Since Hongguang, there was almost no imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty. In the fourth year of Yongli, Zhu Tianlin, who served as Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Dongge, recommended his younger brother Zhu Tianfeng to preside over the Guizhou provincial examination. In the eighth year of Yongli, Sun Kewang set up a cadet in Guiyang and selected 54 other people including Chen Shik. This time, the imperial examination was equivalent to the Ministry of Rites. Chen Shik was appointed by Sun Kewang as the magistrate of Qingfu, Sichuan, and later recommended to be the Wailang, the officer of the Armamentary Department of the Ministry of War, and was quite famous. After the Qing army of Wu Sangui's troops entered Sichuan, he abandoned his seal and returned home, and his whereabouts are unknown.

In addition to these two more influential provincial examinations and imperial examinations, the 10th year of Yongli, King Li Dingguo of Jin organized a provincial examination in Yunnan, and captured 36 scholars. After the Taiping Army occupied Guangzhou and defeated Jidu and marched south, Zhou Shixiang considered to capture the hearts of scholars, so he held a Guangdong provincial examination at the suggestion of Duke Xiang of Song, and won more than 100 candidates. However, this provincial examination in Guangdong was different from the previous imperial examinations. The scholars who passed the imperial examinations did not directly receive official positions, but went to Guangdong University for three years to study before they could be appointed to officials. This made many Guangdong scholars dissatisfied, and thus had the impact of the palace last year. In the eyes of scholars, as long as they passed the imperial examinations, they should be appointed as officials, instead of studying for three years of miscellaneous studies, which delayed their years.

After the case of the impact on the palace was suppressed, Zhou Shixiang led the northern expedition. Guangdong was committed to building villages and building villages and restoring people's livelihood, providing food and grass for the frontlines, and cracking down on bandits in the country. The big and small yamen were busy, so there was no energy to hold any rural examinations. After the restoration of the Nandu, Zhou Shixiang was busy pacifying the south of the Yangtze River, stabilizing the occupied areas and crossing the river, and did not take care of the imperial examinations for the time being. However, this matter had been put on his discussion board, because he knew that the so-called human hearts did not refer to the hearts of the people, but to the hearts of gentry, and the most powerful way to win over gentry was undoubtedly to open the imperial examinations, so that these gentry could have a way to become officials, so that they would devote themselves to the new dynasty, rather than to both ends of the rat.

In other words, Zhou Shixiang had long wanted to open Enke, and the scholars admitted by Enke undoubtedly refer to scholars in Jiangnan. But he has been hesitating about this matter because he does not have enough talents to help establish some scientific system similar to his previous life and form systematic theories. He doesn't even have a few textbooks, and the school only created a Guangdong University Hall. Therefore, if the imperial examinations are held, they can only be taken from the old eight-legged essays. The scholars obtained in this way do not meet Zhou Shixiang's original intention of employing people, and will even contradict the policies he will implement.

No matter how good the policy is, it needs to be implemented. If the person who implements it is the person who opposes it, then this policy will naturally not be implemented. The illiteracy rate of officers at all levels of the Taiping Army reached 80%, so it is impossible to expect to transfer people from the army to start the matter. Considering this, Zhou Shixiang wanted to let this matter go in advance, and the left and right Dingwu Dynasty was newly established, and the world was not unified. Whether it was the court or the army, the focus was still on war and preparing for war, so he was not in a hurry to hold the imperial examination. In addition, there were many demoted officials, and these people were not all unethical and incompetent. Some people were unethical but capable. It was completely possible to use them to appease and govern the people first, and there was no need to appoint new officials on a large scale.

Zhou Shixiang planned to wait until the group of talents trained by Guangdong University has achieved results in various parts of Guangdong and gained experience and can truly become a powerful helper to implement his policies. In this way, even if the first few imperial examinations are still not in his wishes, at least someone can help him change slowly, rather than being helpless. At least, it is still possible to open some new schools in Nanjing and some provincial capital cities. In the court, some new schools are promoted and a group of new school officials are used. Under various means, new schools can always stand firm in the reborn Ming Dynasty. At that time, whether it is boiling frogs or forcibly promoted, there will be no worries about no one being available.

But now Qian Qianyi and the others suddenly proposed to open the first imperial examination for the Dingwu Dynasty, and in the name of "Enke", they received the approval of Emperor Dingwu. Guo Zhiqi, the chief assistant, was also very enthusiastic about this matter. Even Zhang Huangyan and the others also submitted memorials to echo the matter, which made Zhou Shixiang unable to make arbitrary decisions and delayed the matter any more.

Qian Qianyi's memorial was read by Zhou Shi, and the reason was very good. After the chaos, people's minds were settled. At this time, they should heal the wounds, and the people of the people were at peace. Once the imperial examination was opened, the scholars would return to their hearts and the people of the world could be stable. Qian Qianyi's memorial had another meaning, but he wanted to attract scholars from Jiangnan to the Dingwu court through this envoy, so that they would no longer have expectations for Emperor Yongli, who was welcomed by Wu Sangui.

Human nature is for selfishness, and once he becomes an official in the Dingwu Dynasty, the scholars will do their best to safeguard the Dingwu Dynasty. Zhou Shixiang also believed this. He was even sure that if Tang Gui fought again in the future, the first person to jump out to support the orthodox nature of Emperor Dingwu is definitely the scholars who took the Dingwu imperial examination.

After thinking about it over and over again, Zhou Shi agreed to the imperial examination, and sent a message to Ding Zhixiang and Yuan Kuoyu of Nandu to draft an imperial examination regulations. It also stipulated that the first Enko will only be held in Jiangnan, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, and will not be held in other places for the time being. The time is roughly scheduled to hold the provincial examination in March, and then the provincial provinces will send the scholars to Nanjing to participate in the imperial examination, and finally the palace examination will be held to select the top scholars of the Dingwu Dynasty, the second-largest and the Tanhualang. As for the Qing dynasty, if there are scholars willing to come to participate in the imperial examination, each province can also make arrangements.

In terms of time, the provincial examination will be held in March, and the conference examination will be held in April, which must be in a hurry. This year is not the previous life of Zhou Shixiang, and he can take hundreds of kilometers to take a bus in one or two days. It takes several days for scholars to get from their hometown to the county town, and the longest one to the provincial capital can take more than twenty days. Therefore, although other provinces are allowed to come to participate in the imperial examination, the actual reference of the scholars is still the scholars of the three provinces.

It is Zhou Shixiang who does not allow scholars from Guangdong and Guangxi to participate in the examination. Most scholars who do not want to listen to him are in prison, or are sent back to their hometown for supervision. Those who are left with knowledge of the current affairs and are willing to learn new things. Even if these people have limited ability, their attitude determines that Zhou Shixiang is willing to use them. As long as they have achieved success in their studies and have achieved local achievements, Zhou Shixiang does not mind that the outstanding talents among them will be able to be above the court in the future.

After writing a letter to Ding Zhixiang and Yuan Kuoyu, Zhou Shixiang thought about it and wrote the number of 260 people in the letter. These 260 people are the candidates for the imperial examination. The number of people sent to Nanjing to participate in the imperial examination is also this number. After the examination, no one will be dismissed.
Chapter completed!