Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 262 Imperial Examination

Tao Luzhuo strolled through Jinling City and saw shops lining both sides of the street, bustling with people and traffic, a prosperous scene. There were many pedestrians, a wide variety of goods, and the voices of vendors hawking their wares one after another.

Passing by the Qinhuai River, painted boats shuttled back and forth, melodious singing, countless beauties, and scholars stood on the bows, some reciting poems and composing couplets, while others lamented that they were born in troubled times. Tao Luzhuo took a deep breath. Compared with the wars in other parts of the world, the city of Jinling today seemed to be in its heyday.

Tao Luzhuo was in a depressed mood and stayed in Jinling City for three months. Rice was expensive in Jinling and it was difficult to live there. However, the Tao family was a famous gentry family in Shaoxing City, so Tao Luzhuo didn't care about this expense. What bothered him was that the current shogunate was no longer the former governor's office, and it was very difficult to join it to serve King Zhou and do his part to restore the country.

As far as Tao Luzhuo knew, there were no less than forty or fifty gentry sons who were looking for ways out in the city of Jinling, not to mention that there were many people he was not familiar with, probably more than hundreds of them. The King of Zhou occupied the wealthy land in the southeast, and his foundation was already solid, not to mention that he defeated Jin Shenghuan and took over the land of Gan. Now everyone knew about it, and everyone wanted to join in and get on the express ship of following the dragon.

Tao Luzhuo pondered for several days and thought that since it was difficult to seek a direct way to join the shogunate, he might as well advise King Zhou to hold imperial examinations to recruit scholars. After the Qing court entered the pass, the emperors of the Southern Ming Dynasty all tried to hold imperial examinations to recruit scholars, but unfortunately it was intermittent. For example, the Hongguang Emperor was overthrown only one year after he ascended the throne. Longwu and Shaowu both held imperial examinations, but on the one hand, they were far away from Jiangnan and it was not easy for scholars to travel there. The most important thing was that Longwu and Shaowu did not exist for long.

The Qing court attached great importance to the imperial examinations. As soon as it entered the Pass, it announced the opening of the imperial examinations in the edict of succession and announced the dates of the provincial and metropolitan examinations. The reason why it announced the opening of the imperial examinations so eagerly was that the Qing court urgently needed to win over the Han scholars in the hope of eliminating the people's resistance to the Qing rule as soon as possible.

At that time, Zhang Cunren wrote to the emperor, saying, "Recently, some people have used shaving their heads to rebel against the government. If the rebellious behavior is exposed, we must mobilize troops everywhere to suppress them. I think a way to save the military effort is to quickly send the governor to hold an imperial examination to recruit scholars. This way, scholars will have the hope of becoming officials, and the idea of rebelling will subside."

After the Qing army conquered Nanjing, Fan Wencheng wrote in a letter: "To govern the world, one must win the hearts of the people. Scholars are the best people. If the hearts of scholars are won, the hearts of the people will be won." Therefore, the Qing court adopted the suggestions of Zhang Cunren and Fan Wencheng, and held imperial examinations to recruit scholars in an attempt to win over scholars from all over the world. However, the policy of shaving the head and changing clothes was too lethal. At this time, if scholars from the Jiangnan region went to the north to take part in the imperial examinations, they would be despised by their classmates and friends.

Tao Luzhuo had some suggestions and wanted to offer them to King Zhou, hoping that he would start the imperial examination to select talents. Unfortunately, he had no way to do so, so he had to wander around Jinling City, asking for information and seeking introductions. One day, he met an old man, and the two of them had a pleasant conversation. After hearing Tao Luzhuo's suggestions, the old man agreed with them.

This old man is Zhang Zhe, who now works in the Commercial Affairs Department of the shogunate. Zhang Zhe had never imagined that Meng Jun, who used to start a rebellion against the Qing Dynasty from a mere baggage camp, would now become the King of Zhou, with more than ten thousand soldiers and a dominant position. If Zhang Zhe had not watched Meng Jun's rise step by step, he would never have dared to believe it was true.

He looked at Tao Luzhuo and said, "Ansheng (Tao's name) you don't know, the king has a lot of political and military affairs, and he never easily receives guests unless it's a major event. But what you are talking about is a major event, I can introduce you to someone."

Tao Luzhuo was shocked when he heard this and asked, "Who is the old gentleman?"

"My surname is Zhang, my name is Zhuo, my courtesy name is Yuanye, and my nickname is Yuyang Jushi"

"Could it be the Zhang family, the hero who helped the king enter Suzhou in the past?" Tao Luzhuo saw Zhang nodded after he finished speaking, and then said with tears of gratitude: "Thank you, Mr. Zhang."

Zhang nodded with a smile on his face, then led him to the palace, ready to introduce him to Meng Jun. Unfortunately, Meng Jun was not in the palace at that time. He was in the military camp observing the training of soldiers.

Zhang Zhuo led Tao Luzhuo to the palace, but was told that the prince was in the military camp. He had no choice but to let Tao Luzhuo wait for a while. Tao Luzhuo was anxious, but still waited patiently.

The army is the capital for survival in today's world. Although Meng Jun is busy with government affairs, he must enter the military camp every few days so that the soldiers can see him from time to time. At this time, there are Qian Biao's troops, the Po Lu Army, and the Heavy Armor Army in the military camp. Although the number of people is not large, they are all elite troops.

On the parade ground, soldiers were seen wearing armor, holding spears, shields, or long swords, standing in formation. As the drums sounded, the soldiers marched in step with consistent movements. Archers drew their bows and shot arrows like locusts. The infantry waved their spears, and at the commands, the soldiers marched in an orderly manner and cooperated tacitly. When Meng Jun saw this scene, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. After several years of actual combat and training, the Zhou army is no longer the rookie it used to be.

It was not until the evening that Meng Jun returned. Seeing Zhang standing at the gate of the mansion, he was very surprised and asked, "Why is Mr. Zhang standing at the gate of the mansion? Why doesn't he go inside and sit down?"

Zhang Zhuo hurriedly bowed and said, "I am not worthy of the king's kindness. Today, someone wants to introduce me to the king." After that, he motioned Tao Luzhuo next to him to come forward.

Tao Luzhuo bowed deeply and said, "I am Tao Luzhuo, courtesy name Ansheng, and I am here to meet the king. I have a plan that I would like to present to the king!"

Meng Jun smiled after hearing this and said, "Please go ahead. I'd like to hear the details."

Tao Luzhuo then talked about the imperial examinations, saying: "The imperial examinations are the foundation of the country and cannot be abolished. The imperial court is far away in the west and cannot hold the imperial examinations. The imperial examinations of the northern barbarian courts are something that we scholars despise. How many young people study hard in the cold windows but cannot boast of their fame on the streets? I, a student, dare to make a suggestion and hope that Your Majesty can hold imperial examinations to recruit scholars and gather talents."

Meng Jun was a little hesitant when he heard this. Although he had never heard the words of the Ming emperor, he was still under the banner of the Ming Dynasty. If he held an imperial examination now, would it be inappropriate? Then he nodded, looked at Tao Luzhuo and said, "Well, I understand."

Meng Jun then immediately summoned Yang En, Gu Yanwu, Wu Tai and others to discuss the matter. Gu Yanwu and Wu Tai both agreed with the proposal, but Yang En was also a little hesitant. His concerns were the same as Meng Jun's. Yang En said, "If we hold an imperial examination to recruit scholars, Emperor Yongli and his ministers will definitely regard us as enemies. If they issue an edict saying that Your Majesty is a usurper, it may damage Your Majesty's reputation."

Gu Yanwu thought for a while and said to Yang Enyan, "Then why don't we use the name of imperial examinations, but the name of selection to enrich the shogunate?"

Yang En was a little hesitant. Changing the name was just a change of name, but the substance remained the same. Meng Jun saw this and made a decision immediately. He said, "We can only get by now. The imperial court has fled to the southwest. It's hard for us to save ourselves." After saying this, Meng Jun immediately gave orders to prepare for the imperial examination and ordered the Wutai Propaganda Department to spread the news that the shogunate was about to hold an examination to select talents to all directions.