August is high and autumn is high. This is really a harvest season. Even the city of Xijing is vaguely filled with the aroma of fresh rice and wheat. For those students who participated in the Enke Entrance Examination this fall, after going through a hard and arduous examination, they also ushered in the stage of harvest.
This examination began on August 1st and was completed in three days. A total of more than 3,000 scholars took reference, but the number of people registered by the imperial court was less than 250. And if we exclude professional subjects such as classics, history, law, medicine, and agriculture, there are only 185 people admitted to the Jinshi department. Compared with the regular examinations of the imperial court, the number of people admitted has already exceeded.
Except for the early Qianlong period, when the court lacked talents, Emperor Liu was also eager to inspect and recruit talents. At that time, the Han Dynasty court opened the door to recruitment, and the threshold and requirements for the admission of learned people were also very low.
But after all, that was caused by the environment of the times, and it was also an opportunity and benefit that the times gave to scholars all over the world in the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China. But as time went by, the country gradually prospered, the process of unifying the world was gradually completed, and the court's demand for talents was no longer so scarce. The difficulty of the scientific examination and the threshold for recruitment naturally increased.
In the past ten years, the average number of people admitted to the Jinshi Department for each imperial examination was only one hundred and forty, which lasted for three years. In addition, Emperor Liu advocated "managing the world for practical purposes", which also had certain requirements for students' practical abilities, which made it even more difficult for scholars to pass the examination.
It can be said that in the past ten years, the Jinshi of the Han Dynasty has been very valuable. Without background, lack of knowledge, and insufficient ability, it will be difficult to pass.
It is precisely because of this that it attracts more students and scholars to study hard according to the imperial examination system and talent selection methods. If they want to overcome this hurdle, they will jump over the dragon gate. If they jump over it, the sea and the sky will be brighter. Can be expected.
This time, because of the Northern Expedition, the Spring Festival of that year had to be postponed, which was indeed a blow to the scholars who had studied so hard in the Han Dynasty. It is also conceivable that the significance of this Enke, coupled with the number of people recorded, focuses on the word "en", Emperor Liu's extra kindness to the scholars all over the world.
The imperial court advocated the combination of civil and military affairs and the harmony of yin and yang. Therefore, the current political environment of the Han Dynasty was relatively balanced. Emperor Liu did not wantonly elevate the status of the literati in order to use civility to control the military. However, the tide of the times is rolling forward. As the country's peace and order become more stable, the empire will inevitably move towards civility. The improvement of the status of literati and ministers is also an unstoppable trend. the trend of.
Therefore, the development of the cultural undertakings of the Han Dynasty has been considerable in recent years. Coupled with Emperor Liu's balancing measures, the growth of the gentry bureaucracy has become increasingly obvious.
Under such circumstances, scholars all over the world will naturally feel the real spring. At the same time, the scientific examination is almost the most important and relatively fair way for ordinary scholars and students to become officials. Even if it is not as high as studying for high school in ten years of poverty, there are still countless people who choose this path.
Emperor Liu still attached great importance to cultural undertakings. Starting from the capital and below, all prefectures and counties had official schools. At the same time, private schools and academies also made great progress. These were the source of talent selection for the imperial court, and also The basis for the growth of the gentry bureaucracy.
However, even so, the aristocratic bureaucrats were still the dominant force in the Han Dynasty. How many nobles Emperor Liu conferred and how high he raised their status represented how much influence they had on the Han Empire.
It can be said that half of the important military and political positions in the Han Dynasty were occupied by the founding nobles and their descendants. The remaining half, and 20 to 30% were related to aristocratic groups, and the rest truly belonged to the growing gentry and bureaucrats.
Therefore, the overall size of the aristocratic class still aroused Emperor Liu's uneasiness. That is to say, this class is not monolithic. Each has its own hills and factions. This is why Emperor Liu was not too suspicious.
Even so, those faint repressive methods seemed to hang over the heads of the Han aristocrats, and the warmest and most effective measure was naturally to support the gentry and bureaucrats.
Scientific examination is the most important method. This time, as well as increasing the number of scholars admitted, we can get a glimpse of Emperor Liu's intentions. Zhao Pu, on the other hand, is better able to figure out the Holy Will. As the head of the bureaucrats in the concubine group, he also attaches great importance to scientific examinations.
During the few years that Zhao Pu was in power, he suppressed some people and promoted some people, but compared with the huge aristocratic group, they still pale in comparison. Therefore, Zhao Pu was also particularly active in selecting and cultivating some talents through the imperial examination.
Emperor Liu also specially asked Zhao Pu to be the examiner of Enke. This group of scholars recruited could also be regarded as his disciples. Emperor Liu had a strong sense of promotion. Judging from the list recorded by Enke this time, the proportion of scholars belonging to the common people has increased significantly compared with before.
On the screen wall beside the gate of the Gongyuan, a red list was firmly posted, and the examinees and examinees crowded around to watch, reacting enthusiastically. These seemingly gentle scholars had an extremely huge outburst on this matter that affected their lives. The energy was so great that the officials and officials responsible for maintaining order were so tired that they were sweating profusely.
On the imperial list, a vivid name was neatly arranged. After the results were revealed, the reactions were also mixed. Those who failed were sad, and those who were in high school were ecstatic. The mixed scenes of sadness and joy also highlighted the current situation of the Han Dynasty. Being in office is not easy.
In order to show the importance he attached to this group of scholars and to show Emperor Liu's attitude towards the imperial examination, Emperor Liu specially chose the Qianyuan Hall for this palace examination. This was the first time since the capital was moved. In the past, it was always in the Zhengshi Hall. It was conducted in Guangzheng Hall.
After Emperor Liu's personal decision, a scholar named Lu Mengzheng was appointed as the new champion in the ninth year of Kaibao. And Lu Mengzheng is also a relatively representative type of talents in the current imperial examinations of the Han Dynasty.
He was not an ordinary commoner from a poor family. Although he was not an aristocrat, he was also an official. His father, Lu Guitu, was the prefect of Ruzhou. He had served as a layman for twenty years, and he was considered a bureaucrat who had stepped out before the imperial court.
At the same time, Lu Mengzheng was not a scholar who devoted himself to studying. He was nearly 28 years old, but he had been working as an official in a government office for several years. He was a model of recharging his energy while studying.
Precisely because of his experience in serving officials, the policy articles he wrote were more insightful, and it was easier for him to stand out and attract people's attention, and he was able to catch the eye of Emperor Liu.
In the past, it was very difficult for the imperial court to select young talents without any experience and knowledge. However, Lu Mengzheng, the number one scholar, was already considered young in terms of the current situation.
When selecting candidates for the scientific examination, the people selected are officials after all. As long as they pass, most people will serve as officials in government. After the imperial court admitted scholars, there was a system of observing the government, but many high school Jinshis had already experienced the training of official positions before they were referred, and the cultivation of Jinshi officials' abilities had already preceded the scientific examination.
It has to be said that this kind of institutional approach is efficient for the court to select useful talents, because all those who pass the assessment have a certain foundation, and those who do not can also show extremely high knowledge.
But at the same time, it also made the threshold for the imperial examination higher than ever before. After all, there were thousands of scholars in the Han Dynasty, but before reference, there were only a few who could fully train their practical abilities in official duties.
Not everyone is like Lu Mengzheng, who has a good background and has the opportunity and resources to obtain training that is difficult for ordinary students to get.
Therefore, Emperor Liu did not want the imperial examination to produce some scholars and literati who only knew a subset of classics and history, but lacked the ability to apply themselves to the world. However, this selection method also greatly increased the difficulty of studying to become an official, allowing many scholars in the world to make progress. The path becomes narrower.
By the ninth year of Kaibao, there was basically no such thing as a situation where no one asked about it after ten years of hard work, and it became famous all over the world in one fell swoop. That situation almost belonged to a fairy tale. And it is conceivable that it will become more and more serious in the future.
It can be said that the current imperial examination system of the Han Dynasty is not so friendly to most ordinary scholars in the world. Emperor Liu intended to support the bureaucracy to balance the aristocracy, but under such circumstances, the bureaucracy would also solidify in the future.
Of course, it is not all disadvantages. At least, the court will be more practical and valuable in selecting and appointing talents. At the same time, it also forced some scholars to choose specialized subjects such as history, law, arithmetic, agriculture, and medicine.
The Jinshi subject is for selecting political officials for the imperial court. It has high requirements and requires scholars to have more comprehensive abilities, which is not the case for other junior colleges. This is also a feature of the Han Dynasty scientific examination.
