Chapter 2618
The cooperation conditions negotiated between Chen Yixin and Prince De's Palace were not recognized by the Forbidden City, and it was impossible for the Haihan Executive Committee to endorse such an action with uncertain prospects in advance. Therefore, strictly speaking, this can only be regarded as a non-starter. Cooperation of an official nature. The pressure for cooperation is also mainly concentrated on the Palace of Prince De. Once a descendant of Prince De publicly enters the Haihan bureaucracy, it will be tantamount to a betrayal of the Zhu family. I am afraid it will be difficult to gain recognition from people in the Forbidden City, and it may even be possible. They turned against each other and no longer recognized the position of Prince De's Palace in the Ming Dynasty clan system.
But Prince De's Mansion finally chose to cooperate with Chen Yixin. The reason is also very simple. The Ming Dynasty has lost the world, and Prince De's fiefdom has become the territory of Haihan. If there is no cooperation, Prince De's lineage will only sink all the way. , until it disappears in the long river of history. Moreover, what Chen Yixin said is very clear. Even if King De refuses to agree, Haihan will continue to look for the next partner, and only the first person to eat crabs can enjoy such cooperation conditions. After passing this village, But this store no longer exists.
So Prince De's Mansion followed Chen Yixin's request and selected several men between the ages of sixteen and thirty from the clan to go to Jinzhou, Liaodong to take the preliminary examination. Zhu Zian was naturally one of them.
Zhu Zian was born into a distinguished family. He had been taught by famous teachers and scholars since he was a child. He learned a lot about life and governance, and naturally he also had some lofty ambitions. It's just that he is limited to the status of a descendant of the vassal king, and there is almost no chance of inheriting the throne. At most, he can only be a free prince in the local area.
However, with the rise of Haihan, Zhu Zian's way of becoming Prince Xiaoyao was basically blocked. At this time, the opportunity provided by Haihan allowed him to see the possibility of re-choosing the direction of his life. Perhaps being an official in Haihan will not be as easy and pleasant as being a vassal king, but there will be more room for him to use the skills he has learned in the past. This is a great opportunity for him. A tempting challenge.
Zhu Zian's first test in Jinzhou went very smoothly, relying on his accumulated knowledge to pass easily, and finally won one of the only two places in this internal competition. In fact, his performance in the written examination interview was almost the same as that of another cousin who was selected at the same time, so in the end Chen Yixin asked them to draw lots. One of them would stay in the Northern Region to take the exam, while the other was arranged to go to the Donghai Region to take the provincial examination. In the end, Zhu Zian won the lottery and went south to take the exam, so he showed up in Hangzhou.
Tao Hongfang said: "With Brother Zhu's talent, he will definitely pass the provincial examination and high school, but I don't know what Brother Zhu's plans are next?"
Zhu Zian said: "Winning the provincial examination is just the beginning for me, but for the next step, I still have to follow Master Shi's arrangements."
Zhu Zian's humble attitude undoubtedly showed that he had understood the situation and was willing to lower his stature for his own future and obey Shi Diwen's arrangements.
Shi Diwen seemed to be very satisfied with this, and said with a smile: "The results will be released in a few days. The candidates with excellent scores in this provincial examination will receive training for three months to half a year, and then they will be trained by Donghai The regional management committee will assign specific tasks. Initially, he may be assigned to a certain county as a deputy county magistrate, and then the position will be adjusted based on his performance after he becomes familiar with grassroots government affairs.”
Seeing that the eyes of Bai Letong and others were focused on him, Shi Diwen knew that these arrangements were not what they were concerned about, so he continued: "From the time the list is published, the official will arrange to publicize Zian's identity. Newspapers will also have corresponding special reports, focusing on the authority of the new imperial examination hosted by our country in selecting talents.”
The children of the Zhu family participated in the imperial examination sponsored by Haihan and won the gold medal, becoming the first batch of literati to successfully obtain the imperial examination. Such a subject undoubtedly has strong propaganda value. Tao Hongfang and others have been reading various newspapers and periodicals under the influence of their fathers since childhood, and they can roughly imagine the angle from which the propaganda agency will report this matter. There is no doubt that this will trigger a new wave of public opinion. If nothing else, the Zhu family's public declaration of allegiance to Haihan will greatly shake the stance of some centrists and encourage those who are still waiting to see the trend to join Haihan as soon as possible. And those die-hards who still have illusions about Zhu's Ming Dynasty will have their beliefs severely damaged by this.
As for Zhu Zian's own abilities or the height he can reach in the Haihan officialdom in the future, that is secondary. If there is actual necessity, the official will definitely continue to protect his career so that his value can be fully utilized to achieve publicity effects.
Shi Diwen actually had almost no reservations about what he said. Of course, this is actually telling Tao Hongfang and others that the matter has been finalized and no further changes are allowed, and they no longer need to spend time investigating any undisclosed inside information.
Tao Hongfang and others had no reason to refute Shi Diwen's arrangement at this time. They initially believed that all the chaos in the rural pilot office was caused by this, but later the investigation concluded that the relevant officials wanted to free ride on their connections, but the Zhu Zian the officials really wanted to protect was not a worthless idiot, but a He has a good knowledge base and his vision is far beyond that of civilian literati.
Even if Zhu Zian's identity is put aside, based on his own knowledge, he can probably stand out in this provincial examination. Shi Diwen's measures are just to add an insurance for this, so the fairness of Bai Letong's question is also Not so tenable.
However, Tao Hongfang had a vague feeling that Shi Diwen's purpose in arranging this meeting today was probably not just to explain to them the reason why Zhu Zian took part in the imperial examination. If you just want them to relieve the knot in their minds, there is actually no need for Zhu Zian to come forward. Shi Diwen's arrangement is more like letting them get to know each other. This may mean that they will still have opportunities to deal with each other in the future.
Sure enough, Shi Diwen took the initiative to explain the reason next: "Zian is similar to you in age and has a similar family background. I think that instead of letting him stay in Hangzhou for training, it is better to go out with you first to gain more knowledge. Maybe It will help him learn how to govern the place in the future.”
Tao Hongfang and others were a little surprised after hearing this. Shi Diwen wanted Zhu Zian to travel overseas with them. This arrangement was even more exaggerated than Zhu Zian's participation in the imperial examination. You must know that for so many years, Haihan's missions to other countries have always only included officials and soldiers from his own country, but there have never been "miscellaneous people" like Zhu Zian.
(End of chapter)