"Your Majesty, what the Northerners did this time is indeed crude and undesirable.
This generation was just dissatisfied and took the opportunity to blackmail the imperial court.
Justice should be given priority in the imperial examination.
Your Majesty selects scholars based on talent and learning, and those with high talents will advance, while those with weak talents will retreat. If they all advance based on luck, the way to recruit scholars will be ruined. Not only will all those who come after you follow an example, they will make trouble if something does not suit their own needs, and it is also contrary to justice. , so that the talented ones are buried and the treacherous ones are lucky to advance. This is a great harm. In my opinion, this generation should be severely punished. The leaders should be deprived of their fame and imprisoned for life."
Liu Sanwu lowered his head and said.
"There are still more than a dozen subjects in the past, and it is indeed inappropriate not to have any of them today. It is better not to worry about good or bad, but pick three or five to ease my mind."
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
He was also caught very suddenly...
In fact, His Majesty the Emperor has really lost the energy as before in the past two years, especially as Zhu Yunxi has gradually grown up, and he has actually stopped caring about most things.
Although he understood the truth of the matter, he still hoped to settle it in a peaceful way.
He has already talked about this, that is, giving steps.
Just stop in moderation!
"Your Majesty, this must not be done. This matter is not just a matter of a few people making trouble, but Yang Feng instigating it. The person who took the lead in making trouble, Wang Fan, was his confidant. When he was in Taiyuan, he gave him advice. Yang Feng had even done this in public before. Afterwards, he promised to be a Jinshi. This time he was not admitted. He became angry and deliberately incited his son to cause trouble. He probably wanted to coerce Yang Zizhong, Han Kezhong, Jiao Sheng, Shi Li and others into colluding with him. Especially Shi Li, He even commits crimes in the street and injures many people. How can this person take on the responsibility of educating the people if he is so stubborn?"
Zhang Xin said.
Several other Hanlin officials who were summoned also agreed.
"Your Majesty, I have no selfish motives. Only one of the tributes I have taken this time is from Huguang.
If I have selfish motives, why not recruit a few more people from Huguang?
It’s true that this generation only stops here.”
Liu Sanwu said.
"Tantanweng, you said they stopped here, how about we take a look at their papers together in front of His Majesty?"
A voice suddenly sounded outside.
Everyone turned around, and then saw Yang Feng walking in with a big bag on his back. He walked straight to the middle of the hall, put the big bag on the ground, and took out a bundle of sealed papers...
"Your Majesty, this belongs to Han Kezhong, a scholar from Shandong."
he said.
"Send it up!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
However, His Majesty the Emperor is obviously a little melancholy...
This bastard came to join in the fun, so things can't end easily.
The eunuch next to him quickly walked up to Yang Feng, took the bundle of papers with both hands, and then quickly held it in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. His Majesty the Emperor took it, opened it, took out the most critical strategy, looked at it there, and then raised his head after looking at it for a while.
"Xuandu Procuratorate Zuodu Yushi and six ministers entered the palace immediately."
he said.
The Jin Yiwei outside quickly ran to announce the call.
“Take a few more copies and take a look!”
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Yang Feng simply took out the papers of Wang Shu, Jiao Sheng, and Shi Li. His Majesty the Emperor looked at the strategies inside one by one, but his expression was obviously getting more and more ugly, while Liu Sanwu stood with his head lowered, as if he had nothing to do with it. There, Zhang Xin and others winked at each other from time to time. The emperor raised his head after reading, and then glanced at them...
"You also go and pick out some northerners, pick the best ones."
he said.
"I obey the decree."
Zhang Xin said quickly.
Then he and several Hanlin left in a hurry.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say anything, he just sat there with his eyes closed to relax.
Soon, Bao Zhao, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Ru Yu, the minister of the Ministry of official affairs, Yu Xin, the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, Zheng Yi, Qi Tai, the minister of the Ministry of war, Xia Shu, the minister of the Ministry of punishment, and Yan Zhenzhi, the minister of the Ministry of industry, all arrived one after another.
In addition to Bao Zhao, there is also Xia Shu who is from the north. He is from Luoyang, Henan.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's distribution was very fair. The two northerners happened to control the supervision and judiciary, so as to keep an eye on the southern ministers.
"Let's take a look at them all. Ambassador Yang randomly picked up some Northern Exam papers from the Ministry of Rites. They were still sealed when they came into my hands."
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Then the eunuch quickly gave four copies to Bao Zhao, Ru Yu, Yu Xin, and Qi Tai, while Yang Feng took out another pile from the big bag. In fact, he only took thirty copies, including the original historical records.
The Xia List's first-class, second-class, and some third-class. These were opened by the Jin Yiwei who came to help. You don't need to read anything else. The key is the strategy. Everyone is knowledgeable. They picked out the strategy and showed it to these ministers.
That's it. In the silent hall, the seven current main ministers of the imperial court watched silently. Yang Feng stood there and looked at Liu Sanwu, who stood there with his head lowered as if he was in a state of wandering.
At this time Zhang Xin and others also came back.
However, they were stopped by Jin Yiwei, each of them holding some papers.
Just like this, in a strange silence, the seven ministers read what Yang Feng brought.
Just as Ru Yu was about to speak, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.
"Let them in!"
His Majesty the Emperor said.
Jin Yiwei immediately let Zhang Xin and others in.
"Look at what they brought."
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Zhang Xin and others quickly opened the papers in their hands and took out the strategies. They also showed them to these ministers. They were obviously very confident. After all, five of the seven were from the south. Even if they would not be overtly partial, they would still be biased.
A little bit. Just a little bit is enough. There is a gap between Northern Juzi and Southern Juzi. Yang Feng just randomly found thirty copies. It can be said that he picked one out of dozens. How could he possibly pick a good one?
Even if one or two servings are acceptable, it will be fine as long as these ministers find faults a little bit.
emperor……
The emperor knows nothing!
Although he is somewhat literate now, he can just barely write the article smoothly.
Moreover, he had to speak a lot of vernacular, and he couldn't even quote scriptures. His literary talent was limited to killing millions of soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, so Zhang Xin and others waited confidently, and then in silence, Qi
The minister read the strategies in all the papers they brought.
"Okay, you can talk now."
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Bao Zhao stepped forward simply...
"Your Majesty, I am impeaching Zhang Xin, the bachelor of the imperial court, and Ji Shan, Bai Xintai and others from Prince An's palace for being unfaithful."
he said.
Zhang Xin and others were immediately anxious.
"Your Majesty, I am wronged!"
They knelt down one after another and cried out for injustice.
"You all tell me, are they unjust or not?"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the remaining seven ministers and said.
"Your Majesty, this person is not unjust. In order to cover up his favoritism for the Southern Juzi, this person deliberately did not record the crimes of the Northern Juzi and deceived the emperor. He selected the vulgar and unscrupulous people from the Northern Juzi test paper to deceive the Holy See.
His crime deserves to be punished."
Ru Yu said quickly.
The other six people agreed.
Zhang Xin and others were dumbfounded. This was different from what they imagined! Ru Ru was the boss of the southern civil servants, and even Liu Sanwu was recommended by him. His words meant that they were completely abandoned.
"Injustice? You guys still dare to cry injustice? Look at the thirty test papers that Ambassador Yang randomly picked out, and then look at the ones you brought. Do you think I am too old to be blind? Ambassador Yang brought some randomly.
, no matter which of his articles, is worthy of becoming a Jinshi, you go and choose, I also said to choose the best, but you choose these unsightly ones, saying that you are unfaithful, do you still feel that you are unjust?
It seems that I treat you too well on weekdays, making you think that I can be bullied.
All of them, including Liu Sanwu, were taken to Jinyiwei and tortured to see how many accomplices they had."
Zhu Yuanzhang shouted angrily.
He was really pissed off.
He didn't expect these people to be so disrespectful.
He actually gave me steps.
Let them pick the best ones, and then Yang Feng must have good ones and bad ones, so that he can choose a few from each side. This is considered to be his hand-picked one, so he can satisfy the northern officials.
. And these people will find excuses in the future and slowly clean up the situation. They will say to the outside world that Liu Sanwu is too old and energetic. Anyway, the contradiction between the north and the south will be prevented from becoming more public and intensified, and the harmony between the north and the south will be maintained even on the surface.
He is the emperor.
The emperor of the world.
He must make a bowl of water even out between the north and the south, bridge the contradiction between the north and the south, and finally unite into a whole.
After being separated for almost three hundred years, it is not easy to have a chance to reunite. Even if he gives some favoritism to the north, he must ensure this principle.
However……
He was pleasantly surprised to find that the test papers brought by Yang Feng were all very good, especially Han Kezhong and the other three. They really didn't say that first-A or second-A was enough. It wasn't the first time he studied this. Daming had already taken the fourth-level exam before.
He personally presided over the imperial exams for each subject, and even the number one candidates were hand-picked by him. How could he not know what was good and what was bad.
If you ask him to write, he may not be able to write it, but you can still tell whether it is good or bad.
So he could hand-pick some from those brought by Yang Feng.
Then wait for Zhang Xin and others.
Yang Feng picked them randomly, at most those around him who knew their names, but there must be a mixed bag of good and bad. Then Zhang Xin picked the best ones, and he could appoint them from both sides, and finally appointed twenty or thirty Jinshi for the north, and the latter
He could praise his virtues. However, he didn't expect that people like Zhang Xin would actually treat him like a monkey. He could tell at a glance that he deliberately picked the worst ones. If he didn't kill someone, he wouldn't be Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Your Majesty, Liu Sanwu is an old man and will not be tortured according to law."
Xia Shu said quickly.
At this time, the Jinyi guards had already rushed in and quickly held Zhang Xin and others down.
As for Xia Shu...
Although he was very happy, he still had to show the magnanimity of the northern civil servants at this time.
"I forgot, but I have already said it, so let's make an exception for him!"
Zhu Yuanzhang sneered.
"Thank you, sinner!"
Liu Sanwu thanked him calmly.
Then he walked straight out, and those Jinyi guards did not directly push him down and drag him out like a dead dog like they did to Zhang Xin and others, but followed him and let him walk.
"Your Majesty, I have neglected my duty, please forgive me!"
Zheng Yi quickly knelt down to apologize.
"Whether you are guilty or not will be discussed after they have been interrogated. It is decreed that Zhang Xianzong, a Hanlin scholar, will be the chief examiner, and all the examination papers for the Northern Examinations will be re-graded and the rankings will be re-determined."
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Now it is just the end of the general examination, so it does not count as the end of this subject. Then we only need to find a new examiner to mark the papers for the second time, and then select a new batch of tribute scholars for the general examination. This job is nothing more than finding among the Hanlin bachelors, and currently
The only bachelor he could trust and who could guarantee fairness was Zhang Xianzong.
The ministers quickly resigned.
Zhu Yuanzhang sat there and looked deeply at the roof...
"How did I do it in history?"
He said suddenly.
"You seem to have killed Zhang Xin and Ling Chi, including the number one scholar. In short, you killed a lot of them, but you still kept this list of scholars, and then you tried another group separately, and all of them were selected from the north. Historically, they were called north and south.
List. After several decades, your descendants established the geographical divisions, and each took a fixed percentage from the north and south to obtain Jinshi. Later, it was revised once and the southwest was listed separately, and finally it was divided into three areas, each with a fixed percentage.
Proportion. The specific operation seems to be that each person's test paper is marked separately with which section it belongs to, but the test items and the examiners who mark the papers are the same. This system has become a permanent system that lasted until the abolition of the imperial examination system."
Yang Feng said.
"So, those you found are actually Beibang Jinshi?"
Zhu Yuanzhang sneered.
"Well, that Han Kezhong is actually the top pick on the North Ranking, Wang Shu is the second, Jiao Sheng is the top pick, including Wang Fan, who is actually the top three on the North Ranking, Shi Li is the second and third."
Yang Feng said with a smile.
"Humph, none of them are honest."
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
"Your Majesty, I just want the emperor to understand that civil servants are not harmless, they are just good at hiding. They are indeed incapable of rebellion, but they can form cliques for personal gain. Reading books from sages does not make them more moral. In fact,
Their lower moral limit is no higher than that of a beggar on the street. Therefore, there is no essential difference between the examination of these Confucian scholars who keep talking about the way of saints and the examination of any other literate person. The imperial examination should test actual talents, not general talents.
Confucian classics of no real use."
Yang Feng said.
"Are you mocking me for refusing to reform the imperial examination?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said.
"I'm just stating the facts.
But I'm still a little surprised. Liu Sanwu shouldn't be so stupid. Although he probably wants to leave a legacy for future generations, it's also a bit risky. After all, you like to kill the whole family.
Why did he take such a big risk?"
Yang Feng said very deeply.
He did not quite understand. Historically, Liu Sanwu dared to do this because Zhu Yunwen was already the crown prince, and when he was appointed crown prince, he helped Zhu Yunwen, so Zhu Yuanzhang would not kill him. He had to save face for his grandson, and
Zhu Yunwen will also protect him. But now the crown prince is Zhu Yunxi. Although the latter does not say he hates him, he still does not care about his life or death, so the risk he takes is greater.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew how to kill, and he also liked to kill his entire family.
"That grandson of yours..."
Yang Feng was about to speak but stopped.
"I don't need you to worry about my family affairs!"
Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted him simply.
Obviously His Majesty the Emperor also guessed it.
"Ha, you can do whatever you like. I'll watch a good show at worst."
Yang Feng said.
Then he picked up his empty bag and carried it away.