The second imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty was the first imperial examination conducted according to new regulations.
Compared with the first imperial examination in the second year of Hongwu, which had the color of the old era, the second imperial examination in the fifth year of Hongwu was of greater significance.
Because this is the first imperial examination that is conducted entirely according to its own rules. It is the first imperial examination after Confucian academics were deposed as officially recognized academics.
The Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, which had been completely controlled, prepared for the examination in full compliance with Su Yonglin's requirements.
The conditions for this imperial examination are much better than those of the last imperial examination. There are no constraints from internal and external factors. Even examination centers have been built in various places, and the third-level examinations of provinces, states and counties have already been completed. Established clear rules and regulations.
Needless to say, the two examinations, the General Examination and the Palace Examination, which were conducted after entering Zhongdu, were taken care of directly by the Ministry of Etiquette and took full responsibility.
The new batch of talents in the Ming Dynasty are eager to try and prepare to pass this exam to prove that their efforts have not betrayed themselves. .
Su Yonglin had a basic understanding of the examination at the Ministry of Rites examination meeting held on the 15th day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Hongwu.
In the second half of the fourth year of Hongwu, the county, state and provincial examinations, which were the selection examinations before the final examination, were completed. Most of the total number of candidates, more than 30,000, had arrived in Zhongdu, waiting for the examination on the first day of March. And the palace examination.
Among the candidates, the largest number are liberal arts students.
The reform of the imperial examination has only been carried out for four years. In order to broaden the paths for various groups in society to advance, in addition to the original imperial examination subjects, Su Yonglin also opened up examinations in three subjects: science, engineering and law.
But the time was short after all. Even after the devastating blow to the scholar-bureaucrat class, the number of scholars who took the liberal arts examination was still more than the other three subjects.
However, in the second year of Hongwu, the total number of candidates for the other three subjects was less than 60% of the candidates for liberal arts. By the fifth year of Hongwu, this figure reached 96%.
congratulations.
But it is still small, which shows that the inertia of society is not something that can be changed in a short while.
Among the candidates in science, engineering and law, in the second year of Hongwu, there were significantly more law candidates than science and engineering candidates, almost equal to the combined number of the two, followed by engineering, and finally science.
There is no perfect graded examination system in the second year of Hongwu, and the number of applicants for the three subjects must also be graded. Therefore, among the exams in the second year of Hongwu, the highest proportion of admissions are science candidates.
At that time, the admission ratio almost reached a state where one person was admitted for every two people.
Still, as long as you register for reference, you can hit an admission rate of nearly 50%.
The science candidates of that year were really successful.
This situation only became known after the results of the imperial examinations were announced.
Compared with the overwhelming admission rate for liberal arts students, the science candidates who have at least some skills are basically massacred and have been admitted to become officials one after another. Now they are developing quite well and have become one of the vast group of planners. member.
This caused a large-scale discussion in society at the time.
So much so that many liberal arts scholars broke through the defense on the spot.
They cried and fussed, their words and eyes were crooked, and finally they all made up their minds to abandon literature and science, abandon Lao Fuzi, embrace Mozi, Zu Chongzhi and other science masters, and start chewing "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" while holding it in their arms.
Three years later, there are more cases like this. Except for the technically demanding engineering exams that require little accumulation and time experience, the competition for law and science exams has increased significantly, and the number of candidates has doubled.
As a result, Hongwu's five-year law and science examinations required selection examinations at the provincial level according to the candidates' place of origin to control the number of candidates, select the outstanding ones, and eliminate the idle ones, and then come to Zhongdu to take the final examination.
Even so, the difficulty of the exams for the three subjects of science, law, and engineering is also less than that of the liberal arts exams. This does not mean that the questions are difficult, but that the competition in the liberal arts is relatively high.
Liberal arts exams require five exams, while law and science exams only require three, and engineering exams only require two selections to determine admission.
Therefore, some officials have asked whether this is unfair and whether it can be slightly adjusted.
This suggestion was rejected by Su Yonglin. Su Yonglin meant that there were too many liberal arts candidates. If admissions were liberalized, the quota for the other three subjects would be greatly reduced.
The imperial court needs officials with various specialties to be responsible for the operation of the imperial court, and they cannot rely solely on administration to dominate the world.
The imperial court needed master craftsmen with engineering backgrounds to promote the development of science and technology, planners with science backgrounds to provide huge computing power support for court policies, and judicial officials with legal education backgrounds to maintain social fairness and justice.
The court not only needed administrative officials to maintain operations, but also required a large number of technical officials with professional skills to participate.
There were so many problems with the old imperial examination that even the officials of the feudal dynasty complained about it. The knowledgeable scholar-bureaucrats among them felt that the officials selected in this way were often just good writers and did not even know the historical celebrities and some basic common sense. Government affairs are completely inaccessible.
They themselves think so, should we still follow their old path?
So at the imperial examination preparation meeting, Su Yonglin put forward his own opinions.
"Before the number of reference candidates reaches a balance, and before the public's understanding of the four subjects for obtaining a bachelor's degree reaches a balance, we need to maintain a balanced admission rate.
When the number of reference candidates is basically balanced, and the other three subjects are no longer considered inferior to the liberal arts Jinshi, then everyone can take the same graded examination to maintain fairness. Now, this is fairness. "
Su Yonglin has an extremely huge influence on the government, and his words and deeds can affect the decision-making direction of the government, even if he does not like Qian Gang's dictatorship.
This is the truth.
Therefore, the imperial examinations in Hongwu's five years were conducted in accordance with the five-level liberal arts examination, the third-level legal science examination, and the two-level engineering examination.
So now, the number of students from the four disciplines gathered in Zhongdu City to participate in the final examination and the palace examination is basically the same.
Among them, the relatively easy ones are of course the engineering candidates. They have the smallest number, so they do not need to take the placement exam and can directly enter the Zhongdu to prepare for the last two assessments.
But this does not mean that it is very convenient for candidates applying for engineering majors. The difficulty of their assessment is not low, and it can even be said to be relatively high.
Their assessment requires the participation of professional craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry. Those who are literate need to take an additional written test, which can get extra points. Those who are illiterate need to show outstanding skills and pass two strict technical examinations, which will be scored by professional examiners. Finally, the candidates will be awarded Ranking will be based on average scores and admission will be based on merit.
It can be said that because of the current demand for many technical problems, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry will be more stringent in the selection of outstanding engineering talents. It is hoped that talents with excellent technologies can be selected from across the country to help solve problems.
Su Yonglin is quite satisfied with this situation.
For the imperial examination, a channel for social advancement, his requirements were generally to be lenient in entry and strict in exit.
He wants more and more people to join in, so that everyone is eligible to participate and has the possibility of rising through this channel, instead of limiting this qualification because of things like origin, blood, assets, etc., then is unacceptable.
Then we must strictly control the selection level and try to ensure that the selected talents are all available talents.
As for whether this situation will cause involution, it cannot be said so firmly. It will definitely happen or definitely not. It is difficult to say, but Su Yonglin is confident that this kind of involution will not develop in a vicious direction.
Although the total number of official positions is limited, the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty first broadened the examination subjects and took four subjects simultaneously. Compared with the traditional imperial examination, there were three more accessible roads, giving more people more possibilities.
The traditional imperial examination only tests the Four Books and Five Classics, and only selects masters of essay writing. In other respects, it doesn’t matter even if you don’t even know who Su Shi is. You can still be an official, but there is only one way, which greatly limits people. path of ascent.
But the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty was not like this.
And in the future, Su Yonglin also has plans to create overseas official positions.
