This feeling - is a bit weird!
It doesn’t seem like it’s a matter of six or ten dishes, but rather that I’m never full all day and live like a beggar.
Zhu Youxiao suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, said a few words of encouragement, and sent Mr. Wei away.
I am the emperor, why should I bother to think hard and engage in intrigue when fighting against a bunch of corrupt civil servants like you?
Zhu Youxiao sneered, stood up, stretched his arms, and decided to finish his work for the day.
"Your Majesty, where will you rest tonight?" Wang Tigan asked politely, bowing. "I will send someone to inform you and have them prepare to welcome you."
Zhu Youxiao then remembered that he had three wives! In addition to Empress Zhang Yan, there were also Concubine Wang Liang and Concubine Duan Chun who were brought into the palace together!
Touching his chin and thinking for a while, Zhu Youxiao felt that Concubine Duan seemed more beautiful, so he ordered Wang Tigan to send someone to inform him to sleep at Concubine Duan's place in Yonghe Palace tonight.
Although I can beat ten, I have to take it slow and steady, one at a time!
Zhu Youxiao yawned and set off. It was another "wedding night", so beautiful!
………………
In February, the capital city was already showing signs of spring.
Today was another sunny day, bringing a refreshing and uplifting feeling. This was especially true for the candidates in the Imperial Examination Hall, who were about to take their final exam.
As usual, the third round of "strategy questions" was much simpler than the first two. This was because the examiners focused more on the eight-part essay in the first round, and the quality of the strategy questions was not very important. As long as the essay was coherent and on-topic, it would be fine.
But this year is very different. Not only did the emperor ask the question "What are your abilities and what position do you want to hold" at the beginning, but this "strategy question" was also asked by the emperor himself, which is of extraordinary significance.
Since the emperor himself set the questions, the examiners naturally could not take it lightly, and some excellent test papers would even be presented to the emperor for his review.
If you write an essay that pleases the emperor, it is easy to be appreciated and reused; if the emperor is not satisfied, no matter how well you write the essay, you are likely to be rejected.
Therefore, the candidates were well rested and waited for the "Cewen" examination papers to be handed out with both anticipation and anxiety.
In the courtroom, the chief examiner Yuan Keli and the deputy examiner Xu Guangqi looked at each other with complicated expressions. On the table was a roll of yellow silk.
After a long while, Yuan Keli gave a wry smile and said, "Your Majesty has made up his mind. I think we should just send the questions out!"
Xu Guangqi also made the same judgment. He submitted the questions last night and the exam started today. Even if there was something wrong, it was too late to make changes.
What's more, the Imperial Examination Hall was locked and they could not enter or leave, and they could not even submit memorials to make suggestions.
On the unrolled yellow silk was a passage of text, which was exactly the information provided by the "Ce Wen". According to later generations, it means giving you a piece of information, making up your own title, and writing an argumentative essay.
"The Ming Dynasty is plagued by numerous problems. First, factional strife is causing the country to fail, government policies are being misguided, and efficiency is low. Second, the army is in disarray and lacks preparations. Third, the treasury is in decline, with revenues exceeding expenditures. Fourth, powerful officials are shameless and embezzlement is rampant..."
The person who did this was none other than the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty - the emperor.
Although officials including the Donglin Party and people in opposition often satirized the government and criticized officials, demanding integrity and dedication, revitalizing the administration of officials, eliminating the accumulated malpractices in the government and the public, and opposing the corruption and abuse of power by the powerful...
But it is rare to see someone as rude as the young emperor in exposing someone's scars, even to the point of bleeding.
Moreover, as an emperor, he personally defined the first of the Ming Dynasty's long-standing ills as "party strife harming the country", which was tantamount to sending an extremely disturbing signal.
Party struggles began in the Wanli Dynasty. There were many factions such as Donglin, Zhejiang, Qi, Chu, Xuan, and Kun, and they competed with each other. This is a fact that everyone knows.
But to link it with harming the country and listing it as the first of the evils of the Ming Dynasty is a serious accusation.
Judging from the emperor's attitude during the party struggles, he usually watched from the sidelines, maintained a balance, and did not directly intervene.
Yuan Keli didn't know how the young emperor would intervene, whether to support one faction and suppress the other, or to hold the imperial power and stir up a storm.
He hesitated for a moment, then sighed helplessly and said, "After the examination, I will appear before His Majesty. Unrest in the court is not good for the country."
Xu Guangqi blinked and said, "Your Majesty is young, and perhaps a little hasty, but he is also eager to seek governance and revitalize the country."
Compared with Yuan Keli's worries, Xu Guangqi was much less concerned.
As a "heretic" in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, he suffered a lot from these "upright gentlemen" who formed cliques for personal gain and attacked dissidents.
Your Majesty wants to revitalize the government and eliminate factional strife, which is very good! It's a bit anxious, but young people are understandable.
Yuan Keli glanced at "Xu Baoluo", smiled bitterly and shook his head. He didn't want to argue with this guy who believed in God, and ordered his men to send out the test questions.
Xu Guangqi didn't take it seriously, sat upright, and began to mark the papers. He was mainly looking at the ancient version of the "job application resume", and left the eight-part essay and other things to others to mark.
Your Majesty's move is very clever. Although it seems that there has been no major change in the imperial examination system, the selection criteria have undergone unknown changes.
Look at this candidate, he is actually knowledgeable about water conservancy. Even if his eight-legged essay and classics are rubbish, the emperor will still recruit him for an important position, right?
Well, well, this candidate is even more talented. He has read "The Book of Divine Artifacts", is interested in equipment manufacturing, and even complained about the three-barreled gun.
This guy is talking nonsense. As for your specialties, you said you hate evil and are upright, and you want to be a censor who can correct current ills and criticize corrupt officials.
It turns out that your specialty is being a troll and you can do nothing but talk.
Xu Guangqi curled his lips and threw the paper aside.
Inside the examination hall, the test questions were announced, unsurprisingly causing a stir among the candidates. Fortunately, they were all in small private rooms, so any expressions or shock were their own, and no one would look at them.
Party strife harms the country?!
This conclusion is actually not new. The fall of the Song Dynasty can serve as a lesson.
Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, the government was highly vigilant against the problem of factions and punished them severely.
Zhu Baba clearly stipulated in the "Great Ming Code" that "officials who form cliques and disrupt government will be beheaded, their wives and children will be enslaved, and their property will be confiscated by the government. Any government official who colluded with the inner palace or attendants, leaked information, cheated through connections, and submitted a joint petition will be beheaded, and their wives and children will be exiled 3,000 miles away."
In order to avoid the formation of factions, the imperial court also strictly managed officials. In addition to supervision by the Ministry of Education and the Imperial Household, it also strengthened the eunuchs' interference in politics, so that the bureaucratic system and the internal official system would check and balance each other.
Furthermore, there was no prime minister to avoid absolute power; censors were allowed to speak out on the news, strengthening oversight; supervisors were low-ranking officials but given significant power, thus inciting infighting among officials.
However, no matter how good the regulations were, they would gradually become obsolete under the feudal system. There was no other way around it. The system was flawed, the emperor was flawed, and all these factors combined to create the chaotic situation of factional strife in the late Ming Dynasty.
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