Chapter 174: Old Zhu is a Construction Maniac

The local general rainfall conditions are often not reported to the court.

This can also be understood. In that era, document transmission relied on people with two legs and horses with four legs, traveling from north to south. It was not easy for everyone to send a document. Who would write something like ‘On a certain day, there was heavy rain’ on it?

These are court documents, not your diary. You can write a sentence expressing good feelings like ‘The long wind rolls up to drive away the heat, and the heavy rain flips the sky to send the cool evening.’ However, unless there is a disaster due to heavy rain and you need assistance, you can write a sentence like ‘The wind drives the urgent rain to sprinkle on the high city, and the clouds press with light thunder, resonating in the land.’

Official documents cannot mix irrelevant emotions. This is a basic rule.

Yu Xin wiped the sweat from his face, observing Zhu Yunwen’s expression.

Zhu Yunwen looked at the Minister of Works, Zheng Ci, and asked, “Can the Huai River, Yellow River, and various waterways withstand heavy rain?”

Zheng Ci smiled and said, “Your Majesty, there should be no problem.”

Zhu Yunwen frowned and asked, “So confident?”

Zheng Ci nodded slightly, saying, “All thanks to the achievements of Emperor Taizu.”

Zhu Yunwen was a little confused, then realized that he was worrying too much, forgetting that Zhu Yuanzhang had already laid a good foundation for him.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang killed many officials, he was genuinely good to the common people and understood the importance of water infrastructure, personally inspecting waterways several times.

In places like Yangzhou in the Jianghuai region, which has always been prosperous, the ancients said: ‘With ten thousand strings of cash at the waist, ride a crane down to Yangzhou.’

But in the chaotic times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, how many people were left here?

Hmm, eighteen households.

You heard it right, in the city of Yangzhou with a population of 1.47 million, only eighteen households remained (later called these places Eighteen Alleys, still existing today), and the estimated number is still less than a hundred people.

Where did the other people go?

They were eaten.

The ‘Ming Taizu Shilu’ recorded: ‘After Mingjian and others occupied the city, the cruelty became more severe, and they slaughtered the residents in the city for food.’

The Yuan army general Zhang Mingjian almost completely wiped out the city of Yangzhou.

In fact, the tragedy was not only in Yangzhou.

At the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, almost the entire Shandong, Henan, and Hebei, one could say, were almost empty. If you traveled hundreds of miles, you could encounter a living person. If you put your luck in the modern era, you would definitely win several hundred million lottery prizes.

Some cities only had a few people left.

At that time, the land in northern China was devastated, heartbreaking.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s lamentation was: “In the Central Plains, during the wars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the calamities were the most severe, with accumulated corpses forming hills, and the population was extremely scarce.”

The founding of the Ming Dynasty was based on such a foundation, beyond the imagination of everyone, right?

Many people might ask, “How did the population in the Central Plains become so large? How did prosperity emerge within thirty years? It’s impossible for people to reproduce that quickly, right?”

Zhu Yuanzhang’s strategy was:

Migration, agricultural development, and water conservancy construction!

To put it bluntly, if you were in northern China, you, your relatives, or friends were most likely from Shanxi (use Jing Xue as an example, Jing Xue is from Shandong, and her ancestors in the family tree were from Shanxi), and their ancestors came to the Central Plains in the early Ming Dynasty.

The large-scale migration of the early Ming Dynasty, from moving a million people from Shanxi to the Central Plains, started from Hongwu, went through Jianwen, and ended in Yongle, lasting fifty years, covering the Central Plains and several provinces in East China, affecting more than half of China.

With people, land was cultivated.

With land, water conservancy was constructed.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a construction maniac, he spared no effort in water conservancy projects.

Since the early Ming Dynasty until the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu’s reign, hundreds of thousands of laborers were mobilized nationwide. They dredged over five thousand rivers, rehabilitated more than forty thousand ponds and weirs, and constructed around five thousand dams.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang’s immigration policy caused great emotional trauma to the people of Shanxi at that time, from the perspective of Chinese civilization, the migration of Shanxi people was beneficial.

Thanks to Zhu Yuanzhang’s immigration policy and the promotion of agriculture and water conservancy projects, the Central Plains began to show signs of vitality within a short thirty years.

The ‘Yongle Prosperous Age’ in history is not only the credit of Zhu Di; the foundation laid by his old man cannot be ignored or buried.

Zhu Yunwen realized that he had been overly worried, and his originally worried and gloomy expression gradually eased. He said to Zheng Ci, “The achievements of Taizu are for the state and the people. However, the regions of the Jianghuai and Yellow Rivers are still crucial. Once a water disaster occurs, it will inevitably bring extensive suffering. Order all regions to strengthen the inspection of dikes, river channels, and ponds, be vigilant about rainfall and water conditions, and must not be slack.”

Zheng Ci agreed, but he was not convinced.

In the past ten years, there was only a problem with the Yellow River in the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, and these years had been relatively calm.

Zhu Yunwen looked at the Minister of Revenue, Qi Tai, and said, “Urge localities to speed up the transportation of grain to the capital. In addition, let the Agricultural and Water Affairs Bureaus in various regions report on the grain storage situation. In places where there is insufficient supply to cope with disasters, report to various provincial administrative offices and the court for coordinated arrangements.”

Qi Tai solemnly said, “I obey the decree.”

Zhu Yunwen still felt somewhat uneasy and said to Zhang Xianzong, “I hope you can go to places like Huai’an, Suqian, Xuzhou, Kaifeng, etc., to investigate the Yellow River and surrounding waterways. If repairs are needed, coordinate with local office to mobilize manpower. All expenses can be reported to the provincial administrative offices and the court for subsequent settlement.”

Zhang Xianzong accepted the order, “I obey the decree.”

Zhu Yunwen stood up, walked towards Zhang Xianzong, and said, “This will be hard for you. The summer flood will come for sure. I entrust this matter to you; don’t disappoint me.”

Zhang Xianzong shook his head slightly, bowed, and said, “I will do my best to share the worries for Your Majesty. I will leave the capital early tomorrow morning and go to Huai’an.”

Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhang Xianzong with satisfaction, “When you return, I will host a banquet to celebrate your achievements.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace.”

Zhang Xianzong smiled and bowed, then exited the Wuying Hall along with the others.”

Zhu Yunwen walked out of the Wuying Hall, looking at the night sky, feeling a heavy weight on his heart, as if something significant was about to happen.

After two days of selection, Yang Shiqi and Yao Guangxiao selected twenty papers from the completed test papers, adding up to a total of three hundred and twenty papers with the previous three hundred.

After completing the evaluation of the three rounds of exam papers, the next task was to rank the papers and prepare the provisional ranking list.

Many people might assume that, since it’s a ranking, it should start from the first position.

However, reality is different.

Before the final ranking, the examiners first assigned ranks to all the exam papers using a specific font size. Then, they proceeded to fill in the provisional ranking list, starting from the eighteenth position, later adjusted to the nineteenth during the mid-Ming period.

Three copies of the provisional ranking list were made – one for the examiners, one for the supervising official (提调官), and one for the monitoring official (监试官).

The examiners, following the order on the provisional ranking list, reviewed the exam papers written in red ink (朱卷) and black ink (墨卷). After confirming that there were no issues with the exam papers from all three sessions, they placed the red and black ink papers in a box and sealed it with a label.

On the following day, the chief examiners, monitoring officials, and supervising officials jointly unsealed the box and began to review the papers starting from the eighteenth (or nineteenth) position. Once completed, they proceeded to open the first pages of each examination room’s papers.

first pages of each examination room’s papers need to be explained first.

In the imperial examination for the degree of jinshi, there are three subjects: three questions on “Four Books,” four questions on “Classics,” one essay question, five judgment sentences, one question on the imperial decree and policy, and five questions on the essay in the subjects of history and classics.

The total number of these questions is nineteen.

During the evaluation, each question is reviewed in a separate room, and the top scorer for each question is selected, determining the top nineteen candidates.

As for why it started with eighteen names, it might be due to the importance of one room being overlooked…

In many writings, it is explained that in the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty, only the first subject, which is the examination on the “Four Books,” was considered essential.

This is actually unfair and biased.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the evaluation of examination papers was divided into eighteen rooms, and the status of each room was considered equal, emphasizing the importance of each without any being replaceable.

It was only in the middle and later periods of the Ming Dynasty that the concept of the “Five Classics Champions” emerged. It focused on the performance in the Five Classics, allowing candidates to succeed overall by excelling in the eight-legged essays, even if they were not proficient in other aspects such as judgment sentences and essays on history and classics.

This shift towards partial achievements superseding overall performance became prevalent in the later stages of the Ming Dynasty.

This can be understood as subjects like judgment sentences and essays on history and classics often involved lengthy passages, sometimes exceeding a thousand characters, making them more challenging than writing essays.

Some candidates racked their brains, expelled all their saliva, just to write it out. When their papers reached the examination officials, taking a glance, they were long and foul-smelling. How could they be properly evaluated?

Moreover, there were few examination officials, but many papers. They spent every day reviewing papers here, unable to return home to accompany their wives and children for more than half a month. It was not an ideal situation.

In order to return home early and get some rest, everyone decided to simplify matters. You write good eight-legged essays, and we’ll evaluate good eight-legged essays. That was the agreement. The unsuccessful candidate, upon returning home, shouldn’t bother reading essays on history and classics. They should focus on practicing eight-legged essays.

In essence, the harm of the eight-legged essay, although planted by Zhu Yuanzhang, truly took root in these lazy examination officials. The lazier they were, the more they emphasized the importance of the eight-legged essay.

For scholars nationwide aspiring to board this ship, they could only present eight-legged essays as their ticket. If the wrong ticket was presented, they wouldn’t be allowed to board.

Rare cases like Yang Shiqi and Yao Guangxiao, who managed to board despite not following the traditional path, were exceptional.

For most scholars, the only option was to return home and study the intricacies of the eight-legged essay.

On June 30th, Fang Xiaorui, Yao Guangxiao, and Yang Shiqi entered the Wuying Hall to report on the imperial examination matters.

I appreciate your clarification. Here is the revised passage:

“This time, a total of 320 candidates have been selected, all of whom will be listed on the official announcement tomorrow outside the Gongyuan.”

Fang Xiaoru presented a list to Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Yunwen nodded in satisfaction and said, “You’ve worked hard during these days.”

After taking the list, Zhu Yunwen carefully examined it. The top scholar, named Wang Gen, the second-ranked Hu Jing, and the third-ranked Jin Youzi. As for Yang Rong, he was ranked fourth.

As he scanned through, at the twentieth position, he finally saw the name of Yang Pu.

“Finally, it’s here.”

Zhu Yunwen said softly.

The “Three Yangs” grand secretariat, which once assisted Zhu Di in creating the prosperous era of Yongle, had finally entered the court!

And they would assist me, Zhu Yunwen, in establishing a flourishing era of culture!

As for others, Zhu Yunwen didn’t care too much.

The imperial examination was moved up by a year, causing such tension, but in the end, it was all for Yang Rong and Yang Pu.

In the current court, Zhu Yunwen only had a few reliable people, apart from Xie Jin, there was no one else.

Yao Guangxiao and Yang Shiqi were good, but they didn’t come through the imperial examination system, and they hadn’t accumulated much experience in the court. They had no support and relied solely on Zhu Yunwen’s appreciation. It wasn’t enough for them to stand firm in the court.

So, Zhu Yunwen arranged for Yang Shiqi to go to the Imperial Academy. The officials who came out of the Imperial Academy in the future would all be Yang Shiqi’s students. This was the key to Yang Shiqi’s future entry into the court.

As for Yao Guangxiao, he had more tasks. In addition to assisting in writing the “Records of Emperor Taizu,” he also needed to promote reforms in the Imperial Academy. Occasionally, he would have to visit the Central Army Commandery, discuss the coordination of the three major camps with figures like Xu Huizu and Zhu Di, and more.

Zhu Yunwen also entrusted Yao Guangxiao with the affairs of the Bao’en Temple and the Monument to the Heroes. The reason was simple: Yao Guangxiao was a monk, making it convenient to deal with the people of the Tianjie Temple.

Therefore, until Yang Shiqi and Yao Guangxiao stabilized their positions, Zhu Yunwen needed Yang Rong and Yang Pu, who had a background in the imperial examination, to train these individuals early on. Only then could Zhu Yunwen better control the court.

The road ahead would be even more difficult, especially with issues in the northern border and the capital relocation. Without enough support from capable individuals, Zhu Yunwen would find it challenging to achieve his goals.

The court, entangled at every step, had consumed too much of Zhu Yunwen’s energy. Over the past year, it could be said that three parts were spent on governance and seven parts on internal struggles. Most of his energy was spent arguing with officials.

This situation had to be broken!