prosperous age

"Grand Secretary Wei, may I ask where you heard that there are ancient relics there?"

Suddenly, Manager Zhang asked a question.

He had always been curious as to why Grand Secretary Wei would care about ancient sites and relics overseas.

In response, Wei Guangde did not mention any claims made by missionaries. Although the Ming Dynasty had opened up a bit in terms of religious propagation, it was not a place where just anyone could enter and preach.

One important reason for this was the earlier opening of the Haojing region, which allowed eligible foreigners to register their citizenship and obtain household registration certificates from the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty did not actually manage religious beliefs strictly. However, apart from the strict restrictions on ordination certificates for monks who did not engage in production, it did not exclude religious figures.

Western religions were previously banned from entering the country because no one in the country believed in them.

However, as more and more missionaries remained in the four major open ports of Taiwan, some Chinese people, after being exposed to Western religions, gradually developed the desire to believe in them.

Furthermore, those Portuguese who were granted citizenship were unwilling to change their religious beliefs.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had no choice but to consider relaxing some restrictions.

For example, missionaries were allowed to preach in Hong Kong, while Matteo Ricci was permitted to preach in Beijing. In addition, a large number of Portuguese who had become citizens of Hong Kong moved to Nanjing, so the court issued a travel permit to Michele Ruggieri, a missionary who had been staying in Hong Kong for a long time, allowing him to preach in Nanjing.

Because of Matteo Ricci's recommendation, the imperial court also allowed Luo Mingjian to work at the Siyiguan (Foreigners' Bureau) to translate Western books.

In fact, Michele Ruggieri had been in China longer than Matteo Ricci, and he was considered Ricci's mentor.

However, after his hopes were dashed in Guangdong, Matteo Ricci followed a merchant ship to Songjiang Prefecture, where he unexpectedly met Xu Sicheng, a merchant from Songjiang. He then took Xu Guangqi as his disciple, which allowed him to obtain a travel permit and enter the Ming Dynasty, becoming the first person to enter China to preach Christianity.

Meanwhile, Luo Mingjian, a missionary recommended by the merchants of Haojing, including Bu Jialao, was allowed to accompany them to Nanjing because of their skills and wealth, which enabled them to become the first group of foreigners to be naturalized in the Ming Dynasty.

The wealthy businessman backed him up by buying land in Nanjing to build a church as their sacred space.

The imperial court did not do anything to them because they believed in Western religions, and chose to let them be, so they successfully obtained the travel permit.

However, at this time, there were only two missionaries in the Ming Dynasty, so Wei Guangde naturally couldn't say that he heard it from them.

However, it doesn't matter. Wei Guangde just smiled slightly at what Zhang said and said, "In my early years, I read the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which contained a record of the Black Country."

These are the Undead, the Black-Toothed Kingdom, the Rain Master Kingdom, and the Laborer Kingdom. The Kunlun Slaves also come from there, so I'm naturally curious whether this Black Kingdom truly exists.

Kunlun slaves were actually a general term for foreign barbarians, not necessarily referring to Africans.

In fact, the sources of Kunlun slaves in the Tang Dynasty were extremely diverse, including Negritos from Southeast Asia, Dravidians from India, and African blacks who were resold by Arabs.

Basically, curly hair and being black were the criteria for identifying Kunlun slaves.

As an international metropolis, Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty saw Kunlun slaves and Silla maids as standard accessories for the nobility.

These Kunlun slaves were transported to the Tang Dynasty in large numbers via the Maritime Silk Road, thus forming a group, making it difficult to say exactly where they came from.

In fact, the slave trade of Africans was not a European-dominated activity; Arabs in the Middle East also engaged in the large-scale slave trade of both white and black people.

Many of them also came to China via the Silk Road.

Yu Dayou bought four white slaves from the Arabian Peninsula for Wei Guangde. Such human trafficking was actually quite common during this period.

Of course, the Ming emperors would never allow their people to be trafficked.

The Ming Dynasty's crackdown on human traffickers was extremely brutal.

Ordinary human trafficking mainly resulted in exile, with one hundred strokes of the cane followed by exile to the border three thousand miles away. Those who were crippled and forced to beg were executed by slow slicing, which was the highest punishment.

If there were even more cruel methods, the only one that would be skinning someone alive and stuffing them with straw would be.

Unlike later generations, where punishments seem to encourage rather than prohibit, easily overlooked without any consideration for the catastrophic impact on the victim's family, it's no wonder that the voices questioning the law are growing louder.

In fact, maintaining a harmonious society is very simple: strict laws and severe punishments are necessary to prevent people from breaking the law.

To impose lenient punishments is to condone and support crime.

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas?"

Manager Zhang was completely dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that Grand Secretary Wei would actually connect that heavenly book with the black-clad fellow.

"Yes, I don't see many Black countries around the Ming Dynasty."

However, the people over there mostly met their conditions.

Wei Guangde said casually.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas is said to have been written between the Warring States period and the early Han Dynasty. Its main content, the Five Classics of Mountains, describes mountains, rivers, and waterways such as Mount Tai, Mount Min, the Wei River, and the Yellow River, which can basically correspond to the geography within China.

As for the overseas and wilderness sections described in the book, they mostly contain myths, rumors, or information from the fringes of knowledge.

Of course, scholars in the Ming Dynasty did not only read the Four Books and Five Classics; they also read miscellaneous books. Many scholars had read the Classic of Mountains and Seas, including Zhang Zhushi.

However, Wei Guangde appears to be the first person to connect the records in the Classic of Mountains and Seas with real overseas locations.

"Oh, I understand."

Upon returning to the Ministry of Rites, I will have people keep a close eye on Western scenery to see if there are any corresponding examples.

There's no need to say anything more; Manager Zhang has already filled in the blanks himself.

The Grand Secretary suspected that ancient sages might have traveled overseas, so he compiled the "Classic of Mountains and Seas".

Although he felt it was a bit far-fetched, he didn't feel the need to say anything.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas records giraffes, and those creatures really do exist there. During the Yongle era, Zheng He's fleet brought them back from Africa.

Thinking this through, Zhang, the steward, believed he understood what Grand Secretary Wei meant.

Searching for historical sites overseas should be about finding the footprints left by our ancestors abroad.

Those cone-shaped structures were probably coordinates set up by our ancestors overseas, for future generations to explore, to indicate that they had been there.

After chatting casually for a few more minutes, Zhang noticed that Wei Guangde was not very interested in the conversation, so he quickly took his leave.

After leaving the cabinet, he was still thinking about going home to review the Classic of Mountains and Seas again, hoping to find a correspondence with something overseas.

After that, when the report was submitted, it made a good impression on Grand Secretary Wei.

This is how the superiors set an example for the subordinates. Zhang, the head of the department, thought he knew Grand Secretary Wei's preferences, so he catered to them.

If you enjoy researching these strange and unusual stories, then I'll find them for you and report them to me.

If Grand Secretary Wei is happy, then his chances of being promoted in the future will be much greater.

Being an official means that when a position becomes available, the important people above you will think of you.

How do you get important people to think of you? It all comes down to how you catch their eye.

Once you're in, there will naturally be opportunities to compete for a spot later.

Suddenly, Zhang, the steward, realized that he seemed to have found a way to get promoted and knew how to please the Grand Secretary.

Suddenly, he felt full of energy.

A year of wandering overseas doesn't seem like such a big deal.

As long as it helps him get promoted and make money, what does a little hard work matter? It's an opportunity that others would kill for. He also made a decision in his heart: to keep it a secret.

This is something I can't tell anyone.

Humming a little tune, Steward Zhang walked out of the palace gate with light steps.

After he left, Wei Guangde took out the memorial from the Ministry of Rites and looked at it carefully.

I had already asked Zhang, the head of the department, about his experiences overseas, so I didn't have the mind to focus on the official business of the Ministry of Rites.

It seems that his brows furrowed slightly not long afterward.

With the start of Zhang Juzheng's reforms in the early Wanli period, court officials gradually realized that the two consecutive Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet paid special attention to "innovation" and liked to introduce some reform policies to eliminate long-standing problems.

As the saying goes, "If the superiors have certain preferences, the inferiors will follow them to an extreme; if the superiors have certain dislikes, the inferiors will not do them."

Now that they've figured out what the Grand Secretary likes, his subordinates naturally rack their brains to satisfy him.

As more and more students are trained in schools across the country, it is clear that due to differences in "comprehension," these students have a wide range of talents.

Therefore, a clever person in the Ministry of Rites thought of the original model of the imperial examination, which was to divide the examination into departments.

The imperial examination system originated in the Sui Dynasty and was greatly developed in the Tang Dynasty.

The Song and Yuan dynasties, and then the Ming dynasty, were simply gradual evolutions and improvements.

The imperial examination system was initially established in the Tang Dynasty, but it was not yet the fully-established model that would become the one in later generations.

At that time, in addition to the Jinshi examination, there were also many other subjects such as Mingjing, Mingfa, and Mingsuan. The examination content mainly focused on Confucian classics, but also included policy essays, poetry, and arithmetic.

During the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination system entered a period of comprehensive expansion.

The imperial court placed greater emphasis on selecting talent through examinations, reducing the influence of family background on official careers, and stressed "selecting officials from among the people," making education the main channel for changing one's destiny.

This also fueled a surge in the establishment of schools and the printing of books in society, with a strong intention to break down social barriers.

During the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination system became highly institutionalized, with more fixed content and format. In particular, the formation of the eight-legged essay led to a more unified examination standard.

The most important word in the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system was "standardization," but standardization also led to a strong degree of formalization.

Scholars must answer according to a predetermined format in order to win in the competition.

However, with the construction of schools across the country promoted by the imperial court, a large number of students are now graduating, and they naturally do not have much of an advantage in the current imperial examinations.

In fact, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng's original idea was simply to improve the literacy rate of the people. However, the Ministry of Rites felt that some of these people might have different strengths due to their different subjects.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites tentatively submitted a memorial to the Grand Secretariat, hoping to add two subjects, Mingfa (明法) and Mingsuan (明算), to the existing imperial examination system.

The "Mingfa Ke" examination in the Tang Dynasty mainly tested seven articles of the "Tang Code" and three articles of the "Orders". Later, the examination of "Tiejing" was added, which was to memorize the articles of the laws and ordinances and to answer questions on the meaning of the law.

It was a way for the Tang Dynasty to select judicial and legal professionals, but the status was low and very few people were selected in each examination.

The Ministry of Rites, on the other hand, hoped to reinstate the Mingfa examination, allowing those with the rank of Xiucai or above to take the exam.

Those who pass the imperial examinations can be assigned to government offices to handle legal affairs and assist the presiding official in making judgments.

As for Ming Suan, because he was knowledgeable in mathematics, he would naturally be assigned to a position such as the local treasury.

However, the most prominent feature was that, in addition to allowing scholars to take the exam, local schools could have a certain number of recommendation slots, which meant giving farm boys an opportunity.

After all, for students from academies, even if they could pass the county and prefectural examinations, they would most likely fail the provincial examination and not obtain the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations).

As for the restored Mingfa and Mingsuan examinations, they certainly won't have any provincial or palace examinations, making them the same as the Jinshi examinations.

Those who pass the exam need to come to the capital to participate in the metropolitan examination. Those who pass can obtain an official position of the eighth or ninth rank and serve as a deputy in a local area.

In his memorial, he linked this reform with the reform of the bureaucratic system, arguing that introducing respectable scholars might be beneficial in eliminating the abuses of the bureaucratic system.

Wei Guangde could sense that this measure would indeed be beneficial if it were introduced.

That is, local governments will gradually become more professional, and most importantly, the model of local governments may change drastically.

After all, the candidates from the Ming Suan Ke and Ming Fa Ke would not enter the Three Judicial Offices and the Ministry of Revenue in large numbers, but would mostly stay in local positions.

This will cause local officials to swell, just like in later times, evolving from small government to large government.

Wei Guangde could accept the proposal to select professional officials, but the changes were too significant, and he needed to think it over carefully.

Why did the Tang Dynasty's imperial examinations have so many subjects, but in the later stages, some subjects were abandoned?

The situation was similar in the Song Dynasty. Although the Mingfa and Mingsuan systems were restored at one point, they soon declined again.

Most importantly, apart from the Jinshi examination, other subjects such as Xiucai and Mingjing actually overlapped to some extent with the Jinshi examination, while Mingfa and Mingsuan were more specialized, but the starting point and the end point for candidates were both very low.

The Ministry of Rites took note of this, so it chose to allow scholars and students recommended by the academy to participate in these two imperial examinations.

Correspondingly, this is actually the low-grade level.

Of course, one reason is that few people are willing to take the exam.

In the eyes of the imperial court, mathematics was a natural science. People who graduated from this subject often had a very narrow knowledge base, were not good at writing, and lacked the ability to handle government affairs. Therefore, even if they entered officialdom, it was difficult for them to grow.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's household registration system required sons to inherit their fathers' professions. As a result, some families who were inclined towards mathematics often chose to follow the path of Yin-Yang School, which combined mathematics with astronomy and divination.

As for why things evolved this way, Wei Guangde could understand it after thinking about it: it was about "unifying thought."

Clearly, the evolution of the imperial examination system was related to the political logic of the rulers.

They believed this was in their best interest, so they chose this method to select officials.

Unify the thinking of officials by studying classical texts to reduce governance costs.

However, when faced with the impact of Western technology, the fatal flaws of this system were exposed.

Those who understand power are often unfamiliar with practical matters, and those skilled in technology find it difficult to participate in decision-making.

Adjusting the imperial examination system was no small matter, nor was it something that a mere cabinet minister could decide.

He understood the lessons learned from later generations, but he couldn't articulate them.

Should he lecture the Wanli Emperor on the Industrial Revolution, or persuade his ministers to support a balanced approach that emphasizes both literature and science?
"Chen Jingbang has given me a difficult problem. He raised a question, but it's really troublesome to solve."

Wei Guangde muttered a couple of words to himself, then put the document into his sleeve.

Cabinet ministers are not allowed to take official documents out of their duty rooms, but that depends on who it is.

Gao Gong was attacked by the entire court for bringing home two memorials.

Wei Guangde brought back two copies, and he figured that even if the news spread in the imperial court, no one would bring it up.

To put it bluntly, the winds blowing in the Ming Dynasty court could be controlled.

Afterwards, Wei Guangde wrote another note, inviting his friends in the capital to a banquet at his home that evening.

The note was delivered by Lu Bu, who also told his family to prepare for the dinner.

"Clear calculations and clear laws." (End of this chapter)