Chapter 2814 2816【Enke gets scholars】


    ?Once the Enko reform system was launched, all the noble families, nobles, high-ranking ministers and one party knew that they were in trouble.


    Each link of the unified examination, sealing, transcripts, and palace examinations has greatly compressed and restricted their privileges.


    ?As a result, their children will be forced to take exams with the common people students.


    ?As for the children of noble families, powerful families, and high-ranking ministers, they were only a minority, and many of them were idlers. Once the imperial examination reveals true talent and learning, they are doomed.


    As a result, they cannot be officials and have no power in their hands. At that time, any attempt by them to monopolize power and dominate will become empty talk.


    So they naturally opposed it with all their strength.


    However, today is different from the past.


    Nowadays, the treasury of the Feng Dynasty is full, the people are prosperous, and there are no strong enemies to disturb the borders. This is the time when the national power is at its peak.


    ? And Li Wei destroyed Dan Chi and expanded the territory, which was a rare feat in history, and it also won him the respect of thousands of people.


    ?Therefore, the royal family of the Feng Dynasty now has strength and popular support. Even if the powerful families, nobles, and high-ranking ministers want to oppose it, Li Zhen has the ability to suppress them all.


    Besides, Li Hao now uses the "sausage-cutting tactic".


    He just reformed the imperial examination. We have neither started a war with these elites, high-ranking ministers or one party, nor have we tried to clear out their people in large numbers.


    So their will to fight decisively is not strong, and they don’t want to fall out with the Toyomao royal family yet. Therefore, after Shangzhe objected for a while, but was forcefully suppressed by Emperor Li Hao, he had no choice but to surrender.


    …


    Enke officially started in the autumn of the 26th year of Tiantong.


    The original imperial examination was only divided into the rural examination and the general examination. The rural examinations were held in various prefectures, while the general examinations were held in the capital.


    Nowadays, Enke has set up a children''s examination and takes the examination at the county government. Only after passing the exam can you be qualified to be called a child student. A child student passes the provincial examination and becomes a scholar; a scholar passes the national examination and becomes a scholar; a scholar passes the imperial examination and becomes a Jinshi...


    After rounds of auditions, when it came time for the general examination, thousands of talents from all over the country had gathered in the capital. And their files were placed in front of Li Hao early.


    ?The information on their place of origin, background, teachers, relatives and friends, works, etc. is also quite detailed.


    ??Li Zhen''s purpose of selecting scholars through the imperial examination was to suppress the elites and high-ranking ministers. Therefore, the selected talents must naturally get rid of the powerful and high-ranking ministers, and try to select scholars from poor families.


    Because the poor scholars had no foundation or party members in the court, they were loyal to him, the emperor, and were willing to be used by him.


    “Yin’er, your idea is really good.” Li Fu looked at the information and said to Xiang Nan with a smile.


    After listening to Xiang Nan’s reform opinions, 60% of the talents selected for this examination were from the common people.


    ?Unlike the previous academic qualifications, 90% of them are from powerful families and high-ranking ministers. A well-executed imperial examination turned into a piece of pork.


    “It is my honor to be able to relieve my father’s worries.” Xiang Nan bowed and smiled.


    Subsequently, after passing the joint examination and the palace examination, Li Yu recruited nearly 300 people, of which more than 70% were from common people and only 30% were from nobles and officials.


    The children of the common people were assigned to various positions, such as walking, serving, and being in charge of the six ministries; local officials, magistrates, county magistrates, and county magistrates...


    As for the children of nobles and officials, they were assigned to departments such as Hongwen Hall, Taichang Temple, and Imperial College. It sounds like they were staying in the capital, serving as the emperor''s closest attendants, and they were quite noble. But in fact, they were put in high cabinets and kept at a distance.


    ?Through this method, Li Fu gradually replaced family members and cronies with children of the common people, further consolidating his rule.


    ?Although this will take a long time, it will not cause major turmoil and will not harm the country.


    …


    ?Li Yu passed the imperial examination and used the children of the common people to replace the children of the gentry step by step.????This is a top-down approach.


    Xiang Nan introduced agricultural tools such as the curved shaft plow and the deep plow to facilitate agricultural production.


    The economic foundation that the noble families and noble families relied on was the manor economy. They wantonly annexed land, raised tenant farmers, farmed, grazed, weaved, brewed, etc. in the manor. They were completely self-sufficient in production and life, just like a small court.


    Because they have strong financial resources, they often also have private armed forces. Thousands of people, hundreds of people, together, are a very powerful force.


    When productivity is underdeveloped, the manor economy does have its advantages. First, it can concentrate human, financial and material resources. As the saying goes, "concentrate efforts to do big things", and the ability to resist risks is higher.


    Secondly, in times of trouble, the manor also provided a place for ordinary people to stay.


    ? During the Three Kingdoms, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the situation was turbulent and conquests continued. However, those noble families and noble families could rely on their influence to protect their estates from war, so they attracted a large number of refugees.


    Nowadays, Xiang Nan has introduced agricultural tools such as the curved shaft plow and deep plow, which has promoted the development of agricultural productivity, improved the production efficiency of homesteaders and small landowners of the common people, and broken the advantages of the gentry''s manor economy.


    With the loss of political advantage and no economic advantage, the rate of collapse of the gentry naturally accelerated greatly.


    …


    Twenty-seven years since I came to Tiantong.


    Xiang Nan placed a big golden clock in front of Li Su.


    “Father, please look~” he said with a smile.


    "What is this?" Li Zhu looked at this gorgeous clock and asked doubtfully.


    "This is a clock." Xiang Nan explained, "It can accurately display the time. For example, it is nine-thirty now, which is the sixth hour of the hour."


    In ancient times, timekeeping was based on sundial, moondial and hourglass to calculate time, so it was not very accurate. In the thirteenth century, England produced the first mechanical clock.


    Xiang Nan''s clock making was learned from Western craftsmen in the world of "Sword Rain". Originally I just wanted to learn more skills, but now it has come in handy.


    ??Li Hao couldn''t help but be very surprised when he saw this clock, "Yin''er, is its time really so accurate?"


    Xiang Nan nodded, "The error will not exceed one minute per day."


    “Oh, it’s so ingenious.” Li Hao exclaimed.


    ?The error of timing tools such as sundial, moondial, and chronograph is usually about a quarter of an hour. Fortunately, the pace of life of the ancients was slow, so a difference of ten or eight points was nothing.


    Subsequently, after a week of testing, the accuracy of Xiang Nan’s clock was recognized by everyone. Therefore, it replaced the sundial, moondial, engraved clock, etc., and became the only timekeeping tool in the palace.


    What is good above is bound to be bad below.


    Because of this, the divine object of clocks quickly became popular in Beijing, making everyone yearn for it without knowing what it was.


    ?At this time, Tiangongfang launched twelve golden clocks for auction at the right time.


    This move was immediately sought after by wealthy families, princes and ministers. They did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy these gorgeous and practical clocks home.


    In the end, one clock was sold for 50,000 guan, and its cost was less than 500 guan. It was so expensive that it was actually technology. Xiang Nan also made a lot of money.


    Subsequently, watches became Tiangongfang’s flagship product, and demand simply exceeded supply.


    …


    (End of this chapter)