After the Sui Dynasty unified the whole country, although this dynasty was short-lived, the Sui Dynasty created the most advanced official selection system in the world, which was the "imperial examination", which changed the history of the previous succession of scholars and created a path to the career path for the children of the Han Dynasty. After further reforms by the Tang Dynasty and other dynasties, the ancient imperial examination became more and more perfect. Rich or poor, young or old, as long as they are willing to study, they have the opportunity to become officials. Some people have not been admitted to the exam for a lifetime, and some people have become middle-aged scholars at a young age. Although the most typical novel describing the imperial examination system, "Fan Jin Zhongju", satirizes the imperial examination system, in ancient times, this cadre selection policy was still advanced, and it laid a contribution to the development of ancient dynasties.
The Song people moved south
The famous poem "Li Xue" of the third emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, Song Zhenzong, has three sentences: "There are thousands of bells in the book, there is a golden house in the book, and there is a Yan Ruyu in the book", these three poems have a great encouragement to the students of the Song Dynasty, so that people know that as long as they study well, not only will they be promoted to the rank and get rich, but they can even honor their ancestors and wives and concubines. It has attracted people all over the world to regard the imperial examination as a major event in life.
During the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination system was already different from that of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and there was great development in both ways and means. During the Song Dynasty, the most common examination in the imperial examination was in the southeast coastal area, mostly in Fujian. According to the "History of Song Geography": "Multi-directional learning, happy to preach, good for the text, especially the Dengkedi." According to statistics, in the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, there were more than 28,000 jinshi, and there were more than 7,000 Fujian jinshi alone, accounting for nearly a quarter. It can be seen that the Fujian people were a big household in the Song Dynasty.
According to records, in the eighth year of shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1138), the Fujian people made history in this year. This year's imperial examination, the Song people moved south, by the Hanlin Academy of bachelor Zhu Zhen main examination, a total of 293 jinshi, in the final ranking, the top three are Fujian people, the first Huang Gongdu, is Fujian Putian people, the second Chen Junqing is also Putian people, the third name Chen Xiu is a Fuzhou person. Fujian people win the top three.
The temple test directly sent the concubine
Emperor Gaozong of Song was busy moving the capital to Lin'an at this time, and in the face of the suppression of the Jin Dynasty, Zhao Shuo negotiated peace with the Jin people and did not have time to take care of these candidates, so he canceled the temple examination. However, after the list was published, Song Gaozong still became interested in this group of candidates, because three Fujianese accounted for the top three. Zhao Zhuo was busy sneaking around to see the three of them.
The first to receive the first and second places, Zhao Zhuo asked Huang Gongdu and Chen Junqing: "Qing Tu He Qi?" "You Putian people in Fujian are very cattle, what is so peculiar about it?" Huang Gongdu first replied: "Phi Jin Huang Que Mei, Tong Yin Zi Fish Fat." It was good to say that the hometown specialties were good. Chen Junqing was originally grumpy about the second place, and he said: "The ground is thin and planted with pine cypress, and the poor son of the family reads." Zhao Zhuo listened to what Chen Junqing said and praised: "The public degree is not as good as Junqing, and Chen Junqing should be the champion." ”
After receiving Zhuangyuan and Bangyan, Zhao Shuo then received Chen Xiu. When Chen Xiu stood in front of Zhao Shuo, he couldn't imagine that the old man in front of him was actually Tanhua. According to historical records, the reason why Chen Xiu was able to pass the list was also related to his decades of reading, and he was so focused on reading that he did not even marry his wife. However, chen Xiu wrote an article on strategic conception in connection with the Song people's southern crossing and the occupation of northern land. In particular, there is a sentence: "The golden causeway of the Green Ridge will not return to the soil of the Guanglun Wheel every day; Taishan Jade, when will the dust of Zen be cleared" Let people see both empathy and confidence in the future recovery of lost land. In particular, Zhao Zhuo admired it.
In Zhao Zhao's eyes, the person who wrote this article must be a heroic talent, but he did not expect an old man with white hair and beard. Zhao Asked Chen Xiu how old he was, and Chen Xiu said that he was 73 years old, but he was actually 72 years old.
Zhao Zhuo thought that Chen Xiu was so old, the child should be very large, and when he asked, he realized that he had not even married his wife. In the face of the candidate in front of him who wrote his heart's words, Zhao Zhuo had a pitiful heart. He immediately made an unexpected decision.
According to the "Crane Forest Yulu" written by the Southern Song Dynasty Luo Dajing, Emperor Gaozong immediately ordered chen xiu: "It is the edict to marry the inner man Shi Shi, Chinese New Year's Eve, and the concubine is very thick", marry one of his 30-year-old concubines to Chen Xiu, and reward Chen Xiu with a large amount of gold and silver and dowry.
Chen Xiu did not expect that he would be able to marry a beautiful wife when he was old, and what excited Chen Xiu the most was that he was still married to the emperor's concubine. Therefore, some people joked: "If the newcomer asks the year of the lang, fifty years ago twenty-three years ago."
Why is Zhao Zhuo so generous to send all his women out?
Although Zhao Zhuo was not a man of much ability, after the Song people moved south, he always wanted to restore the Central Plains and be a Zhongxing king, especially like Emperor Wu of Han and Qin Shi Huang, who could go to Taishan to seal Zen to show the emperor's divine might. Therefore, when reading Chen Xiu's article, Zhao Shuo was very moved. And he couldn't imagine that it was an old man's hand, and if he didn't reward it, it would make the people of the world laugh. Therefore, Zhao Zhuo made such a decision. Of course, the woman sent out is also unpopular in the harem, and the concubine who is favored by Zhao Zhao will definitely not send it.
Reflections on the Imperial Examination
Song Zhenzong wrote the verse "There is Yan Ruyu in the book", which made his descendants realize it. Zhao Zhuo gave his concubine to Chen Xiu, and let the people of the world regard reading as the only way to achieve the glory of life. I have to say that Zhao Zhao's "sending concubines" has made the atmosphere of the world's scholars' scientific expeditions stronger, and also strengthened the confidence of the literati.
However, when Chen Xiuhua became an official of the Song Dynasty, he did not do much, after all, the old man, married a delicate wife, did not have much energy to dedicate to the country. However, Huang Gongdu and Chen Junqing became famous officials of the Song Dynasty, and Huang Gongdu was later framed by Qin Ju and dismissed from office, and died of illness in the position of Yuanwailang after his reinstatement. Chen Junqing later became chancellor and was made the Duke of Wei.
Through the historical data of the Southern Song Dynasty, the imperial examination, it can be seen that when selecting talents in the ancient imperial examination, it was not scientific to judge the level of literati. But as long as the article matches the emperor, it may become the top three. Even if the literary style is high, if the articles written do not meet the appetite of the ruling class at that time, they will not pass the examination. Therefore, although the imperial examination system is ahead of the world, it also has certain limitations.
In addition, the imperial examination enables students not to learn for the sake of true learning, but to learn for the sake of merit, although it is in line with the Confucian way, but also let thousands of years of Chinese people form a concept of "being an official is to realize the value of life", and this concept has not been eliminated now.