The first part: the probability of one in 500,000 let Zhu Yuanzhang bump into it
Part II: I am the emperor of the world, what should I pursue
Part III: How to win the hearts of northerners was a major political event in the early Ming Dynasty
Part IV: Long before the Ming Dynasty, southern examinees hung the north
Part V: Everyone has a share in the face of opportunities; or in the face of examinations, everyone is equal
In February 1397, Zhu Yuanzhang was 69 years old.
As always, Daming held the triennial examination, and candidates from all over the country gathered in Nanjing to take the examination.
After repeated deliberations, Zhu Yuanzhang chose Liu Sanwu, a Hanlin scholar with a good reputation and good character, as the main examiner.
Liu Sanwu was 85 years old at the time, and the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang trusted him was because Liu Sanwu had been the director of the Guangxi Education Department in the Yuan Dynasty, and his skills were skilled, and he formulated the imperial examination system of Daming.
Moreover, he was an old subordinate who followed Zhu Yuanzhang, which was very trustworthy.
In March, after a court examination, 51 jinshi were finally identified.
On the day of the list, there were many people, and everyone wanted to see which people were on the list and the whole family was rich.
Look up: Chen Yu, a native of Minxian County, Fujian Province
"Great, powerful, southern candidates have always been strong, sure enough"
Another look: Yin Changlong, a native of Taihe, Jiangxi, and Liu Shichen, a native of Shanyin, Zhejiang.
"It's not surprising, this was the case in previous years, and the southern candidates are really fierce"
Look down, the fourth southerner, the fifth southerner, the sixth southerner...
The crowd began to gather: Are the southern candidates so fierce this year?
These candidates wanted to find a few of the northern list, and the results were getting worse and worse.
Forty-ninth southerner, fiftieth southerner, fifty-first southerner...
The candidates fried the pan in an instant, 51 were all southerners, not a single northerner, they did not believe that northern candidates could cook like this, not a single one on the list.
So people began to shout: fraud! fraud! Shady! Shady!
In just 6 days, this matter spread to all the candidates who came to Nanjing to catch the exam, especially the northern candidates.
The northern examinees gathered together angrily and surprised, and came to a conclusion: it must be the chief examiner Liu Sanwu who received the money, because he was also a southerner, and these southerners loved to hug the group the most.
So they organized themselves to jointly go to the Ming Dynasty To file a complaint of injustice, marched on the streets of Nanjing to shout injustice, and even stopped officials who went to work in the morning to file complaints.
Among them, the most cheerful were the candidates in Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown of Anhui.
The news reached the imperial court, and the officials were also shocked, and this matter?
More than 10 inspectors sent letters to Zhu Yuanzhang, asking Zhu Yuanzhang to thoroughly investigate.
The matter soon reached Zhu Yuanzhang's ears, although every time a new branch was promoted for so many years, it was the southerners who occupied the majority.
But this is the first time that all the southerners are on the list and all the northerners are on the list, as this year is.
Probability did happen, but no one could believe it, it was too coincidental.
Zhu Yuanzhang then ordered the establishment of a 12-member investigation team.
The personnel included Zhang Xin in 1394, as well as the newly admitted Yuanyuan Chen, Yin Changlong, and Liu Shichen, including various other officials.
The survey method is to take 10 of the papers that have fallen off the list and re-examine them.
From the beginning of March to the end of April, the investigation team reviewed 120 examination papers.
Finally, a unified answer was obtained: this year's northern students are indeed dishes, the answers are very general, and the 51 people who have been admitted are real talents and practical students, without any problems.
The investigation team explained the reason to Zhu Yuanzhang in detail: Now all the volumes of the evaluation papers are pasted with names, and special people have to copy them again, that is, they are afraid that someone will recognize the handwriting fraud.
Therefore, before the announcement, no one knew who was a southerner and who was a northerner, and there was no problem of bribery, bribery, or regional discrimination.
The investigation team was also afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would not believe it, so they specially handed Zhu Yuanzhang the papers of the northern examinees to read.
As soon as the results of this investigation came out, the northern examinees still did not agree: it must have been the investigation team who deliberately showed the emperor some unintelligible papers.
So they began to make accusations again, and some officials from the north also began to stand up and say that it was possible that Liu Sanwu asked the investigation team to deliberately show Zhu Yuanzhang the garbage examination papers.
This matter is difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang, and if it is not handled well, the people's anger will not be appeased.
In May, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict: the main examiner Liu Sanwu and the deputy chief examiner Bai Yuxin and others were the "Blue Jade Yu Party", and also pulled out the old accounts that Liu Sanwu wrote to Hu Weiyong more than 10 years ago.
As a result, more than 20 people in the examiner and investigation team were delayed or exiled.
Only two people were exonerated because after they reviewed the papers, they drew out lists of northern candidates.
Zhu Yuanzhang read the chief examiner Liu Sanwu was 85 years old, also had meritorious service, did not execute, changed to Chongjun Shubian, and the next year was called back by Zhu Yuanzhang's son to resume his post.
I don't know if you noticed, there were three other winners in the investigation team who were admitted that year, the list of eyes, and the tanhua.
Zhuangyuan and Tanhua were initially exiled, then impeached as too light, and finally cut down by Zhu Yuanzhang.
As for The Eye, he was one of those who were exonerated.
This is not the end, in June, Zhu Yuanzhang personally took the examination, personally read the papers, and gave all 61 admission places to the northern candidates.
Han Kezhong of Shandong is the champion, Wang Shu of the Shandong people is the leader, and Jiao Sheng of the Shanxi people is the tanhua.
This is all the northern candidates called the North List, and the front is all the Southern Candidates called the South List, which is the famous North and South List incident of the Ming Dynasty.
After reading the story, then the problem comes.
First, why did Zhu Yuanzhang go on a killing spree?
Second, is it necessary for Zhu Yuanzhang to admit another 61 northern candidates?
As for whether it is fraud or not, I believe that everyone has their own judgment.
First of all, the first question, Zhu Yuanzhang, as the emperor, is the heavenly king of the entire Ming Dynasty, Lao Tzu, so he is not thinking about the problem of northern students not cooking, nor is it the question of whether the people in the examiner investigation team are unjust.
What he wants to consider is the issue of the stability of my Ming Dynasty's rule, which is what an emperor should consider.
If everyone thinks that the chief examiner and the investigation team have formed a party for personal gain, how to do it, is my Ming Dynasty not unstable?
Note that here is what everyone thinks, as for the truth, Zhu Yuanzhang is not concerned.
In case the students in the north are chilled, how will I care in the future, and the whole country will watch?
Coupled with the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang was already suspicious, were there still fewer people killed in front of him? The Hu Weiyong case, the Li Shanchang case, the Blue Jade case, the Guo Huan case, and the Kongyin case killed more than 200,000 people before and after.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang had to deal with it, and he had to deal with it with a fierce hand.
In this wave, the northern candidates are only in the first layer, the investigation team and the chief examiner are in the second layer, and Zhu Yuanzhang is in the third layer.
From another point of view, Zhu Yuanzhang is not stupid, he knows the geographical gap, and he also knows that there is a difference in the style of writing between the north and the south.
Although the ancient imperial examination was a national unified examination, it could not be unified in the outline of the textbook.
Southern science is different from northern governance, the student's literary style is also different, the style of the southern questioner and the northern questioner is also different, and the preferences of the chief examiner are also different.
Whether or not these people have the idea of forming a party, they inadvertently form a bias, and as a result, they have an impact on the political structure of the country.
So several people were beheaded, and from the probability point of view, Zhu Yuanzhang did not believe that among the 51 people, there could not be a single northern candidate.
According to the mathematical probability models of some gods, if there are 1,000 candidates for the exam that year, the probability of all being southern candidates is one in 500,000.
In a total of 276 years, a total of 89 examinations were conducted, an average of about three years.
According to the above probability, about every 75,000 years, there will be a south list.
This 500,000-in-500,000 probability made Zhu Yuanzhang touch it, and he really didn't believe it.
Well, since this is said, Zhu Yuanzhang feels that there is a problem with the southern list, and he can make up a few more, or retake the exam.
Is it necessary to give all 61 places to the North?
Necessary, very necessary.
Because as mentioned earlier, Zhu Yuanzhang is not to punish anyone, but to consolidate Daming, so he must appease the northern candidates well.
The first admission is all southern candidates, then the second time will all admit you northern candidates, satisfied.
Although he knew that the students in the north were indeed good at food, and indeed their comprehensive strength was inferior, when the emperor was not the embodiment of justice, he did not come to seek fairness.
If it is for the sake of absolute justice, Zhu Yuanzhang has 100 ways to find out clearly, it is really not possible to call all the candidates to the square and put the test papers in front of them one by one, there is no gap.
But Zhu Yuanzhang did not, why?
First, if it is found that it is indeed the selfish bias of the chief examiner and the investigation team, the result is still the cut, and then the northern candidates are re-admitted.
Second, if it is found out that there is nothing wrong, will Zhu Yuanzhang go to cut down the northern examinees? Say they're rumor-mongering?
This can only continue to chill the hearts of northern candidates, OK! You are powerful in the south, we are garbage in the north, Daming is the Daming of your southerners...
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to check, did not bother to check, cut two here, make up 61 over there, and solve everything.
Well, back to the main topic, next we answer two questions, why is the gap between the northern and southern candidates in the Ming Dynasty so large, and why did Zhu Yuanzhang want to envelop the northern candidates?
Because the north is unstable.
The Ming Dynasty was established in 1368, but only in Nanjing, and Xu Da and Chang Yuchun have been in the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition.
Although he took Dadu (Beijing), Emperor Yuanshun hurriedly fled to northern Mobei, which is now Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia.
However, at that time, the Yuan Dynasty had not yet completely perished, and there were still many armies in northern Mobei, Liaodong, Northwest, and Yunnan.
Wang Baobao in Ningxia and Gansu, with 100,000 cavalry and 200,000 infantry, often attacked Lanzhou.
In Liaodong, the Northern Yuan Lieutenant Naha sent 200,000 troops, and was only surrendered in 1387.
The yunnan general Zazavarmi was only annihilated in 1381.
The part of the Yuan Dynasty that fled to the north of the desert, called the Northern Yuan, has been surviving for more than 200 years, almost always with the Ming Dynasty.
The history books record the Northern Yuan: "No less than a million people who lead bows, no less than a million tribes, no less than thousands of miles"
Zhu Yuanzhang made 17 large-scale counterattacks, and only in 1388 did lanyu lead 150,000 troops to clean up the Northern Yuan once, and they did not use the name of the Great Yuan State to pretend to be themselves.
See this to understand, when the north and south lists only 9 years passed, Daming really stabilized 9 years.
There are many readers in the northern region who are still loyal to the Yuan Dynasty, and regard themselves as the widows of the Yuan Dynasty, even if they are officials, they are in Jiangnan and their hearts are in the north.
Because the southerners monopolized the imperial examination, it caused the northern scholars to miss the Yuan Dynasty.
Although the Yuan Dynasty's imperial examination clearly discriminated against the Han people, at least one hundred people were selected, and the Mongolians, Semu, Han Chinese, and Nan people were all twenty-five, and the quota was fixed.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who was the capital of Nanjing, was worried and sensitive, because in the year of the north and south lists, there were already uprising teams in Shandong and Shaanxi.
If this matter is not handled well, there is a great possibility that the northerners will make trouble.
Therefore, how to win the hearts of readers in the north was a major political event in the early Ming Dynasty.
In the eyes of the readers Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin, this is a purely fair question of the exam.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, this is a political and tactical issue of opposing the Northern Yuan, appeasing people's hearts, and stabilizing the North.
Therefore, it was not enough to cut down a few officials in this matter, and it was necessary to double the examination to the north and directly arrange for 61 people to enter the army.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought quite thoroughly, but at that time, the gap between the education between the north and the south could not be stopped, and the south was indeed hanging the north.
Because throughout zhu Yuanzhang's reign, there were a total of 867 jinshi, of which 620 were from the south, accounting for 71% of the total.
In the second year of the North and South Lists, Zhu Yuanzhang died.
During the jianwen emperor's time, the difference between the north and the south was even more terrible, with a total of 106 jinshi, 83% of whom were southerners.
By the time of the third emperor, Zhu Di, there were a total of 1819 jinshi, and 83% of them were southerners.
The good thing is that this 500,000-in-500,000 probability has never appeared again, and no one has ever come out again.
That is, this year is a historical exception, and the cultural imbalance between the north and the south is still uncorrected and difficult to correct.
Because after the Ming Dynasty, the difference between the north and the south began.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the north, as the political, economic and cultural center at that time, was the main source of talents, and there was the so-called "Kansai general, Kanto out of the picture".
In the Tang Dynasty, there were more than 600 people in the imperial examination and the first, and the north accounted for 70% of the total.
After the Tang Dynasty, the Anshi Rebellion turned the scourge of the north into a mess, and every day who was in the mood to take care of the civil servants who fought every day was busy fleeing for their lives.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, the north has been harassed by the Liao and Western Xia, the economy has withered, and the culture and education are backward.
With the economic center of gravity shifting south, the south has been developing steadily, and the learning environment for candidates is good.
Coupled with the fact that northerners are good at scripture, and the examination is biased towards literary poetry, so the southern candidates have slowly risen.
In fact, during the Song Dynasty, the north and south began to compete.
The north is represented by Sima Guang, a native of Xia County, Shanxi.
The south is represented by Ouyang Xiu, a native of Ji'an, Jiangxi Province.
Sima Guang said: The level of different regions is not the same, and the number of places should be allocated according to the region.
Ouyang Xiu said: Where there is specialization, it should be unified throughout the country, according to a standard, and whoever does well in the examination will go up.
When it came to the Southern Song Dynasty, it was even more exaggerated, because the Southern Song Dynasty directly shrank to the south.
There is a saying that the Jinshi of the Song Dynasty are the world of Fujian people, and there are 7043 Fujian Jinshi in the Song Dynasty, ranking first in the country, more than 2,000 more than jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.
During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song, the four consecutive rulers were all Fujianese. There has even been a session of champions, bangyan, tanhua, all of whom are Fujian people.
Why the Fujian people were dominant in the Song Dynasty, Liang Qichao saw it this way:
No matter what era, without a little economic independence, it is impossible to talk about education, the richer the locality, the more revitalization of education, the more naturally there are.
In addition to the economy, it is relatively rare to mention that the printing and publishing industry in Fujian in the Song Dynasty was exceptionally developed.
Put it this way, Jianyang, nanping City, Fujian Province, one of the largest book printing and wholesale markets in the country, is known as the publishing center of the Chinese Empire.
Jianyang bamboo, pine trees, since ancient times has been known as the bamboo sea pine tao, papermaking developed, ink industry is also developed, engraving and printing wood is not lacking, from papermaking, to carving, to printing one-stop industry.
Jiajing previously published 2412 kinds of books published by the imperial court, and 479 kinds of books were engraved in Fujian, the largest in the country, of which 367 kinds were from Jianyang Bookstore.
The published things are transmitted from the Six Classics, the Lower And the Teachings, and the Nongsang Medical Calculations and All-Encompassing Things, that is, everything is printed, academic books are also printed, and rendition novels are also printed.
More than two-thirds of the Ming Dynasty novels that have survived today are from Jianyang Bookstore.
Jianyang is located in northern Fujian, which is also a distribution center for commercial goods connecting Fujian and Jiangnan regions, and a transit station for the southward migration of the population.
Fujian is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea in the southeast, and there was no war before the Ming Dynasty, which was the ideal home for immigrants from the Central Plains.
In the five dynasties of the late Tang Dynasty, the family clan moved south, and northern Fujian became the cultural center of Fujian at that time.
In this environment, Fujian students can read books at their fingertips, and the learning atmosphere is good, and it is normal for the northern examination to be taken.
But by the time of the Ming Dynasty, Fujian examinees were not very good, and Zhejiang and Jiangxi came up.
By the time of the Qing Dynasty, it was even worse, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang directly attacked Fujian.
The most obvious example of the decline in the number of fujian keju soldiers is Quanzhou and Putian.
Quanzhou Ming Dynasty produced 592 Jinshi, only 235 in qing dynasty; Putian Ming Dynasty produced 537 jinshi, and there were 66 left in the Qing Dynasty.
Why? Because trade has risen, it is too easy to make money in business, and the theory of the uselessness of the imperial examination has suddenly become popular, and everyone has run to do business.
Even now, Fujian is not a province of academic hegemony.
We returned to the topic of the Ming Dynasty imperial examination, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants were afraid of winning the lottery again, encountered such a thing as the north and south rankings, and began to pay attention to regional differences.
During the reign of Emperor Mingrenzong, the fourth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Shiqi, a university scholar from Ji'an, Jiangxi, suggested that the imperial examination should be divided into two regions, north and south, with a ratio of six in the south and four in the north.
Akihito felt good and was preparing to carry out a pilot project, but suddenly died suddenly, and the north-south split was not started.
In the end, it was his son Emperor Mingxuanzong Zhu Zhanji who finally implemented the system of dividing the north and south into volumes.
Later, it evolved into the south, north, and middle volume system When admitting students, 55% of southerners, 35% of northerners, and 10% of middle-aged people.
After the ming dynasty disappeared, the Qing Dynasty has always used this system, and in the fifty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1712), the system of north and south volumes was abolished, and the admission system of provinces was implemented, large, medium and small provinces.
Even if the Qing Dynasty was divided into north and south and middle volumes, and admitted by province, it was not perfect enough.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was a kind of imperial examination immigrants, pretending to be relatives to change their place of origin, occupying places in areas with less competition to take the exam.
The most famous person in the Qing Dynasty was Zhang Xiao, the industrialist who was asked by Zhang Zhidong to run a dasheng yarn factory.
When the Examination Xiucai was held that year, because no one in the three generations of the Zhang family had ever obtained a meritorious name, it was the so-called "cold book", and according to local rules, it was necessary to pay more for the examination fee.
Later, under the arrangement of the teacher, Zhang Xiao pretended to be the grandson of a person in the next county to register for the registration, and was admitted to Xiucai.
Returning to Sima Guang's Ouyang Xiu's argument earlier, in fact, what they fought for was: in the face of opportunity, everyone has a share or in front of the examination, everyone is equal.
But in fact, the resources available for allocation are limited, and there is no way to get the best of both worlds.
The north-south list has promoted the progress of history in the cruelty, the inevitability hidden in the accident, and every advance of history is often dripping with blood