu to delete the content of "Mencius", the sentence "If the king is unworthy, the ministers can abandon him" has become disrespectful remarks.

They used this to reject the examination papers of northern candidates, which is reasonable and reasonable.

"Your Majesty! Zhang Xin, a member of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Foreign Affairs, Meng Chao, the impeachment minister, and Hanlin Liu Sanwu are colluding with each other, and deliberately involve themselves in a scandal to interfere with His Majesty's hearing!"

"Your Majesty, Minister of Rites and Rites, Wailang Wang Xie, second the proposal!"

"Chendu Procuratorate..."

When the Meng Dynasty began to impeach Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin, many officials stood up one after another.

It is not difficult to tell from their accents that most of them are from the north. It is obvious that this imperial examination has changed from a simple battle for quotas to a battle between the north and the south.

But it has to be said that Zhang Xin and Liu Sanwu used the rules formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang to attack him, and their methods were brilliant.

If it had been ten years ago, Zhu Yuanzhang would have exerted all his strength and fought with them to the end until they gave in.

But at the moment, Zhu Yuanzhang could feel that his body was deteriorating. What he wanted to do was not to get entangled with these corrupt scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, but to transfer the power of the emperor to his grandson as soon as possible.

Therefore, facing the ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin again:
"Pass the message, and review the examination papers again. I don't believe that there are so many northern scholars, and everyone has violated taboos. I don't believe that there are hundreds of northern Gongsheng students, and I can't even find a few Jinshi!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were already very explicit.

Reviewing examination papers is no longer just a simple academic issue, but a political issue.

Regardless of whether the truth of the matter is that the North failed to pass the exam or that the South used tricks, Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to pursue it. What he wanted now was for Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin to select a few northerners to occupy a few Jinshi places to calm them down. The struggle between north and south.

Thinking of this, he took a deep look at Liu Sanwu, Zhang Xin and others.

At the same time, the results of the first review also spread to the Forbidden City. Many northern scholars cursed Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin after hearing that their articles were taboo.

Liu Sanwu was one of the three elders in the south of the Yangtze River and had a very high reputation among the officials in the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, when the northern scholars began to abuse Liu Sanwu, many southern scholars who couldn't listen also began to retaliate.

The back-and-forth between the two parties soon escalated from quarrels to fists.

Hundreds of people fought at Xihua Gate in the Forbidden City, but they all had great titles, the lowest being Juren.

Therefore, the Five Cities Military and Horse Division did not dare to take care of it at all. In the end, Li Jinglong of the Fifth Army Governor's Office led the troops to calm down the farce.

However, this farce did not end, and soon became fermented in the exchange of letters between scholars.

Within a few days, scholars from Zhili, Huguang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan and other places learned that no one from the north had been admitted this year, and that there was a fight between scholars from the north and the south at Xihua Gate.

All of a sudden, scholars from all over the country who had achieved fame began to visit the imperial court one after another. Memorials flew into Nanjing like snowflakes. At the same time, the princes in the north also received this jaw-dropping news.

"These people are obviously testing my father!"

On the ninth day of March, when Zhu Di from Prince Yan's Mansion learned about Ding Chouke's fraud case, he immediately set his sights on Jiangnan's powerful men.

Although he is only responsible for leading troops, his political vision is not short-sighted, not to mention that he has Yao Guangxiao by his side.

In the Chengyun Hall of Prince Yan's Mansion, after Zhu Di finished speaking, he looked at Yao Guangxiao: "Old monk, tell me if this is something caused by those people in Jiangnan."

There were only two people in the Chengyun Hall at the moment, so Zhu Di had no scruples and asked straightforwardly.

In response, Yao Guangxiao counted the beads in his hand and responded without raising his head: "Your Highness has already thought of it, why bother asking this poor monk..."

"Hehe..." Zhu Di laughed a few times: "I have to ask you, so that I can feel more at ease."

After laughing, Zhu Di also slowly put away his smile. He knew very well that what happened this time was that the powerful southern powers wanted to compete for dominance in the officialdom, and he understood it.

"After the founding of the country, everything in the north was in ruins. Except for Shanxi and Shandong, other places had to rely on money and food subsidies from the south of the Yangtze River."

"Now that so many years have passed, although my father has used banknotes to offset taxes, there are too few people who can benefit from it."

"In addition, my father has relocated wealthy families from the south of the Yangtze River many times. I'm afraid they have long been grudges. This time, they want to fill enough people from the same country into the court so that they can control the court in the future..."

Zhu Di expressed his opinion, but as he spoke, he sighed: "These people don't take Yun Wen seriously at all."

"Southerners stick together and believe that the clan is greater than the imperial court. This is naturally the case." Yao Guangxiao spoke softly of the characteristics of the southerners.

Indeed, grouping is an inherent characteristic of areas with strong clan power. Zhu Di, who was born in Jiangnan, naturally understands how powerful the powerful clan power in Jiangnan is.

Grouping in Jiangnan may sound like a fantasy, but it was indeed a common phenomenon in the early Ming Dynasty.

In the context of the times, the "Southern" political group originating from the Southern Song and Mongolian Yuan Dynasties is a very special group of people.

These people are different from the geographical distinction of southerners and northerners, but a Jiangnan political group with the name of southerners and the goal of official career and economy. Its political attributes include Jiangxi, Huguang, Zhejiang, Lianghuai and Fujian.

Others such as Guangdong and Sichuan are excluded by them, let alone barbaric places like Yunnan and Guangxi.

Although the Southern political group disintegrated into factions such as Huaixi, Jiangdong, Jiangyou, Zhexi, and Zhedong after the end of the Yuan Dynasty, their clique-like nature did not change at all.

This time Ding Chouke's problem actually does not lie with the northerners and all southerners, but with the southerners' tendency to stick together.

The Southerners are a very special group, and their origins come from the Northern Song Dynasty. After crossing to the south, they reached an agreement with the Jin Kingdom for the Northerners to return to the north.

In the agreement, the Southern Song Dynasty captured all the Northerners who crossed south and returned them to the Kingdom of Jin. The "Northerners" included were not only civilians, but also a large number of northern officials.

At that time, Song Dynasty minister Yu Wenxu was trapped in the Kingdom of Jin. Because he was worried about his family, he sent a special letter to ask the Southern Song Dynasty court not to send his family members to the Kingdom of Jin.

However, in the face of Yu Wenxuzhong's request, the Southern Song Dynasty still followed the request of the Kingdom of Jin and sent all Yu Wenxuzhong's family members in the south to the north.

Before leaving, Yu Wenxuzhong's son-in-law asked to keep Yu Wenxuzhong's second son to preserve his bloodline in the Han Dynasty. However, he was sternly rejected by the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the end, because Yu Wenxuzhong tried to overthrow the Kingdom of Jin, the entire family was burned to death on the street, with thick smoke billowing and covering the sky.

This kind of thing is not just a matter for Yu Wenxuzhong's family, but something that happens to most Song Chen.

In the more than ten years after the peace negotiations between the Song and Jin Dynasties, ordinary people and officials fled to the Southern Song Dynasty almost every day. However, after they fled into the Southern Song Dynasty, they were all captured by the Southern Song garrison and sent back to the Jin Kingdom without any accident.

This kind of thing is simply like the people in the Japanese war zone who fled back to the anti-war zone and were trapped by the transportation team captain and sent back to the Japanese war zone.

In order to expel the northerners reasonably, the ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty once publicly questioned that the northerners had no heroes, on the grounds that the northerners did not rise up to resist and drive away the Jin Kingdom.

Such 'political correctness' sows the seeds of mutual discrimination between the North and the South.

The reason Zhu Di didn't like studying in Dabentang was because the teachers in Dabentang were mainly from the south, and although they tried their best to hide it, they always despised the northerners in their hearts.

Before, Zhu Di only thought that they were pretentious and noble, but judging from this Ding Chou imperial examination, they did not regard themselves as noble, but did not regard the northern scholars as human beings at all, even if many of them were from the south of the Yangtze River. They also regarded the children of military families who moved to the north as traitors.

"If this matter cannot be handled properly, the people in the north may be alienated from the imperial court..."

Zhu Di sighed. He knew very well how heavy the burden was on the people in the north.

In the eyes of those southern officials, the northerners take away a lot of money and food from Jiangnan every year, but they don't know that not much of that money and food is used in the livelihood of the people in the north, but is used to maintain the border areas of the north. Enter one hundred thousand troops.

If in the early years of Hongwu, the people in the north still needed money, food, cattle and horses from the south to restore the economy, then there is rarely a shortage of money and food in the north now.

Not only that, in terms of tax contribution, the people in the north are no weaker than the people in the south.

Comparing Shanxi and Jiangnan, Shanxi, which is not at the forefront of the overall economy, has the highest tax burden among the northern provinces, but the voices of Shanxi people complaining are far less loud than those of Zhili and Zhejiang people.

The world's field tax is usually five or three liters per mu, but only Shanxi's tax is one dou per mu, so Shanxi's grain is the most important in the north of the Yangtze River!
In this era of economic growth that also relies on land and labor, the tax burden on the people of Shanxi is much heavier than that of many provinces around the world.

For example, Zhejiang Province, with a population of tens of millions and more than 270 million acres of cultivated land, pays only more than 400 million stone in summer and autumn taxes, while Shanxi, with a population of just over 280 million and more than [-] million acres of cultivated land, has to pay more than [-] million stone in taxes.

Even so, Jiangnan officials serving in Shanxi still talked eloquently and believed that the Northerners had no merit.

Recalling these things, even Zhu Di felt angry, so he couldn't help but look at Yao Guangxiao and asked: "Old monk, do you think my father can subdue them this time?"

Zhu Di's question made Yao Guangxiao stop thinking about the beads in his hand.

He slowly opened his eyes with a complicated expression: "I'm afraid that this time, Your Majesty will not be able to fulfill His Majesty's wishes..."

"What did you say?" Zhu Di was stunned. He couldn't believe that his father couldn't subdue Jiang Nan.

"Didn't His Highness realize that His Majesty is already handing over power to the grandson?"

Yao Guangxiao did not avoid taboos, but reminded Zhu Di: "Your Majesty is already 70 years old this year. The ancients said that seventy years are rare, and your Majesty has been ill and bedridden many times since last year. I am afraid that only he himself knows about your Majesty's body... "

"At this juncture, does Your Majesty want to bet that you can subdue that group of people, or do you want to hand over the power of the emperor to the grandson?"

"..." Zhu Di was silent, and Yao Guangxiao gave him a multiple-choice question.

Faced with this problem, Zhu Di thought about it from his perspective. If he were his father, there would probably be nothing more important than the smooth handover of power at this moment.

It seems that the answer is the same as what Zhu Di thought. At present, Zhu Yuanzhang really does not have the energy to rectify the wealthy households and scholars who organized this imperial examination case.

(End of this chapter)