Zhao Yu understood that drastic reforms during the period were tantamount to self-destruction, and that the ruling class must still be composed of scholars, and the imperial examination was almost the only way for them to advance. The Great Wall cannot be built in a day, and the change cannot be achieved overnight, but should be done as slowly as it did against the Mongols. In addition to selecting talents, the purpose of this imperial examination is more to stabilize people's hearts, at least to show an attitude.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this imperial examination is the first time since I returned to Jiangnan, and I want to do it as a top priority!" Zhao Yu thought about it for a while and said.

"What Your Majesty said is that since the fall of Jiangnan, it has not been open for ten years in an instant, and the scholars are all looking forward to it. After hearing this, everyone sang the praises of His Majesty's grace! Lu Xiufu got up and saluted when he heard this.

"Your Majesty, I haven't opened a course for many years, and I am afraid that there are many people who will participate in the Autumn Festival, should there be restrictions on entering Beijing to participate?" Liu Huang asked.

"I think that except for those who have committed acts of attachment and financing during the fall of the country, and those who have betrayed the monarch and treason in their clans, they can take the test, and there is no need for others to be demanding." Zhao Yu thought for a while.

"Your Majesty's desire to capture the talents of the world is the blessing of all the people, but according to the preliminary examination of various prefectures and counties, there are no less than 70,000 people who meet the conditions, and according to the old practice, more than 1,000 people will be selected, which will far exceed the previous dynasties, and it will not inevitably cause redundant officials!" Liu Huang listened to the reminder.

"Governor Liu's worries are good, but after the imperial court recovers Jiangnan, there are still vacancies everywhere, which can be filled, and once Jiangbei is recovered, a large number of officials will still need to be guarded, we can't help but take precautions!" Zhao Yu nodded. According to the practice of the Song Dynasty, most of the provincial affairs are one out of ten, and the township test is one out of fifteen. According to this ratio, although there have been two rounds of elimination, the base is large, and the number of scholars will also increase greatly, because he knows that what Liu Huang said is good, and it is extremely rare to take more than 1,000 scholars in one subject in previous dynasties.

Objectively, after entering Jiangnan, the territory suddenly became vast, the number of administrative institutions increased, and there was a relative lack of officials in various localities. According to statistics, there are more than 800 state and county officials in various localities, and a large number of central officials have also been dispatched, and more than 30 percent of the staff in various ministries and temple supervisors are shortage. Therefore, Zhao Hao can only rely on expanding the number of scholars in the imperial examination and recruiting a large number of talents to fill the vacancies in administrative organs at all levels.

"Your Majesty still needs to be cautious, such a large-scale collection of scholars may not necessarily be able to recruit all the people of insight into the court, but will cause contradictions!" Ying Jieyan stood up and spoke.

"What do you say, sir?" Zhao Yu asked.

"Your Majesty, Sima Junshi, the prime minister of the Shenzong period, once said that he asked the Gongyuan to take people one by one: there is no one in the road or the number of roads, and asked the Ministry of Rites to allocate the quota to each road according to the ratio of one out of ten. As a result, Ouyang Yongshu's people strongly objected, and he said: Today, the Southeast Prefecture Army Jinshi will solve the problem, and only twenty or thirty people will be relieved of two or three thousand people, which is one person in a hundred; The army of the northwest state is relieved, at most there are only 100 people, and it is 1 person out of 10, which is ten times more pretended than in the southeast. The people of the southeast, in the thousands of people to solve ten, its beginning has been refined, so to the southern province, the test passed the many. The people of the northwest, whose studies are not as good as those in the southeast, are ten times more false when they are released, and their primary election has been abused. I hope Your Majesty knows! "Ying Jieyan replied.

"Hehe, this ......" Zhao Hao could only smile bitterly when he heard it, this problem can be said to be a problem for the ages, and there is no perfect system that can solve it in hundreds of years......

Zhao Yu was born in a populous province in the north in his previous life, and the annual college entrance examination should be similar to the current imperial examination, and along with the college entrance examination, there is always a topic - whether the college entrance examination policy is fair or not. The cause is nothing more than the problem of the admission rate, but because in various provinces and cities, because of the difference in economic development and local protection measures, not to mention the different college entrance examination systems, many systems follow the national system and have different regulations, and the unfair distribution of educational resources, the number of population and the degree of economic development have become the main factors of whether you can go to a good school.

And Zhao Hao, as a witness of the college entrance examination, also has a deep experience. High-quality educational resources are concentrated in large cities, especially first-tier cities. There is a lack of high-quality educational resources in small and medium-sized cities, especially in townships and rural areas. Even in the same big city, it is much more difficult for children from poor families to be admitted to university because they are rarely able to enter key primary and secondary schools, than children from wealthy families. Due to the fact that candidates from rural and rural areas do not have access to high-quality educational resources, it is difficult for them to be admitted to universities. In addition, there is a bonus point system for college entrance examination admission, which should take care of some students.

This is exactly what Ying Jieyan said today, and the problems of modern times also existed in the Song Dynasty. The original intention of the imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty was not to be fair, but to break the monopoly of the great families of the time, so the imperial court issued an edict clearly stipulating that all walks of life could participate in the imperial examination. This made the children of industrial and commercial miscellaneous who had been unable to get involved in the official career in the previous dynasties and the scholars from all over the border also have the opportunity to participate in the imperial examination, and as long as they have the ability to pass the imperial examination, they can be awarded official positions.

This means that the scholars who participate in the imperial examination basically have no restrictions on their origins. It can be seen from this that the imperial examination system of the Song Dynasty was oriented to the entire landlord class, and even to the peasants at the lowest level of society, as well as industrial and commercial miscellaneous personnel, which ended the situation that the scholars had long controlled the official career, and also weakened the role of the relationship between the blood and the family in various fields of society, which would also encourage the public to study and change their lives, highlighting the value of knowledge to change their destiny.

This also accelerated the vertical mobility of the ruling class, so that the previous situation of long-term monopoly of political power by a small number of big families no longer existed, and scholars from the imperial examination replaced them as the core of politics, and they often flourished and declined, and it was not easy to form the political power that could last for hundreds of years. The family can no longer monopolize the career as before the Tang Dynasty, and it is no longer easy for the family to maintain the identity of the eunuch from generation to generation, unless the descendants can continue to perform well in the imperial examination for generations, and the relative way to enter the official is much broader.

With the increase of the population and the expansion of the scholar class, the competition in the imperial examination became more and more fierce, and problems arose. The first is the regional difference, in terms of population, the population in the north during the Northern Song Dynasty was less than that in the south, and the southerners who adopted a unified admission rate obviously suffered a loss, especially the lifters in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, at that time, the center of rule was in the north, and most of the people who started the business were northerners, and in order to take care of them, they would even specify the number of people to be admitted, and the southerners could only endure it. After the regime moved south, this unfair admission rate has not changed, but the target of care has changed.

Moreover, the amount of wealth gradually affected the results of scientific research. In terms of the admission ratio of candidates, the chances of being admitted to the Jinshi are quite small, far better than the modern college entrance examination, and if you want to excel in the exam, you must spend a long time preparing for it. In this case, the children of the wealthy family are more dominant, so the economic ability of the family also has a great impact on the success or failure of the scholars participating in the imperial examination.

Wealthy families are more able to support their children in receiving a better education, and they are more able to concentrate on preparing for exams without distractions. It is even more convenient to use money to cheat in exams, such as hiring someone to write or buy off someone who handles exam affairs. Under such circumstances, the children of rich families obviously have an advantage in the imperial examination.

As a result, "Confucianism" has become an ideal of the society at that time. It is also true that there are many families who have been scholars for generations, and they may have ancestors who began to value the education of their children and grandchildren after they became wealthy in the business. There may also be ancestors who have been in the ranks, and their descendants have failed in the scientific field, but they still strive to forge ahead; There are also some scholars from poor families, who still have to maintain their status as scholars despite the hardships of life. Many of these scholars also owned some land, and the income from the land rent was a source of income to support their education.

In addition, there are the families of officials, who are not only the richest class in society, but also enjoy the privilege of being exempted from errand labor and taxation to a certain extent, and the burden of taxes and labor is light, and the accumulation of wealth is naturally easy. When rich and noble are combined, the chances of being the first will be much greater, thus blocking the way for others to move forward. In addition, although there was no 'extra point' in the imperial examination in the Song Dynasty, the children of official eunuchs enjoyed the privilege of shadow compensation, and they could enter the official career without taking the imperial examination.

Yin Bu is also known as Enyin or Song Recommendation, and all relatives of the clan, the children and grandchildren of civil and military officials, relatives and even disciples have the opportunity to be awarded official positions. This system existed in both the Han and Tang dynasties, and continued to be used in the Song dynasty. The timing of the grace of the shadow is more common on the emperor's birthday, which is called the holy festival shadow supplement; There is a triennial suburb or Mingtang ceremony, which is called the great ritual or suburban worship shade supplement, which is the most important one; There are middle and senior civil and military officials when they are called Zhishi; Before the death of concubines, clansmen, and middle and high-level civil and military officials, they can also be recommended to the imperial court by posthumous expressions, which is called posthumous shadow supplements; Lower-level officials also enjoy this right, and if middle- and lower-level officials die as a result of fighting or catching thieves, they can also be recommended, which is called death compensation.

The objects of shadow compensation are also very wide, including not only brothers, children and grandchildren, relatives with different surnames, but also high-ranking officials and even shadow men, doctors. The number of people who make up for the shadow is not fixed, and the number can be as many as one or twenty, and the number of officials who are made up for the shadow supplement is different from the official who competes for the official by virtue of his ability through the imperial examination due to his family background. Among the officials of the Song Dynasty, the number of officials who won the official position with shade accounted for a considerable proportion, and the number of officials who served as officials with their fathers and brothers during a suburban festival reached thousands.

However, those in power also knew that the ability of the children of the shadow supplement was limited, and they also imposed various restrictions on them, stipulating that those who had no background (including the shadow supplement) were not allowed to hold positions in Taiwan, nor were they given the position of library. For the promotion of Wenchen and Jingguan, those who came from the imperial examination are transferred from one level to another, while those who are in the shade can only be transferred step by step. In addition to the Beijing officials, those with a background also have a higher official rank than those without a background.

Relatively speaking, the provisions of the system obviously make it advantageous for officials to be promoted by the imperial examination, regardless of their family background, than those who are admitted from the imperial examination, and officials from the civilian class can only be born in the imperial examination, and the competition opportunities for upward development in the system are not reduced because of their family background. In this case, in order to develop in the eunuch journey, the children of the eunuchs must still participate in the competition of the imperial examination, and in fact, there are indeed many children of the eunuchs, either to participate in the state and county examinations, or to participate in the hall after the shadow supplement......

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the imperial examination and the system of electing officials should be reformed at the moment, so as to achieve the purpose of selecting and storing talents for the country!" Seeing that the little emperor smiled bitterly, he should play it again.

"Sir, please!" Zhao Yu was stunned, he didn't expect Ying Jieyan to have this idea, but he didn't know if it could coincide with him at the moment.

"Your Majesty, when the imperial court first returned to Jiangnan, there was a shortage of personnel in various ministries and provinces, and it was urgent to select people to fill in and reserve talents for the recovery of Jiangnan. Therefore, it is necessary to break the routine and do extraordinary things! "Ying Jie Yan said," In this scientific expedition, the minister thought that each province would choose one out of ten as the quota and select and send the children to Beijing for reference, but it was not necessary to limit the number of people from each province, but only to move. However, this is only a special case, not a regular case. ”

"Well, what the governor should play is not unreasonable, this move not only solves the temporary urgency, but also prevents the future Jinshi from worrying about the same place!" Wen Tianxiang first seconded.

"Your Majesty, the minister also thinks it is feasible!" Lu Hideo also has no objection.

"Okay, wide in and strict out, relatively fair!" Zhao Yu nodded, and raised his hand to signal Ying Jieyan to continue.

"Your Majesty, this time the township test ministers think that the examination questions should be adjusted, emphasizing policy questions and ignoring scriptures and righteousness, in order to elect good ministers who govern the country and auxiliary political talents, but they are not mediocre people." It should be played again.

"The governor should say it well, and the minister also thinks that the scriptures make the candidates follow the words of the saints, and they have no personal opinions, and they are completely useless after entering the office. Only the questioning can still see the candidate's ability to cope and reflect his or her philosophy of governance. Liu Di immediately expressed his approval, and Lu and Wen did not object, obviously they also understood the drawbacks.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the old system of the Sui and Tang dynasties will be restored, and the scholars who are on the list will not be directly awarded official positions, but will be awarded officials after entering the national sub-prison to study, and then they will be awarded officials after being assessed by the officials, so as to prevent the occurrence of things that cannot perform their duties!" should be strict and played.

"That's a good idea!" This is simply in Zhao Hao's heart, and he immediately praised it when he heard it. In fact, it was not his helpless initiative to be selected to enter the country, and as early as the Sui and Tang dynasties, the imperial examination system at that time was only a qualification examination, and the scholars only obtained the qualification to be an official after being selected and would not be directly awarded an official position. If you want to be an official, you must be assessed and appointed by the Ministry of Officials after further study. Those who fail to pass the assessment will have to wait for another three years before they are eligible to participate in the official assessment again.

In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination was cancelled, and scholars could obtain the title of imperial gift as long as they were on the list, and then they could smoothly enter the official career. During the Taizong period, as long as the scholar passed the palace examination and obtained the title of Jinshi, he could be awarded an official position without participating in the assessment organized by the Ministry of Officials. With the development and the higher and higher official positions conferred, the first and second class jinshi and the nine classics at that time were usually able to obtain official positions such as being a supervisor, a judge of Dali Temple, or a general judge of various states......