Idle courtiers

Chapter 163

"My lady, in your opinion, how is Master Shi's article written?" Zhou Nan opened the box of books and manuscripts left by Shi Jieren and asked Sister Su.

There are many manuscripts, about [-] copies.Except for Zhu Xi's annotations to the "Four Books", he participated in the provincial examination, the Chinese style of the examination, and the model collection of Jinshi, the others are Shi Jieren's reading experience and stereotyped articles written.

Sister Su: "Shi Xianzun is from the south of the Yangtze River. Jiangnan is a place where culture and education flourish. His articles are naturally excellent. As far as I know, take Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture as an example. There are thousands of members. However, the number of places in the township examination is limited, and it is impossible for everyone to go to Nanjing Gongyuan. Therefore, the county has to take an additional examination, and those who pass the examination can enter the examination room. Being able to stand out in such a fierce examination room shows that Shi County Respected talents."

"Yes." Zhou Nan nodded, he really underestimated Shi Jieren before.

However, a very bad thought came to my mind.

His expression changed: "So, if I want to take the provincial examination, I have to compete with students from Suzhou and Nanjing?"

Isn't this a joke?
Zhou Nan used to do the history of ceremonies in Anton, and he was in charge of culture and education. He also heard about the imperial examinations in Nanzhili.

He couldn't remember the exact number. It seems that every year of the Dabi, the number of applicants in a province is only five or six hundred, right?The admission rate of the Ming Dynasty's rural examinations was terribly low. In Yongle, it was one-tenth. In the orthodox era, it was seven percent. In the Jiajing year, as the number of scholars further expanded, it was as low as four percent.

Especially in Nanjing's rural examination, 1 to 500 people have to squeeze in every time the exam comes.In the end, only four [-] people were admitted.

This mother is no longer walking a single-plank bridge with thousands of troops, but walking a tightrope.

After passing the township examination, when it comes to the general examination, the admission ratio is much higher, and the examination is also easy.Generally speaking, once you win the exam, it will be a matter of how many years and how many years you will be admitted to the Jinshi again.

This is what scholars call "golden juren and silver Jinshi."

Huai'an Mansion belongs to Nanzhili, that is to say, if Zhou Nan wants to take the imperial examination, he has to compete with those great talents and celebrities in Nanjing, Suzhou, Changzhou, and Anhui.

Not to mention going to Nanjing to take the township examination, as far as the scholars in Andong County are concerned, Zhou Nan can't squeeze into the [-]%.

This is already an impossible task.

"Manpower is sometimes poor, and some things don't depend on people's will. Individual struggle is important, but you have to consider the historical process, and it happened in the wrong place." Zhou Nan immediately dismissed the idea of ​​the imperial examination, and sighed. Throw the book on hand back into the box.

Sister Su also looked sad, and then sighed: "Yes, Mr. Xiang was born in the wrong place. If Mr. Xiang is from Gansu or Ningxia, you only need to study for a few years, and you can easily get a scholar's fame. With a little effort, you can get a reputation. It's not a problem."

It turns out that in the Ming Dynasty, because of the prosperity in the south of the Yangtze River, the people read more books and the style of writing flourished.Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, [-]% of the court officials were from the south, and the scholars in the north were extremely resentful.As soon as Taizu went to court, all he heard in his ears were southern dialects, and he gradually felt bad.

In Hongwu's 30-year general examination, as soon as the list was released, the examinees were shocked to find that all the 51 Chinese-style candidates on the list were from the south, and none of them were from the north.

To a certain extent, this result reflected the fact that the economy and culture of the south were more developed than that of the north at that time, but the lack of a single northerner was not seen by the calendar.However, only six days later, the Northern Juren who had failed in the examination jointly went to the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty to lodge a complaint against the examiner who was a southerner for being biased towards the southerner.And on the streets of Nanjing, dozens of examinees shouted for grievances along the way, and even stopped officials' sedan chairs to appeal.

Therefore, all kinds of rumors were flying in the streets and alleys. Some said that the examiners had received money, and some said that the examiners engaged in regional discrimination.

This was too much trouble, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a strict investigation, and exiled the two examiners.Also aware of the consequences if the court is controlled by southern officials for a long time.

He divided the Jinshi examination into two parts, the north and the south, called the southern list and the northern list.Later, due to the gradual economic and cultural prosperity in the north, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan and other provinces were separately drawn out, and another middle list was set up.

Having said that, the number of scholars and the quality of culture and education in the north, especially in the remote northwestern region, are still not as good as those in Jiangnan and Jiangxi due to natural and economic constraints.

According to historical records, in a remote province like Gansu, when it came time for the boys to take the test, the local officials couldn't even gather enough people to be on the list.Asking about literary education is also related to the achievements of officials. There is no way but to run schools.

It takes ten years to grow a tree and a hundred years to cultivate a person. It is not easy to cultivate talents.Therefore, as long as you can read a few words and can barely write a well-organized stereotyped essay, you will usually pass the examination room.

As long as there is a scholar who can read in the county, it can be a favorite.If you happen to be born at the junction of two counties, there will be a lawsuit. County A said that you are from our county and you have to take the boy's test in our county; County B said, no, you are from our county.If you come to take the exam, the county will exempt your family from this year's corvee tax.

The magistrates of the two counties tore apart, and the brains of the people were like dogs.

Suppose, if Zhou Nan travels back to the Ming Dynasty.If it was not unfortunate to go to Nanzhili, but to Gansu, Ningxia or even Qinghai.Even if you don't replace Zhou Xiucai's status, it is not difficult to get a scholar's reputation after studying for a few years.

Thinking of this, Zhou Nan's heart suddenly moved: "Sister Su, you are from the capital, and you must know the situation in Beizhili. Let me ask you, is the provincial examination in Beizhili easy?"

In the early years, Sister Su was the Qingguan of the Jiaofang Division, and she came into contact with well-educated people, so she naturally knew.He replied: "Although the capital is a place where people gather together, the scholars in the city are either provincial candidates who go to take part in the examination, or officials from the court. Locals take part in the imperial examination, as long as you are not from Yingtianfu, you don't difficult."

Zhou Nan came alive and asked, "How do you say?"

Sister Su began to explain in a soft voice.

It turns out that Beizhili is not an administrative unit, nor does it have a yamen. It is just a geographical name, just like the Jingjintang, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta of later generations.

The so-called Zhili means that personnel, finance, and garrison are directly under the jurisdiction of the six central ministries.

However, because the place is so large, the central government can't manage it, so it is divided into several parts for other provinces to act as officials or establish a separate administrative unit.

Northern Zhili in the Ming Dynasty included all of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei in later generations, a small part of northern Shandong, as well as Xuanfu and Baoan Prefecture.

Among them, Shuntianfu is a separate administrative region, a provincial unit, and Yinzheng Sanpin of Shuntianfu.

Xuanfu and Baoan Prefecture belong to the Nine Frontier Army Town, which is also an independent administrative region.

As for the other places in Northern Zhili, the four provinces of Daming, Tianjin, and Bazhou are managed by Shandong; the six provinces of Yizhou, Koubei, Changping, Jingxing, Jizhou, and Yongping are managed by Shanxi.

In this way, as long as you are not a native of these places, taking the provincial examination in Beizhili is actually just competing with scholars from the five prefectures of Baoding, Zhending, Shunde, Guangping, and Hejian.Especially after removing the candidates from Shuntian Mansion who were crowded with intellectuals, it was rare for them to drop suddenly.

After hearing Sister Su's words, Zhou Nan was very pleasantly surprised, couldn't help but hugged her and kissed her: "Thank you, lady, thank you, lady!"

In broad daylight, Sister Su blushed with embarrassment.

Seeing that the hostess was being favored, Vanilla retreated out triumphantly, closing the door behind her.

Zhou Nan asked with bright eyes: "Lady, do you think that if I take the provincial examination in Beizhili, can I pass the exam?"

Sister Su: "I don't know...but the chances are better than taking the test in Nanjing."

"What's bigger? It's much bigger. It's not a level exam at all." Zhou Nan laughed loudly: "The original plan was to report to the Beijing Pedestrian Department and then go home. It seems that you have to stay there for a year or two. gone."

Sister Su looked at him in surprise: "Master, you are not going to take the exam in Beizhili, are you? You are from Huai'an, how can you?"

"Why not? Have you ever heard of immigration after the college entrance examination?" Zhou Nan laughed loudly and said repeatedly: "Luck, luck, lady, listen to me what's going on."

Yes, Zhou Nan is from Huai'an in Nanzhili, and according to the system, he should take the Nanbang exam.However, there was another twist here.When he went to Jiangyin with Zhan Tong and Xia Yi, he was conscripted as a refugee to work as a treasury under Ambassador Yu.

Yu Chongjiu is a military household of Chaohe Institute in Miyun County, Beijing Normal University, and Zhou Nan accidentally lost his registration.In other words, he is now a military household in Beizhili.

Chaohe belongs to Miyun County, which is located in Shuntian Prefecture.But it was under the management of Shandong at that time, and later it was assigned to Beizhili because it was the front line of national defense.

In the Ming Dynasty, the class was solidified, and the status of military households was low, but it was not without opportunities for advancement. This was the imperial examination.

Today, Zhang Juzheng, a scholar of the Imperial Academy in Yuwangfu, was born in a military household in Jiangling, Hubei, and he changed his destiny through the imperial examination.

Moreover, because the military households in the Ming Dynasty were poor, and the military guards were backward in culture and education, the state had a policy preference for the education and imperial examinations of military household children.

Zhou Nan accidentally became a military household in Beizhili, which can be regarded as a dual household registration, which is similar to the immigrant of the college entrance examination in later generations.It's as if you suddenly went from the fiercely competitive Shandong and Hubei test areas to take the test in the old, young, frontier and poor areas of the Northwest, aren't you happy?
He thought about it, and one year was enough.First memorize the "Four Books" and the Yijing and Zhu Zi's annotations, and read thousands of his model essays to get a preliminary understanding of how to write contemporary essays.

"That's it, it's a good thing." Sister Su nodded.However, she was still a little worried: "My husband, if you become a military household, won't your child also become a military household?"

Zhou Nan said: "Don't worry, you forgot, I am now a seventh-rank pedestrian, and I have an official status. And now I have the reputation of a scholar, a scholar, and I am no longer a military household." In a word, military household is just his previous status .Now he can enjoy the policy benefits that a household registration can enjoy, without having to bear the obligations that a military household should bear.

"That's good." Sister Su has nothing to worry about.

"Okay, from now on, Ben Xianggong will start to study in peace." Zhou Nan felt ruthless in his heart: This ancient imperial examination can be even more difficult than the college entrance examination of later generations, but I passed 211.

In ancient times, reading and fighting was actually a matter of rote memorization, so don't be afraid.

(End of this chapter)