As mentioned before, the palace examination only tests one policy essay, and only ranks the candidates, without elimination. However, the ranking of the palace examination has an important impact on the future entry and promotion of successful candidates, so it is still crucial.
The top three can get special honorary titles, and the top dozens of Jinshi have a greater chance of becoming a Shujishi and reaching the peak of their lives.
Those who were unfortunate enough to be ranked in the third place would only be given the title of "granted the same Jinshi origin". Although they were also genuine Jinshi, which was enough to comfort their ancestors, they were like "Ru Madam" and could not hold their heads up in front of their colleagues who were ranked in the second place. Moreover, Jinshi who were ranked in the second place usually stayed in Beijing, while most of the third place Jinshi were sent to other places, so their future careers were naturally very different.
But policy essays are at least one of the subjects that Chinese candidates train for in their daily life. It is not that there is any difficulty in terms of style. A scholar who can write eight-part essays well can write any kind of essay easily. The key issue is to have something to say. This hits the soft spot of nerds who are oblivious to the world outside and only read the books of sages. What do they know about national affairs and border defense?
Although there were policy essays in the provincial and imperial examinations before, the quality of the essays did not affect the scores. This was partly because the evaluation criteria for eight-part essays were relatively objective, and partly because their policy essays were meaningless and worthless.
Now it was time for the palace examination, where the winners had to use policy essays, and the Chinese candidates were panicking. At this time, if anyone could guess the topic correctly and ask the high officials in the capital for guidance, then he would naturally be among the top.
As for predicting the exam questions, it was not that Master Zhao was being modest. No one in the Ming Dynasty was better than him. Because he had studied the "Ming Shilu" thoroughly... In fact, Master Zhao's prediction skills were mostly derived from the "Shilu". It was a pity that the "Shilu" only had questions for the palace exam, not the metropolitan exam, let alone the provincial exam. Otherwise, given Master Zhao's shameless character, he would have gone to the exam himself and tried to pass the exam.
After all, among the four great joys in life, it is always a pity if one is missing the "successful examination". Even if one passes the imperial examination but does not become an official, being a country scholar is also good.
It's a pity that he has no hope in this life. He can only train his father and his disciples to become Jinshi, just to relieve his regret... But he has too many disciples. In the fifth year of Longqing alone, there were 9981 Jinshi.
Now Zhao Hao is going to give these eighty-one brothers of the same class...oh no, disciples, the legendary ultimate special training.
However, given his current status, it would be inappropriate to use the excuse of the ancestor's dream teaching as a pretext to directly present the test questions, just like the special training he had given his father before. In that case, the three perspectives that he had painstakingly reshaped for his disciples through the Foucault pendulum would be instantly reverted to their original state.
When a master does things, he must do it in a high-end, classy and classy way.
He asked Wang Wuyang, who was the executive vice president, to transform the best-located pavilion in the academy into an indoor venue that could accommodate 200 people and named it "Zhengming Pavilion".
Then officials from the capital will be invited... In addition to Hanlin officials such as Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, and Yu Youding, officials such as Langguan from various departments will also be invited to hold a ten-day Xiangshan Forum.
During the ten-day forum, he would give a topic every day and invite officials from relevant fields to come as guests and speak freely on the topic. He personally presided over the meeting to control the direction of the discussion and avoid deviating from the topic. After the guests left, he would make a summary speech, telling his disciples who was talking nonsense, who was talking nonsense, which words could be listened to and which words could not be believed, and finally give his own opinions... Well, actually, it was the opinions of Gao Ge Lao.
After the meeting, the students quickly wrote a policy paper on the topic of the day. In the evening, the senior brother and Yu Youding would simulate the chief executive officer, review their papers, point out their problems one by one, and ask them to revise until they were satisfied.
The next day there was another seminar, with a new topic to discuss again...
It seemed that he was following the upright and royal way. Even Yu Youding and other people who helped him mark the papers could not find any flaws.
But in fact, Zhao Hao has cleverly incorporated the palace examination questions of the fifth year of Longqing into these ten topics.
Because the examination was conducted in the emperor's voice, asking the candidates about the strategies for governing the country, so there must be specific questions.
Just like the last palace examination, the emperor asked three questions: "Strong troops to defeat the enemy", "Financial management to relieve difficulties", and "The issue of refugees". The policy essay questions in this subject also consist of three questions.
The first question is, "Can we eliminate the desire of the people to respect wealth and extravagance, and thus change the customs and achieve peace in the world?" This question is, can we make the people respect frugality and achieve social stability by reducing the desires of the people?
The second question is, "How can we achieve peace if laws alone are not enough to make the country prosperous?" This is to ask, if making laws alone is not enough to make the country prosperous, then what should we do?
The third is to let the Chinese candidates make suggestions to solve the problem of "the political form is only in place, but the reality of rituals is not there", so as to "promote education and improve customs".
To be honest, the questions this time are too big and vague, far less specific than the last time. This certainly allows candidates to have something to say, and it won't be as terrible as last time. But it is also difficult to write deeply and well, and it is difficult to make a difference.
But this can better test the level of the candidates... Asking a bunch of ignorant nerds about specific national affairs is like asking a blind man for advice, which is pure nonsense.
This also reflects the value of Mr. Zhao organizing such high-end seminars. Zhao Hao guided officials who have been in politics for many years to exchange ideas with Hanlin scholars who specialize in studying these issues. After rounds of brainstorming, he can naturally help students open up their minds and deeply understand the underlying reason behind these issues - reform!
After nearly two years of military operations, Gao Ge Lao basically resolved the threat of the Mongols, and the rebellion in Guangxi was almost quelled. This also allowed him to thoroughly establish his personal authority. In many ways, the time for reform was ripe. Gao Ge Lao, who always raced against time, wanted to use this palace examination to pave the way for his internal reforms.
If the palace examination in the second year of Longqing was a great victory for the royalists, then this palace examination was bound to be dominated by the reformists. If the Chinese candidates had learned from the previous session and advocated "the emperor is the sole ruler and the emperor has the power", they would definitely have fallen into the category of Tongjinshi.
Although Gao Ge Lao was the emperor's most trusted person, his head was determined by his buttocks. His position made him hope that "the holy emperor would rule with ease" and "the power would be entrusted to the cabinet". This had nothing to do with his relationship with the emperor, and it would be the same no matter who sat in his position.
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After the ten-day forum ended, the disciples took a short break and then received careful instruction from their predecessors, the top three, on many key points in essay writing and many things to pay attention to on the day of the palace examination.
On March 13, the disciples bid farewell to their master and fellow apprentices and went down the mountain to take the exam. According to the rules, on March 14, the successful candidates had to register at the Ministry of Rites and listen to the relevant instructions for the palace examination. On the 15th, it was the day of the palace examination.
Looking at the high-spirited disciples walking down the mountain gate in groups and disappearing into the tree-lined avenue, Master Zhao felt a sense of pride that the world's talented people came from his own school.
"I am so lucky to be Master's disciple." Wang Wuyang, who had already grown a beard, offered his flattery for the day. "With Master's scientific thinking and wise leadership, I will surely become a great scientist!"
"Yes, after the competition, everyone from Liaodong to Guangdong, from Shanxi to Guangxi will know my scientific name." How could the strong Wang Dingjue fall behind? He had to shoot more disgusting pictures than his senior brother.
"Haha, you think too simply..." Zhao Hao shook his head.
"Master, are you worried that a big tree attracts the wind and will attract suppression from Gao Gong?" Chen Yubi asked softly. His father, Chen Ge Lao, was the first cabinet member to fall at the hands of Gao Gong, and his father was squeezed out of the cabinet in an extremely humiliating way. Naturally, he did not hide his hatred for Gao Gong.
Zhao Hao shook his head again and said nothing. He couldn't say, Gao Gong won't be around for a few more days, I'm worried about my father-in-law. In a few years, he will destroy all academies and ban private lectures... How will he get through this? It's a big problem.
This doesn't mean that once you become the father-in-law and son-in-law, you can show mercy.
Because "Zhang Juzheng hated lecturing the most and said it with a vengeance." Although he was the most active in participating in the lectures at Lingji Palace and always brought a small stool to sit in the first row, it was to gain the favor of Lord Xu. In fact, he particularly hated lecturing in academies and said that there were three major harms of lecturing in academies.
The first is "colluding with each other and controlling the counties and towns." The second is "the number of followers is large and they do things in different directions." The third is "shaking the court and confusing the name and reality"!
In his view, every academy was a poisonous weed that affected stability - ideologically, most academies promoted the School of Mind, criticized the School of Principle, and attacked the orthodox teachings, which shook the country's ideological foundations; politically, a group of scholars gathered together, took imperial examinations, continuously expanded their influence, and then colluded with local gentry to form interest groups, weakening the country's ruling authority.
As the Prime Minister, the operator and maintainer of the state machinery, Zhang Juzheng had to take maintaining stability as his responsibility. If he didn't even close his son-in-law's academy, he wouldn't be able to close any of the hundreds of academies across the country.
So by then, this knife will most likely be unavoidable...
Master Zhao had a glimmer of enlightenment in his mind, but he had no intention of stopping. Instead, he pulled himself together and said to his disciples in a deep voice, "Next year, I will build three more academies in Jinan, Ningbo, and Chaozhou. You can discuss among yourselves and decide which one you want to be in charge of!"
Since I can't change my father-in-law's determination, I'll open a few more academies and accept more students before it is banned!
It’s not like burning books or burying scholars, so there’s nothing to be afraid of. At worst, I can take online courses... Oh no, correspondence courses.
Wang Wuyang, Wang Dingjue and others were delighted when they heard this. They could finally leave Beijing and fly high.
"That's great. We've all been in the capital and are almost going to get sick..." The eldest brother said with tears in his eyes, "Master, you are so kind to us."
"You have to stay and take care of Xiangshan Academy." Zhao Hao said with a smile.
"Yes, Master..." Wang Wuyang could only nod his head in grievance, and then he cheered up and said: "Master, if you ask me to go east, I will never go west. If you ask me to beat a dog, I will never chase a chicken!"
"Good, now you're acting like a senior disciple." Zhao Hao patted his shoulder with satisfaction, and Wang Wuyang felt half of his body softened.