A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 986 Daxia students, civil and military scholars, the third-level imperial examination has a true master

The establishment of the National Academy and the Imperial Academy was for the purpose of selecting talents for the country.

Corresponding to this is a complex system of imperial examinations, talent selection, official selection, and review.

This is a huge system of academic officials, which includes the National Academy, Imperial Academy, State Academy, and County Academy under the Imperial College itself.

It also requires cooperation from other ministries and departments, from the central to local levels, and from the official to the private sector.

For example, the three provinces and six ministries, the nine ministers, the clan court, local prefecture and county government offices, talented people in the society, etc.

At the central level, take the National Academy and the Imperial University as examples.

The students of the national school mainly come from outstanding students in local county schools. They are recommended by local school officials, jointly investigated by the Imperial College, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Rites, and selected by the National Academy and the Imperial College. After completing these three steps, they can be admitted.

The students of the Imperial College mainly came from the children of officials above the seventh rank, as well as the children of nobles.

The admission steps are as follows: First, go to the Imperial College to register for the annual entrance examination held by the Imperial College;

The second step was to send specialists from the Ministry of Personnel’s Honors and Honors Department, the Ministry of Clan Affairs’ Enfeoffments Department, and the Imperial Academy’s Student Inspection Department to conduct a joint investigation.

The third step is to take part in and pass the Imperial College entrance examination.

After following these three steps, you can enter the Imperial College and become a student.

The students of Guoxue and Taixue had a privilege, which was that they could participate in the official selection examinations organized every year by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War specifically for the two schools.

Those who pass the test can be directly granted official or military positions without going through the imperial examination.

But the number of places available for the second part each year is not many, at most twenty or thirty.

At the local level, take state schools and county schools as examples.

Daxia also implemented the imperial examination system, but it was different from that during the Northern Xia, Sui, and Tang dynasties.

During the first three periods, as long as one believed that he had ability, or had a reputation in the local area or talent, and was recommended by someone above, he could first take part in the local examination and then go directly to Beijing to take part in the spring examination.

Or more specially, with the help of local aristocratic families and the guarantee and recommendation of officials of the fifth rank or above, one can directly take part in the spring examination without going through the provincial examination.

After passing the spring examination, he was selected by the Ministry of Personnel and was granted an official position. This is how he made the leap from a fish to a dragon, with his name known throughout the world overnight.

But it was different in Daxia. After discussion between Bai Jian and his ministers, they decided to implement a three-level imperial examination system in Daxia.

The first one was the 'Tongsheng Examination', also known as the 'Yuan Examination', held by local prefectures and counties.

It is held once a year. Anyone with a local native place can take the exam in the local prefecture or county, regardless of their native place, including "agricultural", "merchant", "artisan" or "military household", collectively referred to as "civilian".

Those who pass the test can enter the official academies in the prefecture and county, temporarily shed their original civilian status, and enter the academy's "student status" for a period of three years, officially becoming a student. This is the first step.

Students who enter state schools and county schools can enter colleges for systematic studies.

Both of them can enjoy the tax exemption policy granted by the state within three years. These exemptions from taxes and labor service can fully support a person's full-time study.

The second time, it was presided over by officials from the central Ministry of Rites or a specialist sent by the Imperial College.

The questions were set by the academic officials of the joint conference of the imperial examination departments, and the documents were sealed and escorted by the imperial guards to the location where they were located. It was a national examination held by the academic officials of the state and county, called the "provincial examination", and was held every three years.

Students who passed the provincial examination were eligible to take the imperial examination in the capital, also known as the "Spring Examination" or the "Metropolitan Examination", which was held every three years.

National and Imperial College students can skip the college and provincial examinations and directly participate in the joint examinations, because the original entrance examinations for the second school are equivalent to the joint examinations. Those who pass the provincial examinations and get the qualification for the joint examinations can prepare and go to the capital Kaifeng in advance to participate in the joint examinations held every three years.

But there are exceptions. In order to prevent an emergency shortage of talent, Baijian deliberately added the "Enke" to it. That is, the emperor issued an edict to hold the "joint examination" of the year immediately regardless of time to show the shortage of talent in the country.

Those who passed the provincial examination could be called "scholars", and their status would change from "student status" of the academy to "scholar status" which was second only to "official status", and they would completely get rid of their "civilian status".

Once one is listed as a "scholar", in addition to being able to take part in the imperial examinations held by the court at any time, one can also take part in the civil servant recruitment examinations held within the government offices of prefectures, states and counties, and one does not have to bow to an official when meeting him, becoming a "scholar" second only to the officials.

They could formally call themselves scholars, those who studied literature were called literati, and those who studied martial arts were called warriors. Warriors had another selection system that ran parallel to the "civil examinations," called the "military examinations."

Because in Daxia, there are not only the "civilian households" of ordinary people, but also the "military households" where the governor's area is located.

The candidates for the military examination came from students in various counties and prefectures, military households designated within the governor's area, and children of officers of the fifth rank and above.

Like the provincial examination, those who passed the military examination held in the governor's district were still called "scholars", but they called themselves warriors to distinguish themselves from the literati who took the orthodox imperial examinations.

Therefore, students from prefectures and counties could not only take part in the civil examinations, but also participate in the military examinations held by local governorates together with military households.

Therefore, entering a state or county school has become the dream of many people.

After passing the military examination, one can be granted a military rank and become the lowest-level officer after review and simple examination by the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office.

However, one can also choose not to enter the imperial court and become an opposition warrior.

Scholars were exempt from military service for life, had 50 mu of tax-free land, and enjoyed certain privileges, but they still had to pay other taxes as usual.

The scholars were a special emerging class who enjoyed basic freedoms like the citizens of the city.

They were scholars in the wild and officials in the court. They were officers in the military and civil servants in the government.

It is worth mentioning that once students enter the National Academy or the Imperial College, they can directly become scholars, even if they have not passed the imperial examination.

After graduating from the second school, one still retains the "scholar status".

The scholar class became a group of giants between officials and the people. They were created by the Bai family to replace the aristocratic families and serve as the cornerstone for governing the people.

They are skilled, large, and scattered. They are not as organized as the aristocratic families and are difficult to control.

According to Bai Jian's prediction, Daxia will use the college system and the governor's district as its right and left hands to manage this huge class well and bring it into the scope of order.

As long as the core of Daxia does not collapse and the Bai family does not destroy themselves, the scholars will be the most loyal group of people. Together with the nobles, they will become assistants in maintaining Daxia and the rule of the Bai family.

In Bai Jian's vision, officials, scholars, nobles and common people will become the four important classes in Daxia, replacing the previous three parties of common people, aristocratic families and imperial power.

The King of Xia in later generations only needs to maintain a good balance between these four groups in order to allow Great Xia to move forward steadily.

Because the royal family is included in the noble class, this means that the future emperor of Daxia will be born into the royal family.

With the power of one person, you can create your own opinion; with the power of all parties, you can control all directions.

He no longer needs to worry about specific political affairs. He only needs to strike a balance and be a fair person, and he can rule the country well.

This is what Bai Jian thought out from the book "Xujun" by his ancestors Bai Qing and Bai Jing.

The system of nominal monarchs is not true because they have a name but no power. It is true that they have no power in name but have power in reality. This is called a nominal monarch, and it is also called a true monarch.

(End of this chapter)