Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Students from the Foreign Languages ​​School were allowed to take part in the Shuntian County Examination, which also excited a group of people in the capital.

This group is the overseas students, who gradually emerged after Zhu Youjian ascended the throne.

Since the Hongwu period, the Ming Dynasty did not pay enough attention to international students, and it was difficult for foreigners to study in the Ming Dynasty.

But after Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, he changed this policy because he wanted to encourage nobles to go overseas to establish fiefdoms and it was impossible to deprive them of the right to participate in the imperial examinations.

Therefore, the Imperial College, the Military College, and the various universities were all allowed to recruit people from the vassal states. The permission for these schools to participate in the Shuntian provincial examinations was also related to the need for people from the vassal states to participate in the imperial examinations.

Since the Lifanyuan was in charge of the affairs of the vassal states, it was now preparing to formulate rules for the imperial examinations in the vassal states, and even planned to include each vassal state in the southern or northern volume according to its location.

However, due to the seriousness of the matter, it has not been finalized. What can be confirmed now is that the General Translation Bureau will be jointly managed by the Lifanyuan and the Taichang Temple, and the same applies to the Foreign Languages ​​School. Most of the students who graduated from this school were also recruited by the Lifanyuan.

As a school that teaches foreign languages, many of the teachers at the Foreign Language School are foreigners. It also enrolls the most international students and is the first choice for many foreign students.

After the Joseon Crown Prince Yi Wang came to the capital to pay tribute, the emperor arranged for him to study at the Imperial College, and designated the Imperial College Dean Lin Han and the newly appointed Jijiu Liu Zongzhou as his teachers.

But his followers did not have this treatment. Except for some of the sons of the rich and powerful who were admitted to the Imperial College because of their status, most of them were arranged to study in the Foreign Language School and the Imperial Language Department.

The Koreans were very dissatisfied with this because they considered themselves as a small China and never considered themselves as foreigners. The Ming emperor established a foreign language school and a Korean Pavilion in the General Translation Bureau, which they considered to be treating Korea as a foreigner.

When they went to other schools for examinations, they could write Chinese characters and pronounce them, but their oral English was not up to standard, and their knowledge was not as good as that of the Ming Dynasty scholars. They could only be reluctant and enjoy the Ming Dynasty's preferential treatment to study in foreign language schools.

Jin Zizhong was a man who spoke Chinese well and had profound knowledge. When he learned from his classmates that students from the Foreign Language School could take part in the Ming Dynasty imperial examinations, he immediately realized that this was an opportunity.

If he could obtain the status of Juren or even Jinshi in Ming Dynasty, he would be an undisputed great scholar after returning to China. He might even stay in Ming Dynasty and become an official of Ming Dynasty.

This made him quite excited and he planned to take part in the Shuntian County Examination.

But after asking the teacher at the Foreign Language School, he did not get the answer he wanted.

Because the rules for college students to participate in the provincial examinations had not yet been finalized, there were no regulations on whether students from other vassal states or foreign countries could participate in the imperial examinations.

Jin Zizhong was anxious and immediately went to find the Joseon Crown Prince Li Wang, hoping that his own crown prince could seize this opportunity.

Li Wang is an eighteen-year-old young man. He is the eldest son of the current King of Korea, Li Jong. He was crowned as the crown prince in the fifth year of Tianqi and married the daughter of Jiang Shuoqi in December of the seventh year of Tianqi.

After the Ming Dynasty officially enthroned Yi Jong as the King of Joseon last year, he also became the crown prince recognized by the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he was sent to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute this year.

Zhu Youjian treated him with great courtesy because the Ming Dynasty needed to stabilize Korea at that time.

He issued an order to treat the King of Korea according to the standards of the King of Jingjiang and allowed the King of Korea to enjoy the treatment of a prince as a prince of a county.

Li Wang's residence was also arranged in the palace of the kings. He was also granted 500 acres of houses in the palaces of the kings in the west of Beijing to build the palace of the Joseon king.

Li Wang was quite pleased with this. He had never expected that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would treat him so well.

Before coming to the Ming Dynasty, he thought of himself as a hostage of a vassal state. He never thought that he would be treated as a prince and could travel freely in the capital.

Under the arrangement of the Ming Emperor, he quickly integrated into the group of nobles and interacted with the princes and nobles.

When the King of Joseon, Yi Jong, learned about this, he sent people to praise him and brought gold and silver to build the Joseon royal palace and embassy.

Encouraged by this, Li Wang worked harder to make friends with the powerful people of the Ming Dynasty. In order to show that he was not a foreigner, he now wore Ming Dynasty hats and clothes, and changed his accent under the guidance of officials from the Honglu Temple invited by his teacher Lin Han.

After a few months, he looked like a Ming Dynasty man, and spoke standard Nanjing Mandarin, even more standard than many Ming Dynasty officials.

When Jin Zizhong found him, he was in a martial arts hall, watching a martial arts competition.

This is the most popular event in the capital. In order to prepare talents for the establishment of fiefdoms and to find some fun in their boring lives, many children of powerful people set up martial arts clubs at the instigation of the current emperor.

The Martial Arts Association divides each martial arts club into levels and organizes competitions in various events, attracting a lot of people to participate.

Even the gambling houses in the red-light district of Beijing set odds for martial arts competitions. Some dignitaries even called for allowing gambling in martial arts venues.

However, this matter is very controversial. Most of the martial artists who participated in the martial arts competition did not want to be used as gambling tools. The generals who emerged from the martial arts competition in the army were even more strongly opposed to this.

Therefore, gambling houses can only set up gambling games in red-light districts to attract people who are interested in gambling. Some casinos have already planned to set up fighting arenas inside to attract martial artists and gamblers to participate.

Of course, Li Wang was not watching that kind of competition. He was watching an unlimited fighting championship hosted by the Martial Arts Association.

This is one of the most attractive events in various martial arts competitions.

After sumo, boxing, fighting, wrestling and other events have completed weight classification and the rules have become increasingly detailed, unlimited fighting competitions with no weight restrictions and the most relaxed rules are considered to be the unarmed fighting event that best reflects actual combat power.

Many winners of other bare-handed events will come to participate in this competition. The winners among them will receive pennants and gold belts specially made by the Martial Arts Association.

Li Wang, a hot-blooded man, was one of the fans of this event. Like other princes and nobles, he shouted the names of the contestants with an extremely enthusiastic look.

When Jin Zizhong found Li Wang, he was cursing the winner on the stage, and even cursed out words like "Asiba", which he usually avoided using.

Jin Zizhong looked at the winner on the ring, wearing a huge gold-plated belt and waving a banner, and wondered what this man had done to make his own prince hate him so much.

But he listened to the noisy voices around him and felt that his son should not be here, so he advised:
"Your Excellency, you have a great scholar like Mr. Liu as your teacher, why don't you learn from him?"

"Please cultivate your mind and temper, and don't be aggressive and aggressive."

Li Wang listened to his faint voice and shouted:

"what?"

"You want to fight him?"

"Let's fight his disciples first, those Japanese guys."

Pointing at the Japanese who were cheering for the winner beside the ring, Li Wang shouted to the accompanying guards:

"We in Korea are also going to form a martial arts club to defeat those Japanese."

"Whoever wins will be rewarded with the title of a Ming official!"

When the guards heard the reward offered by Li Wang, they were all tempted.

Although they hold official positions in Korea, they are not as noble as the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

This person would be treated preferentially throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, and even the trial would require the Ming Emperor to preside over the case.

The status of a Ming official meant that they would not be executed at will. Some who saw the opportunity quickly notified their families to donate to become Ming officials.

However, according to the rules between the Ming Dynasty and the vassal states, the Ming Dynasty would not grant titles to foreign vassal states at will. If these Koreans wanted to obtain the status of Ming officials, they still needed the approval of the Korean king.

Now this power is in the hands of Li Wang. As long as he agrees, they can become officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Even Jin Zizhong, a self-proclaimed Confucian scholar, wanted to get on the stage after hearing the reward.

Especially after knowing that the winner of the competition was a Japanese disciple, his eyes turned red, and he was extremely supportive of his own prince's decision:
"Martial Arts Club!"

"We must form a Korean Martial Arts Club!"

"Let those little Japanese dwarfs know how powerful we Koreans are!"

He also shouted enthusiastically, denouncing Chen Yuanyun, who won the ring. Chen Yuanyun felt helpless as he watched the crown prince of Joseon cursing him again under the ring.

He was revered as the founder of Japanese judo by later generations. He traveled to Japan in the 47th year of Wanli, arrived in Edo a few years ago, and began to teach boxing.

As a result, he accepted several Japanese disciples, such as Masakatsu Fukuno, Yoshitatsu Miura, Jiro Isogai and others.

After friction between the Ming Dynasty and Japan this year, Chen Yuanyun, as a Ming Dynasty person with a good reputation in Edo, was entrusted by some shogunate officials to communicate with the Ming Dynasty envoys.

Because of this, he learned a lot about the Ming Dynasty from Jiang Yueguang and others.

What interested him most was the martial arts conference held last year.

After learning that Ji Jike, Chen Wangting and others became famous for their martial arts, and that they had risen from rural warriors to become generals in the imperial camp and even became the emperor's martial arts coaches, Chen Yuanyun immediately became interested and thought that he also had the ability to do so.

So when the shogunate sent people to the capital to pay homage, he also brought his disciples with him. He arrived in the capital last month and joined the martial arts club formed by the King of Han.

Already in his forties, he was initially looked down upon in the ring, as people thought he was more suitable to be a coach rather than a fighter.

But after he won several games with his softness over strength, many people were convinced. Chen Yuanyun's name also spread in the martial arts world of Beijing.

Even the emperor had heard of his name and named his skills of using softness to overcome hardness judo, believing it to be one of the representative skills of martial arts that would surely flourish in the future.

This made Chen Yuanyun's name spread quickly beyond the martial arts world, and many people regarded him as a strong contender for the fighting championship of the next martial arts tournament.

Newspapers and magazines such as the Sports News, Martial Arts News, and Fighting News reported extensively, letting the world know that a strong man had appeared in the martial arts world of the capital.

This attracted many challenges from warriors and attention from outsiders.

The Joseon Crown Prince Lee Wang is one of those who are paying attention.

Perhaps because of his experience in Japan, or perhaps because he accepted a Japanese as his apprentice, Li Wang has been chasing him these days and has not missed a single game.

She would scold him from time to time, as if to vent her anger over the Imjin War.

Fortunately, he belonged to King Han's martial arts club, and the martial arts association under the supervision of the Jinyiwei also prohibited private retaliation, so he was not too worried about his safety.

But being scolded all the time was not a big deal. After Chen Yuanyun won again and retained the gold belt, he and the clan member who managed the martial arts club of the Han clan, accompanied by the staff of the martial arts association, came to the Joseon crown prince and said:

"I am honored to receive your attention, Prince."

"I wonder if my judo skills will be pleasing to the prince?"

Even the emperor had praised judo, so Li Wang certainly couldn't say that he didn't like it.

But he still said with pride:
"Although Judo is good, my Korean Hwarangdo is equally as good."

"The Korean Martial Arts Club will be opened soon. I hope Mr. Chen will not deliberately avoid fighting then."

Then he held his head high and walked away, not giving Chen Yuanyun a chance to negotiate peace.

Chen Yuanyun was quite helpless about this, but Zhu Jingli, a member of the Han clan who was with him, said:

"If he wants to challenge you, just take it. We in South Korea are not afraid of North Korea."

As the first vassal state to move overseas, Han Fan had the confidence to say so.

Since the conquest of Beihai Island, the Han clan has immigrated tens of thousands of people from Pingliang Prefecture and other places.

These people are all Han Fan's people, and many of them are quite powerful. Even if the North Korean Martial Arts Society targets them, the South Korean Martial Arts Society is not afraid.

After getting the support of the president, Chen Yuanyun felt relieved. With Zhu Jingli's statement, he didn't have to worry about the Joseon prince's tricks. As for the ring, he had never been afraid of anyone.

But thinking about the guards behind the Joseon Crown Prince, he felt that he should teach a few more disciples, lest his body could not stand the challenge from the Joseon Martial Arts Club.

The signs of the future North Korea-South Korea war and North Korea-Japan war in the martial arts world are beginning to emerge.

Many feudal states also used martial arts competitions as a platform for mutual competition.

As for Li Wang, after he made his harsh words, he returned to his residence in the Princes' Hall and asked his subordinates for advice:

"Chen Yuanyun is so good in the ring that he is even considered likely to win the martial arts tournament."

"How can we defeat this man?"

Some guards said to use Hwarangdo and select martial arts masters from Joseon. Another guard said:
"How about shooting him in the dark?"

"Our Korean archers and musketeers are still very strong, and the Ming Dynasty has praised them a lot."

"As long as we shoot him down, he won't be able to fight in the ring."

Li Wang called him "idiot" and did not adopt his suggestion.

He can do whatever he wants in Korea, but he must abide by the rules in Ming Dynasty.

Otherwise, even without the punishment of the Ming Emperor, he would not be able to survive in the circle of nobles in the capital.

Besides, the newspaper industry in the Ming Dynasty was very developed. Once the secret attack was exposed, he might be criticized in the newspapers, or even impeached by the officials and questioned by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the news might spread to North Korea and affect his position as crown prince.

In his opinion, it is certainly not worth it to pay such a high price for such a publicity stunt.

So he glared at the man and asked others for suggestions.

When Jin Zizhong saw this scene, he immediately felt that an opportunity had come. He said:
"Although it's not okay to attack someone from behind, what the general said is not wrong."

"Our Korean archers and musketeers are quite powerful even in the Ming Dynasty."

"Your Highness can recruit elite archers and musketeers to participate in the Ming Dynasty's martial arts competition."

"If we win a few championships in shooting events, we can overshadow Chen Yuanyun."

Li Wang also felt that his own archers and musketeers were quite capable and might win the championship in the shooting event, so he said happily:

"Kim Kyung is right. In addition to Hwarangdo, we Koreans are also good at archery and shooting."

"We will participate in all these events at the martial arts tournament next year."

Jin Zizhong then showed a difficult expression on his face and said:

"Chen Yuanyun is from the Ming Dynasty. He is qualified to participate in the Ming Dynasty Martial Arts Conference."

"But since Korea is a foreign vassal state, that may not be the case."

"Please ask the Emperor of Ming Dynasty to allow Korea to participate in the martial arts competition and the imperial examination."

He told Li Wang about his greatest goal.

I hope Li Wang can obtain the permission of the Ming Emperor so that he can participate in the Ming imperial examination. (End of this chapter)