The book continues from the previous chapter, discussing the Imperial Examination Year.
Yu Hai made a brief summary and analyzed: "There is no big problem with the science examination. For now, the relevant systems have been improved, and all the processes are step-by-step. Basically, there is no risk. However, the traditional imperial examination system It remains the same, there is no innovation, and it still takes up a lot of public resources.”
The imperial examination system began in the Sui Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and reached its peak in this dynasty. After thousands of years of continuous polishing and improvement, a relatively rigorous institutional system has been formed. It has many advantages, but its disadvantages are also very obvious. Overall, the advantages do not hide the flaws.
How about making drastic improvements?
No! !
This concept has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and cannot be shaken by local officials. Unless one day you can achieve the position of chief minister of the cabinet, maybe then you are still qualified to take action.
But before that, everything must follow the rules, step by step, and remain the same.
Too much waste of resources?
You have to admit it!
Thinking of this, Qi Yu said generously: "In order to broaden the future of the students within my jurisdiction, why should I waste resources? Besides, our yamen collects taxes from the people, so it must be taken from the people and used for the people. If we are stingy with finances, , The common people will eventually stab you in the back if you are vain and conceited. I still say that any governance must be based on the people, and there is no room for ambiguity on this point."
What a great saying about putting people first!
Yu Hai, who originally reported calmly, immediately became passionate after hearing these words, with a generous feeling that a scholar would die for his bosom friend.
After suppressing the turbulence in his heart, he continued: "I want to give you a brief report on the planning and deployment of the imperial examination."
"Master Yu, please speak."
"Generally speaking, we will have four major exams in the imperial examination next year. They are the county exam in February of the next year, the government exam in May, the college exam when the sweet osmanthus is fragrant, and the exam before winter. Autumn. However, these four exams are connected end to end, and there is very little leisure time during them, so preparations must be made in advance. Cramming for the exam? It will definitely be too late. "
yes!
Today, Qiongzhou has been promoted to a provincial-level administrative division, and the cultural and educational facilities within its jurisdiction will naturally increase accordingly. Compared with before, there are two more major exams: the college examination for students and the provincial examination for candidates.
Last time, Qiongzhou was still under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province. Naturally, the then governor Lu Boxuan was responsible for these two tests. Now that Qiongzhou has become an independent province, it is no longer possible to rely on others.
In short, you have to do it yourself.
After Yu Hai gave the overall overview, he specifically picked out a few "difficulties" and talked about them in detail.
Let’s talk about the college examination first. The provincial government yamen is responsible for all the examination questions and examination papers. The imperial court’s Ministry of Rites is not involved at all. In other words, this examination can be understood as an internal matter of the provincial government yamen.
As for the difficulty, naturally it involves setting questions and marking papers.
In the past, this matter could only be left to Sun Yue Gong, who was a Gongshi. However, this person's concept is too biased and cannot be fair in selecting talents, which is a big drawback. However, Luo Yuan's Lai Qiong solved this problem in one fell swoop. If there was a great sacrificial wine like him sitting there, who would dare to do anything random?
What Yu Hai meant was that he wanted Qi Yu to come forward and ask Mr. Luo to move him to facilitate this matter. Because my prestige was too low and my face was too thin, I had no choice but to ask my superiors to go there on my behalf.
Mr. Qi nodded and said: "I will handle this matter. It is not difficult to accomplish, so you can relax."
Yu Hai smiled awkwardly and replied: "That's great, then I'll leave it to you, sir."
Next, there is the issue of the provincial examination.
In terms of nature, the provincial examination and the college examination are very different. One is for selecting talents for the imperial court, and the other is for discovering talents at the local level. Although they are both imperial examinations, they cannot be compared.
The topics for the rural examination papers are all decided by cabinet members, and local officials cannot be involved. The teachers who invigilated the exams and graded the papers were all personally appointed by the Minister of Rites, and local officials also had no way to get involved.
It is not difficult to see from this that in the rural examination process for selecting candidates, the local government only played the role of a host in charge of food and drink. Although he contributed money and effort, he didn't even get a chance to appear as a passerby.
This is due to the national system. No one can violate it and can only cooperate unconditionally.
The difficulty with this ring is the lack of experience in dealing with it.
Examination rooms, public security, and logistics all need to be strictly controlled. Without a solid team to promote implementation, chaos may occur.
Among the above three items, the latter two are all about personnel training and supplementation. As long as we handle it closely, it is still possible.
Only this examination room is a big and nerve-wracking problem.
Especially regarding fire protection, its construction must be able to withstand the scrutiny of officials from the Ministry of Rites. If it fails, your political performance will be immediately reduced by one.
It is not uncommon for exam rooms to catch fire and students to be wiped out in history. If we don’t take care of this, how can we select talents?
If a fire really broke out, the emperor would not only be embarrassed, but would also have a black mark written down on the book by a stern historian, turning it into a source of ridicule for future generations.
The examination room is the top priority.
Regarding this, Yu Hai expressed his thoughts: "My plan is to use the newly completed 'Confucius Institute'. The top and bottom of the building are all solid cement structures. It is spacious, bright, elegant and high-end. It is absolutely accessible." Fire prevention standards. If officials from the Ministry of Etiquette saw it, they would definitely not be able to say anything disgusting. So I think this is the best choice for the examination room."
Well, that makes sense!
Qi Yu smiled and said, "I will also inform Luo Jijiu about this matter and ask him to fully cooperate."
"Thank you, sir, for your success!"
"Haha, you're welcome!"
Having said this, the two of them paused and started drinking tea.
After moistening his throat, Yu Hai continued: "Master Qi, I want to reform a current bad government, so I want to hear your opinion here."
"We have a bad government? Why don't you tell us now!" Qi Yu put down his tea cup after hearing this and urged him.
Yu Hai briefly sorted it out and said: "In our imperial examination system, there is an unwritten traditional rule, that is, all candidates who take the examination must be over ten years old. If they are under the age of ten, they will be considered It's a weaned child taking the exam, which harms the elegance of Confucianism."
The examination mentioned here naturally refers to the county examination for children, which is the starting point on the road to the imperial examination.
However, although it is called Tongsheng, it does not specifically refer to children. Generally speaking, it is just a level of image metaphor.
You must know that most scholars are mediocre people who remain as childlike scholars until they are in their thirties. Such examples are countless and can be seen almost everywhere. There are even those who are bright and poor, and end up becoming classmates and classmates with their grandsons.
From a scientific point of view, childhood has the best plasticity. As long as you have enough resources to keep up, their knowledge will not lag behind that of the poor.
Therefore, this unwritten traditional rule is unreasonable.
Seeing Mr. Qi nodding, Yu Hai added: "With the continuous popularization and improvement of education in the past few years, our Qiongzhou students have accumulated knowledge very quickly. By the age of seven or eight, they have reached the level of ordinary Confucian students. In view of this, I would like to issue an official document to respond to the situation. The article clearly states that there is no age limit for taking the exam for candidates with household registration in our province. As long as you dare to apply for the exam, our reception room will accept it."
When Qi Yu heard this, he praised it and said: "This method is very good, let's do it this way."
Qi Dalang still trusted Yu Hai's ability to govern and govern, supporting him in everything and responding to requests.
After chatting about political affairs, the two started chatting about other aspects.
"Master Qi, there is something I don't understand, and I would like to ask you for advice."
"Oh? Please tell me!"
