At the Japanese court meeting, Chongzhen never mentioned the case of the military department's arsenal, which made the officials at the court meeting breathe a sigh of relief.

Huang Liji's proposal to increase the Central Archives was also passed smoothly because most officials wisely remained silent.

Wu Chunfu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Yang Hao, the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, reported at the court meeting that the memorial monument for the soldiers of Liaodong had been completed, and now the emperor needed to determine the time of the public sacrifice.

"Let's put it in three days, and order each battalion in Beijing to send sergeants to participate in the public memorial, and the prohibition of the nobles in Beijing will be lifted on that day. Hanlin Academy, write a memorial for me these days. Zhu Youzhen simply commanded.

Then he took the initiative to say: "Next year will be the first time since I ascended the throne that I will open a scientific examination, and the imperial examination is a national talent ceremony, so we must pay attention to it." I think it's better to decide the time to try it early, it's set for March 15th, what do you think? ”

Most officials were unconcerned about Chongzhen's decision on the timing of the examination, with only one Ministry of Rites official believing that Qin Tianjian should be allowed to choose an auspicious day, though apparently everyone ignored the official's claims.

After determining the time of Enke next year, Zhu Youzhen continued: "I have checked some information on the imperial examination system since the founding of the Ming Dynasty in the past few days, and since the Taizu Dynasty has set a precedent for the north and south to take scholars.

By the time of the Renzong Dynasty, Yang Shiqi, a university scholar, proposed the method of admitting jinshi by region, and finally established a north-south roll system for taking jinshi by region. The southern volume takes six-tenths and the northern volume takes four-tenths.

During the Xuande period, the middle volume was divided from the north and south volumes, and it was stipulated that 55 people should be taken from the south volume, 35 people from the north volume, and 10 people from the middle volume.

I think this method of admitting jinshi places by region is good, but it is still too rough.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty now has a quota of 300 people for each subject, although it will be adjusted from time to time, but it is also within 300-400 people. Therefore, I think that the places should be more finely divided. ”

As the secretary of the Ministry of Rites in charge of the imperial examination, he came to Zongdao and was the first to step forward and ask Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, what does it mean that this division is more detailed?" ”

Zhu Youzhen said cautiously: "According to the usual practice, the scope of the southern volume is the five provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Huguang, and Guangdong, as well as Yingtian, Songjiang, Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Huizhou, Ningguo, Chizhou, Taiping, Huai'an, Yangzhou, and Guangdezhou in Nanzhili.

The northern volume covers the four provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Shaanxi, plus the three capitals of Liaodong, Daning, and Wanquan, including Shuntian, Baoding, Zhending, Hejian, Shunde, Daming, Yongping, Guangping, Yanqing, and Baoanzhou.

The scope of the middle volume is the four provinces of Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, as well as Luzhou, Fengyang, Anqing and Xuzhou, Chuzhou and Hezhou in the south of Zhili.

I felt that this kind of division was either too rough or too cumbersome, and I thought that it should be divided according to the provincial nationality of the scholars first, and each province should first be allocated 10 jinshi places, and then the remaining jinshi places should be distributed according to the level of test scores. ”

As soon as Chongzhen's words were finished, the opposition of the officials below immediately sounded, and the officials from Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Nanzhili were the most fiercely opposed.

Fujian-born officials remained on the sidelines, and they found that after changing to provincial nationality, it seemed that Fujian Juzi did not take advantage of it. According to the way of the North and South Retractors, they are also about 10 people.

Officials from other regions were very supportive of Chongzhen's ideas, especially those from Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Shaanxi provinces.

Although there are a large number of officials from Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Nanzhili, Shi Fenglai of the cabinet, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites to Zongdao, Wang Zaijin, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and Xu Guangqi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials, are all from Zhejiang and Nanzhili.

However, Shi Fenglai has always been tactful and will not go against Chongzhen, while Xu Guangqi supports Chongzhen's new policy, and the two remain silent about it.

Therefore, among the high-ranking officials, only the scholars of the Ministry of Rites came to Zongdao, the scholars of the Ministry of War were Wang Zaijin, and Liu Zongzhou, the principal of the Central Government Academy, who was given the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites.

The support of Huang Liji, Guo Yunhou, Xue Zhen, Cao Sicheng and others obviously overwhelmed the voices opposing the adjustment of the imperial examination provinces.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Pan Shixuan, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, immediately pointed out that Luzhou, Fengyang, Anqing, Xuzhou, Chuzhou, Hezhou and other places in Nanzhili were not prosperous, and the population of Nanzhili far exceeded that of other provinces, so it was too unfair to give Nanzhili only 10 places.

Zhu Youzhen asked Wang Chengen to bring the map of the Ming Dynasty, and after looking at it for a long time, he said: "Then assign Xuzhou Mansion to Shandong, and Luzhou, Fengyang, Anqing, Chuzhou, Hezhou, Huizhou, Ningguo, Chizhou, Taiping, and Guangdezhou will be divided into a province; Huai'an, Yangzhou and Suzhou have a separate province; Songjiang Prefecture set up a separate governor, and the number of jinshi was halved. ”

Chongzhen's way of decomposing Nanzhili is equivalent to increasing the number of Jinshi in Nanzhili by 35 times, which is the same as before the change.

Officials from Huizhou, Ningguo, Taiping, and Guangde suddenly fell silent, and after the separation, the scholars of these four prefectures did not have to compete with the scholars in the Susong area for the quota of lifting people and entering the scholars, which was obviously much better than before the reform.

Officials from Yingtianfu and Songjiang Mansion also recognized it, and it was obviously a good thing not to be able to take the exam with Suzhou scholars.

The real loss is the scholars in Suzhou and Zhejiang, because of the developed economy and the flourishing style of study, so in the Jinshi examination in different regions, they are the majority of the people on the list.

However, now that they have lost the support of officials in the Nanzhili region, who are also in the southern volume region, the voice of opposition to the provincial imperial examination system has suddenly weakened.

Zhu Youzhen continued to look at the map and said: "The land of Shaanxi is vast, bordering Monan, Moxi Mongolia, and Wusizang, although there are governors of Shaanxi and governors of the three sides, but the powers are different, and Xi'an is in the hinterland, and it is difficult to respond to the border in time.

I thought that Gansu, Ningxia, and Yan'an could set up separate provinces, so that the governor of Shaanxi would no longer have to worry about side affairs, as long as he was responsible for the governance of Shaanxi's people's livelihood. The trilateral governors could also concentrate on the military defense of Gansu, Ningxia, and Yan'an. ”

After discussing for a long time, the officials of the DPRK and China finally agreed with Chongzhen's method of dividing provinces. Moreover, under Chongzhen's proposal, the governors of the Ming Dynasty and the borders of the provinces were adjusted to ensure that the areas under the governor's jurisdiction did not appear to be trans-provincial.

The adjustment of this provincial-level administrative region has allowed Daming to have 8 more provinces, reaching 21 provinces and two capitals, and Beizhili has also carved out a Hebei Province.

205 of the 300 fixed jinshi places were divided, and the remaining 95 places were graded according to the test papers and admitted on the basis of merit.

After approving the adjustment plans of the provinces, Zhu Youzhen breathed a sigh of relief and held that the tasks of today's court meeting had been accomplished.

"Your Majesty, the minister has a book." Zhu Youzhen, who had just relaxed, suddenly heard Sun Chengzong's voice.

"Mr. Sun, please speak."

"The minister thinks that now the restructuring of Yingzhou Santunwei has almost been completed. The minister hoped that His Majesty would allow him to take over the Yingzhou Garrison, recruit sergeants, and form a new army. Sun Chengzong said in a loud voice.

Zhu Youzhen only thought about it, and then said: "Even after the restructuring, it is only to ensure the amount of land in Yingzhou Sanwei, and it may not be enough to restore enough military households. I plan to expand the compulsory military service system from Yingzhou Sanwei to Shunyi, Pinggu, and Jizhou. ”

Sun Chengzong didn't mind expanding the compulsory military service system, after all, this was to provide a source of soldiers for the new army, but Huang Liji was a little worried.

"Your Majesty, this Shunyi and other places have just undergone a popular uprising, and now they should focus on appeasing the people's hearts and rashly introduce a compulsory military service system, is it not appropriate?"

"I don't think this is a disturbance to the people, because the Gyeonggi people have just subsided, and many households in the three places must have broken their homes because of this, and conscripting the able-bodied into the army can also make the place peaceful and prevent banditry." Zhu Youzhen retorted.

Huang Liji thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty's compulsory military service system can absorb local young and strong, so as not to disturb the locality. But if a person has a family, will he not have nothing to do with his family in the coming year, and can His Majesty exempt those who have families from military service? ”

"If the compulsory military service system cannot be treated equally, then what is the difference between it and the guard system, the powerful will inevitably escape military service, and then the compulsory military service system will not become a disguised conscription?

I don't think there is a need to restrict who can be conscripted, but the treatment of conscripts' families can be improved, for example, those who serve in the military will no longer have to serve conscription, and they will no longer have to pay the silver and salt money of the household registration. Zhu Youzhen carefully argued.

Wang Zaijin suddenly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, it is normal for this sergeant to be exempted, but the transportation task in the north is heavy, and if there are too many exempt sergeants from military service, then the minister is afraid that the transportation of border army materials will not be enough to levy and distribute the people." Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to limit the size of the conscription of this new army. ”

Wang Zaijin's words made Zhu Youzhen think for a while before he spoke: "I think that in the future, the transportation of military materials will still be based on the army's own transportation. The people are not the army after all, what if they are allowed to transport supplies and are intercepted by the enemy? What should I do if the materials are not delivered within the specified time?

Moreover, I have seen the sergeants in the Beijing camp, and I feel that not all sergeants can go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, and those sergeants who can't go to the battlefield can't even do the military resources at the transportation point? ”

Chongzhen's rhetorical question made Wang Zaijin silent, Zhu Youzhen looked at the silent ministers below, and finally said in a slightly softened tone: "As for the scale of the recruitment of the new army, a battalion of 3,200 people, let's recruit two battalions first." When the two battalions see results, a decision will be made on whether to expand the recruitment of the new army. ”

The scale of the two battalions is less than the quota of the three tunwei in Yingzhou, which makes Wang Zaijin, Huang Liji, and Guo Yunhou breathe a sigh of relief.

They were originally afraid, Chongzhen was young and vigorous, and he was bent on expanding the size of the army. On the one hand, it will contribute to the expansion of the power of the warriors, and on the other hand, it will also make the treasury unable to make ends meet.