Father-in-law Zhu Di, I am so happy to marry the disfigured princess

Chapter 249 The National Examinations Are Hot, Scholars Fall Like Cows, Cancel the Correctness of the Imperial Examinations!I am the puppet emperor?
With the news of the national examination announced to the world.

Notices have been pasted in front of the government offices of prefectures, states, and counties across the country.

It quickly caused a national sensation! ! !

Yangzhou Prefecture, Qiantang County.

As the notice in front of the yamen was posted, countless scholars surrounded it.

"Look, everybody, the imperial examination is still cancelled, but it's not completely cancelled! We have obtained the qualifications, and we still have five years to take the national examination!"

A student who saw the content of the notice clearly said with his own understanding.

A scholar asked puzzledly, "What do you mean? Is the imperial examination still abolished? I have been studying hard for many years. Is it for nothing?"

"It's not in vain. It's written in black and white in this notice that we can still take the imperial examinations for scholars. There are still five years to hurry up and take the exams."

The student who understood the notice said.

"Five years, how difficult is it for five years, and there is only one exam in three years. Only a hundred or so people are admitted. Isn't this killing us?"

"No, no, it's changed now. The national exam is held once a year, scheduled for the end of the year!"

"What??? Once a year???"

Hearing this, everyone was shocked.

After understanding the notice, the scholars were all taken aback, and immediately became ecstatic.

The so-called xiucai is a common name for students who have passed the college examination and obtained the qualification for admission.

Obtaining the qualification of a scholar is the lowest threshold for entering the scholar-bureaucrat class.

Becoming a scholar means having fame and fame, being respected locally, and having various privileges.

Exemption from corvee, no need to kneel when seeing the magistrate, the magistrate is not allowed to torture him at will, and he can report to the magistrate for official business, etc.

Some of the scholars came from poor families.

But getting fame as a scholar does not necessarily bring wealth.

A scholar does not have a salary, but he can receive a little money to live on every month, which is only enough to support himself, not a family.

If you fail to pass the subsequent provincial examinations, you are not enough to be an official.

Many scholars failed to make further progress in their fame and could only return to their hometowns to make a living by teaching and other methods.

These scholars who are not rich economically but have a slightly higher social status than ordinary people are called poor scholars.

And the emergence of the national examination this time is undoubtedly a way out for these poor talents!
"Once a year, it's great. Although a lot of exam content has been added, there are many more opportunities!"

"It's not only a lot more, it's simply too much, everyone, please read this notice, this year's national examination recruits 2000 people, and after passing the entrance examination, they will be directly divided into officials. It's not a fake!!"

No wonder this group of shows is shocking.

In the Ming Dynasty, even if you passed the Jinshi examination, you still have to wait for the division of officials.

The Ming Dynasty did not mention retirement, it was almost to death.

Waiting for Gui Xikong to become an official before he can become an official, so Jinshi's favorite thing to do is to attend the funeral of officials
"After passing the exam, you will be directly divided into officials? Seriously, seriously????"

"It's absolutely true, but most of the people recruited this year were awarded official positions in Beiping and Nanjing. Officials have been abolished in these two places, and new yamen have been added. Many official positions have been released!"

"That's not bad. I heard that the treatment in the capital is very good now. If it's in Beiping, wouldn't it be a great thing. I'll take my old mother to Beiping to enjoy the blessings."

"You really know how to think. If you want to stay in Beiping as an official, you must at least be in the top [-] in the exam. If you get in the [-]th, you can only be a member of the dormitory, that is, an official in the village. .”

Countless scholars discussed and expressed their opinions.

"Village official? The village official is also good! At least there is an official position, and you can eat the emperor's food."

The eyes of an old scholar in his 60s lit up, and he said excitedly, "I'm going to take the exam this year too!!"

There was a burst of surprise in the eyes of people who knew this old scholar.

This old scholar was admitted as a scholar in the Yuan Dynasty.

After that, I gave up many times after failing the Jinshi exam. Now that the opportunity appears again, I plan to take the exam again!
"What are you waiting for, hurry up and sign up!!"

Following a person yelling, countless people rushed into the Yamen.

"I want to sign up!"

"I want to sign up too!"

One by one rushed to the front of the registrant very excitedly.

"Everyone has a share, line up one by one!!!"

The people in the yamen shouted, and immediately recruited people to register.

That's it, registration begins.

Because there are too many people.

The registration was not completed until the afternoon, and almost all the scholars from the entire county came here.

Almost all the old scholars who gave up the imperial examinations in the past have come here now.

Even the county magistrate was alarmed, and Zhang Luo increased manpower to organize the registration work.

There were too many scholars who signed up, and the yamen was crowded with people.

It really is a rare event in decades!

"This Ming Dynasty is about to change."

Among the crowd, a 15-year-old young man murmured.

He also stood silently in the queue.

He just passed the Xiucai examination in this year's township examination. He thought it would take another three years before he could be admitted to the Jinshi examination. He didn't expect that just after the Xiucai examination, the examination would disappear and become the so-called national examination.

After queuing all day, it was finally his turn.

With a swipe of his pen, he wrote two large characters on the registration form: Yu Qian!
And that's it, as the word spreads.

The news of the national exam is widely known, and gradually almost everyone knows about it.

Many scholars who were belatedly aware of it also rushed to the yamen to register.

It took ten days for the county to register the names of all the scholars.

The county magistrate did the math and found that there were more than 500 people in the entire county applying for the exam.

Yangzhou Prefecture belongs to the south and can be regarded as a wealthy place, so it is popular to study and take the imperial examination, and there are especially many scholars.

But it is indeed surprising that a county has accumulated [-] scholars for decades to refer to.

It is no coincidence.

Not just here, but everywhere in the country.

In short, the number of people in this national exam is unimaginable.
Soon, the number of people from all over the country was reported to the capital.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Zhu Yuanzhang is here again.

Sit on the recliner and watch Zhu Di handle government affairs.

He is a restless person. He used to be unable to do what he wanted, but now he is in good spirits and has started to participate in government affairs again.

But the main thing was to raise opinions, and it didn't interfere with Zhu Di.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang looks very kind and doesn't curse.

At this time, there were Li Xiao, Lu Zhen, and Zhu Gaochi in the hall.

"There are so many references for this national exam, more than [-] scholars from all over the country signed up!!"

Zhu Di looked at the news of the candidates in the newspaper in his hand, his eyes widened in surprise, and he murmured, "When did the Ming Dynasty have so many talents?"

As soon as this remark came out, everyone in the hall was shocked.

There are some students who go to Beijing to rush for the exam, but this time there are too many.

It has reached a terrifying number of one hundred thousand.

Is this number normal?
Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't managed government affairs for many years, and he was a little surprised when he heard the number and asked: "One hundred thousand scholars, is there any mistake?"

Lu Zhen, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, cupped his hands and said: "Back to the Supreme Emperor and the Holy One, there are indeed only 2 people in the general examinations over the years, but this year is really special. After the national examination was announced to the world, scholars all over the world learned that there were [-] people who were admitted. After the vacancies were filled, they applied for the exams one after another.

Most of the 20 scholars are accumulated over the years, and there are even old scholars from the previous dynasty.

Most of them have been taking the imperial examination for decades, and there are also many students who have given up. After the national examination, not only Confucianism, but almost all scholars have applied for the examination, wanting to try their luck.

The accumulation of so many factors has caused the number of applicants to reach [-]. I am worried that the capital cannot accommodate so many candidates. "

The voice fell.

Everyone was silent, and no one spoke for a long time.

The number of [-] scholars is indeed shocking.

"There are so many scholars in the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang took the lead in breaking the silence at the moment, cursing:

"We really didn't consider this point. The Ming Dynasty has only been established for almost 40 years, and there are already [-] scholars. I never expected it!"

"These scholars have to allocate a lot of money to support them every year. If the imperial examination continues to be carried out like this, after hundreds of years, there will be more and more scholars, and it is possible to reach a million!"

"If we get to that point, there will be more than 100 million people in the Ming Dynasty who are only scholars. These people who study Confucianism cannot go to the battlefield to fight. If they are replaced by soldiers, those soldiers can go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and expand the territory for us!"

"What's the use of raising these talented people? We have to send him money every month. It's better to raise 100 million chickens and ducks. 100 million chickens and ducks can be killed and eaten."

Zhu Yuanzhang scolded directly, and what he said was not bad.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to ensure that the majority of students study without distractions, Zhu Yuanzhang can be said to be well-intentioned.

He issued a decree to introduce measures to reward students in kind. According to the "Ming History Shihuo Zhi VI", the reward specification is: "One liter of grain rice per person per day, fish, meat and salt are given by officials."

For those who are admitted to the scholars, each person will be given a liter of rice, about 2 pounds, and fish oil and salt every day.

It is worth noting that this benefit is lifelong, that is, as long as the fame of a scholar exists and the life does not end, this benefit can be enjoyed forever.

But there was no refrigerator at that time, and it was not good for storing fish every day, and it was not good for health to let the scholars eat pickled food all the time.

Therefore, this benefit was not carried out from the beginning, but was distributed in the form of cash: each scholar can get one tael of silver per month for food expenses.

Li Xiao nodded slightly, indeed, it seemed that Zhu Yuanzhang had come to his senses.

Because of this system in the Ming Dynasty, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were no 100 million scholars in the whole country, because there were people who were born, aged, sick and died, but there were almost 50 scholars who had achieved fame.

The current salary for scholars is indeed good. It is not a problem for one person to feed the whole family without hunger, which is equivalent to being a low-income household.

The premise is that you can’t get married, and you can’t support your parents. Once you get married and have a child, if you don’t get admitted to an official with that little money, the whole family will starve to death.

However, for more than 200 years after Zhu Yuanzhang, the system of 1 tael of silver per month has not changed. Later emperors did not consider factors such as rising prices and inflation at all.

Therefore, in the late Ming Dynasty, it was difficult for a scholar to eat enough for this 1 tael of silver, so he was called a poor scholar.

Although they are poor scholars, if there are 50 poor scholars, and everyone pays money, that is not a small amount. The court will spend a lot of silver taels, dragging down the national treasury.

"Imperial Grandfather" Zhu Gaochi stuck out his tongue and said, "It was the rule you set at the beginning, to win the world's literati to work for the court. This."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang pretended not to know, and looked up at the sky: "Did we say this? No way, it should be proposed by some official, and we accidentally agreed."

After thinking about it carefully, Zhu Yuanzhang found that he really said this, and he also set the policy.

But now after being with Li Xiao, his mind has opened up.

You can quickly think of the impact of this policy on Daming hundreds of years later, and suddenly wake up.

Zhu Di laughed, and helped him down the steps: "Father, how could he say such a thing, Gao Chi, you must have misremembered."

Zhu Gaochi chuckled, nodded and said, "Grandson did remember wrongly, don't blame grandpa."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, which is more or less the same.

At this time, Zhu Di agreed: "Father, you are right. For each of these 12 scholars, the imperial court will allocate 10 taels of silver per year. 12 people are 100 taels. This is not a small amount. If things go on like this, there will really be 120 million scholars, that is 120 million taels of silver. It would be great if the [-] million taels of silver would be used to raise soldiers, and it would be good if the imperial examinations were abolished, and the identities of these honors should all be abolished."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "That's right! Cancel the imperial examinations and gradually abolish fame. We have indeed seen the benefits. First of all, the benefits are saving money."

"It's not just saving money."

Li Xiao smiled and said: "The Supreme Emperor, think about it, this group of scholars is more than these benefits, the big head is still behind."

"Big head."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while, realized again, and slowly said: "Yes. We stipulate that scholars can still be exempted from official duties and taxes."

"Yes, this is the big head!"

Li Xiao nodded and said: "The first privilege of a scholar is to be exempted from corvee. At the time, the Supreme Emperor, you stipulated that those who have a scholar's household registration in their family do not need to be subject to corvee. You are really kind. You hope to encourage people to study, publish stereotyped essays, and let Han culture Returning again. Because after all, the Han culture was poisoned by the Yuan Dynasty in the early days of the Ming Dynasty, and there were not many real scholars. Taishanghuang, you have done this very well. In fact, the thoughts of the Han people mainly come from Confucianism. There are many scholars. We Han people culture is thriving again!"

Li Xiao praised it first, but he was not flattering, but serious.

This is indeed a relatively correct thing Zhu Yuanzhang did.

At the beginning, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty did not belong to the Han people. Although the dynasty system of the Han people was followed and the imperial examinations were still held, they did not agree with it from the bottom of their hearts.

This also led to the gradual loss of Han culture, and the Han people lacked cultural confidence.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he promoted the imperial examination and introduced the eight-legged essay.

And the so-called stereotyped essays test those things of the Four Books and Five Classics, and those things are the origin of Han culture.

Everything has two sides. Although this stereotyped essay is not good, but when Confucianism was declining in the early Ming Dynasty, when there was no cultural confidence, encouraging people all over the world to learn Confucianism was actually helping to restore the cultural confidence of the Han people.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said: "Li Shengren, you criticized our stereotyped essays as worthless at the beginning. Why, now you say that we are doing the right thing."

Li Xiao hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "One time is not the other time, the Supreme Emperor. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were not many literati and Confucianism was in decline. You are very correct in doing so. We have to look at everything from two sides. When you did it Yes, very correct."

Zhu Yuanzhang got up and walked two steps in the hall with his hands behind his back, looked at Li Xiao, and teased: "It was right at the beginning, so now we are wrong?"

Li Xiao knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was joking with him, and he continued his life. Now it is no big deal if he goes too far in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. It’s time to keep up with the times.”

"Well, it's a good use of the word keeping pace with the times."

After Zhu Yuanzhang was praised, he was still very happy, and said: "Li Xiao, we have a birth division, and we are always called Taishanghuang Taishanghuang"

Li Xiao smiled and said, "Then big brother?"

In the past, it was called privately, and others did not know.

This is the first time that he is publicly called Big Brother.

The words fall.

Everyone was shocked!

Zhu Di thought to himself, you kid, it's okay to call you big brother in private before, but now you call big brother in public, do I want to call you uncle, don't I want to lose face? ? ?

Hearing this, Lu Zhen stared straight at him, Li Xiao actually called Zhu Yuanzhang big brother?
Sweat dripped from his forehead, and he secretly looked at Zhu Yuanzhang next to him, hey, he found that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't seem to be angry.
Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled.

He originally thought that Li Xiao would not dare to call out, but this kid is so courageous!

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said: "Okay! This big brother is so affectionate, haha"

He walked up to Li Xiao, patted Li Xiao on the shoulder, and said: "You are a saint now, we are the Supreme Emperor, we two are brothers, who dares to gossip?"

Li Xiao smiled and nodded: "Brother is right."

Lu Zhen gasped, thinking that this really made sense.

One Confucian saint, one Supreme Emperor!
There is nothing wrong with these two identities as brothers and sisters!

Good guy, throughout the ages, there have been a lot of powerful ministers.

But Li Xiao's foreign relatives and powerful ministers can still have such a strong relationship with the two emperors.

Outrageous, outrageous!

This thigh of Li Xiao, I, Lu Zhen, must hold it tightly
On the other hand, Zhu Di was slightly embarrassed standing on the side, ah, yes, yes, you are all right.
Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled, glanced at Zhu Di, and found that Zhu Di was silent. Seeing Zhu Di's deflated appearance, he was in a good mood, and then looked at Li Xiao and said, "By the way, what did you just say?"

Li Xiao said: "Brother, just now we talked about the influence of scholars on our court."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly: "By the way, I remembered, you just said that the scholar was exempted from corvee, tell me, what impact will the exemption of the scholar have?"

At this time, everyone looked at Li Xiao, and felt that every time the Great Ming Imperial Master stayed here, the others became the audience completely, and there was no need to intervene at all.

Li Xiao smiled slightly, and then explained: "Brother trusts so much, so I will venture to guess. If this continues, there will be more and more scholars, but the total amount of corvees will remain the same, so the burden on those who do not have scholars will be reduced." As it gets heavier, the lives of the people will become more and more miserable, and it will be easy for people to change."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that it made sense: "Your speculation may really appear."

Li Xiao continued: "In addition, the second privilege of a scholar is tax exemption. Brother, when you decided on this strategy, it was also based on the national conditions. At that time, the poor in the scholar's family could apply for exemption from their own taxes.

In fact, this is a good thing in itself. After all, the basic living ability of scholars is not high, and the ability to make money is basically not there.

In this way, the lives of these scholars can be better.

But as far as I know, the land of many landlords is hung on the scholar, and the scholar can help others exempt from taxes to make a profit.

If there are more and more scholars, won't the land that can be taxed in this country become less and less? "

After hearing this.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly realized that Li Xiao's vision was so far away.

It does happen now, but it's not serious.

But if there are more and more scholars, after the descendants inherit the throne, wouldn't they still be troubled by these things.

After listening to the analysis, Zhu Yuanzhang said happily, "We made the right move by canceling the imperial examination!"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile, and also agreed: "Father, it's not just about the imperial examination. When Li Xiao took back the land in Beiping as state-owned, these problems had already been solved. It is state-owned, and the rent is obtained by leasing the land, and the rent includes land tax, so the tax collector will be solved easily!"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "It is too difficult to nationalize the land of the whole country. It is impossible to do it now. Besides, there are no factories in other places except Beiping. How can farmers make a living without land? This matter must be done slowly."

Li Xiao said with a smile: "That's right, we can't eat a fat man in one bite. Abolishing the imperial examination is the first step. Boil frogs in warm water. After five years, after all the fame and tax exemption are cancelled, the land in the hands of those landlords who evaded taxes will naturally come to fruition." Get out of the water, when the time comes."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up, and the bottom of his eyes shone brightly: "Tax evasion is a serious crime. When the time comes, kill a group and shock a group. First, take back the land of these landlords and gentry!"

Zhu Di was dumbfounded, he didn't expect this to be a series of tricks.
What really deals with is the gentry class
This is the first step in land nationalization, similar to what Li Xiao did in Beiping.

Lu Zhen stood aside, completely shocked.

High, it is high!

While Lu Zhen was still in a daze, Zhu Di spoke suddenly.

"Lu Zhen listens to the order." Zhu Di looked at Lu Zhen.

"My minister is here." Lu Zhen came back to his senses, and hurriedly folded his hands to listen to the order.

Zhu Di ordered, "There are still three months until the national examination at the end of the year. Within these three months, you and the Ministry of Industry will jointly discuss to build a tribute college in this capital that can accommodate [-] candidates. You must do this well and make no mistakes! "

"Within three months, build a tribute courtyard that can accommodate [-] candidates."

Lu Zhen's scalp was numb, and he didn't dare to agree indiscriminately. He cupped his hands and said, "My lord, I'm afraid it will be difficult."

Zhu Di was about to speak.

Li Xiao reminded from the side: "Lu Shangshu, it's not difficult, you just need to discuss with the Ministry of Industry first, come up with a design drawing, and then issue bids for this project separately, let private construction organizations bid, and countless people start working together. It can be done in March. There are many construction companies in Beiping now, so we must learn to be flexible."

"Huh?" Lu Zhen was taken aback for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "It seems to be the truth."

"Yumu head, do you need to be taught by the national teacher about this matter?" Zhu Di said angrily.

"Thank you for your guidance." Lu Zhen hastily bowed to Li Xiao, then cupped his hands to Zhu Di and said, "I'll do it now, contact the Ministry of Industry, and I will resign."

Zhu Di waved his hand, and Lu Zhen hurried away.

After the matter was settled, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Xiao and said, "Li Xiao, are you free?"

Li Xiao said with a smile: "Yes, the eldest brother speaks, and if you are not free, you will become free."

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang took Li Xiao's hand and walked out of the hall, "Come on, the ping-pong ball you invented last time is very interesting, let's go for a meeting."

"okay."

Just like that, Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Xiao left shoulder to shoulder.

Look at the backs of the two.

Zhu Di was slightly taken aback, feeling a sense of confusion.

Huh. Why does it feel like the emperor is like a puppet? No, I want to go to the Northern Expedition, otherwise my son-in-law will steal the limelight! !

"Father." After seeing that everyone had left, Zhu Gaochi took a memorial and asked Zhu Di for instructions, "Father, take a look, how should we deal with the plague in Henan and Shanxi recently."

Zhu Di waved his hand, "You can figure it out yourself, I will go to the barracks now to see how the second child is doing in training."

After speaking, Zhu Di left.

Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Di's back and murmured in his heart:

"Father, it's too easy for you to be an emperor. The national teacher is worried about big things, and I worry about all these messy things. You don't worry about anything. You are a puppet."

West of Beiping City.

With a dazed look on his face, Zhu Yunxi bought twenty catties of rice from the street, put it in a cloth bag and carried it on his shoulders, with a bag of meat in his hand, and was rushing towards home.

By the looks of it, he looks like an ordinary citizen, and a little stupid.

But it's all fake.

After all, after ten years in the sky prison, people almost always look like this when they come out.

It has been two months since he came to Peiping. Except for the first time he came to the capital, after meeting Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang gave him 100 taels of silver and ignored him.

Li Xiao and the others naturally wouldn't pay attention to him.

Zhu Yunxi bought a yard here and lived the life of ordinary people.

He wanders around the city of Beiping every day, buys some food to go home, and secretly observes the changes in Beiping over the years.
"Peking, it's really earth-shattering. Li Xiao is really a god."

After closing the courtyard door, Zhu Yunxie's eyes instantly became wiser, and he no longer had the stupid look just now.

He walked into the room from the yard, and then found that there was another person in the room, and it was Shura.

"Come back?" Zhu Yunxi said: "No one has discovered it."

"Your Majesty." Asura said, "I have searched everywhere, and there is no one following you here, and no one pays attention to you at all."

Lost in Zhu Yunxi's heart flashed, and then smiled and said: "This is better, by the way, how about going to the Han River to investigate this time?"

Speaking of this, Shura's eyes showed joy, "My lord, great news, Chen Youliang really gave you a big gift!"

Hearing this, Zhu Yunxi's eyes lit up.

(End of this chapter)