There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 304 Yellow List
"Your Majesty, these are the examination papers of the top ten candidates in the palace examination. Please review them."

Grand Secretary Liu Jun was dressed very formally today, wearing a crimson robe with a pheasant design, befitting a second-rank official, and a second-rank official hat. He carefully presented a stack of scrolls to the secretary of the Prince of Han.

Although the questions for the palace examination were set by the King of Han himself, the grading and ranking of the papers were mainly led by the cabinet. Apart from officials from the Ministry of Rites, officials from other ministries could participate in grading the papers.

Zuo Guanlan officially went to Nanchang to take up his post at the end of last month. Now Nie Yu's secretary is a new face named Lin Huaiyi, a local small landlord from Jingzhou who has passed the imperial examination.

Lin Huaiyi took the scroll and then presented it to the Prince of Han for review.

Unlike the provincial and metropolitan examinations, the palace examination no longer used red ink for transcription. Instead, the papers were annotated with the names of the examinees and reviewed in ink.

Because these were all original papers written by the candidates, there was a risk that their handwriting could be recognized by their relatives. Therefore, strict avoidance systems were established in all dynasties. If the examiners of the palace examination had any kinship with the newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), they were required to voluntarily avoid suspicion.

There was no way to avoid it. Once discovered, the candidate would be banned from taking the exam for life, and the examiner would be punished with caning and exile.

Nie Yu picked up the first-place paper, glanced at it briefly, and was quite surprised.

This year's imperial examination in the Han Dynasty was more politically significant than in terms of actual talent selection. As a result, most of the scholars who participated in the examination were traditional scholars whose thoughts and writing styles were undeniably conservative.

The essay in Nie Yu's hand, written by the top-ranked candidate, was sharp and uncompromising, its style direct and unvarnished. It used few classical allusions, focusing entirely on the argument that after unifying the world, the Han dynasty should not continue the Ming and Qing dynasties' maritime prohibitions and isolationist policies, but rather open its doors wide and promote education. It also argued that the Ming dynasty's downfall at the hands of the Qing, and the Qing's subsequent decline, were due not only to the Qing's illegitimate rise to power but also to powerful clans seizing land, leaving the people with no land to cultivate.

If the Han Dynasty wants to avoid this, it must first curb land annexation, and then expand outwards by opening up the seas. With the benefits of maritime trade and the achievements of expansion, the Han Dynasty can enjoy long-term peace and prosperity for ten thousand years!

Yes, very insightful and bold. He even openly pointed out that land annexation was the truth that led to the decline of dynasties. Then, he used the basic national policy of land distribution in the Han Dynasty to argue that the Han Dynasty should adhere to the equal distribution of land, encourage the opening of the sea, and take the initiative to meet the changing world situation.

It boasts a sharp and incisive writing style, is politically correct to the max, and even blatantly flatters Tian Zheng of the Great Han Dynasty. No wonder the cabinet ministers were willing to rate it as number one.

Nie Yu thought for a moment, picked up a red pen, drew a circle on the paper, and then put it aside.

The cabinet ministers below remained outwardly calm, but inwardly they breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The king is still giving them face; the first-place paper has been circled, so there shouldn't be any major changes. The top-ranked paper is practically guaranteed.

so far so good!

It can only be said that being a cabinet minister in the Han Dynasty was not much easier than being a cabinet minister in the puppet Qing Dynasty. They had to work year-round without rest, be cautious, and try their best to be in sync with the King of Han in everything they did.

This time, the cabinet's review of the papers was less a ranking made by the cabinet itself, and more a result of the cabinet ministers pooling their wisdom and deliberating repeatedly. It was only after careful consideration that they managed to select the top ten that best suited the King of Han's wishes.

Next, Nie Yu looked at the second-place paper, which amazed and even surprised him.

The text begins by citing classical texts to illustrate the differences between ancient and modern China, emphasizing that China's territory has been continuously expanding and changing. Based on this, it argues that the modern Han Dynasty should emulate its predecessors, not remaining stagnant but actively expanding its territory.

How to expand territory involves the unprecedented changes mentioned in the exam questions.

Since the outside world is constantly changing, the Han Dynasty should not be confined to the four corners of China. To the west of China lies the continent of Europe, which has used the Industrial Revolution to build a powerful navy and plunder the world's wealth to enrich itself. China should also emulate this, learning from the barbarians' superior techniques to subdue them. The Celestial Empire's reputation for etiquette is for civilized people; towards foreign barbarians, we should apply benevolent rule, using force to subdue them, and then widely educate them.

The latter half of the article blatantly uses the guise of "civilizing foreign barbarians" to carry out annexation. It also openly points out that ancient China used this method of education to gradually transform the surrounding barbarians into Chinese citizens.

In ancient times, China was able to educate and assimilate the barbarians from all directions, so today, we can also educate and assimilate foreign barbarians. If they do not submit to the rule of the king, then we should use force to subdue them and force them to be educated.

Good heavens, this second-place essay is practically telling Nie Yu, the King of Han, to hurry up and unify the country, and then go and conquer and colonize the whole world!
"Learn from the barbarians' superior techniques and spread their civilization widely—good!"

Just eight words made Nie Yu's eyes light up, but at the same time, he was also a little confused.

The saying "Learn the superior techniques of the barbarians to control the barbarians" is familiar to anyone who has gone to school. Nie Yu's history knowledge is not particularly strong, but he is well aware of the profound impact this saying had on the later Qing Dynasty and modern China.

But how could a famous person who would appear in later history textbooks actually take his own imperial examination? What kind of luck did he have?
Shaking his head and chuckling, Nie Yu suppressed the urge to look at the blank name, and as usual, circled it in red and set it aside.

Looking at the third-place paper, it was quite well written, with the best writing style, even better than the first and second place papers. However, it was a pity that the student misunderstood the question.

Nie Yu asked the Han Dynasty how to deal with the future world, and this guy replied that the Han Dynasty should first take care of itself. Throughout the article, he used the "responsibility of acting" to persuade the King of Han to be considerate and loving towards the people, so that the Han Dynasty could become strong and prosperous.

It was written correctly, but it was all politically correct and not on Hanwang's wavelength. Nie Yu didn't circle it and just tossed it aside.

After looking at the top three papers, I read the rest of the papers much faster. For example, I only glanced at the papers of the fifth, sixth, and seventh place papers before tossing them aside to the third-place paper.

After reviewing the top ten papers, Nie Yu waved his hand, signaling his secretary to bring over the remaining fifty-one papers.

The ministers felt helpless; they had been too optimistic. As expected, the King of Han remained as autocratic as ever, showing them no respect whatsoever.

Of the top ten papers selected, three were chosen: the first, second, and eighth place papers. The remaining seven papers were all discarded.

Now they want to look at the remaining fifty-one papers, which shows a lack of trust in their grading abilities.

Distrust is the right thing to do, but why should we trust?
Fifty-one exam papers are not a lot.

Nie Yu skimmed through the text, discarding anything filled with quotations and nonsense, only stopping to read carefully when he encountered something substantial.

About an hour and a half later, after reviewing all sixty-one papers, Nie Yu selected seven more people from the remaining fifty-one papers to fill the top ten spots.

Cheng Siju's exam paper was originally ranked near the bottom forty, but after Nie Yu reviewed it, he was promoted to eleventh place. This was because the guy actually knew about England and even had his own insights into it.

Nie Yu compared the papers repeatedly, and finally approved the top three in red ink: "Alright, let's open the papers and fill in the list now!"

These matters are currently being handled by the Ministry of Rites.

Minister of Rites Gu Jing stepped forward and began to unseal the names, starting with the first one, while announcing:
The top scholar was Yuan Mingyao, a native of Ningxiang, Hunan.

Second place: Wei Fubang, from Shaoyang, Hunan.

Third place: Deng Xianhe, a native of Xinhua, Hunan.

Of the top three in the first round, apart from Deng Xianhe, Nie Yu had never even heard of the other two.

In particular, he had no recollection of Yuan Mingyao, the top scholar he had personally selected, who had even written about "learning from the barbarians' superior techniques."

It doesn't matter, though. He didn't remember it before, but Nie Yu remembers it now.

The imperial examination was like this: academic knowledge was not very important. The key was whether the candidate's thinking could be synchronized with that of the emperor who set the questions. The higher the degree of synchronization, the greater the chance of becoming the top scholar.

As for Yuan Mingyao's background, Nie Yu didn't remember this guy, which was correct, because the more famous person in history was not him, but his student Wei Yuan, who was hailed as the first person in modern China to open his eyes to the world and a big shot who proposed to learn from the barbarians' superior techniques to control the barbarians.

The cabinet ministers looked at each other in silence, having already anticipated this.

It didn't take long to unpack and inscribe the list. After Gu Jing finished writing the yellow list (written on yellow paper), he started writing the announcement.

The secretary brought over the imperial seal of the King of Han and asked Nie Yu to affix his seal to the yellow proclamation. After that, everything was kept simple. Because the Han Dynasty was too small and its foundation was newly established, there weren't many institutional procedures. The yellow proclamation was sent directly to the Ministry of Rites, which was in charge of this matter, while the official notice was sent to the Ministry of Posts and Communications.

The Han Dynasty did not have a Court of State Ceremonies!

(End of this chapter)