Near the sea.
On the small islands.
An old pirate ship with a sword flag sailed out.
There were about seventy ships.
They were pirates!
Since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the pirates had always been a major threat to the coastal border defense.
There were more than 70 battleships here, forming a fleet with about 2,500 people.
Each ship was comparable to a regular warship, with a draft of a hundred tons!
They were equipped with cannons, heavy crossbows, and had excellent personnel. They were good at fighting and could compete with the regular army on the sea!
This was the most powerful invasion of the pirates since the first year of Zhengtong!
The Japanese pirates gathered their forces in the surrounding islands, Ryukyu, and other places, preparing to march straight in and attack the southeast coast!
Today was the day of the attack!
However…
Where did Japan get such strength?
Even Japan didn't have such a fleet strength. Otherwise, they wouldn't have to be so afraid of Da Ming.
In fact, the existence of the pirates was the sea merchants of the Ming Dynasty itself!
The Ming Dynasty emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, but the control of commercial taxes was very weak.
The merchants along the coast continued to trade, accumulating a large amount of wealth and strength, but they could not convert it into status.
Unwilling merchants turned into pirates.
Gather the Japanese Ronin and form the Japanese pirates to wreak havoc in the territorial waters of the Ming Dynasty.
The existence of the pirates was a manifestation of the abnormal strength of the sea merchants.
They seemed to be Japanese, but in fact, they were Japanese slaves raised by the merchants of the Ming Dynasty.
It's just dogs.
Da Ming's method to contain this was to ban the sea.
The sea ban could solve a part of the problem, but it couldn't solve the root of the problem. It would cause endless trouble in the future!
At this moment, the drawbacks of the forbidden sea had already been revealed.
The Ming Navy had been weakened for years, and their strength was not enough to deal with the pirates in one fell swoop. As long as they escaped back to the distant sea, the pirates could attack again and again!
Over the years, the pirates had become more and more rampant!
Now, the strength of the pirates had reached the highest point in history!
On the ship, the pirates were discussing the treaty signed between Japan and the Ming Dynasty.
That day, the Japanese envoy promised to hand over the coastal defense army to Ming, and this matter had already spread throughout Japan.
If Japan handed over the coastal defense and army to Ming.
Da Ming obtained a terrifying base in the distant seas.
The strength of the Ming Navy could be projected to Japan!
The base of the pirates would be attacked from both sides!
"This time, we have to attack ruthlessly, hurt the Great Ming Navy, and burn the southeast!”
The pirate leader on the ship shouted.
"Let them be afraid of us and not dare to go out to sea! This time, we're going to loot the southeastern provinces and make the soldiers flee for thousands of miles!”
"Roar!"
The pirates all responded.
The pirate fleet excitedly sailed towards the southeast coast.
For so many years, they had fought with the Great Ming Navy many times and had basically not lost.
Naturally, they wouldn't put the weak navy in their eyes.
Now, they could not wait to enjoy the wealth and beauties of the southeastern provinces!
……
Beijing.
Court meeting.
Zhu Qiyu sat on the throne.
"If there's anything, report it. If there's nothing, withdraw!"
Cao Zhengchun shrieked.
"I have a memorial."
The Minister of Rites, Hu, came forward to report.
"Your Majesty, now that the world has been pacified and the court is empty, we should select talents to fill the vacancies. We should also select capable officials for Your Majesty's wise rule!”
"Your Majesty, please open the imperial examinations!"
Open the Imperial Examination!
This was indeed reasonable.
But Hu Fou didn't stop. The old minister bowed again and said,"
"In the past, the imperial examinations were divided into the north and south. Now that Your Majesty has taken the throne, you should reform the imperial examinations and examine the north and south equally. This is also for the sake of the talents of the world.”
Suddenly, the court was in a heated discussion!
"Silence!"
Cao Zhengchun shrieked.
The so-called North-South Scroll System was a system that appeared in the Ming Dynasty to adapt to the test.
To put it bluntly, this system was like the sub-volumes of the later generations.
Instead of using the national exam, the admission criteria for each province were different.
The reason for this was that the examination ability of the northern scholars was indeed far behind that of the southern scholars.
After all, most of the great clans and their poetry and books were in the south.
If they were to follow the same admission criteria, the northern scholars would not be able to stand out at all.
These were the results of the exams over the years.
At this moment, some officials stood out to argue.
Whether it was the Nanbei Scroll or the combined scroll, there were different voices!
"Closing the scroll is simply nonsense. Then do we northerners still have a way out?”
"It doesn't make sense. Why should southerners have the same standard, but be taken away by northerners?”
In the blink of an eye.
The two groups of people were arguing!
Zhu Qiyu didn't comment, his knuckles lightly tapping on the jade table.
In his opinion, these people were only arguing about some minor details.
Imperial examinations!
This was the most important way to select talents in a feudal dynasty.
Countless commoners and Humble Class people relied on this path to heaven to worship the heavens.
However, the imperial examination did not really mean that talents would be demoted!
The tricks and drawbacks…
There were a lot of them!
Reforms?
It was impossible to save the imperial examination system by changing such a small detail!
……
On the sea.
The enemy fleet was advancing towards the southeast coast.
"I didn't see the Great Ming Navy!"
"I didn't see the Great Ming Navy!"
The pilots on the warships were shouting.
"Humph, we let these Great Ming trash off easy. We didn't let them have a taste of our strongest fleet in decades.”
Flagship.
The pirate leader licked his lips and grinned.
"Hahahaha…"
Many pirates laughed wildly.
Laughter spread throughout the entire fleet.
They were all extremely excited.
Great Ming's treasure, Great Ming's woman!
The eyes of these pirates were glowing green.
This was the most powerful attack of the pirates since the beginning of the Orthodox Era!
They did not put the Great Ming Navy in their eyes at all.
So what if it was the Ming Navy?
This fleet was very powerful in terms of both weight and quantity. It was a powerful force on the sea.
The power of the cannon could shatter a hundred ton warship.
It would be easy to kill dozens of battleships with one volley!
The weak navy only had a hundred low-level ships, how could they fight against the pirates?
The pirates couldn't wait to clash with the Ming Navy!
At this moment.
The pirate navigator suddenly widened his eyes!
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