I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 149 The End of Enko
The first year of Jianwu of the Ming Dynasty, 1722 AD, and the 61st year of Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty.

April.

There are basically no traces of the previous war in the city of Nanjing, and the shops and inns that line the streets and alleys have all opened.

Since Enke was first opened in the Ming Dynasty, there was an endless stream of business travelers coming and going.

Even the traffickers and foot soldiers can benefit from it. Although it is more difficult, they are all full of hope.

Walking inside, you can see many civilians in the direction of the Forbidden City who are in full swing... demolishing houses.

These are workers recruited by the Ministry of Works. Of course, they must be paid to take care of the food.

Although Zhu Yijiong said that the Forbidden City should not be used as a palace, what should be demolished here still needs to be demolished.

After all, this place was previously built up by the Qing government. Although the families of the bannermen inside had been relocated, there were still many messy remaining buildings that needed to be demolished.

Walking along the river to the inner city, it was not until we entered the Qinhuai River that we saw the scholars who had come to Beijing to take the exam.

Good guy, people on both sides of the strait were crowded, either shouting or bargaining.

The Ming and Qing dynasties were the heyday of the Qinhuai River in Shili, with row upon row of golden towers, painted boats, and the sound of lights and lights.

Almost every day, it attracts countless literati and wealthy dignitaries to come here to have fun and spend money. The flow of people and business prosperity this brings are naturally unimaginable.

Scholars who are rushing to take the exam are not stupid. Of course they know where to make money and set up stalls.

Wang Jingqi is also among them, and he has been doing it for almost a week. His experience and skills are not perfect, but he is almost there.

As for what is being sold, it is naturally "West Lake Longjing" tea. The main reason is that the tea is easy to carry, expensive to sell, and not easy to spoil.

Like him, many scholars in Hangzhou and even other places were selling "West Lake Longjing" just like him.

“West Lake Longjing tea, authentic Hangzhou West Lake Longjing tea!”

"Hey, how do you sell this tea?"

"A hundred cents per catty."

"It's so expensive. Can it be cheaper? How about sixty cents?"

"Sixty cents is too little. Can I still do business? At least ninety cents is enough!"

"65, no more."

"Eighty cents, no counter-offer."

"Seventy coins, just make a friend. If you want to sell it, I'll take it all. How about that?"

"……make a deal!"

After a lot of back and forth, the business was concluded. The seller looked "painful" but the buyer was quite "happy".

However, everyone knows that this Longjing is obviously a fake just by looking at the price.

It can’t be considered a fake. The tea is indeed produced in Hangzhou, but if it’s not West Lake Longjing, I wouldn’t know.

After all, West Lake Longjing was the No. 1 tea at that time. Not only was its output low, but it was also expensive. You knew it would be impossible to sell it so cheaply and in such large quantities. Almost all scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait sold it. There are only a few selling "Shaoxing rice wine".

Oh, it’s also a fake.

But it doesn't matter. After all, don't those who buy tea know that it is fake?

Just get what you need.

Many stall holders come early or late, and they basically sell their goods as soon as they arrive. They are not in a hurry to leave after they are sold out. They still have time to stroll along the Qinhuai River, which is famous in ancient and modern times, and appreciate the local prosperity... There are also prices.

Even the really rich Fu Hao (hao) was not exempt from the custom and was selling goods along with him.

Ok!

This guy is not just a pedantic scholar as he appears, and he also knows how to establish a good relationship with his fellow candidates in advance.

A group of students rushing to take the scholar's examination set up stalls from March to April, and finally waited until the examination started.

On the day of the examination, Zhu Yijiong, dressed in a red dragon robe, rode in a royal chariot and came to Gongyuan in person to invigilate the examination in a very high-profile manner.

All of a sudden, all the candidates knew that Enke's examiner was actually the current Holy Emperor.

The candidates secretly made up their minds to come out on top in the examination so that they could show off in front of the Holy Emperor.

Of course, they didn't know that Zhu Yijiong was actually just here to show his face and name, and he didn't need the emperor to worry about the invigilation work at all.

The essence of the Ming Dynasty examination is still the same as that of the Qing Dynasty examination. They were tested for three days in a row, and the tests were all eight-legged essays, but they added an extra subject of Mingshu.

Three days passed by in a flash, and the test ended successfully without any setbacks.

In fact, for Zhu Yijiong and the officials of the Ministry of Rites, this examination or even the entire Enke is not important.

Nkoenko's goal is to win people's hearts and find out the truth in advance.

Moreover, anyone who can come and dares to come to participate in Enke is at least committed to the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, Zhu Yijiong also specially set a rule that you must be at least a child student before you can sign up to take the exam. In particular, you must have a good reputation in the exam.

Therefore, at the level of eight-part essay, these candidates have no big problems.As long as there are no big problems with the eight-part essay, judging from the looseness of this examination, it is basically not difficult to pass the exam.

At the end of the examination, the officials of the Ministry of Rites only took two days to read the papers.

Except for a few angry young men whose writing was really bad, who were completely wrong, and who even opposed the current affairs of the court, almost half of them passed.

The number of students who passed the exam was as high as 340, 32 of whom were from the Mingsu Department.

This number is only one hundred less than Enke in the third year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty. This is because there are only so many people taking the exam.

This shows how relaxed Enke was when Ming Dynasty first ascended to the throne.

However, in fact, it was just this once, and the next autumn would not be so easy.

Even later, Zhu Yijiong planned to gradually cancel and abolish the pseudo-Qing Dynasty titles of these scholars.

Those who come this time can be regarded as having their hearts set on the Ming Dynasty and will accept it as soon as they accept it, but those who will take the exam again will not be so lucky.

Will try to list.

The candidates were only given two days to prepare, and then they had to enter the palace to participate in the final palace examination.

Although as long as you pass the test, you won't fail. It's just a matter of ranking.

But the top three can be appointed by the imperial examination, so carelessness is not allowed.

Moreover, the examination in this palace was really about policy and discussion of current affairs, and the emperor himself set the questions.

Two days passed by in a flash, and it was the day of the imperial examination.

Zhu Yijiong finally took a rare day off.

Phew, Ji Fei is on holiday.

Not only did he have to personally supervise the exam and set the questions, but he also had to grade the papers afterwards, which was almost the same as going back to grade the exam papers.

There is no way, since he, the emperor, wrote the questions himself. If he doesn't review the papers, who will?

Fortunately, the former Liangjiang Governor's Mansion was indeed large enough to accommodate 300 people for the Jinshi examination.

More than 300 people just sat in the main hall, listening to Emperor Zhu setting out questions and starting the exam.

Zhu Yijiong was not polite, and started the question by asking: Regarding the Ming Dynasty versus the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, where is the strength, where is the weakness, and how to deal with it?

As soon as this question came out, all the candidates present were startled. Even the examiner from the Ministry of Etiquette and Wang Li, the chief minister of the cabinet who followed him to invigilate the exam (the remaining two were scolded back) were also stunned.

As soon as you hear this question, you don’t need to think about it carefully to know that it is not simple!

Obviously, the current group of candidates cannot answer it.

However, when Zhu Yijiong asked this question, it was obvious that he not only wanted to see the candidates' opinions, but also wanted to know the background of these candidates.

Although there is a high probability that you will not be able to answer the question, if you can answer it and do it well, your future will be promising!

Wang Li raised his eyebrows but was speechless. The inspector of the Ministry of Rites did not speak when he saw Wang Li, the chief assistant. He thought for a while and did not speak. He just let nature take its course.

It's just that the candidates below are suffering and scratching their heads... Of course it's impossible. After all, it's important for scholars to be polite, but they still frown and think hard.

Wang Jingqi held a writing brush in his hand, and he also had a big head. After thinking hard for a while, he decided to use his special skills and wrote a large article eloquently.

After writing it, I don’t know whether it will be good or not, but it will definitely not offend the emperor.

The time for the palace examination passed quickly.

About an hour later, a group of more than 300 candidates bowed and left, and the examiner from the Ministry of Etiquette stepped forward to collect their papers.

As soon as he went out, Wang Jingqi felt a little weak all over. This was due to his lack of confidence. Looking around, everyone had sad faces.

Fortunately, no one knows how to...

There was nothing that could be done about it. The questions asked by Emperor Zhu were too difficult, and everyone had no idea at all.

Writing those big principles is not only empty, but also has no new ideas. Let alone come out on top, even stand out.

That's exactly what happened.

Zhu Yijiong read every paper this time. He had approved so many memorials before, but he could still understand what was written in this paper.

After reading the papers of more than 300 people, Zhu Yijiong only came to one conclusion: What is this thing called?

But after thinking about it, it makes sense. After all, these people are a group of the most ordinary literati. They have never even been an official, so how can they be so rare?

After all, there are still too few people who can do well in exams like Wu Sidao, but who are good at playing politics.

But it doesn't matter. Zhu Yijiong didn't plan to get many talents from Enke this time. This time Enke was more for political propaganda. It would be great if he could get talents, but it didn't matter if he couldn't get them.

Zhu Yijiong selected the top three papers as usual, and didn't bother to rank the remaining papers. They were all the same anyway, so he simply left them all to the Ministry of Rites to decide.

　It seems that everyone still likes to watch the protagonists fight...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)