For the biennial Zongzong Examination, hundreds of people gathered in Beijing. Although it was not in time for the examination, it was still very lively.杔
Originally, the emperor planned to set the imperial examination on August 15th, in the name of reunion and close friendship during the Mid-Autumn Festival. But wouldn't it be uncomfortable for the beauties in the harem and his daughter to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival together?
In this way, naturally they don't bother to take care of these relatives.
So the time was set for the first day of August.
Clan clans from all over the world, as long as they have a jade seal letter, can register and obtain the qualifications for the examination.
In order to reduce resistance, the clan government stipulated that for clan members to take the clan examination, they did not need the consent of the clan leader. They could just come directly to the clan mansion to register.
This further deprived the vassal king of his control over the lower-level clans.
As early as a few years ago, the emperor issued an edict that all descendants of the clan who want to ascend the throne only need to come to the clan mansion to register, and there is no need for a vassal king at all.杔
We must know that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, countless clans were in poverty because they did not have the money to bribe the chief minister or were specially taken care of by the vassal king.
For example, Zhu Mou and Zhu Meng were the two trusted generals of the emperor.
Otherwise, the 200,000 clans counted during the Wanli period would have to be doubled at least.
In the past, when members of the clan were five years old or older, they had to be petitioned by the official Shi of the Prince's Mansion on their behalf. After being reviewed and approved by the clan's Mansion, officials from the Ministry of Rites would name them according to the clan language, and finally the name would be given in the name of the emperor.
After successfully applying for a name, you can apply for a title, marriage, and salary in sequence, and you can get corresponding political and economic treatment.
That is to say, the prince's palace reports, the clan's palace reviews, the courtiers draft the name, and the emperor bestows the name.
The Eight Banners of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties in later generations also had to spend money to attack the princes, otherwise it would be difficult to obtain money and food to satisfy their hunger.杔
After this simplicity, the clan only needs to report to the clan office, register under a certain branch, and then name it by itself.
At the same time as the title was granted, the imperial court also required that the leader of the clan without title should come to Beijing to register every ten years to avoid losing their identity.
Although they do not have a title, they can still take the imperial examination.
As for the duplicate names on the periodic table of elements, the emperor also considered it, as long as there were no living people with duplicate names.
Moreover, since there was only one person who could seize the title, and all the concubines had no titles, the court also relaxed the inheritance system and allowed adoption and adoption of children, thereby avoiding the loss of titles.
Anyway, it can only be inherited for a few generations, and it will be reduced to Lieutenant Fengguo.
The simplified nobility system directly reduced the vassal king's control over the lower-level clans to a minimum, even to the point of etiquette.杔
This was also the emperor's strategy to cut down the vassal vassal.
This is a small thing, which makes the clan members happy.
When it comes to inheriting titles, the clan government strictly requires the eldest son inheritance system for the inheritance of titles from heroes of the opposite sex, without any mistakes.
For example, if a concubine is favored and his wife is destroyed, a concubine becomes a legitimate wife, etc., the punishment will be severe.
Adoption, adoption, etc. are also highly valued and must be approved by the emperor.
Although there is a factor that some titles of the opposite sex can be hereditary, it is still the factor of imperial power that is fundamentally responsible.
Isn't that what control over nobles is?杔
As for the so-called succession of knights and guards, including hereditary military positions such as Baihu and Qianhu, as in the early Ming Dynasty, and the need for assessment, Zhu Yixi did not consider it at all.
Because these are all face-saving projects, even Zhu Yuanzhang, who could not tolerate a nail in his eyeballs, never pursued this aspect.
After Xuande, it was completely a formality.
This was especially the case during the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. The Eight Banners' attack on the nobility was just a formality, and no one cared about it at all.
Therefore, the Weisuo system collapsed and the Eight Banners system collapsed.
"My ancestors endured all the hardships, so why can't I be a serious knight?"
Although this sentence is crude, it does make sense.杔
In charge of the imperial examination, the Minister of Rites serves as the chief examiner, and the Jiuqing of Taichangsi, Dali Temple and other counties serve as co-examiners. The style is at least one level lower than that of the general examination.
After all, the top three are given to those who were born in the same Jinshi class.
It won’t do if it’s not strict.
Even the remaining ones can still be minor officials of the eighth or ninth grade.
The emperor walked around and left directly.
A few days later, thirty examination papers were placed in front of him.
From high to low.
The emperor glanced briefly and said with a smile: "I never thought that it would be the Chu vassal who took the lead."
There are about twenty princes, that is, twenty clans. The emperor's line directly ennobles the king and becomes a vassal, so naturally no one participates.
As for Qin Fan?
Sorry, the emperor is in his own line. He doesn't recognize these distant relatives. The person in charge is the emperor's eldest son, King Qin, who is now a vassal.
The articles were all good and the titles were correct. The emperor nodded slightly: "Let's just leave it at that!"
The eunuch on the side quickly asked for a seal and stamped it directly.
Just like that, the first clan examination officially ended.
"Master, do you want to have a parade?"
Liu Afu said with a smile.
"No--"
Zhu Yixi laughed dumbly: "You are the cleverest."
"We, the Zhu family, are just playing it by ourselves. If those people find out, we will die laughing."
"Scholars are very proud and arrogant. If they accidentally write a bad poem, they will lose their reputation."
"That's all, let the clan government send people to report to the princes' palaces. Remember, you only need to report the Three Cauldron Armors, and leave the rest alone."
"Yes!" Liu Afu agreed with a smile.杔
He waved his hand, and the winking eunuch on the side quickly went down to do it.
The emperor looked at the remaining examination papers and touched the beard on his chin: "Our Zhu family has finally produced some talents over the years."
"If you are still waiting to die in the Shaowu Dynasty, I will teach you a lesson."
"Master, this is our first session. Many candidates have not entered the genealogy. Our Tian family's talents have not had time to emerge. Now these are just duckweed on top..."
Liu Afu flattered.
"What you said makes sense."
Zhu Yixi laughed loudly: "There are tens of thousands of people with the surname Zhu in the world, and there are many clan members who hide their names, so there may be many talented people."
"It's just that people like to take the imperial examination. The Zongka examination just gives them one more path."
After participating in the imperial examination, the clan will suddenly become a member of the merit system, and the interests of the scholars will naturally be protected.
Similarly, when taking part in the imperial examination, one is naturally on the side of the emperor. After all, whether one is promoted or not depends entirely on the emperor.
To put it simply, these people are the true disciples of the Emperor.
Those group of Jinshi are proud of themselves and are the result of their talent and hard work.
After all, the imperial examination was established more than a thousand years ago, and gratitude in the past has become a habit, even a matter of course. The people who are grateful are Confucius and Zhu Xi.
Needless to say there was a lot of excitement.杔
The happiest person was the King of Chu. The top leader was from the Chu vassal, which greatly enhanced his reputation.
You must know that the most important thing when living in the capital is face.
Therefore, he directly asked someone to send him a hundred yuan in silver notes as a reward.
This caused a lot of turmoil in the clan.
The next day, the Ministry of Rites received news from the Dian Kingdom thousands of miles away:
The Dian envoy asked to see him and asked for tribute.
In this regard, the Ministry of Rites is happy to see the success.杔
After all, even the intruders have a Kangguo, let alone Sun Kewang, the remnant of the Western thieves?
The cabinet was noncommittal.
In the final analysis, it all depends on the emperor's wishes.
If you don't like Sun Kewang, you will naturally refuse to recognize him.
The emperor, as always, is profit-oriented, and he must occupy whatever he can get benefits from.
Since that damn place in Myanmar is occupied by Sun Kewang, there will no longer be a vassal state.
Now that he is ready to be canonized, the national title is naturally the top priority.杔
Sun Kewang is also knowledgeable and knows
Surrender means surrender to the end. He is old and cannot stand the torment.
Therefore, on the national title, he had two people sent to him:
Yunnan, Myanmar.
Dian is the name of the country that it calls itself, while Myanmar is the old name. It was called Myanmar as early as the Yuan Dynasty.
The courtiers believed that Dian was the abbreviation of Yunnan, where the ancient Dian Kingdom was located, so Sun Ke hoped to call it Dian, fearing that he had ambitions for Yunnan.
This is not the case with Myanmar, which has been a foreign land since ancient times.
Zhu Yixi thought about it again and again, and wanted to give Sun Kewang a good name, but how could there be such a name in the world that had the best of both worlds?杔
Therefore, he could only sigh: "When it comes to country names, Myanmar is particularly beautiful, so let's call it Myanmar!"
The envoy had no choice but to accept the order and thank him.
Naturally, his title could only be that of a county prince, but considering the reality of winning over Sun Kewang, the emperor allowed him to use the courtesy of a prince.
That is, like North Korea, those at the level of county kings enjoy the treatment of princes.
The emperor was extremely generous with this facade project.
However, the tribute items were too far away, so food was not included, but other items were essential.
After all, although Myanmar has many mountains and lofty mountains, it is rich in products, rich in gold, silver, copper and iron. Otherwise, how could France and Portugal continue to ask for trade?杔
After emergency consultations, the Ministry of Rites decided to use the standard of one thousand taels of gold and two thousand taels of silver per year as tribute gifts.
No more, no less, is the acceptable range in Myanmar.
At the same time, there is no need to mention trade, which is a basic requirement for the vassal countries.
However, Sun Kewang was also sensible. For the first time, he came to the door and presented a large amount of gold, gems, ivory and other rare things. He was full of sincerity.
The imperial court was also very satisfied, so the dragon robes, official robes, and seals and ribbons were relatively complete. From this perspective, it was a bit of a loss.
After the emperor left, the envoy made a request when consulting with the Ministry of Rites:
"Can you please invite some castration masters to go to Myanmar?"
Hearing this, the doctor from the Ministry of Rites almost spat out the tea in his mouth.
He suppressed his laughter: "Is your country still lacking this?"
The envoy said awkwardly: "Although there are castrates of cattle and sheep in our country, people are different after all, and their requirements are quite high."
"Nowadays, most of my king's court members are female officials, and the few eunuchs are brought over from Yunnan..."
At this time, the castration technology in the Ming Dynasty was very sophisticated, basically cutting balls, which was very sophisticated, but the consequences were more bleeding and death easily.
In the Qing Dynasty, it was all cut, and sausages and meatballs were cut in one go. It was simple and convenient, and it was easy to stop bleeding. As long as practice makes perfect, you can survive.
Therefore, this type of castration technique in the Ming Dynasty required high requirements. If it was not done well, it would kill the person, and the mortality rate was extremely high.杔
It is difficult for a country without any level of civilization to master this technology.
This group of eunuchs can only appear in centralized countries and can be used by domineering and authoritarian monarchs.
In China, it was not until the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty that the Duke of Zhou conquered the state of Yan, beheaded its men and castrated its children. This was the birth of the eunuch group.
The technological foundation is nothing more than the development of farming, which has led to the prosperity of livestock, and castration technology has naturally come naturally.
To put it simply and crudely, it is difficult for countries whose civilization level is lower than that of the Western Zhou Dynasty to possess this technology.
Unfortunately, Myanmar does not have it, or it is not mature.
"This is easy." The doctor said helplessly, "As long as you have enough money, you can invite a few of them to Myanmar."
"By the way, let's go back together after staying for a month. His Majesty has prepared many gifts."
The envoy was puzzled, but after understanding it carefully, he suddenly realized it.
It includes more than 10,000 volumes of the Four Books and Five Classics, commentaries of various scholars, and miscellaneous history books; more than 30 monks and Taoists; and a hundred craftsmen, doctors, onmyojis, and Confucian masters.
This made him overjoyed.
You must know that when Sun Kewang left Yunnan, he took away mostly soldiers and officials. Not to mention the lack of craftsmen, the most lacking thing was poetry and classics.
The arrival of these people and books was of great significance to Sun Kewang's establishment of Myanmar.
It was extremely beneficial to the Dian Dynasty.
For example, the system followed in the palace, the etiquette of worshiping heaven and other internal institutional culture were all extremely lacking in the Dian Kingdom at this time.杔
At this time, Myanmar's civilization level had just touched the threshold of feudal society, and it was just a step away.
Historically, it was the Mughal Dynasty in India that promoted this move, or it could be said that Myanmar took the initiative to send people to the Mughals to absorb culture, thus shaping Myanmar's golden age.
Then why not let Daming take the lead?
"Why is Your Majesty so generous?"
Walking in the long corridor, Zhu Mou was half a step behind, following the emperor step by step.
After many years of career as king and minister, the relationship between them was very close, but Zhu Mou seemed a little more open-minded.
"Are you generous?" The emperor found a bench and sat down, just like a park, and sprinkled a large amount of steamed bun crumbs wantonly.杔
There are a large number of koi carps in the lake, which are colorful and very beautiful. They are vying to eat the steamed bun dregs. The chubby portions are huge.
Zhu Mou glanced at the steamed bun in the emperor's hand. It was big, white, tender and round, bigger than a bun.
This reminded him of the food he finally borrowed from Sun Chuanting in Xi'an. The steamed buns were yellowish white and rough in the mouth, not as much as this steamed bun.
Among the people, a big white tender steamed bun costs at least three to five cents!
But now it can only be turned into fish feed and food for fish.
"I don't think so."
The emperor turned over and stopped sitting on his side. He leaned his back against the pillar and the other half of his thigh was dangling on the lake. He was very worried.杔
"Wei Chen is puzzled."
"At this time, Myanmar is like a newly ignorant child who doesn't understand anything and is in urgent need of good people to guide him so he can read and write and learn the ways of Confucius and Mencius——"
"Do you want Confucius and Mencius to weaken Myanmar? Prevent it from plotting in Yunnan?" Zhu Mou suddenly realized:
"This method is actually the best way to defeat the enemy without fighting."
"There is no way, Myanmar cannot turn into a vassal state, so let's turn him into something we are familiar with."
The emperor sighed: "It's a pity. Myanmar is indeed a good place, and Sun Kewang has a good vision."
"Your Majesty——"
At this time, a eunuch suddenly came in a hurry, Liu Afu said hurriedly: "The commander of the Jinyi Guards is asking for an audience. His face is serious. It seems to be extremely important."
"Oh?" Zhu Yixi frowned. In this peaceful age, what else is important?
