In Jiangnan, winter is not like winter, and spring comes quietly. However, the first major event in the first year of Zhaowu touched the hearts of scholars all over the world, and the days were calculated all the time. Just after the New Year's Festival, some scholars rushed to Nanjing, lest they could not find a house to live in when the examination date was approaching. As the date approached, there were more and more people in Nanjing, the inns were full, and the government temporarily found a house, which could be regarded as solving the problem of living for scholars.

Since the entry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has not conducted such a formal imperial examination. Whether it is the size of the number of people or the subjects of the examination, they are different from the past, some people say that it shows the style of the new dynasty, and some people say that the new emperor does not like the customs and wants to be different.

In any case, the bait of the imperial examination is still the most tempting for scholars. The slight change did not affect their enthusiasm. Due to the late recovery of the north and the lack of talent compared with the south, most of the people who came to participate in the first imperial examination of the new dynasty were people from the south.

The content of the exam has long been revealed, and it was drafted by the new emperor himself. Although he has the heart of reform, Zhu Yongxing knows that it cannot be achieved overnight, so he does not overthrow all of them. After thinking about it repeatedly, he divided the content of the exam into three parts: the first part is miscellaneous, that is, some common sense things, accounting for 20% of the total score; The second part is the current affairs policy, which tests the writing and the candidate's ability to think deeply, accounting for 60% of the total score; The third part is specialization, that is, the candidate's specialty, and the score accounts for 20%.

The eight shares are gone, and the opposition was once very strong, but Zhu Yongxing was uncompromising, and even made it clear that even if everyone resisted, he would never change his will. There are academy training officials, Zhu Yongxing is not afraid, isn't there such a sentence, Xiucai rebelled, and it will not be successful in three years. It's just a mouthful of words.

"Hooray. Hooray, hooray! "The old imperial city of Nanjing was cleaned up and used as the location of the exam, and the candidates knelt down to listen to the order, and then shouted long live. The decree was nothing more than words of condolence on the face of the officials, and the examinees were more eager to know what the exam questions were.

There are two examiners. Chen Shaoyu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Huangyan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, actually didn't know what the emperor's exam questions were. The first part of the paper was printed in the palace and has been sealed until it is being escorted by the palace guards today. The second part of the exam questions is the Huang Ling package handed out by Zhu Yongxing in the morning, and now it can be regarded as the light of day.

Chen Shaoyu and Zhang Huangyan humbled each other, opened the package, and took out the paper inside. It is a question of four current affairs policies. The first question is "The Death of the Nation", the second is "Why the Tartars Swept the World", the third is "How to Make the People Rich and the Country Strong", and the fourth is "The Rule of Law".

The examiner will read the four questions aloud to the candidates, and the inscriptions will be written on a large piece of paper for the candidates to copy, and then the first and third parts of the test papers will be distributed to the candidates, and then the candidates will be sent into the small room one by one to answer.

Although the rules have changed too much, Zhang Huangyan and Chen Shaoyu are contemplating the deep meaning behind these four current affairs policy topics.

Zhu Yongxing once told them. This imperial examination does not necessarily have to be ranked by scores, if the candidate has a certain professional skill. Or if you have a unique opinion in a certain aspect, you can also be selected to participate in the temple examination. In other words, Zhu Yongxing attaches more importance to expertise and prefers creative talents.

With such an analysis, these four strategic topics are not too unexpected. But do these four topics well. And let Zhu Yongxing see it, but it is not simple.

"National Martyrdom" has nothing to say, taken from the works of Qu Yuan, the great poet of Chu during the Warring States Period, as long as it praises heroism and patriotism, it has high hopes for snow washing away the national humiliation. Even if it's on the subject.

The third and fourth questions have some ways to test the candidates' understanding of civil affairs, economy, and the rule of law.

The key is the third question, which involves too wide a range and has many taboos, which is really difficult. In fact, the title also deliberately avoided some sensitive words, such as Jiashen, Death and so on. But the essence is expressed through the guò title. Therefore, candidates should be able to think about why the Jiashen Rebellion could happen, why it was difficult to resist after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, and the remnants of the Ming Dynasty were almost wiped out. This inevitably mentions the various missteps and malpractices of the Ming Dynasty, and inevitably criticizes and exposes.

In other words, the third question is to expose the shortcomings, to find the problems, and to learn the lessons.

"Jiashen's Rebellion-" Zhang Huangyan hesitated for a moment, and said cautiously to Chen Shaoyu: "It's a little sensitive. If someone or a certain army is involved, will people be uneasy? ”

The Jiashen Rebellion must inevitably talk about Li Zicheng and the Dashun Army, and if the words are inappropriate, we must take into account the reactions of the princes, generals, and soldiers of the rest of the Dashun Army. Zhang Huangyan is so worried, but it is not unreasonable.

Chen Shaoyu has followed Zhu Yongxing for a longer time and understands Zhu Yongxing's thinking better than Zhang Huangyan. He pondered seriously for a moment, guessed and said: "The Jiashen Rebellion is something that cannot be avoided, and it must always be recorded in history. Since Banzai has this question, and does not discriminate against or suppress King Zheng and others, he must have made up his mind that he has made a conclusion in his heart, and it is not a bad thing to use this to make a conclusion in one fell swoop. ”

If handled properly, it will naturally take a long-term view. Zhang Huangyan pondered Chen Shaoyu's words, nodded slightly, according to his understanding of Zhu Yongxing, it is obviously impossible to settle old accounts, then there will definitely be an excuse for Dashun Jun. It's just that if you want to do this, you have to blame most of the fault on the imperial court, and the Lie Emperor is also to blame......

Could it be—Zhang Huangyan shook his head, the more he thought about it, the more he thought about it. It is also true that the death of Ming is not a unilateral reason, but the result of a joint effort. Moreover, this is not caused in the short term, if it is traced, even Wanli is responsible.

"It's too big." Chen Shaoyu has been thinking about it, and also issued the same sigh, "It seems simple, it is clear at a glance, but it is difficult to find the key to it." And there's a question of guts. ”

It is indeed not easy to accumulate shortcomings and make direct admonitions, no matter what it is. The gentleman's heart is unpredictable, who knows which sentence is not right, and if he annoys the emperor, this career will be over.

"Long live benevolence, never murder by punishment, those candidates should have heard of it!" Zhang Huangyan is not too worried about this, after all, researching and understanding the emperor's liking and temperament should also be a must-do job for candidates.

"Hehe, that's right." Chen Shaoyu smiled and said, "Gu Zhi thinks it's famous, it's hard to distinguish, right?" ”

Zhang Huangyan smiled helplessly and nodded, who can really guess this person's heart. Whether it is a direct invitation to pet, or a real strength and loyalty, who can tell it from the surface?

…………… (To be continued......)