The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Zeng Yuanshu has rich experience in failing, so he is the only one who knows how to comfort Wei Guangde.

The exams went so smoothly all the way, but Wei Guangde was completely shocked when he suddenly failed.

Although he had had a premonition before, to be honest, Wei Guangde was still a little unwilling to believe that it would become a reality.

But as the newspapers continued to pass through the door of the inn, Wei Guangde knew that he had really failed this time.

Fortunately, because Wei Guangde was the youngest among everyone here, no one laughed at his behavior, and many people came to comfort him.

In fact, everyone was in the same state of mind at this time, feeling disappointed.

Everyone thought it was because Wei Guangde was young that he behaved so rudely and shed tears in public after facing the shock of failing the exam.

But only Wei Guangde knew in his heart that the tears that fell were not because of the failure at all, but because the belief that had been established in his heart for several months collapsed.

He is not the chosen one, not the son of God, he is just a time-traveler with incredible luck who accidentally came to this place.

As for the previous exams, well, maybe it was just luck.

Of course, facing the looks of Zeng Yuanshu, Lao Kan and others, Wei Guangde would not say anything.

Wiping the remaining tears on his face, Wei Guangde smiled and said, "I'm fine, I just feel like I can't be on the list. I feel a little sorry for my mother at home, and my father who is still fighting against Japanese pirates in Zhejiang."

Hearing what Wei Guangde said, Zeng Yuanshu and others breathed a sigh of relief.

In their minds, even though Wei Guangde was already a scholar, he was still just a child at that age.

Perhaps, it is only such children whose hearts are not stained by the dust of imperial examinations and official careers, and whose hearts are still empty and clean.

If you fail the exam, what comes to mind is nothing else but the disappointment that your parents and elders, who have been looking forward to it so much, will be disappointed.

"My dear brother Guangde, my filial son, Shilong is not as good as you."

At this time, Mr. Zhu Shilong, who had been in the limelight before, said in a very low tone on the side.

Wei Guangde didn't know that his tear would set up a golden sign for him in the circle of Jiangxi scholars - Ming Dynasty Filial Son.

What no one knows is that in order to show the character of Jiujiang students, Zhu Shilong spread Wei Guangde's story everywhere, and even shared it with other scholars in the province at the subsequent Luming Banquet.

Well, the story naturally reached the ears of the Jinke Jiangxi examiner and many examiners.

In the story, Wei Guangde has become a model of loyalty, filial piety and justice. His father is fighting for his country on the battlefield, and his mother is also looking forward to it at home. Wei Guangde resisted the pressure and participated in this year's imperial examination, from the county examination to the provincial examination.

Then, there was nothing more. He failed the provincial examination. The tears he shed were not for himself, but for his father who was fighting for the country on the battlefield and his mother who was waiting at home. They were disappointed.

"Loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom, trustworthiness" is the core of Confucianism and has always been highly praised by scholar-bureaucrats.

Among "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom, trust and trust", "loyalty and filial piety" are the most basic. Loyalty is the foundation of a country; filial piety is the foundation of a family.

The two words "loyalty and filial piety" support the "building" of the country, the nation and the entire family, just like the "four pillars" that stand firm; otherwise, the building of the family and the country will collapse.

"Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trust" are called the "Five Constants", which is the Wuchang in the old saying "Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Rules". The Three Cardinal Guidelines refer to the king as the guideline for the ministers, the father as the guideline for the son, and the husband as the guideline for the wife. The Wuchang constants are benevolence, righteousness and propriety. , wisdom, and faith are the foundation of one's life.

When the examiners and examiners heard that such a candidate had failed in the provincial examination, no one knew what they were thinking, but at least on the surface they all sighed.

An examiner took out Wei Guangde's paper and took a closer look. Indeed, the eight-legged essay writing style was not sophisticated enough, so failing the examination was not an injustice. It was refreshing to see the policy and argumentation at the end.

The weather this year has been abnormal. There has been no heavy rain in Jiangxi Province since spring, and drought has occurred in various parts of the province.

Yes, there is another drought in Jiangxi.

In fact, if the information in this era can be as smooth as in later generations, people will find that disasters are not just in Jiangxi, but in many counties across the country.

What only senior officials in the capital know is that since the fifth year of Jiajing, there has been a severe drought in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces; in the seventh year of Jiajing, there has been a severe drought in the provinces of North China; in Hubei, there has also been a severe drought, with hungry people eating each other; in Sichuan, there has also been a severe drought; There was a severe drought in Hebei, Shandong, Shaanxi, Fujian, Hubei, and Hunan in the 17th year, and hungry people from all over the country gathered in the capital. In the 24th year of Jiajing, there was a severe drought in Zhejiang and Hubei. In Fujian, there was a severe drought in two years, and people died of hunger on the road.

Naturally, the current question in Jiangxi Provincial Examination asks how to deal with the current drought. This is what candidates in the examination school should do if they are officials to deal with natural disasters.

Extreme drought disasters broke out continuously across the country. Severe droughts raged in nine provinces in the north and south. As a result, areas that accounted for more than 70% of the national tax quota suffered a large-scale reduction in grain production. As a result, the Ming Dynasty had to significantly reduce taxes and grain in the mainland. A large-scale increase in fiscal expenditures was used for inland relief and border defense supplies, resulting in a huge fiscal deficit for the central government.

Continuous droughts exposed the corruption of the salt administration of the Ming court, the occupation of land by clans, and the neglect of military camps. The border defense supply system failed. The Ming court had to adopt a series of innovative measures such as reforming the salt administration, inspecting the six ministries, and even inventorying Xunqi Zhuangtian. The preparation of food and wages for relief and border supply to cope with the crisis ultimately led to the start of the "Jiajing Reform".

However, all this gradually came to an end after Emperor Jiajing chose to practice Taoism. Perhaps he thought that if he succeeded in cultivating immortality, this series of disasters could be easily solved.

Perhaps Emperor Jiajing's choice to cultivate immortality was also a choice due to repeated disasters that had occurred in the empire for more than ten or twenty years.

If Wei Guangde knew the above information and someone reminded him, he might think of a word he had seen: "Little Glacier in the late Ming Dynasty". No one reminded Wei Guangde that he would never think of going there.

What's more, even if he thought of it, what could he do? He didn't have the ability to control everything.

Maybe they will come up with some bad ideas, such as sending troops to Nanyang to plunder food.

However, the Ming Dynasty's military strength at this time was not high, and sending them out would be like a sheep falling into a tiger's mouth.

Wei Guangde's answer at the beginning was actually consistent with the answers of most candidates, which was to pay less taxes and save more. He hoped to report to the court in time to reduce money and grain, relieve the suffering of the people, and at the same time build water conservancy facilities to prevent floods and droughts.

He did not seek death, saying that the drought was because there were traitors in the court, and they needed to be killed.

However, coming from later generations, Wei Guangde was somewhat more open-minded.

In fact, in later generations, there will be little that can be done in the face of disasters such as widespread drought.

Drilling wells or delivering water over long distances can only solve the water problem for humans and animals. Timely replacement of drought-resistant crops according to time is the main means to ensure agricultural harvests.

Therefore, in his answer sheet, Wei Guangde proposed the idea of ​​setting up a special supervisor to study crops, especially drought-resistant crops. In fact, it was to establish a future Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In his vision, a special department was set up to study crops and find high-quality and high-yielding crops for promotion. .