Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1179 Juren
Zhu Minlan and others did not stay on the flower boat for long, because there was a curfew in Nanjing. If they could not get home before the curfew, they would have to spend the night outside. However, Zhu Minlan was unwilling to do so. Moreover, although Xie Guangwei and others had extraordinary identities, it would be troublesome if they violated the curfew and were caught by the imperial censor patrolling the city.

So everyone finished the cruise before curfew, and after the boat returned to the dock, they returned to the city, and then went home. When they parted, Xie Guangwei hesitated to speak, as if he wanted to say something to Zhu Minlan, but Zhu Minlan shook her head slightly and gave him a look, and Xie Guangwei said goodbye and left.

After returning to the inn, Zhu Minlan washed up and changed into a light Taoist robe. It was still early, so Zhu Minlan picked up a book and read it. He didn't know how long he had been reading it, but when he was so absorbed in it, there was a light knock on the door.

"Your Highness, it's me!" Wang Xin's voice sounded outside the door.

"Come in." Zhu Minlan said, and the door was pushed open as soon as he finished speaking. Wang Xin walked in, turned around and closed the door first, then took a few steps forward and handed over a few pieces of paper in his hand.

"This is what I got from the Royal Guards."

"What did you say to the Jinyiwei?"

"I only showed my badge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and asked for information in the name of the Northern Pacification Office. These were written by me personally, and the original documents have been handed back. In addition, I carefully instructed the person in charge, who is also an old member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and will never reveal a single thing to outsiders." Wang Xin answered respectfully.

Wang Xin was still serious and assured in his work. Zhu Minlan nodded slightly and praised him, then asked him to go back and rest. After Wang Xin left, Zhu Minlan picked up the papers and read them carefully by candlelight.

The Jinyiwei was responsible for supervising all officials, and Zhu Shenzui had gradually split the Jinyiwei since last year, dividing it into three parts: internal and external. One part was an external agency, mainly responsible for external intelligence; the other part was internal, still responsible for internal supervision and intelligence gathering; the remaining part would be merged with the current Police Department to become a new police agency, equivalent in level to the Dali Temple.

This work is already underway. After all, the Jinyiwei Yamen has existed for quite a long time, nearly three hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the Jinyiwei is complex, with a huge system and personnel structure, so it will take time to complete it thoroughly.

At present, the Jinyiwei still continues its previous duties, especially in Nanjing. Wang Xin has a hereditary title of Jinyiwei centurion, and his hereditary title is different from ordinary hereditary titles. In order to facilitate his work this time, Zhou Anmin specially gave him a real position in the Northern Pacification Office, so it is not difficult to take his badge to the Jinyiwei to do this.

Looking carefully at the contents of these papers, the top few sheets are the files of Ma Yuan, Nie Chi, and Wei Anding, as well as the information of recent years. There is not much content in them. After all, although the three of them have different backgrounds, they are currently just students of the Nanjing Imperial College, without official positions. On weekdays, they are just a few friends who often get together to eat, drink and have fun.

So their information was very simple, and it didn't take Zhu Minlan long to finish reading it. After reading it, he nodded slightly. These three people were similar to what he had judged. Although they had good family backgrounds and were a bit dandy, they were not bad people, and they knew the rules and knew when to advance and retreat. At least Xie Guangwei would not get into trouble if he was with them. And from today's contact, these three people all had some shining points, which were considered good among the younger generation.

Putting the information of the three people aside, Zhu Minlan concentrated on reading the last few pages of paper. The contents of these pages were different from before, so Zhu Minlan read them particularly carefully. He read the pages over and over for a long time. After a while, he closed his eyes slightly, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Nothing happened that night, and Zhu Minlan got up the next morning. Not only was it a habit formed in the military academy, but more importantly, it was influenced by Zhu Shenzhui since childhood. Whether it was Zhu Minlan or Zhu Mincheng, the two brothers never slept until the sun was high in the sky. They usually got up at five o'clock, then exercised, washed up and had a meal after the activities started. This was the beginning of a new day.

It has been like this for so many years, and it becomes even stricter when entering the military academy, even though Zhu Minlan is the prince.

Although it is not as convenient as in the military academy and the palace, the habits you have developed cannot be changed. After Zhu Minlan got up, he first moved around in the room, then went to the backyard of the inn to do some boxing. After sweating a little, he went back to wash and change clothes, and then came down to eat with everyone. After breakfast, it was already bright outside. When Zhu Minlan was thinking about going around Nanjing today, Xie Guangwei came.

Zhu Minlan nodded slightly to Wang Xin and went back to her room. After a while, Xie Guangwei knocked on the door and came in. After closing the door, he didn't dare to go near. He stood there with his head down and called out nervously, "Brother-in-law..."

"What are you doing standing there? Weren't you so majestic yesterday? Why do you act like a wimp now?" Seeing him like this, Zhu Minlan deliberately laughed and scolded him.

"Brother-in-law, I... I really didn't mean it. How would I know you were there..." Xie Guangwei explained with a sad face.

"Why? If it wasn't me, would you be able to do this to someone else? So, this isn't the first time you've done this?"

"No, brother-in-law, you know me. It's true that I show off outside, but I never bully others. And what happened yesterday was really the fault of Zuixianlou's shopkeeper. If it weren't for him..." Xie Guangwei was so anxious that he was about to cry, and he stammered to explain. Seeing him like this, Zhu Minlan couldn't help but smile bitterly, and waved his hand and said, "Okay, don't be like this, I have already checked your affairs, you are still well-behaved, otherwise how could I let you stand and talk today?"

“Yes, yes, yes…” Xie Guangwei said yes repeatedly, and finally felt relieved.

At this time, Zhu Minlan pointed at the stool in front of him and asked him to sit down. Xie Guangwei took two steps forward, bowed to Zhu Minlan first, and then sat down halfway.

Zhu Minlan glared at him, and Xie Guangwei sat up straight. His brother-in-law, the prince, was not an ordinary person. Xie Guangwei had experienced this when he first met him in Beijing. Moreover, he was the first to offend Zhu Minlan this time. Although ignorance is not a crime, Xie Guangwei had been worried since yesterday, fearing that he would get into trouble. He didn't sleep much that night, and he got up at dawn and came directly to confess his crime.

Seeing Zhu Minlan's attitude towards him now, Xie Guangwei was slightly relieved. It seemed that what happened yesterday was barely over. But how it would end up would depend on Zhu Minlan's opinion. Besides, it was Zhu Minlan who arranged for him to study at the Imperial College in Nanjing. If Zhu Minlan got angry and told him to go back to Guizhou, it would be the end of Xie Guangwei's life.

Fortunately, Zhu Minlan did not pursue the matter of yesterday. After he sat down, he asked him about his study in the Imperial College and gave him a test to test his academic performance. Although Xie Guangwei was a playboy, he was not like other noble children who were good for nothing. The Xie family had strict family education. Xie Guangwei himself was also a little smart. His academic performance was not bad. Although he was not as good as the orthodox scholars, he was not bad among the noble children.

"Are you confident about the provincial examination next year?"

"Brother-in-law, I am still somewhat confident." I originally thought that Xie Guangwei would be humble, but I didn't expect this kid to say this.

Zhu Minlan was slightly stunned, but after careful consideration, he understood and immediately asked with a smile: "Are you still enrolled in Guizhou?"

"Hehe, to be honest with you, brother-in-law, that's exactly the case. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so confident." Xie Guangwei nodded with a smile.

Except for the metropolitan examination, all other examinations in the Ming Dynasty were conducted by each province, whether it was the academy examination or the provincial examination. The situations in different provinces of the Ming Dynasty varied greatly. Compared with the extremely inward-looking Jiangnan region, which produced many scholars, the situations in the north, northwest and southwest were naturally not as good as those in other regions.

In fact, this principle is the same as the college entrance examination in later generations. The learning environment in the local areas, including the knowledge and information sources, are far superior to those in inland provinces, so naturally the test scores in these places are generally higher. However, inland and remote areas, because there are fewer scholars, the foundation is not good, and the learning atmosphere and other aspects are much worse.

During the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination had problems because of this situation. As a result, all the candidates who passed the imperial examination were from the south, and there was no one from the north. This made Zhu Yuanzhang very dissatisfied, and he quarreled with the civil servants who presided over the imperial examination. In the end, because the civil servants firmly opposed the policy of giving some places to northern students, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and killed several officials and demoted many people.

In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang made the decision, and since then the Ming Dynasty adopted the method of North-South list for imperial examinations, which balanced the problem of too large differences between the imperial examination students in the north and south. And this policy has continued until now. The Ming Dynasty still uses the North-South list for imperial examinations, but even so, compared with the northerners, the southerners still account for the majority.

Even the imperial examinations were like this, not to mention the academy and provincial examinations. The south had many scholars, and although it had an advantage in the imperial examinations, there were too many scholars, many of whom were outstanding in writing, and the internal competition was severe, so the imperial examinations were not easy for students.

For example, the examinations for scholars and juren were both local imperial examinations. Each province and prefecture had a fixed number of places. When these places were distributed, there were too many scholars in the southern provinces, so naturally the proportion of the places was low. Moreover, everyone was well educated, so the competition was more brutal.

On the contrary, in the northern, northwestern and southwestern provinces, there are fewer scholars and their ability to study is also weaker, so they naturally have a greater chance of getting a quota. In contrast, some students in the south who have studied for more than ten years or even longer have failed to pass the exams in their hometowns, and it is difficult for them to even pass the exams to become a scholar. However, if they go to those provinces under the same conditions, they may easily pass the exams.

So this has become a rather strange phenomenon. Some southerners would rather give up their own provincial student status and try their best to get a student status in other provinces, or students from other provinces would go to Jiangnan to study, and then return to their hometown to take the imperial examination. In this way, there are more opportunities and assurances to pass the examination. Of course, this is only possible for the college examination and the provincial examination. If it is the metropolitan examination, it will not work. The metropolitan examination is the national imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty, but there is no other preferential treatment. It depends entirely on your own real ability. Even if the court has long set up a distinction between the north and south lists, it is still the best of the best. How can you pass the metropolitan examination without some ability?

Like Xie Guangwei, although he studied in the Imperial College in Nanjing, don't forget that the Yongping Marquis Mansion is in Guizhou. Guizhou is not a province with a large number of imperial examinations. As long as you have some ability to take the exam, passing the college examination and the provincial examination is not a problem. Moreover, Xie Guangwei is not bad at studying. If compared with the best students in Jiangnan, he is naturally not as good, but if he returns to Guizhou to take the provincial examination, the probability of passing is still very high.

(End of this chapter)