The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 358 Cheers and gratitude

When Liu Sheng decided on the details of this autumn's rural examination at the Wenhua Hall meeting, Qian Qianyi and Wang Duo led the officials of the Ministry of Rites to get busy.

The opening of the provincial examination in the new dynasty should be widely announced. There is no reason to conduct it secretly. Therefore, scholars in Nanjing and surrounding areas were the first to know about it.

After hearing that Damei had recognized the title of Ming Dynasty student and was preparing to start the provincial examination this autumn, all the students cheered and praised Liu Sheng, just as Qian Qianyi said.

According to the rule of rural examinations held every three years during the Chongzhen period, there should have been a rural examination this autumn.

If Liu Sheng does not start the provincial examination, it means that all living beings will have to wait for at least another year.

And if Liu Sheng simply refuses to recognize his honor as a member of the Ming Dynasty, it means that many scholars with honors and achievements who have studied hard for decades will be in vain. If they want to gain wealth, they will have to start from scratch.

As the founding emperor of the new dynasty, Liu Sheng could actually decide when and whether to start the provincial examination, and whether to recognize the Ming Dynasty's meritorious service. No one could force him.

This kind of thing is proved by history.

Dynasties such as the Dayuan Dynasty that were not founded by the Han people did not implement the imperial examination system from the beginning, but mainly relied on the original Mongol Empire's talent selection system - in fact, it was based on the recommendation system and family background.

After that, the Yuan Dynasty debated the talent selection system for decades. It was not until the 21st year of the Yuan Dynasty that the imperial examination system was finalized, and it did not start until the second year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Yuan Dynasty.

In other words, after Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, there was no imperial examination for more than 20 years!

Since then, the Imperial Examinations in the Yuan Dynasty have been held intermittently. During the more than ninety years of his rule in the Central Plains, they were held only sixteen times in total.

So will the Han emperor definitely hold the imperial examination normally?

You will know this just by looking at Zhu Yuanzhang.

When Zhu Yuanzhang started his career, and until the first three years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also used the recommendation system. It must be noted here that although the recommendation system is prone to nepotism and not fair and impartial enough, it is indeed an emergency method of employing people.

For example, in the early Ming Dynasty, Liu Ji from Qingtian, Zhang Yi from Longquan, Ye Chen from Lishui, and Song Lian from Jinhua, who were known as the "Four Sages in Eastern Zhejiang", as well as the more famous counselors and civil servants Fan Zuqian, Ye Yi, Xu Yuan, and Hu Han in the early Ming Dynasty, were all Appeared through recommendation system.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang knew the shortcomings of the recommendation system, so after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he began to prepare to restore the imperial examination system. Due to various reasons, it was not until the third year of Hongwu that the first imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty was conducted.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang was greatly disappointed with the performance of the talents selected through this imperial examination.

Among them, the people in the north were under the foreign rule of Liao, Xixia, Jin, Mongol and Yuan successively, and their culture and education were in decline. It was difficult for some talented people to show their abilities through the imperial examination system.

Although culture and education are slightly prosperous in the south, most of the so-called talents are only good at writing articles, poems and even operas, and do not have the ability to govern the local or even the country as officials.

In a word, in the early years of Hongwu, due to some objective reasons, there was no environment for implementing imperial examinations to select talents.

Moreover, some vested interest groups in the recommendation system are also secretly obstructing the restoration of the imperial examination system.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang could only vigorously build schools all over the country so that ordinary people could read and write. After more than ten years, he expanded the basis of the imperial examination people. Then in the fifteenth year of Hongwu, he announced the restoration of the imperial examination, and in the tenth year of Hongwu Seven years later, the second imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty began.

But the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang stopped the imperial examination for more than ten years in the early Ming Dynasty was unknown to most scholars in the late Ming Dynasty.

Naturally, they did not know that the social foundation and imperial examination environment faced by Dawei after the founding of the People's Republic of China were very different from those in the early Ming Dynasty, and it was impossible to suddenly stop the imperial examination.

So it is natural to be worried.

Now that they heard the news that Liu Sheng was preparing to start the provincial examination this autumn, the students cheered and were grateful.

Of course, the degree of gratitude of the students varies from person to person, and most of them are very limited. Perhaps in the future, when they feel that their own interests have been harmed by the policies of the Da'ei court, they may hate Liu Sheng again.

However, at this time, the vast majority of students and even lower-class scholars such as Tong Sheng were praising Liu Sheng's sage.

Qinhuai River.

On the painting boat of the Bian sisters.

Hou Fangyu gathered with several friends to discuss the matter.

Hou Fangyu followed his father Hou Xun through life and death twice, and got the official position of Secretary Bin Department Cheng in Da'ei Honglu Temple.

Although he is only a low-ranking official of the ninth rank, he can be regarded as having an official status after all. His father is the minister of Honglu Temple and the chief official of a department of the central government. Naturally, he has a promising future and no longer needs to rely on the imperial examination.

But the few friends he got together with this time were all just scholars.

Two of them are Chen Zhenhui and Mao Xiang, two of the four princes of Fushe, and Wu Yingqi, a famous scholar from Guichi in Chizhou Prefecture who was friends with them.

This person is also the backbone of Fushe. He is forty-eight years old this year and has grandchildren. He became a student at the age of 20, but he failed in the Southern Zhili Township Examination eight times!

In Fushe, his qualifications were much older than those of Hou Fangyu and other four young masters. This was partly due to his age, but also because he wrote the famous "Remaining in the Capital to Prevent Rebellion and Revealing the Public" in the eleventh year of Chongzhen's reign, attacking the conspiracy at that time. The ups and downs of the eunuch party leader Ruan Dayue.

This incident caused a great sensation at the time, and some scholars even died and were imprisoned. As one of the presiding officers, Wu Yingqi naturally gained a considerable reputation afterwards.

The boat was swaying slightly on the Qinhuai River. Wu Yingqi had already drank a pot of wine and was slightly tipsy listening to the sound of Bian Yulou's piano.

He stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I think back when the Yi army first entered southern Zhili, I wanted to cooperate with you, Chaozong, to carry out a 'honey trap' against the current saint, or I might take advantage of the time when the Yi army was attacking Nanjing to attack Nanjing in Guichi. Raise troops to disrupt the rear of the Wei army.

Unexpectedly, thanks to the grace of the current saint, I would have the opportunity to win the election and officially enter the official career. Life changes are truly free. "

Although Hou Fangyu drank a lot of wine, he was still not drunk. Hearing Wu Yingqi's words, his expression suddenly changed and he hurriedly said: "Brother Wu, be careful, how could we have planned any 'beauty trap' at the beginning?"

"Haha, Chaozong, you are scared." Wu Yingqi pointed at Hou Fangyu with her finger and said, "Don't worry, I don't think the current sage is a narrow-minded person. Even if he knows about this, he will probably laugh it off and will never argue with you."

Wu Yingqi now really has a lot of affection for Liu Sheng.

Because Liu Sheng not only wanted to reopen the provincial examination, but also included Chizhou Prefecture into Huainan Province.

Although he still doesn't know how many places there will be in Huainan Province's rural examination, he thinks that the competition will be much smaller than the previous Nazhili Township Examination. With his talent, he will definitely win this time!

Next to them, Chen Zhenhui and Mao Xiang also had a lot of affection for Liu Sheng, for the same reason.

Chen Zhenhui is a native of Yixing, Changzhou Prefecture. Southern Zhili has carved out Huainan Province. Reopening the provincial examination will inevitably reduce competition a lot.

Maoxiang is from Rugao, Yangzhou Prefecture, which now belongs to Huainan Province, so the competition in the provincial examination will also decrease.

They were conceited that they were talented, so they believed that they would win the election and become true gentry. Naturally, they were grateful to Liu Sheng.

Although Hou Fangyu couldn't bear to dampen the interest of several friends, he still said: "You three, don't be too happy too early. I heard that this rural examination has made many changes compared to the previous Ming Dynasty rural examination.

Although I don’t know what the change is, if this change is not beneficial to the three of them, I am afraid that the three of them may not be successful in the election. "

After hearing this, the three of them were not happy.

Maoxiang shouted: "Hou Chaozong, since you have become an official and your father is the minister of Honglu Temple, you don't want to see us, right?"

Look at you, how can you still look as handsome and suave as when we were called the Fourth Young Master? No wonder Li Xiangjun doesn't want to see you again. "

As he spoke, Maoxiang deliberately grabbed Dong Xiaowan's slender waist and showed off to Hou Fangyu.

Seeing that Maoxiang had offended Hou Fangyu with just one word, Dong Xiaowan quickly smoothed things over and said, "Pijiang is drunk and what he says is nonsense. Master Hou, don't take it to heart."

Hou Fangyu waved his hand and said: "Pijiang and I have been friends for many years, how could we take a few quarreling words to our hearts?

However, I must explain that it is not that Mr. Xiang does not want to see me, but that my status is different now. My father does not allow me to take Mr. Xiang as my concubine, and also strictly prohibits me from meeting Mr. Xiang. "

Dong Xiaowan smiled politely and said nothing more about the matter.

What she was thinking at that time was that if Hou Fangyu couldn't accept Li Xiangjun as his concubine, wouldn't it be a waste of his youth if he continued to get entangled with her?

Therefore, maybe Li Xiangyun did not see Hou Fangyu on purpose.

After all, as an upright official, the most valuable years are only those few years. If Hou Fangyu can't accept it, Li Xiangjun will probably find a new home.

At this time, Chen Zhenhui on the side said: "Chaozong, we came to you this time mainly to inquire about the provincial examination. Why did you talk about other things?

You said you didn't know about the changes in the provincial examination, but your father should be able to find out, right? If you know, you must tell me in advance. "

"clear."

Hou Fangyu nodded on the surface, but what he was thinking in his heart was: he could only talk about the reform of the provincial examination if the imperial court allowed it; if it was kept secret, he was determined not to tell these good friends.

Otherwise, you will harm yourself and others.

Looking at the way Wu Yingqi and others looked forward to entering an official career in the future after winning the election, Hou Fangyu couldn't help but secretly shake his head.

Because in the past few months as an official in Damei, he has already felt that it is much more difficult to be an official in Damei than in the Ming Dynasty, and it will never be as easy as the Ming officials in the past...

　First more.

　　Thanks to [Xiaoqiao Liushui Riverside] for the 100 starting coin reward!

　　Thanks to [saynol] for the 100 starting coin reward!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)