That night, Hei Fu and Zhang Cang were sitting at the foot of the Xianyang Palace. Behind them was the empty emperor's couch and the emperor's sword hanging high. In front of them were the yawning soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

After spending a full hour, Hei Fu described to Zhang Cang a method of selecting scholars called "examination".

"In the past, those who wanted to be officials of the Qin Dynasty had to take a test before taking office."

When Heifu and a certain Liu Tingzhang who was still in Haidong were unknown, they both took the examination, which was called "examination for an official", but they were very simple. They just answered some legal questions correctly and served as military officials to catch thieves.

, and also need to be proficient in performing the use of weapons.

"From now on, the world must be pacified immediately, but once the nine states are clarified, we cannot immediately rule the world like in the past. Some of my military officers are good at marching and fighting, but they must wear the crown of law and serve as civil officials.

, faced with piles of documents?"

Then all I can do is hahaha!

Heifu was also helpless: "Although I often encourage my old troops to spend some time learning literacy when they have money and leisure, those soldiers have been learning for nearly ten years, and most of them can only make their names famous.

Just write it clearly."

Both the First Emperor's and Heifu's southern regimes actually faced this problem. Officials with military backgrounds often made jokes when they went to govern local areas.

Although the officials of Qin were good and the school could produce a group of disciples who were literate and well versed in laws, all the resources in the world were invested in conquering the east and west and overhauling the wonders, and very few were allocated to education. Xianyang School

, even if hundreds of people learn it every year, it will not be enough if they are thrown into the vast land of Kyushu. Moreover, when these people go to places, they don’t even understand the local language, so they can only turn a blind eye and rely on local powerful people to govern the county.

On the contrary, Heifu established a unique local school in Jiaodong and organized examinations for his disciples, which gave local scholars the opportunity to participate in politics.

"Military merit is the foundation of Qin, and it will continue to be maintained. For now, we are only talking about scholars, who account for less than a hundred and two literate people in the world..."

Three hundred years after Confucius started his private school, the number of literate people in the world has slowly risen from a few tenths of a percent of the nobles and witches to about two percent, and most of the people can still read but not write. Among them, Qin, Qilu

It is higher, maybe 3% in some places, and the lowest in Chu, Yan and other places, maybe less than 1%.

Literacy is the most basic threshold for civil servants.

Although the proportion of students studying is too low, it is not even possible to obtain scholars every year. Therefore, in Heifu's vision, at the beginning, the examination can only be used as a supplement to the military meritorious and academic officials (government-run education) system, once every three years.

"What's the test?" Zhang Cang was about to take action and wanted to propose "Accumulate literature, conduct yourself upright, and be able to belong to etiquette and justice."

But Heifu had his own idea. He held out three fingers:

"First, use official script to write short essays with clear meanings."

"Second, legal questions and answers."

"Third, number skills!"

Zhang Cang, who was a little disappointed when he heard that there was no etiquette and literature, his eyes suddenly lit up when he heard about Shushu.

"That's right." Heifu smiled and said:

"Those commonly used questions in your "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", such as calculating the size of an acre of land, how many bricks and tiles it takes to build a wall, and how much grain is harvested per year."

In short, it is Chinese language, law, mathematics, the most basic three items. This will be the standard for working as a small civil servant above "fighting food" in the county. It can be regarded as giving the Kanto scholars a chance to serve as a rice bowl. The threshold is already very low.

It can't be any lower, it's just equivalent to telling the world:

"As long as they are literate, numeral, and know the law, and are willing to work for the government, they will all be given food rations!"

It is better to first incorporate all potential talents into the Qin official system than to use their talents to chaos the world when they are desperate.

This is just the first examination to obtain a scholar. In the future, the examination will become more and more difficult, and the standards will become higher and higher, and even "history" will be added, which will affect the scholars' outlook from the bottom.

And next, how to implement benign promotions of rewards and punishments within officials, so that talented people in the state and ministry can enter the court step by step, relying on examinations, performance, or a combination of the two? Heifu still has to think about it again...

But the first cornerstone of the new building has finally been laid.

Examination is the fairest method in civilized society. People all over the world have struggled with it for thousands of years, and no country can find a completely alternative method.

Heifu can't, no one can.

Examinations cannot be completely fair. There is malpractice due to favoritism and it is difficult to correct long-standing abuses. The original ideals change over time and many problems will arise.

But compared to competition, it is self-evident which one is more fair, letting everyone run on the same track first, deciding the merits and selecting civil servants based on ranking.

Although, you, who was born in the capital of Guizhou, and officials who have been educated in the government-run school system, or even your opponents whose fathers are meritorious nobles and have received good training since childhood, cannot be on the same starting line.

The simplest thing is to mutter that this system has shortcomings and that system is not perfect, and then continue to continue the old system of the "sages" without making any changes.

As a disciple of Xun Xue who strongly admires the "Queen of Dharma", Zhang Cang obviously seeks change.

"My teacher Xun Qing once defined the 'king system', which is the king's system."

"Hei Fu...this idea of ​​the monarch is close to the king's system..."

"That's what I can tell you."

Heifu's eyes were a little tired:

"I am seriously prescribing medicine for the world, but what they care about is when I will take this position..."

"They are right to care."

Zhang Cang smiled: "I'm afraid you won't like what I say next."

He stood up and held his hands towards Hei Fu, and said solemnly: "From ancient times to the present, except for the good end of the Duke of Zhou, all the regents will not end well!"

"Yi Yin was killed by Taijia."

"Gong Bohe was erased from the classics by Zhou historians, leaving only a few words."

"Gong Lu Yin was killed by his younger brother Lu Huan Gong."

"You are young and powerful. Even if you are a regent like Gongbohe and leaves the position of emperor vacant, it will be no problem for fourteen years. You can even maintain this system within thirty years."

"But what happens after that?"

"Either return to the new king and hope to meet a wise master like King Qin Huiwen, who kills his people and uses his government."

"Either." Zhang Cang raised his head: "You take it for yourself!"

"The king is the body, the law is the outline, and etiquette is the function. This is the true government of the king and the method of lasting peace and stability."

His fat body bowed in front of Hei Fu.

"This is Zhang Cang's opinion as a disciple of Xun Xue."

"This is Zhang Cang's heartfelt words as a friend."

"This is also Zhang Cang, my loyal and sincere advice as a subordinate!"

"If you don't become Duke of Zhou, you will become Liu Qing, Tian Chang." Hei Fu touched his chin. This was really an endless paradox. After a long time, he said:

"Take a step first and take a look."

"After all, I am eager to fulfill my position now, but I am afraid that what I will get in exchange is disappointment and disintegration."

Heifu stretched out his hand: "Right now, although I have not taken Tai'a and worn it, nor have I practiced it, the power that only the emperor has can be held in my hand like the originally invisible sword of Tai'a!

"

"So now I should not worry about whether to sit on this throne or not, but how to use the power of the emperor to do what I wanted to do in the past but could not do it!"

"Besides gathering all the people from the world together, what else do you want to do?"

"very many."

Heifu's eyes revealed the ambition he had harbored for many years.

"The first thing is to expel the barbarians and clear the pass."

"Restore national strength, support soldiers, and reward those with meritorious services."

"Then go east out of Hangu, wipe out the remnants of the six kingdoms, and then unite the world!"

"After the world is settled, rest with the people. Men will enjoy their duties and women will cultivate their careers!"

"And to truly unify the world, unite the six regions, and unite the nine states, this is the dream of the First Emperor and also his unfinished business."

"I want to have it in my hands and finally get it done!"

There's more to it...

"Like this."

Hei Fu asked his bodyguard to fetch a huge key and handed it to Zhang Cang.

"What is this?" Zhang Cang took over and felt it was heavy. He asked with a playful smile, "Could it be the new mansion you gave me?"

"It's a big mansion."

Heifu smiled and said: "The key to Afang Palace belongs to you!"

…

Regardless of whether the Epang Palace was built or not in history, in this dimension, it was completed.

It is an exaggeration to be pressed down for more than three hundred miles and isolated from the sun, but thirty miles is there, and it is extremely luxurious and elegant.

"What does this mean?"

Zhang Cang felt that the key in his hand was extremely hot, and he immediately became serious: "Although I am lustful, I am not so impatient that I want to pervert the palace. Mr. Hei, you have seen the wrong person. Take it back, take it back..."

Heifu laughed loudly: "Zihu has overthought it. The female relatives in the palace have already come out. After Guanzhong is cleared, I will let them choose their husbands among the single soldiers of the Northern Expedition."
To be continued...