Spoiling History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

[But getting back to the point, the first wave of East-West collisions set off by "The Travels of Marco Polo" did not happen until the Ming Dynasty.

Or to be more precise, it was the collision between the Ming Dynasty ruled by the three emperors Zhengde, Jiajing, and Longqing, and the Portuguese country ruled by Manuel I, John III, and Sebastian I.

However, this theme will have to wait until the Ming Dynasty chapter to be discussed in detail. For now, let's look back at the Yuan Dynasty, because the imperial examination has finally returned.

It is said that alcoholism is a compulsory course for Mongolians, and promiscuity and murder are optional courses for Mongolians.

Yuan Wuzong came to power through a coup. Seriously speaking, this guy did do something in the economy, but these are not worth mentioning compared to his "wonderful" life.

Just five years after ascending the throne, the 30-year-old Yuan Wuzong died in Dadu due to excessive alcoholism and debauchery, ending his wonderful life.

When an emperor dies, some are happy and some are sad. The one who is most overjoyed is the crown prince.

The crown prince of Emperor Wuzong of Yuan was his younger brother. This was because his younger brother had made considerable efforts in the coup. So the two brothers agreed that "the throne will be passed down from brother to brother and uncle to nephew". This brother was later Emperor Renzong of Yuan. It was also Emperor Renzong who spent a lot of effort to restore the imperial examination.

However, unlike Emperor Zhao Da and Emperor Zhao Er, Emperor Wuzong of Yuan also admitted that there was such an agreement, and he canonized his younger brother as the crown prince when he was healthy.

In fact, the plan to restore the imperial examination was not only considered by Kublai Khan, but also discussed during the reigns of Emperor Chengzong of Yuan and Emperor Wuzong of Yuan. However, in the end, it was nothing like the reign of Emperor Kublai Khan.

The problems faced in different periods were also different. In fact, at the end of Emperor Chengzong of Yuan, because of the vast territory, many officials were needed. In comparison, the sparsely populated Mongolian nobles had accepted the need for imperial examinations to select officials, but how could they not damage the privileges of the masters?

Another problem is that the contradiction between the north and the south among the Han people has always been great. If the imperial examination is to be restored, should it be restored from the Song Dynasty or the Jin Dynasty?

So, with the rise of Yuan Renzong, these problems were solved.

Because Yuan Renzong was a Mongolian, although he did not get along well with the nobles, he still guaranteed the privileges of the Mongolians to consolidate the basic base, and the method of selecting scholars by race came into being.

Secondly, Yuan Renzong followed the trend in respecting Confucianism and tended to be Neo-Confucianism, so the proposal to restore the imperial examination of the Song and Jin Dynasties was thrown into the trash can, and the promoted Neo-Confucian Han Confucianists formulated a complete new imperial examination law for Yuan Renzong, which was known as the Yanyou Restoration of the Imperial Examination.

It was the Yanyou Restoration of the Imperial Examination that made the Four Books and Five Classics written and annotated by Zhu Xi the designated textbooks for the imperial examination. Later, the Ming and Qing dynasties completely adopted this regulation to let the imperial examination revolve within the scope of Neo-Confucianism, and its influence was not small.

As for the examination system, the three-level examination system of the Tang and Song dynasties is still used. We are all familiar with this. The first place in the provincial examination is called Jieyuan, the first place in the joint examination is called Huiyuan, and the first place in the palace examination is called Zhuangyuan. Therefore, since the Song Dynasty, there has been an auspicious saying to wish the imperial examination a smooth success, which is called "three consecutive yuan", and the Yuan Dynasty is no exception.

However, although it is wished in this way, in fact, in the history of the imperial examination for more than a thousand years, there are only fourteen people who can get three consecutive yuan. If it is limited to continuous three consecutive yuan, there are only three people in history, Song Yang and Feng Jing in the Song Dynasty, and Qian Qi in the Qing Dynasty.

However, Qian Qi is a bit special, because since the Ming Dynasty, there are too many people participating in the provincial examination, so in addition to the three examinations, three examinations of county examination, prefectural examination and academy examination were added. After passing all of them and getting the status of "Xiucai", you can officially start the imperial examination. Therefore, if you participate in the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty, there are six examinations.

Qian Qi is special because he got the first place in all six examinations, which is an unprecedented achievement of six consecutive yuan.

However, apart from this achievement, there is not much to say about Qian Qi, the champion of the imperial examination. After all, other people of the Qian clan are quite dazzling.

Let’s not talk about Qian Xuesen, the father of Chinese aerospace and missiles.

Let’s not talk about Qian Weichang, the father of modern Chinese mechanics, and Qian Sanqiang, the father of modern atomic bombs.

Let’s put aside cultural celebrities such as Qian Zhongshu, Qian Fu, and Qian Mu. The iron certificate of exemption from death that has been preserved by the Qian family is even more legendary than this champion of the imperial examination.

After all, there are many iron certificates of exemption from death in history, but this one is the only one that really plays a role.

Emperor Zhaozong of Tang issued it personally, Emperor Taizong of Song, Emperor Renzong of Song, Emperor Shenzong of Song personally borrowed it for viewing, and in the 24th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Qian Ruxing, a descendant of the Qian clan, went to Beijing with the iron certificate to ask for an audience with Emperor Hongwu, and fished out his father Qian Yongqin, who was sentenced to death according to the law for tax and grain shortage.

This cultural relic is now treasured in the National Museum as a first-class cultural relic. If you pass by, you can actually go and see it.

In a sense, this iron certificate, like the imperial examination, is also one of the bases for tracing back to Chinese history.

However, looking back at history from the context of the imperial examination, we can see that the Yanyou Restoration of the Imperial Examination in the Yuan Dynasty had little effect on the Yuan Dynasty.

This unprecedentedly large empire soon fell into greater chaos, revealing its true appearance of short-lived weakness. 】

In the Guangzheng Hall, Li Yu watched Qian Chu's face gradually covered with joy, and these joys made Qian Chu's mouth corners no longer smooth.

As a result, the smile on this familiar face became more and more annoying.

Especially when thinking of his unclear and sudden death, Li Yu felt very uneasy:

"Qian Huzi does have some good descendants."

This remark of calling the nickname directly, the sour taste in it is really obvious, but Qian Chu didn't care, and his face was even more smiling:

"What Congjia said is true. After all, in the future, thousands of years later, those who can win the six first prizes and achieve great success are all the hard work of the later generations. What does it have to do with me?"

"I know how to obey the will of heaven, so I can keep my clan alive, so that the descendants of the Qian family can serve China and be remembered by people in the future."

Li Yu was speechless for a moment. Can this also be related to obeying the will of heaven?

But when he thought of the unofficial history about himself that was spread in the future, he was also sad and almost wanted to cry.

If he was like this, what about his only son? I'm afraid it would be difficult to avoid disaster.

So Master Kong Jiong saw that the King of Tang in Jiangnan glared at him again, and he was so scared that he almost subconsciously lowered his body.

Zhao Kuangyin had read so many issues, and he had already let go of what he should have let go of. Therefore, after writing down these things, he was a little curious:

"Does the golden book and iron certificate still exist in Wende's house?"

This kind of thing is not too rare. It can even be said that it was popular for a while in the chaotic times after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, but it is indeed rare to say that it can be passed down for hundreds of years.

And those who want to use this thing to avoid death have not succeeded. After all, it is well known that the crime of treason is an exception.

From the words that later generations just ridiculed Jia Sidao, we can also know how easy it is to frame the crime of treason.

Zhao Kuangyin naturally kept these thoughts in his heart. After all, he had issued golden books and iron certificates.

"Your Majesty." Qian Chu bowed his hands politely:

"This is my grandfather's treasure, I dare not destroy it easily. If your Majesty wants to see it, I am willing to present it to my Great Song Dynasty."

"I only have one doubt that I would like to ask Your Majesty to solve: What is a missile? What is aerospace? What is an atomic bomb?"

Zhao Kuangyin waved his hands repeatedly. Later generations said that this is something that can trace the veins of China. If it falls into his hands and is destroyed, wouldn't it be unclear?

"I just want to take a look, so keep this thing for Wende."

"As for your doubts, I will answer them later."