Chapter 94 The examination begins

"Tuotuo, you continue to lead your troops to harass Xuanda and draw the Ming court's attention to Xuanda. This Khan wants to take advantage of this opportunity to capture the three guards of Doyan."

When Tutu heard that Anda was going to capture the three guards of Doyan, he could no longer suppress the excitement in his eyes.

The Three Guards of Doyan were a sharp sword hanging over the capital of the Ming court. As long as the Three Guards of Doyan were captured, the Tumed army could march south from Gubeikou without any worries and head straight to the capital of the Ming court!
Tuotuo said excitedly: "I obey the Khan's order."

Just when Anda was planning to take down the three guards of Doyan by making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, the bustling city of Beijing also welcomed the once-in-three-years Spring Examination.

The spring examinations during the Ming Dynasty were much stricter than those during the later Qing Dynasty.

The first and most obvious example is that there were very few "enke" in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty. Throughout the 300-year history of the Ming Dynasty, the number of enke did not exceed six times.

In the Qing Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty, the number of special examinations increased sharply. For example, on the anniversary of the emperor and the empress dowager's birthday, special examinations might be added to demonstrate the grace of the court.

To put it bluntly, the Qing Dynasty's move to increase the number of special examinations was actually a conspiracy to win over the Han gentry.

The temptation of this conspiracy was irresistible, so during the Qing Dynasty, the special examination alone was held a total of 26 times. This shows that the Qing rulers had already made use of the special examination to the point of being commonplace.

So much so that the last imperial examination in history was also concluded through an imperial examination.

After nearly a month, under Gao Gong's selfless guidance, Hai Rui's eight-part essays had improved significantly. Although his writing style still retained his unique "Hai style", there had been great changes in the choice of words and sentences, and it also had some of the true meaning of Hanlin articles.

It can be said that based on Hai Rui's current writing style, as long as there are no accidents, I can't say for sure if he can get first or second place, but there is still a possibility that he can get third place.

Of course, the final result still depends on the final test results.

After all, there is no standard answer for the imperial examination. Hai Rui's essay may not be acceptable to the examiners, so there is a high probability that he will be eliminated.

There were about five to six thousand candidates taking the imperial examination at the same time, but only two to three hundred could pass in the end.

Its acceptance rate hovers around 5%.

If we take into account the admission rates of previous provincial examinations and other examinations, it is no exaggeration to say that the birth of a Jinshi is one in ten thousand.

This one-in-a-million honor may be extremely important to scholars, but it does not seem to be the case for the imperial court.

After all, the imperial court would select two to three hundred Jinshi every three years. Not to mention the hundreds of first- and second-class Jinshi in the Hanlin Academy, and this does not include the Jinshi in the Censorate and the Six Imperial Censors, as well as those observing government affairs in the six ministries.

If they were included, it could be said that among the more than 2,000 Beijing officials, there were more than 1,000 Jinshi of the seventh rank alone.

Therefore, the court's view on Jinshi was probably just a routine talent recruitment like in later generations, and those recruited were all "management trainees" and "reserve cadres."

If these "management trainees" and "reserve cadres" want to stand out, they not only have to accumulate their own qualifications, but also have to compete with successful candidates from the same, previous, and later classes.

Otherwise, expecting to rise to the top quickly just by becoming a Jinshi is simply wishful thinking!
You should know that among such a large number of Jinshi, there are many unlucky Jinshi who may end up being worse off than Juren or the "lower-class" scholars who came from the Imperial Academy.

Many Jinshi who have no personal ability and the support of bigwigs can only reach the fifth rank, and at best can become a prefect. But those Jinshi who have the ability and the support of bigwigs are much more powerful.

For example, the seventh-rank censors in the Censorate are mostly tough guys who came from the Hanlin Academy.

The speed at which these people are promoted can hardly be described as unreasonable.

For example, Hu Zongxian, the famous official who fought against the Japanese invaders.

Before he took on the task of fighting against the Japanese pirates, he was an "ordinary" censor of the Censorate. Because of his rank, he had never entered the Hanlin Academy. He was just a small observer in the Ministry of Justice. Later, he was sent to be a county magistrate. After that, he mourned for more than five years due to the death of his parents.

Later, he was appointed as the Imperial Censor and Inspector of Xuanda, becoming a high-ranking censor with a low position but great power. After several years of polishing and showing his personal actual ability, he finally soared to the sky and was appointed as the Right Censor-in-Chief and Inspector of Zhejiang. After the Governor-General of Zhejiang Zhang Jing and the Governor of Zhejiang Li Tianchong were framed by him and killed one after another.

Hu Zongxian also seized the opportunity and recommended Zhao Wenhua, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, who was sent to Jiangnan to supervise coastal military affairs, to Zhejiang to offer sacrifices to the sea god. Hu Zongxian was cautious and tactful, and in the end, not only was he not obstructed by Zhao Wenhua, but he also won the latter's praise.

With Zhao Wenhua's strong recommendation, he was promoted rapidly to the positions of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and was also appointed Governor-General of Zhizhe, in charge of military affairs in Zhejiang, Nanzhili and Fujian.

It can be said that only these noble Hanlin scholars and censors have the opportunity to get such a fast promotion.

It is actually very difficult for a low-ranking official like Hai Rui, who is only a juren, to make achievements in the officialdom.

After all, in the original history, Hai Rui started out as just a low-ranking county instructor. But it was in such a position that Hai Rui relied on his personal ability and charisma to rise from this lowest official position to the third-rank Right Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, spending several decades. In the end, he was posthumously awarded the first-rank Prince Taibao.

However, such legendary experiences are relatively rare, and officials like the Hanlin Censors are not promoted as quickly as the Jinshi.

Therefore, if you want to stand out, you have to rack your brains to pass the imperial examination. Only by obtaining the status of a Jinshi can your future prospects be limitless.

Otherwise, no matter how capable he is, without exceptional promotion and appointment, a second-rank official position with real power will never be obtained by a scholar other than a Jinshi.

In order to avoid suspicion, Zhu Zaigui never met Hai Rui again after meeting him in Liulichang. Even now that the imperial examination was about to begin, Zhu Zaigui did not show up again.

Only Gao Gong came in casual clothes to escort Hai Rui into the examination room.

Before Hai Rui entered the arena, he bowed deeply to Gao Gong and said, "Hai Rui thanks you for your guidance, sir."

After more than a month of contact, Hai Rui no longer dared to call himself "I" in front of Gao Gong, because during this period of time, Gao Gong was like his teacher. He not only found many authentic papers of previous Jinshi scholars for him to study, but also helped him correct his essays, which greatly improved his eight-legged essay skills.

So now Hai Rui also performed the disciple's etiquette in front of Gao Gong in a proper manner.

Gao Gong looked at Hai Rui and stroked his beard with satisfaction. After more than a month of getting along with him, Gao Gong also liked Hai Rui's temper of hating evil, which was very much in line with him.

Gao Gong said: "You should work hard. The examiner at the moment is Mr. Zhang, who likes a balanced, elegant and graceful style of writing. You have made great progress during this period. I hope you will live up to his expectations and get a good score."

(End of this chapter)

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