Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

In Nanjing, a group of students taking part in the provincial examination were nervously waiting for the results to be announced.

Because Zhang Pu led the Suzhou hired workers to cause trouble, this year's Jiangnan Provincial Examination was delayed and was not held until October.

However, the students in Nanzhili did not feel dissatisfied with Zhang Pu because of this.

Because the imperial court decided to hold the provincial examinations for the Ming law and Ming mathematics subjects in Nanjing, those who passed the examinations would also be granted the status of Juren.

As a result, there were 200 more juren places for the Jiangnan provincial examination. Even if they had to share them with students from all over the south, their chances of passing the examination were much greater than in previous years.

After all, it takes one or two months for people from other places to come to Nanjing. Unlike students in Nanzhili, they can prepare nearby.

Many students from Nanzhili who had not originally planned to take the provincial examination came to Nanjing to see if they could pass the Ming law or Ming mathematics examinations and obtain the status of a juren.

At this time, some people gathered in the teahouse to discuss this year's provincial examination.

I only heard a tea drinker say:

"Brother Pan, I heard that you also went to take part in the provincial examination."

"Are the questions in the mathematics section difficult? Can I pass the exam this year?"

Everyone was surprised to hear this. They didn't expect that this not-so-high-end teahouse would have students taking part in the provincial examination.

It was not until that "Pan Erge" spoke that they knew who was taking part in the provincial examination:
"Isn't this Mr. Pan, the accountant of the teahouse? Why is he taking part in the provincial examination?"

"He's not in school, and he didn't pass the test?"

"Why are you going to take the provincial examination? Is it so easy to take the provincial examination now?"

The provincial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were not something that could be taken casually. One usually had to study in a prefectural or county school and take part in the annual examinations.

Only those who have passed the annual examinations can take part in the imperial examinations. Only after passing the imperial examinations can they take part in the provincial examinations.

The reason why scholars are also called "shengyuan" is because of their student status.

All the students who can take part in the provincial examination are the top two talents.

People like Mr. Pan who came out to work as accountants basically gave up on continuing their studies and were not eligible to take part in the provincial examinations.

But this time it was different, because the expansion of the number of candidates in the provincial examinations was a measure launched by the imperial court to implement the tax-sharing system. In all prefectures and counties that had completed the tax-sharing reform and paid the full amount of taxes, local students could participate in the provincial examinations for the Mingfa and Mingsuan subjects as long as they had no problems with paying taxes.

Mr. Pan was a native of Yingtian Prefecture, which was the seat of the Nanjing court and had long been urged by the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue to complete the tax-sharing system. He paid taxes according to the law and easily obtained the qualification to participate in the provincial examinations, and was able to participate in the Mingfa and Mingsuan provincial examinations.

At this time, he was counting on his abacus while asking the inquiring tea drinker:

"I went to take the exam just to broaden my horizons and meet some people who like mathematics."

"Of course, there's no way someone like me can pass the exam. I didn't even finish answering all the math questions."

"You guys, stop asking around. If you want to know who will pass the imperial examination, go to Qinhuai River and ask."

"There are many more scholars there than these. They are the celebrities among the scholars."

Everyone laughed when they heard this, and some even told dirty jokes. Obviously, they also knew the nature of the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. Those who were romantic in the Qinhuai River were the real celebrities.

How could someone like Mr. Pan, who made a living by doing accounting, pass the imperial examination?

So, after talking for a while, the topic turned away from Mr. Pan and started talking about some hot topics of the day.

Ever since Zhang Pu started a newspaper in Jiangnan and stirred up a stir in Suzhou through the newspaper, newspapers, a new thing that appeared in the capital, began to be accepted by people in Jiangnan, and many teahouses and restaurants had more newspaper readers.

At this time, there were people reading newspapers in the teahouse, and some were waiting for today's new newspaper.

Soon, a newsboy came over and shouted:
"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers!"

"Mr. Ximing worked with many students to recall the test questions for the Ming Dynasty mathematics department."

"The reference answers for the Mathematics section are all in Ming Pao."

"It's only ten copper coins, everyone come and buy it!"

He quickly rushed into the teahouse and sold it to the tea drinkers.

These tea drinkers have the leisure to drink tea, so they naturally have enough money.

When they heard that there were math test questions in today's Ming Pao, they all became interested and spent money to buy the newspaper.

Obviously, these people were still somewhat curious about the Mingsuan exam, especially Mr. Pan, whom they knew, who took the Mingsuan exam.

Maybe their children will have opportunities in the future.

The one who moved faster than these people was Mr. Pan. He had just said that he was just going there to gain some experience, but when he heard the newsboy coming to sell the reference answers, he hurriedly shouted:

"Brother, give me one, give me one quickly!"

"What are you guys fighting for? There's no one at home taking the exam."

He leaned directly over the counter and reached out to grab a newspaper from the newsboy.

Then, he lay on the counter, looking at the test questions, recalling his answers, and began to estimate his scores.

However, at this time, the exam was several days away. Although he had a deep impression of the exam he had taken a few days ago, he was still unsure about a few answers. He didn't know if he would have gotten points if he had answered like this.

Seeing him thinking hard, many of the tea drinkers in the teahouse gathered around him. Someone asked curiously:
"Brother Pan, can this be calculated?"

"Why are you calculating this? You're not the one grading the papers."

Mr. Pan glanced at him and said disdainfully:
"What do you know? Mathematics is all objective questions. Right is right, wrong is wrong."

"As long as you remember the answers to all the questions, you can estimate your approximate score."

"If someone gets full marks, he or she will definitely pass the exam."

The newspaper reader also joined in the fun, pointing at the newspaper and saying:

"Pan Erge is right. It's all written in the newspaper. Mathematics is an objective test, so the score can be estimated."

"For subjects like the Mingfa and Mingjing subjects, there is nothing we can do. Even if they recall the test questions, they dare not give reference answers."

"Only students who study mathematics can estimate the approximate score."

"According to Mr. Ximing's estimation, this subject is very difficult. The score for the Ming Dynasty exam is probably around 80 points."

After explaining the contents of the newspaper to everyone, he looked at Mr. Pan and said:

"Second brother, what's your estimated score?"

“Can you get to 80 points?”

"It was reported in the newspaper that many scholars did not finish answering the questions, but that did not prevent them from passing the exam."

Mr. Pan held the pen tightly and continued to calculate again and again. After a long while, under the expectant gazes of everyone, he said somewhat dejectedly:
"Seventy-five points."

"With my score, I won't be able to pass the exam this year!"

Obviously, he had some expectations of passing the imperial examination. He thought that as an accountant, he had an advantage over many others in the subject of mathematics.

However, he underestimated the difficulty of the provincial examination, especially for those who began to study mathematics after the court opened the Mingsuan subject.

Eighty points and seventy-five points may seem to be a small difference, but in fact, they are a few difficult questions apart. After looking at the answers of Mr. Ximing Zhang Pu, Mr. Pan realized where he had gone wrong.

However, the tea drinkers present did not know this, and they all comforted Mr. Pan, thinking that seventy-five was not far from eighty. If Mr. Ximing's estimate was wrong, Mr. Pan might have passed the imperial examination.

Some even said:

"If you can't do this subject, go to the next one."

"You can score 75 this year, but you can't score 80 in three years?"

"When it comes to the next exam, I won't have to take the exam with people from other places. I will definitely pass."

This year's Nanjing Ming Law and Ming Mathematics Provincial Examinations, more precisely the Southern Provincial Examinations, allowed all areas in the South that had implemented the tax-sharing system to take the examinations.

Because of this, not many people objected to the postponement of the Jiangnan provincial examination, because students from other places needed time to travel.

This person obviously thought that there were too many students participating, which led to great competition, so he used this to comfort Mr. Pan.

However, as an examinee, Mr. Pan had communicated with many other scholars. He knew more about the inside story of this subject and shook his head:

"Although there are people from all the southern provinces coming this year, most of them are from the war-torn areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Huguang. They are allowed to attend by special permission from the imperial court."

"Most places like Jiangxi and Fujian have not yet completed the tax-sharing system, so there are very few students coming here."

"The only ones who can compete with students from Nanzhili are students from Zhejiang."

"I couldn't even pass this subject, and the number of places in the next subject will be reduced, so I have no chance at all."

The number of juren candidates in the Nanzhili provincial examination was about 150. According to the system set by the imperial court, the number of candidates for the Ming Dynasty examination was 90% of this number, or about .

Therefore, although there will be no people from other provinces participating in the next provincial examination, the number of places will be reduced, and it may be more difficult to pass.

When other people heard this, they also sighed. As locals of Nanjing, they looked down on the southwestern border areas, and some scholars even went to Yunnan and Guizhou to pretend to be locals.

But Zhejiang students cannot be ignored. Wu Shangmo, then governor of Zhejiang, was an old official promoted by the current emperor and was very enthusiastic about implementing the court's policies.

Therefore, many prefectures and counties in Zhejiang have implemented the tax-sharing system. In addition, since they are very close to Nanjing, the number of students who come to Nanjing to take part in the provincial examinations is almost as many as the local people of Nanzhili.

However, even so, half of the prefectures and counties in Zhejiang and Nanzhili combined still had not completed the tax-sharing system. The competition for this provincial examination was not great, otherwise Mr. Pan would not have tried to participate.

By the time of the next exam, the tax-sharing reform in the entire Southern Zhili will have been completed, and many people will be studying mathematics, making it even more difficult to pass the exam.

Thinking about this future, some tea drinkers sighed:

"It would be great if there were also special examinations for the provincial examinations, which would select people whose ancestors had been officials for three generations."

"Otherwise, even if we become scholars, we still cannot pass the exams better than those who have inherited farming and studying from their families."

The saying "farming and studying to pass on the family tradition" is simple to say, but it is out of reach for most families.

Take Mr. Pan for example. It was rare for his generation to be able to support him to study, and now he has to go out to find a job.

If his children of the next generation are not talented enough, they will not be able to pass the exams as well as those who have been studying all the time.

Not to mention that those people have various examination skills passed down from their ancestors. How can people with commoner ancestors compare with them?

As long as they think of this, many people will thank the current emperor from the bottom of their hearts. They think that the current emperor is a good emperor who cares about the common people by setting up special examinations for people whose ancestors have been commoners for three generations.

The same is true for Mr. Pan, so he hopes to pass the imperial examination. In this way, he, whose ancestors have been commoners for generations, has a good chance of passing the imperial examination.

However, he was not optimistic about the addition of special examinations to the provincial examinations, and said to everyone:
"The special examinations set up by the imperial court are the Mingjing examination and the Mingshu examination."

"There is no need to add the Mingjing section to the provincial examination, because the previous provincial examination questions were already considered the Mingjing section, and the top candidate was called the Five Classics Champion."

"It's even more impossible to pass the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty. Who can pass the imperial examination with bad calligraphy? Many people say that the Ming Dynasty exam should be cancelled and the quota should be allocated to other subjects."

"As for the special examination, it is impossible to add a new provincial examination. Even the special examination for the imperial examination has many people criticizing it, saying that the candidates should be from noble families."

Many people were silent after hearing these words. Apparently, they also realized that the emperor was under pressure from many officials when he established the special examination.

If the current emperor had not eliminated the eunuch party and pacified She'an after ascending the throne, and had not been another powerful emperor after Emperor Jiajing, it is estimated that even the Mingjing exam would have been cancelled, and the entire imperial examination would have been in jeopardy.

Therefore, if they wanted to pass the imperial examination, they could not rely on their status. They could only work hard to become an imperial scholar and get the opportunity to take the imperial examination.

At this time someone asked:

"Brother Pan, you said that the provincial examination now has three subjects: Mingjing, Mingfa, and Mingsuan."

"We civilians can't possibly have the energy to study three subjects, so which subject do we stand a chance in?"

"Is the mathematics subject too difficult and not suitable for us common people?"

Mr. Pan was silent for a while, and then he said:

"You'll have a better chance in math, as the exam is the most objective."

"When taking the Ming Suan exam, you don't need to figure out the examiner's preferences, and you don't need to worry about any taboos in the exam."

"Math questions are correct if they are right or wrong if they are wrong. They are all objective questions in the exam."

"If you want to have a chance, you still have to take the math exam."

"Now I just hope that there will be a math exam for the scholar exam."

As he spoke, he recounted the process of how he passed the examination for a scholar. It was really a journey of great difficulty, and he missed so many opportunities.

Many times, he was rejected directly because he did not meet the examiner's expectations. He was lucky enough to become a scholar in his thirties because he met the examiner's expectations by chance during an exam.

Because he knew his own abilities, he never thought about taking the imperial examination. If he had not learned a lot of arithmetic while keeping accounts, he would not have taken part in the provincial examination for the Ming Dynasty arithmetic subject.

The experience of participating in the provincial examination made him believe that the mathematics subject was a bright future for common people, and that he could get a chance to rise to the top without having to figure out any of those things.

Therefore, he decided to work hard on arithmetic and let his son learn it too. Even if he failed the exam in the future, he could still make a living by using arithmetic.

Thinking of this, he looked up the news about the accountant, tax accountant and auditor examinations published in the "Beijing News" some time ago, and planned to take the exams when he had time and obtain the professional qualification certificates for these professions.

These are the professions established by the current emperor for students of mathematics. Just like the lawyers and attorneys for students of law, they can guarantee their livelihood.

The Pan family also wanted to learn from the farming and reading families, and use a career passed down from generation to generation to train their descendants to participate in the imperial examinations.

Mathematical families in Jiangnan have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. Many ordinary people who have no connections but have read some books regard Ming Suan as an opportunity to change their fate. (End of this chapter)