I

Xiong Wencan was sure that his visit would be successful, so he brought his official uniform and official seal with him.

Naturally, everything should be kept simple, otherwise eunuchs, pedestrians or guards would have to be sent to announce the decree.

It's a pity that the official uniforms are also a bit simple. Zhao Han couldn't help complaining: "Does this mean I won't go to court? There is only one set of official uniforms."

Public uniforms are official uniforms, generally worn only when working. Its overall shape can refer to the official costumes of the Song Dynasty in movies and TV dramas. The hat has long and thin wings.

For formal occasions such as sacrifices, court meetings, and sutra banquets, there are special court uniforms.

As for the "manchu beasts" and short-winged black gauze hats, they are official uniforms, and you can find someone to sew them yourself. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the wearing of regular uniforms was so chaotic that only sixth-rank generals dared to wear first-grade uniforms, while no military attachés below fifth rank wore regular uniforms at all.

Xiong Wencan said with a smile: "If Mr. Zhao comes to Beijing for an audience, he will be given a set of court uniforms."

"I'm afraid the emperor doesn't dare to let me go." Zhao Han threw the official seal to the secretary. This thing is useful at critical moments.

Xiong Wencan didn't dare to answer this, and quickly changed the subject and said: "Thieves are everywhere now. If one day they invade Jiangxi, I hope Mr. Zhao will take state affairs as his priority."

Zhao Han said without hesitation: "This is natural. As long as the bandits dare to come to Jiangxi, I will kill as many as they come!"

"So I have to rely on Mr. Zhao." Xiong Wencan clasped his fists in thanks.

Yang Sichang formulated the policy of "four positives and six corners, and ten sides of the net", and Jiangxi also belonged to one side. Assisting in the suppression of bandits is nonsense. As long as the bandits are not allowed to break into Jiangxi, Xiong Wencan, the governor of Jiangxi, is qualified.

After getting the big deal done, Xiong Wencan was in a good mood and felt that he was in the right place.

With Zhao Han's calmness and forbearance, he will definitely be able to keep his promise and will not attack the city indiscriminately and attract the attention of the court. And with Zhao Han in charge of Jiangxi, he could also guard against the invasion of rogue bandits, so Xiong Wencan had nothing to fear.

The only scary thing is that Chongzhen felt that Xiong Wencan was particularly capable and transferred him to the north to be the governor to exterminate the bandits...

Zhao Han and Xiong Wencan resented meeting each other so late that they even sent him to the dock in person.

After the warship passed Jishui County, Zhu Guoxun finally relaxed and asked: "Commander Fu, is this Zhao thief really not going to rebel again?"

"Don't call Zhao a traitor again," Xiong Wencan reminded. "Since you have been recruited, you are a minister of the same court. If you were another rebel, you would definitely not believe it, but Zhao Yan will not rebel again."

Zhu Guoxun asked in confusion: "Why is that so?"

Xiong Wencan asked: "Did Zheng Zhilong rebel again?"

Zhu Guoxun and Zheng Zhilong have been fighting pirates together for several years, and they naturally know very well: "Zheng Zhilong is not a fool. After he was recruited, he already had an official status and was no longer subject to the imperial court. He could also work with the officers and soldiers to conquer other pirates, and it was he who conquered the territory." Yes. Zheng Zhilong has no reason to rebel again."

"The same goes for Zhao Yan." Xiong Wencan smiled.

Zhu Guoxun thought carefully, and then suddenly realized that they were exactly the same!

The difference between Zhao Han and Zheng Zhilong is that one is at sea and the other is on land. As long as the sea is counted as territory, isn't Zheng Zhilong the same as Zhao Han?

Zhu Guoxun felt that he had learned something again, and he bowed quickly: "Sir's teachings have made me enlightened in my humble career. I will benefit from them in this life."

However, Zhao Han returned to the General Military Mansion and immediately summoned several core officials to discuss matters.

"Next year's development plan," Zhao Han went straight to the topic, "Firstly, to fight back many counties in southern Jiangxi that were occupied by Tian soldiers and control the southern water and land routes; secondly, the work of the peasant associations in southern Jiangxi counties must not be impatient. , must be advanced slowly; third, expand the farmers' association in the north to the entire Nanchang Prefecture; fourth, new farmers' association organizations should be developed in Fuzhou Prefecture; fifth, continue to dig roads in the mountains; sixth, encourage the development of industry and commerce , we cannot rely solely on land tax; seventhly, you should take a look at this outline for the development of culture and education."

The education reform outline was circulated around the conference room, and all officials, including Pang Chunlai, were confused.

Zuo Xiaoliang asked: "Let scholars and scholars go to primary school again. This may cause resentment among the scholars."

Zhao Han said with a smile: "We don't really let them go to elementary school. They can study by themselves at home. If they pass the exam, they will graduate from elementary school. Moreover, although I don't recognize their achievements, I don't want them to be officials. Everyone here , and it is impossible to go to elementary school again. But it must be said that scholars who have completed elementary school and middle school seriously will be promoted to officials faster in the future!"

"Does the town want to abolish the imperial examination?" Li Banghua asked.

"How can it be abolished?" Zhao Han explained, "The current method is only suitable for small areas. In the future, when the territory becomes larger, the imperial examination must be restored. My idea is this, a scholar should first graduate from elementary school and then graduate from middle school. You can participate in the imperial examination of a government, which is equivalent to today's Taoist examination. Those who are admitted to the Taoist examination will be scholars. If it is a school, or a county or town-level yamen, when there is a vacancy in the position, the county magistrate can organize a public examination, and those who have the reputation of being a scholar can participate. As many officials and teachers are lacking, we will recruit as many talented people as possible, instead of recruiting a bunch of talented people waiting to become officials."

In fact, it is the county-level civil service examination and school recruitment of teachers.

Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua looked at each other, thinking about the pros and cons.

Being a scholar means you can take the public examination, which may not necessarily be popular. Because the so-called civil servants are actually officials in ancient times, and most scholars look down on officials!

Pang Chunlai expressed this concern.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "Whether civil servants or civil servants, as long as they have outstanding political achievements, they can be promoted continuously. Scholars look down on civil servants, because firstly civil servants cannot be promoted, and secondly, civil servants are really lowly servants. As long as they can continue to be promoted, I'm afraid There are countless talented people vying to be officials. Isn't that the case now? Even the people who were elected in the Ming Dynasty, under my rule, are willing to start as officials."

Xiao Huan asked: "Is this also the case for people who are promoted to successful candidates?"

"Yes," Zhao Han nodded and said, "I will not give any preference or exemption to scholars, candidates, or Jinshi, and I will not directly let them go if they are admitted to the Jinshi. Juren are eligible to take the provincial public examination. According to the public examination Depending on the ranking in the examination and the actual official vacancy, you can directly work as a junior official in the government office, and can be appointed as the second assistant official at the county level."

"Don't you want to be an official in another place?" Li Banghua suddenly interrupted.

Zhao Han said: "You have to be an official in a different place, but if you are in a different place within the province, you only need to cross the government. It is too unkind to be a petty official across the province. Of course, after you are promoted to a chief official, you must be transferred across provinces."

"Where is the Jinshi?" Li Ke asked.

Zhao Han said: "Jinshi are eligible to take public examinations at any level across the country. However, they still cannot directly become officials of seventh rank and above. They must first serve as assistant officers to hone their abilities. If you are promoted to seventh rank in the center, you must Go abroad to gain experience as a county magistrate, don’t think that if you pass the Jinshi exam, you will always be a capital official.”

Everyone looked at each other, feeling sad for the future scholars. How involved would it be?

But didn’t the Ming Dynasty choose scholars without scrolling?

Especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, although all Jinshi could be officials, many of them were just idle posts without power.

Among them, the officials in the capital have a particularly miserable life. Prices in the capital are already expensive, they have to rent a house to live in, and they cannot afford to pay or get paid. It is difficult to support myself by relying on that dead salary, and I don’t know when I will be reused.

Zhao Han's reform is that scholar, scholar, and Jinshi are equivalent to a kind of academic qualifications and are eligible to participate in various levels of public examinations.

How many positions are vacant in the government, how many people will be recruited through public examinations, and those who are not selected should do whatever they want.

You can find other jobs first and wait for the next public examination without delaying the court or yourself.

Zhao Han added: "After the world is unified, if there are too many scholars waiting to become officials, age limits should be set. Officials of the seventh rank must become officials when they reach sixty years old, officials of the fifth rank must become officials when they reach sixty-five, and officials of the third rank must become officials when they reach sixty-five. Officials must become officials when they reach seventy years old. If you are over thirty-five years old, you cannot take the imperial examination again!"

All this is to avoid redundant officials and redundant personnel.

As long as you sit on the dragon's throne, scholars are very adaptable, so just don't go too far.

For example, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the imperial examination for ten years. What else could the scholars in the world do except curse? Later, the imperial examination system was restored, not because of the scolding of the scholars, but because of Zhu Yuanzhang's own correction.

The reason was that Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that there were shortcomings in the imperial examination. The officials selected were inexperienced and could not do anything well. Therefore, the imperial examination was abolished and a recommendation system was introduced. The recommended officials could do their jobs as soon as they took office, which was equivalent to handing over the responsibility of cultivating officials to society.

Unexpectedly, the recommendation system is not as good as the imperial examination. Firstly, the officials recommended are mixed, and secondly, there is a lot of nepotism.

Zhu Yuanzhang tried to reform the recommendation system, but it was useless. In the end, he restored the imperial examination system.

As long as the imperial examination is not abolished, Zhao Han can follow his own ideas.

Li Banghua asked: "In the future, when we open courses to examine talents, candidates, and Jinshi, will those "Mathematics" and "Geometry" also be included?"

Chongzhen has officially ordered that the two levels of imperial examinations, the rural examination and the general examination, include the art of war, strategy and other content.

Chongzhen, the last emperor, could do it, so why can't Zhao Han be the founding emperor in the future?

However, the grading system must be changed.

At this time, the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty were purely based on the eight-part essay, and the examiners only valued the eight-part essay, that is, the content of the four books and five classics. Other official document writing, case solving, military art, etc. are all discretionary bonus points. Although you still have to take the exam, taking the exam is equivalent to not taking the exam. As long as your eight-part essay is excellent, you can submit blank papers in the other exams.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "This is how I envisioned it. The first test was about eight-part essays, with a perfect score of 100. The second test was about official documents and laws, and the perfect score was 100. The third test was about mathematics and geometry, and the perfect score was 100. The fourth test was about mathematics and geometry, and the perfect score was 100. The maximum score for the field test on Datong Theory is fifty. There are three hundred and fifty points in total, and the ranking will be based on the score."

After asking clearly, no one objected.

Li Banghua, who was a Jinshi, did not object, because the content of the imperial examinations had been constantly adjusted in the past dynasties.

Don’t think of ancient times as too rigid. The Imperial College in the Ming Dynasty even used a credit system. There are monthly exams every month and annual exams every year. After completing a certain number of credits, you can be promoted. After completing all the credits, you can graduate from the Imperial College.

As for Zhao Han's statement that there is no need to copy Zhu Xi's remarks, there is no problem.

Because since the rise of Yangming’s theory of mind, the Eight-part essay has deviated from Zhu Xi in various ways. Some candidates will even study the examiner's preferences, first investigate which school the examiner is from, and then use this to choose whether to write an article based on psychology or neophysics. Neo-Confucianism is not Zhu Xi’s style, but a new Neo-Confucianism that emerged in the mid-Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Han said so much just to make it clear in advance, because the education system will be officially adjusted next year.

As for the reform of the imperial examination, it will be implemented after Chongzhen's death.

(Thanks to the leader of Gone with the Wind NJ for the reward. By the way, please give me a monthly ticket.)