With the news of the national examination announced all over the world.

Notices were posted in front of the county yamen of prefectures, prefectures, and counties across the country.

It quickly caused a national sensation!!

Yangzhou Prefecture, Qiantang County.

As the notice in front of the yamen was posted, countless Xiucai gathered around.

"Come and see, the imperial examination has been canceled, but it has not been completely canceled! We got the qualifications and had five more years of opportunity to take the national exam! ”

A student who read the content of the notice clearly said with his own understanding.

One of the showmen was puzzled, "What do you mean?" Is the imperial examination still cancelled? I've been waiting for the cold window to study hard for many years, have I learned in vain? ? ”

"I didn't study in vain, this notice is written in black and white, I can still participate in the imperial examination when I wait for Xiucai, and I still have five years to take the exam."

The student who understood the notice said.

"Five years, how difficult it is to five years, I only try once in three years. Only more than 100 people have been admitted, isn't this forcing us to death? ”

"No, no, no, it's changed now, this national exam is once a year, scheduled for the end of the year!"

"What??? Annually ??? ”

Hearing this, everyone was taken aback.

After reading the notice, the talents were taken aback, and immediately became ecstatic.

The so-called Xiucai is a common name for students who have passed the college examination and obtained admission qualifications.

Obtaining the qualification of talent is the lowest threshold for entering the scholar class.

To be a talent means to have fame, to be respected locally, and to have various privileges.

Exemption from errands, no need to kneel when seeing the county, the county can not be punished at will, and the county can be seen in case of official business, etc.

Some of Xiucai people are from poor families.

But getting fame doesn't necessarily bring wealth.

Xiucai didn't have a fortune, but he could receive a little money every month to live, and that money was only enough to support himself, not a family.

If you fail to pass the subsequent township examination, you are not enough to be an official.

Many Xiucai failed to go further in fame and could only return to their hometowns to make a living by teaching and other methods.

These scholars, who were not financially wealthy, but whose social status was slightly higher than that of the commoners, were called poor scholars.

And the appearance of the national examination this time is undoubtedly a way out for these poor talents!

"Once a year, that's great, even though a lot of exam content has been added, there are so many more opportunities!"

"It's a lot more, it's just too much, everyone look at what is written on this notice, this year's national examination recruits 2,000 people, and after the examination, it will be directly divided into officials, not neat!!"

No wonder this group of shows is shocking.

In the Ming Dynasty, even if you pass the Jinshi, you have to wait for the division of officials.

The Ming Dynasty did not say that it was retired, and it was almost until death.

Waiting for the official position to be vacated in the west can they have the opportunity to become an official, so the favorite thing for the jinshi to do is to attend the funeral of the official

"Directly divided into officials after being admitted? Really, really???? ”

"It's true, but most of the people recruited this year have been awarded official positions in Beiping and Nanjing, and these two places have abolished the officials, and a new yamen has been added, and many official positions have come out!"

"That's not bad, but I heard that the treatment in the capital is very good now, if it is in Beiping, wouldn't it be a great thing, and I will also take my wife to Beiping to enjoy the blessings."

"You really think, if you want to stay in Beiping as an official, you must at least take the top 100 exams, and if you take the 2,000th exam, you can only be a dormitory member, that is, an official in the village."

Countless talents have discussed and expressed their opinions.

"Village official? The village officials are not bad! At least if you have an official position, you can eat the emperor's grain."

An old man in his sixties had bright eyes, and he said excitedly: "The old man is going to take the exam this year!" ”

There was a look of surprise from someone who knew this old talent.

This old Xiucai was admitted to Xiucai in the Yuan Dynasty.

After that, I gave up after failing to pass the Jinshi many times, and now I see the opportunity to appear again, and I plan to take the exam again!

"What are you waiting for, everyone hurry up and sign up!!"

With the call of one person, countless people rushed into the yamen.

"I want to sign up!"

"I'm going to sign up too!"

One by one, they rushed to the front of the registrant very excitedly.

"All share, one by one queue !!"

The people from the yamen shouted, and immediately Zhang Luo people came to register.

And just like that, the registration begins.

Because there are too many people.

The registration was not completed in the afternoon, and almost all the showmen in the entire county came.

In the past, almost all of those old talents who gave up the imperial examination are here.

Even the magistrate was alarmed, and Zhang Luo increased his manpower to organize the registration work.

There are too many talents who have signed up, and there are so many people that the yamen is crowded.

It's a once-in-a-decade event!

"This Ming Dynasty is going to change the sky"

In the crowd, a fifteen-year-old muttered.

He also silently lined up in the line.

He just won Xiucai in this year's township examination, and originally thought that it would take another three years to be admitted to the Jinshi, but he didn't expect that just after the Xiucai exam, this test will be gone, and it will become the so-called national examination.

After waiting in line all day, it was finally his turn.

With a stroke of his pen, he wrote two big words on the registration form: Yu Qian!

And so, as the news spread.

The news of this national examination is widely known, and gradually almost everyone knows about it.

Many talents who realized it later also rushed to the yamen to register.

It took ten days for the county to register the names of all the talents.

The magistrate did the math and found that there were more than 500 people in the entire county who applied for the exam.

Yangzhou Mansion belongs to the rich land in the south, so there are many people who study and take the imperial examination.

But it is indeed surprising that the 500 talents accumulated in a county for decades are referred to together.

Coincidentally.

This is true not only here, but all over the country.

In short, the holding of this national examination is unimaginably large.

Soon, the number of people from all over the country was reported to the capital.

In the Temple of Nourishing the Heart.

Zhu Yuanzhang is here again.

Sitting on the recliner, watching Zhu Di handle government affairs.

He is an idle person, who was unable to do anything before, but now he is in good spirits and has begun to participate in government affairs again.

However, the main thing is to put forward opinions, and it does not interfere with Zhu Di.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang looks very kind and does not scold.

At this time, there were Li Xiao, Lu Zhen in the main hall, and Zhu Gaochi was also among them.

"There are so many references for the national examination this time, and more than 100,000 shows across the country have registered!!"

Zhu Di looked at the news of the candidates in his hand, was dumbfounded in surprise, and muttered: "When did our Ming Dynasty have so many talents??" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the temple was amazed.

There are students who go to Beijing to take the exam, but this time there are too many.

That's a terrifying figure of 100,000.

Is this number normal?

Zhu Yuanzhang has not managed government affairs for many years, and he was slightly surprised when he heard this number and asked: "100,000 Xiucai, you are not mistaken, right?" ”

Lu Zhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, arched his hand and said: "Back to the Emperor and the Holy Lord, there are indeed only 10,000 or 20,000 references in the past years' examinations, but this year is really special.

Among them, most of the 200,000 talents are talents accumulated over the years, and there are even old talents from the previous dynasty.

Most of them have been taking the imperial examination for decades, and there are many students who have given up.

The accumulation of so many factors has caused the number of applicants to reach 100,000, and the minister is worried. The capital cannot accommodate so many candidates. ”

The voice fell.

Everyone was silent, and no one spoke for a long time.

The number of 100,000 talents is indeed shocking.

"There are so many talents in the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang was the first to open his mouth to break the silence at the moment and scolded:

"We really didn't take this into account, it's only been almost 40 years since the Ming Dynasty was established, and there are already 100,000 talents, I never thought of it!"

"Every year, these talents have to allocate a lot of money to support, if the imperial examination continues to be carried out like this, after a few hundred years, there will be more and more talents, and it is possible to reach one million!"

"If it comes to that point, Daming will have more than a million people in Xiucai alone, these people learn Confucianism, they can't go to the battlefield to fight, they can be replaced by soldiers, those soldiers can still go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, and open up territory for us!"

"What's the use of raising these shows, we have to send him money every month, it's better to raise a million chickens and ducks, and a million chickens and ducks can still be killed and eaten meat."

Zhu Yuanzhang scolded directly, and his words were not bad.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to ensure that the students of Guangzhou University had no distractions in their studies, Zhu Yuanzhang had good intentions.

According to the record of "Ming History, Food and Goods Zhi VI", the reward specification is: "One liter of rice per day, and the subordinate officials of fish and salt will give it." ”

Anyone who is admitted to Xiucai will be given about 2 catties of one liter of rice and fish oil and salt per person per day.

It is worth noting that this benefit is lifelong, that is, as long as Xiucai's fame has always existed and his life has not ended, this benefit can be enjoyed forever.

But at that time, there was no refrigerator, and it was not conducive to storing fish and meat every day, and it was not good for health to let Xiucai eat pickled food all the time.

As a result, this benefit was not implemented from the beginning, but was distributed in the form of cash: each talent could get one tael of silver per month.

Li Xiao bowed slightly, it is true, it seems that Zhu Yuanzhang has woken up.

In the Ming Dynasty, because of this system, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was no one million Xiucai in the whole country, because there were birth, old age, sickness and death, but there were almost more than 500,000 meritorious and famous Xiucai.

The current treatment of Xiucai is indeed okay, and it is not a problem for one person to feed the whole family without hunger, which is equivalent to a low-income household.

The premise is that you can't get married, and you can't support your parents, once you get married and have a child, if you don't get into the official with that money, the whole family will starve to death.

However, for more than 200 years after Zhu Yuanzhang, the system of 1 tael of silver per month has not changed, and later emperors have not taken into account factors such as rising prices and inflation.

Therefore, in the late Ming Dynasty, it was difficult for Xiucai to eat enough for himself with this 1 tael of silver, so he was called poor Xiucai.

Although it is a poor talent, if it is 500,000 poor talents, each of them will be paid, it is not a small amount, and the court will spend a lot of silver taels, dragging down the treasury.

"Imperial grandfather" Zhu Gaochi stuck out his tongue and said: "At the beginning, it was the rule you set to strive for the people of the world to do things for the imperial court. This."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang pretended not to know, and looked up at the sky: "Shall we say this?" No, which official should have proposed it, we accidentally agreed."

After thinking about it carefully, Zhu Yuanzhang found that he really said this, and the policy was also set by him.

But now after being with Li Xiao, the mind has opened.

Soon I can think of the impact of this policy on the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years later, and I will wake up.

Zhu Di laughed and helped down the steps: "How could my father say this, you must have misremembered." ”

Zhu Gaochi smiled and nodded: "Grandson did remember wrong, grandpa is not strange." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang bowed slightly, this is about the same.

At this time, Zhu Di agreed: "Father, what you said is right, these 100,000 Xiucai are each person per year, and the imperial court will allocate 12 taels of silver, and 100,000 people is 120,000 taels, which is not a small number, if it continues to develop like this, there will really be 1 million Xiucai, that is, 1.2 million taels of silver." How good it is to take this 1.2 million taels of silver to raise soldiers, it is good that this imperial examination has been canceled, and the identities of these meritorious names should also be canceled. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled: "That's right! The abolition of the imperial examination and the gradual abolition of fame and fame have indeed seen the benefits, first of all, the benefit is to save silver. ”

"It's not just money saved."

Li Xiao smiled and said: "Emperor Taishang, think about it, these talents are not only these benefits, but the big head is still behind." ”

"Big head."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it, realized it again, and said slowly: "Yes. Let's stipulate that Xiucai can also be exempted from errand service and taxes."

"That's right, that's the big head!"

Li Xiao nodded and said: "The first privilege of this Xiucai is to be exempted from forced labor, and at the beginning, the Emperor Taishang stipulated that those who have a Xiucai's household registration in the family do not need to serve forced labor. You are indeed kind, and you hope to encourage people to read books, and launch Baguwen to bring Han culture back. Because after all, at the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Han culture was poisoned by the Yuan Dynasty, and there were not many real readers. Emperor Taishang, you have done a very good job in this, in fact, the thinking of the Han people is mainly from Confucianism, there are many scholars, and the culture of our Han people is prosperous again! ”

Li Xiao praised it first, but in fact, it was not a sycophant, but a serious one.

This is indeed a more correct thing that Zhu Yuanzhang has done.

At the beginning, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty did not belong to the Han people, although they followed the dynastic system of the Han people and still held the imperial examination, but they did not agree with it from the bottom of their hearts.

This also led to the gradual loss of Han culture, and the Han people lacked cultural self-confidence.

It was after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty that he promoted the imperial examination and launched the eight-strand text.

And the so-called Baguwen is the four books and five classics, and those things are the origin of Han culture.

There are two sides to everything, although these eight strands of literature are not good, but for the decline of Confucianism in the early Ming Dynasty, when there was no cultural self-confidence, encouraging people in the world to learn Confucianism is actually to help the Han people's cultural self-confidence return.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said: "Li Shengren, you didn't approve our eight-strand essay at the beginning, it's worthless, what's the matter, now you say that we did the right thing." ”

Li Xiao hurriedly arched his hand and said: "This time is not that time, Emperor Taishang, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were not many literati, and Confucianism was declining, and you are very right to do this." We have to look at everything from two sides, and you did the right thing at the beginning. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang got up and walked two steps in the hall, looked at Li Xiao, and teased: "It was right at the beginning, so now we are wrong?" ”

Li Xiao knew that this was Zhu Yuanzhang joking with himself, and he extended his life, and now it was a little too much in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and it was not a big deal, he smiled: "Now, you can't say wrong, the time has changed, and this policy should also keep pace with the times." ”

"Well, it's a good word to keep up with the times."

After Zhu Yuanzhang was praised, he was still very happy, and said: "Li Xiao, we have a split between us, and we are always called by the emperor and the emperor."

Li Xiao smiled and said, "The big brother? ”

In the past, it was called in private, and others didn't know about it.

This is the first time that this is openly called Big Brother.

The words fell.

Everyone was shocked!

Zhu Di said in his heart, you kid, you used to call the eldest brother in private, but now you call the eldest brother in public, do I want to call you uncle, I don't want to lose face???

Hearing this, Lu Zhen's eyes widened, Li Xiao actually called Zhu Yuanzhang big brother?

He was sweating on his forehead, and secretly looked at Zhu Yuanzhang next to him, hey, he found that Zhu Yuanzhang seemed. I'm not angry.

Zhu Yuanzhang was only slightly stunned, and then smiled.

He originally thought that Li Xiao would not dare to scream, but this kid was bold!

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Okay! This big brother screams affectionately, haha"

He walked up to Li Xiao, patted Li Xiao on the shoulder, and said, "You are a saint now, we are the emperor, we are two brothers, who dares to gossip?" ”

Li Xiao smiled and nodded: "What the eldest brother said is yes." ”

Lu Zhen gasped, his heart was really like this.

A Confucian saint, a emperor!

These two identities are called brothers, there is nothing wrong with it!

Good guys, throughout the ages, there have been a lot of powerful ministers.

But Li Xiao, a relative and powerful minister, can still have such an iron relationship with the two emperors, there is no one before and no one after him, this is the only case!

Outrageous, outrageous!

This Li Xiao's thigh, I Lu Zhen has to hug it well

But Zhu Di stood aside and was a little embarrassed, ah, yes, yes, yes, you are all right.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, glanced at Zhu Di, and found that Zhu Di was silent, seeing Zhu Di's deflated appearance, he was in a good mood, and looked at Li Xiao again: "By the way, what did you say just now??" ”

Li Xiao said: "Big brother, just now we talked about the influence of Xiucai on our court. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang bowed slightly: "By the way, let's remember, you just said that Xiucai is exempt from forced labor, you can tell me, what impact will this Xiucai be exempted from forced labor?" ”

At this time, everyone looked at Li Xiao, feeling that every time the Ming National Master stayed here, the others completely became listeners, and there was no interference at all.

Li Xiao smiled slightly, and then explained: "If the eldest brother trusts me so much, then I dare to guess that if it continues like this, there will be more and more talents, and the total amount of forced labor will remain the same, so the burden on those who do not have talents will become heavier and heavier, and the lives of the people will become more and more miserable, and it will be easy for the people to change." ”

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt very reasonable: "Your speculation may really appear." ”

Li Xiao continued: "In addition, Xiucai's second privilege is to be exempt from taxes. Big brother, when you set this strategy at that time, it was also based on the national conditions, and the poor people in Xiucai's family at that time could apply for exemption from their own taxes.

In fact, this is a good thing in itself, after all, the basic living ability of readers is not high, and the ability to make money is basically none.

In this way, these scholars can live a little better.

But as far as I know, many landlords' acres of land are hung on Xiucai, who can help others exempt from taxes in order to make a profit.

If there are more and more talents, won't there be less and less land that can be taxed in this country? ”

After listening to this.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly realized that Li Xiao's vision of the problem was so far.

This is true now, but it is not serious.

But if there are more and more talents, after the descendants inherit the throne, won't they still be troubled by these things.

After listening to the analysis, Zhu Yuanzhang said happily, "Let's cancel the imperial examination, it's the right move!" ”

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile, and also agreed: "Father, in fact, it is not only the imperial examination, when Li Xiao recovered the land for state-owned in Beiping, these problems have already been solved. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "It is too difficult to nationalize the land of the whole country, and it is impossible to do it now." And except for Beiping, there are no factories in other places, how can farmers make a living without fields? Take your time in this matter. ”

Li Xiao smiled: "That's right, we can't eat a fat man in one bite." The abolition of the imperial examination is the first step, boiling the frog in warm water, and after five years, after all the fame is canceled, and after the tax exemption is abolished, the acres of land in the hands of those landlords who evade taxes will naturally surface, and the time will come."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up, and the bottom of his eyes flashed: "Tax evasion is a big crime, when the time comes, kill a batch, shock a batch, and get back the land of these landlords and gentry first!" ”

Zhu Di was dumbfounded, he couldn't imagine that this was still a serial plan.

It was the gentry class that was really dealt with

This was the first step in the nationalization of land, which was similar to what Li Xiao did in Beiping.

Lu Zhen stood aside, shocked beyond measure.

High, really high!

Lu Zhen was still in a daze, and Zhu Di suddenly spoke.

"Lu Zhen listens to the order." Zhu Di looked at Lu Zhen.

"Wechen is here." Lu Zhen came back to his senses and hurriedly surrendered his hand to obey the order.

Zhu Di instructed, "There are still three months before the national examination at the end of the year, and in these three months, you will discuss with the Ministry of Industry to build a tribute academy that can accommodate 100,000 candidates in this capital, and you must do a good job in this matter, and there must be no mistakes!" ”

"Within three months, we will build a tribute academy that can accommodate 100,000 candidates."

Lu Zhen's scalp was numb, and he didn't dare to agree indiscriminately, so he arched his hand and said, "Holy Lord, I'm afraid it's a little difficult."

Zhu Di was about to speak.

Li Xiao reminded on the side: "Lu Shangshu, it's not difficult, you only need to discuss with the Ministry of Industry first, come up with a design drawing, and then issue bids for this project separately, let private construction institutions bid, and countless people will start construction together, and it can be completed in March." Now there are many construction companies in Beiping, and we must learn to be flexible. ”

"Huh" Lu Zhen was slightly stunned, and then arched his hand and said, "It seems to be the truth." ”

"Elm head, do you still want to be taught by the national teacher about this matter?" Zhu Di didn't have a good airway.

"Thank you for your advice." Lu Zhen hurriedly bowed to Li Xiao, and then bowed to Zhu Di and said: "The minister will do it, contact the Ministry of Industry, and the minister will retire." ”

Zhu Di waved his hand, and Lu Zhen hurriedly slipped away.

After the matter was done, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Xiao and said, "Li Xiao, are you free?" ”

Li Xiao smiled: "Yes, the eldest brother speaks, and he becomes free even if he is not available." ”

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang took Li Xiao's hand and walked towards the outside of the hall, "Let's go, the table tennis you invented last time was very interesting, let's go and meet."

"Okay."

That's it, Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Xiao walked away shoulder to shoulder.

Look at the backs of the two.

Zhu Di was slightly stunned, feeling confused.

Hey. Why do you feel like I, the emperor, are like a puppet? No, I want to go on a northern expedition, otherwise the limelight will be robbed by my son-in-law!!

"Daddy." After seeing that everyone was leaving, Zhu Gaochi took a note and asked Zhu Di for instructions, "Dad, look at the recent plague in Henan and Shanxi, how to deal with it."

Zhu Di waved his hand, "You can do it yourself, I will go to the barracks now to see how the second brother is training." ”

After speaking, Zhu Di left.

Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Di's back and muttered in his heart:

"Dad, you're too easy to be the emperor, I'm worried about the big things, I'm worried about this big bunch of bad things, you don't have to worry about anything, you puppet."

West of Beiping City.

Zhu Yunxi looked stunned, bought twenty catties of rice from the street, carried it on his shoulders in a cloth bag, and carried a bag of meat in his hand, and was rushing home.

Looking at it, it looks like an ordinary person, and it's a little stupid.

But it's all faked.

After all, he has been in the prison for ten years, and almost all people come out like this.

It has been two months since he came to Beiping, except for the first time he came to the capital, after meeting Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang gave him one hundred taels of silver, and ignored him.

Li Xiao and the others naturally didn't pay attention to him.

Zhu Yunxi bought a yard here and lived an ordinary life.

He wandered around the city of Beiping every day, bought some food and went home, and secretly observed the changes in Beiping over the years

"Beiping, it's really earth-shattering. Li Xiao is really a man of God."

Closing the courtyard door, Zhu Yunxi's eyes instantly became wise, and he no longer looked stupid just now.

He walked into the room from the courtyard and found that there was one more person in the room, and it was Shura.

"Coming back?" Zhu Yunxi said: "No one has found out." ”

"Holy." Shura said: "I've investigated everywhere, and no one is watching you here, and no one is paying attention to you at all." ”

Zhu Yunxi's heart flashed with loss, and then smiled: "That's better, by the way, how about going to the Han River to investigate this time?" ”

Speaking of this, Shura's eyes showed joy, "Holy Lord, great news, then Chen Youliang. What a gift for you! ”

Hearing this, Zhu Yunxi's eyes lit up.

(End of chapter)