In the fifth year of Hongwu, it was the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.
In the seven large classrooms of Xiyuan University Hall, an imperial examination is in progress.
Today is the first day of Hongwu's five-year examination. The test is a written test, which involves writing and arithmetic. There are two compositions in the morning, one is "Policy" and the other is "Theory".
The so-called "strategy" refers to practical policy. The question is: Now that the artillery is out, how should the three parties in the world respond?
The so-called "theory" refers to the theory of classics and meanings, and the title is: What is the study of things? What is knowledge? Can everything in the world be fulfilled? Can we know the way of all things?
It is different from the past when “discussion” came first and “policy” came last. The current imperial examination is mainly based on "policy" and "theory" as a supplement, so "policy" is tested first, and "theory" is tested later - the imperial examination is originally to select senior bureaucrats, and of course it should be based on the level of "practical policy" It is the most important judging criterion.
On the afternoon of the 16th, there were exams on military science, arithmetic, and history.
Among them, the test of military science is not about the general outline, but the details - how to defend the city? How to organize and train Minzhuang? How to raise military expenses? How to build weapons and equipment?
Well, basically these are the capabilities of separatist rebellion. Ninety percent of the local governors of the Song Dynasty before the Xuanhe War did not know this. Otherwise, the Jin soldiers were having fun fighting in the front, but when they looked back... well, they were all anti-Jin base areas!
Arithmetic is an application question - the kind of "how much money and grain is collected in a certain place in a year, how much grain does it cost to raise soldiers and how much money does it need to make weapons in order to resist the gold, and how much savings are there in the official treasury? How much money is spent on grain compared to I received a lot, asking when the place will be occupied by gold thieves" and so on.
Historiography mainly examines the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty - how many forts were there in the Central Plains after the Yongjia Rebellion, and what role did these forts play in the fight against the barbarians? What are their successes and failures?
The seventeenth day is the "practical test", which is a test of martial arts!
Rifle shooting, mounted shooting, spear, sword and axe... all tested! No need to be fancy, everyone must have real skills.
Archery must be able to hit the target, cavalry and archery must be able to make horses run, spears must be able to defeat cavalry, and swords and axes must be able to break wood poles. To be honest, the difficulty is not high, but civil servants in troubled times must be able to do it, but they cannot be regarded as "the courage of one man".
Because without this "one man's courage", you, the head of the county, are just a layman watching the excitement. You don't even know whether the training and equipment of the strong people are in place?
If all of the above are passed, then even if this person is not a Jinshi, he is still a rare talent. It should not be too difficult to find a secret official with the "Hongwu Five-Year Examination Score Card".
Because this imperial examination is very difficult, there are not many candidates who can pass the examination and enter the Xiyuan University Hall examination room. There were a total of three to four hundred people sitting in the seven large classrooms. Some of them are already busy writing, and some are stuck in writing.
That Xiao Buyan got stuck!
Because he didn't know how the Jin Kingdom should deal with such a military weapon as the 10-pound long-barreled gun!
The power of this weapon exceeded his previous imagination!
In the test shooting at the end of last year, a single shot of shotgun destroyed dozens of wooden targets a hundred paces away!
And the continuous shooting of an iron bullet, a stone bullet, and a lead bullet penetrated a seemingly thick stone wall 200 steps away!
The so-called layman sees the excitement, while the expert sees the door.
Xiao Buyan is an expert. After watching the test firing, he knew that the Kingdom of Jin was in big trouble. Because no fortress owned by the Great Jin Kingdom could withstand the hammer blow of this 10-pound cannon. Therefore, if the Kingdom of Jin wanted to use the original method of the Liao Kingdom to deal with Song Taizong, which was to defend the fortified city and defeat the enemy with the main force to defeat the enemy in the field, it was impossible to succeed at all.
If Zhao Kai can gather 100 10-pound cannons, the city defense of Daxing Prefecture will only be able to resist for a day or two no matter how hard it is reinforced.
As for field combat...how to shoot a 10-pound cannon with shotgun? Besides, they also have fried pots, hot pot cannons, clay pot cannons, red scarf infantry, and iron cavalry!
There is no way to fight this battle unless... you use cannon to make cannon!
Thinking of this, Xiao Buyan's eyes lit up!
Isn't it just making cannons? You, the Song Dynasty, can make a 10-pound cannon, but I, the Dajin Dynasty, can't? It seems that Zhao Kai is still missing a move!
He should keep it strictly secret, hide the 10-pound cannon, and not let anyone see it, and only use it at the critical moment. Only in this way can he win the battle in one fell swoop!
Now that Daikin already knows Zhao Kai's trump card, and also knows what this 10-pound cannon looks like, he can immediately start casting cannons, and cast 100 cannons, no, 200 cannons! See how arrogant Zhao Kai is?
Thinking of this, Xiao Buyan finally stopped writing and started writing.
Of course, Xiao Buyan would not write "making artillery with artillery" in his policy papers. In the strategy he gave to Zhao Kai, he believed that the best strategy for the Kingdom of Jin was to take the Thirty-six Strategies as the best strategy!
Daikin should give up the land south of Yanshan and west of Yuguan, and relocate as many people as possible. At the same time, it should rely on dangerous positions to guard the entrances of Yanshan to protect the advancing strongholds that may invade the Central Plains at any time...
While Xiao Buyan was writing like flying and writing a masterpiece in one go, Yu Yunwen was still thinking of ways for the Southern Song Dynasty.
Because when he was watching the cannon, he discovered that when the 10-pound cannon was fired, the earth was shaking!
Can the warships of the Southern Song Dynasty withstand such a violent vibration?
Although many warships in the Southern Song Dynasty were equipped with hot pot cannons that were very noisy when fired, when the hot pot cannon was fired, the force transmitted downward would push the ship down, but it would not cause it to capsize. Moreover, the hotpot cannon fires in a straight direction and cannot hit moving targets, but can only hit fixed targets. Therefore, the hotpot cannon is generally installed on a solid bow deck. When firing, the cannon can only adjust the high and low shooting angles. If you want to adjust the left and right, you can only rotate the hull.
But the 10-pound cannon cannot be installed like this!
The 10-pound cannon was aimed directly, but the bows of the large vehicles and ships of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy were tilted upward, which would cover the muzzle of the 10-pound cannon!
And these 10-pound cannons cannot be installed on the sides, because the strength of the sides is not enough, the ship's plank is too thin, and a water wheel is installed on the side - so there is no place to install the cannon under the side deck, and the cabin is built on the deck. ...
In other words, all the ships of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy cannot be equipped with 10-pound guns!
And if these "naval grenadiers" encounter an enemy ship equipped with 10-pound cannons, they will be vulnerable... As long as a new warship can install several 10-pound cannons on the bow, the Southern Song Dynasty navy will The division's right to control water is gone.
So now that Zhao Kai takes out the 10-pound cannon, those "grenadier ships" of the Southern Song Dynasty will be eliminated!
But they are still new ships!
However, no matter how concerned about money, the design of a new warship must begin immediately, and construction must begin immediately after the design is completed.
Not only must we build a navy-type 10-pound gunboat, but we must also build a Jiangjun-type 10-pound gunboat!
Not only must we build 10-pound gunboats, we must also manufacture 10-pound cannons in large quantities. Because the Southern Song Dynasty needed these cannons to defend the city, this was called defending the city with cannons, protecting the city with cannons...
Of course, these countermeasures cannot be written in practical policies.
But we can't let Zhao Kai know about the good idea of putting 10-pound cannon on the ship, otherwise the "water rights" of the Southern Song Dynasty will be difficult to protect.
Thinking of this, Yu Yunwen also started to write.
His trick for the Southern Song Dynasty was to move the capital to Ezhou!
Because Ezhou is blocking the entrance of the Han River to the river, before the 10-pound cannon was available, the artillery and cannon built on the fort in Ezhou could not block the entrance of the Han River to the river.
But now there are 10-pound cannons, so building a fort in Ezhou and deploying a sufficient number of 10-pound cannons can block the Northern Song Dynasty army going south from Xiangyang - with the strength of the existing "Navy Grenadier" in the Southern Song Dynasty, As long as the navy of the Northern Song Dynasty could not pass Ezhou, they could completely defend the Yangtze River. Even if a part of the Northern Song Dynasty army crossed the Huaihe River and then risked sneaking across the Yangtze River, their retreat would be quickly cut off by Song warships and they would be unable to carry cannons and face a disastrous defeat.
Therefore, the key to the future battle between the two Song Dynasties is the gain and loss of Ezhou!
Of course, Yu Yunwen also knew that he was writing nonsense... Because Zhao Huan would never have the courage to move the capital to Ezhou. If he really dared to do this, it would not be Zhao Huan, but Sun Quan, the great emperor of Wu.
...
"Okay, okay, what a...talent! It seems that I underestimated the scholars in the world before. I thought that although there are many scholars with outstanding literary talent in the past few decades, they can hardly be great in the military, state and political affairs. Yes, I didn’t expect there to be people like Yu Yunwen and Xiao Buyan!”
In the Huiyou Hall of Ziwei Palace, it was Zhao Kai who was talking nonsense with two "scrawled" policy papers, and Queen Zhu Fengying and Concubine Guo Tiannu were a little dumbfounded when they heard him speak.
Guo Tiannv looked at Zhao Kai who had drunk some wine and was probably a little drunk, and said with a smile: "In the official family, how can it be so difficult for Jinshi in this dynasty to be useful? At least one of them has the talent to know the world!"
"Oh," Zhao Kai nodded, "Are you talking about Zongze? He is indeed a talent, but it's a pity that he is too old..."
"Giggle..."
The two women laughed so hard that Zhao Kai was a little confused and looked at them with drunken eyes.
Zhu Fengying said: "The official himself is also a Jinshi!"
"Oh, I am also a Jinshi? It seems that there is such a thing..." Zhao Kai really forgot about this, he thought he was a "sophomore"!
"Guan Guan, you are too noble and forget things, right?"
"Isn't that right? Why have you forgotten that you were a Jinshi?"
Zhao Kai waved his hand and said with a smile: "Just forget it...my past and present are so different that they are completely different, so it doesn't count." As he spoke, he also felt that something was wrong, so Then he turned the topic back to the imperial examination, "This year we have both the top pick and the second place winner! The top pick is Yu Yunwen, and the second place winner is Xiao Buyan."
"Guan family," Guo Tiannv reminded, "that Xiao Buyan is from the Khitan, and Yu Yunwen is from the South!"
"Xiao Buyan is indeed a bit unreliable. He cannot be admitted to the Hanlin Academy." Zhao Kai paused, "But Yu Yunwen will not have any problems. He is a loyal minister and a good general... I must reuse him. Let him be the editor, and within ten years, he can be promoted to general and prime minister!"
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