Chapter 32 The Mysterious Power That Helped the Township Exam
It is not easy to come all the way to Ningyuan in person. From now on, when the Shen family fleet carries military rations for the imperial court, Shen Shuren will not be allowed to escort the ships in person.
So since this time he had taken the route of Qiu Minyang and Wu Sangui, Shen Shuren did not hesitate to spend an extra two or three days resting and replenishing supplies, and getting to know more about the details.
Shen Shuren was not stingy with the little money he should spend, so everyone soon knew about his reputation for being generous and generous.
He also said that in the future, if the Shen family's grain transport fleet has surplus transportation capacity, it can also bring some luxurious private goods of silk and cotton to the Guan Ning Army generals, and the freight will only be counted as cost. In this way, if the Guan Ning Army generals have channels to ship goods , you can also earn some money for yourself.
Of course, Chen Shuren is very measured in this matter. He will only sell luxury goods for daily consumption in the south, and will never involve any strategic materials. Even if it falls into the hands of the Tatars, it will be nothing more than a lot of money. Corroding the civil and military life style of a few Tatars will not increase the military potential of the Tatars.
After a few days, he basically became familiar with all the officers under Wu Sangui and above the guerrilla level, and he also mastered a lot of military information that could never be learned by just reading history books.
The generals under Wu Sangui now are either unknown people who have not been recorded in history books, or they will be sent away by Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou in the battles of Songshan and Xingshan in the next two years.
During the "San Francisco Rebellion" in later generations, none of the ten generals under Wu Sangui's command showed up, except for Zhang Guozhu, the coastal defense commander who was responsible for diverting water and food that day.
It is estimated that many of those people were not the original direct descendants of Wu Sangui. Some of them were the surrenders of the peasant army later, and there were also Ming generals who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty through other channels.
This fact made Shen Shuren calm down a lot, and he had to re-evaluate Wu Sangui's strength——
Before coming, he overestimated the size of Guan Ning's army, thinking that there would be 50,000 or 60,000 elite soldiers. Adding in the troops of Shanhaiguan Gaodi, there would definitely be 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers.
He thought so because of the "Battle of a Stone" a few years later. After all, historical records record that both sides claimed to have nearly 200,000 people during the Battle of a Stone. Even if there were some discounts, Wu Sangui would still have 50,000 people. .
In fact, Ningyuan City now has 20,000 troops even if they are fully equipped. In fact, there are only a little more than 10,000 left after eating empty pay. This includes the Wu family's servants.
Counting all the regular soldiers in the cities outside the pass, we estimate that there are only just over 20,000.
Although there are still many people at Gaodi in Shanhaiguan, considering that the Ming army in Liao will be sent off by Hong Chengchou in the future, and the two will offset each other, only 20,000 people can be given to Wu Sangui in the end.
It is estimated that more than half of the 50,000 Guanning troops who will fight in the next battle are temporarily captured Xiangyong, and several thousand more are soldiers who were captured by Wu Sangui when Tang Tong, the commander-in-chief of Miyun, came to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender.
"After a long time of fussing and working hard to win over people, the total number of targets we finally managed to win over was only 20,000 people, and it was still impossible to win them all away. The loss was so big that I thought there were 50,000 people."
Chen Shuren was a little depressed, but fortunately he quickly adjusted his mentality.
Forget it, there are fewer people, so be more flexible. As long as you reach the governor level in the next three and a half years, plus the Shen family's wealth, and the next few years of frantic farming to save money, you can still recruit 20,000 people.
If there were really 50,000 people, then we would have to share even more profits with the Nanming court.
…
By the sixth day of February in Ningyuan, the freeze in the shallow waters of the western Bohai Sea had basically melted away.
Shen Shuren and his party also saved themselves the trouble of traveling overland and could directly sail back from Ningyuan along the coastline to Tianjin Wei, then disembark and go to Beijing by land.
Of course, the vast majority of the ships in the grain transport fleet have already returned to the south of the Yangtze River. Or they have picked up some special products from the north near Tianjin and Denglai, and then turned back to the south.
The Shen family is a maritime trade family, and it is impossible for more than a hundred large-scale ships to make an empty return trip. They can collect as much northern furs, medicinal materials, mountain delicacies and dry goods as they can. The high-priced goods are not enough to carry the load, and they can buy dried mutton jerky. Kind of make up the numbers.
After three days of journey by sea and two more days by land, it was already February 11th when we arrived in the capital, and there were still five or six days before the Spring Festival Examination.
Candidates and supervisors who were taking the exam had to leave a few days in advance to confirm their qualifications. Shen Shuren and Fang Yizhi rushed to the Gongyuan and the Ministry of Etiquette to complete the procedures without stopping.
When the officials in charge of the Ministry of Rites verified their identities, they were surprised: "Nanzhili Jieyuan Fang Yizhi? The exam is going to start in a few days. Why can't you wait and come to Beijing to handle it now? The war is in chaos. Yeah, I don’t know how to go out early.”
Fang Yizhi also politely explained a few words. When they learned that he was going north to Beijing by sea, the officials of the Ministry of Rites were surprised again and admired Fang Yizhi's courage.
Nowadays, there are not many scholars who dare to take the sea route. Most of the people who have no money regard the sea as a fearful route.
After Fang Yizhi was done with it, it was Shen Shuren's turn. The official from the Ministry of Rites made a little inspection and suddenly realized that the surprise just now was not worth the surprise.
See you soon.
"Are you from Chenlin and Chenshu in Suzhou? The first person in this dynasty who relied on a supervisor to become an official and became a seventh-rank official, but you still have to take the imperial examination again?"
It was Shen Shuren's turn to ask this question, and he said kindly with a smile: "The lower official is indeed a supervisory student who entered the official position, but he is an eighth-rank official in Susonghe Road Yamen."
The official from the Ministry of Etiquette immediately laughed:
"You also came to Beijing by sea, right? No wonder the news is not well-informed. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Beijing Inspectorate have reported your merits. I heard that they even went to Datian to listen to it, reviewed it with the Ministry of Revenue, and promoted you to the rank of seventh-grade river bank envoy.
When the resumes of the candidates were sent a few days ago, we were all amazed when we saw it. Your Majesty is really eclectic in employing people. If you get a higher promotion, you won’t have to take the exam for this subject. The officers you can be awarded after the exam may be even smaller than before. Woolen cloth."
After hearing this, Shen Shuren felt a stone fall in his heart. The previous efforts were indeed in vain. It seemed that Mr. Yang Ge's energy was still great. If he had made a little contribution, he would be widely publicized immediately. He could cash in his promotion in full, so he didn't have to worry about being promoted. People are ignorant.
The official of the Ministry of Etiquette in front of him should not have to worry about his affairs, but Chen Shuren's deeds are really so bizarre that the person in charge will find it difficult to forget him just by looking at his resume.
Under the system of the Ming Dynasty, even if you ranked first in the Imperial Examination and won the top prize in the end, you would only be awarded the title of seventh rank by the Hanlin Academy.
Since Shen Shuren is now at the seventh level, the best he can do if he passes the exam is to get an average grade. He needs to change to a more noble position, but it is unlikely that he will be upgraded unless something unexpected happens again.
…
After completing the formalities, there was not much time left before the exam. Shen Shuren and Fang Yizhi did not have time to compete with other humanities associations who were rushing to take the exam. They had just adjusted their condition and adapted to the water, soil and climate of the capital, and the exam began.
The examination in the Ming Dynasty was divided into three sessions, and they were not three consecutive days. There were gaps in between. It was already late February after the examination.
In these three exams, not every eight-legged essay is tested, but sometimes policy theory and official document writing, as well as understanding of classics and meanings. However, the proportion of policy theory scores in the general examination is relatively low to prevent candidates from catering to the examiner.
He uses his political stance to flatter himself and rise to power.
However, for scholars who have reached this stage in official document writing and understanding of classics, the gap cannot be widened. Everyone can get basically full marks, which leads to the main reliance on eight-legged essays to widen the gap.
Those who pass the exam will have to take the Imperial Examination in March. If nothing goes wrong in the Imperial Examination, they will not be dismissed and will only be re-ranked. The content of the examination is essays, essays, poetry, and the proportion of essays has been increased.
This test was taken by the emperor himself. The emperor did not have to worry about others "catering to the political views of the ruling party" and did not care about subjective deviations.
Therefore, the quality of eight-part essay can determine whether a person can be ranked among the top 300 in the country and become a Jinshi.
The perspective of current policy theory can affect your specific ranking after entering the top 300.
Many people who only pursue high school and don't care about ranking can spend less energy on current policy discussions.
Just like if you can't guarantee admission to Peking University in the college entrance examination, then just focus on answering the questions within the college entrance examination syllabus. There is no need to waste energy on studying "the internal experimental class selection and additional examination after admission to Peking University."
That's not something ordinary people have the right to worry about.
Chen Shuren's knowledge was all based on these more than a month, following the advice of Fang Yizhi from Nanzhili Jieyuan, coupled with his understanding of "History of the Ming Dynasty. Biography of Wei Zaode", he secretly polished the article in advance.
After entering the examination room, you can simply answer the basic questions and write down the eight-part essay by memorizing it in advance, which is not a hassle.
The key is that Shen Shuren has a good mentality. He just has to do his best anyway, and he doesn't expect to be promoted and become a local powerful person by passing the exam.
After a few days, apart from other things, his graceful and elegant attitude made the official from the Ministry of Etiquette who invigilated the examination think that this person was a good person.
In fact, there is a mysterious power behind Shen Shuren that he himself is not sure about - Mr. Yang Sichang, Yang Ge, who is far away in Wuchang. He has paid attention to him before. He heard that he has performed well in meritorious service, and he has given many awards to his colleagues in Beijing.
I wrote a letter to praise him and asked my friends in Beijing to help him.
It is now the thirteenth year of Chongzhen's reign. Everyone can see how chaotic the world is. It is not an exaggeration to say that the imperial examination system has collapsed.
Those in the Ministry of Rites who have good relations with Yang Sichang certainly know that serving the front line is the most important thing nowadays. Since this Shen Shuren is someone Yang Ge always wants to use, he can let go if he can.
…
Five days after the general examination, it is the day when the results will be released.
Shen Shuren and Fang Yizhi went to look at the rankings together and found that both of them passed easily.
Fang Yizhi was quite surprised. He was the only person who knew the true strength of Shen Shuren's eight-part essay. When he saw Shen Shuren's name, he was speechless for a long time.
"My dear brother, you are really blessed. I can handle all this for you. Now that you are good, you will give it a try. With your practical ability, the imperial examination will not be that difficult.
Your Majesty’s policy questioner likes to ask about strategies for defeating thieves. We other candidates can only talk about general principles, but we have no more practical insights than you."
Fang Yizhi could only sigh in admiration in the end.
"Thanks to Brother Fang for helping me sharpen my gun before the battle, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten this far. Come on, I have to thank you properly today, and I'll be your host." Shen Shuren said, and invited Fang Yizhi to a feast at the best restaurant in the capital.
Everyone waited for a few days to rest, and then in March, it was the day of the imperial examination.
——
PS: Thank you very much to the leader "Brother Yun's Fans" for the reward! Bow!