Chapter 325: Civil and Military Take Different Paths

"... After deliberation by the Grand Secretariat, the military examinations shall be the same as the civil examinations. Eighteen men including Xin Wang, the newly created Earl, are appointed as associate examiners, and four men including Dong Qi, Commissioner-in-Chief of the City Defense Army, are appointed as chief examiners. The examinations shall last nine days, divided into three sessions — first, middle, and last — each of three days..."

A few days later, runners from the Shuntian Prefecture yamen began posting notices on the streets, announcing the court's determined reform of the military examinations. By this time, quite a few commoners had already gathered around the notices, and those who could read a little began kindly reading them aloud sentence by sentence for the others.

This reform of the military examinations had actually been a spur-of-the-moment idea of the Chongzhen Emperor's. The reform was not deep — the examination procedures and methods had changed little — but the degree of importance attached to them had been greatly elevated, thereby raising the status of military men.

When the man finished reading, the rest grew somewhat excited. A middle-aged man wiped his tears and said, "His Majesty is sagacious! His Majesty is sagacious! This old man never got the chance in his lifetime, but my good-for-nothing boy has made it in time."

"Yes, yes! Pass the military examinations and you can become an official, and bring glory to your ancestors!" another woman said.

At this moment, the clamor of discussion rising around them made several people who were paying attention to the military examinations somewhat irritated. A sturdy fellow who had nothing better to do and was just passing by heard the words "military examinations" and immediately came over to watch, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"Stop your noise, stop your noise! Let him keep reading!"

Intimidated by the man's hulking mass of muscle, the others were somewhat afraid and stopped making noise, though they began whispering among themselves again.

The man cleared his throat and read word by word: "... This military examination is set as a precedent. All who arrive at the capital within the prescribed period may sit for it. When it is held again three years hence, only those who have passed the prefectural and provincial examinations may come to the capital for the metropolitan and palace examinations..."

In reality, because the reform had been hasty, and because there had originally been no prefectural or provincial examinations for the military track, forcing these military men to follow the civil examination regulations was clearly asking the impossible, and would also fail to show the court's sincerity.

So the Chongzhen Emperor specially allowed this military examination to be a precedent — anyone who entered the capital could participate. In this way, although more riffraff trying to sneak in appeared, many who had harbored misgivings could now come and display their talents fully, and who could say that a talent like Huo Qubing might not emerge?

Just as the crowd was sighing and discussing, the man continued reading: "The military tongshi examination is held at the county, prefecture, and provincial capitals; those who pass become military xiucai. The military provincial examination is held at the provincial capital; those who pass become military juren. The military metropolitan examination is held at the capital; those who pass become military jinshi."

"Those who have already obtained military jinshi status after the metropolitan examination then go through the palace examination to be divided into grades, with three grades established, called the 'Military Three Grades.' The first grade consists of the top three: the first is the Military Zhuangyuan, the second the Military Bangyan, and the third the Military Tanhua."

"The top three are traditionally called the 'Dingjia' and are granted the qualification of 'Military Jinshi with Distinction'; twelve in the second grade are granted the qualification of 'Military Jinshi of the Regular Class'; all below the second grade belong to the third grade and are granted the qualification of 'Military Jinshi of the Same Class.'"

Since the founding of the Ming dynasty, this was the first time the court had so meticulously regulated the military examination system. Upon learning of it, many people cheered and rejoiced — not a few of them were rough men who could not recognize a single character but were bursting with strength.

For men of this sort, taking the civil examinations was clearly impossible, and joining the army and starting from the very bottom was something they did not want to do for various reasons. Their only way out was the military examinations.

According to what was written above, the palace examination's prestige should be very high, and it would be personally presided over by the current Emperor.

After the results of the military palace examination were announced, names would be called out at the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the list would be posted outside the western gate of the Forbidden City, and the Military Zhuangyuan would be bestowed armor, after which soldiers of the City Defense Army would organize an escort to see the Military Zhuangyuan home, displaying imperial favor and glory.

On the second day after the palace examination, a grand "Metropolitan Examination Banquet" would be held at the Ministry of War, where the Minister of War, Zhu Dadian, would personally hand over the armor, waist saber, and other items that the Chongzhen Emperor had bestowed upon the Military Zhuangyuan, and the assembled jinshi would also be rewarded with silver and honorary titles.

Judging from this reform of the military examinations, although all were of the military track, the differences in rank remained very great.

The honors and ranks of the first, second, and third grades of military jinshi were vastly different. Naturally, the Military Zhuangyuan, chosen one in ten thousand, would steal all the limelight — within three days of passing, he could wear red silk and decorations and parade through the streets proclaiming his office, truly what is called "riding high on the spring breeze," full of glory and splendor.

Hearing this, everyone around swallowed hard. Judging by this, the rumor that His Majesty valued military men was true. So if they themselves went to participate, what level could they reach?

After the palace examination, military posts were usually conferred immediately by the Ministry of War — but this was precisely where this Bingxu-year military examination reform differed from those of all previous dynasties.

Last year, the Great Ming had established an academy similar to a military school. Now that its construction had been completed, it had been renamed the "Shuntian Imperial Military Academy," awaiting the arrival of its first batch of students.

For a time, the Chongzhen Emperor had racked his brains over where to recruit students. This time, he had finally found good sources.

After the palace examination concluded, all military jinshi within the three grades could enter the academy to study. Since their martial skills had already been verified in the military examinations, what they would study next was strategy and the art of war, along with some basic literacy and writing.

Of course, since it was after all a military academy, the most basic martial arts were still tested in a major examination every month, so as to make comprehensive assessments and assign grades to each student.

Moreover, this time the court had whetted everyone's appetite, saying that anyone who came up through the military examinations and then studied and graduated from the Shuntian Imperial Military Academy would be directly granted military honors ranging from the sixth rank, second class, to the fifth rank, second class.

Note: from the first-place finisher to the last-place finisher, everyone got one.

In addition, graduates would, according to their comprehensive scores at the academy, be granted substantive military posts at various levels — Assistant Regional Commander, Mobile Corps Commander, Dusi, Garrison Commander, guard station, and so forth — to go out and command troops in service to the court.

The examinations at each level of the military track were ordinarily held once every three years, and the number admitted in each examination session was also fixed by quota.

Considering that military men were for the most part unable to write civil prose, and that the policy essays and discourses tested in all previous dynasties were mostly failed, while many who excelled in the practical events often lost on the written portion, the Chongzhen Emperor simply issued a direct decree abolishing the old rules requiring policy essays, discourses, and the recitation from memory of the Seven Military Classics.

The Chongzhen Emperor's decree explicitly stipulated that the military examinations would only "test martial ability." That is to say, from this dynasty onward, even if you could not recognize a single character, as long as you had outstanding abilities in other areas, you could still become a military jinshi — or even a Military Zhuangyuan.

Of course, if you wanted to graduate normally from the academy, you would at least need to know how to write your own name by the time you came out. But the current trend of society discriminating against military men was very strong, and after this change, there were naturally both good and bad aspects.

Military men felt that the corrupt practices had been removed and eagerly aspired to advance, wanting to participate in the military examinations. But the literati sneered without cease, thoroughly viewing martial men as mere brawny soldiers — crude and vulgar.

After all, from the founding of the Ming to the present, the sense of superiority ingrained in the bones of the literati could not be eradicated in just a few years. Quite a few scholars treated it as a joke, since the military examinations had now abolished even the most basic Four Books and Five Classics. Even if you could wield a big saber, you would not achieve anything very high.

"The military examination hall focuses mainly on archery and horsemanship; the inner written essays are not judged on quality of composition." Just as the man finished reading, a scholar sneered a few times and said, shaking his head.

"Well said. When martial men attempt civil writing, their essays can be extremely ridiculous. For example, the two characters 'yidan' are often written as the single character 'gen,' and the character 'pi' is written as the two characters 'buyi.' This is because the crib sheets they carry are written in very dense script that cannot be clearly distinguished, hence the errors in transcription." Another scholar in flowing blue robes responded.

A third scholar hurriedly laughed and continued: "Another example: the characters 'guojia' should be raised one space higher, but wherever ancient or modern place names are discussed — such as 'the state's four borders are full of fortifications' or 'the altars of state are in peril' — they also raise those lines without exception."

"There are also extremely ridiculous martial men who style themselves 'government students.' The term should be slightly indented within the line, yet they take the character 'sheng' from words like 'shengren' (living person), 'shengwu' (living creature), and 'shengji shaji' (vitality and killing intent) and indiscriminately indent it to the side."

"Cases like these are too numerous to list one by one. Yet since they have already been marked with the 'double good' designation in the practical events, they have to be passed. Fortunately, the military examination hall has no rule of post-examination scrutiny, so one need not inquire too deeply."

The scholars grew more and more animated as they spoke, each bringing up incidents that had occurred during past military metropolitan examinations. In truth, it should not have been surprising — making those who practiced martial arts take up the writing brush to do examination papers would indeed produce errors in abundance.

"From this we can see that His Majesty is truly wise and virtuous, abolishing corrupt practices. Martial men have truly become 'martial men.' Wonderful, wonderful!" The scholar who had spoken first slapped his folding fan into his palm, laughed heartily, and strode away.

The military men were all furious, and not a few had already clenched their fists. Little did they know, after this batch of scholars finished speaking and left, several men in the crowd frowned slightly and followed them without making a sound.