What is the purpose of the imperial examination?

Taking scholars, that is, selecting officials, is actually just selecting officials, and those who pass the imperial examination basically do not become officials. However, the selection of officials is an extremely important part of state management. After all, no matter what kind of state system it is, it still needs officials to implement it.

Since the Sui Dynasty pioneered the imperial examination, by the time of the Ming Dynasty, it was already in its heyday. The Ming Dynasty also attached the most importance to the imperial examination among all dynasties, and the methods of the imperial examination were more rigorous than those of previous dynasties.

Today, the heyday of the imperial examination has also created a huge group of scholars in the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, there are more than 600,000 people in the world who have the fame of showing off their talents, and there are more than 20,000 people who have the fame of others. What a huge number. And if you want to become a showman, you have to pass the three difficulties of the county test, the government test, and the hospital test before you can enter the school and become a showman.

And there are more than 600,000 talents in the world, so you can imagine how many people should be literate at this time.

And it is even more difficult for Xiucai to become a lifter. You have to pass the annual examination and scientific examination held by the provincial school officer to obtain the qualification to participate in the township examination, and then participate in the township examination and get the exam. The acceptance rate for the township examination is about 1 out of 30. In the examination, you can raise people, and then enter Beijing to participate in the examination, and finally pass the palace examination in order to truly become a jinshi.

However, the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty was different from that in the Tang and Song dynasties, the Tang Dynasty mainly examined the scriptures and Moyi, and the Song Dynasty mainly examined and asked. In the Ming Dynasty, the township test and the first test of the meeting test were all tested in eight strands.

Whether you can pass the test or not mainly depends on the merits of the Baguwen.

What is Baguwen? The Baguwen is based on the verses in the Four Books and the Five Classics, and can only explain the meaning according to the title. The wording should be in the tone of the ancients, that is, the so-called speaking on behalf of the sages. The structure must have a certain program, the number of words is limited, and the syntax also requires duality.

Baguwen is an article composed of eight rows of couples, generally with six paragraphs.

Under this examination system. Countless scholars have devoted their lives to the study of Baguwen.

In Liu Jun's view, Baguwen is more like a play on words. He asks for more than a poem and lyrics. And this kind of selected eight masters, does it have any role in managing the country and governing the locality?

Liu Jun didn't think it helped.

What competencies do officials need?

Liu Jun believes that it is leadership and execution ability. What is needed is their moral integrity. and personal business capabilities.

Reading the scriptures of the sages can certainly improve moral integrity, but also have strong professional ability. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party and other officials who thought they were gentlemen, a few of them had good manners, most of them were humane and sanctimonious, and their personal professional ability was almost none.

What business skills do you need to be an official?

To be an official, you have to be educated and knowledgeable, and a person who can't even read a word can't be an official, and he has no knowledge and little experience. Moreover, this has knowledge, and it cannot be just by familiarizing yourself with the Four Books and the Five Classics. You also have to have professional knowledge. If you don't know the classics, you also have to know some mathematics, geography, weather, and even management, interpersonal relationships, public relations and advertising.

It is also necessary to have organizational skills, communication skills, expression skills, adaptability, innovation ability, analytical judgment and employment ability.

And many of the officials who have been elected by the imperial examination are often the most lacking in these.

With such a group of people to manage the world, Liu Jun felt very sad.

It's like using a bunch of nerds to command an army to do war. will only pat his head indiscriminately, and it is impossible not to lose the battle.

Why was Liu Jun's army invincible? Equipment and training aside. The Chu army never used laymen to guide insiders, which was the key.

Yuan Jixian was also born in the imperial examination, and he was very protective of the imperial examination system, and he was very worried when he heard that the emperor wanted to reform the imperial examination.

Looking at his worried and speechless look, Liu Jun couldn't help but shake his head and smile.

"Yuansuke, don't worry too much. I also understand the great significance of the imperial examination, which has been implemented for thousands of years, and once reformed, it will inevitably touch the interests of countless people, especially now that it is still an eventful season. You can't anger everyone in the world with a stick. ”

How many people are reading in the world, how can there be millions.

If you count all the literate people, it is estimated that there are tens of millions.

Whether it is a high-ranking family or a child of a poor family, countless people are staring at the road of the imperial examination, and thousands of troops and horses want to squeeze the single-plank bridge.

If Liu Jun dares to suddenly tear down this bridge, it will really cause the anger of all the scholars in the world.

"I also know that you have to eat in one bite, but there are some things that you have to think about and plan ahead. This time, the imperial examination will be carried out in the same way as before, but I also hope that some small reforms will be regarded as exploring the way. Why don't you change from canceling the eight-strand policy question to posting the scriptures and adding a policy? Liu Jun asked Yuan Jixian.

From the imperial examinations of the Sui Dynasty onwards, the subjects of the examinations in each dynasty were constantly changing.

Emperor Wen of Sui only had to ask questions, and Emperor Yang of Sui had ten subjects. In the Tang Dynasty, there were many examination subjects, including Ming Jing, Jinshi, Ming Law, Ming Characters, Ming Arithmetic and other subjects, and in the Ming Dynasty, only one subject of Jinshi was set up.

However, except for some special subjects, whether it is the Ming Jing or the Jinshi Course, the main content of the examination is the Confucian classics.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was mainly Moyi, oral examination, posting scriptures, policy questions and poems, etc., and in the Song Dynasty, it was mainly tested for scriptures, policy questions, and poems.

In the Ming Dynasty, only Jingyi remained.

The so-called scriptures and meanings are discussed around the righteousness in the four books and five classics, if there is a place for the candidates to play in the questioning, then the scriptures and meanings do not matter about personal thoughts, and the candidates are only the sages designated by the imperial court to follow.

It's the same as Kaumari.

The examiner selects a page from the scriptures, extracts one of the sentences and prints them on the test paper, and according to this line of text, the examiner needs to fill in the context associated with it.

Only the question is still of some practical value, according to the examiner's questions about the scriptures or current affairs, candidates express their opinions and put forward countermeasures, and the general scope is also wider, is it larger.

The scriptures and ink meanings are relatively simple, the scriptures are more difficult, and the questions are the most valuable.

"Don't use eight shares?" Yuan Jixian was really surprised, Bagu is quite difficult, countless scholars have been studying this art making skill all their lives, and some people are sixty or seventy years old, and they can't get into Xiucai.

Liu Jun feels that these eight-strand art is completely a word game, and it is even inferior to the value of poetry, at least poetry is creating new poetry and representing his own thoughts. And what about the eight-strand text? It's just a play on words.

"Well, I feel that the eight-strand sword has gone astray and has led countless scholars to the end, but what is the actual point?"

"Your Majesty, a person who has done a good job in Baguwen will naturally have no problem with poetry and songs. Passing the eight-strand art exam, you can select the best readers. Yuan Jixian replied, Bagu is so difficult, of course, only the smartest reader can do the best.

Liu Jun admits this statement, but what he wants to say is that it is not necessary.

"Bagu may indeed be able to select the smartest readers, but it has also led countless readers astray. What is needed in the imperial examination is to select officials, and the most important thing should be to select outstanding scholars who are suitable for being officials, rather than the process of imperial examinations. ”

In other words, excellent official candidates do not necessarily need to be eight masters.

Yuan Jixian was a little confused.

"Yuanfu, in this imperial examination, I hope to no longer use the eight-strand system, but to test Moyi, post scriptures and ask questions. The three are scored together to increase the score of the question. Even our Moyi and Tijing are not limited to the Four Books and Five Classics, but can also add some other subject content, such as arithmetic, law, such as some geography, weather and other common sense content. ”

Yuan Jixian was even more confused, is this still the imperial examination?

The imperial examination does not test the Confucian classics, the words of the sages, arithmetic, law, geography, astronomy? Also test the common sense of life?

"Yuanfu, we have to choose the right official candidates, not the classics, the Confucianism masters."

After thinking about it, Yuan Qiangxian reluctantly accepted it, after all, the imperial examination is still the imperial examination, and the imperial court still selects officials through the imperial examination.

As long as this point remains unchanged, then even if the world's scholars are dissatisfied, they will still accept it.

However, Liu Jun's next sentence made Yuan Jixian unable to calm down.

"After the imperial examination, I am going to hold another examination to select officials. After the candidates are selected, they are given intensive training and then assigned to various places. Maybe it can be changed to a different name, and it will be called the civil service examination. In the future, the officials will be selected by self-examination, and they can even be considered, if they perform well, then after the completion of the two examinations, they can be promoted to the stream, awarded official products, and appointed as officials. ”

This really shocked Yuan Jixian, although it was said that officials and officials, but in fact officials and officials were strictly distinguished, and the boundaries were clear. An official is an official, an official is an official, and even an official is a stream, and an official is called a turbid stream, which cannot be confused.

There are many kinds of officials, one of which is the official system officials, that is, the officials who have the official establishment of the imperial court, and the number is generally not large. But even if they are officials, once they become officials, they are basically impossible to be officials anymore. No matter how good you are at the office, you will be a lifelong official.

The barrier between the officials and the officials was extremely strong.

And now, the emperor is actually preparing to select officials through examinations, and even intends to break this barrier for thousands of years, so that good officials can be promoted to officials.

In this case, what is the difference between the civil service examination and the imperial examination?

Facing Shoufu's question, Liu Jun smiled.

What's the difference? Of course, there is a difference, one of Liu Jun's long-term plans is to prepare to wait for the civil service examination to mature in the future, and when this new batch of civil servants grows up and has a certain number of good ones, they will be used to eliminate those mediocre officials, those corrupt officials, and those nerds who have passed the imperial examination and entered the ranks, but they cannot be officials at all.

In the future, he will also establish a new school system, which will no longer be just a place for those scholars with meritorious names and examinations, but will be a combination of foster education and talent acquisition. Then pass the civil service examination and select talents.

In the future, officials will have to start from the lowest officials, and it is absolutely impossible to become the magistrate of the county as soon as they want to be promoted. (To be continued.) )