The imperial examination has been a very important matter throughout the ages.

It can influence the rise and fall of a country.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally attached great importance to this. In previous years, Prince Zhu Biao was responsible for the imperial examinations.

Let Zhu Ying be in charge this year.

The literati who can enter the palace examination are all the leaders of this era, which is equivalent to standing at the pinnacle of talent.

These people can stand out from many talented people. Their emotional intelligence may not be very good, but their IQ is definitely top-notch.

Zhu Yuanzhang's idea was also simple, that is, to let Zhu Ying take advantage of this opportunity to get acquainted with the talented people who will take the imperial examination this year in advance. If there are any who are pleasing to the eye, they can also be included in the team in advance.

Ye Yueqing didn't have much feeling about the imperial examination.

After all, she was mainly responsible for business and intelligence gathering before.

But Zhu Ying knew that if he wanted to make a revolutionary change in the customs of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination was the key.

Of course Zhu Ying knew about the Nanbei Bang incident.

In today's Ming Dynasty, due to the constant wars in the north, the culture and economy gradually shifted to the south. This also resulted in the cultural literacy of northern scholars being much lower than that of southern scholars.

In the 30th year of Hongwu's reign, it became clear that only southern scholars were on the list, and no northern scholars were on the list.

Since he was in charge of the imperial examination, Zhu Ying would naturally nip the issue of the Northern and Southern Examinations in the bud.

Recruiting soldiers separately from the north to the south is currently the best way.

There are also various minor imperial examinations proposed by Zhu Ying before, which can now be announced to the world.

However, among these, Zhu Ying also plans to open martial arts competitions.

The method of selecting talents by assessing martial arts first appeared in the pre-Qin period.

The establishment of martial arts schools to cultivate military talents began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui system, and during the time of Wu Zetian, the martial arts department was added.

The Song Dynasty established a relatively complete martial arts system and began to closely integrate the martial arts system with school education, showing the characteristics of systematization and maturity.

The principle of martial arts assessment is: deciding whether to stay or leave based on strategy, and deciding who is better with the bow and horse.

During the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, they despised the Han people and did not want to see them practice martial arts. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there was no martial arts examination.

One year before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to recruit scholars in civil and military subjects, seeking talents and wise men from all over the world.

In August of the third year of Hongwu, the provincial liberal arts examination came as scheduled.

In the second year of the general examination, after three general examinations, on the tenth day of the palace examination, Zhu Yuanzhang personally observed the riding and shooting.

Zhu Yuanzhang advocated the use of force in troubled times and the use of literature to govern the world.

When the Ming Dynasty was transitioning from chaos to rule, Zhu Yuanzhang's idea was to select talents with both civil and military skills through the imperial examination.

However, from the third year of Hongwu to the fifth year of Hongwu, the civil service examination was held for three consecutive years. Zhu Yuanzhang believed that these selected "young men" could not be reused, so he directly dismissed the imperial examination.

It was not until the 17th year of Hongwu that the Ministry of Rites submitted several petitions to request the establishment of the imperial examination. In addition, officials in various places were severely killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, leaving a huge shortage of officials, so the imperial examination was re-established.

It's just that from then on, scholars were only recruited from liberal arts subjects, and there were no military examinations.

In the 20th year of Hongwu's reign, the Ministry of Rites once again petitioned for martial arts examinations, but Zhu Yuanzhang rejected it.

Later, after the Minister of Rites was demoted due to a crime, there is no candidate for the Minister of Rites.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang did not hold martial arts examinations is actually very simple: he didn't like it.

Having fought in battles all his life, he frowned when he saw the military talents of those younger generations. If the army randomly selected a hundred households, they would be ten times better than these scholars.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were more than tens of thousands of households.

The guard system and the inheritance of military households made Zhu Yuanzhang feel that military talents in the Ming Dynasty were everywhere, so there was no need to search for them through the imperial examination.

Isn't it ridiculous that the top martial arts champion recruited is so weak?

But Zhu Yuanzhang never imagined that the strategy of emphasizing culture over military affairs would affect the national destiny of the entire Ming Dynasty.

During the Yingzong period, the Ming Dynasty no longer had the power and domineering power of the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, nor the Taiping and Yanle of the Renxuan and Xuan dynasties. Thieves were everywhere, and border troubles were serious.

The young Yingzong was full of ambitions to punish all directions, and longed for the majesty of Taizu and Chengzu.

Martial Arts was also established to cultivate military talents.

When he heard that Wala invaded the border, he lightly launched a personal expedition. As a result, he was captured in Tumubao, and the establishment of military campaigns was stranded.

After the Tumubao Incident, the civil service flourished and the martial arts declined.

After Xianzong, although martial arts exams were established, no one took the exams.

Ming customs despise martial arts people, and there are martial arts practitioners in the countryside. They look at soldiers and look down upon their relatives.

Since the household registration of soldiers in the Ming Dynasty was military registration, which was different from ordinary civilian registration, and those who committed crimes were punished as soldiers, this confused the concepts of soldiers and criminals.

The status of sergeants is low, and most descendants of aristocratic families are not proud of their descendants' military success, but feel ashamed of it. They even think that this is an act of belittling themselves and tarnishing their ancestors.

Even though the Ming Dynasty promoted martial arts, it achieved results. However, the national bombing was over and the national destiny came to an end.

Scenes of historical fragments, like words and images, jumped through Zhu Ying's mind.

When the country is in trouble, we miss good generals; when the family is poor, we miss a good wife.

In the late Ming Dynasty, 80% of the famous anti-Japanese generals and anti-Jin commanders were from military examination backgrounds.

Although the battles on the battlefield won a lot of luck for the Ming Dynasty, they were unable to turn the tide.

The building will collapse, composing a series of sad movements.

"Things like this must be cut off at the source. Only by being strong and brave can we avoid being insulted by foreigners."

"I hope that the Ming Dynasty will be like the great Han Dynasty. It would rather perish with strength than perish with weakness."

...

The news that the apartment is about to be opened on Zhengyang Avenue and that the grandson's wedding ceremony will be held on Zhengyang Avenue has spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital.

You must know that before this, there had never been a royal wedding held in front of the common people.

This move by Taisun should be a precedent.

This also made people enthusiastic.

Because this incident proves that His Highness Taisun is very close to the people.

With phoenix crowns and harems, and ten miles of red makeup, the whole world is celebrating, and all the people are rejoicing.

What a fascinating picture this is.

"I never thought I would be able to see a royal wedding in this life. I am really lucky. When the time comes, I will have to be a little happy."

"I do want to be happy, but at the grandson's wedding ceremony, do you think it's us common people? Besides, there will be security guards and martial law at that time. It's enough to be able to feast your eyes on it."

"Hey, don't say that. As you know, in order to celebrate the wedding of His Royal Highness, the Qunying Chamber of Commerce recently provided a subsidy of tens of millions, ten times more than the previous one million subsidy, and it has been popular for three days."

"In this way, we common people have really been blessed by His Highness the Grand Sun."

"Good fellow, tens of millions of treasures. Your Highness is really generous. We have never seen such a large amount of money in our lives."

"It seems like everyone has seen it before. Speaking of which, the capital has been really lively recently. After the wedding ceremony of His Highness Taisun, the Zhengyang Avenue was opened to the public, and there were tens of millions of subsidies. After that, there was the Spring Imperial Examination. After this, it is said that our Ming Dynasty will conquer the Japanese country.

"

"There is also the matter of the Liaodong slaves working on fertile soil. When I heard about it, I wanted to go there to open up wasteland."

"Don't forget, His Majesty the Grand Sun opens newspapers in his residence, and publishes important national events. From now on, storytellers in this restaurant will have an extra program."

While there was a lot of discussion in the restaurant, an old man burst into tears.

Others were puzzled and asked: "How can you, old man, be like this?"

The old man raised half of his arm: "I was born in the late Yuan Dynasty, and I was bullied by the Meng Yuan. I have lived like a pig and a dog since I was a child. The world is turning against the Yuan, and I will raise the flag to go with it."

"I'm lucky to have been on the battlefield for many years, but I still have a life to live, which is to say, I lost half of my arm."

"Now that I have seen the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, I can't help but feel that I have no regrets in this life, so I can't help but make you laugh."

After the old man finished speaking, he bowed his arms in all directions. The half of his arm was particularly eye-catching.

Listening to the old man's brief description of the past, he turned out to be a veteran of the Ming Dynasty's resistance, and everyone couldn't help but admire him.

The shopkeeper also brought good wine.

The old man waved his hand and refused: "The old man is considered to be blessed by his grandson. He has retirement security and can still afford a bottle of good wine, so he thanked the shopkeeper."

The shopkeeper put the wine on the table: "Old soldier, you and your colleagues threw your heads and blood on the battlefield, which led to the grand scene of the Ming Dynasty today. With this pot of wine, I not only respect you, but also the countless corpses wrapped in horse leather."

Martyrs, please do not refuse."

"good!!!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the restaurant cheered, and the old man was even more excited. He held down the wine pot with one hand and stood up to express his thanks.

Just like a restaurant, they can be found everywhere in the capital.

Ever since Zhu Ying secretly decided to popularize martial arts a few days ago, he began to secretly guide public opinion.
To be continued...