The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 85: Rong Ensheng, a man with military merit
In early autumn, there is a cool breeze.

The rising sun shines on the mountains, forests and lakes of Nanyuan, bringing some warmth and taking away the light mist.

As the breeze blew, the mountains and forests rose and fell like ripples on a green sea, and the surface of the lake was covered with green waves.

There weren't many people here originally, but at this moment, the grassland with a radius of more than ten miles next to the palace in the middle of Nanyuan was already filled with tents and crowded with people.

Wanli returned to the capital, and the next day he brought 40,000 craftsmen with him from the Beijing camp's grain carts, and he also settled down there.

This military examination can be said to be the beginning of a complete change in the court situation of the Ming Dynasty. It concerns the status of civil officials and military generals in the court in the future, and even more so the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty. He attaches great importance to it.

Early in the morning of the third day, he began to inspect the Nanyuan Parade Ground which was under construction.

At this moment, Nanyuan, which was originally sparsely populated, has become bustling with traffic.

Twenty thousand soldiers of the Beijing garrison and eight thousand grain carts were constantly traveling back and forth between the capital, Datong Bridge Canal Transport Terminal and Nanyuan.

Carts of wood, stone, baked bricks, tiles, grain, etc. were continuously pulled over, and small hills were piled up on the grassland.

The 40,000 craftsmen were divided into thousands of groups, evenly spread out on the grasslands within a radius of several miles, digging foundations, burying pillars, and building stone platforms.

The thousands of fighting arenas were rising at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the huge platform for commanding generals had already taken shape.

To respect Wu, one must start with the military examination. He put a lot of effort into conducting this examination well.

Nanyuan Parade Ground was the venue he chose for the military examination.

Originally, he planned to have one thousand fighting arenas.

However, the rooms in the Imperial Examination Hall were numbered according to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and the number of one thousand was really difficult to arrange. So he simply ordered Yongnian Earl Wang Wei to build one thousand two hundred rooms, so that it could accommodate 4,800 candidates to participate at the same time.

With 20,000 soldiers from the capital camp and 40,000 craftsmen working together, there would definitely be no problem finding the venue for the military examination.

Now we have to consider the problem of the candidates.

He took Qi Jiguang, Liang Menglong, Zhu Yingzhen, Wang Wei and others to inspect the large parade ground, then returned to the huge Jinyiwei and Imperial Guards camp nearby, led everyone into the commander's tent, and sat down around the huge round table.

The military examination had been abandoned for a long time, and since the Jiajing period it had become more of a formality, with fewer and fewer candidates taking the exam.

He thought about it carefully, then asked, "Qianji, how is it? Have you found out? How many martial arts candidates do you think we can recruit to participate in the examination this time?"

Liang Menglong sighed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, the current military examination is as bad as the provincial examination. It's difficult to pass the examination without connections or money.

I have already checked. From the end of the Jiajing period to the present, the number of military candidates participating in the imperial examinations has been decreasing. Originally, there were two to three thousand participants in the imperial examinations, but in the previous sessions, there were only more than a thousand participants.

Those martial arts candidates who don't have strong connections or enough money probably feel that it's pointless to come, and it's a waste of time and money, so they simply don't come.

I estimate that even if we ask the post stations along the way to provide food, lodging and transfer horses, the number of martial arts candidates who can come to take the exam this time will probably be no more than 2,000, and it will be difficult to reach 3,000.

After all, even if we say it's a fair competition and the winners are listed, it will take a few sessions for all the martial arts candidates to believe it."

What should we do if there are not enough martial arts candidates?

He made such a grand preparation, but ended up with nothing?
It would be embarrassing if half of the 1,200 fighting arenas were not used by then.

Besides, most of the current martial arts candidates have passed the exams through connections or money, and there are probably not many who have real skills.

This went against his original intention of organizing the military examination on such a grand scale. What he needed were real generals, not parasites cultivated by vested interest groups to control the military force.

Wanli frowned and pondered for a while, then asked, "Without the military examination, can't I take the military examination? The civil service examination is open to students from both the Northern and Southern Imperial Colleges."

This one.

Liang Menglong recalled, "Originally, those with outstanding military achievements could also participate in the military examinations. However, they had to be recommended by the local governor and approved by the current emperor. Moreover, there was a limit on the number of such candidates that could be admitted to each military examination, no more than one hundred."

Oh, and Eun-sang too.

What do you mean it can't exceed 100? Who stipulated that? I say whatever I want!
Wanli pondered it carefully, then said decisively: "Let me announce to the world that anyone with military merit can participate in the military examination.

If they want to come, they can go to the local governor's office to register, and then take a brief test on military tactics and formations. Since they can make achievements on the battlefield, they must have martial arts skills, so there is no need to test this.

In future military examinations, half will be selected from the Ensheng and half from the Wuju, for a total of 2,400 candidates. That’s settled.”

So many ensheng!
Liang Menglong was shocked when he heard this and said, "Your Majesty, if there are too many Ensheng, those real martial arts candidates will probably have objections. After all, if there are half more Ensheng, they will lose half the chance to advance to the military jinshi."

Humph, I don’t care whether they have any opinions or not.

Wanli snorted coldly, "How many people now pass the military examination based on their real abilities?

The military examination selects generals who can truly lead the army into battle and kill the enemy, not nerds who can only talk about military affairs on paper, nor those useless people who passed the exam through connections or bribery.

If they have any objections, they don't have to come. I don't need such trash. I need real generals."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. Those who got in through connections and bribery are indeed useless. In the past, they also used connections and bribery to snatch away all the military scholars' honors.

As the saying goes, if one soldier is cowardly, the whole army will be cowardly. If this continues, our combat effectiveness will only get worse and worse. Even if the soldiers below are capable, if the leader is a loser, we will not be able to win the battle."

Upon hearing this, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen, Duke Yingguo Zhang Yuangong, Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi and others could not help but wipe their faces in embarrassment.

Don't say that!

The relatives of our dukes and nobles have snatched away many military titles, but they are not useless.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded in agreement and said, "Well, Yuan Jing said it very well. Let Yuan Jing be the examiner of this martial arts examination."

Upon hearing this, Liang Menglong dared not say a word.

The Emperor gave the chief examiner position to Qi Jiguang, which meant that he had objections to what he had just said.

Sometimes it is really not good to talk too much, as words can cause trouble.

In fact, he was not against the Emperor doing this, he was just worried that those martial arts candidates would not accept it.

His Majesty has already made the decision, so he shouldn't have said anything more.

The Ming Dynasty’s military examination was reformed in this way!

The young emperor issued an edict to the world, establishing new rules for the military examination.

In the 11th year of Wanli's reign, the Kuiwei Examination began, and the military examination was held in the newly built Nanyuan Parade Ground.

The military examination was now jointly organized by the Ministry of War and the Beijing Garrison, with the chief examiner and deputy examiner selected from officials of the Ministry of War and generals of the Beijing Garrison respectively.

In addition, starting from the Kuiwei examination, all military examination items must be strictly examined and evaluated carefully, and military scholars are selected based on the actual score ranking.

More importantly, the qualifications for participating in the military examination were changed. Not only those who passed the provincial examination could participate, but anyone with military merit could also participate.

Those who have military merits only need to go to the governor's office to register, and if they pass the initial test on military strategy and formation theory, they will be granted the status of Ensheng, and then Ensheng can come to the capital to participate in the military examination.

Moreover, all expenses for participating in the military examination, including food and lodging at post stations along the way and food and lodging during the examination in Beijing, are covered by the court, and the candidates do not have to spend a penny.

At this moment, the border troops were ecstatic.

Because the military examination has long been controlled by the powerful and wealthy. If you don't have any connections, all you can do is go into battle and kill the enemy. There is no chance of passing the provincial examination.

Now, as long as you have military merits, you can go to the Governor's Office to register. The number of border troops who go to the Governor's Office to register is simply like a swarm of fish crossing the river, countless.

Originally, Liang Menglong was worried that he would not be able to gather 4,800 candidates to participate in the martial arts examination.

Now, there were so many people signing up for the governor-general's offices in the nine border areas that the entrance door was almost broken down. He was forced to set a quota for each governor-general's office, otherwise, there might be 10,000 people coming.

(End of this chapter)