Chapter 361 Scholars regret it, they shouldn't be interested in Neo Confucianism! (sixth more)

   Not long after, Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun also learned of the defeat on their side, and learned about the execution of their supervisor Gao Chongjian through the newspaper.

   This made Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun at a loss for a while.

  Because from beginning to end, they have not made any strategic preparations after victory and defeat.

   Moreover, the previous victory made them even more slack, and they focused more on the internal struggle for power.

   So much so that Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun have been fighting each other only around the imperial examination fraud case recently!

   Here's the thing.

  Wang Wenkui relied on his military power to control the government, and he also manipulated the candidates for the chief examiner of the imperial examination, and took the opportunity to ask for bribes so that the chief examiner would only admit those he was willing to admit.

   In this way, it is natural that the rich and powerful children can be ranked first.

  As for Lu Zuanzu, who came to Guangdong and the puppet dynasty to take the imperial examination only because they respected Confucianism, it was impossible to win the first place, because in fact, the admitted people had already been determined internally.

   It's just that Zhao Shichun was unwilling to let Wang Wenkui take power alone, so he used his connections to leak the news, and deliberately created public opinion, angering scholars from his faction and unranked scholars to denounce Wang Wenkui.

  For people like Lu Zuanzu, they were indeed very angry that Wang Wenkui had blasphemed the imperial examination competition.

  Because you must know that they have betrayed the real Ming court for the sake of Confucianism, and traveled thousands of miles to the south, far away from their hometown, just to be loyal to a court that respects Confucianism and abides by the ancestral system.

   As a result, the imperial court did not admit them, and it was not because they were not strong enough in stereotyped essays, but because they were not rich enough or powerful enough.

  So, Lu Zuanzu and these humble scholars are naturally very angry.

  And Wang Wenkui is not easy to completely turn against Zhao Shichun, who represents the interests of another part of the gentry.

After all, he himself is a member of the scholar-bureaucrats, not a real warrior, so after discussing with Zhao Shichun, he reached an agreement not to exclude dissidents, and was willing to give half of the quota to Zhao Shichun, so that Zhao Shichun could make a fortune, and the examiner's negligence caused the examination papers to be damaged. The chief examiner was dismissed and the secretary was beheaded on the grounds that the temporarily appointed book office stole out; and Zhao Shichun agreed not to mobilize scholars to oppose him.

  So, next, the puppet court held the imperial examination again.

  What is different this time from the last time is that not only Wang Wenkui accepted bribes to sell admission quotas, but Zhao Shichun also accepted bribes to sell admission quotas, and they communicated with each other to arrange which Jinshi to be admitted.

  These Jinshi to be admitted are naturally still the sons of gentry bureaucrats who have contributed money or have relationships with Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun.

   Naturally, this time, no one will make decisions for the scholars who were not admitted.

   Soon, Lu Zuanzu found that after taking the exam again, he, the humble scholars from the north, still failed to pass the exam.

   Lu Zuanzu had to take his Shiwen to see Zhao Shichun again.

Because when Lu Zuanzu came to see Zhao Shichun after he failed the last time, Zhao Shichun met him and praised him for his high literary attainments and the talent of the number one scholar, and severely criticized the examiner's ability to grade papers. It also gave Lu Zuanzu the confidence to denounce the unfairness of the imperial examination.

  So, Lu Zuanzu still wanted to meet Zhao Shichun after he failed this time, and let Zhao Shichun analyze and analyze why they, poor scholars from the north, still failed.

   "Get out! A group of shabby scholars, don't even look at what they are, really think they are Wenqu stars descending to earth? How dare they come to Xiangguo's mansion to ask for advice!"

  But when Lu Zuanzu and other poor scholars from the north came, they were kicked out by Zhao Shichun's slaves before they saw Zhao Shichun.

  The mansion of the cabinet ministers was often referred to as the mansion of the prime minister in this era, so this slave also called his master's mansion the mansion of the prime minister.

   Lu Zuanzu didn't expect this kind of result, and he still couldn't figure out why Zhao Shichun refused to see him now and didn't read his Shiwen himself.

   What made Lu Zuanzu even more irritating was that he also saw the imperial examination results of the Ming court in the eleventh year of the Apocalypse from the old edition of the "Da Ming Daily" newspaper that had been circulated to Guangdong.

It turned out that nearly 70% of the scholars were admitted directly after the sub-examination of the imperial examination, and the "Daming Daily" conducted an investigation on the family background of the scholars before the admission, and then found out according to the admission results that the scholars from poor backgrounds were admitted. The admission rate has reached more than 60%!

Because many common people’s families have greatly improved after nine years of reform, and the number of poor scholars who take the exam has long been higher than that of bureaucratic and rich families. In addition, admission is fair, and many bureaucratic and noble families refuse to participate in the reformed imperial examination. , Therefore, more than half of the children from poor families were admitted.

   There are even many scholars with zero scores in mathematics who are considered to be willing to abide by the results of the reform and are still selected for admission.

   This made Lu Zuanzu cry on the spot. He didn't expect that he sincerely came to surrender to the puppet court, but in the end he couldn't be an official.

Turning back, although Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun have been busy with the imperial examinations during this period, not only did they fail to open up the flow of all social classes, but even blocked more outstanding scholars from entering the upper class because of the reduction in the number of admissions, it was a waste of time. Many times, there was no timely reform of the finances and the preparation of troops.

   So now that after knowing the big defeat, Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun didn't know what to do for a while.

   "Let's recruit troops first."

  Wang Wenkui said something first.

   "But recruiting soldiers needs money, who pays the money? Officials and gentry pay food and errands together. This is something that traitors like Zhang Gui will do. Naturally, we can't do this. The gentry should be exempted."

   Zhao Shichun said.

  Wang Wenkui said: "Then we can only suffer the common people!"

  Zhao Shichun nodded.

  Because Wang Wenkui, Zhao Shichun and others set up a separate court because they opposed the reform, naturally they would not cut their flesh from the ruling class when they needed to increase fiscal expenditures, and at this time they still further squeezed ordinary Han people.

   "Emperor's decree, every family and every household will be levied an additional five per cent to suppress the salary. You wait to pay quickly, and you will sit even after the deadline!"

  For a time, the burden on the people in the area ruled by the puppet dynasty increased greatly.

  Because these officials of the puppet dynasty would also take advantage of the opportunity of raising wages to collect money and accelerate the annexation of land, this resulted in a large increase in refugees and bandits in the puppet dynasty.

The key point is that the rulers of the puppet dynasty also started to recruit strong men because of the great defeat and the serious reduction in the army, and because there were not many young and middle-aged men who could be arrested. After all, many of them had already become big family slaves because of too heavy taxes , so even many humble scholars who had no foundation were arrested.

   "What are you doing! You even want to arrest me! I am a scholar with a reputation!"

   Lu Yan's group was also arrested at this time.

   "You are not included in the government's exemption list. It seems that you have been deprived of fame, and now you are also required to serve in the military to suppress thieves. Come with us!"

  The yamen servant said accordingly.

   "Suppress what kind of thieves, you are thieves yourself!"

   Lu Yan's group was really speechless, so they cursed directly in a hurry.

Snapped!

Snapped!

  The yamen servant was furious because of this, and slapped him several times: "Presumptuous! Dare to say such rebellious words, believe it or not, I will kill you now!"

"Walk!"

  Lu Yan's group didn't dare to speak anymore, but could only cry secretly, because his hands were tied behind his back, he didn't dare to say more.

   But what he couldn't figure out was why the small southern court that restored the ancestral system and revered Zhu Zi's learning alone made his life worse. He wanted to seek fame but failed, and now he is driven to serve in the military!

  Fazheng Lu Yan group now regrets getting out.

   Now he only hopes that the Ming Dynasty's army will quickly come to quell the southern puppet dynasty and let him be free!

  He doesn't want to get any fame anymore, he just hopes that he can still be his own little landlord as before, reforming the system and paying the grain, as long as he doesn't torment himself.

   "When will Master Wang come? Woohoo!"

   After Lu Yan's group served in the rebel barracks, they knelt down by the Yangtze River holding a blunderbuss, looking north and crying.

  (end of this chapter)