At Chen Yue's insistence, and with the support of the civil officials in the southeast, the establishment of the Ministry of Commerce has become a fact, and the next step is to prepare for the establishment of the Ministry of Commerce's yamen and plan the branches of the Ministry of Commerce across the country.

It is foreseeable that the newly established Ministry of Commerce will inevitably be a large organization with a large number of officials in need.

The new Ministry of Commerce needs a large number of officials, and the southeastern provinces also need to send a large number of officials to take up their posts. The shortage of officials is unexpectedly huge. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Officials, if you count the newly recovered Shaanxi and other northern places, the shortage of officials at all levels needed will be more than 2,000! And this is still a high-grade official, and there are more officials who do not enter the stream.

Without officials, many localities can only exercise military control, and the army will act as the government's responsibility, but this is not a long-term solution after all! Therefore, the selection of officials has become a top priority. Therefore, many officials were dismissed, and the number of Jinshi was expanded.

After discussion, the Government Council reported the request of Gakai Enke to the president, and Chen Yue entered the palace to meet Chongzhen and obtained Chongzhen's consent, and officially approved it.

The Great Presidential Office ordered that all provinces across the country will open additional scientific examinations this year to expand the scope of admission, and the number of places to be admitted will be doubled, regardless of whether it is a talent or a person.

Accompanying the presidential decree is another requirement that additional examinations in mathematics must be conducted at all levels of the imperial examination, and those who do not perform well in mathematics are not allowed to be admitted.

As soon as this order came out, it immediately caused the candidates to mourn, many candidates read the Four Classics and Five Books in order to cope with the scientific examination, where can they have time to study mathematics?

"The six arts of the gentleman, it is said that the number of imperial books is liturgical and musical, and now there are many people who are proficient in these six arts? Archery and horseback riding are just fine, and many people don't know anything about mathematics, so don't you need to determine the money and food taxes for officials? Don't need to count the yellow book of acres? What qualifications do you have to be an official if you don't even know this?

Could it be that the official just sits in the lobby with the big seal, and he must help the staff to do everything? In that case, why don't you let the subordinate be the officer?

The establishment of the Ministry of Commerce this time requires professionals who are proficient in mathematics and know how to calculate taxes, and not everyone can enter! “

Faced with the doubts of some officials in the Government Council, Chen Yue angrily reprimanded.

Lu Zhenfei expressed his support for Chen Yue's decision, but he was also skeptical: "Lord Wang, if you take the liberty of taking the mathematics test, I'm afraid that the candidates will not have time to study, and the number of admitted students will not meet our expectations." ”

Chen Yue sneered: "It's better to lack than to excess!" As for the number of people who are not admitted enough? This is easy to do, the next order, this imperial examination is not limited to background, yamen officials, shop tents, can all take the exam.

As long as the county examination is innocent, you can participate, the county examination must be added to the number of subjects, only those who pass the number of subjects can be qualified for the township test, and then the teacher!

Lord Lu, your government affairs institute has formulated the scientific examination process in detail, and I will instruct the Chengdu Procuratorate to cooperate with and supervise this matter, strictly investigate fraud and ensure the smooth progress of the scientific examination! “

In the face of Chen Yue's strength, Lu Zhenfei could only agree. And the officials below, whether in favor of it or against it, could not change this result. Chongzhen's twenty-two years of scientific research was thus decided.

In the Fuda Silk Store in Yinxian County, Ningbo, 30-year-old Ren Siqi sat behind the table, with a thick account book in front of him, five fingers flying in his left hand and a brush in his right hand to record the results.

As a scholar with a reputation for showing talent, Ren Siqi's reading skills are really average, and he was admitted to Xiucai until he was in his twenties, and he couldn't get an inch if he went up, let alone being promoted, and he didn't even have the qualifications to participate in the township examination.

Although Ningbo is not as big as Shaoxing, the competition is also very fierce, and the number of places to participate in the township examination is limited, and there are only 30 places in a county, while the total number of Xiucai in Yinxian County over the years is at least two or three hundred, and most of the Xiucai cannot participate in the township examination.

After studying hard for a few years, every county school exam is only in the middle, and there is no qualification to participate in the township examination once, seeing that he is getting older, and seeing that his wife and children have to accompany him to live a poor life, Ren Siqi finally became discouraged and gave up the unrealistic idea of lifting in the middle, but honestly found an errand in a store. In order to be able to be competent in the account room, he studied hard for half a year and practiced a good ability to plan the plate.

Working as a bookkeeper in a silk shop, there is a salary of three taels of silver a month, and a bonus at the end of the year, although he is not rich, at least it is not a problem to feed a family, and Ren Siqi is quite satisfied with his current life. It's just that in my spare time, when I lie in bed at night, I can't help but inadvertently sound my dream of being determined to get ahead and be named on the gold list. At this time, he could only smile bitterly, because dreams were no longer difficult for him to touch.

However, today, just after going to work and calculating two accounts, the old three gods of the store's work mysteriously ran over.

"Ren Xiucai, do you still want to take the exam?" The old three gods said mysteriously.

Ren Siqi took his eyes off the account book and glanced at the third child: "I'm very busy now, I don't have time to fart with you!" ”

The third child leaned on the counter with a smile: "Ren Xiucai, I said one thing, you promised to jump up happily when you heard it, and then you had to invite me to a big drink." ”

"If you have something to say, let it go quickly, be careful to see that you are lazy and deduct your salary!" After two years as a bookkeeper, Ren Siqi also completely abandoned the frame of a scholar, and he became much more rude when he spoke.

"Just now I listened to the shopkeeper's instructions, sent two pieces of silk to the Zhang family on Fuqian Street, and came back to pass by the county yamen, do you know what I saw?

There was a big notice posted in front of the county office, and many people were watching, you know I'm curious, so I squeezed in and looked, guess what I heard? The third said that he deliberately sold a pass.

"What?" Seeing that the third child was so mysterious, Ren Siqi's interest was also aroused, and he put down the brush and asked.

"The court has added Enko! How's that, I'm interested! ”

Ren Siqi's face darkened: "What about opening Enke." "There are so many talents in the county, even if you add a car to Enke, you may not be able to qualify for the township examination, and you haven't studied for two years, how can you be admitted even if you go to take the township examination?

"How's it going to be Gakai Enko? Ren Xiucai, I can tell you, the notice can say that this time Enke can participate regardless of his identity as long as he is innocent, even if you are Mr. Ledger. And the notice also said that this scientific examination will add a number of subjects, but the mathematics examination will not be admitted.

As soon as I saw the notice, I thought that this was not specially prepared for you, Ren Xiucai, you are Xiucai, and you are proficient in arithmetic accounts, how many Xiucai in the entire Yin County can compare to you? “

The third child was still chattering, Ren Siqi's face changed, and he suddenly threw down the brush and rushed towards the outside of the store without looking back. He was going to go to the county yamen to see if what the third child said was true.