The Ming Dynasty currently has thirteen provinces and regions, and actually controls twelve provinces. Only Yunnan has not returned. The remaining twelve provinces will hold provincial examinations at the end of July, which is unprecedented in scale.
There was no way around it. Chaos had begun during the Tianqi period, and had continued on and off for more than thirty years. Countless villages and counties had been reduced to ruins and disappeared. Now that the imperial court was re-established, it was natural to regulate things.
The officials opposed the replacement of county magistrates with all their strength, believing that this was an infringement and a precedent for local governments to appoint officials on their own, which violated the policy of centralization of power.
In fact, the officials don't really mind the assistant officials, such as the general judge, the county magistrate, the chief minister, etc., but not the county magistrate, who is Bailihou after all.
"If we don't grant county magistrates, how can we attract attention in the provincial examination? How can we attract talents?"
The emperor was not used to Wang Yingxiong and asked him directly:
"Does the Ministry of Civil Affairs have enough Jinshi to confer officials?"
Wang Yingxiong could only remain silent.
In the first year of Shaowu's Enke, the imperial court recruited 300 Jinshi. After a year and a half of studying in government affairs, they were basically assigned to local places.
But this was far from enough for the huge Ming bureaucracy.
There are more than 2,000 officials in the six central ministries, five temples, inspectorate and other capitals alone, and ten times the number in local areas is 20,000.
Of course, if there are real officials sitting in the court, that is, those of seventh grade or above, the number is only three thousand.
The meeting will be held once every three years and 300 people will be added, which is obviously not enough.
What's more, just after the Chongzhen period, the world was in chaos.
"Shaanxi Province reported that seventeen people were killed or disappeared and were replaced by magistrates from various prefectures and counties, and twenty-three people were replaced. In such a huge Shaanxi Province, there are only a hundred counties in total, and now nearly half of them are vacant——
"
"Henan, where Zhongzhou used to be, had tens of millions of registered residents. Now, except for Guide Prefecture, Nanyang Prefecture, and the three prefectures of Hebei Province, the rest has become a blank land, with 80% of the vacancies."
The emperor also came prepared and directly threw out the statistics of the cabinet, which made Wang Yingxiong suffer.
"The Ministry of Civil Affairs has sent people to connect these county magistrates to the capital, so don't worry!"
Wang Yingxiong still had a depressed face and remained silent, pouting like a stupid bear who was injured.
Wang Yingxiong, a tiger-headed man, was already fifty-nine years old, with frosty temples, but now he looked like a stubborn old man, which made Zhu Yixi feel a little soft-hearted.
When he entered Sichuan that year, Wang Yingxiong served as the Minister of Rites and a bachelor of Dongge University. He was a proper cabinet minister. Later, he was demoted and returned home, becoming very famous in Sichuan.
When he wanted to conquer Sichuan, this old boy was the first to surrender to him. He served as the governor of Sichuan without any problem, and kept sending him money and food, acting as a qualified dairy cow.
This was the first top-level civil servant under him to take refuge at that time, which was of great significance and was also the key to quickly pacifying Sichuan.
Historically, he spent all his wealth, recruited thousands of people to open a mansion in Zunyi, recommended Luo Yuxin, Hou Tianxi, Zeng Ying, and Wang Xiang, and vowed to fight to the death to regain Sichuan.
After the Qing army entered Sichuan, they beheaded the envoys, abandoned Zunyi and entered Bijie, ran around in the Yongning Mountains of Guizhou, and died in Bijie.
His only son also died in a military disaster, which is sad.
"That's it, just this once!"
Zhu Yixi compromised and sighed: "This time, there must be a lot of vacancies to fill. In the future, the provincial examination will be full-time assistant, and the Ministry of Personnel will be responsible for sitting in the hall!"
"Although Zuo Er is a lower-ranking official, he is still under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel."
Those above the seventh rank are officials, and those below the seventh rank are bureaucrats, collectively known as bureaucrats.
Wang Yingxiong raised his head and said in a low voice.
"nature."
Zhu Yixi nodded and agreed.
Wang Yingxiong just went back, his steps were a little staggering. After all, he was getting older.
"The provincial examination is just another attempt to win over people's hearts."
Shaking her head, Zhu Yixi felt her mouth was dry and drank warm tea, sighing in her heart.
Although it was due to the serious shortage of officials, in essence, it was to use official positions to buy scholars and stabilize the world as quickly as possible.
The successive new policies, especially the withdrawal and annexation of the garrison, have offended the interests of many people. The official seal is the best thirst quencher.
Historically, the Manchus and Qing Dynasties were very sophisticated in this regard, and they liberally opened up the sale of official positions and titles. As long as you had money, you could become an official without taking any exams.
For example, Li Wei bought a Yuanwailang and started his career as a fifth-rank official.
If in the Ming Dynasty, or in previous eras, someone like Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty would have been scolded to death, but in the Qing Dynasty he would be a saint but not the emperor.
Of course, this was also something the Qing Dynasty had thought through. Successful rebellions over the years were all supported by the gentry, otherwise they would not last long.
In this case, why not draw these rich people into the court, then naturally there will be no rebellion in the local area, after all, they are all their own people.
As for the life and death of the people at the bottom, it has nothing to do with me, as long as the imperial court can survive for ten thousand years.
"Your Majesty, there is good news from North Korea."
Tian Ren trotted all the way and came in a hurry, holding a memorial.
"Okay, Wu Sangui is good."
As soon as he unfolded it, Zhu Yixi's face lit up and he praised it.
Then he started thinking again.
When Hong Chengchou set up the formation in Korea, he was indeed an old fox. He could only defeat cleverness with strength, and he must not play tricks with him.
"Pass a message to the cabinet and ask the court to allocate 30,000 yuan of silver and 50,000 shi of grain to be shipped to North Korea."
The eunuch on the side responded and left.
At this time, Tian Ren noticed that the emperor was sweating on his forehead, so he couldn't help but ask someone to serve him a glass of iced sour plum soup, and then he thoughtfully stepped forward:
"Your Majesty, please take a rest. Don't be tired. It's such a hot summer. Please take care of your health."
"It's okay." After drinking a glass of iced wine, Zhu Yixi's heat dissipated immediately.
Refreshing.
"Who else is next?"
"Master, let's take a rest!" Tian Ren advised.
"I've been waiting for a few hours. It's so hot in the summer, so we should all see it!"
After hesitating for a moment, Zhu Yixi rejected the proposal.
Although it was uncomfortable to do things in the summer, but to compare with others, I waited outside for most of the day, maybe just to meet him.
With this push, certain things will have to be delayed for days or months.
"yes!"
Soon, a middle-aged man in official robes walked in and knelt down directly: "Prince of Qin Tian Jian, Ge Jiwu, please pay homage to Your Majesty."
"Get up!"
Zhu Yixi said softly, looking at the person.
Qin Tianjian was a hereditary official in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the era of imperial power granted by heaven, its status was self-evident.
For three consecutive generations, someone from the Ge family has served as the Superintendent of Qintian Prison, and they can be said to be experts.
"Is the Chongzhen Almanac still there?"
"Your Majesty, Tang Ruowang took the Chongzhen Almanac outside the customs." Ge Jiwu was stunned and said hurriedly.
"What?"
Zhu Yixi was startled and said angrily: "This Tang Ruowang really deserves to die."
"Chongzhen Almanac" is an astronomical almanac edited by Xu Guangqi. The book introduces Copernicus' "On the Movement of Celestial Bodies" and clearly introduces the concept of "Earth".
In terms of calculation methods, spherical and plane trigonometry are introduced, and in terms of coordinate systems, the ecliptic coordinate system is introduced.
It can be said that it is the best alternative to the T&T calendar.
It was enough to make Ming Dynasty once again enter the world's first-class level in astronomy.
Astronomy, on the other hand, is necessary for large-scale navigation.