Emperor Ming Dynasty

Hundreds of people gather in Beijing for the biennial Zongkao. Although they can't keep up with the exam, it is still very lively.

Originally, the emperor planned to set the Zongkao on August [-]th, taking the meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival reunion and family friendship, but is it uncomfortable to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with the beauties of the harem and the daughter?

In this way, it is natural to be too lazy to take care of these relatives.

So I set the time for the first day of August.

Clans from all over the world, as long as they have a jade seal, they can register and get the qualifications for the exam.

In order to reduce resistance, the Clan Mansion stipulated that the Clan Clan does not need the consent of the suzerain master of the clan to take the Zong Kao, just come directly to the Clan Mansion to apply.

This further deprived the feudal king of his control over the lower clan.

And as early as a few years ago, the emperor issued an edict, but all the children of the clan, if they want to inherit the title, they only need to come to the clan mansion to register, and there is no need for a feudal prince at all.

You must know that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, an unknown number of clans did not inherit the title for the rest of their lives because they had no money to bribe the long history, or were specially taken care of by the vassal king, and were impoverished.

For example, this is the case with Zhu Mou and Zhu Meng, the trusted generals of the two emperors.

Otherwise, the 20 clans counted during the Wanli period would at least double.

In the past, when members of the clan reached the age of five, they had to pass the petition of Shi, the official of the prince's mansion, and after passing the examination and approval of the clan mansion, the officials of the Ministry of Rites named them according to the patriarchal language, and finally gave them names in the name of the emperor.

After the success of the name application, you can then apply for a title, marriage, and salary in turn, and you can get corresponding political and economic treatment.

That is, the palace played on behalf of the palace, the clan's palace reviewed, the courtiers proposed the name, and the emperor bestowed the name.

The Eight Banners of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties in later generations also had to spend money to attack the nobles, otherwise it would be difficult to obtain money and food to satisfy their hunger.

After being so simple, the clan only needs to report to the clan mansion, register under a certain branch, and then name themselves.

At the same time as inheriting the title, the imperial court also required that the clan without a title should also be elected every ten years, and the leader should come to Beijing to register, so as not to lose their identity.

Although they don't have titles, they can still take the Zongkao exam.

As for the duplication of the periodic table of elements, the emperor also considered it, as long as it is not a living person with the same name.

Moreover, since there is only one person who inherits the title, and none of the offshoots has a title, the imperial court also relaxed the inheritance system, allowing adoptive and adopted sons, so as to avoid the severance of the title.

Anyway, it can only be inherited for a few generations, and when it is reduced to Lieutenant Feng Guo, it will be gone.

The simplified nobility system has directly reduced the vassal king's control over the lower-level clan to a minimum, even to the point of etiquette.

This is also the emperor's policy of cutting the vassal.

This is a small matter, and it makes the clans rejoice.

On the other hand, the Clan Mansion strictly requires the succession of the eldest son to inherit the title of the hero of the opposite sex, and there must be no mistakes in the slightest.

Such as favoring concubines and destroying wives, concubine entering into the concubine, etc., they will be severely punished.

Adoption, adopted son, etc., are also valued in every possible way, and must be approved by the emperor.

Although there are factors that some titles of the opposite sex can be hereditary, fundamentally it is the factor of imperial power.

Isn't that the case with Xungui's control?

As for the so-called succession of Juewei, including the hereditary inheritance of military ranks such as Baihu and Qianhu, as in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yixi didn't think about it at all.

Because these are all face-saving projects, even Zhu Yuanzhang, who can't tolerate a nail in his eyes, has never pursued this aspect.

After Xuande, it was completely a formality.

This was even more so during the Manchu Qing period, when the Eight Banners took over the leadership of the nobles, it was just a formality, and no one cared at all.

Therefore, the Weisuo system collapsed, and the Eight Banners system collapsed.

"My ancestors suffered all the hardships, so why can't I be a serious successor?"

Although this sentence is vulgar, it does make sense.

Those who presided over the Zongkao were the Minister of Rites as the chief examiner, and the Jiuqing of Taichangsi, Dali Temple and other counties as the same examiners.

After all, the top three are given to those who came from the same Jinshi background, so it won't work if you are not strict.

Even the rest can be a small official of the eighth or ninth rank.

The emperor walked around and left directly.

After a few days, thirty examination papers were placed in front of him.

From high to low.

The emperor glanced at it and said with a smile: "I never thought that it was the Chu Fan who took the leader."

There are twenty princes, that is, twenty clans, and the emperor's line directly enshrines the king and becomes a vassal, so naturally no one participates.

As for Qin Fan?

I'm sorry, the emperor has his own family, and he doesn't recognize these distant relatives. The eldest son of the emperor is the king of Qin who is now in charge of the family.

The articles are all good, and the titles are all correct, the emperor nodded slightly: "Let's go with it!"

The eunuch at the side quickly invited a seal and stamped it directly.

Just like that, the first Zongkao officially ended.

"Grandpa, do you want to have a parade?"

Liu Afu smiled.

"no need--"

Zhu Yixi laughed dumbfounded: "You are the smartest."

"Our Zhu family played by ourselves. If those people find out, we will die of laughter."

"Scholars have a lot of self-esteem and are arrogant. If they accidentally write crooked poems, it will be regarded as a bad reputation."

"Forget it, let the clan's mansion send people to report to the prince's mansions. Remember, as long as you report to the Three Tripod Jia, it will be done, and the rest will be left alone."

"Yes!" Liu Afu responded with a smile.

He waved his hand, and the winking eunuch hurried down to do it.

The emperor looked at the remaining examination papers again, and stroked the beard on his chin: "Our Zhu family has finally produced some talents over the years."

"If you are still waiting to die in Shaowu Dynasty, I must teach you a lesson."

"Master, this is our first class. Many candidates have not been included in the genealogy. The talents of our Tian family have not come out in time. Now these are just duckweed on top..."

Liu Afu flattered.

"What you said makes sense."

Zhu Yixi laughed loudly: "There are tens of thousands of people with the surname Zhu in the world, and many clan members hide their names. There may be many talented people."

"It's just that people like to take the imperial examination, Zong Kao, it's just an extra way for them."

Participating in the imperial examination, the clan will suddenly become a member of the fame system, and naturally protect the interests of scholars.

Similarly, participating in the Zong Kao is naturally on the side of the emperor. After all, it is up to the emperor whether he is promoted or not.

To put it simply, this group of talents can be regarded as the real disciples of the Son of Heaven.

That group of Scholars boasted, and they were all the result of their talents and hard work.

After all, the imperial examination has been established for more than a thousand years, and gratitude in the past has become a habit, and it is even a matter of course. People are grateful to Confucius and Zhu Xi.

Needless to say, there was a lot of excitement.

The happiest one was the King of Chu. The first leader was from Chu Fan, which greatly increased his face.

One must know that in the capital city, the most important thing is face.

Therefore, he directly asked someone to send a 100 yuan silver note as a reward.

This caused a lot of turmoil among the clan.

The next day, the Ministry of Rites received a message from Dian Kingdom thousands of miles away:

The Dian envoy asked to see him and ask for tribute.

In this regard, the Ministry of Rites is happy to see the success.

After all, even trespassers have a Kang country, let alone Sun Kewang, the remnant of the thief?
The cabinet was noncommittal.

In the final analysis, it all depends on the meaning of the emperor.

If Sun Kewang didn't like it, he would naturally reject it.

As always, the emperor is interested in the supremacy of interests, and those who can get benefits must be occupied.

Since Sun Kewang has taken over that damn place in Myanmar, he will no longer be a vassal state.

Now that it is ready to be canonized, the national title is naturally the top priority.

Sun Kewang also knew how to surrender. He surrendered to the end when he knew he would surrender.

Therefore, on the national title, he sent two people:
Yunnan, Myanmar.

Dian is the name of its own country, while Myanmar is the old name, and it was called Myanmar as early as the Yuan Dynasty.

The courtiers believed that Dian was the abbreviation of Yunnan, and Sun Kewang called it the location of the ancient Dian Kingdom, probably because he had ambitions for Yunnan.

This is not the case with Myanmar, which has been an outlander since ancient times.

Zhu Yixi thought about it again and again, and wanted to choose a good name for Sun Kewang, but how can there be such a perfect name in the world?

Therefore, he could only sigh: "When it comes to the name of the country, Myanmar is especially beautiful, let's call it Myanmar!"

The envoy had no choice but to accept the decree to thank him.

Naturally, his prince can only be the title of county prince, but considering the reality of wooing Sun Kewang, the emperor allowed him to use the etiquette of a prince.

That is, like North Korea, the county king level enjoys the treatment of a prince.

For this facade project, the emperor was extremely generous.

It's just that the tribute items are too far away, so food is enough, but other things are indispensable.

After all, although there are many mountains in Myanmar, it is rich in products, rich in gold, silver, copper and iron. Otherwise, how could France and Portugal keep asking for trade?
After urgent consultations by the Ministry of Rituals, the annual standard of 2000 taels of gold and [-] taels of silver was used as the tribute ceremony.

No more, no less, is the acceptable range in Myanmar.

At the same time, there is no need to mention commerce, which is a basic requirement for the vassal states.

However, Sun Kewang is also very knowledgeable. For the first time, he sent a lot of gold, gemstones, ivory and other rare things to his door, which was full of sincerity.

The imperial court is also very satisfied, so the dragon robes, official robes, and seals and ribbons are also relatively complete. From this point of view, it is a bit of a loss.

After the emperor left, when the envoys negotiated with the Ministry of Rites, they made a request:

"Can you invite some masters who can castrate to go to Myanmar?"

Hearing this, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites almost spit out the tea in his mouth.

He suppressed a smile: "Is this still lacking in your country?"

The envoy said in embarrassment: "Although there are castrates in our country, people are different, and the requirements are quite high."

"Nowadays, most of my king's courts are female officials, and there are only a few eunuchs brought over from Yunnan..."

At this time, the castration technique of the Ming Dynasty was very exquisite, mainly cutting meatballs, which was very delicate, but the result was more bleeding and it was easy to die.

In the Qing Dynasty, it was all cuts, sausages and meatballs were cut across the board, simple and convenient, and easy to stop bleeding. As long as practice makes perfect, you can survive.

Therefore, this kind of castration technology in the Ming Dynasty required high requirements, and if it was not good, it would kill people, and the death rate was extremely high.

It is difficult for a country without a certain level of civilization to master this technology.

Groups like eunuchs can only be used by overbearing and authoritarian monarchs in centralized countries.

In China, it was not until the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty that the Duke of Zhou conquered the Yan Kingdom, beheaded its men and castrated its children, and this group of eunuchs was considered to be born.

And its technical basis is nothing more than the development of farming, which leads to the prosperity of livestock, and the castration technology is naturally a matter of course.

To put it simply and crudely, it is difficult for countries with a lower level of civilization than the Western Zhou Dynasty to possess this technology.

Unfortunately, Myanmar does not have it, or it is immature.

"It's easy." The doctor said helplessly, "If you have money, you can invite a few of you to go to Burma."

"By the way, let's go back together after staying for a month. His Majesty has prepared a lot of gifts."

The envoy was puzzled, but after careful understanding, he suddenly realized.

It is estimated that there are more than [-] volumes of four books and five classics, annotations of scholars, miscellaneous books and historical books; more than [-] monks and Taoists; more than [-] craftsmen, doctors, onmyojis, and Confucian teachers.

This can't help but make him overjoyed.

You must know that when he left Yunnan back then, Sun Kewang took away mostly soldiers and officials, not to mention the lack of craftsmen, the most lacking thing was poetry and books.

The arrival of these people and books is extremely beneficial to Sun Kewang's establishment of the Burmese dynasty.

For example, the internal system and culture such as the system followed in the palace, the etiquette of offering sacrifices to heaven, etc., were extremely lacking in the Dian Kingdom at this time.

At this time in Myanmar, the level of civilization has just touched the threshold of feudal society, and it is just a step away.

In history, it was the Mughal dynasty in India, or Myanmar that took the initiative to send people to the Mughals to absorb culture, thus shaping the golden age of Myanmar.

Then why not let Daming push this?
"Why is Your Majesty so generous?"

Walking in the corridor, Zhu Mou was half a step behind, following the emperor step by step.

After many years of career as a monarch and his ministers, the relationship was close, but Zhu Mou seemed a little more open.

"Is it generous?" The emperor found a bench and sat down, wantonly scattered a large amount of steamed bun crumbs like in a park.

There are a large number of koi in the lake, which are colorful and extremely beautiful. They are scrambling to eat the steamed bun dregs, and the chubby portions are huge.

Zhu Mou glanced at the steamed bun in the emperor's hand. It was big, white, tender and round, bigger than a human fist.

This reminded him of the grain he had borrowed with great difficulty from Sun Chuanting in Xi'an back then. The steamed buns were yellowish-white and rough in the mouth, so it was not as good as this steamed bun.

In the folk, this white and tender steamed bun costs at least three to five yuan!
But now it can only be turned into fish feed and food for fish.

"I don't think so."

The emperor turned over and no longer sat on his side, leaning his back against the pillar, with the other half of his thigh dangling on the lake, very worried.

"I don't understand."

"At this time, Myanmar is like a child who just doesn't know anything. He urgently needs a good person to guide him, let him know how to read and write, and learn the way of Confucius and Mencius—"

"You want the way of Confucius and Mencius to weaken Myanmar? To prevent it from plotting Yunnan?" Zhu Mou suddenly realized:
"This method is really the best policy, to subjugate the enemy without fighting."

"No way, Myanmar can't be turned into a pro-vassal, so let's turn him into a familiar look."

The emperor sighed: "It's a pity, Myanmar is indeed a good place, and Sun Kewang has a good vision."

"His Majesty--"

At this time, a eunuch came in a hurry, Liu Afu hurriedly said: "The Commander of Jin Yiwei asked to see him, his face is serious, it seems to be extremely urgent."

"Oh?" Zhu Yixi frowned, what's more important in this peaceful world?