There was nothing Chen Longzheng could do about the lack of talents.
Xiao Ruxun was a general, so it was not difficult for him to recruit scholars as his aides. However, in the Daming region, the scholars with some ability were all Juren or above. Among the scholars who were not even Juren, it was hard to find one or two capable scholars.
Not everyone had the ability to read people.
As for the scholars who were above the High Scholar rank, they were divided into two groups. One group of scholars simply wanted to live a good life. They wanted to obtain land for their families and reduce taxes. They did not do it for anything else. Most of these people had become local gentry.
The other group of ambitious scholars would naturally choose to continue studying and take the imperial examinations to become high-ranking officials in the future.
The Great Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system was great. In one fell swoop, it won over all the cultured and capable people. As a military general, Xiao Ruxun was already discriminated against. Even if she had the title of Wanli's number one general, it was useless. The cultured people would still look down on her.
Most importantly, in everyone's eyes, Xiao Ruxun was sent to the border. He did not come of his own accord.
What kind of place was Myanmar?
The refugees had nowhere to go. The imperial court was worried that the refugees would rebel, so they found a way to send them to Myanmar. In the eyes of scholars, Myanmar was similar to those places that were sent to Leizhou. It was a place of exile. The mountains were poor, and the rivers were dangerous. Who would be willing to come?
None of the Juren were poor. No one lacked food to eat. Even if they could not pass the imperial examination, they could still be a local tyrant. They could own tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. They could drink the blood of the empire and live comfortably. Who would be willing to suffer in Myanmar?
However, in Chen Longzheng's eyes, Myanmar was not like that at all. It was even a paradise different from the Central Plains. Everyone's lives there were many times better than those in the Daming mainland.
It was unknown how much money Xiao Ruxun had, and how prosperous Myanmar was. However, in the eyes of the people in the Central Plains, Myanmar was just a place of exile.
China had never lacked talents since ancient times. However, talents did not come to Myanmar. In all fairness, Chen Longzheng wanted to come to Myanmar in the first place because of his teacher, Yuan Huang.
If it weren't for Yuan Huang's earnest persuasion, he wouldn't have come, and he wouldn't have acknowledged Xiao Ruxun as his master from the bottom of his heart, with him as her advisor.
Moreover, there was a more important reason for his decision to go south. That was because Chen Longzheng was only an Elementary Scholar and not a High Scholar.
Although Yuan Yan was a Juren, he did not pass the imperial examination. Moreover, Yuan Huang thought that Yuan Yan was too straightforward and was not suitable to survive in the Daming officialdom. Therefore, he asked Yuan Yan to come to Myanmar and be Xiao Ruxun's advisor. Through his advice, Yuan Yan was able to cultivate Mayor Yuan, who now commanded 200,000 foreign businessmen in Yangon.
At the end of the day, the only real literary talent under Xiao Ruxun was Yuan Huang. He was a Jinshi and used to be an official in the imperial court. He became friends with Xiao Ruxun in Korea. He believed that Xiao Ruxun had the ability to save the country. Therefore, he did not hesitate to use his reputation to recruit talents for Xiao Ruxun in his hometown.
However, no matter how great his reputation was, it was no match for reality. There were too few people who could recognize talents. Most people chose to follow the established path, study, take the imperial examination, become a Jinshi, and become an official. They had no other thoughts.
That was why Xiao Ruxun had no choice but to seek refuge with the descendants of the Nanyang sea merchants to become officials. These descendants were literate and had done business before, so they were more shrewd. The key was that they had nowhere else to go, so they could only come to Myanmar. They were barely reliable, and that was how they managed to build up the bureaucracy of Myanmar.
Now, Xiao Ruxun was extremely short of bureaucrats. Therefore, Yuan Huang had to double his efforts to help Xiao Ruxun handle government affairs.
"Marquis Xiao, there are some things that I have to say. Although the Juren are not willing to come to Myanmar to follow you, you don't have to keep your eyes on the Jinshi. Some talents may not be Juren, Jinshi, or even Xiucai, but they are very talented. You should also look for such people."
Xiao Ruxun couldn't help but sigh.
"Of course I know that I should look for them. However, I am a military general and I am guarding the borders. When ordinary people hear about these two things, they would give up. If I can't even find an Xiucai, how can I even talk about becoming a Jinshi?
To be able to get the assistance of Duke Yuan is already my great fortune. However, Duke Yuan is getting old. I need to find some young people who can be trained to help him share his burden. However, I just can't find any! "
Chen Longzheng opened his mouth and said, "You said that in Nanjing, there is a Minister of War, Ye Mengxiong, who admires you. Why don't you use Duke Ye's connections to find some useful talents?"
Xiao Ruxun said, "I have looked for Duke Ye, and he recommended me a good talent named Xu Guangqi. However, he only became a Juren this year and is preparing to go to Beijing to participate in the examinations. I wrote a letter and sent someone to look for him in the capital. I don't know what happened after that.
Duke Ye told me that he mentioned Myanmar to Xu Guangqi. Xu Guangqi didn't say anything bad about it. He only said that he wanted to go and have a try. Therefore, I plan to wait for news next year. If he becomes a Juren, I won't go. However, if he doesn't, I will go and meet him. "
Chen Longzheng frowned and said, "Xu Guangqi? Who is that? How can he be valued by Duke Ye? Wouldn't that be a great opportunity for him? Would he be willing to come to Myanmar? "
Xiao Ruxun smiled.
Chen Longzheng didn't know what kind of person Xu Guangqi was, but Xiao Ruxun knew very well.
Xu Guangqi could be said to be the greatest official in the late Ming Dynasty. He was a man of action. He was also the Prime Minister who saved the Ming Dynasty. During the reign of Chongzhen, he was also the Prime Minister.
Xu Guangqi did become a Jinshi and was even a Shu Jishi. In the end, he became the Prime Minister. However, Xiao Ruxun also knew that Xu Guangqi's official career was not smooth. It was very bumpy. He was not in tune with the mainstream of the court. He wanted to work hard, but the mainstream of the court wanted to fight for political power.
The mainstream of Donglin only knew about political power and had no opinion on national policy. In the end, they succeeded in trapping Daming.
Xu Guangqi's way of doing things was incompatible with them, but he was alone and could not contend against them. He could only resign and live in seclusion, spending a lot of time on practical work and writing books.
This kind of practical talent who wholeheartedly served the country could still reach the highest peak of the political world. It was especially valuable in the late Ming Dynasty. It could be said that he was the great hope that the heavens had left for the Ming Dynasty. However, this hope did not grow into a towering tree.
In the letter that Xiao Ruxun had given him, she had written that the capital was a massive whirlpool, filled with countless opportunities and countless dangers that could threaten his life. More importantly, the current capital was more dangerous than it was filled with opportunities. If he wanted to revitalize the country through hard work, he would not be able to do so in the current capital.
Xiao Ruxun revealed a little of the reason why he chose to go south to Myanmar instead of returning to the capital to fight for the position of commander-in-chief. He hoped that Xu Guangqi, who was clear-headed and aware of the drawbacks, would understand his intentions. He hoped that Xu Guangqi would at least consider it and not be so fixated on the capital that he would lose a place where he could flourish.
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