Chapter 196 The Provincial Examination Begins.
The Chief Envoy of Fujian received the transfer letter from Eunuch Tao and was heartbroken.
As a eunuch, why don't you blackmail the place? Why build water conservancy?
Can you, a eunuch, repair this water conservancy project? How many literati who have read poetry and books cannot understand things, but you, a eunuch, want to play with them?
However, Eunuch Tao was the emperor's imperial envoy, and the previous imperial edict also stated that the whole of Fujian was required to cooperate with Eunuch Tao in rectifying money laws.
This transfer article grasped that the purpose of repairing water conservancy was to "clear the money law". The Fujian Chief Minister Wang Guojie could only call his staff and officials from the Chief Envoy's Yamen to discuss Eunuch Tao's transfer article.
After reading the article, he said: "Master Daotai, considering your humble position, just follow Eunuch Tao." The
territory of the Ming Dynasty was divided into two capitals and thirteen roads, with the north and south directly under the jurisdiction of Beijing, and other provinces were also called roads. .
The chief envoy is the civil official of a province, also known as the Taotai.
Another member of the royal envoy's staff spoke up. This white-bearded old scholar said:
"This Eunuch Tao is the emperor's envoy, and he has the emperor's will. If he openly disobeys his orders, he will probably be exposed and impeached by his superiors. "
Commissioner Wang was immediately frightened when he heard this.
Although from an administrative point of view, the Chief Minister Wang was a feudal official of the Ming Dynasty and a proper second-rank official, Eunuch Tao was qualified to reveal secrets!
Once an official reached the Taoist level of a province, he would only be promoted to six ministers or to the cabinet.
At this stage of reaching the sky, the official's ability and assessment results are no longer important. The most important thing is the emperor's thoughts.
If this dead eunuch takes the medicine and affects Mr. Wang further in the future, then there will be no regrets about taking the medicine.
Ambassador Wang nodded, which set the tone.
Now many staff and officials knew what to say.
Dian Shi, who was in charge of water conservancy facilities in the Chief Envoy Yamen, said:
"Master Daotai, the biggest problem in repairing water conservancy is spending money. Since Eunuch Tao is willing to pay, our Chief Envoy Yamen only needs to issue an official document."
Wang Bu The chief envoy also nodded. In the past, when the father-in-law came to do business, the chief envoy would prepare a large sum of money to bribe them. Originally, the chief envoy and the chief envoy were prepared to bleed.
Unexpectedly, Eunuch Tao didn't come to Fuzhou City at all. He just wrote a letter asking the Fujian Company to send the stored copper to the Nanping Mine. He also didn't blackmail other yamen. He just hid in the mountains and played with copper.
Now Eunuch Tao just asked the chief envoy Si Yamen to issue an official document asking localities to raise money to build water conservancy projects. The province does not have to pay for this money. What else can we complain about?
Wang Guojie suddenly realized, yes, just cooperate with such a simple thing, and you don’t have to pay for it yourself anyway.
The Chief Envoy Wang immediately asked his subordinates to draft the order, and then stamped the official seal of the Chief Envoy's Yamen and sent it to each government, and then the Yamen of each Prefecture quickly sent it to each county for execution.
The government office and county government office were also confused after receiving this official document.
Your Eunuch Tao is doing a good job of making money, but why is it getting involved in water conservancy again?
However, the government office and county government office have similar ideas to the Chief Envoy Wang. Anyway, I just need to hand out the work assigned to me as required.
In this way, a notice was posted on the outer wall of Nanping County's county government office that the county government was recruiting civilians to rebuild the Minjiang River embankment.
The difference from usual is that this time the government did not assign corvees, but recruited civilian laborers for a fee. Not only did the monthly salary be written on the notice, but also the project deadline, and even the number of civilian laborers needed. Clearly.
The people in Nanping County were doubtful, but soon news came from the county that more than fifty young people from Beishan Village came to the county government to sign up, willing to build the Minjiang River for the people of Nanping.
Immediately afterwards, several villages and towns near Changningwei also signed up, and in this way, the number of civilians needed to start the work was gathered.
The situation in other counties is similar. There are always some people who can't make ends meet and sign up for money. Once someone signs up, others will follow.
This is naturally the method Su Ze set for Eunuch Tao.
A project is divided into many sections, and the first batch to start construction is only a small section of the entire project.
But as long as these people get the money, it will be easy to recruit other people.
"Master Bai, we have recruited all the civilian workers needed to build the Minjiang embankment." The person
in charge of this matter was Lin Xianda, the scribe of the Chengfa Department. After hearing this, Baizhi County nodded, put down the "Guwen Guanzhi" in his hand and said :
"Let's prepare all the people. This Eunuch Tao is really strange. Is this some new way to make money?"
Lin Xianda also smiled apologetically and said: "Sir, the county has prepared all the people. No matter which side you pick, Nothing is wrong."
Bai Zhixian nodded and said: "You ask the Qufang to push two people out, and deal with the top first."
Baizhi County put down the book in his hand and said, "Su Rulin has arrived in Fuzhou Prefecture safely, right?"
Lin Xianda immediately said: "Brother Aze just sent someone to deliver a letter a few days ago, and he has already applied for the provincial examination."
Baizhi County nodded and said: "I also heard from Haijiao that Su Rulin is in this subject The one who has the best chance of passing the exam. If you, Chang Ningwei, can produce a candidate, it will be regarded as a glorious ancestor."
Lin Xianda said quickly: "Brother Aze said it before the exam, thanks to the county magistrate for promoting him to be the head of the case. If he is really successful, he will definitely remember the kindness of the county magistrate."
Bai Zhixian was happy in his heart, but said coldly: "The test papers are all anonymous, and it is his ability that Su Rulin won the case." It has been a long time since
Nanping County . There has never been a candidate for public examination. If Su Ze can win the examination, wouldn't it mean that Nanping County's cultural and educational work is doing well?
Moreover, Su Ze is still Baizhi County's junior Sanyuan. The better his grades are, the more knowledgeable Baizhi County is.
Regarding Tao Gonggong's water conservancy work, yamen everywhere basically have this attitude.
However, Lin Xianda took this matter to heart and found two officials who knew water conservancy from the canal house and asked them to lead the team well.
On the seventh day of August, Fujian Magistrate Wang Daokun led all the officials who participated in the provincial examination to worship at the Confucian Temple and pray to the most holy masters of Dacheng and the sages of the past generations for the prosperity of Fujian's cultural heritage.
Immediately afterwards, Wang Daokun opened the door lock of the Gongyuan, and the officials followed Wang Daokun and moved into the Gongyuan.
Wang Daokun handed over the test paper to Zhang Sijing, the printing officer. Zhang Sijing took the test paper. He needed to print the papers for 3,500 candidates in the printing shop next to the Gongyuan.
Zhang Sijing left with the papers, and Wang Daokun began to inspect the Gongyuan with his fellow examiners and invigilators.
The Gongyuan in Fujian is very large and is divided into four areas according to the sky, earth, and sky. Because there are so many examination booths, it is very depressing to see them densely packed.
A movable wooden board can be used as the door of the examination room. After the examinee enters the examination room, he will put down the entrance board, and this board will become the desk for answering questions.
Wang Daokun looked at the endless examination booths and thought of the scene when he took the provincial examination in Nanzhili. The imperial examination was getting more and more difficult.
There was no way, as the number of scholars increased, the devaluation of academic qualifications in the Ming Dynasty became more and more serious.
In the early days of the Republic of China, as long as a scholar was a scholar, he could become an official, and those who could be elected could be awarded the position of county magistrate. There were many people who held high positions in the imperial court who had a good academic background.
But now people can only become academic officials, and they are still academic officials from relatively backward areas. The same is true for Jinshi. The top three Jinshi can be county magistrates, but they still have to register and queue up in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Only when there is a vacancy in the local area can there be a chance to fill it.
However, the number of people taking the imperial examinations is expanding rapidly. Wang Daokun has seen the records of the Gongyuan in the past. When the emperor first ascended the throne, less than 2,000 people took part in the Fujian provincial examinations.
Now in the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing, this number has swelled to 3,500.
So much so that some scholars lament, "It is better to be born early than to do well in the exam."
Putting away these emotions, my job is to select qualified talents among these 3,500 people.
Su Ze's figure flashed in Wang Daokun's mind. That young man should be able to take part in the provincial examination, right?
Wang Daokun also began to look forward to Su Ze's test papers.
In the printing shop next to the examination hall, the clerk handed Zhang Sijing the exam paper that had just been engraving and printed, and handed it to him for the final school review.
While reading, Zhang Sijing wrote down the contents of the examination paper. After Zhang Sijing confirmed that the examination paper was correct, his subordinates began to print the examination paper.
After the clerk went out, Zhang Sijing picked up his pen and began to write down the questions for this imperial examination.
After finishing writing, Zhang Sijing wiped the sweat from his forehead. This was his first time to cheat in the imperial examination, so he was naturally very nervous.
When he took part in the imperial examination, Zhang Sijing naturally hated cheating in the imperial examination.
However, as he was demoted from the capital, the proud man of his generation became a promoted official in a remote area. Zhang Sijing built a humble pavilion. Only when he was surrounded by scholars such as Huang Shixing could he feel better.
After arriving at the place, Zhang Sijing quickly gave up the ambition of being honest and upright that he had just set up as an official.
Zhang Sijing didn't dare to think back on how he got to where he is today step by step.
He put his thoughts aside and waited until the ink dried, then rolled up the paper and threw it outside the Gongyuan as agreed with Huang Shixing.
Huang Shixing, who had been waiting outside, immediately picked up the paper ball and quickly returned to Kuixing Building where he was staying.
He couldn't wait to open the ball of paper and saw the densely packed questions on it. Huang Shixing began to try to answer them.
There are three tests in the rural examination, and the first test on classics and meaning is the most critical.
However, compared with the county examination, the township examination is much more difficult.
The difficulty lies not only in the difficulty of the test questions, but also in the number of test questions.
In the county examination, you only need to test one essay on the meaning of the Four Books and one essay on the meaning of the Five Classics. The two essays on the eight-part essay take a whole day, so you have plenty of time to polish them slowly.
The rural examination will test three articles on the meaning of the Four Books and four articles on the meaning of the Five Classics!
The number of words in each article is between 200 and 300. It must be a strict eight-legged essay, and there is only one day to answer the questions.
This is not a novel written by hydrology, but a formal article with the intention of correctly quoting scriptures.
Only a small number of candidates can answer all the questions within the allotted time.
Ninety percent of the candidates were eliminated in terms of answering speed.
Therefore, Huang Shixing was able to get the test paper in advance, which was a considerable advantage. As long as he finished the article today, he could just write it down silently when he entered the examination room.
But just after reading the first question, Huang Shixing was in trouble.
He couldn't figure out how to solve this problem.
After thinking hard for a long time, Huang Shixing could only copy this question down and write other questions first.
While he was doing it, another difficult problem came up. Huang Shixing copied it down again. He took out the two questions with a sudden heart. At this point, he couldn't care about the agreement with Zhang Sijing, so he could only ask someone to solve the problem first. The way.
Zhang Sijing, who was in the Gongyuan, did not expect that Huang Shixing, who was usually praised by everyone, was such a fool. In his opinion, Huang Shixing would ask others for advice on a few questions that were very simple.
Huang Shixing finally had some brains and asked two people for advice. He quickly wrote down the article and memorized it, then went to bed.
On the eighth day of August, the gate of Gongyuan was crowded with people.
Su Ze lined up in the queue of Nanping County candidates and entered the venue in order.
Su Ze also saw Huang Shixing at the front of the team. He had a confident expression on his face and accepted the praise from his followers.
Huang Shixing also saw Su Ze and showed a provocative look.
Su Ze felt baffled. To be fair, he didn't offend Mr. Huang, but he only stole his limelight a few times.
But it happened that this Mr. Huang was so hostile to him and always regarded himself as a competitor.
Su Ze walked into the front of Gongyuan carrying the examination basket.
The small square in front of the Gongyuan was crowded with candidates. The invigilator read out the examination records, and then the invigilator led the scholars to take the oath.
Then they were divided into multiple teams and underwent strict inspection by sentries.
Scholars in the Ming Dynasty still had some respectability, and body searches were only done with a touch. In later dynasties, they had to be naked for inspection.
After the search, Su Ze finally entered the Gongyuan.
The ten fellow security guards drew their seat numbers together. Su Ze's got his own exam booth, Xuan Jia Shen garrison number.
Then under the shouts of the sentries, the candidates were driven to their respective examination areas.
Su Ze found his examination booth, but saw Huang Shixing not far from him.
Huang Shixing also saw Su Ze and looked away guiltily.
With a bad word in his mind, he put down the test basket and began to recall the answers he had prepared.
Su Ze put down his test basket with a relaxed expression and began to close his eyes and rest.
A rapid bang sounded, all the candidates lowered their barriers, and the Fujian Provincial Examination in the 34th year of Jiajing began.
In the mint of the Nanping Mine, the golden new coins were put into cloth bags, and the first batch of new coins cast by Eunuch Tao was finally completed.
I've been stuck lately, ugh
(end of chapter)