I

Amid much anticipation, this year’s provincial examination was finally held.

Zhao Han resumed the imperial examination, which was directly a rural examination. There was no need for county examinations or Taoist examinations to test talents.

Moreover, tradition and newness go hand in hand.

All middle school graduates in various provinces who have not been admitted to college can take the provincial examination. The local government does not provide travel expenses, and all imperial examination expenses are paid by yourself.

Scholars of the previous dynasty could take part in the provincial examinations as long as they could produce a scholar's certificate, and they had to bear all the expenses themselves. However, the age must be under 30 years old!

Those who are successful in the examination can start as a ninth-rank official, but they need to observe politics (internship) for one year.

The top performers in each province may choose not to become ninth-rank officials, but to attend the joint examination in Nanjing next spring. The number of places for the joint examination in each province is not strictly determined according to the population ratio, and the number of places for new-style students must be several times that of traditional scholars.

Take Sichuan Province, the most populous province, for example. There are 60 places for new-style students and 15 places for traditional scholars.

In the three provinces of Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Hunan, the number of traditional scholars has been reduced to only 5 people. This was intentional by Zhao Han. These three provinces were the first to win. The scholars have not become officials until now, which shows that they are all unwilling to be petty officials. Hard-working.

Even the exam papers are different.

The traditional imperial examination for scholars still uses the same old methods. However, the weight of eight-legged essays is reduced and the scores of official documents and policy papers are increased. All new mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, and Datong theory will be used as additional questions, and the scores for the additional questions will be doubled.

The new-style student imperial examination is actually the province-wide unified examination. The best ones will go to universities for further education at public expense. If your family is not short of money, you can go to college at your own expense. If you don't want to go to university, you can take the provincial examination and you will be assigned a ninth-rank official position directly. A small number of people can take the general examination, and if you pass the Jinshi examination, you can become an eighth-rank official.

Rank eight and rank nine were considered the lowest rank in the Ming Dynasty and would be looked down upon by serious Jinshi. But here in Zhao Han, only those who have passed the Jinshi level can be released to the eighth level.

In addition, college graduates can directly take the examination.

College graduates who pass the Jinshi examination can either go to Hanlin Academy or Qintian Academy to engage in research, or they can join the cabinet to observe politics and become a scholar.

After finishing the study in three years, he still had to be released to the eighth rank (county magistrate). But this kind of eighth-level promotion is faster, because they all know the emperor and cabinet ministers, and even if they are not familiar with them, they must have met them in person!

This whole set of different imperial examination systems is a product of the transitional period.

The civil servants complained that it was time to open a crack in the imperial examination door for them. When new education becomes popular in various provinces and old scholars age, the traditional imperial examination route will be completely closed.

In addition, the proportion of officials in the south is too large, and the north was recovered late, and now there are not even middle school graduates.

In order to balance the officialdom between the north and the south, there must also be room for traditional scholars. Moreover, this is the most important thing, otherwise Zhao Han would not pay attention to the complaints of poor scholars.

Another factor in the rush to resume the imperial and provincial examinations is that there is something wrong with the current official selection system.

According to the report of the anti-corruption inspector, a large number of nepotism, favoritism and malpractice have occurred among middle and low-level officials across the country. Even in the past two years, Zhao Han imposed qualification restrictions on candidates for civil service, but it still did not completely change the status quo.

…

Hebei, Tianjin.

Li Jixiu was twenty-nine years old. Historically, he took part in the Manchu imperial examination and passed the exam, ranking second and third in the imperial examination in the fourth year of Shunzhi.

But in this time and space, he is not even a candidate. During the war years, it was really unbearable, so his family fled to Yanshan and ate sweet potatoes for several years. It was not until last year that he took his family out of the mountains and returned to Yutian County to register.

Li Jixiu had no resentment towards the new emperor.

Although the land accumulated over generations was gone, when he returned to his hometown to settle down, the government returned his ancestral home. His family's oil pressing mill in the town had been sold to a small businessman who moved from other places. After he produced the certificate, the government generously compensated him with part of the silver.

Moreover, the land was allocated to his family according to their population.

Being able to do this, Li Jixiu feels it is commendable. This new Datong Dynasty is really convincing.

In fact, for the sake of political performance, local officials would like the population to be as large as possible. Therefore, there are various policies. In addition to land, as long as the certificate can be produced, it will be returned if it can be returned, and if it cannot be returned, it will be compensated. Only in this way can people who come into the mountains be attracted to come back down the mountains and settle down in their place of origin.

In the northern provinces where everything is waiting for improvement, population growth is the biggest political achievement!

On the day of the rural examination, Li Jixiu got up in the middle of the night and came outside the Gongyuan in the southeast of the city early.

There were not many people there, because the rules had changed. The emperor did not allow the candidates to be tormented in the middle of the night, and all procedures of the imperial examination were postponed for three hours.

"What do you call this brother?" asked a traditional scholar.

Li Jixiu said: "The surname was Li when he was born late, his given name was Jixiu, and his courtesy name was Gongyu."

The scholar said: "It's a coincidence that I was born in late life with the surname Zhang and the given name Zhaoyong. I also have the nickname Gongyu."

The two of them had the same first name, which was fate, and they immediately got closer, and they began to talk about the years when they were scholars.

Li Jixiu said: "It seems that there are not many talented people participating in the Hebei Provincial Examination."

Zhang Zhaoyong sighed: "How can we get more? When the Tatars returned to Liaodong, they kidnapped many gentry and common people, and there were not many left in Hebei. There may be many scholars, but with the war and chaos, how many of them can still produce certificates? What’s more, there is an age limit, and those over thirty years old will not be allowed to take the exam.”

"It's true," Li Jixiu gritted his teeth and said, "Tatars deserve to die! If the Holy Emperor hadn't been born, my whole family would still be hiding in the mountains."

Zhang Zhaoyong said with emotion: "It is actually good for you and me to take the provincial examination. In Hebei's primary schools, students have not yet graduated, and middle schools have not yet been opened. There are not any new scholars taking part in the provincial examination this year. Former scholars The number of exams is so small that if you take the exam, you are almost sure to win!”

Li Jixiu nodded and said, "That's exactly the reason."

Zhang Zhaoyong suddenly laughed: "The quotas for the provincial examinations in each province have been announced. In the three provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong, only five scholars were admitted in the previous dynasty. Especially in Jiangxi, there are countless talents among the people. I am afraid that they will be overwhelmed by the imperial examination this time. Moreover, the county magistrates also have a headache. Your Majesty will not hold the subject examination (rural examination qualification selection examination), so the county magistrates must first organize their own examinations to select."

Li Jixiu actually guessed what Zhao Han was thinking: "It's just like the North and South Rankings. There are too many officials in the South. His Majesty is already dissatisfied with this and wants to suppress the South in the imperial examination."

The two chatted until dawn, when Gongyuan finally sounded the cannon horn and began to check their identities and enter the examination room.

In the entire Hebei Province, the quota for provincial examinations is 30, but only 114 scholars took the examinations. There is not a single new student.

The examination booths have all been renovated and are made of brick and tile structures. There is no need to nail tarpaulins yourself, and there are even glass windows for light transmission.

Li Jixiu was speechless when he got the test questions.

There is only one traditional four-book question. There is only one question in the traditional Five Classics. The next step is to test official documents, policies, criminal proceedings, etc.

There are also nonsense additional questions. Li Jixiu has only taught himself "Datong Theory", and other astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics, water conservancy... they are all blind.

Li Jixiu didn't finish the two eight-legged essays on the Four Books and Five Classics until the afternoon. There was not much time left, so he could only speed up and answer the questions he knew quickly.

The booklet of "Datong Collection" is not thick, Li Jixiu has memorized it by himself, and he can answer it easily now.

Then there is astronomy: try to write down the five major planets.

Li Jixiu knows the twenty-eight constellations and the Big Dipper, but what the hell are the five planets?

The topic, which is known to third-grade primary school students in the south, stumped Li Jixiu, who had read the classics of saints and sages. Fortunately, Li Jixiu's original scripture is "Shang Shu", and he can make divergent associations.

In Chinese culture, the number five is easily associated with the five elements.

There are seven political affairs in "Shang Shu Shun Dian". The seven political affairs are the sun, the moon and the five planets.

Li Jixiu wrote quickly and wrote the answer: five stars, wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Wood is called Sui Xing, Fire is called Yinghuo, Earth is called Zhenxing, Gold is called Taibai, and Water is called Chenxing.

Geography question: How close or far is the Netherlands or the Ottoman country from China? (Full points will be awarded for the detailed description of the two countries, and half points will be awarded for the correct answer of far and near)

Li Jixiu scratched his head. He could only guess at this question.

Dutch sounds refreshing, while Ottoman is more difficult to pronounce. So Li Jixiu replied: The Netherlands is close, but the Ottomans are far away.

Mathematics questions are probably like a chicken and a rabbit in the same cage. If you use traditional arithmetic methods, you can only get half the points if you calculate it correctly. You must use new mathematics to get full points.

Li Jixiu tore up the draft paper to make calculations and quickly came up with the correct answer, but he was destined to only get half a point.

The physics question is about mechanics.

Li Jixiu stared at the question for a long time. He didn't know the question, and the question didn't know him.

When night falls, give me a candle. When the candle is used up, I must hand in the paper.

Li Jixiu handed in the paper and was a little frustrated. He found that he didn't understand a lot of knowledge and had never even heard of it. This sense of ignorance is more devastating than failing the imperial examination.

After returning home, you must study the teaching materials of the new class by yourself!

"Brother Jixiu, how did you do in the exam?" Zhang Zhaoyong asked.

Li Jixiu shook his head repeatedly: "You can probably guess the astronomy questions, but you can only guess the geography questions. The answers to the math questions are given, but you can only get half a point. As for physics and mechanics, my brain is dizzy."

Zhang Zhaoyong smiled bitterly and said: "It's almost the same for me."

A few days later, the results were announced outside Gongyuan.

Li Jixiu checked from the end, but never found his name, and then he scanned to the first place.

This guy actually passed the Jieyuan exam in Hebei Province after just one operation.

Zhang Zhaoyong was crying and laughing next to him: "I won, I won, and I am ranked tenth. I can just go to the national examination!"

The Hebei Provincial Township Examination has a quota of 30 people, and they only need to observe politics for one year to become a ninth-rank official. However, only the top ten can give up their ninth-level qualifications and go to Nanjing to take the examination next year.

Li Jixiu cupped his hands and said, "Congratulations, congratulations!"

"Same joy, same joy!" Zhang Zhaoyong laughed.

Li Jixiu said: "We will go to Nanjing next year."

Zhang Zhaoyong said: "Yu brother lives in Tianjin. Despite the war, he has saved a few shops and still has some money. It is better to stay with Yu brother at Yu brother's house to study, and then go south to Beijing to take the exam together."

Li Jixiu said: "Brother Zhaoyong's kindness is accepted. But there are still parents, wives and children at home, so they have to go back to farm. The sweet potatoes and corns planted after the wheat harvest have to be harvested and stored in the warehouse."

Zhang Zhaoyong sighed: "Unexpectedly, Brother Xiu has to work in the fields himself."

Li Jixiu sighed: "It is not easy to hide in the mountains and survive by chance. After returning to his hometown, the government divided the fields and compensated the losses of the shops, and they did their best. Hebei is a vast land with sparsely populated areas, and the acres of land allocated are, We can only farm at home, so how can we recruit tenants? Even if we are not working hard for ten years, our crops will not be planted well, and our harvest will be much less than that of farmers in the countryside."

It was difficult for Zhang Zhaoyong to understand, so he said: "I'm afraid there will also be a test on astronomy, geography, mathematics and physics in the general examination. I don't want to give you a gift, so I will buy a new set of textbooks for you."

"So, thank you very much!" Li Jixiu did not refuse. This was exactly what he needed urgently.

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