Eu4 Examination System File

And that is why, when you play Ming, you never keep the Examination System past 1600. You burn the scrolls. You let the eunuchs return. Because at least they are your eunuchs.

When a flood destroyed the rice fields of Huguang, the local examiner-turned-governor didn't wait for the capital. He enacted the Tiao Tiao Liang tax reform, shifting the burden from the drowned fields to the silk merchants. The event pop-up read: “Local Talent Solves Crisis.” Options: [Gain 50 Administrative Power] or [Lose 1 Stability]. The Meritocracy chose power. Eu4 Examination System

A brilliant young man from the peasantry named scored the highest marks in a century. He was assigned to govern a backwater province in Yunnan. There, he discovered the dark secret: the Examination System had created a new nobility—a Mandarin Aristocracy . The sons of scholars were given secret tutoring; the sons of peasants failed. The +1 Yearly Legitimacy was a lie, because legitimacy no longer came from the Emperor. It came from the Gazette . And that is why, when you play Ming,

Lin Biao wrote a secret memorial: “We have traded the tyranny of birth for the tyranny of the desk. A bad warlord is beaten in a decade. A bad scholar rules for forty years.” Because at least they are your eunuchs

The Empire’s Administrative Efficiency, once +20%, turned into a curse. The bureaucracy was so efficient that it surrendered in an orderly fashion, province by province, complete with tax ledgers.

The old Nobility’s influence dropped by 15%. The crown’s rose by 5%. And Tuo Zilong’s head adorned the southern gate. The Golden Age of Paper (1460-1500) For forty years, the system worked better than any edict before it.

The Emperor chose Option B.