Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 44 Prelude to Imperial Examination Reform
The third day of May.

In the morning, the sun rises high.

Fengtianmen, early morning.

Zhu Yuanzhang symbolically listened to the reports of the ministers, and then lightly glanced at the faces of Zhu Di on the right and Zhu Gaoxu on the left below the Imperial Majesty with meaningful eyes.

The father and son immediately understood what Zhu Yuanzhang meant.

Zhu Di took a step forward, saluted and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, my father, I have to rely on all the ministers and workers to help me when I am ordered to manage the government. The head of the Ministry of Works, Lian An, is a talented person, the head of the Ministry of War, Qi Tai, is thoughtful and strategic, and the head of the Ministry of Households, Xia Yuan, Ji is capable in handling matters and can be entrusted with important responsibilities."

Lian'an, also known as Zining, was a well-known scholar with good writing skills and calligraphy. At this moment, he was named and praised by Zhu Di. His face suddenly showed joy out of instinct, but he thought of his past and Zhu Di's. He had no personal acquaintance, but at the moment he was doubtful, and his expression became a little complicated for a while.

Qitai, whose original name was De, came from a humble background. After passing the Jinshi examination in his early years, he served as an official for nine years without any mistakes. Therefore, he was appreciated by Zhu Yuanzhang and named Tai.

Not long after he took office as the head of the Ministry of War, during a surprise inspection by Zhu Yuanzhang, he was able to skillfully name the generals on the border and carried an atlas with him. From then on, he became even more valued by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Qi Tai may have strong confidence in his own strength. When he heard Zhu Di's compliments, he was not as happy as Lian An. There was no emotion on his face, making it impossible to see any emotional reaction.

As for Xia Yuanji, he seemed to have a sad face by birth. When faced with Zhu Di's compliments, he just turned sideways and cupped his fists, and raised his hands toward Zhu Di as a polite response.

He lost his father in his early years, so he followed the example of his adoptive mother. In the 23rd year of Hongwu's reign, he was recommended by his hometown to enter the imperial college, and was selected to be a member of the banzhongshu provincial imperial edict. Zhu Yuanzhang valued his honesty and hard work, and was later transferred to the household department as director.

"How do you plan to entrust the important task?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked softly.

Zhu Di replied: "Your Majesty, my father, I have elected Lian An to be the left minister of the Ministry of Works, Qitai to be the left minister of the Ministry of War, and Xia Yuanji to be the right minister of the Ministry of Households."

"That's it!"

Without giving the ministers a chance to discuss, Zhu Yuanzhang decided directly and neatly.

Zhu Di immediately turned around, faced the ministers, turned his back to Zhu Yuanzhang, and shouted: "Lian'an, Qitai, Xia Yuanji, why don't you bow down to thank the saints?"

At this time, the official minister was vacant, and even if there was an official official, it would be difficult to influence Zhu Yuanzhang's decision.

So Lian'an, Qi Tai, and Xia Yuanji came out in response, bowed down together, and received the order to express their gratitude.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Grandpa, Huang Shi (Huang Zicheng), the former minister of the East Palace, is a virtuous man. He once served as a Hanlin scholar and served as minister of Taichang Temple without any fault. Sun Chen requested that his official position be reinstated so that he could continue to serve as a minister. Serving the imperial court.”

After Lian, Qi and Xia received the order, Zhu Gaoxu stood up and spoke loudly.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he did not agree directly, but asked the ministers: "Do you have any opinions?"

Seeing that all the ministers were silent, Zhu Yuanzhang continued: "In that case, let Huang Shi continue to serve as a Hanlin bachelor and take the post of Minister of Taichang Temple."

As soon as these words came out, a slight noise suddenly sounded in the court.

Huang Zicheng was a lecturer to Prince Yiwen Zhu Biao, and later served as Zhu Yunwen's teacher. After Zhu Yunwen died of illness two years ago, he has been idle to this day.

Now, Zhu Gaoxu's petition to Zhu Yuanzhang to restore Huang Shi's official position was approved. This is equivalent to releasing an important signal to the ministers, that is, officials from the original Prince Yiwen family, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu are willing to accept them, and they can continue to serve as officials in the future.

"Grandpa Emperor, Holy Ming!" Zhu Gaoxu took the lead in bowing down and shouted.

Naturally, the ministers had no objections. This was a good thing. They followed Zhu Gaoxu and shouted in unison, "My emperor is wise."

After a while.

Zhu Yuanzhang gave Zhu Di a look, and the latter understood and said loudly again: "Your Majesty, my father, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the world has been peaceful for decades, the population has more than doubled, and the number of officials needed by the court to manage the people has also increased day by day. "

"However, the system of talent training and official selection is still insufficient. Last year's imperial examination fraud case is still discussed by people. Therefore, I suggested that the imperial examination system should be reformed so that a large number of talents can be stably and continuously cultivated for the imperial court and the best among them can be selected. As an official." "What do the ministers think?" Zhu Yuanzhang did not answer Zhu Di's suggestion, but looked at the ministers in the palace and asked.

Currently there is a vacancy in the Ministry of Personnel, and Yu Xin, the Minister of Hubu, has become the de facto head of the hundred officials. If he does not speak, it will be difficult for others to speak, and at this time, both Zheng Yi, the Minister of Rites, and Xia Shu, the Minister of Punishments, are looking at he.

What Zhu Di said about "last year's imperial examination fraud case" was historically known as the "North and South Ranking Case".

In the imperial examination in February last year, Liu Sanwu, a Hanlin scholar, and Bai Xintai, a prince of the royal family, were selected as examiners. Song Cong and other 51 people were admitted. After the imperial examination in March, Chen was ranked No. 1, Yin Changlong was ranked No. 2, and Liu Shi'e was ranked No. 3. No. 51 is for the spring list.Because the [-] people recorded are all from the south, it is also called Nanbang.

Only on the sixth day after the results were released, the northern candidates who failed in the general examination jointly signed a petition and went to the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites to lodge a complaint against the examiners Liu Sanwu and Bai Xintu for favoring southerners.

On the streets of Nanjing, dozens of candidates even blocked officials' sedans to complain.

When the news came, the court was shaken up and down.

On the tenth day of March, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to order Hanlin Confucian officials, former top scholar Zhang Xin, and three people in the first grade of this subject to select ten papers with "excellence in arts and sciences" from among the examination papers of the failed candidates for review.

At the end of April, Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned by the results of the investigation. After reviewing the test paper, it was found to be poor in grammar and science, and contained taboo words.

This result once again caused an uproar from all walks of life.

The northern students who failed could not accept this result, and many northern officials in North Korea and China even criticized it, demanding that capable officials be re-selected, the examination papers be re-examined, and all officials involved were strictly investigated.

At this moment, someone complained that Liu Sanwu and Bai Xintao secretly instructed Zhang Xin and others to deliberately involve themselves in the case.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious after hearing this. In May, he suddenly issued an edict, accusing Liu Sanwu, the chief examiner, and Bai Dunxin, the deputy chief examiner, as "blue jade remnants". In particular, he seized on Liu Sanwu's old account of writing a letter to vindicate Hu Weiyong more than ten years ago. , Liu Sanwu was identified as a "rebel". As a result, all officials involved in the case were severely punished, and Liu Sanwu was sent to the northwest.

Zhang Xin, who had questioned Liu Sanwu, was even worse, because he was told that he had been instructed by Liu Sanwu and ended up being executed in Lingchi.

The rest of the people were also sent into exile. Later, Chen, the number one winner on the "Spring List", was implicated and executed, and Liu Shi'e, the most beautiful woman, was impeached and killed by the imperial censor. Only Dai Yi, the minister, and Yin Changlong, the second best person, were spared.The reason why these two people were exempted was that after reviewing the test papers, they found that there were northern scholars on the list of successful candidates.

In June, Zhu Yuanzhang personally consulted and selected Han Kezhong as the number one scholar, Wang Shu as the second pick, and Jiao Sheng as the third overall winner, which was the summer list.Because all 61 people recorded were from the north, it was also called Beibang.

Thinking of last year's North and South List case that implicated many officials, Yu Xin, the Minister of Household Affairs, was still frightened, but his identity dictated that he had to speak.

But seeing Yu Xinluo pondering, he stepped out of the queue and saluted: "Your Majesty, I believe that the reform of the imperial examination is imperative, but how to reform and improve it requires careful and dedicated research. Only by having regulations can we provide advice or implement them."

Zheng Yi, the Minister of Rites, came out and said respectfully: "I second the proposal."

Since Ru Yu, the Minister of the Ministry of War, did not go to court due to illness, Xia Shu, the Minister of Punishments, and Sun Xian, the Minister of the Ministry of Works, also came out and said in unison: "I second the proposal."

Zhu Yuanzhang had no expression on his face. He glanced at Yan Zhen, the censor of the right capital, and Bao Zhao, the censor of the left capital, and asked casually, "What do the censors of the left and right capital think?"

Yan Zhen, the censor of Youdu, was silent.

Bao Zhao saw that Yan Zhen was silent, so he came out and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I think what His Highness King Yan said is reasonable, but the reform of the imperial examination is closely related, and even determines the continuation of the cultural heritage of this dynasty. I ask your Majesty to think again."

After saying this, he knelt down, touched his head to the ground, and performed a formal and solemn kneeling ceremony respectfully.

When the ministers saw Bao Zhao's tactful objection, their hearts were in their throats, fearing that Zhu Yuanzhang would label Bao Zhao a "Blue Jade Remaining Party" and kill him in anger.

But surprisingly, Zhu Yuanzhang did not get angry, but asked coldly with a straight face: "What suggestions does Zuo Du Yushi have?"

PS: I really can’t hold it any longer, it’s almost three o’clock in the morning, so I’ll update this chapter first. The next chapter will be tonight. I beg you for your recommendation vote!

(End of this chapter)