Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 108 Emperor, you're not a scholar who passed the imperial examinations. With your level of education, do you even understand what you're saying?!

The difficulty of the imperial examinations lay not only in the answers, but also in the immense physical stamina required of the candidates. They needed to spend entire days composing, and some, due to exhaustion, wrote hastily in the latter half of their answers.

Zhu Youjian did not test himself; he simply took a quick look around and then withdrew. However, this was already considered a great show of respect, as the recent emperors of the Ming Dynasty have all been pioneers of negligence in governance.

In his later years, Emperor Shizong often ordered his cabinet ministers to draft the examination questions for each palace examination, and the emperor would only sign his name; he never personally wrote the answers. Emperor Wanli, on the other hand, only drafted the questions in advance, which were then read aloud by officials from the Ministry of Rites. It was truly remarkable that someone like Zhu Youjian (Emperor Wanli) personally attended the examination and read the questions aloud in court.

Zhu Youjian went back to sleep. When he returned in the evening, the examiners and the examiners in charge of collecting the papers had already gathered them, sealed them, and then the Imperial Guards escorted them to the Grand Secretariat for review. All the candidates were present, and no one left without permission or submitted their papers early. The Ming Dynasty stipulated that "after the palace examination, the successful candidates are not allowed to privately visit the examiners; those who violate this rule will be punished."

The candidates would return to their respective provincial guild halls to enjoy VIP service while awaiting the announcement of their results. From the very beginning, the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system had a strong local ties: merchants would sponsor candidates they favored and build guild halls in their hometowns to provide accommodation; after passing the exams, the candidates would also give back to their hometowns, advocating for favorable policies. Since everyone did this, Zhu Youjian decided to follow suit.

The cabinet ministers and the heads of the six ministries were appointed by Zhu Youjian as examiners, responsible for reviewing the examination papers. Whether there was any foul play involved is unclear, but if someone could persuade these most powerful people in the empire to help him cheat, then even a mere Jinshi degree would be an insult to that person. Zhu Youjian then began to check the household registration, ordering the eunuchs to classify the 353 people according to their regional household registration.

Two days later, after the palace examination papers were graded, the Grand Secretariat sent twenty copies of the examination papers to the Emperor for review, adjustment, and ranking to select the successful candidates. Zhu Youjian took these twenty papers directly to the Grand Secretariat. Twenty wasn't enough; he wanted to sweep up all the top-ranking candidates!
Zhu Youjian's arrival startled the ministers in the Wenyuan Pavilion. They hadn't dispersed after grading the papers, because based on past experience, the emperor might choose the most difficult one and summon them for his opinion. However, they hadn't expected the emperor to come to them on his own. Was he dissatisfied with their grading? They had taken the emperor's opinions very seriously!
"Your Majesty, is there something wrong with these twenty scrolls presented for your perusal?" Bi Ziyan stood up and bowed.

"Relax and please take a seat. I was merely on a whim to see the results of your reviews and then rearrange them in order," Zhu Youjian said casually.

"So you think our grading was unfair and you're planning to start over?" The crowd thought to themselves, their expressions turning grim. They hadn't put much effort into grading, but the ranking had involved considerable negotiation, and now the emperor was declaring the list invalid?! What was the point of all that hard work? "Emperor, you're not a scholar; with your level of education, could you even understand it?!"

The examiners first divided all the exam papers into six categories: top-high (A), top-low (B), middle-high (C), middle-middle (D), bottom-high (E), and bottom-low (F).

Zhu Youjian further categorized the top three evaluations by region and household registration, and then, under the strange gazes of his ministers, he drew from the categories like folding cards, quickly forming a new ranking.

Zhu Xieyuan's Adam's apple bobbed, and he couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, isn't this move too hasty? Could you perhaps reconsider?"

“Where is the haste? I sorted them all according to your grading results. Oh, right, this is wrong, you misunderstood. This should be considered the lowest of the top three.” After saying that, Zhu Youjian pulled Shi Kefa’s paper from the pile of papers with above-average grades and tossed it aside.

The courtiers exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what this man had done to offend the emperor. While his writings were somewhat superficial, they did have merit in terms of literary talent, historical knowledge, and calligraphy. It was hardly surprising that he had been ranked last!

Finally, Zhu Youjian selected Zhang Luoyan as the top scholar. Zhang Luoyan was from Zhuozhou Guard, Wanquan Commandery, Beizhili, and his family had been military households for generations.

The second-place finisher was Guan Shaoning, a native of Wujin County, Changzhou Prefecture, Southern Zhili, who came from a poor family.

The third-ranked scholar was Zhu Tongfang, a member of the fallen imperial family of the Ming Dynasty, a descendant of the Prince of Ruichang of the Ning Prince's Mansion, and a descendant of Prince Zhu Quan of Ning.

The Prince of Ning's lineage was shot by Wang Yangming and is now half-dead.

Everyone finally understood, and upon realizing it, a chill ran down their spines. Thankfully, their emperor wasn't the founding emperor; otherwise, if another system of separate examinations for northern and southern candidates were introduced, how could they possibly cope? The examiners would be the first to die!

The current cabinet ministers are: Bi Ziyan, from Zibo, Shandong; Zhu Xieyuan, from Shaoxing, Zhejiang; Shi Fenglai, from Pinghu, Zhejiang; Zhang Ruitu, from Jinjiang, Fujian; Li Guoyu, from Zhending Prefecture, Beizhili; and Guo Yunhou, from Heze, Shandong—half from the north and half from the south. Zhu Youjian had meticulously planned this.

Those who passed the imperial examinations and those who came from the Jinshi lineage often rose through the ranks the fastest, influencing the political landscape of an era. How could Zhu Youjian not pay attention to them? Zhu Youjian was too lazy to investigate the exchange of interests among the Grand Secretaries and Ministers, but it was impossible for him to pretend to be blind. At most, he could only partially admit it and then stir up trouble.

In addition to the top-ranking Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), this examination also selected 97 second-ranking Jinshi, bringing the total to 100, which is considered a large number in all previous imperial examinations. This was done because the Ming Dynasty was short of officials: the former Song Dynasty suffered from excessive bureaucracy, and the Ming Dynasty, after Wanli Emperor's reforms, went to extremes, resulting in a severe shortage of officials.

The Ming Dynasty's inability to collect taxes and the inefficiency of central government departments were also related to this shortage of officials. Following the bizarre system of classifying candidates into the first rank, Zhu Youjian re-ranked the second-rank candidates, striving for fairness across the north and south, but with some class bias.

"There's no need for that. Our Great Ming Dynasty no longer has any powerful clans or aristocratic families." The officials watched the emperor's actions with a sense of bewilderment.

Zhu Youjian, however, was thinking that although the Ming Dynasty did not have aristocratic families in the traditional sense, it did have academic cliques. Otherwise, how did those scholarly families and officials come about? Did they really think that children from poor families were stupid? All he could do was pick out one or two true academic kings and first-generation scholars from among the many second-generation scholars.

"Minister Zhu, I plan to hold a palace examination for military officers. Your Ministry of War should discuss this." Zhu Youjian smiled coldly and continued, "Those military officers who fail the palace examination will have their Jinshi (successful candidate in the imperial examination) title revoked. Those who pass will be granted military posts on the frontier. Those who are afraid of death, do not come!"

(End of this chapter)