Chapter 336: Fresh Blood

The grand civil and military examinations had concluded, producing a new batch of fine young men of the new era—though who among these fine young men would one day become pillars of the state, who could possibly say?

Due to the reforms, most of the military candidates selected this time were rough men who fought fiercely but couldn't recognize a single character, so the Chongzhen Emperor had already declared beforehand that after the palace examination they could not be directly appointed to office, but would need to study for a period at the Royal Military Academy in Shuntian Prefecture.

Most of the military candidates had joined on a whim upon hearing that the court was reforming the military examinations and valuing military talent; many hadn't held much hope when they came, having seen before how the old ridiculous and absurd military examinations required one to first pass the eight-legged essay.

Military candidate: Are you fucking kidding me?

Civil official: That's right, this official is indeed kidding you! Is it fun?

The military candidates, including Xu Yanqi and the three juniors of the Qi family, fought their way through every hurdle, and only after passing even the palace examination did they realize they couldn't be directly appointed—quite a few were instantly dumbfounded. What in the world were they supposed to study?

No question about it—whatever you don't know, you'll have to learn!

The simplest point: though military men aren't held to high standards of literacy, at the very least you should be able to write your own name, no? Though the Great Ming was increasingly on its last legs, at least a starved camel is still bigger than a horse—the might of the Celestial Dynasty still lingered.

Moreover, for the Chongzhen Emperor, this batch of military candidates represented the hope of the Great Ming's revival under his own hand; at the very least, even if revival proved impossible, he needed to cultivate a corps of military commanders loyal to himself.

That said, you military juren will be leading troops into battle after graduation—if you can only howl and charge, that makes you a brute. Strategy and the most basic principles of warfare are things you must also study.

Only when you have mastered all of these can you be called a "general."

At this moment, the Chongzhen Emperor finally understood just how brilliant Sun Yat-sen's later move in establishing the Whampoa Military Academy had been—the men it produced, batch after batch, were absolutely his own trusted core.

The military candidates had all enrolled; even Wu Zhuangyuan Xu Yanqi, after a three-day mini-vacation at home, had packed his bedding, bid farewell to his wife and old mother, and gone off to school. But what of the civil examination graduates? Naturally, they couldn't be sent back to their books.

That said, in the past two years the Chongzhen Emperor had executed no small number of officials, leaving many government posts vacant. Though it wasn't a major problem, the vast Great Ming still needed people to assist him in governing—otherwise, why bother holding the examinations at all?

The Zhuangyuan of the bingxu year civil examination was Xia Wanchun. Speaking of him, both Xia Wanchun and his father had been utterly loyal to the Great Ming throughout history, and the Chongzhen Emperor himself held great fondness for him.

Generally speaking, nine out of ten civil examination Zhuangyuan were appointed Senior Compiler in the Hanlin Academy, while the Bangyan and Tanhua were each basically appointed Junior Compiler—this was the established convention.

As for the remaining jinshi, they would be ordered to delay their entry to the capital to take the court examination, which chiefly tested treatises, edicts, memorials, and poetry; those skilled in literature and calligraphy were selected as Hanlin Bachelors, while the rest were respectively appointed Bureau Secretaries, County Magistrates, and other posts.

In fact, to obtain positions like Bureau Secretary or County Magistrate, one still had to go through candidacy, waiting lists, and all sorts of tedious conventions. Throughout the Ming dynasty, because there were so many literati, it was not uncommon for men to wait their whole lives after the palace examination without ever obtaining office.

Those juren selected as Hanlin Bachelors received a relatively leisurely post—not only could they continue studying poetry and calligraphy, but they would serve in the specially established Shuchang Hall within the Hanlin Academy.

Adhering to the principle of not keeping idle men, after these Hanlin Bachelor juren completed their three-year course of study, a "graduation examination" would be held; those with excellent results could be appointed Junior Compiler or Reader in the Hanlin Academy.

The rest, being somewhat less capable, would be dispatched to various ministries as Bureau Secretaries or to various provinces as County Magistrates. Though these were also official posts, many capital scholars didn't want them, the reasons being the remote roads and the exhausting travel.

In truth, for the Chongzhen Emperor at this time, the posts granted by these conventions were utterly useless—they could do nothing to help the various domestic and foreign situations facing the Great Ming.

Indeed—you go through all this selection, and in the end you produce a pile of officials who write calligraphy and study poetry. What use are they? They can neither offer you counsel nor be dispatched to various regions to maintain order.

As for such idiotic conventions, the Chongzhen Emperor naturally intended to reform them.

Civil examination Zhuangyuan Xia Wanchun was directly appointed to the rank 7b post of Secretariat Drafter. Beyond this, the Chongzhen Emperor issued another edict ordering the Embroidered Uniform Guard to leave the capital and summon Xia Wanchun's father, Xia Yunyi, to an audience, intending to reemploy this father-and-son pair.

The Chongzhen Emperor's placement of Xia Wanchun here naturally had its purpose and consideration.

First, the post of Secretariat Drafter contained many sub-branches—for instance, the Secretariat Drafter position Xia Wanchun was granted was the general designation; its specific name was "Drafter of the Grand Secretariat's Edict Drafting Office."

In the early Ming, this position had in fact only carried the authority to write out imperial mandates, patents, and conferral documents according to precedent, with nothing particularly special about it—but in the current Chongzhen court, things were already quite different.

Besides writing mandate and patent documents according to precedent, Xia Wanchun could even serve directly in the Grand Secretariat's signing room, participating in the Grand Secretaries'—including Chief Grand Secretary Jiang Dejing's—deliberations on state affairs. In a certain sense, he even had the right to speak.

Beyond this, Xia Wanchun continued to manage confidential documents such as office drafts, mandates, edicts, patents, registers, treasure texts, imperial genealogies, lecture notes, stele inscriptions, memorials, and secret reports, as well as the register ledgers of the various princely establishments—one could say his rank was low but his authority great.

The Secretariat Office was not originally called an "office" (ke); because it was located outside the Meridian Gate alongside the Six Offices of Scrutiny, with adjoining government buildings, people of the time habitually called it an office. The office staffed twenty men, with no distinction between principal and deputy; the eldest among them held the seal and was called the "Seal Lord."

Besides the Grand Secretariat's Edict Drafting Office Drafter to which Xia Wanchun was appointed, there were also the Wenhua Hall Drafter, who handled writing books by imperial order; the Wuying Hall Drafter, who handled seal engraving, treasure books, and albums by imperial order; and the Grand Secretariat's Patent Drafting Office Drafter, who handled drafting civil officials' patents, translating imperial edicts, and managing foreign documents, secret reports, Ministry of War merit records, and verification ledgers.

So it could be said that the nature of the Secretariat Drafter post was hard to pin down—easy to do but not prestigious to hear.

In the present day, ordinary nobles and sons of wealthy families, though utterly incompetent, could purchase a Secretariat Drafter post with money, and add a ministerial title on top—compared to the Secretariat Drafters of the Tang and Song dynasties, the difference was as vast as heaven and earth.

When word spread that Xia Wanchun had been appointed Secretariat Drafter, many who didn't understand the situation chuckled dismissively, while some old hands who had long seen through the game quietly took note, seeing through it but saying nothing.

The second-place Bangyan of the bingxu year civil examination was Huang Yuanyao, younger brother of household retainers notable Huang Chunyao. Huang Chunyao himself had passed the jinshi examination in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, and had at the time been appointed to a minor post managing books and records.

Though Huang Chunyao and Huang Yuanyao both came from Donglin backgrounds, they bitterly hated Donglin in their hearts; consequently, Huang Chunyao was ostracized by the Donglin Faction and could never obtain a substantive post.

At the end of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Huang Chunyao, deeply disappointed with the court, returned to his hometown of household retainers to open a private school and teach. Upon hearing that the examination system would be reformed in the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, he instructed his younger brother Huang Yuanyao to come to the capital and sit the examination, as a way of testing the waters.

The Chongzhen Emperor had also learned of Huang Yuanyao from the case files—he was indeed a man of talent.

First, both brothers had expressed dissatisfaction with the eight-legged essay selection system that had endured for a thousand years, showing considerable foresight for this era. Second, the Chongzhen Emperor had learned that Huang Yuanyao had been exceptionally gifted since childhood and was fond of learning.

Huang Yuanyao had supplemented his studies as a student at fifteen, deeply influenced by his elder brother Huang Chunyao's teaching. Secret reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot said he was of pure and upright character, not gregarious in socializing, yet when discussing the great trends and ethics of the age, he often spoke bluntly of the harms done by the powerful and influential, without flinching.

Influenced by this, the Chongzhen Emperor resolved to have Huang Yuanyao, the Bangyan of the bingxu year civil examination, fill the vacancy of Investigating Censor for the Shandong Circuit, with the rank of 7a, departing the capital immediately for his post—and additionally issued an edict summoning his elder brother Huang Chunyao to the capital for an audience, intending to restore him to office.