Qing Yao

Chapter 142 Whose Lackey?

The provincial examination consisted of two parts: the preliminary examination and the final examination. The preliminary examination consisted of two essays from the Four Books and a poem in six-character verse.

The content of the examinations in each prefecture was exactly the same, with no difference whatsoever.

The material that can be memorized by rote is only tested on the candidates' individual performance in the written examination.

This examination poem is equivalent to Zhao An's college entrance examination essay in his previous life. If the essay is well written, he can get more points. As long as the fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice questions in the preceding sections are not too outrageous, he can basically pass.

The final exam is what truly determines a candidate's fate.

In addition to one passage from the Four Books, the second-round exam requires students to recite "The Sacred Edict and Extensive Instructions" from memory. These two items are mandatory and account for approximately 30% of the total score.

The remaining 70% only look at one thing.

Scripture or policy essay.

In some prefectural examinations, the re-examination may test one passage of classical texts, while in others it may test one essay on policy. The passages of classical texts and the essays on policy have a much higher weighting than the county and prefectural examinations, accounting for seventy points of a paper that is worth one hundred points.

Therefore, whether a candidate could be successfully admitted as a Xiusheng basically depended on whether his or her essays and policy proposals pleased the examiners.

If it doesn't meet the examiner's expectations, no matter how eloquently you write, it won't be of any use.

The five prefectures that had already completed the preliminary examinations all tested students on classical texts during their re-examinations, while the remaining three prefectures tested students on policy essays.

This was decided when Hu Gaowang was in office. However, when he was about to take up his post in the three prefectures, an imperial edict ordered him to return to the capital. As a result, not only did the Jiangsu education community get a shock, but the examination date for the three prefectures, which should have been held long ago, was also postponed again.

The imperial court did not appoint a senior master, but only asked the governor of Jiangsu to take charge of educational affairs. In other words, the senior master who would be in charge of the upcoming examinations for the three prefectures and academies was the governor.

The governor knew the contents of the exam paper.

So, this is clearly an "official spoiler".

With a clear essay topic and knowing that it asks candidates to use historical figures as examples to illustrate the importance of talent selection to the nation, Yangzhou candidates, as long as they don't foolishly go off-topic, can simply recite other examples from the textbook and write a lengthy essay, and they can generally get high marks.

In this way, the admission rate of students in Yangzhou will naturally increase significantly.

Why did the governor reveal the exam questions?
Zhao An felt that the 17,000 taels of silver shouldn't warrant the governor's personal involvement, as it seemed like a poor value proposition. Moreover, he had no business dealings with the governor, and even if the governor noticed that the old master cared about him, Zhao Youlu, he would at most be polite and not cause him any trouble. There was no need for the governor, in his position, to do something like this to curry favor.

The answer came quickly.

While gazing at the distant river view from a pavilion filled with cultural charm, the governor revealed his true intentions with a smile and said, "I heard that your Yangzhou Prefectural School is organizing students to study elsewhere, right? It's going quite well. The Yangzhou Prefecture reported to the Provincial Governor's Office that this year's income from the prefectural school is equivalent to the previous ten years. If all prefectures follow this approach, the court will not only not need to allocate funds to local government schools, but can even use the surplus income to fill the national granary for national needs."

Zhao An remained expressionless and listened attentively.

The fact that Yangzhou Prefectural School was making a fortune through its student loan program couldn't be kept secret, so it was normal for Prefect Fang to report it to his superiors.

Unexpectedly, the governor changed the subject and instructed Zhao An, as the supervisor of education, to vigorously promote the practice of students studying outside their home prefectures throughout the province, but all tuition fees collected by the prefectural schools for students studying outside their home prefectures would be deposited into the provincial treasury.

The provincial treasury was the provincial bank account of the provincial administration office; money deposited into the provincial treasury belonged to the state.

The governor has certainly played a clever game!

However, the educational institutions in each province are independent of the provincial administrative system. Neither the governor nor the provincial administration commissioner can control the education commissioner. The only one who deals with the education commissioner is the provincial administration commissioner.

The reason is that some education funds need to be coordinated.

Jiangsu has eight prefectures. Except for Xuzhou and Huai'an in the north, which are relatively poor, the other six prefectures are extremely wealthy.

If the policy of allowing students to study outside their hometowns were fully implemented, and the mentally challenged sons of landlords were enrolled in official schools, the governor and provincial governor, after reviewing the accounts, believed that it could bring in at least two million taels of silver annually for the province. It might even be more, because there are too many wealthy people in Jiangsu who place great importance on education.

Whether in the south or the north of the Yangtze River, there are plenty of wealthy people.

For these wealthy people, spending money to send their children or nephews to official schools for a prestigious education is a sure-fire way to make money.

Because of the qualification to study in an official school, even if one fails to achieve success in the imperial examinations, one is still eligible to seek a position in a local government office.

However, the governor and provincial administration could not directly intervene in education matters, so they set their sights on Zhao An, the supervisor of education, intending to use him to get things done before the new provincial education commissioner took office, thereby opening up a new source of revenue for the province.

To get Committee Member Zhao to cooperate, you definitely need to offer him a reward, something that provides a financial incentive.

So, the official leak of exam questions has given you, Committee Member Zhao, a political achievement.

The governor practically said that as long as you, Commissioner Zhao, are obedient, he would give you all the marks when the case came to Yangzhou, and your essays would all be perfect.

Zhao An did not express his opinion on the spot, nor did the governor ask him to express his opinion on the spot. However, one of the governor's aides pulled Zhao An aside afterward and whispered, "It is the idea of ​​the Grand Secretary of the court to collect tuition fees for students studying outside the province. You should be aware of this, Commissioner Zhao."

Which Ah Zhongtang?
The current head of the Grand Council of the Qing Dynasty, whose position is even higher than that of the Grand Secretary, is Agui, who is essentially the "Prime Minister".

However, Ah Zhongtang and He Zhongtang were not on good terms. Except when the old master summoned them for political discussions, Ah Zhongtang never had any contact with He Zhongtang. Whenever Ah Zhongtang stood by the imperial steps, he would always keep a distance of more than ten steps from He Zhongtang, to show that he was "standing alone in astonishment".

Sometimes, when the Grand Secretary took the initiative to discuss political matters with the Grand Secretary, the Grand Secretary would simply respond in kind without moving an inch.

These are not secrets; everyone in the government and the public knows them.

Having lived two lives, Zhao An knew even better: it was Agui fighting Heshen.

The Prime Minister's intention was for Jiangsu to take the lead in implementing this policy, so it seems that Fu Song, the acting Governor-General of Liangjiang, must be one of A Gui's men.

Zhao An faced a choice: to be a lackey of He Zhongtang or a lackey of A Zhongtang.

If it were anyone else, they might have immediately tried to curry favor with A Zhongtang, but Zhao An still didn't give the advisor who was there to probe the governor's intentions a definite answer.

He felt that if Agui knew about the Yangzhou study trip, the matter must have been widely discussed in the capital, and it was possible that the news was leaked by the Grand Secretary.

The old man probably had no objection to the commercialization of education; otherwise, Agui wouldn't have been asking Jiangsu to find a way to "nationalize" it, but rather strongly resisting it.

Then I realized that the title of "inspector" was given to me with a deeper meaning.

If Agui represents the "public," then Heshen represents the old master personally.

Should we work for the government or for private companies?
Of course, working for a private company is more promising!

If I work for the government, can you, Agui, give me what I want?

Having made up his mind, the governor concluded his inspection of the educational administration office and his entourage set off for Jiangning to preside over the provincial examination.

After taking the exam in Jiangning, I'll go to Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou will be my last stop.

As soon as the governor left, Zhao An picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Vice Principal Ma Xuezheng.

The letter stated that this year's policy essay topics were "Yi Yin making soup," "taxation assisting high-level examinations," and "Lü Wang encountering the Dragon King," urging Vice Principal Ma to quickly organize candidates to strengthen their studies in these areas.

(End of this chapter)