The New Year in the capital is very cold, the temperature is generally below zero, and it is even colder in the morning and evening, and it is normal to have more than ten degrees below zero. Most people will nest at home, gather around the kang, hug their wives, tease their children, and basically won't go out unless there is anything particularly important.

Zhu Cijiong naturally can't rely on the kang every day to hold Mingyue like ordinary people, or let Mingyue hold it and enjoy a warm and sweet time. Because he is the emperor, there are countless things waiting for him to deal with in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Just after the New Year's Day, Zhu Cijiong couldn't wait to come to Wang Gong's factory and personally started the first machine tool, announcing that the Ming Dynasty officially began to produce advanced gunpowder weapons - flintlock pistols.

This was an important historical moment, with the gradual popularization of flintlock pistols, the army of the Ming Dynasty would surpass all countries at that time in terms of equipment and gradually become a military power. At the same time, a new mode of combat will come to the stage of history, and thermal weapons will gradually dominate the battlefield.

Of course, due to the serious shortage of personnel, the production of flintlock pistols was not very high, and after adding more than a dozen machine tools, it was only possible to make 2,000 in a month. Zhu Cijiong planned to wait for about 5,000 to be made, and then the Shenji battalion would be unified to reequip, and then the Shenji battalion would teach the three military battalions to use gunpowder weapons as the regular weapons of the Beijing battalion, gradually replacing swords, guns, arrows, and halberds.

The production of flintlock pistols had just begun, but the first imperial examination of the Chongzheng Dynasty had already entered the final sprint.

The imperial examination was a system of selecting officials through examinations, completely breaking the hereditary relationship of blood and the monopoly of the family, and was the only way for commoners to enter the officialdom in ancient times. Therefore, the importance of the imperial examination system in ancient times is undoubted, and the imperial court attaches great importance to it, and the people of Li attach more importance to it.

In ancient times, there was a poem called: "The cave room spends candle night, when the gold list is inscribed." The meaning of this poem is that the two biggest happy events in life are marrying a wife and having children, passing on the ancestry, and the other is the title of the Jinshi and the gold list, which shows the importance that the people attach to the imperial examination.

Naturally, such an important matter as the imperial examination cannot be late, and the examination will start in February, and people from all over the country will generally rush to Beijing about a month in advance. Therefore, just after the New Year's Festival, there were people from all over the country who came to take the exam in the capital, including Shi Kefa, a famous national hero in history.

Shi Kefa, the word Xianzhi, a native of Xiangfu County, Kaifeng Prefecture, was born on the fourth day of November in the thirtieth year of Wanli (AD 1602). Since childhood, he has been intelligent, diligent and inquisitive, and is famous in the township. At the age of eighteen, he was taught by Zuo Guangdou, the leader of the Donglin Party, and under his teaching, he was even more determined to forge ahead, studied hard, and was just over 20 years old. Zuo Guangdou has high hopes for him, and intends to cultivate him as his successor, lead the Donglin Party, and lead the Ming Dynasty to glory.

However, the heavens did not fulfill people's wishes, and the Donglin Party was completely defeated in the next struggle with the eunuch party, and Zuo Guangdou and other 'Donglin Six Gentlemen' were killed by Wei Zhongxian successively. Subsequently, Wei Zhongxian began to purge the Donglin Party, and countless Donglin Party members died unjustly, and Shi Kefa was also named Sun Shan in the examination of the Yichou Branch in the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625 AD).

After two years of hard work, the situation finally reversed, the Emperor of the Apocalypse died, Wei Zhongxian fell out of favor, and the new emperor began to reuse the Donglin Party, and finally, under the planning of Taifu Sun Chengzong, the eunuch party was captured in one fell swoop.

However, at this time, the entire Ming Dynasty has been corroded by the eunuchs, and the Houjin has repeatedly provoked wars in Liaodong, and the peasants in the northwest have risen up, and the Ming Dynasty has been in turmoil.

It was at this time that Shi Kefa adhered to the last wish of his ancestor and returned to Beijing to participate in the Wuchen Branch Examination with the dream of saving the country and the people.

In the examination, he played quite well, and advanced to become one of the three hundred tribute students as he wished, and today is the day of the palace examination, which is the moment when the real ranking is determined and the fate of life is decided.

Shi Kefa got up early, had a full meal, bathed and changed clothes, and then rushed to Fengtianmen outside the imperial city, which was only a moment at this time.

The palace examination will begin at the time of the morning, and Gongsheng can arrive at Fengtianmen before four o'clock, but at this time, the square outside Fengtianmen has gathered a lot of students, three in a group, five in a bunch, discussing exam questions, talking about current affairs, so lively.

Shi Kefa stood on the edge of the crowd, looked up at the imperial city, didn't say a word, and looked a little arrogant. It's not that he's arrogant and unclassified, it's because he's a former student, and he really doesn't know anyone in this year's class!

At four o'clock, the Fengtian Gate slowly opened, and a team of officials from the Ministry of Rites came out of the city gate and began to sign up for the whole team and announce the discipline of the examination room. Then a group of students followed these officials into Fengtianmen, along the imperial road through the imperial city, into the noon gate, across the Jinshui Bridge, through the Huangji Gate, to the square outside the Huangji Palace.

At this time, the squares on both sides of the royal road were already filled with individual tables and chairs, and each desk was complete with the four treasures of the study, which were prepared for these tributes at a glance.

Chongzheng Emperor Zhu Cijiong sat on the high steps outside the gate of the Imperial Palace, waiting for a group of protégés to come to pay their respects.

This is the rule of the palace examination, each tribute student must come forward to pay homage to the emperor and receive the test questions alone, which means that these tribute students are protégés of the Son of Heaven.

............

Zhu Cijiong sat on the dragon chair solemnly, smiling, and signaled to the Gongsheng who came to worship one by one, repeating this action hundreds of times, he felt that he was about to become a quail, and he couldn't help but slander in his heart: "Do you want to do this, don't you just come forward together, you have to come one by one." ”

Although he was reluctant in his heart, he couldn't show a trace of impatience, because these tributes were nominally his protégés in the future, and in ancient times, bullying the teacher was equivalent to destroying the ancestors, and few people dared to disobey their own masters, so these protégés would be relatively loyal to him, which was a kind of political capital, and if these people were slowly promoted in the future, the opposition from the court would gradually decrease. It's not like now, when someone jumps out and sings the opposite tune at every turn, and then a bunch of people follow suit, making it impossible for him to put many ideas into practice.

Just when he was feeling bored, a Gongsheng with a slightly dark face and a resolute face stepped forward, knelt on the ground and said loudly: "Student Shi Kefa see the emperor." ”

Zhu Cijiong couldn't believe his ears, Shi Kefa, a famous national hero who resisted the Qing Dynasty! It can't be a duplicate name, right? He subconsciously asked: "But Shi Kefa, the disciple of Zuo Guangdou in the imperial history of the first emperor?" ”

Shi Kefa trembled with excitement when he heard this, the emperor had actually heard of him, what an honor this was, he hurriedly kowtowed: "It's the student." ”

Zhu Cijiong's spirit was shocked, and he encouraged: "Lingshi is honest and honest, upright and upright, and he is really a model official, I hope you don't fall into his prestige, go down and answer the questions well." ”

Shi Kefa took the test questions and went down with a thousand thanks, he hadn't started to answer the questions yet, but Zhu Cijiong began to think about how to use Shi Kefa.

This Shi Kefa is not an ordinary person, and if he uses it well, the problem of the Donglin Party will be solved.

After the last two lessons, Zhu Cijiong saw the horror of the Donglin Party's forces, these people are leaning towards the government and the opposition, and they have reached the extent that they can influence the emperor's decision-making.

Of course Zhu Cijiong will not be stupid to think about it, they are cleaned, there are traitors in the Donglin Party who are more loyal ministers, and once they are purged, those traitors are generally loyal ministers, and those traitors even did such shameless things as surrendering to the Manchus, and it is simply impossible to clean them up in the Ming court that they are familiar with.

Since it can't be cleaned, the only way to control it is to find a way, and this Shi Kefa is his hope to control the Donglin Party.

Shi Kefa is the successor of Zuo Guangdou, the leader of the Donglin Party, who is upright, honest and hardworking, and has a high reputation in the Donglin Party, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the prince of the Donglin Party.

Some people will definitely say that the metaphor of the prince of the Donglin Party is simply nonsense, he Shi Kefa is still a scholar, no official and no position, why should he be said to be the prince of the Donglin Party.

In fact, there is a basis for saying this, and Shi Kefa's position in the Donglin Party can be seen from his later position. When Chongzhen was the emperor, the champion of Wuchenke was Liu Ruozai, and Shi Kefa was the thirty-eighth in the top three, all of whom were ranked outside the hundred, but the positions of the last two were very different, not that Liu Ruozai was higher than Shi Kefa, but that Shi Kefa was higher than Liu Ruozai.

Shi Kefa's last position was the crown prince Taibao, the scholar of Wuyingdian University, and the secretary of the military department to lead the Jiangbei Governor and the official residence, and he could not be promoted. As for Liu Ruozai, until his death, he was just a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy, a petty official from the fifth grade.

In more than ten years, he can rise from a top three officialdom newcomer to the official residence, without the full support of the Donglin Party, how could he climb so high, and how could he climb so fast.

From this, it can be seen that Shi Kefa is the recognized leader and successor of the Donglin Party, which means that as long as he is cultivated as a cronie and then promoted to a high position, he can be used to control the Donglin Party and be used by the imperial court.

The more Zhu Cijiong thought about it, the more he felt that Shi Kefa must be cultivated as a cronie, as for how to cultivate, there is a great opportunity now, just point him to the new champion!

The ranking of the palace test was originally decided by the emperor, and coupled with Shi Kefa's status in the Donglin Party, no one would object to him as the champion.

In this way, before he started answering the questions, Shi Kefa was already the champion of the new department.