My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 52: Tribute Supervisor
Shen Yikuan looked at the two people doing riddles and wanted to kick them out.

Luo Wanhua has already gotten used to it. He just does whatever Su Ze tells him to do.

Among the people present, only Xu Wei understood what Su Ze and Shen Li exchanged.

Xu Wei failed the exams for a long time, so he also studied ways to enter prison.

There are four types of students admitted to the Imperial College, namely, Jujian, Gongjian, Yinjian and Lijian.

Jujian refers to those who failed the imperial examination in Beijing and were selected by the Hanlin Academy to study at the Imperial College.

Gongjian was a local county school or provincial school that recommended outstanding talents to study at the Imperial College in the capital and Nanjing.

The Yinjian were children of powerful families who entered school with the help of their fathers.

The "Lijian" policy means buying a place as a student in the academy. When the imperial court has problems and is short of funds, the common people will pay grain to the government, and their children will be allowed to study in the academy.

Among them, the Jujian were the most talented, because they were originally Juren who were qualified for the imperial examination. They entered the prison to find a place to review their studies and prepare for the next imperial examination.

The Yinjian and Lijian were playboys, and it was they who corrupted the academic atmosphere of the Imperial College.

This tribute prison is a bit mediocre.

The original intention of the Gongjian was good, which was to select outstanding talents from the local area to go to the Imperial College and enjoy a better education.

However, as the teaching ability of the Imperial College gradually declined and local academies and private schools emerged, those ambitious scholars were no longer willing to enter the Imperial College.

The quality of the tribute students became increasingly poor. During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, in addition to the regular tribute students from each prefecture, state, and county, another tribute student was selected every three to five years, which further led to a decline in the quality of the tribute students.

Today, there are only two types of people sent as tribute from local areas.

One type is the senior students from provincial and county schools who despaired of the imperial examinations and tried to enter officialdom through the Imperial College.

One type is the poor students in provincial and county schools. Due to the deterioration of local finances, provincial and county schools in many places cannot guarantee teaching and basic food expenses. These poor students choose to enroll in the Imperial College in the two capitals. At least here they can have enough food and there are some teaching resources.

As for the children of wealthy families in county and state schools, they had long stopped attending them and did not look down upon the subsidies. They either went to academies to take classes or invited famous teachers to teach at their homes. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, county and state schools gradually declined, while academies flourished.

This was probably the situation in the Imperial Court. Shen Li was willing to use his own time to give lectures to outstanding poor scholars in the Imperial Court. This was already a very selfless act by an official.

Shen Li approached Su Ze to ask him to help him solve the problem of these tribute students' examination registration.

The Jujian were originally Juren, so they just needed to directly participate in the next joint examination.

The Yinjian and Lijian were originally there to make a living and had no need to take the imperial examinations.

But it was different for the tribute examiners. They were generally just scholars, and they had to take the provincial examination in their hometown to pass the imperial examination, which was also the examination to obtain the title of Juren.

The provincial examinations had to be taken in the provincial capital where one was born, which brought endless troubles to the tribute students.

If it is a province near the capital, it is okay, at most you will have to travel a long way. But if it is a province farther away, such as Sichuan, Guangdong and Guangxi, then it will be a real pain.

Given the transportation conditions in the Ming Dynasty, the trip back and forth to take the exam would have put half of your life at risk, and it was hard to say whether you could participate in the provincial examination properly.

If he passed the exam, he would return to the capital to take the imperial examination. If he failed, he would come back to serve his sentence in prison. The whole process would take years.

This was simply endless torture for these scholars who had already failed in the imperial examinations.

But in fact, this kind of suffering from traveling can be avoided.

The students of the Imperial College who were admitted because of their fathers' official positions could take part in the provincial examinations in Shuntian Prefecture, which was the capital area, without having to return to their hometown to take part in the provincial examinations.

In the words of later generations, there is room for policy, but whether or not you are given the policy depends on your personal energy.

So Shen Li used this matter as a bargaining chip and went to Su Ze for help.

Su Ze was silent for a moment, then continued:

"Could you please ask these students to come over so I can see them?" "Of course, I'll have someone call them over right away."

After a while, a dozen scholars dressed in coarse cloth stood in front of Su Ze.

These people walked into the Mingtang and saluted Shen Li first. Then, after seeing Xu Wei, several people also saluted quickly:

"Mr. Buncho!"

Xu Wei whispered in Su Ze's ear:

"These few have been to Dong Weng's residence."

Su Ze nodded. Judging from their respect for Xu Wei, they must be impressed by his talent.

Shen Li coughed and said:
"This is Su Hanlin from the Hanlin Academy. Your Majesty has ordered the establishment of the Yuefu New Newspaper and is selecting envoys from among our country's academies."

Hearing Su Ze's name, these students all looked at Su Ze secretly. Why was he different from the treacherous villain they had imagined?

With Shen Li and Xu Wei present, it was naturally impossible for these students to cause trouble here, but their faces were not looking good, and they were obviously unwilling to help Su Ze.

Su Ze signaled to Xu Wei, who stepped forward to test the knowledge of these students.

Xu Wei asked some basic questions about the Four Books and Five Classics. The answers of these students were quite standard and their foundation was quite solid.

Su Ze gestured to Xu Wei again, and Xu Wei cleared his throat and said:
"Su Hanlin asks you, have you ever learned the art of arithmetic and business?"

To Su Ze's surprise, these dozen or so students all raised their hands.

Shen Li whispered:

"These impoverished imperial examination officials also dreamed of becoming staff officers if they failed the imperial examinations, so they also delved into mathematics and the art of commerce."

So that's how it is. Su Ze was even more satisfied.

After Xu Wei finished his examination, one of the leading students stood up and said to Su Ze:

"Su Hanlin, you were the one testing us just now. Now it's our turn to ask questions!"

Shen Li was a little unhappy, but the young student still said:
"I am Zhang Chun, a native of Hejian Prefecture in Northern Zhili. I would like to ask Hanlin Su, if we could help the Yuefu New Newspaper collect folk songs, what benefits would it bring?"

Shen Li was about to scold him, but Su Ze took the initiative to say:
"Good question!"

"You should all know that since Your Majesty ascended the throne, he has advocated frugality. The court is facing tight budgets, and the Ministry of Revenue has also stated that they simply don't have any extra money to pay you, the envoys."

Su Ze spoke so frankly without making any promises to the students, and they all started talking about it.

"quiet!"

Shen Li's voice actually made everyone quiet down. It seemed that he had a lot of prestige among these tribute students.

Su Ze said:

"The cabinet has asked the newspaper to raise its own funds. If you can become a collection agent, we will give you ten copies of each issue of the Yuefu New Newspaper, which you can sell on your own."

Ten newspapers for no money?
Zhang Chun, who took the lead, almost laughed out loud. What's the point of giving a broken newspaper?

Just when Zhang Chun was about to mock him, Su Ze pointed at Luo Wanhua and Shen Yikuan beside him and said:
"These two are colleagues of mine. This one is Luo Xiuzhuan, this year's top scorer. The first edition of 'Yuefu Xinbao' contains his eight-part essay copied from last year's Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination."

"In the future, there will be a special page in the Yuefu New Newspaper, and Su will ask his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy to write articles for it."

As soon as Su Ze said this, the eyes of all the tribute students present became hot!

I will update it later. I am writing
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(End of this chapter)