In late July, the night sky was pitch black, with no trace of the moon.

There was a row of lanterns on the edge of the barn, swaying gently in the breeze, but the chattering people under the lamps gradually dispersed, and they all went home to sleep.

In a thatched hut not far away, a little girl with a tiger's head propped her chin up, looking at the oil lamp on the table, her face flushed, and her eyes staring at the lamp and the young man splashing ink on the other side.

She liked the silence of the night, and the beating lights at that time, and the attentive way of her brother reading under the lamp, so she would shake her little short legs from time to time.

Enke has come out, and there is not much time left for Lin Haoran to warm the book, so he is working very hard these days.

Chao for Tian Shelang, twilight to the Tianzi Hall.

There are six examinations to go through from Tian Shelang to Jinshilang, but many people refer to the county examination, the government examination and the hospital examination as the children's examination, so they think that the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty is a four-level examination system.

Lin Haoran has only completed the children's examination excellently now, and the next township examination, meeting examination and palace examination, one exam is more important than the other. It is worth noting that the policy of the township examination, the general examination and the palace examination will account for a considerable proportion.

The township test is okay, and it will pay more attention to the examination of the four books and five classics. For example, when it comes to the palace test, the emperor will be more pragmatic, give you a problem that the country is facing, and then let you answer it.

This actually has a historical origin, during the period of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, the Jinshi Department was officially set up to assess the candidates' views on current affairs, and to select talents according to the examination, which is to take the scholars according to the strategy.

The emperors of the past dynasties were not stupid, and the Four Books and Five Classics were able to choose scholars who inherited Confucianism, but the real usefulness to the imperial court was those who could figure out how to explain the problem.

For example, when there is a disaster in the country, is it useful to explain the meaning of the scriptures? There is a plague along the coast, is it useful to explain the meaning of the scriptures? There is a rebellion in Guangxi, is it useful to explain the scriptures?

It is precisely in this way that the Four Books and Five Classics can make you ascend to the Tianzi Hall, but if you want to stand out from many candidates, you need to do a good job in the strategy. It doesn't need to be better, it's better than everyone else.

Compared with the Four Books and the Five Classics, the policy theory is indeed much more practical, and even a sharp blade in the political struggle.

During the Middle and Tang dynasties, the situation of feudal towns became more and more intense, and at that time, the feudal towns in various places vigorously advocated the restoration of the pre-Zhou feudal system and opposed the centralized county system, in order to create public opinion for their own secession.

At that time, Liu Zongyuan, who was demoted to Yongzhou as Sima, wrote the "Theory of Partitioning", which demonstrated the great superiority of the county system, affirmed that the substitution of the county system for the division system was inevitable of historical development, and denounced all kinds of fallacies advocating the division system.

It was this policy that struck a blow at the arrogance of the feudal towns, and it had a strong sense of realism and a distinct fighting spirit.

Now that Emperor Jiajing has convened Enke, the question of the palace exam is very likely to be asked by him, and the two questions are undoubtedly the most urgent. One is the trouble, and the other is the financial embarrassment.

It's just that according to Lin Haoran's speculation about the selfish Jiajing, the possibility of financial problems will be greater, because it is more related to the interests of Emperor Jiajing and his cultivation career.

This is not entirely unfounded, during the reign of Jiajing, the issue of changing his parents caused by the accession of local vassal kings to the throne, which is known as the "Great Etiquette".

Wenchen, headed by Yang Tinghe, the first assistant of the cabinet, proposed a "succession" and asked Jiajing to change his parents and take Ming Xiaozong as his father. At that time, Zhang Xuan, who was only 47 years old and had only been promoted to Jinshi, put forward the theory of "succession to unification" and suggested that Jiajing still take his biological father as the test and set up a temple in Beijing to dedicate the king's temple.

Eventually, the controversy ended in the victory of Emperor Jiajing, and the reduction of the first assistant to the cabinet, Yang Tinghe, to the people, interrupted the political and economic reforms that Yang Tinghe had pursued after the death of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Xuan was a newcomer to officialdom, but because he catered to the emperor's intentions, he was finally promoted from a lower-level official to the first assistant. Since Emperor Jiajing succeeded to the throne, many cabinet ministers have catered to Jiajing with "green words", thus successfully entering the cabinet.

"Catering to the holy will", this seems to have become the only rule for the promotion of Ming officials.

If Lin Haoran wants to stand out in future exams, it is also to "cater to the holy will", and the biggest headache in Jiajing now is undoubtedly silver. If he can think of a way to solve Jiajing's financial crisis, he will not only be able to stand out from many candidates, but also be more likely to open a fast track for promotion.

"A country without wealth is not its country, and wealth is not righteous, it is not its wealth. It is to make money with the gentleman, not to lose the benefits of the subordinates, and it must be properly controlled, and it is rich in the country. ”

With the embarrassing financial problem, Lin Haoran tried to make a policy on the Wealth of Nations. In the article, he first expressed a more flattering attitude, that is, he could not lose money and make money.

The reason for the financial embarrassment of the Ming Dynasty was not all Jiajing's monastic expenditure, but also the expenditure of the vassal king, the expenditure of officials, and the habit of greedy ink.

Needless to say, Jiajing has been doing it all along, and in February this year, he copied more than 400,000 taels of silver and countless gold, silver and jewelry from the home of the eunuch Li Bin.

However, if the vassal king's expenditures and officials' salaries and other issues were really capable, Jiajing would not have been able to delay it until the 36th year of Jiajing, and it would have been delayed until now. It was precisely because of this that Lin Haoran hit the idea of the sea ban and proposed that Emperor Jiajing reopen the city.

In the sixth year of Tang Gaozong's reign, he set up a city envoy in Guangzhou, in charge of foreign trade on sea routes, and sent special officials to fill the position. The main responsibilities of the city envoy were: to collect customs duties on the ships that came to trade, to purchase a certain amount of imported goods on behalf of the court, to manage the goods that merchants paid tribute to the emperor, and to supervise and manage the trade of the city and the ship, which was the predecessor of the city ship division.

It's just that in the first year of Jiajing, due to the rampant Japanese invaders, they went to Zhejiang, Fujian No. 2 Division, and only Guangdong No. 1 Division remained, which was soon abolished.

Not to mention, this abolished the city and the ship, did not solve the problem of the Japanese invaders, and undoubtedly reduced the income of the imperial court. Especially in the context of the increasing prosperity of maritime trade, this is a waste of missing the benefits brought by the growth of maritime trade.

"The benefits of the market should not be underestimated, if the measures are appropriate, the tax revenue will be tens of millions, will not win the people? This policy does not harm the people, but enriches the country. ”

Lin Haoran's pen wrote here, but suddenly stopped, frowned slightly, then crumpled the paper into a ball, and sighed heavily.

This view seems to be too taken for granted, and scholars in other regions may not understand it. But living in western Guangdong, and witnessing the grand occasion of Dianbaigang, how do you not know that the sea ban is a ban on the people and officials.

Nowadays, many powerful people sell their goods to the sea, and grab a lot of profits from them. If it is really reopened, it will undoubtedly compete with them for profit, are these vested groups really soft persimmons?

It is precisely because of this that he can't follow a group of ministers against him in order to curry favor with Emperor Jiajing. If you hold this kind of argument, I am afraid that you don't need to take the palace test, and the township test will have nothing to do with him.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Hu Niu raised her face, her big bright eyes looked at Lin Haoran with doubt, she didn't understand why her brother suddenly tore up the well-written article.