When Huang Liji drank the warm tea that Chongzhen had prepared for him in one gulp, he felt that his tongue was full of water, and he extinguished his throat that was about to smoke. Zhu Youzhen looked at his appearance, and did not ask him about his intention, but reached out to pick up the hot water kettle on the table and poured a cup of hot tea for Huang Liji again.

"Sir, don't be in a hurry, just drink another glass to moisten your throat, and it's not too late to talk about things. This is a new tea sent from Hangzhou this year, although it is not on the eighteen old Longjing trees, but the taste is not bad. Putting the tea in this kettle, although it loses some of its fragrance, it is better to be able to take a sip of hot tea when you go out, and it is not a waste of this tea..."

Chongzhen was still babbling to Huang Liji about the wonders of the hot water thermos pot that Wensi Academy paid tribute to, and Huang Liji, who had eased up, couldn't wait to interrupt him and replied: "Thanks to Your Majesty's concern, this kettle has also been rewarded to the cabinet for a few pieces, and the craftsmen of Wensi Academy have really made a good utensil." However, the minister asked to see His Majesty today, but there was another important matter, and he asked His Majesty for permission, so that the ministers could come to His Majesty one by one. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and stopped, then nodded slightly and replied, "Sir, please speak, I just listen to you." ”

Huang Liji stretched out his hand and turned the saucer in front of him, turning it to an angle that seemed comfortable to him, and then said to Chongzhen: "A few days ago, an urgent report came from Nanjing, saying that there was fraud in the Nanjing Township Examination of Jinke, and after the list of scholars participating in the undergraduate examination was announced, there were dissatisfied scholars in tandem, and about four or five hundred people surrounded the Gongyuan that night to petition and ask for a check. Naturally, the examiners who presided over the undergraduate Nanjing Township Examination did not agree, and the request of a group of drunken scholars.

As a result, early in the morning of the second day, thousands of scholars ran into the streets to march, and also rushed into the Temple of Literature to carry out the Master's god card, Jinling University, Nanjing Ministry of Rites, Gongyuan and other places were all attacked by scholars. In the end, Lu Weiqi, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, came forward and said that he would seal all the test papers in the Gongyuan and report the matter to the imperial court, waiting for the imperial court to send personnel to thoroughly investigate the matter before letting these protesting scholars disperse.

Two days ago, the cabinet had reported the matter to the palace, but His Majesty did not reply for a long time, and he did not leave the palace for the past two days. Now that the outside is about to turn upside down, the minister has no choice but to come to see His Majesty, hoping that His Majesty can make a decision on the matter of the Nanjing Township Trial. ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't show much emotional change after listening, he still said to Huang Liji with a smile: "I have already seen the twists and turns of the relevant personnel about the Nanjing Township trial fraud that Mr. said about the fraud in the Nanjing Township trial.

However, there are more than a dozen of the excerpts I received, which are somewhat different from those handed over by the cabinet. The Cabinet held that it should follow the advice of Lu Weiqi, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and select officials to go to Nanjing to investigate whether there was fraud in the township examination.

In addition, more than a dozen officials in the book believe that the Nanjing reference scholars are not aimed at the chief examiner of the township examination, but the students of Jinling University. Considering that the Nanjing Township test questions were issued by Jinling University, the subject of the investigation should also include Jinling University, because it is possible that someone in Jinling University leaked the test questions.

However, some officials believe that the root cause of the problems that have occurred one after another in the Beijing and Nanjing township examinations this time is that the examination rules have been changed this year, and in particular, the questions of the general examination and the township examination have been handed over to Yenching University and Jinling University to provide questions.

Therefore, they advocate that the previous examination method should be restored, and the examiner should still be asked to temporarily issue questions, so as to put an end to fraud cases like this one. Mr. Huang, how do you think I should decide? ”

Huang Liji's heart was slightly cold, knowing that things couldn't be better after all. He originally wanted to deal with this matter peacefully and avoid the confrontation between the northern and southern scholars from continuing to deepen, but listening to the emperor's tone, he obviously would not agree with the cabinet's idea that the big things should be reduced to small things and small things to nothing.

He thought for a while before replying to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, now because of the affairs such as the examination and rationing, the local gentry and some southern officials are not small. It doesn't matter whether there is fraud in the undergraduate Nanjing Township Examination, the important thing is that if the grievances of the thousands of scholars who participated in the Nanjing Township Examination cannot find a person to be angry, they will transfer their resentment to the imperial court.

These scholars are the essence of the southern scholars, and behind them are tens of thousands of gentry families from all over the south, and their disappointment with the imperial court will cause the various policies pursued by the imperial court in the south to be resisted to varying degrees.

Therefore, the minister thought that even in order to appease these southern gentry, it would be more appropriate for us to make a slight concession to these southern gentry. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to agree to the restoration of the old system of the imperial examination, and then send someone to Nanjing to deal with a few people a little, so that the case will be over? ”

Zhu Youzhen stared at the pale yellow tea soup in his hand, and after drinking it simply, he raised his head and said to Huang Liji: "What Mr. said is indeed very reasonable, but I don't really agree with Mr.'s handling of this matter.

I also know that no reform will be easy. Two steps forward and one step back; Or take a step forward, take a half step back, and this is a spiraling process of change. As long as the pace of reform can keep advancing, I will be able to endure it after all.

But in the current situation, if we agree that everything will return to the way it is, it will be tantamount to completely abolishing the reform of the imperial examination system. The next time I want to change this system, I am afraid that I will encounter even greater resistance. There are even those who use this incident to prove the disadvantages of the reform, and thus set off a reflection on all the reform policies that the imperial court is now pursuing.

The gentleman wants to calm things down, but others may not think so. ”

Huang Liji's face changed slightly: "Your Majesty is not too worried, the officials above the court who support the reform today have gradually become the mainstream, and the officials who oppose the reform are about less than thirty percent, and most of them are not in the main positions of the six ministries." The main forces of opposition to reform were mainly local officials, gentry and the like in the interior and south. If the imperial court made a slight concession on the imperial examination system, it should not be overturned by them, right? ”

Zhu Youzhen said disapprerovingly: "A good situation? Sir seems to be overly optimistic. The imperial examination system, at best, is to select talents and abilities to assist the king in governing the world.

But if we look darker, we can see it. Those who have mastered the imperial examination actually don't care that they are selected as virtuous; Still can. What they care about is whether the candidates they choose can bring benefits to them. Otherwise, why do my officials of the Ming Dynasty attach so much importance to the connection between the disciples of the master?

In the current imperial examination system, the master promotes his chosen disciples, and the disciples actively shout for the master, and both sides take what they need and form interest groups. This small group in the court fought for power and profit for their own group, and finally it became a party dispute.

Whether it is Mr. or I, is there any other way to completely ban the existence of these interest groups except for a little restraint? I thought that if we wanted to eliminate the party strife in the court, we had to make changes to the imperial examination system and cut off the connection of interests between the examiner and the candidates for the middle examination.

Only when the examiner is unable to influence the candidate's middle move, the current system of protégés will lose the basis for its existence. Only then can the university system be truly implemented in all provinces, replacing the influence of provincial academies and celebrities on scholars.

It was only with the rise of the new university schools that the imperial court could continuously cultivate talents who met the needs of the imperial court. Only by making great efforts can we unswervingly continue the reforms that we are working so hard to carry out, and there will be no situation in which people will die and the government will not be destroyed. I believe that Sir also does not want to see the policies we are promoting today become the target of criticism one day in the future, right? ”

Sail against the current, and if you don't advance, you will retreat, Huang Liji naturally understands. The reason why he had the idea of calming things down before he came was just that he wanted to save some face for those southern gentry and avoid deeper grudges between the two sides. After all, with his age, it will not be too long before Zhishi returns to his hometown.

But Chongzhen's insistence made him realize that he had no possibility of retreating at all, and he didn't want to go back to the end of Zhang Jiangling's liquidation. After groaning for a while, he simply asked Chongzhen: "Then according to Your Majesty's intentions, how should this Nanjing Township test be ended?" ”

Zhu Youzhen also hesitated for a moment before he replied faintly: "I think that it is enough to change the direction of the scholars' anger and keep Jinling University." However, Jinling University has caused such trouble this time, and it is necessary to change the president after a while to rectify the school affairs of Jinling University. ”

Huang Liji didn't care about how to rectify Jinling University, he only cared about the first half of what the emperor said, so he couldn't help but ask Chongzhen: "Change the direction of the outgas?" What does Your Majesty mean? ”

Zhu Youzhen replied without hesitation: "In this Nanjing Township Examination, in addition to more than a dozen people from Jinling University, there is also a group called Fushe that has won the examination, and the number of people who have been selected is even higher than that of Jinling University, accounting for about one-tenth of the quota in this township examination.

Jinling University has a high proportion of students, and it can be said that the school has leaked exam questions internally. How can the candidates of this re-establishment society be able to do so? Being able to lift so many people at once?

I also heard that since its establishment last year, this Fushe has swept away all the famous literary societies in all parts of Jiangnan, and it has the meaning of replacing the previous Donglin Party members and becoming the emerging representative of Jiangnan Shilin.

These scholars kept saying that if they wanted to revive the study of the past, they would make it useful for those who were different from the sun. That's not a bad idea. However, the rent, the abolition, the withdrawal of the Chinese envoys, the suspension of the new army... With these slogans, I don't understand what they want to do.

The poetry meeting of some literati was able to occupy a place in Yinshan in Wujiang and gather thousands of scholars to attend the meeting. Every day, there are delicious wines and delicacies sent from other places, and famous prostitutes from all over the south of the Yangtze River will accompany them. It is said that the daily expenses of each of the participants will not be less than 10 taels of silver, and after the whole conference, it will be at least more than 100,000 taels or more than 100,000 taels.

The gentleman is the head of the cabinet, and the gentleman thinks that these slogans shouted by these scholars are their own meaning? Or is it the meaning of the financiers behind them? ”

Huang Liji was shocked in his heart, although he had heard that a new literati community had emerged in Jiangnan, comparable to the Donglin Party back then. But I don't think that this famous but mostly white-bodied literati community can have any impact on the imperial court.

Today, after hearing the emperor's point here, he realized that there was an undercurrent behind this literati community. For this kind of literati community that attacks the government at every turn, Huang Liji will naturally not have any hesitation after understanding it.

"Your Majesty is right, these scholars are not deeply involved in the world, they will definitely not be able to shout these slogans alone, there must be someone who wants to attack the imperial court, but they are afraid of being held accountable by the imperial court, so they pushed these scholars to the front. The chief and deputy examiners who presided over the Nanjing Township Examination this time are all Jiangnan people, and they will inevitably be implicated with the members of the Fushe.

The minister thinks that now giving these scholars of the Restoration Society a cruel lesson, deposing them all, and then admitting a batch of candidates who have failed the list, can not only eliminate the dissatisfaction of the scholars who have failed the list, but also deal a blow to the reputation of the Restoration Society, which is a way to kill two birds with one stone..."