The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 236: Conferring a Title
The Council of State Councilors publicly recommended the memorials of Cha Binna and Fahai, but Kangxi did not even look at them. Instead, he issued an edict to appoint Song Zhu as the Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace and Minister of Rites, and Ma Qi was reappointed as the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace.

Today's grand secretaries are divided into three palaces and two pavilions, namely, the grand secretaries of Baohe Hall, Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall, and the grand secretaries of Wenyuan Pavilion and Dongge, ranked in order from high to low in status.

Although Ma Qi returned to the cabinet, he lost the position of Prime Minister of Manchuria and ranked second to Song Zhu.

After the imperial edict was issued, the Eighth Prince's party was not particularly satisfied, but they could still accept it, thinking that Kangxi had the Fourteenth Prince in his heart.

As for the fourth brother, he was naturally secretly happy!
There was Zhang Tingyu in the Southern Study, Ma Qi in the Cabinet, and the Imperial Guards and the Infantry Yamen were all in the hands of Yinyu.

In addition, Old Thirteen's secret efforts to win over the middle and lower-level officers in the Miyun camp were also very effective.

Except for the slow progress in the Tongzhou camp, the fourth brother has roughly completed the key deployment for succession.

Last year, there was a big scandal of cheating in the examination for succession to the title at the Ministry of Clan Affairs, which made Kangxi very angry.

There were more than five members of the royal family who were stripped of their titles and imprisoned.

After learning from the mistakes of this year's clan examination, Kangxi decided to arrange for Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince to jointly host this year's selection.

The princes of the former Ming Dynasty did not need to take any examinations. As long as they were born in the right womb and lived to adulthood, they would definitely inherit the title.

It was different in the Qing Dynasty. No matter who you were, if you wanted to inherit the title, you had to pass the examination of the Zongrenfu first.

The examination consisted of three subjects: Manchu-Chinese translation, archery on foot and archery on horseback. The examination levels were divided into three categories: excellent, average and poor.

The specific standards for awarding titles are: if all three items are excellent, the person will be awarded the title he deserves; if two are excellent and one is average, he will be demoted one level; if one is excellent and two are average or two are excellent and one is poor, he will be demoted two levels; if all three items are average or one is excellent, one is average and one is poor, he will be demoted three levels; if one is excellent and two are poor, two are average and one is poor, one is average and two are poor, or three are poor, their titles will be suspended and they will be required to study and take the exam again.

For example, although Yinyou’s title was not hereditary, it was allowed to be passed down for five generations.

That is to say, after Yinyu's death, one of his sons could inherit the title of Prince. However, if the examination results were not excellent in all three subjects, it would be impossible to inherit the title smoothly, and he had to continue studying until he passed the examination.

Before the succession to the title, the imperial court would stop paying salaries and rice allowances.

This system of hereditary title fundamentally ensured the stability of the Qing Dynasty before the Opium War.

On the morning of the day of the examination to inherit the title, Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince arrived at the clan residence together in a carriage.

The current Prince of Zonglingjian, Yaerjiang'a, sat in the gatehouse of the Zongren Mansion early in the morning drinking tea, waiting for Yinyou to come.

Upon hearing that Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince had arrived, Yarjiang'a quickly put down his teacup, walked down the steps quickly, and greeted them with a smile.

"Brother Prince Yu, I've been waiting for you." Yaerjiang'a smiled and bowed to Yinyou.

"Brother Prince Jian, this is your territory!" Yinyou also bowed in return.

"Seventeenth brother, after you finish your mission, don't leave in a hurry. I'll treat you!" Yarjiang'a seemed very enthusiastic.

The Seventeenth Prince knew it well, he was just benefiting from Yinyou's influence.

The person Yaerjiang'a really wanted to invite must be Yinyou.

It was obvious that if the Seventeenth Prince agreed to stay for dinner, how could Yinyou not stay with him?

Behind the clan house, a standard martial arts training ground was built!
When Yaerjiang'a accompanied Yinyou and others to the martial arts training ground, there were already dozens of royal family members with yellow belts waiting for the assessment.

Yinyu walked to the examination platform, took out the imperial edict, and said in a deep voice: "In compliance with the order..."

The examiners and royal family members with yellow belts in the audience all knelt down immediately.

"Your Majesty, order Prince Yinyu to supervise... I decree this."

"I accept your order and thank you!"

As usual, the first item of the exam is archery.

Yinyu stood on the stage with his hands behind his back, signaling to Yaerjiang'a that it was time to begin! After the test began, three people formed a group with a three-force hard bow as the standard, and each person had one arrow. Those who hit the bull's eye on the target were excellent, those who missed the bull's eye were fair, and those who missed the target were poor.

To be honest, pulling the Qing Dynasty's recurve bow is really a physical job.

Anyway, taking an exam in public is in line with the principles of fairness, openness and impartiality.

If you don't practice archery well in normal times, you won't be able to hold the bow steadily when taking the exam, let alone hit the bull's eye by chance.

"Off target!"

"Off target!"

"Hit the target!"

Of the three people in the first group, two missed the target and got poor marks, and one hit the target and got an average mark. The results were obviously not optimistic.

Yarjiang'a pretended to be anxious and sighed for a long time.

Yinyou didn't find it strange at all. The living conditions of the yellow belts were too superior, which could only encourage an atmosphere of extravagance and debauchery.

In the past, Aixinjueluo cats lived on fishing and hunting in the bitter cold outside the Great Wall. Those who were not good at archery were naturally eliminated.

However, the capital city is truly a world of debauchery. The longer one spends time surrounded by wine and beauties, the weaker one’s fighting spirit becomes.

Kangxi also knew the severity of the situation, so he always ordered the Solon soldiers outside the Great Wall to always maintain the most harsh living environment.

After the rifle shooting was completed, only a few people out of more than 60 people got excellent grades.

Anyway, Yinyou had no reason to cover up for anyone, and the test results were ironclad facts, so no one could say anything.

When the horseback archery session began, the situation became even more horrific.

Among dozens of people, there was only one who was good at riding and shooting.

When it came to the translation session, Yinyu randomly wrote 300 words in Chinese and asked the candidates to translate them into Manchu.

Surprisingly, most of the candidates’ translation scores were not bad!
After a brief thought, Yinyou understood that sitting in the study and reading was indeed much more comfortable than practicing archery on foot or on horseback.

This person's nature is to seek benefits and avoid harm, like to enjoy pleasure and be afraid of suffering!
In the past, since the advent of the sweeping robot, Yinyou had never swept the floor by hand.

The larger the living area of your home, the more important a highly intelligent sweeping robot becomes.

After the assessment, only one person received three excellences and was qualified to inherit the title without being demoted.

Out of curiosity, Yinyu met the man.

"My nephew Xibao wishes Uncle Jian and Uncle Yu good health!"

Xibao was the fourth son of Prince Shuncheng, Norob, who was of the same generation as Yinyu.

Yaerjianga smiled and said, "Congratulations, you have excellent grades in all three subjects. Go back and wait for your succession to the title!"

Xi Bao said calmly, "To be honest with you, Uncle Jian, I have been training hard for a long time to inherit the title, and I have finally lived up to my ancestors."

Yinyou nodded secretly. The early Qing Dynasty was not the late Qing Dynasty. The system of examination and inheritance of titles was really useful!
However, except for Xi Bao, the dozens of yellow belts can only go back and study hard and take the exam again next year.

Anyway, except for those who were granted titles through backdoor membership by Emperor Kangxi, all the yellow belts had to take the examination held by the Ministry of Clan Affairs.

Those who are capable are promoted, and those who are not are demoted. They are all forced to do so!

(End of this chapter)