Daming: I help my wife be the empress

Chapter 541 Zhao Wu Takes Scholars, Business Minister

Daming’s general examination is held every three years, and there are three sessions in total. Each session takes a whole day and is scheduled to be held on the ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth day of February. Relatively speaking, it is relatively humane.

It usually takes a long time for the examiner to correct the paper. Of course, how much time it takes depends on the situation.

For example, how many examinees are there, how many examiners are marking papers, whether the emperor is in a hurry, and whether there are other times that cause the delay of marking papers, and so on.

The number of candidates for this first spring examination held after Aimee Zhu ascended the throne was actually much smaller than that of the previous Tianqi and Chongzhen dynasties.

The reason is that after the wars in the past few years, many people died, or surrendered to the puppet, the puppet, were expelled from the ranks, and had no reference qualifications.

According to previous statistics from the Ministry of Rites, the number of Juren taking part in the examination this time is only about a quarter of the previous one.

This is because many people know that this is the last time of the old-style exam, and the content of the exam will change drastically in the future, so many people refer to it with the method of fulfilling their dreams.

Otherwise, the number of references will be even smaller.

Because it was the last exam before the reform of the imperial examinations was completed, and it was the first exam after Aimee Zhu ascended the throne, she specially decreed to increase the number of candidates by [-]% this time, to show her favor to the people of the world, and it can be regarded as appeasement.

At the same time, the Ministry of Rites chose Huang Daozhou as the main examiner, Chen Zizhuang as the deputy examiner, and as many as 18 examiners.

There are fewer candidates and more examiners, so the grading is naturally faster.

Today is only February 28, and before March, the results of the examination papers will come out.

If it was in the past, the results of the general examination would often be postponed to March or even April.

Aimee Zhu looked over, and saw that there were 108 names on the scroll that recorded Gongshi (the title of those who passed the examination). In fact, only one hundred scholars could be selected, but for more auspiciousness, eight more places were added.

The one who ranked first was Huiyuan, named Yang Tingshu.

On the other side, Hao Guangming directly revealed this person's information.

"Yang Tingshu, born in 1595, is 51 years old this year. He is one of the leaders of the Fushe. He won the No. 1 Jieyuan in the three-year provincial examination in Chongzhen.

Later, when the Qing captive went to the south of the Yangtze River, he died unyielding after being arrested because of his anti-Qing affairs.At this time, and in future generations, you are considered to be somewhat famous. "

Except for No.1, which is known as Huiyuan, the rankings of other tributes are meaningless, and only the examiners' evaluation information on their examination papers is on this scroll.

In Hao Guangming's view, among them, Wang Fuzhi, Huang Zongxi, and Zhang Huangyan are the most famous in later generations.

There may be some minor historical celebrities among the remaining people, but their fame is nothing compared to these three.

At this time, Huang Daozhou said from below: "Your Majesty, if there is no problem with the result of the examination, the Ministry of Rites recommends that the palace examination be held on the ninth day of March to determine the top three candidates in the imperial examination."

"Yes." Auntie Zhu did not attach much importance to this exam, so she nodded and said, "The palace exam will be on the ninth day of March."

"Your Excellency will leave." Huang Daozhou was about to leave after reporting about the examination.

Aimee Zhu said, "Mr. Shanshan, wait a minute—now that the three prefectures have tried to implement the three-year compulsory primary school system, they should consider the follow-up education reform.

Therefore, I plan to hold a special conference on education reform in three days, and all officials above the head of the Ministry of Rites are required to attend. "

"Yes."

After Huang Dao agreed, he sighed slightly in his heart: His Majesty doesn't care much about the general examination, but he cares so much about education reform. It seems that education reform is imperative.

He also knew that if Daming wanted to develop and become strong, it would not be possible to rely on the previous system of educating people and selecting scholars.

In fact, since the half-success and half-failure of Zhang Juzheng's reform in the Wanli year, many people with insight have realized this and are actively looking for a way out.

It’s just that the previous scholars were limited by the times, and after all they failed to break through the shackles of Confucianism. They considered completely replacing the old things with another set of knowledge and education system—or many scholars in the Ming Dynasty gave some time, and there might be a confrontation with Confucianism. At least the new sages who reformed Confucianism on a large scale.

Unfortunately, the war in the late Ming Dynasty destroyed this self-transformation.

Then the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, completely inherited the already decayed knowledge system and the scholar system of the Ming Dynasty, and even supplemented it more perfectly, completely imprisoning the thoughts of the people of China, and without the influence of external forces, There is no hope of self-breakthrough and change...
Although Huang Daozhou didn't have such a deep understanding of this issue, he was aware of it, so even if he was an old-fashioned literati Wen Zong, he was still willing to support Zhu Wei's education reform.

···
After Huang Daozhou left, Zhu Wei summoned another person.

"Chen, Shen Tingyang sees His Majesty!"

"Flat body."

The person in front of him was not tall and thin, and looked about fifty. It was Shen Tingyang, the candidate for the Ministry of Commerce's Minister that Zhu Yuxi had been optimistic about for a long time.

He was born in Chongming, Suzhou Prefecture. He was a scholar in the examination when he was young, but he has not been able to pass the exam since then.

However, Shen Tingyang admired loyalty and righteousness, advocated chivalry, and liked to talk about economics.

Because his family was originally a wealthy businessman and had many connections with the sand boat groups in Chongming, during the reign of Emperor Tianqi, he used merchant ships to assist the court to transport supplies many times to pacify the Liao Dynasty.

During the reign of Chongzhen, Shen Tingyang was first selected as a student of the Imperial College because of his righteous deeds, and was later promoted to be a scholar in the Hall of Wuying.

Later, he also wrote a letter, suggesting the restoration of Yuan Dynasty sea transportation to supplement the shortage of water transportation, and presented the "Book of Sea Transportation" and "Sea Transportation Map" to Chongzhen, which shows that he has made a lot of preparations for this matter.

It's a pity that the water transportation involved too many interest groups, and Chongzhen was too busy dealing with internal and external troubles to do it at all.

In addition, Chongzhen also had certain doubts about shipping.Because according to Chongzhen's knowledge, the sea is full of wind and waves, and the sea transportation is very unstable-that's what those who taught him back then said.

So, in the end, he just asked Shen Tingyang to try it out on a small scale.Even if Shen Tingyang succeeded in the trial, it only started the shipping from Huai'an to Dengzhou, Tianjin, Ningyuan and other places, which is limited to today's Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea area.

When the Qing captives entered the pass and the Hongguang court was established, Shen Tingyang, a confidant promoted by Chongzhen, was not reused. Finally, he joined the court of King Lu Jianguo, was captured in the anti-Qing war, and died without surrender.

Aimee Zhu entered Nanjing last year, and when she formed the Ten Departments before taking the throne, she considered letting Shen Tingyang be the minister of the Ministry of Commerce.

However, although Shen Tingyang's loyalty to the imperial court is unquestionable, Aimee Zhu is not sure whether Shen Tingyang has the ability to take charge of the Ministry of Commerce.

So after ascending to the throne, Zhu Wei summoned Shen Tingyang once, explained the importance of the Ministry of Commerce, and gave Shen Tingyang a test question, asking him to investigate the business affairs between the north and the south, and write a memorial about "enriching the country through business".

It has been more than half a year since Shen Tingyang came back to order, which shows how much he attaches importance to what Aimi Zhu explained.

"Business and Wealth of the Country" written by Shen Tingyang was submitted a few days ago, with nearly [-] words in it, and Auntie Zhu just finished it yesterday.

Generally speaking, although Shen Tingyang's insight on the matter of enriching the country through commerce has not surpassed the limitations of the times, it is much stronger than most people in the Ming Dynasty.

After discussing with Hao Guangming, Zhu felt that with the knowledge and experience of future generations, it should not be a problem for Shen Tingyang to be in charge of the Ministry of Commerce. That's why she summoned him today.

"I have read Mr. Wumei's "Business and Wealth of the Country", and it is very well written. Some of the remarks are quite thought-provoking.

But there are some things that I haven't explained thoroughly - people can get rich in business, so naturally the country can also get rich in business!What does Mr. Wumei think? "

Hearing this, Shen Tingyang's eyes lit up, wishing to say, "Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books", but felt that this was too flattering, and finally said excitedly: "Your Majesty is wise! The country can indeed become rich through business!"

　First more.

　　late.

　　Correct the typo later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)