In the 20th year of Tianfa's reign, a "mass incident" broke out in Tokyo, where the imperial examination scholars besieged the palace gate. This incident shocked the government and the public, and made Emperor Tianfa extremely angry.
Li Yuan, the envoy of Longyi Guard to Fusi Feilong, was directly dismissed from his post due to improper handling.
The number of people implicated in this case was so large that it directly led to the suspension of this year's conference.
The case broke out because candidates participating in the joint examination heard that the imperial court was about to reform the content of the imperial examination and would add new subjects such as arithmetic, drawing, geography, criminal names, etc. to the examination.
Due to the instigation of some well-intentioned people, many scholars actually believed that this reform had already been carried out, and that a large amount of this new examination content would be temporarily added to the examination they would take in a few days.
Many of them studied hard for ten years and unfortunately encountered changes in government. The eight-part essay and classics they used to specialize in suddenly changed, and they had to start studying policy and history.
In the end, I finally passed the Juren exam and came to Tokyo to take the exam, but I heard that the policy theory and history that I spent countless efforts studying were no longer allowed to take the exam?
Suddenly it turns into a test of the art of punishing names and money!
How many people have spent ten years of hard work and spent half their lives, and when they reach the point where they can take a test, they suddenly encounter obstacles and instantly feel that their lives have been ruined.
Affected by the surrounding atmosphere, why are you afraid of being charged with blocking the palace gate?
So what’s the point of dying!
Li Laiheng was extremely angry. He wanted to find out who was responsible for the crime. In particular, he wanted to find out which ministers in the DPRK had leaked the news?
After all, the content of the reform of the imperial examination is a secret between the DPRK and the Central Government, and only a few close ministers know about it.
Who leaked the news?
But before the investigation could continue, Li Laiheng faced a new problem. A large number of courtiers, regardless of offending the emperor, directly demanded in the court to pardon the charges of the scholars who went to Que.
Many ministers also directly asked the court whether the court really intended to reform the content of the imperial examination? Did the court really intend to rule the world with subordinate officials?
Some ministers actually made harsh words directly in the court, claiming that if the imperial court really wanted to reform the content of the imperial examination in this way, so that all the important places in the world would be occupied by subordinate officials, the country would be destroyed one day, and the old ministers would just retire and return home immediately.
"If these words offend the Holy One, then I will ask the Holy One to punish the old minister for his crime of death. The old minister died for the sake of the world's scholars and for the long-term peace of the country of Dashun. He died without regret."
For the first time, Li Laiheng experienced the pain of the Ming Dynasty emperor when he was faced with the "deceitful stick" of the courtiers. If these ministers who spoke out and remonstrated were really punished or killed, it would be in line with their wishes, and these people would be famous immediately.
Move the world and leave a name in history.
Compared with leaving a name in history, some people are indeed not afraid of death.
In addition, there were some people who, seeing the situation and atmosphere, concluded that the emperor did not dare to go on a killing spree, so they became ruthless and went out of their way to gain fame.
After all, completely changing the content of the imperial examination would have a huge impact on the scope of interests.
It is not surprising to say that it was directly opposed by scholars all over the world.
That is to say, not long after Dashun was founded, the emperor was very majestic, so it was possible to mention it.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, who would dare to mention this kind of thing? If you mention it, you will die!
Li Laiheng felt a headache. He originally wanted to give in and imitate the Tang Dynasty system. In addition to the formal imperial examinations, he also imitated the martial arts examinations and set up arithmetic examinations specifically to assess mathematics, criminal examinations specifically to assess law, etc.
But judging from the fierce opposition from all over the court, even this compromise measure may not be implemented.
After all, the threshold for letting go of calculations and punishments is to admit that subordinate officials have the same status as scholars, and it means to sit back and watch in the future when subordinate officials will also be promoted to senior officials of third rank or above.
Some scholars are concerned that allowing these subordinate officials with corrupt morals and despicable character to occupy key positions is the way to ruin the country; other scholars are worried that this will inevitably increase a large number of competitors. After all, the total number of officials remains unchanged, and a sudden increase
With so many competitors, in the future, can people with a legitimate background in Kejia still be able to sit in the positions of Minister of Household Government and Minister of Criminal Government?
Because Li Laiheng refused to give a positive answer to the courtiers' questions, within a few days, three candidates for the joint examination hanged themselves together at the gate of Kaifeng Gongyuan.
Then some courtiers wrote a suicide note of 10,000 words, posted it behind the city gate, and set fire to themselves.
Things got worse and worse, especially after Li Laiheng's hesitant attitude of compromise was discovered by the ministers, many frontier officials, county magistrates, governors, state shepherds, defense envoys, military envoys, and observation envoys from all over the country successively arrived.
The governors all wrote to the court, requesting the abolition of the imperial examination reform.
Some people even directly pointed out that we must find out who proposed this strategy of subjugating the country?
He must be executed to thank everyone in the world.
Li Laiheng was furious: "Did I propose that your ministers want to kill me to thank the world for promoting gentlemen?"
Only then did Li Laiheng realize that the difficulty of reforming the imperial examination was actually more difficult than equalizing land and eliminating taxes.
After all, most of the people who caused rebellions during the land equalization reform were evil gentry and bullies.
Among those who opposed the imperial examination reform, many were officials whom Li Laiheng himself had admired highly in the past, and many were truly upright people who did not care about fame, fortune, or even their lives and property.
They sincerely believed that once the imperial examination reform was implemented, the world would be in chaos and the country would be destroyed.
In order to protect the Li family, they did not hesitate to spill blood in the palace and prevent this chaotic government that would harm the country.
The resistance to reform was so great that even Li Laiheng, who had always been arbitrary and self-willed, had to give in.
In May of the twelfth year of Tianfa, Li Laiheng issued an edict to explain to the court officials in person that the court had never secretly discussed the so-called reform of the imperial examination. This matter was completely ridiculous and just a rumor in the market.
All ministers who have been convicted of crimes for speaking out and admonishing will be pardoned; the same pardon will be given to the scholars who committed crimes.
The joint examination, which was supposed to be held in February this year, was temporarily suspended due to rumors and is now being held again in June.
It seemed that the ministers had won a major victory, but Li Laiheng also gritted his teeth. He not only kept the names of a large number of important ministers in his heart, but also put them into another book. In the following years, he slowly demoted these people to official posts.
To become an official, to be exiled to exile, to be beheaded to be beheaded.
Li Laiheng also changed the way of reform. He no longer directly acted on science and technology, which was extremely important to scholars all over the world.
Instead, the status of graduates from township official schools was gradually improved. In the spring of the thirteenth year of Tianfa, the emperor ordered all regions to follow the Shaanxi New Deal and open agricultural administration schools, and allow graduates of agricultural administration schools to obtain the same qualifications as graduates from township official schools.
Opportunities to directly serve as grassroots officials.
Soon, in May of the 14th year of Tianfa, the emperor ordered various places to open mining administration training centers.
Since these institutions all have the achievements of the Shaanxi New Deal, most of their graduates can only work as grass-roots bureaucrats below the ninth rank, or even as subordinate subordinates who do not enter the rank, so no courtiers care.