Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 107 The Four-A and Five-A Scholars
After the proportion is determined, the total amount must be determined.

Zhu Youjian had long said that he would hire more Jinshi to supplement the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Although Mingfa and Mingshu are now established, the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate can supplement them with Jinshi from these two subjects. However, the number of candidates for Jinshi next year cannot be reduced either——

Otherwise, scholars from all over the country will have opinions, especially those who are not proficient in law and calculation.

Zhu Youjian had calculated the specific number of people to be hired.

The number of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty was about 10,000, but after subtracting the unpopular teachings and learning—

There are actually about 9,000 civil servants of high rank.

There are about 3,000 civil servants of the seventh rank and above.

This is the number of officials counted by Zhu Youjian according to the "Da Ming Huidian". There must be discrepancies in the actual situation, but the deviation will not be too large.

According to the previous practice of awarding Jinshi officials to those with grades above seven, the number of Jinshi officials needed by the Ming Dynasty was approximately three thousand.

The average age for becoming a Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty is about thirty years old. Based on the calculation of seventy years of officialdom, theoretically there are about 14 Jinshi who will be officials in the officialdom.

Ideally, 214 people per subject would be able to satisfy 3,000 official positions. In the early days of the Republic of China, there were one or two hundred Jinshi in each subject. At that time, there were still students who were promoted to high positions.

Later, each subject took more than 300, and the officialdom was dominated by Jinshi.

Three hundred times fourteen, there are approximately more than 4,000 Jinshi, all qualified to serve as high-ranking officials in the imperial court, more than 3,000 official positions are needed.

The struggle between these people for official positions became increasingly fierce.

Positions in the officialdom are limited. In order to allow themselves to stay and drive others out, Jinshi formed a small circle based on their fellow villagers and the same year. They used assessments and inspections, especially Beijing inspections, to depose officials——

The source of the struggle between the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party comes from this.

Knowing this problem through statistics, Zhu Youjian had no idea of ​​admitting Jinshi.

Of course, too many Jinshi will lead to officialdom struggles, but too few will be even worse.

In particular, the power to select officials such as court recommendation, ministry recommendation, and general election is now controlled by civilian officials. If the number of Jinshi is not as high as the number of official positions, they only need to pass the Jinshi examination to become senior officials step by step——

That would be even worse for the emperor, and Jinshi would be more confident to ignore the emperor.

Thinking that after overthrowing the eunuch party, there would be a large number of official vacancies, and that the newly established eighth- and ninth-grade official positions would be filled with Jinshi from the Fourth and Fifth Grades, Zhu Youjian directly doubled the number of Jinshi for next year on the original basis:
"In the fifth year of the Apocalypse, 300 Jinshi people were recruited, and in the second year of the Apocalypse, 409 Jinshi people were recruited."

"Next year will be the first year that I will be admitted to the Jinshi Department. The situation is the same as that of the late emperor in the second year of Tianqi. Therefore, the number of candidates for the Jinshi Department this time will be set at four hundred."

"The Ming Law Department and the Ming Calculation Department are newly established, and we should use less of them. Each department is set at 100 people."

"Next year, the number of six hundred Jinshi will be taken. It can be slightly exceeded according to the actual situation, but it cannot be lowered!"

As soon as this decision came out, some of the ministers criticized the use of hundreds of people in the Mingfa Branch and the Mingshuang Branch, but most of them shouted sagely.

They don't care about the consequences of too many Jinshi. They just want their relatives and friends to be Jinshi and pass on the family.

One subject employs 600 people, which has never happened since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Only the Song Dynasty, where redundant officials were rampant, could exceed this number——

In the Northern Song Dynasty, more than 600 were used for each subject, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, the number was as high as 900. The number of Jinshi admitted to each subject was about three times that of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, some people think of the lessons of the former Song Dynasty and worry about the proliferation of redundant officials.

Yuan Keli thought of the enke that the emperor had said before, and immediately said in the court: "This is the first act of His Majesty's ascension to the throne. It can be called an enke, and it will not be a rule in the future."

"The number of Jinshi candidates should be three to four hundred."

Zhu Youjian nodded in praise and did not argue on this point. How much you will use in the future will be determined based on your needs.

If the grinding and surveying method is implemented smoothly, most of those incompetent officials will be eliminated when they reach the fifth rank, and there may be more Jinshis recruited in the future.

The ministers did not know the emperor's thoughts and did not dare to expect that six hundred per subject would become a norm. Many people plan to write letters as soon as possible after the court is over to invite their relatives and friends to participate in next year's examination——

Next year, there will be twice as many people as usual, so the difficulty will definitely be reduced. Many people who were originally unable to pass the Jinshi exam may be able to pass the exam this time.

If you miss this opportunity, you don’t know how long you will have to wait!
After happily deciding on the number of people to take, Zhu Youjian and the ministers agreed on more specific matters.

Because juren can take the Jinshi, Mingfa, and Mingshu exams at the same time, there must be those who pass two or three subjects at the same time. How their quotas are calculated and what kind of treatment they are given need to be specified.

In the end, Zhu Youjian followed the previous additional examination idea and stipulated that those who passed the Jinshi subject and other subjects at the same time would be awarded at least the second-class Jinshi. The second-level Jinshi will naturally occupy the quota of Jinshi subjects. The quotas of Mingfa and Mingshu subjects will be filled from the deputy list according to their respective papers.

Because it was to increase the number of second-class Jinshi, rather than using the original method, this regulation was finally passed by the court. The Mingfa and Mingshu subjects, as additional examinations for Jinshi subjects, will be moved forward.

Zhu Youjian was in a good mood, and he agreed with the officials that the first grade would still grant Jinshi status, the second grade would grant Jinshi status, and the third grade would grant the same Jinshi background.

The newly established Sijia grant is regarded as being of Jinshi origin, and the Wujia grant is regarded as being of Jinshi origin.

According to the examination results of Mingfa and Mingshu, the top ten will be ranked as the top four, and the rest will be ranked as the fifth. Like the Jinshi Department, outstanding candidates will be listed on the deputy list and will be filled when the quota is vacant.

Then someone else raised the question that if the second-class scholar occupies the fourth-class quota, after he is determined to be the second-class scholar, should the vacant fourth-class quota be filled by the fifth-class scholar? After the top five are filled, should the vacated spots be filled by their respective divisions?

If someone passes Mingfa and Mingshu at the same time, should he be awarded a fourth-class or even a third-class Jinshi? In which subject should his quota be counted? How to make up for it later?

There are a lot of these trivial things that need to be discussed and determined.

Zhu Youjian had a headache after listening to it and was too lazy to end it himself. He just watched them argue and made the decision himself.

The imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty lasted for more than 200 years, and they had rich experience in these matters, and the results were finally discussed one by one.

Zhu Youjian determined the specific regulations based on the opinions of the majority of people.

Finally, the matter of the special grant and Jinshi was thrown out and let the ministers discuss it.

Not surprisingly, civil servants with Jinshi background collectively opposed this.

Although the nobles wanted to support it so that their children would be specially granted the same background as Jinshi, their voices were not loud enough to change the situation.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian said:
"For non-Jinshi officials who have made great achievements, they need to be rewarded so that they can have the treatment of Jinshi in the officialdom."

"What do you object to, is the title Te Ci Tong Jinshi? Or is it the matter of Te Ci's background?"

　"Da Ming Huidian":
　　Every palace examination.

　　In the third year of Hongwu's reign, it was decided that the policy for the palace examination should be straight, and the limit should be no less than 1,000 words.

　　As for his origin, the first and first rank are from the sixth rank, the second and third rank are from the seventh rank, and he is awarded the rank of Jinshi.

　　The second grade, the seventh grade, is given to Jinshi.

　　The third grade and the eighth grade are given to the same Jinshi background.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)