"Mr. Ambassador, Mr. Deputy Ambassador, you must be of very noble origin, right? What is your title?"
In a banquet hall of the Hofburg Grand Palace, which has more than a thousand rooms and a complex internal structure like a labyrinth, the Holy Roman Emperor was holding a banquet to entertain envoys. Just as the guests and hosts were enjoying themselves, the Holy Roman Emperor, who had had a few more drinks, suddenly inquired about the titles of Ji Kun and Li Shaoyou, two envoys of the Ming Dynasty.
The emperor spoke German, and Coit, a thirty-four or five-year-old Swedish captain from the East India Company who came with Van Diemen, happened to speak German and Chinese, so he acted as translator. The Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire, Gülgu, was a very knowledgeable person and could also speak German, so there was no need to arrange a translator.
After listening to Koit's translation, Ji Kun, who was born in the military, did not feel that this question made him lose face, so he answered with a smile: "Your Majesty, neither this envoy nor Deputy Ambassador Li are from noble families, we are both from civilians. , and became an official of the Ming Empire after passing the examination."
Li Shaoyou did not come from the imperial examination. He came from Jinyiwei, but he studied in the Beijing Academy and did well in it. He became a teacher after graduation, so he can be regarded as an official with an examination background.
"Civilians passed the exam to become officials?" The Holy Roman Emperor was very surprised. "Then what are the nobles of your country doing?"
What to do? Just eat and wait to die...
Of course, you can't say that. Ji Kun thought for a while and smiled: "Nobles can also pass the exam to become officials or enter the martial arts hall to study, and become officers after graduation."
"What? Both nobles and commoners take exams?" Ferdinand III seemed to be very interested in China's imperial examination system.
"You have to take exams... Oh, you can also serve in the military and achieve meritorious service, but if you want to become an officer without military merit, you still need to be admitted to the martial arts hall to study."
"Aren't there any discounts for nobles?" Emperor Shinra continued to inquire.
For example, a discount, extra points, etc.?
Ji Kun said: "Nobles are not given preferential treatment in official selection examinations, but they have the right to give priority to study and study civil and military studies. The Ming Emperor established a martial arts lecture hall, a Beijing school, and a Taixue hall. State government official schools have been opened in various state capitals (in fact, the new school in the state capitals has not yet started, and the official schools are still the same as before)..."
What Ji Kun is telling Emperor Shinra now is the latest rules for official examinations.
Although Zhu Cixiang is the big boss of the "Beiren Xungui Group" and the defender of the interests of the Xungui, his way of safeguarding the interests of the Xungui is not to make them become incompetent officials, but to open schools to train their children and pass the exams. Young people with outstanding talents among the nobles' sons were selected and allowed to enter Jiangwu Hall and Jingxuetang to receive higher education. They waited until they graduated from Jiangwutang and Jingxuetang to become officials.
Although the Jing Xuetang, which trained civil servants and military officers for the Ming Dynasty, was also a university, it was two different types of universities from Taixue. The former focuses on vocational training, while the latter focuses on general education. Both can lead to the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, Jiangwu Tang, Jing Xuetang, and Taixue are open to enrollment. Although there are bonus points for children of nobles, they are not many. However, the examination content of Jiangwu Tang and Jing Xuetang focused on the elite. In the words of later generations, it was about quality education, and it was not about singing and dancing quality, but military quality, so most of the people who could pass the exam were the children of military nobles.
The reason for this arrangement is, on the one hand, to ensure the interests of the Northern ruling group, and on the other hand, to cultivate a group of officials with both civil and military skills to take charge. The Jiangwu Hall and the Beijing Academy mainly train civil and military officials. In today's troubled times, officials with both civil and military skills are the country's core competitiveness. It's no good if they don't have a firm grasp of them!
Ji Kun explained it very carefully, and he also "removed the dross and kept the essence" and told Emperor Shenluo all the most advanced methods of examination and officialdom in the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Shinra still didn't quite understand, "Mr. Ambassador, what benefit does it bring to the country to let civilians take the official selection exam? Are China's nobles not good enough to shoulder the responsibility of governing the country?"
"Of course not," Ji Kun thought for a moment, "The emperor of our country hopes to pass the exam to attract talented people from the people who may pose a threat to the stability of the country to the officialdom. If all the capable people below become officials Now, there are fewer people who can organize a rebellion."
Let the people below take the exam and become officials, so they won't rebel?
yes! This is a solution!
Ferdinand III was so excited!
This method of gaining extra points for becoming an official and a nobleman in the exam is tantamount to a good medicine to boost the spirit of the Holy Roman Empire, which is currently about to fall apart!
Although the empire was scattered into more than a thousand pieces, and the Habsburg family's direct jurisdiction was in Austria and the Czech Republic, the emperor still had the right to appoint and remove officials from the imperial government (central government) and the Habsburg family's territory.
The power of appointing and removing officials is the bargaining chip that the emperor can use!
The empire can definitely introduce China's advanced experience and open a "bureaucratic academy" in Vienna, allowing the children of the empire's nobility and lords to pass examinations and enter the academy. Of course it is not completely fair, but points can be added based on the father's title and the candidate's sonship. Even illegitimate children can be recommended by the lord to take the exam.
In this way, the connection between the emperor and the noble lords at all levels of the empire would be greatly strengthened, at least to unite the Catholic nobles around the emperor.
And there is a certain probability that the eldest son will die earlier than his father... If the other sons of the Catholic lords are all students of the Bureaucratic Academy, then in the future a large number of "bureaucrat students" will become lords of the empire!
This will undoubtedly greatly strengthen the authority of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire - the feudalism of the Holy Roman Empire is hierarchical, which is the so-called "vassal vassal is not my vassal". There are also many small lords under the Catholic lords, and the small lords report to the big lord instead of Allegiance to the Emperor.
If the eldest son of a small lord dies early, the lord's position will be inherited by the second son who is loyal to the emperor!
In addition, the Bureaucratic College can also recruit children of Protestant nobles and Czechs!
The emperor is the emperor of the entire empire, not the emperor of the Catholics!
As long as the children of Protestant noble lords were willing to be loyal to the emperor and had sufficient talents, they could also serve as bureaucrats in the empire.
The same goes for the Czechs of course...
Thinking of this, Ferdinand III cried - if his dear father knew this good way, there would be no Thirty Years War!
The empire is finally saved!
Ji Kun was stunned when he saw the foreign emperor crying. Did he say something wrong? It must be that this emperor has not liked studying since he was a child, and he gets a headache when he takes exams, right? He looks clumsy, he must hate exams, so he should change the subject quickly.
"Your Majesty the Emperor, the Emperor of our country wrote a personal letter to be delivered to King Louis of France, but now we are encountering a rebellion by the stone-throwing rebels in France. I wonder if His Majesty the Emperor can help my envoy enter the country of France?"
Ji Kun saw that little King Louis was not going to last long, so he wanted to send Zhu Cixiang's letter before he died, which would be considered as completing his mission.
"This," the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire wiped away tears, "this is easy to handle. I will write to General Frederick Schaumberg who is fighting for Louis XIV... He is a great person. A military strategist, he is also a German. Unfortunately, there is no Viennese bureaucracy school that can transform him into a loyal soldier of the empire. However, I can still ask him to send a team of German mercenaries to escort you to the Chateau Saint-Germain on the outskirts of Paris, which is very important to Louis X. Four doesn't hurt.
In addition, I will also write to Viscount Turenne on the side of the Fronde to explain your identity and purpose of coming. I believe he will not embarrass you Chinese envoys from the Far East. "
