The palace hall.
Today's court meeting has almost come to an end, and the issues of national population and people's farming were discussed.
A hundred years ago, the world's population reached its peak, reaching about 400 million.
But as the world became more and more chaotic, Zhi Shang Rui imposed excessive taxes and poisoned the world, and the population declined greatly.
Among them, many people died of starvation during famine, some suffered from hard labor, were buried by dignitaries, died fleeing, and so on.
Then, the princes rioted, the heroes separated themselves, and the countries fought for hegemony. For more than a hundred years, wars ravaged the earth, devastating all life and reducing the number of young people.
In the end, Emperor Qin finally conquered the world, but the population of 400 million is only over 80 million today.
The territory of Da Qin was very large, with more than 80 million people, which was considered to be a very small population in the entire world.
Regarding this issue, the ministers launched a heated discussion and expressed their own opinions. Some encouraged childbirth, some made a fuss about taxation, some suggested that women must marry at the age of 14, and so on.
Xiao Yuan agreed with the policy of encouraging childbirth, but rejected the tax article.
14 years old, to be honest, is still a budding age. Women can indeed get married, but giving birth to children at this age is extremely risky.
This policy is full of malice towards the women of ordinary people. It does not treat women as human beings, but as tools.
Xiao Yuan would not agree with this suggestion of class oppression. Instead of using taxes to force marriage, he raised the marriageable age of women to over 16 years old.
At the same time, restrictions on widows remarrying were abolished.
You know, after losing her husband, the widow was not allowed to remarry. The slightest move would be said to be unfaithful. In the secular world, it has become an almost unbridgeable gap.
These are the so-called doctrines of some literati, but they have never thought about how unfair this is to a woman.
A girl in her early twenties, if her husband dies, will she be a widow for the rest of her life and not allowed to remarry? Isn't this nonsense?
But when Xiao Yuan raised this issue, some ministers expressed opposition.
"Zhang Aiqing, if your daughter just gets married and her husband dies unexpectedly, will she have to remain a widow in her husband's family for the rest of her life? Will it ruin her life?"
Regarding this kind of bad custom, Xiao Yuan always likes to ask questions, like sacrificing a girl. You said sacrificing a girl can get the blessing of the river god, right? OK, I think your daughter is good, so sacrifice it.
"This is because I am talking too much." The minister understood and hurriedly saluted and returned to the train.
Then Liu Yuzhi stood up and said: "Your Majesty is wise, I deeply agree."
"Well, let the Prime Minister's Office draft the document as soon as possible, including policies to encourage childbirth." Xiao Yuandao: "In addition, if the wives of soldiers who died in battle want to remarry, they are allowed to remarry, and those who are willing to observe the law can also follow them. In this regard, there is no force, everything is up to them."
"Yes." Liu Yuzhi responded, paused and said, "But Your Majesty, regarding the issue of farming, farmland irrigation and water conservancy, although there are certain guarantees for the country's emphasis, there are still too few farming cattle."
"After years of war, many refugees have just returned to their hometowns to settle down, and there are a lot of wasteland that have been reclaimed. All of this requires farming power."
"Based on this, I suggest that the country bans the killing of cattle for a period of time. In each village, two to three cattle can be released, and the village can feed them together, and farmers can take turns using them."
Xiao Yuan thought about it for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "Yes, according to what the Prime Minister said, within three years, farm cattle are not allowed to be killed for meat unless they are old, sick or dead."
Now that the war has just subsided, there is an urgent need to restore vitality. The important agricultural use of cattle will inevitably face a ban on killing.
After settling these two matters, Xiao Yuan asked casually: "The big exam is approaching, have all the scholars from all over the country entered the capital?"
"Yes." Liu Yuzhi returned: "Nowadays, talents gather in Chang'an. There are more than 7,000 scholars from all over the country taking the college entrance examination. Scholars can be seen everywhere in restaurants and inns. The literary style in Chang'an is also flourishing."
It’s not surprising that there are so many people, because this is a major exam that has been held back for several years, and it is also the first imperial examination after the unification of the world.
Now that the mountains and rivers are unified, there are no more wars, and among all the scholars, there is no one who does not want to be an official.
"Yes." Xiao Yuan thought about it for a moment and said, "In that case, let's list 200 people for this big test."
Then he looked at Dong Shu: "Are the examination rooms ready?"
The latter came out and said: "Your Majesty, everything is ready. The examination is scheduled to be held in Chang'an Academy, with a total of ten examination rooms. At that time, the candidates will be divided into two sessions, morning and afternoon, for a total of three days."
"At the same time, according to His Majesty's request, the names of all candidates will be sealed until all examination papers have been reviewed."
The title of the imperial examination is very important to the candidates, and it is also to prevent favoritism and malpractice.
"Have the food and accommodation for the candidates been arranged during the examination?" Xiao Yuan asked again.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, everything has been arranged and it's at Chang'an Academy." Dong Shu said.
Chang'an Academy occupies a huge area, and it is not a problem to accommodate ten thousand people.
"Yes." Xiao Yuan thought for a while and shouted: "Yan Ming."
"Your Majesty, I'm here." The latter quickly stepped out of the queue, bowed his waist slightly and bowed his hands.
Xiao Yuanyan was concise and concise: "Dong Shu is the chief examiner for this examination, and the deputy director of the Ministry of Rites is cross-reviewing with Zhangtai Pavilion."
"No." They both responded at the same time.
Yan Ming was overjoyed and thought to himself: The Xuan clan controls the selection of scholars, so it is easy to recruit disciples. Your Majesty is still wise.
On the eighth day of March, the big test begins.
Scholars from all over the world came to Chang'an Academy with excitement.
During this period, there were naturally classmates and friends who communicated with each other:
"This Chang'an Academy is so big."
"Nonsense, this is Chang'an, Kyoto. I heard it was rebuilt from the Imperial Academy. This shows how much His Majesty values students."
"This will be the examination room for the next big exam."
"Hey, do you know how many people from across the country are taking the Chang'an National Examination? I heard that more than 7,000 people have passed the examination."
"Huh? So many? This."
"What are you afraid of? What's wrong with the crowd? Anyway, I believe in myself and I will definitely be on the list."
"That's right, after ten years of hard work, today, I will win fame and return to my hometown in glory!"
Amid the discussion, candidates began to prepare to enter the examination room one after another.
Before entering the examination room, people will also check the inside and outside of your clothes, shoes and socks, etc. to prevent you from bringing cheat sheets. In fact, it is useless to bring it. No one will know the test questions before the exam starts, and if Zhang Taige leaks the test questions, he will definitely be sentenced to beheading.
If you cheat on the general examination, you will be kicked out of the examination room immediately, disqualified, and banned from being an official for life. In other words, if you dare to copy, you will never think about it for the rest of your life. No matter how many books you read, it will be useless.
It is quite strict and the system is clear and does not give any chance of cheating.
In this case, you just copy it for him. I'm afraid no one has the courage. After all, if you catch it, you will be ruined for life. (End of chapter)
