Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 542 Imperial Examination
Historical experience told Su Ze that the best way to break the aristocratic politics was naturally the imperial examination.

But the imperial examinations are different from each other.

The imperial examination system is the fundamental system that determines the dynasty's official selection method. It can be said to be the cornerstone of a new dynasty. It can even be said that the imperial examination system shapes the inner temperament of a dynasty.

The imperial examination system in the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to poetry, which resulted in the selection of a group of extremely romantic officials who valued talent, pursued romance, and created a prosperous Tang Dynasty culturally.

The Song Dynasty attached great importance to policy discussions, which led to the fact that the literati throughout the dynasty were very concerned about state affairs. Countless political articles were left behind throughout the dynasty. Regardless of whether the Song Dynasty was capable in military affairs, it can be said that it reached the peak of the Medieval era in terms of the construction of the bureaucratic system.

The Ming Dynasty attached great importance to the eight-legged essay and the scholars became conservative, but the ruling technique reached its historical peak and was the era with the longest period of stability.

Each of the three methods has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The imperial examination system of the Tang Dynasty is excluded first.

In fact, strictly speaking, the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty was quite comprehensive.

The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were divided into many subjects: Xiucai, Mingjing, Junshi, Jinshi, Mingfa (law), Mingzi, Mingsuan (mathematics), etc. The examination contents included current affairs policies, scriptures, and miscellaneous essays.

But wherever there are people, they will be divided into different classes. In the middle period of the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty, the scholar class was too difficult and only a few people passed. Other subjects also had their biases. Finally, the Jinshi class became the most valuable subject. Those who passed the Jinshi exam monopolized the important positions in the court and it became the "right path" that scholars all over the world competed to take.

The same was true in the Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, there were still high-ranking officials who entered the government through imperial favor and as students of the Imperial Academy. However, from the middle period onwards, the government was monopolized by the imperial examination system. Only those who passed the imperial examination were considered to be on the "right path" and would not be discriminated against by their superiors and colleagues.

There were three parts in the examination for Jinshi degree in Tang Dynasty.

The first is "Posting Scriptures", which is somewhat similar to modern dictation and fill-in-the-blank questions, and mainly tests the familiarity with scriptures; the second is "Miscellaneous Essays", which is similar to composition questions, and mainly tests the writing level of poems, fu and other subjects; the third is "Policy Questions", which usually consists of five questions on current affairs, and tests the understanding of national policies and countermeasures for current political affairs.

However, "sticking the scriptures" is the basis and can be regarded as a qualification test. If you stick the scriptures incorrectly, you will be screened out. It is a basic skill that everyone must master.

Although "策问" is also tested, it does not account for a high proportion, or in other words, it is basically an official document writing question that everyone can score points in. As long as you follow the steps, you will have no success or failure, and there will be no gap between the two.

The most important thing is "miscellaneous essays", that is, the writing level of poetry and prose.

There is no way. Any policy ultimately requires people to implement it.

No matter how comprehensive and flawless a policy is, the number of people who can implement it is limited.

The energy of a scholar is limited, so he must focus on a certain direction.

Just like no matter how much emphasis is placed on comprehensive development in later generations, there is always a distinction between main subjects and minor subjects.

Examining poetry and prose would certainly select officials with outstanding literary talent, but the evaluation criteria for poetry and prose were too subjective, and the personal style of poetry was too obvious. In addition, the imperfect imperial examination system in the Tang Dynasty led to frequent imperial examination frauds. It can even be said that they were not frauds. Submitting one's favorite poems to examiners or important officials in advance and deciding on candidates before the exam were all unspoken rules of the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty.

The "Niu-Li Factional Struggle" in the middle and late Tang Dynasty was a political infighting in which the two factions used the imperial examination as a weapon to form cliques for personal gain under this imperfect system of selecting talents.

The "Niu-Li Factional Struggle" consumed the last bit of luck of the Tang Dynasty, and finally the dynasty collapsed.

Su Ze thought of the Song Dynasty again, but he shook his head again.

The imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty attached great importance to "policy essays", which sounds like a good system.

Since the imperial examination is for those who want to become officials, then writing political commentaries should be part of their job, right?
But this also led to devastating consequences.

First of all, it is a question of fairness. Policy essays are unfair to scholars from poor families.

Attaching importance to policy discussions is naturally a good thing from the perspective of official selection.

However, policy essays are not just empty discussions, they require analysis based on citations from classics.

For children from poor families, it is very difficult to read the Four Books and Five Classics. They do not have the conditions to study and write policy essays.

Even though the development of printing technology lowered the price of books, those pre-Qin prose and history books were still not affordable for ordinary poor children.

Even if they can afford it, it is impossible for children from poor families to study wholeheartedly. How can they compare with children from wealthy families who have special tutors and have been studying full-time since childhood?

This is just like the promotion of quality-oriented education in later generations, where the ones who benefit in the end are the wealthy class in the city. The more and more diversely they learn, the easier it is for the children of wealthy and free families to succeed.

Children from poor families cannot even buy textbooks and cannot understand the issues discussed in policy essays, so naturally they have no way to compete with the children from wealthy families.

The Jinshi families in the Song Dynasty emerged under such a social foundation.

In addition, the society's excessive emphasis on policy essays will lead to further divisions in political views. The fierce struggle between the New Party and the Old Party in the Northern Song Dynasty is rare in history.

In comparison, Lao Zhu's method is better.

The Four Books are compulsory courses, and one of the Five Classics is an elective course. The examination content is based on the official textbooks and will definitely not go beyond the syllabus.

Although the eight-part essay is formulaic, it also quantifies the scoring criteria, allowing everyone to compete on a fairer starting line.

It was the anti-cheating measures of later generations such as covering names, copying, and cross-correction that could effectively ensure the relative fairness of the imperial examinations.

As for why it is relatively fair, no system can guarantee absolute fairness. It is enough to allow all educated people to have a chance to participate and to be able to make a name for themselves through this opportunity.

In Su Ze's view, the function of the imperial examination is not just to select talents.

In addition to those selected talents, the imperial examination also gave scholars hope, allowing them to study in the countryside with peace of mind, so that they were either preparing for the exam or on the way to take the exam, instead of oppressing and exploiting the people in the local area.

As a result, the system of Chongwen Pavilion has become somewhat unfeasible.

With the expansion of the area controlled by Su Ze, although plans had been made long ago that Chongwen Pavilion was the second largest building in Yongle City after the Duke's Mansion, the school buildings are now full.

But even so, graduates from Chongwen Pavilion are still in short supply.

These newly annexed prefectures and counties all needed officials, and the number of Chongwen Pavilion graduates alone was far from enough to fill these gaps.

Su Ze had no choice but to hold his nose and allow the old officials in these places to remain in office.

Su Ze picked up the pen and said that the current official selection system needed to be reformed, and the Chongwen Pavilion alone could no longer meet the requirements.

Moreover, making all students study in Chongwen Pavilion is itself a way of selecting students that favors aristocratic families. Even if food and accommodation are provided, the transportation costs and risks along the way in those days are not something that ordinary poor families can afford.

It's time to establish state and county schools.

(End of this chapter)