Chapter 396: Imperial Examination

"His Majesty may just be dragged down by other things. When he has spare time,

he will inevitably think of us scholars, grant imperial grace, and open the imperial examination."

Someone said tremblingly words that even he didn't believe.

The current Son of Heaven is wise and martial, how could he ignore such a major event concerning the stability of the world as the imperial examination?

The only possibility is that the Son of Heaven has doubts about the imperial examination itself, which is why he has never opened the imperial examination!

Even if, even if the Son of Heaven is really busy with official business and has neglected the imperial examination,

are the officials in the court all fools with water in their brains? Hasn't anyone given the Son of Heaven a reminder?

These people have used their connections to send many memorials to the Secretariat and His Majesty's imperial desk in various ways,

but they have all been like mud cows entering the sea, with no news!

"Is our path broken like this?"

Thinking of his ten years of cold window, but getting such a result,

everyone couldn't help but sob softly like Brother Zhang before.

A man's tears do not flow easily, it's just that he hasn't reached the sad place.

"Alas, we accept His Majesty's implementation of the policy of scholars and gentry serving and paying taxes together, we just hope His Majesty will open the imperial examination early."

Everyone looked at each other in silence, and finally could only sigh.

As for using more violent means to resist, such as crying at the Confucius Temple, launching a student parade, etc.?

Great Gan's martial virtue is the most prosperous of all dynasties since the Tang Dynasty.

It destroyed Great Liao in the north, attacked Western Xia in the west, conquered Dali in the south, and attacked the Japanese slave country in the east.

Wherever the soldiers pointed, they were invincible, winning every battle and attacking every fortress.

Internally, it implements various benevolent policies, and His Majesty's prestige is unimaginable.

Under such circumstances, are they going to use their heads to resist?

This generation of Duke Yansheng has "voluntarily" gone north to educate those grassland people who don't know Confucius!

Now they only hope that His Majesty can grant imperial grace, continue to open the imperial examination, and give them a way out.

"These scholars, they need to be properly suppressed."

With the Embroidered Uniform Guard who are almost everywhere, the conversation that happened in the restaurant

was placed on Zhang Jie's imperial desk a few hours later.

When he first implemented the policy of scholars and gentry serving and paying taxes together,

the whole country was in an uproar. Those scholars and gentry not only disobeyed in public and complied in private,

but even connected with each other, intending to find external forces to subvert Great Gan.

After all, this policy was completely digging the roots of these scholars and gentry.

After decades of hard study, besides hoping to pass the provincial exam and the imperial exam to become an official in the court,

once power is in hand, orders can be carried out; three years as a clean prefect, one hundred thousand silver snowflakes,

didn't they just count on the privileges of not bowing to officials, being exempt from corvée, and owning tax-free fertile land?

Without these privileges, what is the difference between these scholars and gentry and those mud-legged people who face the loess and back to the sky,

and can only roll in the mud for a lifetime?

Unfortunately, without a sword in hand, showing off is like a kitten baring its teeth,

not only can it not make people feel threatened, but it is also interesting.

After fiercely suppressing a few stubborn typical examples and giving away the "Three Clans Extermination" set meal, which is second only to the "Nine Clans Elimination Game,"

these scholars and gentry who were extremely dissatisfied in their hearts calmed down.

Later, in order to temper the temperament of these scholars,

Zhang Jie suppressed the imperial examination that should have been used to win people's hearts.

Lu Xun wrote in *Silent China*:

"The temperament of the Chinese people always likes reconciliation and compromise.

For example, if you say that this room is too dark and you want to open a skylight here, everyone will definitely not allow it.

But if you advocate tearing down the roof, they will come to reconcile and be willing to open a skylight."

Although the policy of scholars and gentry serving and paying taxes together has the suppression of powerful military power,

it is also difficult to implement under the public disobedience and private compliance of scholars and gentry in various places,

so Zhang Jie thought of this "open window and break house" theory of Lu Xun:

Just implementing the policy of scholars and gentry serving and paying taxes together will inevitably harm the privileges of the scholars and gentry, and they will definitely not agree.

But if you say you want to stop the imperial examination, they will definitely think carefully about the feasibility of scholars and gentry serving and paying taxes together.

Lu Xun, originally named Lu Da, from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Zhou Shuren~

Now it seems that although this theory will only appear in later generations, its practicality is quite strong.

For these scholars, the privileges of not serving (corvée) and

not paying taxes are certainly important, but the most important thing is undoubtedly the opportunity to become an official in the court.

For this opportunity to become an official, they almost abandoned everything else,

even that treasure that is as important as life to a man.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Southern Han Dynasty had a system that could be called a freak among freaks

—to be an official, you must first be a eunuch!

Specifically, this system was implemented during the reign of Liu Chang (Liu Chang), the last emperor of the Southern Han.

Liu Chang believed that once officials had families and descendants, they would not be loyal to the emperor,

could not be completely loyal to him, and might be corrupt due to family reasons.

Therefore, he stipulated that anyone who wanted to enter the officialdom must first be castrated,

whether it was a prime minister or a minister, or a small county magistrate or constable, without exception.

This system led to the appearance of a large number of eunuchs in the Southern Han, reaching more than 20,000 at its peak.

In order to be an official, even many famous scholars chose self-castration,

making the entire Southern Han Dynasty almost become a dynasty ruled by eunuchs,

which later generations called "the only eunuch dynasty in Chinese history."

"The imperial examination, after all, cannot be stopped."

Zhang Jie thought about it and prepared to start the imperial examination.

Since Emperor Yang of Sui opened the imperial examination, after the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially the promotion of the Song Dynasty,

the imperial examination has become the only way to select officials.

Other officials who entered the officialdom through heredity or protection were often looked down upon by officials of the imperial examination,

believing that they were not qualified to be officials if they hadn't passed the imperial examination.

Han Qi even openly shouted, "Only those who are named outside the Donghua Gate are good men."

During these days, although he suppressed the opening of the imperial examination with his own profound prestige,

pressure from all sides has appeared, and memorials from various places and individuals have drifted to his imperial desk like snowflakes.

Even the Liang Shan elders like Wang Lun and Chen Wenyun, who knew his plan, had many secret remonstrances in their words.

If it weren't for the fact that their identities were really not easy to express clearly,

otherwise the memorials they signed would have appeared on Zhang Jie's imperial desk.

And although he didn't really want to admit it, Zhang Jie had to acknowledge,

that the scholar-gentry class represented by scholars has powerful power in this era.

Without their cooperation, too many policies cannot be implemented.

He is powerful and does not fear the backlash of the scholar-gentry class, but he is not Monkey Brother who can "pull out a monkey hair,

and change into ten thousand monkeys" with the great supernatural power of thousands of clones, and cannot rule the world alone,

he must have someone to be his assistant and share part of his work.

Of course, the scholar-gentry class is not a monolith, if there were no Zhang Jie as the big boss,

they could beat each other's brains out.

After all, the cake is only so big, if you eat a little more, doesn't it mean I have to eat a little less?

Zhang Jie believes that as long as he pulls a batch, hits a batch, and releases a batch, he will inevitably succeed in dividing the scholar-gentry class.

The imperial examination that is about to be opened is such a sweet date. ===== CHAPTER 397 =====