"Woo~Hongci, Hongci..."

While Wen Tiren was enjoying a hot spring bath in Japan, a train departed from Tianjin, braving the cold wind of late winter in Northern China, and after more than three hours of driving, it slowly stopped at the Beijing Railway Station.

"Brother Wenqi, here!"

"Eh? Brother Jiandou, how do you know Brother Yu is on this train?"

"Haha, since I received a letter from my brother last month, saying that I wanted to experience the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, I went to check the train timetable. I roughly calculated that Brother Wenqi is either on the train today or on the train tomorrow."

"My good brother has a heart."

The so-called brother Wen Qi is naturally Wen Zhenmeng, an old civil servant who failed the examination ten times in a row. And this wise brother Jiandou is Wen Zhenmeng’s friend for many years. Lu Xiangsheng is now in the fourth grade of the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy.

.

"Hey, it's incredible. Brother Yu has been to Beijing every three years for the past thirty years. In the past few years, it took two or three days to get from Tianjin to the capital. Three years ago, I took a four-wheeled carriage on the Beijing-Tianjin Highway to visit the capital.

It’s coming in the evening. Taking this train today will only take an hour and a half! It’s getting better and better with each passing day!”

"Yes, and the loading capacity of this train is much greater than that of a four-wheel carriage."

"That's right. In the past, four-wheeled carriages could only carry six people at most. The fare was also very expensive, at least five silver cents, and passengers were also required not to carry too much luggage. But now, a train can carry at least five hundred

People, the time spent on the road has been reduced by two or three hours, and the fare has also been reduced to a silver cent. As for carry-on luggage, as long as you don’t move your family to the train, there are not many restrictions... I just don’t know that this train will come up.

What should we do with those merchants who just took out a loan to buy a four-wheeled carriage to transport Beijing and Tianjin? I remember that when I came to Beijing three years ago, the owner of the carriage that I rode in asked a bank for a loan of 3,000 silver dollars.

!”

"Hahaha, Brother Wenqi is not even the number one scholar, but he is already worrying about national affairs. In the world of business, there are ups and downs, there are those who stand on the crest of the tide, and there are those who sink and drown, it is inevitable."

"Eh~" He glanced at Lu Xiangsheng playfully: "Sure enough, it's Princess Shang. Has the Prince Consort already looked down on all living beings from the clouds?"

"Uh..." Lu Xiangsheng, who was walking forward holding Wen Zhenmeng's luggage, heard this sentence, and his back paused. He turned around, put down the luggage in his hands, and looked at Wen Zhenmeng seriously.

He cupped his hands and said: "Brother Wenqi, the court cannot control everything, it can only try to protect the interests of the most people most of the time.

Let’s talk about the impact that the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway will have on merchants operating horse-drawn carriages on the highway. Before starting the construction of this railway, the imperial court had already made a notice in the six major newspapers three years in advance. Director Li Guojun of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce also made it public

The author made a detailed analysis and explanation of the various impacts that may be brought about by the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway. Under such circumstances, who foolishly keeps throwing money into the four-wheeled carriage? Who is to blame?

Besides, even if the railway is opened to traffic, highway commercial transportation will be hit. But in Ming Dynasty, many places are now connected to roads, and the railway is being built and there is no plan at all. These four-wheeled carriages can also be transferred to other places.

.

In short, as long as this businessman has a little bit of brains, he will never be at a loss and die in distress."

"……I see."

The two of them followed the turbulent flow of people and slowly walked out of the station. A four-wheeled carriage with a golden roof and sun and moon marks on both sides of the carriage had already parked there.

After Wen Zhenmeng got in the car, he looked up and saw a woman with a delicate face sitting in the car, wearing a pair of glasses on the bridge of her nose, and exuding a kind of intellectual beauty.

"Ah? Well, Cao Min, I want to pay my respects to Her Royal Highness the Princess."

"Brother Wenqi, there is no need to be polite. This is not a court meeting. There is no need to talk about these false etiquette. I just accompanied Lu Lang to pick up brother."

"Hahaha, Brother Wenqi, please sit down calmly. Although the space in this carriage is okay, it doesn't allow you to stand upright."

"Oh." After all, he is a descendant of Wen Zhengming, and there is no lack of arrogance. So the old Juren was slightly shocked just now. He sat down in the carriage and recovered quickly: "Oh, I Jiandou, just come and pick me up, how can you bring His Highness out too? What if Brother Yu doesn’t arrive today? Wouldn’t it be a waste of time for His Highness?”

"Haha." Lu Xiangsheng and Zhu Huijuan didn't say anything, they just held each other's hands tightly and looked at each other with gentle smiles.

"Chi~!" This dog food was spilled!

Lao Juren is the descendant of a romantic and talented man. After thinking about it for a while, he naturally understood that these two guys were in the period of passionate love at this time - lovers in this period would like to be entangled with each other all the time. Come together. What's wrong with not being able to pick up someone? Just pick me up again tomorrow! As long as a man and woman in love are together, everything they do will be full of sweetness.

Oh, speaking of which, our emperor is really generous. Before they were officially married, he let these two young people go out alone for a date? What if there was a misfire and someone died?

However, this method of falling in love first and then getting married is really good! I think back then, I met my wife for the first time on the wedding night. It was really like having sex first and then falling in love - this It feels so much different!

"Brother Wenqi, I have read the article you sent with the letter a few days ago. It is really admirable. Brother's article is already very proficient. This time he will take the test and he will definitely be in high school!"

"Hey, dear brother, what is in your heart, stupid brother." After a self-deprecating smile, Wen Zhenmeng cupped his hands towards Zhu Huijuan: "Your Highness, the eldest princess, may have heard that Cao Min has failed ten times. This time, it should be Cao Min's last time. I will take the exam. If I fail again this time, I will prepare to go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and apply to be a teacher in the new elementary school or something like that."

"Brother's article, I asked several professors from Fangshan who were Jinshi to read it, and they all said that it is almost complete, so this time, it should be possible." With a gentle smile, Zhu Huijuan looked at Wen Zhenmeng's article. Eyes: "Emperor brother has made slight adjustments to the imperial examinations since he came to the throne. This time, the examination time for classics, poetry and poetry has been reduced from three days to two days. In this way, it is left to policy analysis It’s a full five days.”

"The common people have already known about this matter last year. It seems that the emperor is paying more and more attention to the ability of future court officials to handle practical matters."

"Yes, but I think the emperor's intention is that he still feels that it is not enough. He often tells us younger brothers and sisters that in the future, the knowledge of officials in the Ming Dynasty must not be limited to the Four Books and Five Classics. They must have both arts and science. But in the current imperial examination, except for a few geniuses, it is difficult to select a large number of officials that he is satisfied with."

That's enough. Just because Wen Zhen and Meng failed the examination ten times does not mean that he is stupid. Zhu Huijuan's words have very clearly expressed two meanings: First, the imperial examination system is about to undergo major changes. This time it will not happen again.

If you want to pass the Jinshi exam in the future, you probably won't be able to pass it. Secondly, since the imperial examination system is going to undergo major changes, is there any need to guess what the policy topic of this examination will be?

…

On the ninth day of February in 1622, the examination for the fourth year of Apocalypse officially began.

This time, Zhu Youdong once again made fine adjustments to the imperial examination.

First, the time for the two examinations of classics and poetry has been reduced from three days each to two days each.

Second, the time for policy discussion was increased from three days to five days.

Third, the paper evaluation was changed from vague comments such as "excellent, desirable, discarded" to scores. The full score of the three papers is 100 points, but after the exam, the scores of the three papers must be converted. Among them, the classics and poems each account for

15%, and policy theory accounts for 70%.

This 'fine-tuning' really caused many officials within the Ming Dynasty to break out in cold sweat: If this standard is put before ourselves to win the Jinshi, who knows, we probably won't win either!

However, as officials who have obtained the qualification of Jinshi and served in the imperial court, although they broke out in a cold sweat, they basically supported the emperor's fine-tuning: in the past ten years, especially in the past three to five years, the Ming Dynasty can be said to be one day.

Same thing. This places extremely high demands on the management level of officials. If the imperial examination is not changed, it will be useless to select a large group of literati and poets! It is better to select some guys who can do practical things to share our increasingly heavy work pressure.

It's serious!

The officials in office basically supported it. Those who had not passed the Jinshi examination, and even the scholars and students at the lower level, no matter how big their opinions were, it was of no use.

In short, when Wen Zhenmeng was taking part in the imperial examination, on February 13th, when the policy papers were handed out, he unexpectedly saw this question: How to select good talents for the country in today's great changes?

?

Following the style of time travellers, the Ming Dynasty imperial examination strategy section has undergone significant changes since six years ago: it is no longer a single question, but contains a large amount of information.

Under the title of this policy review for the fourth year of the Apocalypse, there are about 10,000 words of material. It explains in detail the hereditary appointments of nobles during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the imperial examination system in the Han Dynasty, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the since Sui Dynasty.

The imperial examination system. It also fully explains the changes of the imperial examination system in the Sui, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. At the same time, it also lists the social situation of these talent selection systems when they were first born, as well as the subsequent changes in social development.

In short, I am telling you: Times have changed, and systems have changed. Our Chinese Empire has been like this since ancient times. But now, with the beginning of the industrial revolution and the intensification of competition with other countries around the world, the official selection system of the Ming Empire must undergo thorough changes.
Chapter completed!