New York and surrounding states such as New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as political families throughout the United States, as well as wealthy businessmen such as John Jacob Astor, are all discussing and preparing to participate in the New York imperial examination.
Relevant news quickly spread beyond the borders of the United States, and many Canadians also received the news.
Then it even spread to the mainland of Thailand and Spain, and intellectuals from various countries in Thailand and Spain were also eager to participate.
The New York imperial examination soon became the hottest topic in the European and Western world.
So much so that it almost overshadowed the enthusiasm for Napoleon's becoming king and the independence of Canada and the United States.
Mainly because of the Ming Dynasty's joining, Napoleon was forced to stop his attack, and the war process between the two sides came to a standstill.
Both sides began to build defensive positions on a long front in central Virginia, western North Carolina, and southern Tennessee.
Waiting for the troops dispatched by Britain and France to arrive at Yinzhou for a real fight to the death.
This situation was publicized as mediation by the European and Western media. The two colonies of Dongyi were the reward for Ming Dynasty's mediation of the Yinzhou War.
While preparing for the official imperial examination, the two Changshi Mansion of Dongyi Kingdom had to ask Xichang to help and temporarily recruit a group of translators in advance in order to take over the subordinate counties and deal with more officials.
They will be used as external personnel for the time being. After they pass the assessment, they will be officially established in Dongyi Kingdom.
George Thomas Stendong, a peripheral employee of the West Factory, also joined the Dongyi Imperial Court through this channel.
Si Dangdong was not only here to work for the establishment, but also to cooperate with Ruan Yuan in his work as a citizen or even a citizen of the Dongyi Kingdom.
Thomas Stockton, who had openly consulted with the right in Wilmington, was also selected and hired.
Stockton was a graduate of the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University.
Stockton served in the military in history, with the highest military rank being infantry major, and was the 33rd governor of Delaware.
Stockton, who is 25 years old this year, can be considered relatively capable among young people of the same age.
Following Xichang's suggestion, Ruan Yuan took Thomas and Stockton with him to serve as his translators and informal staff.
This morning, when Standong was sorting out the list of translators sent to various counties, a question suddenly occurred to him.
So Stangdong immediately went to ask Ruan Yuan for instructions:
"Dong Weng, the translators including his subordinates, are now civil servants of Dongyi State Chief Shi's Mansion.
"And translators can be regarded as the bridge between the royal palace and the people, so should they express it on their crowns and uniforms?
"Should we continue to wear everyday clothes, or should we change to the traditional clerical clothing of the Ming Dynasty?"
Ruan Yuan was planning the detailed content of the exam, and when he heard this question, he thought of Zhu Jingyuan's reply.
Mainly the Thai and Western people who will be used by the Dongyi Kingdom in the future. How should the Thai and Western civil servants in Dongyi be selected specifically?
Ruan Yuan actually did not doubt Zhu Jingyuan's judgment.
Ruan Yuan, like most traditional Ming people, actually has no favorable impression of people who completely abandon their own ethnic group.
In ancient times, people who surrendered easily and flattered foreigners did not have much favorable impressions.
But the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty all remembered the reminder of His Majesty Emperor Shizu:
“Don’t expect everyone to be loyal, incorruptible, and correct all the time.
“If you only want to find perfect ministers and subordinates, you will inevitably end up in a situation where no one is available.
“Bringing people with flaws to play is an ability that all decision-makers should have.”
Ruan Yuan also understood that in order for these people to be effective, they must first see them clearly.
If you want to see a person clearly, sometimes it only takes a few words, sometimes it may take many days.
You can investigate and evaluate specifically, or you can look for opportunities to evaluate at any time.
So Ruan Yuan ordered:
"Dangdong, go and summon the hired translators. Let's have a small meeting to discuss it together."
Standong was obviously a little surprised:
"Dong Weng, do the translators still need to talk about this kind of thing? You can just make the decision directly, right?"
Ruan Yuan thought for a while and reminded Stangdong:
"I just want to hear everyone's opinions, just to understand everyone's mentality..."
Standong suddenly realized:
"I'll make arrangements right away."
Half an hour later, in the secondary conference room of Dongyi Youchangshi Mansion, all twenty-four locally recruited translators were present.
The translators sat in their seats, all obviously nervous and excited.
When they realized Ruan Yuan was observing from above, they all sat upright and even more nervous, not daring to breathe.
Ruan Yuan once again looked at these "bridges" between Ming and the West as a whole.
On his left was Staunton, on his right was Stockton, and more than twenty other translators were lined up on both sides.
When Xichang recommended people, they tried their best to select relatively young people. The translators present were all between eighteen and thirty years old.
There are also six women among them, who were specially selected by the West Factory.
Of course, women in Taixi are much more open in their personal lives than women in Ming Dynasty.
The reason is that religious restrictions on monogamy have led to the phenomenon of mistresses becoming a common practice.
If women in the entire society are very conservative, and if adultery is a felony like the Ming Dynasty, how can the nobles of Taixi get more women legally?
The king and the top nobles cannot hang out in brothels all day long.
Therefore, Thai and Western women are only open in the relationship between men and women, but are still subject to various restrictions in normal life.
They cannot wear pants, and their clothes cannot expose their limbs, but they can expose their breasts.
Their political status is also low.
In the original history, it cannot be said that there were no female officials in the West in the 19th century and before. It can only be said that they were rare. There is no essential difference between them and the female officials in ancient China.
They were all given official status for some special reasons or by special people for special purposes.
In other words, their status cannot be replicated.
There is no universal and public normal path to becoming an official.
In Tessie, where parliamentary politics was common, women's suffrage did not officially begin until the early twentieth century.
In this world, due to the initiative of Emperor Shizu Zhu Cixiang, women in the Ming Dynasty had long had the opportunity to go to school and participate in the imperial examinations like men.
Since then, they have obtained political rights that are nominally very similar to those of men.
In China's Ming Dynasty, fair access to schooling and imperial examinations were the most important political rights, which was equivalent to Western women gaining the right to vote.
Although there is no active promotion and care from the government, coupled with the influence of social atmosphere, there are still relatively few women actually serving as officials.
But we can often see the names of several female officials on official lists in various places.
They are already ubiquitous.
It is no longer a matter of relying on the special needs of certain people, or of accidentally becoming an official because of some special circumstances.
Their identities and achievements can be copied.
If other women yearned for them, they would have the opportunity to become officials like them as long as they studied and took the imperial examination.
The popularity of Mingxue in mainland China has also led to a relative improvement in the political status of women in Europe and the West.
However, Thai and Western women in this world rarely fight for the right to vote, but naturally choose another path.
Under the banner of learning from the Ming Dynasty, the Thai and Western courts were required to adopt a universal evaluation and appointment system for civil servants and officials.
In other words, most of them are anti-election and support the imperial examination.
Because the fight for suffrage was often not as effective as the universal imperial examination system.
After giving women the right to vote, female elites also want to participate in electoral activities and mobilize ordinary women.
Moreover, the right to vote and the right to be elected are not the same thing. Being able to elect others does not mean that you can let others elect you.
But if the imperial examination system is popularized, as long as they study hard, they will have the opportunity to become officials directly.
The key is that by promoting the universal imperial examination system, you can take advantage of Ming Dynasty, and Ming Xichang will secretly provide some support.
This also led to the fact that most Thai and Western elite women generally respected and supported the Ming culture and system.
Therefore, the Dongyi Kingdom used translators here and found many elite Thai and Western women who were willing to work.
These translators all come from at least middle-class backgrounds, at least from a class where food and clothing are sufficient.
Otherwise, there would be no chance to go to school, let alone the chance to master the elegant language of Ming Dynasty.
Moreover, translators can be regarded as the face of the Ming Dynasty's ruling class. Although their status is similar to that of translators in anti-Japanese dramas, it is impossible to choose them as buffoons now. They must be positive characters.
Therefore, none of the twenty-four selected translations are ugly in appearance.
Most of them are above average, and a few men and women can even be said to be very handsome.
In terms of their clothing, only three of them were wearing traditional Thai and Western clothing, all of them were men.
All six women wore Ming-style coats and skirts, and seven men also wore Ming-style gowns.
The last eight boys wore "New Ming style Thai and Western formal wear" designed by Prince Dashi.
Staunton wore a Ming-style gown and Stockton wore a new formal suit.
Chang Shi Mansion had not asked them how to dress before.
So how they choose their clothes can, to some extent, explain their attitude.
Ruan Yuan felt that these people could be divided into three to four different types simply by looking at their clothes.
When local people see them, their feelings will definitely be different.
