Red Mansion, Second Master Lian is too despicable

Chapter 118 Miscellaneous Talk: Scientific Examination

After passing the county examination, you can take the prefectural examination, which is usually presided over by the prefect. You need to find one more co-guarantor. Other requirements are similar to the county examination, with three consecutive examinations.Those who pass the county and government examinations can be called "tongsheng" and can continue to take the college examinations.Some scholars have to take many years to pass the most basic county and government examinations and become children.Some scholars obtained the identity of a Tongsheng in one exam, but they could not pass the college examination and were still Tongsheng when they were gray-haired. Kong Yiji in Lu Xun's works was an old Tongsheng.

The imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty was held twice every three years. The emperor appointed Xuezheng to be the chief examiner all over the country. Those who are in charge of politics are generally central officials such as the Supervisory Yushi and Liubu Minister, who were born in Jinshi.Qi Liaosheng, whom we talked about in the first episode, served as a political scholar in Yunnan.

The first examination of the hospital examination is called the annual examination. Those who have obtained the status of a child student can participate. One more joint guarantor and one more special guarantor are required. If the child student passes the examination, the child student becomes a student member, commonly known as "a student." Scholar".Scholars gained "fame" and entered the class of scholar-bureaucrats. They were exempted from corvee service and taxes, did not kneel before magistrates, and could not be tortured casually, etc.The top students are called "Linsheng" and enjoy special living allowances from the state. Scholars who want to participate in the Tongsheng Examination must ask a "Linsheng" to act as a special guarantor. Therefore, as the top scholars, "Linsheng" has certain local status. Those with outstanding social status could be recommended to the Imperial College to study and become tribute students ready to contribute to the emperor.

A group of local veteran talents must also take the first test of the college examination, and those with good scores will be selected to take the second test together with the new talents.The second examination of the college examination is called the "Subject Examination". If you pass the examination, it is called "Enrollment". The entire child student examination has been successfully concluded, and then you can take the provincial examination in the "Grand Competition Year".It is not easy for Jia Yucun to be qualified to participate in the provincial examination. Being a scholar is also something to be proud of.

As we just said, the provincial examination is also called "Qiu Wei". Success in Qiu Wei is the "Jiu Ren". The provincial examination is called the B list, also called the B subject.When the exam results are announced, it is the time when the sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant, also known as the Guibang, and the No. 1 in the provincial examination is called "Jie Yuan".Not only can a candidate take part in the public examination, but even if he fails the examination, he is still qualified to be an official and can serve as a middle- and lower-level official in the government. People can call the candidate "Master".

Those who pass the provincial examination in the "Year of the Great Competition" can participate in the joint examination held in the following spring at the same time as the old candidates. If the Chunwei battle is successful, the candidates will become tributes, and the intellectuals who contribute to the emperor will be qualified to participate in the palace examination.When the exam results were announced, it was the time when the apricot blossoms were in full bloom, also called the apricot list, and No. 1 in the examination was called "Huiyuan".

The most complete preservation of the examination venue is the Confucius Temple in Nanjing. Each candidate who took the examination was given a single room, called a "number room".The invigilation is very strict, and candidates must be searched strictly when entering to prevent "cheat sheets" hidden on the candidates.When candidates enter the "room number", they must lock the door. The "room" is very narrow, with only two wooden boards at the top and bottom. The upper board is used as a table for writing examination papers, and the lower board is used as a chair. At night, the two boards are put together as a bed. A pot of charcoal fire and a few candles were also prepared for the candidates in the "room".Charcoal fire can be used for cooking and heating.During the exam, the candidates will "eat, drink, have sex, and sleep" in the "room" and are not allowed to come out until the end of the exam.This is true for everyone taking part in the examination. You can imagine the provincial examination and the children's examination we mentioned earlier.

Approximately one-twentieth of the candidates nationwide who participated in the general examination became tribute scholars and could continue to participate in the palace examination. Sometimes the number was less than 300, and sometimes it was [-] or [-].In the palace examination, the emperor personally set the questions and visited the examination room. There was only one "strategy question", which asked the candidates about current affairs politics, economic development, governance and security, and political power consolidation.If you pass the imperial examination, you will be a "jinshi". The list that announces the results of the imperial examination is called Jia Bang, also called Jia Ke, because the list is issued on yellow paper, also known as the golden list.The Jinshi who were named on the gold list were divided into three batches and announced.There are three people in the first grade, who are the number one, second and third overall, and are awarded Jinshi and the third place.There are several names in Erjia, which are given to people of Jinshi origin.The top three candidates are all the remaining candidates. As long as they take the palace examination, they will be granted the same background as Jinshi.After the imperial examination is over, the road to the imperial examination has come to an end. Even if you are not satisfied with your ranking, you cannot retake the exam.Jinshi can serve as middle and low-level officials in the government. Their status is higher than that of Juren, and they are promoted faster than Juren.

The number one scholar is the top figure in the pyramid of China's imperial examination system. To win the exam means to "become famous all over the world in one fell swoop." Only one number one scholar is produced in three years. Without superhuman talent, strong perseverance, and a healthy body, it is impossible to be the number one scholar. of.There are also scholars who ranked first in "Jie Yuan" in the provincial examination, and ranked first in "Hui Yuan" in the national examination. In the palace examination, they still ranked first in "No. 1300". This is called "winning three yuan in a row." In the [-]-year history of imperial examinations, there were only a dozen or so people in liberal arts.

Time is limited, so we are discussing general situations. As an important talent selection system, the imperial examination has certain objective standards and a democratic spirit.It had a profound impact on the countries surrounding China at that time, such as Korea, Japan, Ryukyu, and Vietnam, and also had a considerable impact on the European countries of the Industrial Revolution such as Britain, France, Germany, and Italy.Domestically, the imperial examination system met the political participation requirements of the small and medium-sized landlord class to a certain extent, eased the internal conflicts of the landlord class, conformed to the requirements of historical development at that time, and was conducive to the consolidation and stability of the feudal regime. The right to select and appoint talents was completely controlled by the central government. In hand, it is conducive to the strengthening of centralization and promotes the development of education to a certain extent.

However, the content of the imperial examination was limited to a few Confucian classics, and the examination method focused on rote memorization. This caused schools to focus on exam-oriented education, which was not conducive to cultivating and selecting talents with practical abilities.In addition, the imperial examination closely linked reading, scientific examinations and becoming an official. The only purpose of many people's studies was to become a Jinshi and become an official. This kind of thinking has affected school education, and other academic thoughts have been suppressed and imprisoned, especially natural sciences. , the school became a vassal of the imperial examination.The prevalence of slaves and the decline of talents is one of the reasons why our country fell behind and was beaten in the world competition more than 100 years ago.

A fire broke out in Zhen Shi’s house, which revealed the true cause of disaster in Nanzhi

There was a fire in Zhen Shiyin's house. [Text description: Probably because of the calamity, one after another, with all kinds of worries, the whole street was burned like a mountain of flames. 】There is a comment on this sentence [Jiaxumei Commentary: Write down the real problem of causing disaster in Nanzhi. 】

When discussing Qi Liaosheng's preface in the second episode, I quoted this sentence from the text: "So one after another, worrying about five and four, burned a street like a mountain of fire." At that time, combined with the author's simple writing technique I talked about my opinion. I think the author clearly stated that the fire in the Calabash Temple caused the Zhen family to be burned down, and implicitly stated that the climax of the decline of the Jia family was a house raid. As for a large family, relatives, friends, disciples and old friends must have followed one after another, and there are many worries. Fourth, an interest group was uprooted, and an important comment appeared here, "write down the real problem of Nanzhi causing trouble." This comment has always been very controversial.

The "Nanzhi" in the comment refers to Nanzhili Province, which was changed to Jiangnan Province in the Qing Dynasty. We discussed it once in the ninth episode, and we will briefly say it again.In the early years of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang established his capital in Yingtianfu (now Nanjing), known as the capital.There are 14 prefectural levels in total including Yingtian Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, Fengyang Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, Changzhou Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Chizhou Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, and Anqing Prefecture. The unit is directly under the central government of the imperial court, called "Zhili", and its jurisdiction is about the current Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, two provinces and one city.In the 18th year of Yongle (1420), the capital was moved to Shuntian Prefecture and Beijing became the new capital. The emperor abolished the Chief Envoy in Peking and merged other prefectures and prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Chief Envoy in Peking. The region consists of Shuntian Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture, Daming Prefecture, Baoding Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Zhending Prefecture, Shunde Prefecture, Guangping Prefecture, Yanqing Prefecture, and Baoan Prefecture directly under the six central ministries, and is called "North Zhili", referred to as "North Zhili". "Beizhi", the scope is about the current Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, plus a small part of Henan and Shandong.The original capital was renamed Nanjing, and the original jurisdiction of the capital "Zhili" was renamed "South Zhili", or "Nan Zhi" for short. The original jurisdiction remained basically unchanged. "South Zhili" was still equivalent to the status of the capital in the Ming Dynasty, but the emperor was not there. That stayed.

In the Qing Dynasty, in the second year of Shunzhi, the Jiangnan Chengxuan Political Envoy Department was established, and Nanzhili was changed to Jiangnan Province. Nanjing's status as the capital was abolished, and the governor's office was located in Jiangning Mansion (today's Nanjing). The concept of "Nanzhili" has gradually faded away. The official name is "Nanzhili" for more than 200 years, and the folk name may be longer.

Due to the existence of this comment, the fire in the Calabash Temple is linked to a major historical event, and there are different opinions.Regarding the Nanzhi area, the mainstream red school believes that it is the raid on Cao Xueqin's Jiangning Zhifu that happened in Nanjing, while the Suoyin school believes that it is the "Yangzhou Ten Days" or the "Jiading Three Massacres" that happened in the Jiangnan area. The textual research school is arguing endlessly. , there is no reasonable result. The novel criticism school focuses on the author's writing techniques and the reviewer's literary criticism, and simply ignores this criticism. I will talk about my views for the sake of wisdom.

The "Ten Days in Yangzhou" and the "Three Massacres in Jiading" were introduced to you when we discussed the "Literary Prison" in the eighth episode. They were indeed disasters for the people in Jiangnan. Both of these tragedies occurred in the "Nanzhi" area. But it does not meet the characteristics of "calling for trouble". The so-called "calling for trouble" is due to the punishment due to one's own faults. The "Ten Days in Yangzhou" and the "Three Massacres in Jiading" were not caused by the fault of the people of Jiangnan.

Cao Xueqin's house was raided, which was a very common event in the early years of Yongzheng's reign. It cannot be considered as affecting the entire Jiangnan region, and it is inappropriate to call it "nanzhi causing disaster".If Cao Fu's behavior of harassing the post station, transferring property, and hiding prohibited items had not been exposed, perhaps the disaster of confiscating the house could have been avoided.Moreover, when Jiangning Zhizao Mansion was raided, the number of officials implicated was not too large, and the social impact was not extensive.

Since the reviewer annotated the sentence "Write out the real problem of Nanzhi causing trouble" in the book, this "Nanzhi causing trouble" must be an earth-shattering event and be widely known, so that other readers can understand it at a glance. What's the meaning.Its characteristic, or according to the "real disease" in the comments, is that "one after another, worrying about everything, burning a street like a mountain of flames."

What else can "Nanzhi call for misfortune" refer to?It is related to the imperial examination system we discussed in the last episode. I think it is a major imperial examination case in Nanwei.

After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, in order to consolidate their power and strengthen their rule, they needed to obtain the support of Han landlords and bureaucrats, and win over Han intellectuals. In the first year of Shunzhi, they announced that they would follow the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system and select talents on a regular basis.In the second year of Shunzhi, rural examinations were held in the northern provinces that were the first to be conquered. The Manchu rulers had never done this before, so they conducted experiments first and admitted the first batch of candidates in the Qing Dynasty.In the third year of Shunzhi's reign, a joint examination was held in Beijing, and the first batch of Jinshi were admitted to the founding of the People's Republic of China.With certain results, the rural examination was then implemented in the Jiangnan area. The Jiangnan rural examination was commonly known as Nanwei, and the Shuntianfu rural examination in Beijing was called Beiwei.During the Shunzhi period, a major case that caused a national sensation occurred - the Dingyou Jiangnan Township Examination Case.

In the Ming Dynasty, the penalties for imperial examination cases were generally lighter.At most, the examiner could be tortured with a stick, spanked with a board, and then demoted, but no one would die. Candidates who took the exam would have their results invalidated and would have to take the exam again three years later.In the late Ming Dynasty, the officialdom was dark and corruption was common. Fraud in imperial examinations had long been commonplace. This unhealthy trend continued into the Shunzhi period. Shunzhi ascended the throne at the age of six and was the first emperor after the Qing army entered the country. The child was too young and his uncle Wang Duo Ergon was regent.The imperial examination system was restored, but Dorgon was busy conquering the country and suppressing rebellions. Soldiers were important matters of the country, the place of life and death, the way of survival. Exams were nothing!At that time, the rulers did not care, had no time, and were too busy.Impersonation and favoritism in the examination room are more serious than in the late Ming Dynasty, and the examiners benefited too much.

A few years ago, there was war and chaos, and Emperor Shunzhi was still young, so he conducted the imperial examination. After Shunzhi took office, he continued to play with the imperial examination and had to settle many things. The examiners saw that the emperor wanted to select and win over Han people to rule more Han people, and they bullied the emperor. It’s the novices who don’t understand the secrets at all, so they become even more unscrupulous.The first case that occurred was the Beiwei imperial examination case. Something went wrong with the rural examination held in Shuntian Prefecture, Beijing.

The examiners Li Zhenye and Zhang Wopu openly accepted bribes from Lu Yiji, Ph.D. Cai Yuanyi, and Jinshi Xiang Shaofang. All the children of the third-rank official and above were admitted. Public power became a tool for the examiners to seek personal gain and make connections.As the saying goes, "If you are rich but have no power, you will be bullied." The rich are not as good as the powerful, the officials are not as powerful as the powerful, and you can't pass the exam even if you spend money and don't have a quota.So after the results were released, there was a lot of discussion, and those who were really talented and learned but failed to pass the exam, and those who spent unjustly and did not get a place, complained that they were unjustly accused.

Especially for those who have spent too much money, they have some capital and connections, so they continue to appeal and succeed.The incident was revealed to Emperor Shunzhi by Ren Kepu, the emperor of Shunzhi, and the investigation was true. Longyan of Shunzhi was furious. Li Zhenye, Zhang Wopu, Cai Yuanyi, Lu Yiji, Xiang Shaofang, Tian Si and Wu Zuolin, who had illegally passed the imperial examination, were sentenced to death. The death penalty was executed immediately without any room for relaxation. Their family property was confiscated, and their parents, brothers and wives were exiled to Shangyang Fort, near the current Tieling Ivory Mountain Scenic Area.

(End of this chapter)