The eighth year of the Ming Dynasty and the year of the dragon.

From the world's point of view, the number one world news of the year should be the formation of a co-monarchy between Spain and Portugal. That is, Philip II, king of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, took advantage of the crisis of succession of Portugal after King Sebastian I died in the battle of the Three Kings against Morocco, annexed Portugal this year, effectively unified the Iberian Peninsula.

The most obvious result of the merger between Spain and Portugal was the emergence of the world's leading colonial empire. At this moment, the Atlantic system, which extends from Europe to the Americas, and the Indian and Pacific Ocean systems, which bypass Africa to Asia, are politically integrated. In short, the sixteenth century saw the creation, construction and monopoly of the Atlantic Rim system by Iberia and Spain in particular.

Of course, this is not too much to do with the high pragmatism at this time, if it must be broken, it is probably that Portugal began to use the power of Spain to strengthen the colonial development of the Spice Islands, and Spain in turn began to enter the Luzon Islands by taking advantage of Portugal's colonial roots in Asia.

The Nanyang region, including Luzon, is a "pan-Greater China sphere of influence" that has long been determined by Gao Shipra, so the main impact of the merger between Spain and Portugal on him is that there may be a strong maritime competitor in the future "going to the South Seas".

However, Gao Pragmatic is not very anxious, Nanyang is the doorstep of Daming, as long as Daming comes to his senses, Gao Pragmatic feels that after the New Deal reform, he will still be able to wrestle with the Spanish Portuguese Empire in this region. The first is, of course, to bully the fact that the mainland is far away, and the second is because the combined fleet of Spain and Portugal, the Invincible Fleet, will be defeated by England in eight years.

Although Spain at this time was the highlight moment, even if the first Armada failed miserably, it did not lose much vitality in Spain, in the second to third years, Spain once again built a more powerful armada, but at this point the Spanish Empire fell into a long-term maritime tug-of-war with England, and later because of the Dutch War of Independence, the Thirty Years' War and a series of wars, Spain was greatly injured both land and sea, and in 1640, not to mention that the Netherlands did not keep it, even Portugal became independent.

Therefore, the highly pragmatic Nanyang strategy is still very stable, and it is gradually advancing in accordance with the predetermined plan in an orderly manner.

At the end of last year, he obtained the official ports of Ningbo, Quanzhou and Guangzhou through a deal with the Ministry of Industry, and is now looking for ways to further expand the port and improve operations, and at the same time, he has also begun to absorb a large number of talents related to Nanyang maritime trade, such as ocean-going shipbuilders and sailors who have run through the Nanyang, and is planning to establish the first Jinghua shipyard in the south...... All in all, he was young and not in a hurry.

The overall situation of the world has little impact on Gao Pragmatism, but there is something in the country, and Gao Pragmatism is very concerned about and attaches great importance to it.

That is this year's Gengchen Spring Festival.

The Ming Dynasty is a society with the most important scientific names since the tribute, and it pays great attention to birth qualifications. The distinction between list A and list B is extremely clear. In the eyes of the world, there is a difference between the net worth of Jinshi and Juren.

Especially after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, everything was based on the imperial examination, and everything was based on birth qualifications. Although Jinshi is a way, lifting and paying tribute is a way, all of which are the right way, but in fact, when using, Gongsheng is not as good as lifting people, and lifting people is not as good as Jinshi, so there are proverbs such as "lifting people with empty cylinders, and Jinshi without empty cylinders".

High-ranking officials and important positions cannot be done by non-Jinshi.

Since the second year of Tianshun, Li Xian has been decided, and since then, non-Hanlin has not been included in the cabinet. The Shangshu of the North and South Rite Ministries, the Squire and the Right Squire of the Ministry of Officials are not in charge of Hanlin. The Ji Shi must be selected by the Jinshi examination, and when the Ji Ji Shi first entered, he was regarded as the "reserve minister" by the government and the opposition.

It is precisely because once a person is a high school jinshi, he can be released as an official, and in the court, he wants to get a minister, imperial history, and the main officer, and if he is released, he will be awarded the government to promote the official, and be a "city-level" second-in-command, or a county governor, or a county-level leader, who is powerful and powerful, and has an unlimited future, and even the Shangshu Department and the cabinet elders are all from them, so the Jinshi is worth a hundred times, and it is far from being comparable to others.

Ordinary people call Jinshi, must add the word "master" after it, and there is no single name Jinshi, which is one of the proofs.

Shizi No. 1 Middle School Jinshi, even if he is not an official, or returns home, or even takes the initiative to resign, he will automatically become a local celebrity when he returns to his hometown. The home of the Jinshi, no matter where the Jinshi is an official, if there is a wedding or funeral in the hometown, the county must send someone to give gifts, if the Jinshi home is in the county, the county is often present in person; If it is in the countryside, it will also send the county clerk, the chief bookkeeper, and the instructor to act on his behalf. All the local gentry who were born in the two lists of jinshi can use their names to protest when they want to see the governor and the governor, but they can't raise people.

If these are just social statuses, then the gap in earning power is even greater.

If you win the lift, you can get rid of poverty, and if you win the jinshi, you can get rich. According to Gao Shishi's understanding over the years, a tutor has to collect 50 taels a year in order to maintain his family's life in Beijing for a year. Instead of a new middle school jinshi who stayed in Beijing as an official, the annual cost was at least one hundred taels of silver, which generally required about three hundred li, and it was not uncommon to spend six or seven hundred taels a little more. But many of them are from poor families with meager income, so where do they get so much money?

In fact, since high school, these new science and technology scholars have been supported by people for cars, horses, attendants, clothes, utensils, and food and drink expenses. Even if you don't be an official, there are people who send money to the house and come to the door. Because if you rely on a Jinshi master, it is equivalent to relying on a big tree that is good for the shade.

For example, if a businessman commits something and goes to the yamen to intercede by himself, he may not be able to do it by spending thousands of taels, but if there is a Jinshi master to help, he can solve the problem with a two-finger-wide note.

And the exam that determines whether a person can carp jump over the dragon gate is the exam.

In the Ming system, those who raise people to take the examination of the Ministry of Rites in Beijing are called the examination, which means to concentrate on the examination. The examination is scheduled to take one subject every three years and will be conducted in the year of the township examination. Since the township examinations are all carried out in the sub, meridian, mao, and unitary years, the general examinations are all held in the Chen, Xu, Chou, and last years. The Township Examination is usually held in August, while the General Examination is held in February.

Similar to the method of the township examination, the first test is taken on the ninth day of the first month, the second test is taken three days later, and the third test is taken three days later.

Since the examination was presided over by the Ministry of Rites, the place of the examination was, of course, the Gongyuan of the Beijing Division, which was in Nanjing at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty and changed to Beijing thirteen years after Yongle.

The examination of the Ming Dynasty is different from that of the Song Dynasty, where the people who are raised in the township examination can participate in the examination indefinitely, this aspect can save a lot of trouble for scholars, less wasted effort, less money is spent, but at the same time it also caused some problems, the most important of which is that the number of people who take the examination is particularly large.

In fact, as early as the first year of orthodoxy and the first year of Hongzhi, the imperial court twice stipulated that people who were not allowed to participate in the examination if they failed to take the examination three times, but because this move ruined the future of most people and hindered it, it did not last long, and the imperial court could not bear the pressure and canceled.

So just after the Spring Festival, a large number of people came to take the exam in Beijing, although it was impossible for Gao Pragmatic to send people to count, but it is estimated that at least tens of thousands.

And now, these tens of thousands of people are waiting for one thing, waiting for the emperor to announce the chief examiner and deputy examiner of this examination.

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