Chapter 2546
Haihan's talent selection system is based on its own education system, which is similar to traditional cultural and educational methods, but the differences are also obvious.
Haihan's education system was not only for cultivating scholars and reserve officials. A considerable part of educational resources was used to train industrial workers and special technical talents. This was a function that the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system did not have.
However, because the scale of the education industry is still concentrated in a few areas such as Hainan Island, Haihan's self-trained bureaucratic team cannot keep up with the speed of territorial expansion. Therefore, retaining a large number of local officials from the previous Ming Dynasty has become a shortcut for Haihan to solve the problem. . The foundation of the bureaucracy in the Qian Ming Dynasty was the imperial examination system, which involved too many interests in all aspects. Haihan was unable to make drastic improvements in a short period of time. He could only temporarily use the system of the Qian Ming Dynasty to ensure that civilian literati could still Have a reliable upward path.
Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as the former Ming-ruled areas that Haihan has taken over, are undoubtedly a sample that will serve as a demonstration. How the government selects talents from the private sector will be a major event that millions of eyes are watching.
According to the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty, the provincial examination was held every three years in the capitals of each province. Those students in the province who passed the scientific examination, age examination, and heritage recording could participate in the examination. The examiners who presided over the provincial examinations were personally appointed and dispatched by the emperor. Students who passed the examination were awarded the title of "Ji Ren" and thus qualified to enter the officialdom.
Hosting such a big exam was indeed a bit too much for the young Bai Letong. Before that, he had only participated in the organization of a few local talent selection examinations in Sanya. Its scale, complexity and importance were much inferior to this major regional examination that takes place every three years.
Now that this area has been taken over by Haihan, of course there will no longer be examiners sent by the emperor to Hangzhou, and the organizer of the provincial examination has also been changed from the Zhejiang Provincial Envoy Si Yamen to the Haihan Donghai Region Management Committee .
But the problem lies in the connection between the old and new government. Although the subordinate officials of the Management Committee also included literati who had joined the imperial examination in the previous Ming Dynasty and had experience in participating in the provincial examination, they were also just laymen in the organization of the imperial examination. There are a lot of controversies over how to set the questions for this provincial examination, how to mark the papers, how to set the evaluation standards, and whether to continue to implement the old rules or implement Haihan's new plan.
In order to ensure the authority of this rural examination and encourage literati in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions to actively participate, the management committee also thought of many ways. For example, those who are currently in charge of relevant work are several highly respected scholars and retired officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. These are figures specially invited by the management committee to act as facades, using their reputation and status to inform the outside world. Although the dynasty has changed, However, the talent selection system of the previous government will continue to be retained - at least there will be no changes in this year's provincial examination.
So who will control the standards and standards of this imperial examination? Since the Haihan Executive Committee is far away, the decision must naturally be made by Lord Shi Diwenshi who is right in front of us. This is also the tone set by the "Township Trial Office" specially established for this purpose.
However, at this juncture, the Executive Committee sent a young "imperial envoy" to Hangzhou. The official document he held clearly stated that this young man would "participate in presiding over this year's provincial examination." This would be a test for the "provincial examination." "The political wisdom of these old foxes is gone."
Although Bai Letong has been an official for several years, he still has too little experience in dealing with such old foxes. Not long after he entered the countryside for a trial run, a lot of information was already revealed by the opponent.
Officials of Bai Letong's age are sent to other places to perform such important tasks for two reasons. One is that they are extremely capable and have rich work experience in professional fields, and can handle various difficult problems in unfamiliar environments. . Another possibility is that this person has a strong background and is able to represent the authority of the executive committee overseas. It is not difficult to test out which situation Bai Letong belongs to. The old foxes only need to ask for instructions and discuss some matters related to the imperial examination with him, and it is easy to test out Bai Letong's professional ability.
These methods are difficult for Bai Letong to guard against, so after a discussion, he will inevitably be tested by others. Everyone regarded him as a rich man who came to Hangzhou to get gold, and treated him with more than a little respect, but no one really regarded him as the examiner of this provincial examination, so he was somewhat perfunctory when discussing certain key issues.
Although Bai Letong was aware of these subtle details, he had no idea what to do about it. After all, the county magistrate was not as good as the current governor. Although he was the special envoy sent by Sanya to Hangzhou, Shi Diwen had not appointed him yet. Local jobs. In other words, he is just a pure outsider to the "rural pilot program". Even if he wants to dictate, no one will listen to his instructions.
At this time, there was still some time before the August exam, and the final exam questions to be used had not yet been determined. Bai Letong looked at the question bank prepared by the people at the rural trial office and found that there were still many problems in it.
Many questions in traditional imperial examinations are based on the Four Books and Five Classics, quoting sentences from them, and requiring candidates to write eight-legged essays, essays, or poems. Haihan's examination system is more practical, and most of the examination questions are related to the actual work that grassroots officials will be exposed to. Judging from the question bank currently prepared by the township examination office, the questions are obviously more biased towards the traditional imperial examination and lack content related to administrative affairs.
Of course, Bai Letong also raised this concern with the staff of the township examination, but the other party's response was that considering that the students in this province have limited knowledge of the Haihan system, if the style of the examination questions is changed too much, it may affect the talent selection effect of the township examination. .
But Bai Letong is not the kind of person who is submissive. Since he has a mission, he will not be willing to come all the way here to be a spectator. He proposed to the township examination office that the proportion of examination questions in the historical theory and policy analysis parts must be increased, and the examination content of propositional administrative documents must be added. These changes to the examination questions must also be combined with the Haihan system, requiring candidates to show their understanding and intention of the new dynasty and new system in their applications.
But the problem is that these people in the township examination are almost all old people from the Ming Dynasty. They can't come up with Haihan style test questions. In order to maintain their authority, they are not willing to fully accept the opinions of a young man like Bai Letong. So the talks went back and forth, and until Bai Letong left his hometown for a trial run, the two parties did not reach a clear intention to cooperate.
Of course, Bai Letong also understood the reason. When running errands in Hangzhou, the appointment of the executive committee was not enough. He also needed the explicit support of Shi Diwen and the Donghai Region Management Committee.
(End of chapter)