It was the middle of spring, the rainy season had not arrived, and Yingtianfu, located in the south of the Yangtze River, entered the most beautiful season of the year.

Since the end of spring in mid-March, the atmosphere of the entire Ying Tianfu has become a little depressing. During the period before the listing, the atmosphere in Ying Tianfu was calm to the point of some solidification.

The attention of all the scholars, including the civil and military officials, was in the small world of the Gongyuan.

But for ordinary people, the train running in the capital is still a big sight. When the white smoke train whistles and whizzes past, it can still make many people stop and watch.

Since the end of February, the trains on the North-South Line have also started to run in mid-March. Because it takes time to make the train, the train on the Ring Line is still not running.

The people of the capital are now accustomed to going out to take the train, which only costs a few coppers, which is much cheaper than renting a horse-drawn carriage.

This has led to the fact that the number of people on the train has remained high and overcrowded, which has led to various disputes, so that the various platforms also need officials to maintain order.

Zhu Zhanji knew that such a situation would last for at least half a year, and this mood would not be alleviated until there were more trains in the future.

"Your Highness, Northwest Intelligence. Marquis Wu Anhou had already led his troops to the expedition, with an army of 170,000, divided into two routes, and marched to Samarkand along the north-south route of the Silk Road. ”

"Is there any news from the country of Timur?"

"Now the Ulughgh Begs are on fire with Medela and Qasim at the northern Shymkent Pass and the Karaku Pass in the north of Kokand. However, the other side has no reliable firearms, and it is difficult to resist our two armies. ”

Zhu Zhanji looked at the map, found two dangerous passes, looked back and asked: "What is the morale of the Hezhong area now?" Can you have the results of my Southern Route Army? ”

The eunuch of the supervising army shook his head, "Since I received the news from Zhang Xin and Mu Xin half a month ago, there has been no news from the Southern Route Army in the northwest since then. ”

In this era, the spread of information is very slow, and the northwest is tens of thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty, even if people are sent every day, it will take more than a month for the news to come back.

Zhu Zhanji knew that the Southern Route Army was fighting fiercely now, but he didn't know how Zhu Di was fighting.

But he didn't have too much to worry about, using hot weapons against cold weapons, and now he sent people to the front line to make new explosives, if Zhu Di still can't win, it will be an accident.

His only concern was that the logistics couldn't keep up. At present, the two route armies have to march thousands of miles, and the battle line is too long, which is a severe test for logistics.

The Southern Route Army was besieging Herat, which was only 2,000 miles away from Kulmus, and the Indians were responsible for the logistical problems, which were not big problems.

But as Zhu Di led the army further and further north, logistics and supply would be more difficult.

Now is not the future, there are roads everywhere, and the current Persian plateau, many places are without roads, not to mention to the north, you have to pass through the desert areas of Afghanistan.

However, he is also out of reach now, and can only hope that Huang Yuan can solve this problem, and this western expedition will be successful in one fell swoop.

Zhu Zhanji thought about it, but decided not to take care of the affairs of the Western Expedition for the time being, for him, the current imperial examination affairs are the top priority.

Although the Western Expedition was important, Zhu Di was in charge, and his main task was to maintain the political stability of the country. And now the imperial examination affairs are an important factor in political stability.

The imperial examination ended on March 18, and in the following half a month, the internal and external curtain officials elected by the Hanlin Academy, the Cabinet, the Ministry of Rites, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate entered the intense reading of the papers.

At the same time, in order to prevent cheating, the two departments of Jinyiwei and the Department of Information and Intelligence also sent attachés to supervise the whole process.

Although Zhu Zhanji added a lot of policies on current affairs to the test paper, he did not meet with opposition from the people because he had ruled half a year ahead of schedule and had given these people enough time to study.

However, after the end of the Spring Festival, there were still some people who did not do well in this regard, and a wave of opposition was set off.

However, they can't set off big waves, because the number of people is selected, and the previous dynasties originally had a unique style.

Just like Zhu Yuanzhang engaged in the eight-share selection, those sons of the world did not learn the eight-share in the same way.

Today's Bagu Wen Xuan has only been more than a dozen years, and has not yet formed the rigid style of later generations.

Zhu Zhanji is now increasing the content of current affairs and mathematics, and those scholars will only follow his requirements.

Xie Jin has been very happy in the past few days, and he is paying close attention to the news from the Gongyuan, but he doesn't dare to make any moves.

This time, his son and nephew took the examination at the same time, and as an elder, he didn't dare to get involved, for fear that it would affect his reputation.

But whether it is Xie Zhenliang or Xie Zhen, they all think that they did well in the exam this time, and the title of the gold list should be a certainty.

They did have such self-confidence during the Xie Zhen period, and in Confucian scholarship, they had a family lineage. Now Zhu Zhanjiga's strategy and mathematics, the two brothers themselves are participants in all events.

They went to sea with Zhu Zhanji, saw the customs of all over the world, and were also participants in Zhu Zhanji's overseas strategy.

Moreover, Zhu Zhanji promoted mathematics, letters, punctuation, and they were also participants.

If you don't have this kind of self-confidence at this time, it is that rotten wood cannot be carved.

On the ninth day of April, after 20 days of grading, more than 10,000 test papers were finally ranked after five cross-marks and evaluations.

More than 18,000 people, almost in a ratio of 10 to 1, selected more than 1,600 examination papers and became the winners of the examination.

The list is divided into the main list, the deputy list, and the three hundred and twelve people on the main list will directly participate in the re-examination and the palace examination. More than 1,300 people on the sub-list will directly participate in the election of officials.

When the roll call was opened, Zhu Zhanji personally came to the Gongyuan and supervised the officials of the Ministry of Rites to unpack the sealed names and places of origin one by one.

As in previous years, the elected scholars are still mostly southerners, and northerners only account for less than 20%.

However, these are expected by everyone, this is only the test, and there will be a re-examination and a temple test later. At that time, it will be slightly biased towards northerners, and when selecting talents, the proportion of northerners will be increased to about three or four percent.

The north is poor, and it has been in war for many years, and in terms of reading, it cannot be compared with the southerners. Therefore, when choosing scholars, it is also appropriate to be slightly biased towards northerners.

If you really want to select talents once like in the Hongwu period, and all the southerners are selected, then it is unfair to the northerners.

After a whole day of review, the names and places of origin of 1,651 people were copied on twenty imperial lists, and the next morning was posted outside the Gongyuan.

These 1,651 people, according to the current system, are all called tributes, and they are actually qualified to be officials.

However, most of them can only be candidates, that is, when there are official vacancies, they have a chance.

This time, the test was delayed for a month, but Zhu Zhanji was unwilling to delay the palace test. After Si Tianjian's observation of the celestial phenomena, the date of the re-examination was set on April 15, and the date of the temple examination was set on April 21.

On the tenth day of the first month of April, when the emperor's list was posted outside the Gongyuan, naturally some people were happy and some were worried.

Although Xie Zhen is still on the list, this time, he failed to win the first place Xie Yuan like last time, and only won a second place.

The first was won by Zeng Heming from Taihe, Jiangxi, Zeng Heming was also a famous prodigy in the Ming Dynasty, and Yongle had been promoted in three years.

However, since then, his brother has been seriously ill and has to support his parents and raise his nieces and nephews, so he has stayed in his hometown.

It wasn't until his nephew grew up, and he was almost 40 years old this year, that he came to take the exam.

His poems are expansive, the articles are clear and clear, and the order is reasonable, although his talent does not know geometry, but in terms of examination and assessment, his articles are absolutely high-quality, and no one can find fault with them.

In comparison, although the articles of the Xie Zhen period are gorgeous, they are full of strong personal style, and they are not as good as his articles that can be liked by everyone.

If you lose Huiyuan, you will lose the opportunity to win the three yuan, but Xie Zhen is not disappointed. Because the chief examiner of the palace examination is Zhu Zhanji, according to Zhu Zhanji's liking for him, he obviously has a greater advantage than others in the palace examination.

On April 15, in order to prepare for the re-examination, the general meeting of the day was canceled.

Three hundred and twelve tributes entered the Fengtian Hall of the imperial palace at dawn, and Zhu Zhanji conducted the first round of re-examination with questions on the diplomatic strategy of the Ming Dynasty, agricultural development, industrial development, ideological development, and military expansion.

This round of re-examination has made many foreign enemy students complain. They did not expect at all that Zhu Zhanji would not test Confucian scriptures and doctrines in the re-examination, but only the policy theory of the times.

At sunset, a group of candidates left the palace, and when they boarded, they seemed to be boiling, and many people felt that their answers were not satisfactory.

However, they are now tributes and have the qualifications to be officials, even if they don't do well in the exam, they will not be stripped of their fame because of small losses and big troubles.

"Brother Zhaonan......" Wang Qian walked out of the Chengtian Gate, and only when he was out of the palace did he dare to relax. Looking for Yin, I saw Yu Qian smiling and waiting on the side of the road. "I saw you just now, but I was stared at by those attendants and officials, and I dare to greet you now."

Wang Qian shook his head and said, "Brother Tingyi, this royal majesty, I saw it today, and it really made people tremble. ”

Yu Qian smiled and asked, "How is today's exam?" ”

Wang Qian sighed, shook his head and said: "Unsatisfactory, in the past, I only read the books of sages, and I was so ignorant of these current affairs, so I just barely passed." ”

He bowed to Yu Qian and said, "Thank you Brother Tingyi for explaining before, otherwise you will really be blind." ”

The richer the children of the wealthier they know about current affairs, because they have the opportunity to know some news from their elders. The children of poor families spend a lot of energy in order to learn Confucianism, and they do not have a wide social circle, so they naturally do not know much about affairs.

If Zhu Zhanji hadn't started to let the students know more about current affairs since last year, most of the scholars would probably not be able to answer today's retest.

Yu Qian said with a smile: "You and I were classmates, but now we are in the same department, so we should be united." ”

Wang Qian received a lot of favors from Yu Qian, and at this time he said to the end: "If my brother is fortunate enough to go to the department, I will definitely serve the court with my brother." ”

Yu Qian smiled and hugged his shoulders and said, "A gentleman is happy with others, but he can't keep it in mind because of some small favors." Zhaonan doesn't have to take these to heart, you and I can learn the sage books and serve the court together. ”

At this time, the man in the prime of life turned around, looked at Yu Qian and asked, "May I ask if you wrote about the rise and fall of the country, and the husband is responsible for the Qiantang Yu Tingyi?" ”

After the list was published, some of the test papers of this session were announced by the imperial court and published.

Although Yu Qian is slightly inferior in literary style, he has a broad vision and the strategies he writes are square, and he was selected as a model text.

This also made him win a lot of praise among Shilin, because it is difficult to comment on the level of writing, but whether the strategy is written well or not is high or low.

Yu Qian let go of Wang Gan's shoulder, and replied with a solemn salute: "It's here, please ask Brother Taigui's surname." ”

The strong man replied: "In Xiahejin Xue Xuan, the word Dewen." ”

Yu Qian was surprised and said: "It was actually Henan Xie Yuan Xue Hedong in person, please forgive the little brother for being rude." ”

This Xue Xuan is also the best among the candidates of this year, although he was born in the North, he is brilliant. Its "those who love the people but are not close to the people will not be loved." This time, it was also vigorously promoted by the imperial court as a model.

Xue Xuan shook his head and smiled: "Don't dare, don't dare." The contemptible man is ten years old, but he can't write about Brother Tingyi's broad ideas. Brother Tingyi is proficient in current affairs, and I hope to consult with Brother Tingyi more in the past two days. “

Yu Qian laughed and said: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, it's better to choose a day than to hit the day, it's better to go find a restaurant now to have a chat." ”

Xue Xuan smiled and said, "I hope I can give the foolish brother a chance to be the east, please ......."

Xue Xuan was born in the north, but he was born into a family of educators. His grandfather, Xue Zhongyi, was proficient in scripture and history, but because of the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he was unwilling to take the examination to become an official, and he taught in his hometown for most of his life.

His father, Xue Zhen, served as a Confucian teacher in Yuanshi in Hebei, Xingyang in Henan, Yutian in Hebei, and Yanling in Henan for more than 30 years.

Xue Xuan likes to be a scholar rather than an official. In the seventeenth year of Yongle, Xue Xuan's father was reappointed as the teacher of Yanling County. At the age of 30, he is still studying with his father.

He devoted his main energy to the study of Cheng Zhu Lixue, and covered the hundred schools of history, astronomy and geography, etc., but was not interested in the study of the imperial examination.

However, according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, when no one in the county where the teaching is located has been unable to be admitted to the examination for a long time, it must be sent to remote areas to serve.

And Yan Ling's style of learning is not strong, and he has not been a person for several years, and he has not been a tribute. Out of helplessness, Xue Xuan had to obey his father's orders, participated in the township examination of Henan Province in August of the eighteenth year, and passed the first name of Gengzi Xie Yuan.

When he went to Beijing to participate in the Spring Festival this time, he felt that what he had learned in the past was somewhat biased, and his emphasis on theoretical knowledge and neglect of the current policy theory were his biggest flaws.

And about the changes in Ying Tianfu, he also saw in his eyes, and the changes in the world caused by these objects made him a little unable to understand the world.

The world is a big ball, and people live on it. Without manpower, animal power can make the train run quickly, and thousands of catties of molten iron can be directly turned into steel.

All this made him feel that his previous life was really sitting in a well and watching the sky.

Yu Qian lives in Jiangnan, which has close relations with overseas, and has a broad vision and rich knowledge, so he also wants to discuss this issue with Yu Qian.

And Yu Qian also admires Xue Xuan very much, in his opinion, Xue Xuan's analysis of theoretical knowledge can be regarded as one of the best among the candidates in this year.

What he didn't know was that this Xue Xuan on the other side was the real crown of the Great Ming Theory.

Later generations regarded Xue Xue as the ancestor of Zhu Xue, and called it "the crown of science in the early Ming Dynasty" and "the foundation of Taoism in the Ming Dynasty". In the Ming generation, there are two learning lines: one is the Yangming school in the south, and the other is Xue Xuan and Zhu learning in the north.

And Xue Xuan didn't know that the young man on the other side, who was nine years younger than himself, although he was clumsy in theory, was a real doer and had the strength to become a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty.

The three of them took a train specially reserved for the students outside the Chengtian Gate and arrived at the bustling area in the center of the city. The three of them got out of the car, found a restaurant, ordered a few side dishes, and started chatting.

Among the three, Xue Xuan has the most abundant theoretical knowledge, Yu Qian has the most extensive knowledge, and Wang Gan, although slightly inferior to the two, is proficient in all arts, especially his superb calligraphy and exquisite painting. And in this era, a talent like him is very respected.

After a few drinks, the three of them opened the conversation and talked about today's retest.

As a theoretical researcher, Xue Xuan saw the trend of Zhu Zhanji attaching importance to Gewu and vigorously developing the economy from "The State and the Nation" and from the Confucian family to invite Confucianism to carry out Confucian reforms. When it comes to the weakness of Confucianism, there is a sense of concern.

But Yu Qian disagreed, and retorted: "Confucianism is the foundation of my Ming thought, but now it has become a shackle. Now that my Ming territory has more than doubled, how can I effectively manage it by relying on Confucianism alone?

In the northwest, my Ming forces have recovered Anxi during the Tang Dynasty, which is thousands of miles away from my Ming Dynasty, if there is no train, it will not be occupied by foreign races a hundred years later.

Now that there are trains, as long as the railway to the northwest is built, it can be reached in only five days. If those tribes rebel and the alien races plot against each other, I will directly suppress them.

Confucianism is solid, and things are solid, this is the right reason. ”

"But now His Royal Highness the Grand Sun, nobles, and military generals, all focus on commerce and ignore agriculture, isn't it a disaster?"

Yu Qian said disapprerovitically: "There are thousands of miles of fertile fields in Nanyang, three crops a year, as long as my Ming army protects the country and protects the family, there will be no famine in the future." ”

"But the price of food is low, and the taxes of those people at the bottom have not been reduced......"

"So His Royal Highness is now vigorously developing immigrants and developing industry, and now a family of ten acres of land has a natural low income, but in the future, when a family has a hundred acres of land, the income will naturally be high."

In fact, neither of them has a deep understanding of the whole society, but they are understanding the world with their own understanding. Their discussion is nothing more than a blind man touching an elephant.

But through this communication, Yu Qian learned about the thoughts of farmers in the north, and Xue Xuan also learned about the promotion of commerce to the national economy.

Subsequently, several people had a discussion around today's exam questions and the palace exam questions a few days later, at this time, it was mainly Yu Qian who was saying, Wang Qian added, and Xue Xuan gained a lot.

Three days later, a list was posted outside the Chengtian Gate, and in this re-examination, 14 people who did not know anything about answering questions in current affairs were deposed, and 298 people would participate in the palace examination the day after tomorrow.

There will be no more dethronement in the palace examination, that is to say, the remaining people will at least be from a fellow jinshi.

The fourteen people who were deposed will join more than 1,000 other tributes to become candidates for election to the Ministry of Rites.

On April 21, this time, 298 "Jinshi" entered the Fengtian Hall early in the morning under the leadership of officials of the Ministry of Rites.

This time, Zhu Zhanji also appeared in front of everyone. After the roll call, scattering papers, praising and saluting, and other rituals, the topic is issued.

Everyone bowed to Zhu Zhanji three times, and then Zhu Zhanji encouraged everyone, and everyone took their seats according to the previous order of names and began the last important assessment on their life path.

And Zhu Zhanji waited until the exam started, and then got up to leave. The exams here are going on for a day, and of course he can't stay here all the time.

When the papers are collected in the evening, he can come and meet the candidates again.

Yu Qian and most of them saw Zhu Zhanji up close for the first time, and Zhu Zhanji's burly figure and compelling momentum also made everyone feel huge pressure.

When he left, everyone's spirits relaxed, and then the officials of the Ministry of Rites stepped forward one by one to distribute today's three exam papers.

The temple examination does not test the scriptures, but only the strategy.

The three strategies for today's test do not require a format, no limit on the number of words, only a neat and tidy volume, even if it is answered in the vernacular.

Hearing the words of the salute singer, everyone couldn't help but sigh. They didn't expect that the last exam was completely out of everyone's imagination, and they could even answer it in the vernacular, so they had studied Confucianism for more than ten years, or even decades, wouldn't it be in vain.

Of course, this is just a thought, because everyone knows that without the foundation of Confucianism, they would not be able to sit here at all.

Three policy essays, one of which is entitled "On the Management of the Ming Frontier". One is "The importance of the development of agriculture and industrial base according to local conditions". The last article is "On the rejuvenation of agriculture, industry, and commerce".

If it weren't for the fact that they had received half a year of current affairs education, most of these scholars would probably not be able to write. However, in the re-examination a few days ago, all of them were already covered with such questions, and with mental preparation, they were not too surprised.

The examination ends at the beginning of the unitary hour, and then the ceremonial officer begins to collect the papers, palm the papers, and seal them.

Beginning on the second day, the eight examiners designated by Zhu Zhanji took turns to read the examination papers.

After each person reads the examination papers, they add five kinds of marks, and the one with the most "○" is the best paper, and then among all the volumes, the ten books with the most ○ are selected to be submitted to Zhu Zhanji, and Zhu Zhanji approves the first, second, and third places in the first class as the champion, the list eye, and the flower.

Two hundred and ninety-eight exam papers, if they are rough, they can be read in one day, but this is grading, so it took three days.

On April 14, the ten selected examination papers were sent to Zhu Zhanji, and at this time, in front of Zhu Zhanji, the names were opened.

For Zhu Zhanji, he can rely on his own preferences to choose champions, not necessarily completely depending on the literary talent.

And when he saw Yu Qian's name, he couldn't help but feel happy in his heart, this is one of the most outstanding officials in this era!

Although he really wanted to point out Xie Zhen as the champion, if Yu Qian's article was not too bad, he had already decided to point this really capable Yu Qian as the champion, so that he would take a little less detours.

In the original history, this Yu Qian was already outstanding, and now with his careful cultivation, he will definitely be even better.

(The ability is limited, so the content of the scientific examination will not be written.) Excuse me...... ）