Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 213 A new examination of the emperor's establishment, the number one scholar Wu Kui
The Ming Dynasty adopted the Weisuo system, and the officers and soldiers of the Weisuo were all hereditary, so the martial arts system has never been customized.

Until the 14th year of Chenghua, Wang Zhi realized that the middle and high-level officers of the Ming army had become corrupt, so the supervisor of power, who was expressed by later historians as "unexpectedly good death", asked Chenghua Emperor to set up a martial arts department based on Wenju. Township, will try.

Although the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty officially became routine, there are actually certain limitations.

The groups that martial arts are facing are only military households from all over the country. Due to the threshold of the martial arts civil examination and the fact that senior officers of the guards can easily attack them, many outstanding soldiers in the guards are not qualified to take the martial arts exam at all.

Zhu Youtang can naturally see the disadvantages of this kind of martial arts, but the efficacy of martial arts is obvious.

Although the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty was lacking, there were many famous generals in the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty, such as Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, both of whom were born in martial arts.

That's why, even if Ming's martial arts are not enough, he can still select a lot of practical military talents, so it only needs to be fine-tuned.

Different from the almost fixed exam time for the Wenju exam, the martial arts exam time is more flexible, and the time span will be greatly shortened.

The Wuju Enke this time was held in February of the first year of Hongzhi in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and the martial arts general examination was held in the capital this month, spanning less than half a year.

In terms of the specific content of the exam, Zhu Youtang also made some reforms.

Different from the traditional "strategy first, martial arts second", this Enke test focuses more on martial arts, thereby reducing the rent-seeking space for power.

In fact, the Ming army in this period did not lack generals who were good at the art of war. After all, many hereditary senior officers were familiar with military books since childhood, and the army lacked the courage to dare to risk their lives with the enemy.

As for the four-book questions that were originally assessed in the martial arts examination, learning the Confucian thought of benevolence, righteousness and morality was mercilessly canceled by Zhu Youtang and changed to silently writing the martial arts.

This is exactly the case, the Enke martial arts this time actually pays more attention to the "hands-on ability" of the candidates, rather than the "theoretical ability" they like.

On the other hand, there is also a selection hidden in the martial arts.

The soldiers who didn't understand Confucianism and the theory of the art of war in the past hardly had a bright future, but this martial arts test gave these groups a chance.

At the beginning of the year, Zhu Youtang issued a decree ordering that all counties, regardless of origin, recommend those who can carry a sword of eighty catties. Therefore, many illiterate people from all over the country came to the capital to participate in the martial arts examination.

In fact, it is not true that there are no brave men in the various guards of the Ming Dynasty, but they are usually born in poverty, not to mention that it is difficult to get the opportunity of the Wuju Township Examination, and they have no money to study and read at all.

This time, strength is only used as the threshold. Not only the most powerful people at the bottom have the opportunity to go to Beijing, but also many soldiers who have failed in the guards also have a way to participate in the martial arts.

It's just that different from the traditional martial arts honors, these specially recruited strongmen only participated in the competition of knife handling and martial arts, and what they got was the honor of Enke Wusheng specially awarded by the imperial court.

Wusheng, this will be a brand new fame from the Hongzhi Dynasty, and this group of people will be active in the Ming Dynasty's army as a special group.

On the first day of August, a sunny day.

Outside the gate of Xi'an, one hundred Enke Wu Jinshi and one hundred Enke Wu students have been waiting here for a long time. Everyone is wearing a brand-new military uniform, and their faces are both excited and nervous.

Wu Jinshi's performance was better, but the one hundred Enke Wusheng felt that their fate was quietly changing, and their faces couldn't help being overjoyed.

They are all from the bottom of the society, including ordinary farmers, apprentice craftsmen, boatmen, small traders and doctors, but under this once-in-a-century opportunity, they are the middle and low-level generals who will soon become the Ming army. .

Since there is no age limit for this selection, the highest age of this group is now 50 years old, and the youngest is a 13-year-old boy.

"Enter!"

After receiving feedback from the eunuch inside, the officials of the Ministry of Rites made an announcement.

One hundred Enkewu Jinshi and one hundred Enkewu students couldn't help but swallowed and spit, but they knew that even this royal garden had a lot of rules, so they followed the officials of the Ministry of Rites nervously to enter through the Xi'an Gate.

Walking into this royal garden from the outside, looking at the surrounding scenery, there is an illusion of coming to another time and space.Especially along the palace road to the edge of Taiye Pool, bathed in the oncoming lake breeze, the lake and mountains in front of you become unreal.

"Wu Jinshi fished in the north according to the order drawn earlier, and Wusheng fished in the south! This competition will not affect the fame of your Wu Jinshi and Wusheng, but it will largely determine the level of your appointment, and will also determine This year's Enke Martial Arts Competition will be the No. [-] Scholar and Kui Kui!" Li Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, presided over the competition, and said with an expressionless face.

After all, the status of martial arts is still much lower. In addition to the lack of county, government and hospital exams, there is also no part of the palace exam. The martial arts champion is actually the No. 1 in the martial arts exam.

However, this situation has changed in this dynasty. Although there was no real test, a fishing competition was held beside Taiye Pond in Xiyuan.

This kind of competition will inevitably make some Wu Jinshi who don't know how to fish feel unfair, but it is also unfair to choose the champion of Wu through the literary examination of the examination, so it is not completely unacceptable.

What's more, this competition is about who catches the most heavy fish, so there is a lot of luck involved, which is much more fair than just relying on an article or family background to determine the champion of martial arts.

Just like this, everyone looked at the fishing spots that had been arranged, and couldn't help but gear up to find their own fishing spots, but they wanted to win the title of martial arts champion through this relatively fair way.

Li Yu is now a celebrity around the emperor, and now he is getting more and more reused.

Unlike Wenju, which likes to form a teacher-student relationship, Wuju is much purer.Now Li Yu can be regarded as the chief examiner of this martial arts competition, and as the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, he knows the importance of talents, and he also wanders around various fishing spots to observe the candidates.

Under the influence of Zhu Youtang, he also began to change his previous thinking about talent selection.

Now we have abandoned those local officials who are brilliant in writing but poor in governance, and are more willing to promote those officials who really do practical things for the people, and everything is measured by political performance.

For example, in the case of local officials in Huguang recently, if they can cooperate with Liu Zhong to clear Zhang Tianmu, they will be rated as excellent, but if there is no progress in Qingzhang in the county, they will not be considered for promotion, and even use a magnifying glass to carefully examine this official.

Although he is 100% loyal to Zhu Youtang, he still feels a little rash in his heart that Zhu Youtang used fishing to decide the champion of martial arts.

Soon, several Wu Jinshi were brushed off.

"Why is there no bait on your hook?"

"Humble job is Jiang Taigong's fishing, and I am willing to stay here for Your Majesty!"

"Get out!"

……

"How do you fish so far from the river?"

"Humble job has been afraid of water since childhood!"

"Get out!"

……

"Why did you release the fish you caught?"

"Heaven has the virtue of caring for life, and humble people don't want to kill!"

"Get out!"

……

Fishing seems to be a simple sport, but it is a test of human nature. The mediocre who are particularly impatient or indecisive will be brushed off, and all kinds of strange things will be exposed.

Li Yu couldn't help but gasp when he saw the burly candidate who was kicked out at the end.

Because this candidate who believed in "Heaven has the virtue of being good at life" was the first in the martial arts examination. If the past practice was followed, this candidate would have to be hand-picked as the champion of martial arts.

Li Yu swallowed hard and looked at the Forbidden City with fear.

If His Majesty hadn't requested to add today's fishing contest, would there be a reason why the Ming Dynasty would have a martial arts champion who dared not kill?

Taiye Pool is undoubtedly a paradise for fishermen.

One hundred Wu Jinshi knew the content of the last exam in advance. Although many of them were beginners, they have already fished decently.

In fact, the entry threshold for fishing in this era is very low. It is nothing more than hooking bait and throwing it into the lake. It is up to God whether the fish bite the hook or not.

Of course, certain skills are required when fishing, especially the current fishing line has many disadvantages.

Several Wu Jinshi pulled too hard, so that the fish was not caught, but the fishing line was directly torn off, so they were forced to stop the exam.

"Master Zhengtang, the champion of this martial arts exam is probably born!" When Li Yu came to the southernmost point, an official reported happily.

A young man in his early 20s was fishing, and a two-finger-sized carp was lifted up, and soon the young man threw the carp into the wooden basin next to him.

At this moment, the wooden basin is almost full, and it has been pulled down a lot with other Wu Jinshi.

After hanging the bait, this young man with a bit of Confucianism deftly threw his rod into the water. All his movements were done in one go, with an indescribable maturity in his whole body.

Li Yu didn't expect that there would be a master fisherman among the hundred Wu Jinshi. Judging from the harvest, he might not be much weaker than His Majesty, so he stroked his beard in satisfaction.

"This is the last pot of bait!"

"Come on, you just said that there is no limit to the supply!"

"Originally, that's right, but now almost all the bait I prepared is given to you here, and now I can't give it even if I want to!"

……

A eunuch in charge of bait supply brought a basin of bait, and had a direct showdown with this young man who demanded too much.

The young man frowned slightly. After learning that almost all the bait had been sent to him, only a small part was left, and then he made an unexpected move.

clap la la...

As most of the bait was thrown into the lake, countless small splashes immediately splashed on the water surface, like it was raining.

Daye Pond has a water area of ​​[-] mu. Since fishing is carried out quickly, the resources here are not insignificant.After seeing a large amount of bait thrown here, a school of fish suddenly rushed here.

oops……

Li Yu never expected that this young man wasted bait so much, he accidentally tore off a few beards in agitation, and he grinned in pain.

As more lake fish come to eat, the fish in this water area is flooded, and the young people catch fish again and again, and the distance between them and other Wu Jinshi is getting wider and wider.

If there is no accident, this young man is the champion of martial arts in this year's new martial arts exam, but this fishing method is unheard of, and it seems to be a trick.

"How is this going?"

"He just asked about the unlimited supply of bait, and he has done this three times now. This method really works!"

……

Li Yu asked his subordinates about the situation, but when he learned that this young man wasted so much bait, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart, and at the same time felt that this practice was not in compliance.

It's just that this young man was doing things within the scope of the rules after all, so it's really inappropriate to drive him out of Xiyuan on the spot.

Now I can only report the matter to His Majesty. If His Majesty has no objection, then this tall and thin young man will probably be the champion of Enkewu this year.

A martial arts champion in his twenties is really rare in this dynasty.

Li Yu felt sorry for the beard that was accidentally torn off just now, so he continued to observe Wu Jinshi's performance from south to north.

It's just that the seeded martial arts champion he thought earlier performed unsatisfactorily, and now he can't catch fish here and makes frequent mistakes, so he feels disappointed in Wen Sheng, who has solid theoretical knowledge.

In fact, not only the seeded players of Wu Zhuangyuan, but the overall performance of Wu Jinshi was not ideal. Along the way, several Wu Jinshi retired due to ignorance.

Li Yu originally had objections to Zhu Youtang's arrangement of martial arts students, but after watching the performance of this group of martial arts scholars, he realized that the army really needs some generals with strong will.

Like those people who were so angry that they threw their fishing rods just because of a little bit of trouble, how could it be possible to lead the army to overcome many difficulties and win the victory?
Today's weather is a bit sunny, so it's easy to get impatient.

The martial arts students are all from low-level common people, and they have all gone through hardships and hardships. Like the oldest old man, he fished quietly like a stone, and the harvest was not small.

The performance of the Wusheng here is obviously much better. Although no one threw the bait into the lake like money, almost every Wusheng was able to catch the fish, and the wooden basin was more or less rewarding.

From the perspective of the total harvest alone, Wu Sheng is actually better than Wu Jinshi.

"Haha... this grass carp weighs more than a dozen catties, who can compare with me, Wu Kui is none other than me!"

When Li Yu walked out of the northernmost fishing spot, a middle-aged man with an unusually strong figure showed off arrogantly holding a big grass carp.

The corners of the mouths of the official officials who had been staring at him twitched a few times. When they saw Li Yu coming here, they immediately reported what had happened to Li Yu.

Li Yu looked up and down at the wet middle-aged man, and the corners of his mouth twitched a few times.

Obviously, the current fishing rod can't support a huge object weighing more than ten kilograms at all, not to mention that all the candidates present use the same bamboo pole, so what reason is there to catch such a huge object?

It's just that the last exam of the martial arts exam seems to have been caught by a demon. Both Wu Jinshi and Wu Sheng appeared out of the usual way, and they all got considerable catches.

　Sorry, I'm not in a good state recently!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)