Qiming 1158

Chapter 1011 Now, this is fair
The second imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty was the first imperial examination carried out in accordance with new regulations.

Compared with the first imperial examination in the second year of Hongwu with the color of the old times, the second imperial examination in the fifth year of Hongwu has a more significant meaning.

Because this was the first imperial examination that followed its own rules, and it was the first imperial examination after Confucianism was dismissed as an officially certified academic.

The Ministry of Rites of the Ming Kingdom, which had been completely controlled, prepared for the exam in accordance with Su Yonglin's request.

The conditions for this imperial examination are much better than the previous imperial examination. There are no constraints from internal and external factors, and even the seven-eighth-eight examination halls have been built in various places, and the three-level examinations in the provinces, states and counties have already been established. clear rules and regulations.

After entering the Central Capital, there is no need to say much about the two exams, the general exam and the palace exam. The Ministry of Rites is directly responsible for it.

The new batch of talents in Daming Kingdom are eager to try, ready to pass this exam to prove that their efforts have not betrayed themselves.

Su Yonglin made a basic understanding of the situation of this examination at the examination meeting of the Ministry of Rites held on the fifteenth day of the first month of the fifth year of Hongwu.

In the second half of the fourth year of Hongwu, the county, state and provincial exams, which are the selection exams before the final exam, have been completed. Most of the candidates with a total number of more than [-] have arrived in Zhongdu, waiting for the general exam on the first day of March. And the palace test.

Among the candidates, the largest number is the liberal arts students.

It has only been four years since the reform of the imperial examinations. In order to broaden the way for various groups in society to rise, Su Yonglin opened up three examinations for science, engineering and law in addition to the original imperial examinations.

But the time was relatively short after all. Even after the devastating blow to the scholar-official class, the number of scholars who took the liberal arts exam was still more than the other three subjects.

However, in the second year of Hongwu, the candidates for the other three subjects combined were less than 60.00% of the candidates for the liberal arts. By the fifth year of Hongwu, this figure had reached 90.00%.

congratulations.

But it is still small, which shows that the inertia of society cannot be changed in a short time.

Among the candidates for science, engineering and law, in the second year of Hongwu, there were significantly more candidates for law than science and engineering, almost equal to the number of the two combined, followed by engineering, and finally science.

The second year of Hongwu did not have a complete grading examination system, and the number of applicants for the three subjects had to be graded. Therefore, among the examinations of the second year of Hongwu, the highest proportion of admissions was the science candidates.

At that time, the admission ratio almost reached a state where every two people had to take one person.

Or as long as you sign up for reference, you can hit an acceptance rate close to 50.00%.

The science students of that year won the game.

This situation became widely known only after the results of the imperial examinations were announced.

Compared with the general admission rate of the liberal arts students, the science students are at least slightly skilled, basically killing them, and they have been admitted to become officials. member.

This caused a large-scale discussion in the society at the time.

So many liberal arts scholars broke the defense on the spot.

They cried and made a lot of trouble, and their eyes were slanted. Finally, they all made up their minds to abandon literature and theory, abandon Master Kong, embrace Mozi, Zu Chongzhi, and other science ancestors, and start nibbling with "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic".

Three years later, there have been more cases like this. Except for the technical engineering examinations that lack of accumulation and time experience, the competitiveness of the law and science examinations has increased significantly, and the number of candidates has doubled.

So Hongwu's five-year law examination and science examination need to be selected at the provincial level according to the candidate's place of origin to control the number of people, select outstanding candidates, eliminate those who make up the number, and then come to Zhongdu to take the final exam.

Rao is so, the difficulty of the three subjects of science, law and engineering is also less than the difficulty of the liberal arts examination, not to say that the questions are difficult, but the competition of the liberal arts is relatively large.

The liberal arts exam requires five exams, while the law and science exams only take three, and the engineering exam requires only two selections to decide whether to admit or not.

Therefore, some officials have also asked whether this is not fair and whether it can be adjusted slightly.

This suggestion was rejected by Su Yonglin. Su Yonglin meant that there were too many candidates for liberal arts. If admissions were released, it would greatly reduce the number of candidates for the other three majors.

And the imperial court needs officials with various expertise to be in charge of the operation of the imperial court, not just relying on the administration to go around the world.

The imperial court needed master craftsmen from engineering students to promote the development of science and technology, planners from science students were needed to provide huge computing power to support the court's policies, and judicial officials from law students were needed to maintain social fairness and justice.

The imperial court not only needed administrative officials to maintain its operations, but also required a large number of technical officials with professional skills to participate.

There were so many problems in the old imperial examination that even the officials of the feudal dynasties complained endlessly. The knowledgeable scholars and officials among them felt that the officials selected in this way were often just well-written articles, and even historical celebrities and some basic common sense did not know anyone. Government affairs are completely out of the question.

They think so themselves, do we still have to go their old way?

Therefore, at the preparatory meeting for the imperial examination, Su Yonglin put forward his own views.

"Before the number of reference candidates does not reach a balance, and before the public perception of the four subjects is not balanced, we need to maintain a balanced admission rate.

When the number of reference candidates is basically balanced, and it is no longer considered that the other three subjects are inferior to the liberal arts, then everyone can take the same graded test together to maintain fairness. Now, this is fairness. "

Su Yonglin has a huge influence on the political affairs. His words and deeds can influence the decision-making direction of the political affairs, even if he does not like to be arbitrary.

This is the truth.

Therefore, Hongwu's five-year imperial examinations were conducted in accordance with the five-level liberal arts examination, the third-level legal science examination and the two-level engineering examination.

So up to now, the number of students from the four sciences gathered in Zhongdu City for the final exam and the palace exam 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 grading test, and they directly enter the middle school to prepare for the last two assessments.

However, this does not mean that it is very convenient for candidates who apply for engineering. The difficulty of their assessment is not low, and it can even be said to be relatively high.

Their assessment requires professional craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to participate in the judgment. Those who are literate need to take an additional written test, and they can add points. Those who are illiterate need to show their outstanding skills, pass two strict technical tests, and be scored by professional examiners. The average score is used to rank, and the merits are selected for admission.

It can be said that due to the current needs of many technical problems, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry will be more strict in the selection of outstanding engineering talents. It is hoped that talents with excellent technology can be selected from across the country to help tackle key problems.

Su Yonglin was quite satisfied with this situation.

For the social advancement channel of the imperial examination, his requirements are generally lenient entry and strict exit.

He wants to let more and more people join in, so that everyone is eligible to participate, and there is a possibility of rising through this channel, not because of origin, blood, assets and other things that limit this qualification, then is not acceptable.

Then, at the selection level, we must strictly control and try our best to ensure that the selected talents are all available talents.

It is hard to say whether this situation will cause involution, but it cannot be said that it will die. It will or will not. It is hard to say, but Su Yonglin is sure not to let this kind of involution develop in a vicious direction.

Although the total number of official positions is limited, because first of all the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty broadened the examination subjects, and the four subjects were taken simultaneously, compared with the traditional imperial examinations, there were three more accessible roads, giving more people more possibilities.

The traditional imperial examination only examines the four books and five classics, and only selects masters who can write essays. In other respects, even if you don’t even know who Su Shi is, it doesn’t matter, you can still be an official, but this is the only way, which greatly restricts people. path of ascent.

But this was not the case in the Ming imperial examinations.

And in the future, Su Yonglin also has plans to set up overseas official positions.

(End of this chapter)