Chapter 812: Strong ships and cannons arrive in Jinling
After Chen Lifu rested at home for three days, he set off for Texas, preparing to start a new round of inspection career.
At the same time, the Tang Dynasty's annual examination for the fifth year of Xuanping was also held. This time, the examination was postponed for two full months compared to previous years, but it did not arouse opposition from the scholars. Instead, it won a large number of scholars.
of goodwill.
Because the time was relatively relaxed, many scholars from remote places were able to arrive and take part in the imperial examination. In addition, there was news in the Tang Dynasty newspaper that the number of scholars admitted this time would be greater than in previous years.
Although the exact number is still unknown, it is a foregone conclusion that it will definitely be more than in previous years.
It was Li Xuan's decision to increase the number of students admitted. In fact, the number of people admitted to the General Examination in the Tang Dynasty has been increasing in the past few years, from more than a hundred in the past to more than two hundred, and then to more than five hundred.
As for the number of students admitted this year, Li Xuan plans to directly increase it to more than 1,000, with 500 students each for Jinshi and doctoral programs!
Don't worry that so many officials can't be arranged. Now that the Tang Dynasty has newly occupied large areas such as Jiangnan and Zhejiang, and various directly affiliated institutions are gradually improving, the demand for officials is very large.
There is no need to worry about not having enough scholars to take part in the imperial examination. Last year, the Tang Dynasty had not yet occupied Jiangnan, so there were two to three thousand scholars taking part in the imperial examination. This time, the Imperial Examination Department of the Ministry of Rites estimated that
The number of people will probably reach more than 5,000.
A small number of the extra ones are scholars from Hunan and Jiangxi. Although there were scholars from these two areas who came to take part in the imperial examination last year, there were still not many. This year, if nothing else, there will be a large number of scholars.
I came to take part in the examination.
However, more than half of the newly added scholars were from the Jiangnan area. The Jiangnan area was originally a place with a strong literary style and a large number of scholars. Even if only a small number of people came to participate in the imperial examination, the total amount was still very large.
The widespread introduction of imperial examinations has always been a weapon used by the Tang Dynasty to appease and attract the gentry class.
On April 20, the joint examination officially began, and the total number of candidates who had registered in advance was more than 5,300, and interestingly, among them, more than 3,000 were candidates for the doctoral program.
For the first time, the number of students applying for doctoral programs has exceeded the number of students applying for Jinshi majors.
This is because after the mid-term examination, the new officials of the Jinshi Department and the Doctoral Department are the same in grade, but the Doctoral Department has more advantages in the selection of officials. They can enter the taxation department, the Ministry of Industry and other real-power departments, and hold real-power positions, and in
In terms of subsequent promotions, the Tang Dynasty also preferred students who were promoted to doctoral programs.
It has been so many years since the Tang Dynasty was established, and such unspoken rules have only gradually appeared in the officialdom, and have become well known to outsiders.
The Jinshi Department, which was the most popular in the Ming Dynasty, had gradually become second-rate in the Tang Dynasty.
After the scholars entered the examination room one after another, the three-day examination began. The examination questions were more numerous than before, and they were more comprehensive. Although there were still eight-part essays and they still occupied a major position, policy theory and science also occupied a major position.
assumed an important position.
The current imperial examination admission rules of the Tang Dynasty generally state that the eight-part essay is just a stepping stone. If you do not write it well, you will definitely not be able to pass. However, the eight-part essay basically does not pose any difficulty for these candidates, and the examiners are not familiar with the eight-part essay.
The selection criteria for articles are also relatively low.
Take the Jinshi subject as an example. I cannot say 100% of the 2,000 scholars who applied for the Jinshi subject, but 80% will be able to pass the most basic eight-legged essay. But how to choose in the future? The key point is naturally
It fell on policy theory and science.
Then in the science stage and the preliminary stage of policy theory, half of the science questions in the Jinshi subject are relatively basic. Even if you don't study them specifically, you only need to memorize the science books published by Datang Royal Publishing House.
Basically, everyone can pass the exam, but all the candidates who do not do well in the science exam are basically students who do not pay attention to, or are repelled by the imperial examination policy of the Tang Dynasty. What is the use of such people!
The same is true for policy essays. Whether the policy essays are well written or not is not only a test of the candidate's writing skills, but also a test of what the candidates have seen and heard and their ability to handle affairs. The questions are all close to reality. If the candidates can only memorize rote texts, they will be
It is absolutely impossible to write a policy that is eye-catching.
And how do the remaining about seven or eight hundred people select the final five hundred Jinshi? The answer is very simple. Naturally, it is based on the comprehensive score. Each candidate has three test papers, eight-part essay paper, science paper, and policy paper.
The examiner will give separate scores, and then the three will be added up to determine the winner based on the total score.
However, the policy score for Jinshi subjects is relatively large, accounting for half of the total score, with science accounting for 30% and liberal arts accounting for 20%.
The admission process for doctoral programs is generally the same, but their core subject is science. Although eight-part essays are also tested, the questions are very simple. As long as there are no eight-part essays that are really impossible to enter, you can basically be selected.
In the total admission stage, the science score directly accounts for half of the total score, policy theory accounts for another 30%, and liberal arts only accounts for 20%.
When it comes to the palace examination, no matter whether it is a Jinshi or a doctoral degree, only policy theory will be tested.
After all, these people all want to be officials, and science and liberal arts are just reflections of their basic knowledge. The assessment of whether they can be officials is actually based on policy analysis.
After such screening, the Tang Dynasty directly admitted a thousand candidates in the imperial examination in the fifth year of Xuanping, including 500 candidates for Jinshi and doctoral studies.
After admission, in addition to the top three in the first class and the second class, a total of twelve people will be directly awarded the seventh-grade official status and then enter the Hanlin Academy.
As for other people, those who place second, fourth, and third place will be awarded seventh-grade official status, and these people still need to undergo a three-month internship in various cabinet ministries and other institutions, and then participate in official selection, and finally they will be promoted to official positions.
was awarded a formal official position.
The official selection stage is often the time when the future of most of the second- and third-class officers is decided. The official selection is presided over by the Civil Affairs Department, which comprehensively considers the performance of these new officials during their internship, and also based on the candidates' performance.
According to their own wishes, they will then be assigned. A very small number of the best will be assigned to the Hanlin Academy, while the outstanding ones will stay and work in various departments in the capital, while the average ones will be sent to various agencies at the provincial, prefecture and state levels.
Take office.
It is worth noting that from the beginning, the Tang Dynasty did not have the practice of directly throwing new officials to the ruling party of a certain place.
This point is also where the official selection system of the Tang Dynasty is different from that of previous dynasties and dynasties. The Tang Dynasty clearly stipulated that new officials were not allowed to take charge of one party.
This is naturally to prevent these new officials from passing the Jinshi examination and becoming postdoctoral fellows, leaving their books behind and becoming a county magistrate. That is a county magistrate. To let a novice official become a county magistrate, isn’t this a deception for the people!
However, if they are people with outstanding abilities, these new officials will soon be able to take charge of a party. Now their rank is from the seventh rank. If they do well and get promoted, they will be the full seventh rank, which is the rank of the county magistrate. If they have outstanding abilities,
, he will be sent to a county to serve as a county magistrate for training.
But there are relatively few such people.
After all, in the official system of the Tang Dynasty, the three-level positions of county magistrate, prefect, and prefect were all powerful and could directly affect the livelihoods of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people under their rule, so being able to hold the position of one
Landlord officials, even if they are county magistrates, are the most outstanding among the seventh-rank officials.
At the same time, these officials in charge of local affairs are promoted very quickly. If they do their job well, it won't take long for the county magistrate to become a prefect, and then he will become a prefect again.
Rapid promotion across levels is a huge advantage for local officials. Of course, the premise is that they must do well. If they do not do well, they will get out in a minute!
As the saying goes, with greater power comes greater responsibility!
After Haohaotangtang’s April imperial examination ended, time has entered May!
In early May, the dock outside Jinling City also welcomed a huge fleet!
This large-scale fleet is directly affiliated with the Yangtze River Fleet. It has a total of twelve armed merchant ships, and they are all sand ships suitable for inland navigation. The tonnage ranges from two hundred tons to more than three hundred tons. These ships
Before, it was not the Yangtze River Fleet, but the First Fleet.
In the first half of this year, the Tang Dynasty Navy carried out reforms and divisions. It officially determined that the First Fleet and the Second Fleet were the ocean fleets. They no longer retained traditional Chinese-style armed merchant ships with weak combat capabilities and insufficient long-sea navigation capabilities. Only brand-new fleets were retained.
Professional warships, while also retaining a number of armed merchant ships converted from Western-style soft sailing ships. However, these armed merchant ships have actually been extensively modified, and their firepower is much stronger than traditional armed merchant ships.
As a result, the First Fleet and the Second Fleet have undergone a major downsizing. The redundant squadrons have been disbanded and only three squadrons have been retained. Currently, the First Fleet only has four cruisers and eight frigates, which are assigned to
First Squadron, Second Squadron.
The Second Fleet has only one cruiser, four frigates, and is organized into the Third Squadron and the Fourth Squadron.
Among the many armed merchant ships converted from traditional Chinese merchant ships, some Fu ships were handed over to the Navy's logistics department. Some Guangzhou ships, sand ships, etc., which were suitable for inland river and offshore navigation and had weak firepower, were handed over to the Pearl River Fleet and
The Yangtze River Fleet and the newly established Minjiang Fleet are used as inland river and offshore combat vessels.
The Yangtze River Fleet, on the other hand, accepted a total of twenty-six armed merchant ships and formed a fleet directly under the Yangtze River Fleet, second only to the Pearl River Fleet in number.
In the past few days, this part of the warships directly under the Yangtze River Fleet took advantage of the heavy rain and darkness to venture through Yangzhou. On the way, they also had a battle with the Ming Navy and two ships were destroyed. This is what they brought with them.
Scar rushed to Jinling City.
Although the losses were considerable, this move gave the Tang Dynasty a considerable combat force in the Yangtze River Basin west of Yangzhou and east of Hukou.
And this is very beneficial to the subsequent operations of the Tang Dynasty!
At least with this directly affiliated fleet, the Ming Navy would not be able to act unscrupulously in this section of the Yangtze River!
At the same time, if the Tang Army wants to launch a cross-river operation in the future, this fleet can also play a huge role!