The eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the year of Gengchen and the Dragon.
If you look at it from a global perspective, the number one world news this year should be the formation of a common monarchy between Spain and Portugal. That is King Philip of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon (together, it is Spain in the usual sense) II, taking advantage of Portugal's succession crisis after King Sebastian I died in the War of the Three Kings against Morocco, he annexed Portugal this year (and concurrently served as King of Portugal), effectively unifying the Iberian Peninsula.
The most obvious result of the merger of Spain and Portugal was the emergence of the world's largest colonial empire. At this moment, the Atlantic system from Europe to the Americas and the Indian and Pacific systems from Europe around Africa to Asia were politically integrated. .In short, the sixteenth century witnessed the creation, construction and monopoly of the Atlantic Rim system by Iberia, especially Spain.
Of course, this has nothing to do with the high pragmatism at this time. If we have to break it down, it is probably because Portugal began to use the power of Spain to strengthen its colonial development in the Spice Islands (roughly speaking, Indonesia), and Spain also Instead, relying on Portugal's colonial foundation in Asia, it began to enter the Luzon Islands (roughly speaking, the Philippines).
The Nanyang region, including Luzon, is the "Pan-Greater China sphere of influence" that Gao Pragmatic has already decided on, so the main impact of the Spanish-Portuguese merger on him is that there may be one more "Nanyang" in the future (perhaps still need to be calculated Two, because the internal conflicts of the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires were very serious, and they were not legally merged, they were just powerful maritime competitors in the nature of a common monarchy and a federation.
However, Gao Jingshi is not in a hurry. Nanyang is the doorstep of the Ming Dynasty. As long as the Ming Dynasty comes to its senses, Gao Jingshi feels that after the New Deal reforms, he can still compete with the Spanish and Portuguese Empire in this region. First Of course, it was to bully others into staying far away from home. The second reason was because eight years later, the Spanish-Portuguese combined fleet-the Armada would be defeated miserably by England.
Although Spain was at its peak moment at this time, even the first defeat of the Armada did not dampen Spain's vitality. In the second to third years, Spain once again built a more powerful Armada ( Wufeng's note: For details, see Geoffrey Parker's "The Grand Strategy of Philip II", as well as "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Era of Philip II", "Spain Portugal: The Rise and Fall of an Empire" and other works), but so far Spain The empire was caught in a long-term maritime tug-of-war with England (the Netherlands would be added later). Later, due to a series of wars such as the Dutch Independence War and the Thirty Years' War, Spain's vitality was severely damaged, both on land and at sea. , by 1640, not to mention that the Netherlands was not saved, even Portugal became independent.
Therefore, the highly pragmatic Nanyang strategy is still very stable and is being advanced step by step in an orderly manner according to the predetermined plan.
At the end of last year, he obtained official ports in Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou through transactions with the Ministry of Industry. Now he is trying to find ways to further expand the ports and improve operations. At the same time, he has also begun to recruit a large number of ocean-going shipbuilding craftsmen (actually it is not that far away, basically He has sailors who have traveled to Nanyang and other talents related to Nanyang maritime trade, and is planning to establish the first Jinghua Shipyard in the south... In short, he is relying on his youth and not being in a hurry.
The overall situation of the world has little influence on Gao pragmatism, but when it comes to domestic matters, Gao pragmatism is very concerned about it and takes it very seriously.
That is the Gengchen Spring Festival this year.
The Ming Dynasty is a society that attaches great importance to academic titles since the introduction of tribute examinations. It attaches great importance to family background and qualifications. The distinction between A and B rankings is very clear. In the eyes of the world, there is a huge difference in the net worth of Jinshi and Juren.
Especially after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, everything was focused on the imperial examination, and everything was based on family background and qualifications. Although Jinshi is the same path, promotion, and tribute are the same path, all are correct paths, but in fact, when used, Gongsheng is not as good as Juren, and Juren is not as good as Jinshi. Therefore, there is a popular proverb among the people: "A person who has an empty cylinder will be promoted, and a person who does not have an empty cylinder will be a Jinshi."
High-ranking officials and important positions cannot be held by non-Jinshi scholars.
Since Li Xian's memorial in the second year of Tianshun (1458), the editors specially selected Jinshi. From then on, non-Hanlin officials were not allowed to join the cabinet. The Minister of Rites of the North and South, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Official Affairs, and the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Official Affairs were all non-Hanlin officials. The common people must be Jinshi After the examination and selection, when the Shujishi began to enter, they were already regarded as "preserver prime minister" by the government and the public.
It is precisely because once a person is promoted to high school and becomes a scholar, he can be released as an official. In the court, he has to be appointed as a censor, and he is in charge of the affairs. , magistrate of the county, and appoint a top leader at the county level, who is powerful and has an unlimited future. Even the ministers, ministers, cabinet ministers, etc. are all from them. Therefore, the Jinshi's worth is a hundred times higher, which is far from being comparable to that of the general public.
When ordinary people call Jinshi, they always add the word "Master" after it. There is no one who calls him Jinshi alone, which is one of the clear proofs.
If a scholar becomes a Jinshi in the first place, even if he does not become an official, or returns home after becoming an official, or even voluntarily resigns, he will automatically become a local celebrity when he returns to his hometown. No matter where the Jinshi is registered, no matter where he is an official, if he is married in his hometown, For funerals and other matters, the magistrate will send someone to deliver gifts. If the Jinshi's family is in the county, the magistrate will often be present in person; if it is in the countryside, the county magistrate, chief registrar, and instructor will also be sent to do it. All local gentry who are born in the second-ranking Jinshi must see Governors and governors can use name posts to resist the ceremony, but this cannot be done for candidates.
If these are just social status, then the gap in earning ability is even greater.
If you win the imperial examination, you can get rid of poverty, and if you win the Jinshi, you can become rich. According to Gao Pragmatic's understanding over the years, a private school teacher needs to study fifty taels a year to maintain his family's life in Beijing for one year (the standard for scholars). Not a student studying abroad. A new Jinshi who becomes an official in Beijing will spend at least one hundred taels of silver a year, usually about three hundred li, and it is not uncommon to spend even more than six hundred or seven hundred taels. However, many of them are originally from Coming from a poor family with meager financial resources, how could he get so much money?
In fact, since high school, these new scholars have been paid for their carriages, horses, followers, clothes, utensils, food and drinks. Even if they are not officials, there are people who come to flatter them with money and houses. Because as long as they rely on this person Mr. Jinshi is like leaning against a big tree that provides shade.
For example, if a businessman commits a crime and goes to the Yamen to plead for mercy, he may not be able to do it even if he spends a thousand taels. But if a Jinshi master can help him, he can solve the problem with a piece of paper two fingers wide.
The test that determines whether a person can leap over the dragon's gate is the ability test.
In the Ming Dynasty, those who were elected to take the examination of the Ministry of Rites in Beijing were called the Huizhen, which means centralized examination. The Huixi examination is scheduled to be held every three years, and is held in the year of the rural examination. Since the provincial examinations are all in the Zi, Wu, Mao, and You years
Therefore, the examinations are held in Chen, Xu, Chou, and the last year of the year. The rural examinations are usually held in August, while the examinations are held in February.
Similar to the method of the provincial examination, the first test is taken on the ninth day of the month, the second test is taken three days later, and the third test is taken three days later.
Since the examination was presided over by the Ministry of Rites, the location of the examination was of course the Gongyuan of the capital—in Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty, and in Beijing thirteen years after Yongle.
The examinations in the Ming Dynasty were different from those in the Song Dynasty. Anyone who passed the provincial examinations could take part in the examinations indefinitely. This would save scholars a lot of trouble, waste less effort, and waste less money. But at the same time,
It has also caused some problems, the most important of which is the extremely large number of people taking the exam.
In fact, as early as the first year of Zhengtong and the first year of Hongzhi, the imperial court twice stipulated that candidates who failed to pass the examination three times were not allowed to take the examination again. However, because this move ruined the future of most candidates and made it difficult to carry out, they did not insist on it.
After a while, the imperial court couldn't bear the pressure and canceled it.
Therefore, just after the Spring Festival, a large number of candidates came to the capital to take the exam. Although it was impossible for Gao Pragmatic to send people to count them, he estimated that there were at least tens of thousands.
But now, these tens of thousands of candidates are waiting for one thing, waiting for the emperor to announce the chief examiner and deputy examiner for this examination.