With the arrival of hot summer, the entire capital city is like a furnace, making people uncomfortable with the heat.
Liu Jin was lying on his old man's chair, shaking the chair and looking a little listless.
Liu Jin has been very busy recently.
On the one hand, he was busy preparing for the imperial examination, and on the imperial court's triennial ethics ceremony. Li Dongyang was unwell, Liu Jian was old, and Xie Qian was from Jiangnan. In the end, the matter of being the examiner fell to Liu Jin.
Fully responsible for the imperial examinations in the 21st year of Hongzhi.
This is not just an exam once or twice. Logically speaking, just explain it and follow the previous rules.
However, the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations are very different from those in the past. First of all, in the 18th year of Hongzhi's reign, the East Ranking was added, and together with the original North and South Rankings, the three rankings were now examined together.
Dongbang includes Liaodong, Northern Grassland, Western Regions, Hezhong, Nanyun, Central Asia, Northwest, Nanyang, Huanghuangzhou and Australia. The hell is very wide, and there are a large number of non-Han people taking the imperial examinations.
Candidates.
You can imagine how difficult it was to organize such an imperial examination.
In the absence of advanced transportation and communication technology, it would be very difficult just to communicate with different places, let alone organize these candidates from all over the world to take the exam.
You must know that it takes several months to take the Ming Dynasty exam from Huanghuangzhou alone. Not to mention the fatigue during the journey, the key is that the sea is full of storms, which is quite dangerous.
Secondly, there are so many candidates coming to take the exam, including many who have traveled across the ocean and a large number of minority tribesmen. How to set the questions and what to pay attention to when enrolling, there are too many things to consider.
It is far more than just a simple imperial examination.
Since ancient times, imperial examinations have been held not only to select talents and officials for the court, but more often, they also have the function of spreading the emperor's favor and consolidating national rule and unification.
Take the imperial examination in the 18th year of Hongzhi's reign as an example. The Dongbang examination was first launched that year, and a large number of candidates from Nanyang, grasslands, Western Regions and other places were admitted as Jinshi, and official positions were arranged for scholars from these minority tribes.
Although it has only been three years, the results have already been well reflected.
In Jiaozhi, Nanyang, Xianglin and other places, candidates from these minority tribes were admitted to the Ming Dynasty as Jinshi and became officials of the Ming Dynasty. Their families subsequently enjoyed honors and benefits.
Naturally, the local rule of the Ming Dynasty was consolidated, and at the same time, people in these places recognized the Ming Dynasty more, which consolidated the Ming Dynasty's rule, promoted the integration and exchanges between ethnic groups, and promoted the spread of the Ming Dynasty culture in the local area.
.
This is the second time the three examinations were held at the same time, and the first time it was held in a hurry, Emperor Hongzhi’s intention this time was very clear, that is, it should be held beautifully, and as many scholars from minority tribes as possible could come to take the examination.
And also have to achieve good results.
The area ruled by the Ming Dynasty was really huge, and there were many tribes living in it.
The Son of Heaven is not only the emperor of the Han people, but also the emperor of every tribe living in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Everyone in the territory of the Ming Dynasty is the subject of the Son of Heaven.
Naturally, these words cannot be said just by words, but must be proved by many policies and practical actions. Only then can more tribes be attracted to the Ming Dynasty and establish unified thoughts and concepts in it.
In addition to being busy with the imperial examination, I also have to help Zhang Mao with the military recruitment. Just like the imperial examination, this time the recruitment opened quotas to all tribes in the Ming Dynasty. The purpose is similar to the imperial examination. In order to consolidate the Ming Dynasty's influence on individuals
The rule of the region promoted the identification of various tribes with the Ming Dynasty.
Although Zhang Mao was in charge of this matter, he would run to Liu Jin whenever he had something to do and ask Liu Jin to come up with ideas, which also hurt a lot of brain cells.
"What kind of question should I ask?"
Liu Jin closed his eyes, thinking about what kind of questions should be asked in the imperial examination.
In terms of level, it is natural that the talented people from the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty were more literary and the beautiful articles they wrote were more beautiful.
No matter how tricky the test questions are, they can write them beautifully, so that during the imperial examination, the questions become more and more sharp and biased.
It is a routine operation to cut off the beginning and end of a sentence and let you take the exam. If you don't show some tricky questions, everyone will think that you are not good enough as an examiner.
But Liu Jin obviously didn't want to do this. He wanted to take care of the candidates on the Dongbang list, but he also felt that it was important to select truly talented and knowledgeable people.
After much thought, Liu Jin had not thought of a topic for several months.
Shaking his head slightly, Liu Jin was about to close his eyes and take a nice nap when someone hurriedly came to Liu Jin with a letter.
“Great chaos in West Africa?”
Liu Jin took the letter and read it very quickly.
"The Japanese robbed the Portuguese of Sao Tome Island, and then the Spanish robbed it?"
"The Japanese robbed the Portuguese of Luanda and Lagos?"
"Spain robbed the Portuguese colonies, and also robbed the Persians of Darius Island and the city of Cambyses?"
"The Sunset City of the Japanese and the Yanshan City of the Koreans were attacked by pirates?"
"Many of the Spanish colonies were plundered by powerful pirates?"
When Liu Jin came to Africa, he looked at the points on the map and compared them carefully.
"It's really messy."
After reading it, Liu Jin couldn't help but sigh.
Even though he was in Ming Dynasty, Liu Jin seemed to have seen many things that happened in West Africa a few months ago. It was so chaotic.
The Japanese, Spaniards, Koreans, Portuguese, pirates, and Persians were all surrounding the colonial strongholds and colonies, and they were probably at odds with each other.
"Where did such powerful pirates come from?"
"Pirates who own a dozen large ships at the same time?"
"It's really rare for such a pirate group to directly loot a colonial stronghold."
Soon, Liu Jin frowned.
Pirates are very old, especially in the Mediterranean, Western Europe, and West Africa, where there are simply countless pirates.
European merchants are accustomed to working part-time as pirates at sea. As long as they can rob something, they won't mind being a pirate at all.
Even in Spain, the Ming Dynasty has been suppressing pirates, but there are still many pirates, emerging in endlessly, and they cannot be eliminated no matter what.
There are also a lot of accidents every year. Not only ships from European countries, but also ships from the Ming Dynasty have accidents every year. They are attacked and robbed by blind pirates.
However, under the joint attack of the Ming Dynasty and Spain, it is still difficult for pirates to become a phenomenon. The scale has always been small and scattered. Only the pirates of the Ottoman Empire are powerful.
However, in the past few years, when the Ming Dynasty and the Spanish coalition attacked the Ottoman Empire, the pirates of the Ottoman Empire also suffered heavy losses along with the Ottoman Empire's maritime fleet.
Currently, the main active locations are in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, and North and West Africa will not be involved.
It is unusual for such powerful pirates to appear all of a sudden.
"They must be English pirates and Vikings. It is estimated that Portugal, France, and the Netherlands are also involved, especially Portugal. Their colonies in West Africa were completely robbed by the Spaniards and Japanese. How can they just give up?
"
Soon, Liu Jin made a judgment.
Liu Jin, who came from a later generation, was very clear about the urine properties of European countries.
Portugal is not a good place either.
From the moment they set foot on the sea and colonized, they were a combination of merchants, pirates, robbers, explorers, and navigators.
Vasco da Gama, who is famous in the history books of later generations, almost burned, killed and looted all the way to Tianzhu in the Indian Ocean. He provoked wars and trouble everywhere, was extremely corrupt and arrogant, and went to blockade Persia with more than a dozen ships.
Gulf and Arabian Sea, monopoly on spice trade, etc.
What good things could they be?
As for England and France, they are synonymous with banditry. English pirates are the most disgusted objects in Spain in this era. As for these countries in Northern Europe, they are the descendants of Viking pirates.
They have always been the ones who robbed others. How could they have ever suffered such a loss? How could they just show no signs of it?
"Hmph~"
"It doesn't matter if you call us back and forth, but don't offend us Daming, otherwise don't blame us for being rude."
After thinking about this clearly, Liu Jin quickly started laughing again.
Fighting back and forth is a good thing for Ming Dynasty.
While they are fighting, Ming Dynasty can concentrate on development and expansion, and can also sell arms and weapons on both sides, and white money will continue to flow into Ming Dynasty.
"Well, I still want to suggest to His Majesty that we form a West African fleet to be permanently stationed in West Africa to maintain the deterrent power of our Ming Dynasty in West Africa, deter all parties, and protect Ming Dynasty's interests."
After thinking about it, Liu Jin felt that it was necessary to increase Ming's presence in West Africa. A fleet powerful enough to protect Ming's interests was necessary.
"Master~"
"The envoys from Korea, Japan, and Persia are asking for an audience~"
When Liu Jin was thinking about advocating the court to form a West African fleet, the servants of the family also came to Liu Jin and said.
"Envoys from Korea, Japan, and Persia?"
When Liu Jin heard this, he immediately became energetic.
They came really fast. When they received the news, they immediately came to ask for a meeting. It seemed that it was probably related to matters in West Africa.
Either they come to me to buy arms or weapons, or they come to me hoping to get support from Ming Dynasty.
