There's a war going on up north, and provinces are swamped with military stuff. Pushing back the Enke exams a few months wouldn't be the end of the world. But it'll get colder and colder, making things tough on those poor guys taking the exams, and getting the results out late means a real hassle for travel. So, we're pushing the township exams to March 8th and the imperial exams to August 8th to give those guys a break. All those chief and deputy examiners out in the provinces—get back to Beijing! And the Gengzi year exams and the ones after that? Same deal—push 'em back. The Ministry of Rites knows. That's it.
The meaning of this imperial decree is that because of the war in the north, everyone's too busy fighting the war to worry about the exams. But we also gotta think about the poor students—the cold and the long trips are gonna be rough. So the Emperor's giving everyone more time to get ready for the exams. And we're calling back all the examiners so the war doesn't mess with the exams. Future exams will be pushed back accordingly. The Ministry of Rites will get the word out.
