******

Outside the window, the night was already quieter, and the lights in the imperial study were still bright, and Qin Mu was still reading the papers of the palace exam under the lamp.

According to the information sent back the night before, Duoduo's army has already moved south from Kaifeng, and according to the current speed of Duoduo's itinerary, it will be able to kill Huainan in ten days and eight days at most. Time is urgent, Qin Mu has to read the papers of the palace examination in one day and one night, and finish the imperial examination as soon as possible, so that he can devote his energy to the war.

Yang Zhi was worried that he was hungry, so she personally sent some snacks, and then added tea and water to the side, serving ink and burning incense.

In order to avoid others saying that she interfered in politics, she rarely came to the imperial study in the past.

On this cold winter night, seeing that her husband had not slept for the third time, she was distressed, "Husband, this snack is still hot, you can eat a little first and then read the rolls." ”

"Oh, bring it." While looking at the rolls, Qin Mu picked up a piece of dim sum and stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a few times before he looked up in a trance and asked, "What time is it?" ”

"Husband, it's almost the third shift."

Qin Mu patted the back of her hand and said, "It's cold, don't hold on, lady, go back to sleep first, there are still a few volumes, go back after reading it for your husband, you don't have to worry." ”

Yang Zhi smiled gently and said, "Husband, look at it, the concubine is coerced by her husband." She took the chopsticks, cut the dim sum into small pieces, and then fed them to Qin Mu's mouth one bite at a time as if she were feeding a child.

Han Zanzhou, who was guarding the door, saw this scene in his eyes, and felt quite emotional in his heart, in the Daming Palace before, all he saw was intrigue. It's hard to see the warm side of this ordinary family.

The queen's virtuous gentleness made Han Zanzhou awe-inspired, with her, King Qin almost didn't have to worry about the affairs of the harem, and he could devote himself to military and political affairs with peace of mind.

Accompanied by Yang Zhi, Qin Mu finally finished reading all the test papers. Generally speaking, the first two questions of this temple examination were discussed by the tributes in place;

Especially those named Chen Zhenyuan's discussion of the second question. He is very deep in thought, taking Confucianism as the skin, Tao as the flesh, and the law as the bone. Although it is very vague, it is very rare to dare to write such a statement.

It is only about the third question, "Westerners often reap benefits in the name of preserving the land, while China often seeks the name of the Celestial Empire and loses profits." All the answers are fierce criticisms of Westerners who value profit over righteousness;

Moreover, everyone's understanding of the West is very shallow, and no one can discuss it from the aspects of Western politics, economy, history, and humanities, but blindly apply the Confucian principle of benevolence and righteousness.

Qin Mu was deeply disappointed by this.

Confucianism has been self-supremacy in China for nearly 2,000 years. It's impossible to change this situation all at once;

What did the Manchu shaving order provoke so many people to revolt? The reason for this is not that the shaving order did indeed touch the core ideas of "filial piety" and "propriety" in Confucianism, so that many people who had already surrendered resolutely rose up against the Manchus.

The Manchus could suppress it with a butcher's knife and forcefully enforce the hand-out order. Could it be that he could challenge the position of Confucianism with such bloody means? No, that's the case. It's not my turn to lift a butcher's knife. Instead, he waited for the butcher's knife to add to his neck.

Qin Mu felt that in order to change the situation of Confucian supremacy, in addition to slowly guiding it himself and slowly stuffing some Taoist and Legalist thoughts, he also needed to introduce some Western ideas, like the late Qing Dynasty, so that Eastern and Western ideas could have a violent collision. It is possible to make a difference.

He agreed to let John Tong build a church, not really to make Catholicism popular in China, but to use this channel to attract Western ideas and attack them from inside and outside. Slowly change the reality of Confucianism's dominance.

Qin Mu finally made Chen Zhenyuan the champion, Yuan Han Jing as the leader, Zhu Tong as Tanhua, and Sima Kai, who was quite insightful in strategy, as the first place in the second class.

On the day of the release of the list, thousands of people in Jinling City were empty, and they flocked to the front of the Gongyuan to watch the gold list. Chen Zhenyuan ranked outside the top 50 in the entrance examination, and became the champion after the palace examination, which surprised many people, but this kind of thing has often happened in previous dynasties.

After the answer sheets of the top three palace examinations were posted, everyone scrambled to watch, and Chen Zhenyuan's exposition caused a wide range of discussions, and in this discussion, Qin Mu's Qionglin banquet in Xiyuan on the shore of Mochou Lake began.

Three hundred and sixty-two new science and technology scholars wore red flowers, rode horses across the streets of Jinling City, went out of the city from Sanshanmen to Xiyuan to catch a banquet, the crowds along the street were sensational, and countless people rushed to watch, this was the most glorious moment for the Jinshi.

Xiyuan is located on the south bank of Mochou Lake, which was originally given to Xu Da by Emperor Hongwu, covering an area as much as half of the palace city, and has now been owned by the royal family;

Inside the pavilions, pavilions, rainbow bridges, Shengqi Building, Dianqiu Hall, Water Pavilion, Baoyue Building, Lake Center Pavilion, winding path corridor, etc., are hidden in the green shade of mountains, stones, pines and bamboos, flowers and trees. But Jue West Lake loses, and Jiang Fan shoots the pleasant scenery of "Yunfei".

The new science and technology scholars "are edicted to enter the crown and come back to Xuan Majesty to look at the sky", one by one they looked excited, and during the banquet, the top three should fold flowers and offer poems, which is their special glory.

A grand Qionglin banquet lasted half a day, after which the Jinshi went to the Confucian Temple to pay homage to Confucius, and then the name of the Jinshi was engraved and erected in the Guozijian by the Ministry of Rites, which was called "Jinshi Inscription Tablet".

Different from previous dynasties, the Jinshi on the list this time must be led by the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, and take a boat to Jiangyin and Yangzhou to pay solemn respects and conduct a patriotic education before they are eligible to release officials.

All in all, although the time was pressing, this time Enke's procedure was still very grand, which played a great role in buying the hearts of the readers, and at the same time allowed the prestige of the imperial court to be demonstrated.

If you are like Zhang Xianzhong, you will randomly pull some people to take the exam, make such a farce, and make people laugh in vain, it will have no effect at all on increasing the centripetal force of the people to the imperial court.

Qin Mu was quite satisfied with Enke this time, and rewarded the officials of the Ministry of Rites and Fu Qingzhu, the examiners. At the same time, Fu Qingzhu was appointed as a scholar of Zuochunfang University in Zhan Shifu.

The Zhan Mansion was the institution in charge of the affairs of the Eastern Palace, and the scholars were mainly responsible for the education of the prince. Although Qin Ye was only a little more than a year old and was not yet at the age of admission, Qin Mu decided to build a royal academy, located in the East Garden of Dongze in Wuyi Lane, so that the hundreds of "disciples of the Son of Heaven" in Yuelu Academy would enter the Royal Academy, and when Qin Ye grew up, he would also enter this academy.

Qin Mu planned to use Master Fu Qing to preside over this academy, of course, he would also find time to attend classes himself, which would be a very special academy.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was originally a martial arts behind the Yingtianfu Ya, which occupied a square of land. In addition to building the Royal Academy, Qin Mu also planned to expand the martial arts and move it to the Shenji Battalion outside the Zhengyang Gate, so that the students of martial arts could not only receive education in the classroom, but also train with the garrison, so as to cultivate military talents who were excellent in theory and actual combat.

The first martial arts Qin Mu also ordered the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites to prepare together, which will be held in March next year.

***

The new scholars went to Jiangyin to worship, and the atmosphere of the battle in Jinling City became stronger and stronger, and the news of the comeback of the Duoduo army spread far and wide, and there was a lot of discussion about it, but everyone was still relatively confident in the Qin army, and it did not cause too much panic.

Qin Mu's energy was also invested in preparing for war, and he summoned ministers at the decision-making level every day to discuss.

In the side hall of the palace, a huge sand table was placed, and He Liang, the secretary of the military department, said: "According to the information sent back from the front, Duoduo gathered 80,000 troops, plus the troops originally stationed in Fengyang, Shouzhou, Xuzhou, and Suqian, a total of about 120,000, of which the green battalion soldiers are mainly Zuomengeng;

It is worth mentioning that now that Duoduo has food and grass in his hands, he can recruit more troops at any time.

At present, Duoduo's army has arrived in Qixian, and the direction of the main attack has not yet been determined;

However, according to the direction of Duoduo's advance, the Ministry of War analyzed this and believed that the direction of Duoduo's main attack might be Huai'an, because the Huaiyang area south of Huai'an was originally a rich place, and the last time Duoduo went south, most of these areas surrendered without a fight, and the damage caused by the war was relatively small.

Once the Qing army broke through Huai'an, it would be able to get corresponding supplies from the Huaiyang area, which would greatly help reduce the logistical pressure of the Qing army. Based on the above analysis, the Ministry of War believes that it is more likely that the direction of Duoduo's main attack will be in Huai'an. ”

He Liang's analysis is in line with reality, and Sima An, Gu Junen, Li Yuan, and others present at the meeting all agree with this analysis result.

Zhuge Min pondered for a while and said: "King Qin, since the Qing army is most likely to attack Huai'an, the minister suggests sending a central minister to sit in Huai'an, so that it is appropriate. ”

Zhuge Min's words have another meaning, in addition to having doubts about the ability of Jin Shenghuan, who guarded Huai'an, more importantly, Jin Shenghuan was Zuo Mengeng's subordinate.

This time, Zuo Mengeng went south with Duoduo, and then let Jin Shenghuan preside over the Huai'an defense line, in case Jin Shenghuan made any changes, the consequences would be unimaginable.

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(To be continued......)