Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 908 Paper money
"I never thought, this Gu Yuan has some skills."

The Governor's Mansion of Luzon heard the news of the Qi State, and Jin Bao's heart moved. Such a person is indeed very good.

He sighed with emotion, and then began to write again, and stored it in a wooden box, which will be sent to Beijing later.

Secret Zhe, for him, the governor of Luzon, is normal.

And he knew that, as a frontier official, not only he, the governor, but also several subordinate officials must have secret boxes.

In this case, if someone reported it, but he didn't report it, it would be easy to ruin his future.

"There are still a few years left in the second term, and it is almost over. I don't know what official position I can get."

Jin Bao was full of hope.

In terms of rank, the governor is the same as the governor of the mainland, with more power, military, political and law are integrated into one, arbitrarily arbitrarily small, and big ones are interrupted.

So in some cases, he was quite calm.

For example, the aid of the Qi State, from the perspective of the Luzon Governor's Office, it is beneficial to Luzon to do its best to assist the Qi State and expand its territory and population.

Jin Bao, on the other hand, was obsessed with making too much friends with the vassal kings, which was not good for his political future, so he could only keep it painless.

Thinking about the future in his heart, Jin Bao couldn't help thinking about his political achievements.

"The chief envoy, please come over."

The chief envoys and governors in the country are colleagues, but their rank is half a level higher. Although they have the power to govern, they are not too great.

In Luzon, although the chief envoy was appointed and dismissed by the court, he was indeed his subordinate and had a clear hierarchy.

The chief envoy didn't dare to delay, so he came over quickly.

"Over the years, I don't know how my culture and education in Luzon is?"

Jin Bao asked softly: "How many scholars are there now?"

"Reporting to the governor, we now have about [-] private schools in Luzon, [-] social schools, and more than [-] students. It can be said that the literary style has flourished over the years."

The chief envoy hurriedly said: "As for scholars, only three of them have gone to the capital to take part in government examinations in recent years..."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

"Shuntian Mansion, it's difficult!"

Jin Bao sighed, feeling uncomfortable in his heart.

Although the Luzon Governor's Mansion belongs to the provincial level, it does not belong to the province. It is like a scientific research and is included in the Shuntian Mansion.

In other words, students from Luzon take the county and government examinations in Luzon, and then they have to travel thousands of miles to Beijing to take the difficult hospital examination.

One can imagine the difficulty of going to Shuntian Mansion to compete.

Specifically, the number of candidates for each county's scholar examination varies according to the local food and writing style. The lower limit is roughly 8 people, and the upper limit is 20 people, usually between 10 and 15 people.

The richer the counties, the more counties that pay public food, the more admission places, but the competition is more intense, because there are too many scholars.

For Luzon, since it is not yet a formal provincial unit and is planned to be in Shuntian Prefecture, it is difficult to keep the eight people with such a lower limit.

These three people could barely pass the county examination in Daming, relying on Jin Bao's dredging, they barely passed the scholar.

"Only three people, three people—"

Jin Bao murmured, feeling extremely unwilling:
"According to the rules of the imperial court, our annual payment in Luzon is 10 yuan in silver dollars. Although it is not comparable to Suzhou and Songjiang, it is more than enough than other prefectures and counties."

"Now there will be a hospital exam in September this autumn, so we have to find a way!"

The college examination is a study and government tour in various provinces, the time is uncertain, and there is always a gap between each prefecture and county.

"This is something to be reported to the court."

The chief envoy also agreed: "There are only three scholars in the majestic Luzon Mansion. How decent is this!"

"As long as there are more scholars and more scholars, the foundation of the imperial court in Luzon will naturally be stable."

Jin Bao agreed with this statement.

Since ancient times, interests have driven people's hearts the most.

After the Ming Dynasty occupied Luzon, in order to stabilize its rule as soon as possible and obtain taxes, it made a series of compromises with Catholicism and Xiyi.

For example, Catholicism is allowed to spread its faith freely as long as it does not violate the law.

After the establishment of the ruling order, the Luzon Governor's Office issued an order to grant land, rushing to open up wasteland for farming, and as long as it was reported to the imperial court, its ownership would be recognized.

A series of other tax cuts are also the norm.

The reason why Luzon can continue to prosper and stabilize, and contribute a lot of taxes to the imperial court, lies in the imperial examination system.

Even if he is a scholar, he still enjoys exemption from corvee service, does not pay homage to officials, travels freely to study, and can also receive monthly regulations.

More importantly, being able to be an official.

In recent years, Luzon Governor's Mansion has held several county examinations and government examinations, and as many as 500 Tongsheng (referring to county examinations) have passed.

These people are all big families in the local area, including Xiyi, aborigines, and Han people, so they can be said to be rich and powerful.

For these people, the Luzon Governor's Mansion will hire them as officials, filling the entire officialdom.

Xiucai made an exception and was appointed as the county magistrate, which shocked the whole Luzon.

In this way, the local interests are combined with the interests of the governor's office, and the imperial court's rule is naturally as stable as Mount Tai.

But people are ambitious.

For the huge reading group, there are too few scholars.

Shuntian Mansion has the decision-making power in the court examination, which makes it easy for Lu Song scholars to oppose it, which is not good for the rule of the court.

If things go on like this, it will inevitably become a crater, and a little spark will erupt, causing great harm.

To put it bluntly, after the imperial examination comes out, the only way to keep going is to keep going, not to be blocked, not to be biased, and to be fair and open, which is the best way to maintain the rule.

For example, in the Qing Dynasty, due to the embarrassment of the small clan facing the big clan, they were more concerned about the fairness of the imperial examinations, and even issued regulations that did not allow the Manchus to be number one.

In dealing with fraud in the examination room, it is even more innumerable to search and kill.

And in the Yuan Dynasty?
People simply implement the Mongolian and Han lists, and the Han people have the least share and the most difficult. After hard work, their status is not as good as that of the Semu people.

Moreover, the imperial examination was only held for a few sessions before it was discontinued.

In this comparison, Manqing is simply a living Bodhisattva.

The two made up their minds, and immediately started to write the memorial, and asked some senior officials to sign it together, and then they wrote it to the court.

As soon as this happened, the whole of Luzon rejoiced.

Without it, the expansion of the number of scholars is a good thing for the whole of Luzon, because it means that the cake of power has increased.

Ma'an County, Luzon.

Because there is a mountain forest here, which resembles a saddle, so the county was named after this, and it was changed to Ma'an County. As for the former New Seville, it was forgotten by everyone.

On this day, the weather was fine, and it was a rare sunny day in Luzon. Jeff Waters and his family took the opportunity to board the carriage and went to a nearby church to listen to teachings.

Because the Luzon Governor's Mansion is rich, the government road is wide and straight, and the left and right lanes are implemented, so that the traffic is smooth all the way, and there is no congestion at all.

This is, the 12-year-old little Jeff raised his head from the curtains, leaned out of the car, and looked at the farmers, the crowd, and the buffaloes grazing on the side of the road, feeling a little excited for a while.

"What is this?" Suddenly, his mother saw the bamboo basket from the back of the car.

Some candles, yellow paper, and copper coins.

Mrs. Waters said angrily: "Jeff, you are so disobedient, how can you bring these smart things to church."

Mr. Waters, who was resting with his eyes closed, moved his ears, opened his eyes, and saw the thing in the bamboo basket.

Little Jeff could only bow his head, and explained: "My grandfather was buried in the church, and my younger brother was also buried in the church. I missed them, so I took these things to the church and burned them."

"Besides, there are some books, toys, and I made people fold them into paper..."

"Who are you listening to?" Mrs. Waters said angrily, her voice becoming more and more sharp.

"In the church, how could it be possible to burn things casually, which caused a big fire. My God, God will never let us go."

"Mother, I heard from those Ming people that as long as you burn something to them, your loved ones will receive it in heaven..."

Little Jeff wronged: "Don't worry, I will never let the church catch fire."

Mr. Waters also understood at this time, he took his wife's waist and said softly: "The child just misses his brother and grandfather..."

"I don't know, what happened to my Andre in heaven!" Mrs. Waters couldn't bear it anymore after hearing this.

Tears welled up in the red eyes, and most of the makeup on his face was ruined.

The family was immersed in grief and couldn't extricate themselves.

Soon, the carriage arrived at the church.

The middle class and landlords in more than a dozen nearby villages, regardless of their status, prayed together under the leadership of the priest.

Afterwards, some went to the cemetery behind the church.

Mr. Waters found that there are many people who burn paper like his family, and they also brought a pottery pot with experience to avoid causing a fire.

He found a burner of paper money beside him, and after looking carefully, it was the most famous Mr. Macaulay in the neighboring village.

Farmers in half the village are planting crops for him.

"Hello, sir."

Waters walked over to say hello, seeing that he burned a lot of things.

In addition to some daily utensils, there are also some books, silk, etc., as well as decent paper horses and paper figurines, which look extraordinarily weird.

Seeing his expression, Macaulay smiled and said, "I burned some servants to my father. He always needs to be served, and he can't leave him for a moment."

"This is the custom of Ming people!" Mr. Waters presented a cigar and said softly, "Does the priest not care?"

"Don't worry, why don't you care?"

Mr. McCauley chuckled and said, "Now the Ming people control Luzon. As long as the faith remains unchanged, the priest will not dare to mess around."

"If this is not done well and it causes fear, then it is not good. After all, even His Excellency the archbishop has to give the governor three points."

In the former Philippines and now Luzon, the people in power have been replaced by Ming people. In the face of the unbelieving governor, the power of the priests has inevitably shrunk.

Now they don't dare to pretend he thinks, they can only keep preaching.

Speaking of which, Mr. McCauley smiled slightly, and said with a little bit of satisfaction: "To be honest, my son passed the county examination last year and became a child."

"He taught me to make these things. At first I was a little nervous, but after thinking about it, although my father is safe in heaven, it is our intention to send some things up."

As Macaulay spoke, he suddenly brought up his son: "Michael is only 16 years old, and after only two or three years of studying, he has already passed the four books and five classics, and passed the county examination and government examination."

"I reckon that this year's college exam can be passed, and when you become a scholar, you will be able to become a county magistrate."

"Our family will be considered fully developed, and the business will be able to cover the entire Luzon..."

Hearing this, Mr. Waters' teeth were almost crushed, and he was so jealous.

Why?We are all ordinary people, not nobles, if your son can be an official, can't my son?

You know, even in Spain, those ordinary jazz and baron can only live in the countryside in disgrace, they are bumpkins and cannot be officials at all.

Thinking of this, he felt ruthless, I also want my son to be a scholar.

Afterwards, the two walked together.

The two chatted well, and their family backgrounds were similar. Suddenly, the McCauley family visited his home halfway, and by the way, met his son who was a good student.

Sure enough, his son Michael was handsome, but what was strange was that he was wearing Mingren's robes at home, which looked extraordinarily weird.

Mr. McCauley explained: "He is called a Confucian robe. After he is selected as a scholar, he will change into a kind of robe and a hat."

"This is unique to scholars, and no one else can."

Hearing this, Mr. Waters' stomach was rumbling sour water.

He looked up at his son and asked, "You also know that there are not many good private schools nearby. Where did you find them? I want Jeff to go too."

"In the city." Macaulay said directly: "It costs two silver dollars a month, which is very expensive, but the knowledge is good. If Jeff goes, he will definitely be successful."

Suddenly, a servant delivered a letter, Michael couldn't wait to read it, and was ecstatic.

A group of people were puzzled and asked why.

Only then did Michael calm down, and said: "Your Excellency the Governor thinks that there are too few places for scholars in Luzon, so he is going to jointly sign a letter to the imperial court on this matter."

"Once there are more places for scholars, the opportunities will be even greater for me."

Michael said happily: "As long as there are eight places, my teacher said that my chance of being a scholar can reach half."

"Thank God, thank Confucius, and hope that the emperor will pass it as soon as possible!"

It was a happy event, especially for the Macaulays.

The Waters family can only celebrate along.

At night, when the banquet began, gentlemen from all over the country, landowners, and even a few county officials came to attend, which made Waters feel more and more jealous.

They didn't go home until the next day.

As soon as he got home, Mr. Waters announced that Jeff would be sent to the county to study.

He said sincerely: "As long as you can pass the county test, you will be able to serve as the third elder in the village at that time. For our Waters family, it is also very honorable."

As he spoke, Waters sighed: "In Spain, even for a jazz, it is very difficult to become an official, let alone a commoner like us."

"Jeff, you must live up to it."

Afterwards, Mr. Waters directly announced that from today onwards, everyone in the family, including the servants, must wear Mingren's clothes.

In his words, when the young master becomes an official in the future, all the people who come and go are Ming people, and they still dress up as barbarians, but it will lose face.

　Shino's book is very coquettish, you can go and read it

　　
　
(End of this chapter)