Short video spoiler history: The beginning of modern warfare

Chapter 50: Anti-fraud in the Imperial Examination

[In the 12th year of the Wanli reign, when the officials who were confiscating the property pushed open the door of Zhang's house, more than a dozen members of the Zhang family had already starved to death. Zhang Juzheng's son, unable to bear the humiliation, also hanged himself.]

[So why was Zhang Juzheng's property confiscated after his death?]

[To be honest, the fact that Zhang Juzheng's property was confiscated had a lot to do with Emperor Wanli's hatred for him]

[The relationship between these two people is not like that of teacher and student, nor that of monarch and subject. It feels more like that of father and son.]

[It was the combination of a strict father and a rebellious son. It was Zhang Juzheng's strictness and Emperor Wanli's rebellion that laid the groundwork for the confiscation of Zhang Juzheng's property after his death.]

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

After the sky screen switched again, the next video actually talked about Zhang Juzheng's ending. This was not only a bit abrupt, but also made Zhu Yuanzhang stunned.

In fact, it can be seen from the comments section that most later generations have a very high opinion of Zhang Juzheng.

And such a capable minister ended up having his property confiscated?

Zhu Yuanzhang was just stunned for a moment, and instantly guessed part of the truth from the clues in the comment section of the previous video.

Hu Weiyong, Wang Guangyang and others standing by were secretly shocked. The royal family had always been the most ruthless.

During the Zhenguan period, Chang'an City.

Li Shimin sighed deeply. Reforms have always been the most offensive to people.

When Zhang Juzheng was alive, he was a powerful figure in the court. He relied on his unparalleled prestige to suppress the powerful groups in the court, but this suppression was only temporary.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, he would naturally be met with a frenzied counterattack from the vested interest groups, and the so-called "single whip system" would probably quickly disappear with his death.

Pity.

[When Emperor Wanli was 17 years old, he went to drink with eunuchs. It turned out that the little emperor Wanli's alcohol tolerance was not very good, and he started to act crazy after drinking.]

[This matter reached the ears of his mother, Empress Dowager Li, who scolded Emperor Wanli and threw a copy of "Book of Han. Biography of Huo Guang" to him.]

[There is a profound meaning behind Empress Dowager Li throwing this book away. Huo Guang had once deposed and enthroned a ruler. Emperors of all dynasties were afraid that they would have a minister like Huo Guang in their court.]

[The Empress Dowager Li's intention of throwing away the biography of Huo Guang was very clear, which was to tell Emperor Wanli that if you lose your moral integrity after drinking again and do something inappropriate, Zhang Juzheng can also depose you like Huo Guang did]

[To put it bluntly, Empress Dowager Li was blatantly warning her rebellious son. After Emperor Wanli figured out what was going on, he was really scared and kept admitting his mistakes.]

[Despite this, Zhang Juzheng still refused to give in and wrote an edict of apology on behalf of Emperor Wanli. This incident left a great psychological trauma on Emperor Wanli.]

[After all, you, Zhang Juzheng, are a minister. Writing an edict of apology on behalf of the emperor is a blatant act of usurpation. This incident planted the seeds of hatred in the heart of Emperor Wanli.]

[Zhang Juzheng had great prestige and power during his lifetime, and the Wanli Emperor could not do anything to him. However, after Zhang Juzheng's death, the Wanli Emperor completely controlled the court, and Zhang Juzheng's descendants were bound to suffer.]

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes. Now it seems that his guess was correct.

The ruler is young and the country is in doubt, with orphans and a widowed mother.

Although Zhang Juzheng was a good person, this matter was a complete and serious overstepping of authority.

In fact, judging from the comments, or from the reforms, without the emperor's support and considerable power, it would be difficult to carry out the reforms, and it could even be said that they could not be implemented at all.

However, this top-down power would eventually backfire and undermine the imperial power, which Zhu Yuanzhang could never accept.

Hu Weiyong and others knew how ugly His Majesty's expression was without even looking at it. At the same time, they couldn't help but be secretly shocked by the great power of Zhang Juzheng, which was rare in ancient and modern times.

However, with such great power, being obsessed with reform, isn't this just asking for trouble?

Hu Weiyong knew very well that this network of interests formed from the bottom up was intricate and complex, and one move could affect the entire body, so it could not be easily broken by one person's strength.

Therefore, after his death, there will inevitably be a huge backlash, and Wang Anshi is the best example.

[Another time, Emperor Wanli wanted to allocate 10 gold to improve his food. When Zhang Juzheng heard why it would cost so much money, he immediately wrote a letter to him to reject it.]

[Even the expenses for lanterns and lights during the Lantern Festival were cut, Zhang Juzheng also requested that Emperor Wanli hold his daily lectures in the morning, which would save the expenses for lights at night.]

[This teacher has a very important role in enlightening people’s lives. Zhang Juzheng wanted Emperor Wanli to be a standard wise ruler, so he had such strict requirements for Emperor Wanli.]

[However, this expectation did not have much positive impact on Wanli, and his harsh approach even caused Wanli's disgust]

[Zhang Juzheng's reforms were supported by Emperor Wanli, which gradually shifted the power of the court to Zhang Juzheng. However, some of Zhang Juzheng's policies were too arbitrary, even exceeding his authority, and interfering with the emperor's decision-making. All these laid the groundwork for Zhang Juzheng's future fate.]

Chang'an City during the Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin did have some good feelings towards Zhang Juzheng, but it was a pity for this man.

In his opinion, Zhang Juzheng's behavior was certainly presumptuous, but as the emperor's teacher, he naturally had the responsibility and obligation to correct the young emperor's mistakes.

From this point of view, Zhang Juzheng's starting point was actually correct, but he used the wrong method, and the behavior of Emperor Wanli himself also had some problems.

"Good at planning for the country, but poor at planning for himself" "It means that other people's children should be taken care of less [covering face]"

《In one sentence: I have grown up.》

"A Feng Bao tells tales every day, a Li Taihou scares her son every day, and a Zhang Taiyue slaps his palms every day. It would be strange if the little emperor didn't take revenge."

The screen changed again.

[Do you know how cheating was prevented in the ancient imperial examinations? ]

[Before the ancient imperial examination system was perfected, it had many loopholes. In order to become famous and achieve a class leap, many candidates would usually choose to visit relatives and friends before the exam. This behavior undoubtedly harmed the interests of the majority of candidates.]

[So everyone is being cheated by studying hard for the exam, but you are the only one taking shortcuts, right? 】

[So later, successive dynasties invented many anti-cheating methods]

During the Zhenguan period, Chang'an City.

Li Shimin's eyes lit up. Prevent cheating in the imperial examination? That's a good idea.

The imperial examination system was established not long ago, and there was a clear lack of monitoring and handling methods for cheating. It just so happened that Tianmu had come up with many coping strategies, which could be used immediately.

The civil servants naturally understood His Majesty's thoughts, and they all picked up their pens and waited attentively.

[Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty could not stand it and created the first method: the method of obscuring names]

[As the name suggests, the names of the examinees are covered with paper when marking the papers, so that the examiners naturally have no idea who is who, making it much more difficult to cheat.]

During the Zhenguan period, Chang'an City.

"Well, the name-obfuscation method." Many civil servants picked up their pens and quickly wrote down three big words, then they were stunned.
Wait, what did Tianmu say!!!
Not only them, but also Fang Xuanling and other civil and military ministers all changed their expressions and looked at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin's face turned extremely ugly. Many thoughts flashed through his mind at once, and finally they all settled on those four words: The harem is interfering in politics!
"Continue!" Li Shimin suppressed his dissatisfaction and gave the order stiffly, but he couldn't help but clench his hands into fists behind his back.

Tianmu did not give too many details. If it weren’t for the anti-cheating measures in the imperial examination, he would probably still be kept in the dark!
Nanjun in the late Han Dynasty.

Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and others exchanged glances and saw the excitement in each other's eyes. Their faces turned red with excitement. This was what they had deduced before, namely the reform of the system for selecting officials.

In their vision, the popularization of paper craft will inevitably lead to the promotion of knowledge and the prosperity of education.

All of this is bound to impact the existing system of selecting officials for the imperial court, and the drawbacks of the recommendation system are already very obvious, with the aristocratic families colluding to control the government.

The so-called imperial examination system by Tianmu was probably the system of selecting officials for the imperial court that replaced the recommendation system in later generations.

After all, if the only thing being selected are scholars from aristocratic families, then what is the difference between the imperial examination system and the recommendation system?

[However, this method is actually useless. Some clever candidates are not discouraged and have come up with a new way to cheat in the blink of an eye. That is, they will agree on a secret code with the examiner in advance and then make a special mark on the test paper.]

[For example, drawing a small flower or Peppa Pig, etc., it is normal to draw a little on the test paper, and this method leaves no trace, so no one can catch it. ]

[So in the Song Dynasty, Renzong created the second method: transcription]

[As the name suggests, the test papers of the candidates are copied by a special person in charge before being handed over to the examiner for review. The copying is done in red pen, so it is also called the red paper.]

[The Song Dynasty also established a lock-up system, where all real-name examiners had to be locked in the assigned room and were not allowed to contact relatives and friends within 50 days. This should have been able to eliminate most of the cheating in the imperial examinations.]

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

People are extremely sensitive and disgusted with cheating in the imperial examinations. After all, they or their relatives and friends have studied hard for more than ten years, but in the end these unlearned villains took advantage of the situation and got the top places. It is impossible to say that they don't care.

So everyone was filled with righteous indignation and cursed it as shameless.

During the Zhenguan period, Chang'an City.

Fang Xuanling suppressed the shock caused by the empress incident and focused his attention on preventing cheating in the imperial examinations.

I have to say that the combination of the transcription method and the lock-in system is really good. With this breakthrough in the examiners, the cheating trend should be curbed this time.

Other civil servants were also thinking in their hearts that the transcription method and the lock-in system had blocked the examiners' path. If there were still problems, they would probably have to be the examinees' fault.

[But even gods can’t stop you from cheating]

[There are always candidates who come up with new tricks. They come up with all kinds of cheating techniques, such as hiding cheat sheets under clothes, hiring someone to take the exam for them, etc.]

[Later, the Ming and Qing courts could no longer tolerate this and had to resort to the ultimate punishment. Generally, those who committed minor cheating would first be fined, then caned 300 times, and finally exiled 3000 miles.]

[So in order to solve the problem at the source, the Ming and Qing dynasties would set up special channels to conduct body searches on candidates before the exam.]

[Whether it is scorching hot or snowing heavily, candidates must open their clothes for inspection. If anyone is suspected of cheating, the candidate will be killed first, followed by the supervisor in charge of the search.]

The people who were responsible for transcribing shuddered. The Ming and Qing dynasties were too brutal.
However, there are indeed more cheating methods in later generations. Instead of studying hard, people engage in fraud and deception, which is despicable. Once the truth is revealed, most people will applaud.

(End of this chapter)