Chapter 397: Call-up Order

"Li Dequan, notify the Secretariat, prepare to open the metropolitan examination."

Zhang Jie, who had made a decision in his heart, ordered Li Dequan.

"This servant understands."

Knowing that it was a major event, Li Dequan didn't dare to be slow for a moment, and hurriedly waved his brush,

writing an imperial edict on behalf of Zhang Jie, and after stamping the seal, he personally rushed to the Secretariat.

"His Majesty has an edict: today the world is peaceful, and righteous men from all directions have come to offer land and submit,

and there is a need for clear-minded and capable people to guard and govern, so the imperial examination is opened to select scholars, respect this!"

Arriving at the Secretariat, Li Dequan didn't talk nonsense, and directly read the edict in front of all the officials.

"We accept the edict!"

All the officials, led by Chen Wenyun and Wang Lun, bowed to accept the edict.

They didn't believe a word of the so-called "righteous men from all directions have come to offer land and submit" in the edict.

Would Emperor Tianzuo Yelu Yanxi and Xia Huanzong Li Ganshun be the kind of people

who would willingly offer their ancestral foundation and their imperial throne to fulfill Great Gan?

It's nothing more than four words—not as strong as others.

At the same time, they also breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

There is an old saying, blocking is not as good as dredging. With such a vent channel as the imperial examination,

the dissatisfaction in the hearts of scholars and gentry in the world would not accumulate until it became difficult to clean up.

Although with Great Gan's strong military power and His Majesty's prestige as high as the sky,

these scholars and gentry wouldn't be able to make a climate even if they wanted to make trouble, but if there really was internal chaos, Great Gan would likely be hurt in its vitality.

Zhang Jie put the matter of the imperial examination aside after letting Li Dequan go to announce the edict.

The imperial examination has been implemented for hundreds of years and has formed a complete system. As long as he orders permission,

other professionals will naturally follow the old system, and he doesn't need to worry about it at all.

"The Son of Heaven has opened the imperial examination!"

This news swept through the entire Bianliang City like a tornado.

From the officials of the Six Ministries to the street vendors, everyone was discussing this issue.

Although the imperial examination has gradually begun to change its taste, it is undeniable that it is a relatively fair selection method in this era.

"In the morning, a village boy, in the evening, in the Son of Heaven's hall" is a real description.

As long as you can pass the imperial examination, even if you were a beggar before,

or a concubine's son who was looked down upon, you can turn over and become a member of the ruling class of Great Song!

Among the 1533 people recorded in the biographies of the *History of Song*,

the proportion of commoners entering the officialdom is as high as 55.12%, and many people have even become generals and chancellors.

Of course, the "commoners" in this commoner entry proportion of over 50% need to be put in double quotation marks.

This so-called commoner proportion counts merchant backgrounds and humble family backgrounds as commoners.

However, this does not diminish the glory of the imperial examination at all, because there are indeed poor commoners who changed their destiny through it.

The most famous is Fan Zhongyan, Fan Wenzheng.

Fan Zhongyan was born in poverty, lost his father at the age of two, his mother remarried, and he lived a hard life in his childhood.

But he studied hard and eventually became a famous politician and writer of the Northern Song Dynasty,

whose thought of "worrying about the world before the world worries, and enjoying the world after the world enjoys" has a far-reaching influence.

There is also Ouyang Xiu: Ouyang Xiu was intelligent since childhood and loved to read.

His family was poor, and he persisted in learning in a difficult environment,

entered the officialdom through the imperial examination, and became a famous writer and politician of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Others like Sima Guang and Wang Anshi, who were born in small official families, also changed their destiny through the imperial examination.

Without the imperial examination system, even if they were born in small official families,

the upper limit of their lives would be to inherit their father's career and be a small official.

A not-so-famous Soviet joke: In the Soviet era,

an old general and his grandson were taking a leisurely walk in the garden.

The grandson curiously asked his grandfather: "Grandpa, can I be a general when I grow up?"

Grandpa thought for a while and said: "Grandpa is a general, you will probably be able to be a general in the future, it shouldn't be a problem."

The grandson continued to ask: "Then can I be a marshal in the future?"

Grandpa replied after deep thought: "This is probably very difficult, because marshals also have their own grandsons."

The significance of the imperial examination is that it standardized the path to the ruling class,

gave everyone a common platform for competition, and gave everyone a chance to change their destiny.

Almost everyone in Bianliang City was discussing the news of the Son of Heaven opening the imperial examination.

Of course, the most excited were those scholars who were only one step away from the imperial examination.

"His Majesty's benevolence is like the sky!"

One by one, they bowed to the direction of the imperial palace with tears of joy.

"Go, go, go home and study!"

One by one, the scholars who were originally drinking and having fun, or lingering in the places of flowers and willows, hurriedly climbed out of the gentle village,

and raced against time to go home to review their lessons, preparing for the upcoming metropolitan examination.

Although the imperial court, in order to give scholars all over the world a chance to participate,

specifically arranged the time for this imperial examination half a year later, and the time was extremely sufficient,

but to be able to review for a while longer, to increase even a trace of insignificant winning percentage for the metropolitan examination,

which scholar with the ambition to pass the imperial examination would refuse?

Perhaps it was this extra time of review that made them a successful candidate?

Bianliang and the whole world were surging because of Zhang Jie's edict.

However, this did not have much impact on Zhang Jie,

he still reviewed memorials, ate meals, and sat in meditation to practice martial arts as usual.

Of course, the action of entering the harem to spread branches and leaves for the old Zhang family was also indispensable.

At night, after a good exercise, Zhang Jie, who had cut down Pan Jinlian, Yan Poxi,

Li Shishi, and others, lay down on the dragon bed, intending to restore the consumed spirit.

But suddenly, a spiritual message appeared in his mind.

"Hmm? What major event happened? Why use the call-up order?"

Zhang Jie opened his eyes and scratched his head with some doubt.

Their Zhang Jie's shared space is probably a brand new version: unlike those who only need to return,

and can only enter by themselves, and don't know whether they are alive or dead, the old version of the shared space;

their Zhang Jie's shared space, as long as someone enters it,

can send messages to other Zhang Jies who have already been to the shared space.

This is of course a good thing: if by any chance any Zhang Jie faces a life-and-death crisis,

and intends to enter the shared space for help, but finds that no one has come,

and can only wait for death in despair, wouldn't that be Spartan?

In order not to disturb what each is doing, several Zhang Jies agreed to only send party messages,

and not send specific events inside, so this function was jokingly called the call-up order by Zhang Jie:

Once the order is issued, as long as the Zhang Jies are not really unable to get away, they will all come to the shared space to attend the party.

"Did some emergency event happen?"

Having just finished the party before, Zhang Jie couldn't figure out why the call-up order was suddenly used.

"Could it be that some Zhang Jie suddenly encountered a life-and-death crisis?"

Zhang Jie's heart suddenly tightened.

Except for major events involving life and death, there shouldn't be any Zhang Jie who would use the call-up order to joke, right?

But what still puzzled him was that this call-up order was not the ten-thousand-emergency kind.

Well, for the convenience of processing, the Zhang Jies also graded the call-up order:

The most urgent kind is undoubtedly the ten-thousand-emergency kind that involves their lives and cannot be delayed for a minute or a second.

Zhang Jie: Love is precious, freedom is more expensive; if it is for the sake of a small life, both can be thrown away~

"Forget it, just enter the shared space and see."

Zhang Jie, who was a bit confused for a while, decided not to think about it:

Anyway, there is always the Zhang Jie who initiated the call-up order in the shared space, just ask him and you will know everything? ===== CHAPTER 398 =====