As the days progress, even though there are still several months until the college examinations at the beginning of next year, the literary talents throughout the south have a sense of urgency, and more of them are looking forward to it.
Because everyone knows that next year's imperial examination will be unprecedented, and the fate of countless people will be rewritten.
Regardless of high or low, regardless of gender, regardless of age, everyone is eligible to directly register for the academy examination, and if they pass, they can become a scholar. This is definitely the first time since ancient times.
As long as you pass the scholar examination, no matter you are a trafficker, a servant, or even a brothel prostitute, you will be re-registered by the Ministry of Rites, become a scholar who does not worship the official, and you will make decisions from now on.
Even if you want to continue to work as a servant to make a living for your master, having a certificate of scholar issued by the Ministry of Etiquette can be used to save your life at critical moments and leave at any time, without caring about the deed of betrayal in the master's hand. It is equivalent to killing a whole family.
Your destiny is in your own hands.
So in August, the Ministry of Rites issued a decree asking all states and counties to start registering students who would take the college examination next year, and the registration deadline was the end of August. The whole south was in shock.
Immediately afterwards, countless people went to the local yamen to register. Although it was just a simple registration, there was a long queue on the first day alone.
There were old men in their sixties and seventies and children as young as seven or eight in the team. There were nobles dressed in gorgeous clothes, and there were young men from common people wearing patched coarse cloth.
And as these people who seemed to be real scholars signed up in the first few days, in the next few days, the people who went to the county government office to sign up began to become special, and even a little sneaky.
With that sinister look on his face and looking around, no one would believe it. Such a person is preparing to take part in the imperial examination, so he is not afraid of laughing out loud.
These people are naturally clerks and shopkeepers in restaurants and shops, as well as some accounting clerks in wealthy families, and even ordinary servants who are literate. In order to avoid being discovered by the host, these people come quietly and even dress up before arriving.
, and some even plan to wait until the day of the imperial examination.
Because this registration is only preliminary preparation, although the government will issue a voucher to those who come to register, and they can enter the examination room directly with the voucher on the day of the imperial examination, people without a voucher can also register again and take part in the imperial examination.
The reason why the registration process starts so far in advance is that the Ministry of Rites mainly wants to know how many people will participate in next year's college examination so that they can have an idea.
After all, the emperor and the queen mother attach great importance to this examination. If something goes wrong, the Ministry of Rites will definitely be destroyed. And no one can estimate how many people will come to participate, so it is very important to check it out in advance.
Necessary.
From the beginning of August to the end of August, for a whole month, there was almost no interruption in the number of people signing up from various yamen.
In the last few days, even some boudoir ladies who usually never left the house finally came to the county government office in sedan chairs to start registration. Many of them were maids and even some ladies and concubines from wealthy families.
They all came to sign up.
There is no way, some ladies and ladies really want to take the exam to become a scholar, and some have no choice but to come.
Although it is said in this era that a woman's lack of talent is a virtue, but which man doesn't want to marry a virtuous and knowledgeable talented woman?
Your young lady is afraid of being exposed, so she doesn't take the exam. Once someone else's young lady takes the exam and gets the reputation of being a talented girl, isn't that just a shortcoming? The future husband's family will definitely not be able to compare with the young lady who has the reputation of being a talented woman.
Marrying into your husband's family also requires a higher status.
What's more, if those brothel girls are admitted as scholars, and the ladies from scholarly families don't go there and have no fame, doesn't it mean that they can't compare to those brothel girls in terms of knowledge?
So after learning that a large number of brothel girls had signed up, almost all the ladies from wealthy families couldn't sit still.
After all, according to the imperial examination explanations issued by the imperial court at the time, it was not difficult to pass the exam as a scholar. As long as you were proficient in those simple numbers, it would not be an exaggeration to describe it as a sure shot.
And those ladies in their thirties and forties were also forced. In order to compete for favor and raise their status, the restless concubines at home secretly went to register without going. If they were selected to be a scholar or even a candidate, then
Why should I be embarrassed by my relationship with my wife?
Will the master and the servants in the mansion think that he, the real wife, is not as talented and knowledgeable as those concubines?
At first, the gentlemen from wealthy families tried their best to prevent it, not wanting their wives and daughters to appear in public and take exams for scholarly examinations.
I was worried that if my daughter and my wife won the prize, I would be embarrassed if I didn't. However, as some open-minded people took the lead, and even the madam secretly went to register, these stubborn men thought about it and not only
Instead of stopping him, he encouraged his daughter, Madam, to take the exam.
There is no way, after all, it is still the fault of comparison.
Nowadays, the topic and atmosphere throughout Jiangnan is the imperial examination.
At future gatherings, not only will each of them be a scholar, their wives and concubines at home will also be scholars, but their wives are nothing and will undoubtedly be a head shorter, which will also affect the family's reputation.
Especially those scholarly families who first locked their daughters and wives in their rooms and were not allowed to go out, and then later personally took them to the county government office to register.
Some even forced them to sign up despite their wives' objections, and forced them to learn arithmetic after they came back.
What is even more extreme is that he threatens his wives and concubines, saying that if they don't study hard and fail to become a scholar, they will divorce their wives and sell them as concubines.
Obviously, no one expected that the new imperial examination would affect everyone before it officially started. The impact was unprecedented.
As Nanjing, the most prosperous city in the Ming Dynasty, the registration scene is even more shocking.
In the last few days, those darling ladies and courtesans on the banks of the Qinhuai River almost started fighting at the entrances of various government offices. The strong smell of gunpowder made all the men stay away and only dared to stay away.
Observe, don’t dare to be myopic.
Chen Yuanyuan, Li Xiangjun, Dong Xiaowan and other eight beauties of Qinhuai also disguised themselves as men and secretly signed up, planning to take the exam to become a scholar first and then directly take the liberal arts exam.
………
"Nonsense, how can you, a majestic princess of the Ming Dynasty, with a golden branch and jade leaves, be able to take the exam in the same class as those ordinary people?"
When she learned that Princess Kunxing had secretly signed up, Zhang Yan was so angry that her pretty face turned purple, and her tone was harsher than ever.
"Auntie, why can't we take the exam together? Didn't the emperor say that everyone is equal before the imperial examination, regardless of high or low, and regardless of gender. The reason why Yu'er took the exam is to support the emperor's new imperial examination and let women all over the world see it.
, even the princesses of the Ming Dynasty have to take the imperial examination with them, without any privileges. Of course, if the aunt also participates, the effect will definitely be even more..."
"Pa! 伱... you don't think you're angry enough, do you? You are really spoiled by your royal brother. It seems that your marriage can't be postponed any longer. You can't let your royal brother do it this time."
When Zhang Yan saw that she had moved all the children out and encouraged her to go too, she was so angry that her whole body trembled.
"Auntie, we are talking about the imperial examination, why do you bring it up again? If you don't want to participate, forget it. You can't stop me from participating, right? And I also wrote to the emperor and asked, and he also agreed that I would participate in the imperial examination."
Princess Kunxing was startled and hurriedly stepped forward to gently hold her back and explain softly.
"Did you really ask your imperial brother?" Zhang Yan looked at her suspiciously, obviously not believing it.
Princess Kunxing nodded quickly.
"Okay, if you want to mess around, I won't bother to care. Anyway, men and women take the exam separately, but..."
"But what?"
Seeing that she hesitated to speak, Princess Kunxing asked subconsciously.
"You can't embarrass my royal family." Zhang Yan's face straightened.
Obviously, she was not worried about Princess Kunxing's public appearance. After all, she had traveled all over Jiangnan in the past two years and called businessmen from all over the country for meetings every year. Instead, she was worried that if she failed the exam, she would ruin the royal family's face.
"Auntie, are you looking down on me too much? If it weren't for the fact that the provincial examination for the women's formal examination would be over, I could easily pass the examination for the imperial examination."
Princess Kunxing immediately understood her worries and spoke with confidence, and was even a little dissatisfied with her mother-in-law for doubting her knowledge.
"Don't be careless. You actually want to participate. Stop running around for a while. Study for a while with peace of mind and pass the examination. This way, your imperial brother's face will shine."
In fact, Zhang Yan was quite reassured by Princess Kunxing's talents, especially in arithmetic, so she nodded and softened her tone.
