Thief Emperor

Chapter 490 The first group of people to be eliminated!

Although there were imperial examinations during this era, the existence of the recommendation system meant that the aristocratic families were still in a superior position.

But if Li Yun could reproduce the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty in this era, he would really become a guiding star for all scholars, especially those from poor families or even farming families.

After all, during the Ming Dynasty, the ruling class had changed from aristocratic families to gentry landlords, and gentry landlords did not need any high-ranking background, they only needed to be able to read to succeed.

Of course, such a system also caused various problems in the late Ming Dynasty.

However, Li Yun did not take the eight-legged essay test and focused more on practical matters. Relatively speaking, he did not restrict his thoughts much.

Although doing so may cause bigger and more serious problems many years later, Li Yun believes that even if problems arise, they will be beneficial to the country.

Li Yun does not want to interfere, nor does he have the ability to interfere, with things that will happen a hundred or even thousands of years later. He only focuses on the present.

After hearing what Du Qian said, Li Yun smiled and said, "Brother Shouyi, you come from a wealthy family. You may not like to hear some of my words, but I have always believed that people should not be defined by class from birth."

"Even if most people are like this, at least... at least some space should be left, so that some people can come up, and those who are not worthy of the position can go down."

Du Qian was silent for a while after hearing this, then sighed and said, "The Jingzhao Du family may not be considered a noble family now."

Li Yun looked at him and said softly, "If our business succeeds, Brother Shouyi will have the ability to rebuild the Du family."

In the past, Li Yun would deliberately avoid the issue of unifying the world, as he always felt that this was too far away. If he kept thinking about this unrealistic thing, it would be a bit impractical.

But now, he no longer avoids this issue, and has even begun to make some advance preparations for this matter, such as the issue of the Jinling Literary Meeting this time.

In fact, if his small Jiangdong court was established and various systems were gradually improved and perfected, when the day came when his great cause was accomplished, he could smoothly expand this small court into a large court.

The reason for this change is that... even someone as down-to-earth as Li Yun has to admit that he is not too far away from the throne.

It can even be said to be just one step away.

Although this last step requires defeating many colleagues and is more difficult than all the previous steps combined, the imperial throne is indeed right in front of Li Yun.

Du Qian did not respond, but looked down at the documents in his hand and said, "There are still two subjects, the ritual and civil service, that have not been decided. I have nothing else to do today, so let's work with the Lord to draft the questions."

"The topic of the ritual subject is more about the ritual and music system."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and continued, "The civil service exam will test some classics and questions about the official system."

"What do you think, Lord?"

Li Yun smiled and said, "I am not a well-educated person, so I can answer some practical questions. But I am a little nervous about these two subjects, so I will leave it to Brother Shouyi to answer."

"Starting tomorrow, let these 300 people register for different subjects. They can take one subject or all seven subjects at once."

"it is good."

Du Qian nodded slowly: "I will take responsibility for this matter."

…………

Starting from the next day, the group of talented scholars who were arranged to live together in Jinling received a notice issued by the Jinling government office, which clearly stated the content of the competition in this literary gathering.

The subjects of the seven subjects are also stated.

At the end of the notice, this sentence was directly written.

"Today, the world is in turmoil. The Ministry of Personnel of the imperial court has been without clerks for a long time. Many positions in Jiangnan are vacant. Now the Li Mansion is holding a public literary meeting and issuing a list of candidates. The winners of the seven subjects can be selected according to their results in each subject to become officials."

These few simple lines immediately caused an uproar among these scholars.

At this time, most of them lived in the existing guild hall in Jinling City, but the guild hall could not accommodate so many people at once. Some of them were arranged to live in inns near the guild hall, but most of them still lived in the guild hall. After seeing this notice, they immediately started talking about it.

There was an older scholar, about forty years old, who tore off the notice posted on the pillar, looked at the scholars, and shouted angrily: "Li, Li, Hu, Xing, Gong, Bing, what are these? These are the six ministries of the court!"

"What does the Jinling Literary Society want to do? What does Lord Li want to do?"

"Everyone!"

He looked at everyone and shouted, "There are people from Nanjing who want to set up six ministries in Jiangnan! This is treason!"

"If we stay, we will also be traitors!"

After saying that, he shouted loudly: "I, Zhang, don't dare to take this test. Bye!" After saying that, he turned around and went back to his room. After a while, he really packed up his things and left the guild hall.

What he said was really scary.

After all, the Great Zhou Dynasty had existed for more than 200 years, and the inertia of thinking was there. Most of the people present came to Jinling to "make friends through literature" and see the world. They had never thought about becoming officials, let alone taking part in any treason.

When he left, many people in the guild hall were so scared that they returned to their rooms, packed up their things, and were ready to leave the guild hall and Jinling.

After a while, dozens of people left the guild hall together. After running outside, they saw soldiers from Jinling Prefecture guarding the door. They bravely stepped forward and asked if they could give up participating in the literary meeting and leave Jinling.

The officers and soldiers looked at them, then stepped aside and said calmly, "Lord Li and Envoy Du have ordered that anyone who wants to leave can leave at any time."

These dozens of people then hurriedly carried their luggage and left the guild hall. They did not dare to stay in Jinling for long, and left Jinling in a hurry to return to their hometown to seek refuge.

But most people still chose to stay.

After all, Lord Li was the governor of Jiangnan appointed by the imperial court and had the power to recommend officials to the court. Now this might be the only way for them to become officials and complete class transition.

Even if there are some risks, they can't just give up like that.

Just like this, six or seven days passed in a blink of an eye. The time of the "literary meeting" was getting closer. Although some people left every day during these few days, there were still about one hundred and seventy to eighty people left. These more than one hundred people had begun to go in and out of major bookstores in Jinling, reading all kinds of books.

Two days before the imperial examination, a young man named Xu Shen was walking on the street in Jinling when he suddenly saw a middle-aged man sitting at a small stall on the side of the road, drinking by himself with a small dish in front of him.

Xu Shen didn't pay much attention to him at first, but after taking a glance at his appearance, he was suddenly startled. After thinking for a while, he walked over, sat in front of the middle-aged man, and looked at him: "Brother Zhang?"

This middle-aged man was the one who unveiled the notice that day and instigated everyone to leave. He was a middle-aged scholar who claimed to be named Zhang.

After hearing this address, he was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Little brother, what's the matter?"

Xu Shen sat opposite him, looked at him, then looked at the wine in front of him, frowned slightly and said, "Brother Zhang advised others to leave, but he stayed, what is your intention?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Lord Li is going to select officials in Jiangnan. I think three hundred people are too many, so I want to send some away in advance."

"With fewer people, my chances will be better."

Xu Shen was stunned, then looked at him deeply, and said slowly: "Brother, since you have seen through Lord Li's intentions, you still dare to disperse the students like this, aren't you afraid of angering Lord Li?"

"Those who left were either fools or cowards. There is no point in them staying. If Lord Li knew about this, he would not only not blame me, but might even thank me!"

Xu Shen looked at him and didn't speak for a long time. After a while, he asked, "Brother Zhang, what do you think the situation in the world will be like in the future?"

"how could I know?"

The middle-aged man rolled his eyes at Xu Shen, then raised his head and took a sip of wine, and said, "I am from Wuzhou, and it was originally under the rule of Lord Li. I don't know anything else, but I only know that after Lord Li arrived, there were no more bandits in Wuzhou, and the people's lives became much better."

"Today, Wuzhou City is much more prosperous than before. After I saw the notice of the Jinling Literary Society in Wuzhou, I knew that Lord Li wanted to recruit talents and select officials."

He took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "I came directly."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man looked at Xu Shen and asked, "Judging from your accent, are you from Changzhou, little brother?"

Xu Shen nodded slowly and said, "I am from Changzhou, Brother Zhang, you..."

"Good insight."

He paused, stood up, and said to the middle-aged man with a sigh, "If Jiangdong was stable in his youth, those scholars who were deceived by Brother Zhang a few days ago would probably hate Brother Zhang for the rest of their lives."

"Let them bear grudges."

The middle-aged man also stood up, put down a row of wine money on the table, looked up at Xu Shen, and grinned: "They can't find me because my last name is not Zhang."

Xu Shen was startled, then asked: "May I ask, brother..."

The middle-aged man walked away with his hands behind his back, staggering, and saying only three words.

"My last name is Yao."

(End of this chapter)