The storm of Fengshan in Mount Tai had just subsided, but another major event happened in Nanjing. The scope of influence and duration were much greater than the incident of Fengshan in Mount Tai.

On the day Li Huamei arrived in Nanjing, under the organization of some well-known scholars from Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shandong, Beijing and other provinces, a total of 358 scholars gathered together to go to Beijing to jointly write a petition to the cabinet. The petition was written in a total of nearly 10,000 words, accompanied by the signatures of thousands of people, and wrote a total of three scrolls, which put forward twelve requirements to the Nanjing government. First, it was to implement the ancient system and govern the country with benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and trust; secondly, it was to abolish strange and lewd skills, attach importance to sincerity and righteousness, and there were other contents such as restricting commerce, prohibiting the opening of the sea, restoring the old imperial examination system, expelling the Catholic Church, etc.

The kind of scholars that Li Huamei saw on the carriage on the way to the palace were the first group, a total of 133 people. They rushed to the Hongwu Gate to gather, knelt on the ground, and submitted ten thousand words to the court. Then two other groups of scholars also came to gather. All of these more than 300 people knelt in front of the Hongwu Gate, and also filled the streets in front of the Hongwu Gate.

Although it was before the palace, these strange actions still attracted many Nanjing residents to stop and watch from afar, and the army rushed over. However, these people were still responsible and just knelt there honestly and did not do anything else. So an officer came over and warned everyone not to act rashly. The leading people also promised that they would not do anything randomly. Therefore, the army did not drive them away, but just kept a few dozen steps away from them to alert them.

At this time, Shang Yi was discussing matters with the officials in the cabinet. After hearing the news, he was very surprised. No one expected this to happen. Shang Yi also realized that China's ideological conflict had developed to a relatively serious level.

Although China's rule has stabilized, the conflict between the two ideas of the old and the new is very fierce, and the differences in thought are generally divided into two factions. Relatively speaking, the north is more conservative and the south is more innovative. However, before that, the dispute between the two sides only stayed in academic aspects, and at most it was just published in newspapers and argued with each other across the air. The Nanjing government generally adopted a non-intervention attitude towards academic debates, so it was not too concerned about this.

But after the New Year, Shang Yi issued an order to implement the new imperial examination system, which also became the fuse for the intensification of ideological conflicts between the North and the South.

It turns out that since the Song Dynasty, due to the economic development of the south, the education level gradually became higher than that of the north. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the number of imperial examinations held during the Hongwu period, the number of candidates in the southern region was significantly higher than that in the north. The top three in the first place and Huiyuan were almost all from the south, and the top scorers were all monopolized by the southerners.

In the 30th year of Hongwu, fifty-one tribute scholars were selected, all from the south, and this result also caused great dissatisfaction among candidates from the north. A large number of candidates failed the exam went to the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty to complain, dozens of candidates shouted for justice along the way, and even stopped officials from petitioning and complaining. Some said that the examiner received money, some said that the examiner was unfair, some said that the examiner engaged in regional discrimination, etc., and all kinds of rumors were flying all over the streets and alleys. This was the sensational North and South incident in the early Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty also held a review immediately, but the result of the review was that the fifty-one admitted were admitted based on their talents and studies, and there was no problem, because the imperial examination was all named and reviewed, so the examiner could not know the names of the candidates and had no way to cheat. The candidates in the north were still different, and even officials in the court were involved, which almost turned into a dispute between the north and the south.

Later, for the sake of balance between the north and the south, Zhu Yuanzhang personally reviewed the papers and changed all 51 tribute scholars to northern candidates, which was considered to be a failure to suppress the storm. From then on, the Ming Dynasty also reformed the imperial examination system, implemented the north and south rankings, and admitted separately. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it evolved into the division of the three rankings of the north and the south. It went further in the Wanli period, and added "business registration" to the imperial examination, lifting various restrictions on the children of merchants during Zhu Yuanzhang's period. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, this ranking system was basically adopted.

Shang Yi has not thought about the ranking system, because the education level of each region is different, and the college entrance examination in later generations is divided into regions, and there is still some care for the border areas. However, the North and South incidents in the early Ming Dynasty occurred during the imperial examination, that is, the entrance examination in Beijing. However, the Chinese Empire has just conducted the provincial examination and has not yet reached the division time. It should not have caused controversy, but the natural sciences are different from those in the previous exams. Although the articles are good and bad, there is still a certain amount of flexibility in it. There is no absolute standard. Natural sciences have standard answers, right is right, wrong is wrong, and there is no ambiguity. Therefore, if you fail, you will be beaten to death with one stroke and there is no room for flexibility.

Because the Chinese Empire was established in the south, public schools and faculty should be sufficient, and the ideas in the south were relatively open, many private schools did not disperse natural sciences, and many private schools taught themselves some natural science knowledge, so that more students could be recruited. Therefore, natural science was widely popular in the south, and during the Chinese civil war, the south was much less affected and damaged, and the continuity of traditional education was much better. As a result, in the provincial examination last year, the pass rate of southern candidates was not bad. Although it was a little lower, it was within the normal range, so it did not cause much controversy. In the north, it was much worse. Some counties did not even have a natural science pass candidate, so naturally there was no passer.

The same is true for the provincial examinations. Later, the provincial examinations and the imperial examinations can be imagined. In addition, the conflicts between the new and old ideas made scholars in the northern region also felt great dissatisfaction. Before the New Year, many local scholars jointly wrote to the central government to hold the provincial examinations again and remove the content of natural sciences from the examinations. However, after the New Year, Shang Yi issued an order, clearly stating that the results of the provincial examinations would not change, and the imperial examination system would not change, which further aroused the dissatisfaction of scholars from all over the north.

Of course, they dare not openly oppose the empire now, so they can only use their last move, join forces to go to Beijing to petition, and jointly issue a letter of ten thousand words to the court. In addition to the imperial examination, the content of the letter also includes other systems against the empire. Of course, this is also because after the founding of the country, Shang Yi was relatively relaxed in his thoughts and remarks. If he was in power in the Qing court, even when Zhu Chongba was in power, he would definitely not dare.

But no matter what, things always happen. Therefore, after receiving the report, Shang Yi also ordered to stop other official duties and discuss how to deal with this petition. After a brief discussion by the officials of the cabinet, the officials decided not to intensify the conflict now. First, accept the above-mentioned letter, see what is written, and then make a decision. For the scholars and students who petition, they should temporarily appease and arrange accommodation for them. On the one hand, it is to show the government's tenderness and the other is to better manage, so as not to cause chaos.

Shang Yi had no objection to this, because this petition for going to Beijing has been held in all dynasties. In fact, it was a form of the ancient Chinese people expressing their voice to the court. No matter what the content of this petition was, this form could not be prohibited. Therefore, Shang Yi only demanded that the petitioners must be kept in order and should not take the opportunity to cause damage to Nanjing's daily life and affect the order. The petitioners' accommodation and diet should be paid by the court, but they should be sent to monitor them.

After the cabinet made the resolution, it immediately sent two cabinet officials to go out to Hongwu Gate to meet with scholars to convey the opinions of the cabinet. First, they accepted their letter of preaching and said that the cabinet would read the letter of preaching carefully and hand it over to the emperor's imperial reading. However, it still takes time to discuss how to deal with the requirements put forward in the letter of preaching. Therefore, they were asked to wait in Nanjing for a while and arranged for them to rest and stay in the inn, but at the same time they also warned everyone that they were not allowed to do anything wrong in Nanjing and undermine the rule of law, otherwise they would be severely punished.

At this time, the students knelt outside Hongwu Gate for a long time, and they were indeed a little tired. The cabinet also accepted the letter of advice, and the reason for the reply was very reasonable. After all, it was impossible to make a decision immediately. And there was a place to live, including food and drink, which was of course good, and at least it could save money. The leaders of the leaders who organized the petition to Beijing felt that there was no reason to refuse. Although there were several people in the team who clamored that "if the cabinet did not agree, kneel here and not leave, etc." But when everyone else left with the officials, they couldn't stand the fatigue and hunger, and finally followed behind.

Seeing that the scholars who finally made the petition settle down, the cabinet was relieved. There was no big trouble yet. At the same time, a team of soldiers were quickly arranged to garrison outside the inn. Of course, the famous discussion was to protect their safety. Although the activities of the people were not restricted, they had to register and issue a token when going out.

In the cabinet, officials were also talking about the content of the Shangyan Book. After reading the content of the Shangyan Book, most people scoffed at the request of the Shangyan Book. The cabinet members were basically people who followed Shang Yi to conquer the world. On the one hand, they trust Shang Yi, and on the other hand, they also scrutinized the benefits of these new policies to the development of the empire in the process of seizing the world. In addition, some people have indeed broadened their horizons and improved their knowledge. Of course, many people have vested interests.

For example, the first article was to restore the ancient system and govern the country with benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and trust. Even Wangfushi believed that this was not feasible because what was considered an ancient system? Is it the Song Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, or the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties that were considered an ancient system? And what was the ancient system? What was the limit of business and sea bans, would only cause the financial collapse of the empire, and it was even more impossible. But how to deal with this matter was indeed a very troublesome thing, and even Shang Yi was helpless for a while.
Chapter completed!