Hongwu Fourth year, dozens of people in the Yingtian Prefecture Palace were waiting respectfully in the hall. They had gone through many levels and were about to meet the last level of the imperial examination - the palace examination.
The examiner of this palace examination is nothing else, but the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes and glanced at more than 80 candidates below. They all looked like scholars, and everyone was extremely beautiful. Although their clothes were not luxurious, they were very clean. Everyone's skin on their hands was also extremely smooth, and they obviously had never done farm work.
After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke: In this palace examination, the Four Books and Five Classics will not be tested, the major affairs of the court, and the good strategies for governing the country will not be tested. The candidates waiting below were a little confused. If they didn’t take these tests, what else could they do?
(Zhu Yuanzhang)
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, and the two guards below immediately, after a while, they carried three baskets of rice in succession and placed them in the center of the hall.
The candidates were even more confused. What does Your Majesty mean? Zhu Yuanzhang explained: The content of today's palace examination in is to identify the advantages and disadvantages, weight and origin of these three baskets of rice.
This scared the scholars. Most of them had never done farm work. These three baskets of rice looked exactly the same. How to distinguish and identify this?
Liu Bowen 's face changed suddenly, and I had a premonition in my heart: after this imperial examination, someone is about to die, and a big thing is about to happen!
So, why did Zhu Yuanzhang ask such a question for the candidates in the palace examination, and what is the purpose? Why did Liu Bowen say that someone will suffer this time? What impact will this imperial examination cause?
starts from scratch, peasant emperor
Generally speaking, the palace examination is the last link in the imperial examination examination, and it is also the exam that determines the final future of the candidates, because the examiner in this examination is the emperor. The examination content of the
palace examination is actually quite simple. It mainly means that the emperor asks questions and then the candidates answer based on the questions, which is the so-called "question".
However, since the birth of the palace examination, the questions asked by the emperors were mostly about how to govern the country, or how to govern the issues of the government, so as to test whether the candidates have the ability to serve as officials.
, Zhu Yuanzhang used three baskets of rice as the palace examination questions, and asked the candidates to analyze the quality, quantity and origin of the rice. Just taking the agricultural issue alone is obviously the most peculiar time in the palace examinations for so many years.
(District Examination)
If we want to know what Zhu Yuanzhang intends to do this, it is very necessary for us to understand Zhu Yuanzhang's path to becoming a fortune.
If you want to talk about the founding emperors in history, who has the most inspiring stories and whose path is the most difficult, then Zhu Yuanzhang will definitely be the first to bear the brunt.
There are not many emperors born by farmers, and Liu Bang is also a member of them, but Liu Bang has been persuaded to have a single official position, while Zhu Yuanzhang was completely born by a farmer, and he had never even read a book.
Zhu Yuanzhang was born in the poor Taiping Township. Because he ranked eighth at home, Zhu Yuanzhang's name was very hasty and sloppy as Zhu Chongba , which is enough to show that Zhu Yuanzhang's growth environment was very simple and poor when he was a child.
At that time, it was the chaotic period of the Yuan Dynasty. The rulers and senior officials of the Yuan Dynasty only knew about enjoyment and embezzlement, which led to the displacement of countless people and lack of food and clothing. There were countless people who starved to death across the country, including Zhu Yuanzhang's brothers.
When his father passed away, Zhu Yuanzhang not only had no cemetery, but he couldn't afford to buy a coffin. In the end, he had to borrow a small piece of land from his neighbors and bury his deceased family in a simple way.
The world is cold and cold, Zhu Yuanzhang had to separate from his remaining second brother. He begged all the way and finally went to Huangjue Temple and became a monk in it.
(Zhu Yuanzhang)
Not long after, there was no food in the temple, so Zhu Yuanzhang had to leave and began his three-year begging career. During this period, Zhu Yuanzhang was completely a low-class citizen. He was so poor that he couldn't afford to eat and his clothes were torn.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not have any ambitions either. He just hoped to fill his stomach and live a few more years. But such a beggar with no background and no future eventually embarked on a path to conquer the world.
At the age of twenty-five, Zhu Yuanzhang began to join Red Turban Army , not to dominate the world or to make a name for himself, but because Zhu Yuanzhang was forced to dominate.
(Zhu Yuanzhang's film and television image)
When Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a letter to him, hoping that he would join the rebel army. When Zhu Yuanzhang was hesitant, the letter was discovered by someone beside him and planned to report it to Zhu Yuanzhang, so Zhu Yuanzhang did not stop and made up his mind to join the rebel army.
Perhaps it was destined by God. Since then, Zhu Yuanzhang began his own journey of becoming an emperor. Shortly after joining the rebel army, he became a senior leader of the rebel army because of his outstanding ability and gradually gained the power of the army.
Zhu Yuanzhang quickly had his own army. He also met talents such as Xu Da , Chang Yuchun , and helped him expand his power more and more.
Facing the Yuan Dynasty army, Zhu Yuanzhang won many times, and later defeated two powerful enemies, Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng . After becoming the most powerful force, he completely overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and formally agreed to the north and south to establish Ming Dynasty .
(Chen Youliang)
From a farmer, a monk, a beggar, he became the highest ruler of the entire country and the founding emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang's path to success was unprecedented and unparalleled.
However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang was still idle. He was a peasant and knew very well how difficult the lives of the people were. He made up his mind to build a country where the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was also very strict in recruiting talents. What he wanted was not talents who were good at calculating and socializing, but talents who could do practical things for the people and do good things.
is the foundation of officials, and the people are the great peasants to the emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang suffered countless hardships, but what impressed him the most was the poor days of the first half of his life, so he hoped that the officials of the Ming Dynasty must do their best for the people.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang regarded the most important criterion for being honest and loving the people.
In ancient times, the most important way to acquire talents in my country was imperial examination system , which is also the main source of officials. But in fact, after years of war, the imperial examination system has actually stopped for many years.
(Zhu Yuanzhang's film and television image)
With the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination system began to gradually recover, so at this time, the candidates who participated in the imperial examination will undoubtedly make up for the talent gap in the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented his thoughts in the imperial examination--if you want to be an official, you must care about the lives of the local people and even the whole country.
took out three baskets of rice to ask the candidates, but there are actually three purposes.
First of all, grain is the foundation of the country and the foundation of the people. If you want to become a good official, you must be close to the people and understand the problem of grain harvest.
Secondly, these three baskets of grain are not simple. They come from three different places in the country, which tests the candidates' understanding of the country's grain reserves and grain production areas.
Finally, two baskets of grain in these three baskets are actually unqualified. Zhu Yuanzhang also hopes to take the opportunity to find out those corrupt officials who have fooled them and do not care about the people's sentiments.
Over the past years, candidates have spent their energy on reading, memorizing poetry all day long, and reading the Four Books and Five Classics. Most of them have never even touched farm work. How could they see the tricks of these three baskets of rice?
(Palace Examination)
candidates talked one by one, but none of them could be right. Zhu Yuanzhang was very disappointed with the performance of these candidates, but more of them were helpless. After all, this was not their fault.
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head, then stood up and walked to the front of three baskets of rice, and said to everyone: None of what you said is correct.
He bent down, reached his hand into the first basket of rice, grabbed a handful of rice, pinched it in his hand, and then said proudly: This first basket of rice comes from our grain-producing land, Yangzhou , where the rice grains are full and the portion is sufficient.
After saying that, he reached into the second basket of rice, repeated the action just now, and said: This is the grain from Taicang . Although the quantity is sufficient, it is not as good as the first basket, and some are still moldy. Liu Bowen behind
found a strange look, and Zhu Yuanzhang's expression changed slightly. You should know that Taicang is a place dedicated to storing grain in the capital. If the grain there is not qualified, then Zhu Yuanzhang will inevitably be angry.
(Liu Bowen)
Then Zhu Yuanzhang touched the third basket of rice and said: This is the grain from the military warehouse. These rice has many empty shells, most of which are flat and bad, and the weight and color are much worse.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang identifying all three baskets of rice on the spot, and also telling their respective origins and similarities. The candidates present admired the emperor's extensive knowledge in this regard.
Just as the candidates were feeling emotion, Liu Bowen noticed Zhu Yuanzhang's cold expression. Liu Bowen's face suddenly changed: Someone is going to die!
Of course, what Liu Bowen thought was not the candidates present, but the officials behind the two baskets of rice. You should know that Zhu Yuanzhang has always been concerned about the problem of food. If there is a problem with these two baskets of food, the person in charge will inevitably be severely punished.
As Liu Bowen guessed, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately issued two orders, one reward and one punishment: the Yangzhou supervisor Yang Xian was promoted and promoted; the punishment was the Taicang supervisor and the military warehouse supervisor, the former was dismissed, and the latter was beheaded on the spot.
(Zhu Yuanzhang)
Zhu Yuanzhang's thunderous methods shocked all the candidates present, but they also understood a truth: In the future, they would not be able to be a lie at all as Zhu Yuanzhang's official position. The most important thing is to be diligent in serving the people.
Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang's goal has been achieved. He not only educated the future officials of the country, but also strictly punished the two corrupt officials, but also shocked other officials and prevented them from doing so.
However, this incident also made Zhu Yuanzhang know a fact, that is, there are so many officials across the country, and corrupt people are afraid that they will account for half of them, and it seems that there are great disadvantages to elect talents through the imperial examination system.
After experiencing this incident, Zhu Yuanzhang did two things, intending to solve two major problems throughout the ages - reducing corruption and cultivating talents.
strictly investigate the imperial examination, anti-corruption and anti-corruption
The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang had such an important position in history was that he could be put into comparison with Qin Shihuang , Tang Taizong and others. In addition to his legendary experience of becoming an emperor, it is also related to his various measures after the founding of the country.
(Tang Taizong)
First of all, Zhu Yuanzhang's approach to the imperial examination system.
From the above description, we can know that Zhu Yuanzhang actually had doubts about the imperial examination system, because most of the talents elected by the imperial examination system are people who are endorsed and recited. They are only able to become officials, but not necessarily good officials.
In fact, the previous year, that is, in the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang was already dissatisfied with the imperial examination system.
The imperial examination in Hongwu in the third year was the first time that the Ming Dynasty held a vocational examination to be selected. It was originally a great thing for the country, because the beginning of the imperial examination means that the country is recovering from prosperity, but the final result is shocking. After the
Is it after the imperial examination? The name on the list surprised Liu Bowen because all the Jinshis above were from the south, and there was not a single northerner. He knew that Zhu Yuanzhang would be furious after seeing it.
As expected, Zhu Yuanzhang got furious after seeing it. How could all the Jinshi students be from the south? It is obvious that someone colluded to cheat, and the question was drawn up in advance, which means that people in the palace missed the question.
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered the then chief examiner Song Lian Complete investigation of the matter within three days. Song Lian could only work overtime to send someone to investigate, because he knew that if the envoy behind the scenes could not be found, he would definitely be punished by Zhu Yuanzhang.
(Song Lian)
Not long after, Song Lian really successfully found out that he was behind the scenes, but he was a little afraid to speak, because the leader of this incident was Zhu Yuanzhang's son-in-law, Princess 's Ruyi Langjun Ouyang Lun .
It turns out that during the war, the north gradually became desolate, while the south was mostly warlord forces. The economic situation here was much better than that in the north. Naturally, the powerful and powerful forces all belonged to the south.
So Ouyang Lun was bribed by the rich and wealthy businessmen in the south, so he secretly leaked the question, and the targets he leaked were all southerners, so the candidates on the list were all southerners. After the results of
were reported, Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a long time. He always spoiled his daughter very much. Unexpectedly, this was caused by his son-in-law. If is not punished, it would be a shame to the hearts of those poor candidates and the people of the country.
Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth and ordered: Capture the son-in-law Ouyang Lun and execute him!
It is worth mentioning that after the fourth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang directly announced the abolition of the imperial examination system because he believed that the elected candidates for the imperial examination system were not considered talents for governing the country.
(Imperial Examination Release)
However, ten years after the abolition, Zhu Yuanzhang compromised and launched the imperial examination system again. There was only one reason. Although the imperial examination system had disadvantages, it was indeed the most reasonable method of electing talents at that time, and Zhu Yuanzhang could only re-activate it.
This time, the fraud in the imperial examination was just the beginning of Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment of corruption. In order to punish corrupt officials, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to execute his son-in-law, which was enough to show Zhu Yuanzhang's determination. Next, Zhu Yuanzhang will launch the most severe anti-corruption campaign.
As mentioned before, Zhu Yuanzhang was a peasant. He lived a very hard life when he was a child. One reason was that he was in the war era, and the other reason was that the corruption of Yuan Dynasty officials was serious. Therefore, after becoming emperor, the thing Zhu Yuanzhang hated the most was corruption.
Zhu Yuanzhang set an example. He only ate one meat dish per meal. As an emperor, this is obviously very rare. After all, ancient emperors had dozens or hundreds of dishes every time they had meals.
The previous fraud of the imperial examination was that in order to severely punish corrupt officials, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to execute his son-in-law Ouyang Lun, which also shows that he would never tolerate corrupt officials. The most representative one is the Guo Huan case in the 18th year of Hongwu.
(Ouyang Lun’s film and television image)
That year, as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Guo Huan was reported to collude with officials and businessmen and embezzle official grain. After Zhu Yuanzhang learned about it, he immediately ordered his subordinates to conduct a thorough investigation and must find out everyone involved.
Guo Huan's crimes were quickly investigated. In the past years, he colluded with wealthy businessmen, embezzled state money, embezzled official grain, detained people's taxes, etc., and in short, he was extremely guilty and could not escape death.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not stop the investigators, but asked them to continue to do so. All officials involved in corruption would take this opportunity to find out.
The result is shocking. In this case, almost all officials from all six ministries participated in it. A large number of officials led by the Minister of Rites, Minister of Justice, Minister of Works, and Minister of War have actually committed corruption.
(Guo Huan case)
You should know that such large-scale corruption has actually happened in previous generations, but the emperor will not expose it on the spot. After all, the scope of it involves too wide, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not compromise and ordered: Continue to investigate!
The more corrupt officials were investigated, more and more. From the north to the south, from high-ranking officials to small officials, there were tens of thousands of people who were eventually sentenced to death! Zhu Yuanzhang's move definitely made history.
What's even more terrifying is that during the thirty-one years of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, there were as many as 150,000 corrupt officials executed due to corruption, which was equivalent to killing a group of people. After replacing new officials, they continued to kill them. It is not an exaggeration to say that Zhu Yuanzhang was the most active emperor in anti-corruption and corruption.
But in fact, although Zhu Yuanzhang severely punished corrupt officials, the problem of corruption has never been eradicated. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the corruption phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty even became the most important in all dynasties, which is unbearable.
Conclusion:
Zhu Yuanzhang took out three baskets of rice to test the candidates. First, to let the candidates understand that the most important thing in being an official is to do things for the people and be considerate of the people's sentiments. Second, to severely punish the corrupt officials behind these three baskets of rice.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also discovered two serious problems. One is that the imperial examination system has disadvantages in the election of talents, and the other is that the problem of corruption must be solved.
So Zhu Yuanzhang first abolished the imperial examination system, but he had to restore it again ten years later; then in terms of anti-corruption, Zhu Yuanzhang killed more than 100,000 people, but he still could not eradicate the phenomenon of corruption.
Zhu Yuanzhang's approach is worthy of our deep consideration. The cultivation of talents and the punishment of corruption must be combined with practical problems and find the root cause behind it, so that the problem can be solved. my country is doing better and better in these two aspects, with a lot of talents and making major achievements in anti-corruption. We must take this as a warning to encourage ourselves and strive to build a prosperous, strong and democratic country!
References:
Zhang Jian. Zhu Yuanzhang and the imperial examination system in the early Ming Dynasty [J]. Journal of Anhui Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 1992, (Issue 2).
Zhu Yuanzhang knew people [J]. Hometown accent, 2020, (Issue 12).
Gong Zheng. Zhu Yuanzhang's gains and losses against corruption [J]. Modern Team, 2022, (Issue 5).
Zeng Xun. Zhu Yuanzhang's most ruthless case against corruption: beheading tens of thousands of people [J]. Integrity Lookout, 2018, (Issue 3).
Zhao Jingwen, Yang Honglin. On the Contemporary Value of Zhu Yuanzhang's Anti-corruption Mechanism [J]. Journal of North Central University (Social Science Edition), 2015, (Issue 4).
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