In the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City, Zhu Jishi was blushing and said to Luo Xiangmei, who was full of grievances: "I want to reform the imperial examination in order to consolidate the national foundation of the Ming Dynasty, this reform is not the first time, nor is it the last one!" I am not doing this for myself, but for the future of Xiong'er! The use of the imperial examination cage for wise men, don't you really understand a queen who has been regent twice? Xiangmei, you have been to England and France, and you know the strength of the Western powers...... It's no longer the time to close the door and think it's the Celestial Empire! Now is the troubled times of the Warring States when the great powers are vying for hegemony. The elite of a country of the great powers are either engaged in scientific invention, or run industry and commerce to create wealth for the country, or serve in the army to expand the country's borders. And what are the elites of my Ming Dynasty doing? Read the Four Books and the Five Classics, how many times is enough to read this book, and you can read it for a lifetime? ”

Luo Xiangmei advised: "The reform of the imperial examination can be done slowly, why rush for a while? Now the west has not yet been settled, and the country is not stable, in case any basket is poked out......"

Zhu Jishi lost his temper: "I'm not afraid of having a basket!" At present, the four seas are still peaceful, Yi Xin asked to withdraw the feudal domain, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is willing to bow to me, so it is a good opportunity to reform the imperial examination. Moreover, my army is not the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they are all elites who come out of the rain of bullets, and they are also loyal to me, because I gave them food and clothing, gave them land, even the smallest soldier has 40 acres of land, and there is 3 yuan of vegetable gold every month, since ancient times, which emperor would give such treatment to the soldiers? Now they haven't forgotten my kindness, and they still think that I am a parent of food and clothing, so I am not afraid of any basket! ”

Luo Xiangmei bit her lip gently, she already regretted her exhortation just now. Although she was still very worried in her heart. She felt that Emperor Zhu's movement this time was really a bit big. The turmoil of the last Sichuan boycott has just passed. Now, what if there is another storm in the eight southeastern provinces that strike the examination? The upper age limit and the number of references set for the imperial examination are said to be nothing - if a talent fails to pass the exam three times. At the age of thirty, he was still a white man, so it was time to find something else to do.

But being a reader is actually a profession, an identity, and an umbrella! This kind of thing is that the imperial examination is not only life, but also non-stop examinations. As long as you have a breath, you can keep taking the test, and maybe you will be successful next time! And with such a "next time", the status of scholars in the countryside will be superior. This is especially true of the scholars of large families, whose gentry status is based on their connection with officialdom. And the next time you may be an official in high school, it is one of the most important connections.

This is the so-called Chao for Tian Shelang, Twilight on the Son of Heaven Hall! With this possibility, those scholars who have temporarily fallen behind can make friends with scholars who have become officials in high school, form a party with each other, and quote each other, so that they can then control the court and retreat to control the township. Now the Xianghu Party in the Ming Dynasty is a typical gentry group, and not everyone was an official in the Qing Dynasty. But everyone has the possibility of being an official, so they can be regarded as a figure in a circle. As long as anyone is in the Jinshi. The Xianghu Party members in the DPRK will vigorously promote the backwards, and the Xianghu scholars in the opposition will serve as staff. Run for it. The scholars who did not come out of their hometowns relied on the protection of their classmates and fellow villagers who were in the court or served as staff members to run rampant in the township as their big landlords.

It is precisely based on this truth that those landlords and old wealth, who know that they will not be able to show off their talents in their lives, will also study hard all day long with books and go to the imperial examination again and again, in order to stay in the circle of scholars and doctors and keep their status as gentry! Without this identity, it would be difficult for them to evade taxes and oppress civilians.

And now Zhu Jishi wants to use the age limit of 28 years old to keep millions of scholars out of the gentry circle, and at the same time eliminate their idea of becoming an official by exam. The possible backlash and revolt in rural society is unimaginable. Therefore, even Zuo Zongtang, who knew that there were many problems with the imperial examination system, expressed his opposition at the first time after hearing the reform suggestions put forward by Zhu Jishi. After failing to do so, he invited Queen Luo Xiangmei to come out to "tactfully" advise. It's not that you don't want to change, but you have to change it slowly...... For example, it will take 20 years to reform in several steps.

But where can Zhu Jishi tolerate the country's elite to do nothing for 20 years? That's a whole generation! And he feels that he is now in his thirties, which is the time when he is in the prime of life, and the Ming Dynasty is also the beginning of a hundred industries, and it is the time when everyone is most concerned about doing things. If you don't change it now, you may slack off in 20 years and ask for stability. Even if he is not slack, the bureaucratic style in the Ming Dynasty will definitely be more powerful than now, I don't know how many times the way is now!

What worries Zhu Jishi even more is that 20 years later, will the Ming army still support itself like it does now? It is impossible to continue to implement the system of granting land to officers and soldiers. Because the state does not have so much land to grant, even if it can take large tracts of land from Russia and Central Asia, the value of these lands cannot be compared to the warm, humid south. Even if it is given to soldiers, they may not necessarily want it.

Therefore, Zhu Jishi's attitude towards the reform of the imperial examination is extremely tough, and the reform must be started immediately! And in one step, there is no transition period. If the gentry below want to rebel, they should take the exam, and if they don't want to rebel, they should take the exam, and if they don't get into the exam at the age of 28, they should do whatever they want. The Ming Dynasty gave the gentry enough opportunities to be officials, and if they can't pass the exam, they don't have the qualifications to be officials, so why bother to force it?

In the current Ming Dynasty, there is not only one way to climb up the exam! Even if all of you local lords go to learn how to peel the skin of the week and the rooster crows in the middle of the night? Well, the rooster cries in the middle of the night and is also in business, which is beneficial to agricultural development, and it is also a hundred times stronger than holding a book and reading it to death.

And Luo Xiangmei suffered a secret loss because of the rectification of the harem last time, so she didn't dare to collide with Emperor Zhu now, and when she saw that the other party lost her temper, she quickly said softly: "Your Majesty, the concubine understands your hard work, since the emperor is sure, the concubine will not say much." Tomorrow is the big day for the emperor and the concubine, it's not too early, the emperor will rest early, don't worry about government affairs anymore, and keep up the spirit to accompany the newcomer tomorrow. ”

Zhu Jishi nodded: "I know, no matter how urgent the reform of the imperial examination is, I can afford to wait for these few days......"

Luo Xiangmei seemed to be relieved, and then retired. Tomorrow will be a "big wedding", because it is a concubine, so it should be presided over by the queen, but there is a lot of red tape, and there is a palace to set up, and the palace is also well arranged, Luo Xiangmei has been busy inside and out for a few months, so that everyone has been cleared, but fortunately, things will be over tomorrow, and then it is time to rest for a while. After a while, I have to find a way to let Emperor Zhu build a palace for himself, which must be as big as Maria Fort and the Purple Mountain Palace, otherwise it will be too much of a loss......

Zhu Jishi's heart was irritable, although it was late, but he didn't want to go to bed, he walked out of the Dongnuan Pavilion, the sky was full of dark clouds, and the stars and moon were not seen, which made Zhu Jishi a little depressed, thinking that this dark cloud was like China's imperial examination system, which covered the wisdom and creativity of the entire nation, if this dark cloud could not be swept away, the national capital of the Ming Dynasty would not be consolidated after all. After all, this is not the time to put the wise in a cage!

Thoughts are diverging, Maria. Clementina walked over: "Tokugawa Saiaki asks to see you." ”

Although there are many women in Zhu Jishi, the most favored is Maria. Clementina, the great ocean horse, this Qianqing Palace is the place where the two of them live together in the Forbidden City. At the same time, Maria also made a cameo appearance from time to time as a court lady and a female secretary, and she brought the news of Tokugawa Saiaki's request to see her today.

Tokugawa Qizhao is the Japanese ambassador to the Ming Dynasty, and he is also a relative of the Ming Dynasty, and he is very respected in Yingtianfu, and he himself is a master of Confucianism (the Confucianism of the Mito Domain is prosperous), so he has a good relationship with Lin Zexu, Luo Bingzhang, Pan Zengshou and other great Confucians. And when he entered the palace tonight, it was actually related to the legendary imperial examination of the eight southeastern provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

In the secluded study of Xinuan Pavilion, Zhu Jishi listened to Tokugawa Qizhao's proposal, and stood up immediately: "What? Do you want the retainers of Shugong to participate in the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty? Do you still want them to apply for Daming's colleges and universities? (To be continued......)