"King Ning and King Shu established the Ning Kingdom and the Shu Kingdom overseas in Tianzhu. The Emperor of Heaven has officially ennobled the Ning Kingdom and the Shu Kingdom and recognized the status of the two countries as vassal states."
"Ning Guo first recruits talented people from the Ming Dynasty. As long as they are willing to immigrate to Ning Guo, each person can get two days and one hundred acres and five slaves. Anyone who is literate can serve as an official in Ning Guo."
With the shouts of the newsboys, the whole capital began to become lively and lively.
King Ning and King Shu established their kingdoms overseas. The establishment of Ning and Shu marked the arrival of a new era.
Suddenly, all the old and young men in the capital began to discuss this matter.
"Chen Xiucai, have you seen the newspaper?"
"Prince Ning is looking for talented people. Anyone who can read and write can go to Ningguo to serve as an official. You are also a scholar after all. If you go to Ningguo, you will have to be a county magistrate. You may even be able to become a magistrate or something."
Someone looked at the newspaper and said to a scholar next to him.
"Ningguo is located in a barbarian land overseas. They are all uncivilized barbarians. Even if I are asked to be the chief minister of Ningguo's cabinet, I will not go."
Chen Xiucai, who was very old, shook his head slightly and said, what can the officials of Ningguo do? There are not many people, and they are overseas and in a barbarian land. It is not interesting to be an official in such a place.
He's not going.
"Chen Xiucai, you have been taking exams all your life. Why don't you go to Ningguo now? You are more or less an official. It is said that Li Shishi, the chief minister of Ningguo's cabinet, used to be a poor scholar, but now he is the chief minister of Ningguo's cabinet.
.”
Someone looked at the gray-haired Chen Xiucai and said.
"Can Ning Guo's cabinet chief minister be compared with our Ming Dynasty's?"
"Didn't you see it written in the newspaper? Prince Ning has granted many titles to meritorious ministers. He has created several princes and a lot of marquises. From now on, the titles will be ruined."
"The Ning King built the Ning Kingdom and granted a group of titles, the Shu King established the Shu Kingdom and granted another group of titles, and the Chu King established the Chu State and granted another group of titles. When the time comes, a person can obtain a title even when he goes overseas."
Chen Xiucai said disdainfully that the titles of the Ming Dynasty were more valuable and the officials of the Ming Dynasty were the most attractive. As for overseas officials, titles and the like, how could they compare with those of the Ming Dynasty.
"Chen Xiucai, if you don't want to go, someone else will. I heard that your good friend Wang Xiucai has already gone to Tianjin and is planning to take a boat to Tianzhu to become an official in Ningguo."
"If you go now, you can get an official position at least. I'm just illiterate, otherwise I would go and become an official anyway. It's better than being a commoner all my life."
"That's right, that's right."
"..."
In the imperial palace of the capital, Qianqing Palace, and in Emperor Hongzhi's study, the ministers were anxiously brought over by Emperor Hongzhi to discuss state affairs.
"Your Majesty, the King Ning and the King of Shu established a vassal state overseas. It may not be harmful now, but as time goes by, when the vassal state becomes stronger, it will inevitably compete with our Ming Dynasty. A hundred years later, maybe it will compete with us.
Ming Dynasty poses a threat."
"I believe that vassal kings must never be allowed to establish vassal states overseas. Otherwise, in the future, many vassal states will rise together, posing a huge threat to our Ming Dynasty."
Wang Kuo, the Minister of Civil Affairs, is very old. His beard and hair are already white, but his voice is very loud and full of energy when he speaks.
He was one of the ministers who firmly opposed the vassal king to establish a vassal state overseas, because he was absolutely sure that the vassal state of the vassal king would threaten the interests of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
"Master Wang, what you said is wrong~"
"The establishment of overseas vassal states will not only not harm the interests of our Ming Dynasty, but will consolidate our rule and interests overseas. At the same time, it will also allow our descendants of Yan and Huang to spread overseas."
Xie Qian stood up and expressed his opposition. Emperor Hongzhi has officially recognized and canonized the matter. Are you tired of still talking nonsense here?
"Yes, if the vassal king goes to sea to establish a vassal state, it will only be good for our Ming Dynasty, and there will be no harm."
"This year alone, twelve vassal kings including King Ning, King Shu, King Chu, and King Zheng will go to sea. The expenses incurred by these twelve vassal kings alone will be a huge amount."
"Furthermore, when vassal kings go to sea to establish vassal states, they need to buy ships, weapons and equipment, and at the same time, they also need to carry a large number of people overseas."
"These have greatly alleviated the pressure on the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial household department has been able to save a lot of money. This money is enough to build another north-south highway."
"At the same time, all the wealth accumulated by the vassal kings for generations was used, which greatly boosted the production and demand of our Ming Dynasty and promoted the development of our Ming Dynasty."
"The land occupied by the vassal kings in the past has now been returned to the imperial court. The imperial court distributed these lands to landless people for farming, which also alleviated the land tension situation."
"As for the vassal state posing a threat to our Ming Dynasty, it is probably very difficult. The military strength, population, land, etc. of the vassal state are far inferior to that of our Ming Dynasty. Even if it is a hundred or a thousand years, it will be difficult to
Comparable to my Ming Dynasty."
Ji Zhong, the Minister of Household Affairs, also stood up and expressed his stance.
He firmly supported the vassal king to go to sea. Without it, the vassal king went to sea, and the court could save a lot of expenses. The vassal king's expenses were not a small amount. The Ming court's annual treasury income accounted for almost one-third.
Used to support these feudal kings.
Now that the vassal king has gone to sea, not only has this expense been saved, but the vassal king has needed a lot of supplies to go to sea, which has greatly promoted production. This year's tax revenue is much higher than last year, and all aspects are fully prosperous. He
It is expected that the Ming Dynasty's treasury will see big savings this year.
"There is no need to argue anymore about the feudal king going to sea."
"The main reason why everyone is anxious to come here today is to discuss the matter of selecting scholars through the imperial examination."
"This is the time when our Ming Dynasty opened up its territory, including the four provinces in Nanyang, Liaodong in the north, and the grassland provinces. If we include the newly established Western Region Province, this is the vastest territory in the history of our Ming Dynasty. The number of people taking the imperial examinations is the largest. At the same time,
There are also a large number of people from overseas provinces taking part in the imperial examinations."
"This is also the first time that my Ming Dynasty has carried out three rankings to select scholars, so there is no room for any mistakes."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at everyone and said, his voice was not loud, but his voice was domineering and did not allow anyone to comment.
Now Emperor Hongzhi is no longer the former Emperor Hongzhi. The successive great victories, coupled with the increasing prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, have also brought Emperor Hongzhi's prestige to the extreme.
"Yes~"
When everyone heard this, they immediately nodded in agreement.
The imperial examination in the fifteenth year of Hongzhi was indeed the most important imperial examination in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
In the past, the imperial examinations were usually scheduled in January, but this time, they were scheduled in March. This was mainly because the territory of the Ming Dynasty was so large that many scholars had to travel too far to take the exams.
So the delay is also to give them enough time to come over.
At the same time, the imperial court also had enough time to prepare, because this time there was no longer the two lists of north and south, but an east list.
The traditional North and South lists include scholars from the two capitals and thirteen provinces, while the newly added East list includes Nanyang Province, Jiaozhi Province, Xianglin Province, Zhenghe Province in the Nanyang region, Liaodong Province in the northern region, and grassland.
Province, Western Region Province of Northwest Territories.
At the same time, there is a special situation this time, that is, the three vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, Korea, Japan, and Luzon. In order to show that they respect Confucianism and Taoism, they actually sent scholars to come to the Ming Dynasty to take the imperial examination.
.
According to the words of Lord Yanshan, the king of Korea, these scholars from the vassal states came to Ming Dynasty to take the imperial examination, not to become officials in Ming Dynasty, nor for the fame of Ming Dynasty.
The main purpose was to test their achievements in learning Chinese civilization by taking part in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty, to show their attachment to the Ming Dynasty, and to show their respect for teachers and Taoism.
Everyone in the Ming Dynasty was also appreciative of Korea, Japan, and Luzon being so virtuous, so Emperor Hongzhi also waved his hand and included the scholars of Korea, Japan, and Luzon in the Eastern List.
In such a vast area, there are not only scholars from new provinces, but also scholars from vassal states, not only scholars from the traditional Ming Dynasty, but also many scholars from other ethnic groups.
One can imagine how lively this imperial examination was, which is why Emperor Hongzhi attached so much importance to it.
In itself, the three-year Luncai Ceremony was the most important event of the Ming Dynasty. It was an important event for the emperor to gather talented people from all over the world and gather the hearts of the people from all over the world.
What's more, in Nanyang Province, Xianglin Province, Jiaozhi Province, Liaodong Province, Prairie, Western Region Province and other places as new as the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court needed to win over the people in these places through imperial examinations, and at the same time it also needed to stabilize the imperial power in these places.
local rule.
In addition, it involves the scholars in the vassal countries, which is related to the spread of Chinese civilization and the spread of Confucius and Mencius in the vassal countries.
This requires more attention.
There were too many things to consider in this imperial examination, and every aspect had to be considered thoroughly, and every aspect had to be considered. Emperor Hongzhi was also very troubled by this.
"Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, you are the chief examiners for this imperial examination~"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the ministers present and directly named Liu Jian and Li Dongyang as the examiners, which showed how much he attached importance to this imperial examination.
You must know that in the past three-year imperial examinations, it was usually enough to select a few Liubu ministers or Liubu ministers to serve as examiners. This time, Emperor Hongzhi had two cabinet ministers serve as examiners. The standards were extremely high.
"I obey the decree!"
When the two heard this, they quickly stood up and replied respectfully.
"This time, the number of people admitted to the imperial examination should increase. Our territory of the Ming Dynasty is getting wider and wider, and more and more officials and talents are needed. This time, the number of people admitted to the imperial examination has increased to 500."