Spring Examination
Chapter 96: Spring Examination
Despite the shortage of manpower, the first spring examination in the North officially began.
When Chu Huaibei got the list of examinees, he shook his head. There were not many people who signed up, and even fewer who were from aristocratic families.
Chu Huaibei had been prepared for this situation. After all, she had been calling for the killing of the aristocratic families for the past six months. It would be strange if the aristocratic families did not hate her. Not everyone was like Zheng Wenxiao.
In this world, knowledge is still in the hands of the wealthy families. Very few common people can afford to send their children to school. Due to the limitations of the imperial examination system, merchants only require their children to be literate and do not care much about whether they can pass the exam.
The main force of the imperial examinations were still students from aristocratic families.
Humph, you think you can suppress her and make her bow to the aristocratic family like this? Dream on!
Chu Huaibei wrote down his ideas first and discussed them with the invigilators after the Spring Examination.
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Chu Huaibei took the test papers and looked at them one by one. To be honest, some of the words used were obscure and difficult to understand, and an article on current affairs left her confused.
Later on, I just picked out the ones that the examiner circled and praised, and now I can basically understand them all.
She found out that two of the test papers that she was most optimistic about were occupied by Du Jiping's two apprentices, and the other was Zheng Wenxiao's grandson, who was only fifteen years old. It must be said that the children of the top scholar were really not bad.
However, since I promised him, I have to do it. Fifteen-year-old officials are also a rare species. As for whether they can do a good job, I am not worried at all. If the child doesn't exist, there is still the father. If the father doesn't exist, there is still the old father...
After finishing the Spring Examination, Chu Huaibei gathered the examiners together.
"My Lords, I have called you here today mainly to discuss an idea of mine with you."
"Your Majesty, please speak."
The first person to speak was Mr. Xiao.
"As you all have seen, not many people participated in this Spring Examination, and even fewer were able to take the exam. This king is considering holding another exam in two months."
Seeing that everyone was frowning and silent, Chu Huaibei continued.
"This time, the exam won't test the Four Books and Five Classics, but rather business and crafts. Business requires at least half of the questions to be in mathematics, and crafts cover a wider range of subjects. Bricklayers, carpenters, blacksmiths, sculptors, papermakers, and even alchemists can participate. As long as you can read and write, you'll be qualified."
After saying that, the examiners not only frowned, but also began to wrinkle their faces.
"Your Highness, I understand business quite well, and can select officials who can be responsible for taxation. The craftsmen behind us are barely enough to fill in as clerks. What are the engraving, papermaking, and alchemy masters for?"
Old Xiao considers himself not a rigid person, but this alchemist has really touched the bottom line.
He hasn't even become emperor yet, and he already wants to live forever? I've never heard of this hobby in the Chu family.
Seeing that everyone else nodded in agreement, Chu Huai thought that these old men who were engaged in literature were not as rigid as she had imagined. She had thought that they would reject it from the beginning.
"Well, my Lords, nowadays all books are made by the bookstore's engravers who first carve the entire article on a stone slab and then make rubbings of it, right?"
"That's right."
The person who answered was Lord Yuan, whose wife's dowry shop included a bookstore.
"This kind of whole-text carving requires extremely high craftsmanship from the master. Not a single word can be wrong throughout the whole text. It usually takes six months to a year to carve a book."
"But I know a new printing method. If I get a new book, it will only take half a day to start printing."
"That's impossible!"
Lord Yuan had never heard of such a great craftsman.
"Nothing is impossible. Once I make it, you will know."
"To accomplish this, I need a skilled carving master."
"I understand. With the addition of the papermaker, the prince wants to lower the cost of education so that more people can afford it. What about the alchemist?"
After listening to Chu Huaibei's explanation of the carving master and the papermaking, Old Xiao guessed what she was thinking.
"Regarding this, my lords, have you ever seen or heard of my thunder bomb?"
Chu Huaibei asked back.
"I've heard there will be a loud bang, injuring a large number of people."
"I have also heard a little bit about it."
"I have seen it before."
"That's good. The main raw material of this thing is made by the alchemist."
Chu Huaibei's ordinary tone caused a huge wave in the room.
"What!"
"How is that possible!"
“Unbelievable!”
······
It’s not their fault, after all, alchemists nowadays have a bad reputation.
"Your Highness, I am competent enough as the chief examiner of the business economics department. Who should I let examine the craftsmen behind us?"
Old Xiao has accepted the idea proposed by Chu Huaibei, as long as the prince does not ask someone to refine the elixir.
Mr. Xiao's words made everyone in the room fall into deep thought. They, who had read the Four Books and Five Classics for most of their lives, seemed not very suitable to be the examiners this time.
Chu Huaibei has already considered this issue.
"My Lords, since this is a test of skill, I believe we should prepare a spacious area and have everyone complete a task simultaneously within a specified timeframe. For example, a bricklayer would build a wall, a carpenter would make a model, and a blacksmith would forge a tool."
"When the time is up, the ranking will be based on the perfection of the items they made. We can even cordon off the area and let nearby residents come over to watch and participate in the judging, ensuring fairness and justice."
"If we hold this type of scientific examination in the future, I believe more and more people will come to take the exam."
After Chu Huaibei finished speaking, he looked at the adults, waiting for their opinions.
"That's a good idea. Unlike the written test, there's no plagiarism here. Your Highness is very thoughtful, and I admire you."
"Mr. Xiao, you are so kind."
Chu Huaibei didn't show it on her face, but she felt emotional in her heart, thinking that it was worth it that she had pulled out a few strands of hair thinking about it in the study.
"Your Highness, are you planning to select talents from across the entire territory for this imperial examination, or will you start in the North?"
Uncle Feng, who had been sitting there without saying anything, started to ask.
"Anyone willing to sign up is welcome throughout the territory. The number of participants will likely be far greater than the Spring Examination. It would be best for each prefecture to screen out a select number of candidates first."
"Yes, Your Highness, when is the specific date for the scientific examination?"
Lord Yuan took over the conversation.
"I need to ask you all, when do you think it would be a good time? Also, we just finished the Spring Examination, and you all haven't had a good rest yet. Can your bodies still handle it?"
Chu Huaibei gave them the decision-making power to avoid being too tight on time and exhausting these people whose average age was over fifty.
These people are smart and can understand the prince's intention. The prince wanted them to work quickly, but didn't want to make them unhappy, so he let them choose the time themselves.
After everyone in the room discussed in low voices for a while, Mr. Xiao made the final decision.
"Your Highness, I think mid-July is more suitable. It won't interfere with the busy farming season. The clear weather will allow everyone to take the exam outdoors, and the people will have time to come and watch."
"Okay, I'll listen to Master Xiao."
Chu Huaibei also preferred July and August and was very satisfied with their decision.
When Chu Huaibei officially ordered the resumption of the scientific examination in mid-July, some people laughed at the news, some pondered deeply, and some were eager to try.
Jianye naturally also heard the news. The third prince sneered and thought that since he had offended so many noble families, he must have not found many useful people in the Spring Examination, so this happened again.
As for the seemingly ridiculous alchemist, the Third Prince did not believe that the King of Zhenbei would choose someone to refine the elixir for a special purpose.
"Go find two alchemists and send them to the north to see what King Zhenbei wants them to do?"
"Yes, I'll go right away."
The original personal eunuch Jixiang has been promoted to the chief eunuch, and when he goes out he is called Grandpa Ji.
There are quite a few such alchemists in Jianye. The Jianye aristocratic families originally hated them, and they were even more dissuaded after the capital was moved.
Finally, two alchemists who could really make something and could read and write were found in Jiangzhou and sent to the north.
They were promised that if they passed the preliminary selection, they would receive fifty taels of silver, and if they passed the exam, they would receive two hundred taels of silver.
Regardless of whether you pass the exam or not, you need to repeat the questions given by the King of Zhenbei and how other candidates responded to the questions.
This scientific expedition method, which is different from previous ones, has attracted much attention. Almost all people whose skills have been recognized either want to try it themselves or are encouraged by others to try it.
It doesn't cost money to try, it just takes some time and effort.
Since the prerequisite is to be able to read and write, many craftsmen with aspirations spent some money to learn to read from private school teachers. With their seriousness, they are much easier to discipline than little brats.
So many times, whether you can study well or not depends solely on whether you want to study.
Among those who finally arrived in the north to take the imperial examination, most of them were sons of merchants in the literary and commercial examinations, and many of the craftsmen were already famous. Looking at the list, it seemed that the difficulty of the competition was no easier than the regular imperial examination.
Originally, Chu Huaibei thought that since she had shown such great kindness, the alchemist who had been hiding would definitely come over to get a meal.
Unexpectedly, there were only fifty people in all the prefectures and states.
Chu Huaibei's primary test question was to refine quicklime. Such a simple question eliminated more than a dozen people.
Chu Huaibei was so angry that he almost laughed.
On the day of the imperial examination, the literary examination and the business economics examination were divided into three days. The morning and afternoon of the first day tested bricklaying and carpentry respectively, the morning and afternoon of the second day tested cast iron carving respectively, and the morning and afternoon of the third day tested papermaking and alchemy respectively.
Due to the special nature of papermaking, the examination institute directly provides pulp. It only needs to pick out ten sheets of paper within the specified time, press and dry them, and rank them according to the fineness of the paper.
Most of the people who came to watch the skills test on the first day were locals living near the examination hall. It was quite new for them as it was the first time they saw people becoming officials based on their skills.
Bricklaying and carpentry are the crafts that are most easily judged for their quality. When the people heard that they also had the right to vote, they paid great attention to the examination works.
In the end, the examiners divided the scores equally and the public voted to select the top five from the two categories.
The rankings are clearly visible to everyone, and the participants are convinced.
Due to word of mouth from the people watching on the first day, the number of people outside the examination venue tripled on the second day.
Some apprentices watched the movements of the participants carefully, trying to learn a thing or two, but this kind of skill cannot be learned just by watching.
Chu Huaibei naturally also took into account that some people may have unique skills, so the test questions were all biased towards basic skills. For the same thing, the results produced by each person would be slightly different, and the quality lies in the details.
The third day was the one everyone was looking forward to the most. They speculated about what King Zhenbei wanted to find the alchemist to make, and many young people from aristocratic families were also mixed in the crowd, looking around.
Chu Huaibei arranged a set of identical cookware for each participant and gave them a piece of ore, allowing them to play freely.
She picked up the ore from the mountains, and she didn't recognize it. She did this just to observe how these people dealt with the unknown.
The spectators and participants of this competition were confused and just studied according to their usual habits until the end of the assessment.
Chu Huaibei selected people according to the numbers of their pots and kept five who were relatively qualified.
The two people the Third Prince had brought in were not favored by Chu Huaibei, and both had bitter expressions on their faces. This money was really hard to earn. The preliminary exam was fine, but the formal exam didn't even understand the questions. I didn't know if the noble would blame me.
Chu Huaibei was quite satisfied with this scientific expedition. He had found almost all the people he wanted to find. Some things could be put on the agenda, such as shipbuilding, gun barrels, movable type printing, and cheaper paper.
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