Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 271 The emperor has a problem, and the situation in Beijing is gradually showing

Gongshi are now unattainable existences among common people and scholars, but when they come to the Forbidden City, they become veritable primary school students.

Following the officials of Honglu Temple to the front of Fengtian Hall, six hundred and one tribute priests were divided into east and west groups in Danchi and stood facing north, but they were destined not to see the emperor.

Not to mention that only officials of the fourth rank and above can enter the hall, there are also a group of civil and military officials in official uniforms in front of the hall, so they, the tributes without official positions, can only stand at the back in a proper manner.

"Ascension hall!"

After waiting for a while, a slightly sharp voice sounded from Fengtian Temple.

"The ministers (students) wait to kowtow to His Majesty, long live my emperor, long live, long live!" Six hundred and one tribute officials knelt down one after another, followed the officials in front of them and kowtowed.

At this moment, Hai Kuan and other Xinke Gongshi were very excited, especially some elderly Gongshi were crying, it was the first time for them to be so close to the emperor.

Learn the arts of literature and martial arts, and sell it with the emperor's family.

This is the highest pursuit of all their scholars, and now it is only the last small step.

As long as they go through the last ceremony in a proper manner and take the last exam well, then they can become officials of the Ming Dynasty and fulfill their original wish.

In fact, Confucianism has a bad side, but it also has a good side. Many tributes do have a heart of loyalty to the emperor.

The court ceremony and music sounded, and the firecrackers in front of the palace gate were lit.

Zhu Youtang, who was wearing a dragon robe, appeared on the throne, and his whole person became more majestic as an emperor.

Today, the first day of March is the Shuo Ri Chaohui. All the ceremonies are the same as the previous Chaohui, but there is a need to add a grand palace test ceremony.

After the traditional ceremony was over, Guo Yong, the eunuch holding the seal of the chief inspector of ceremonies, came to the hall with the palace examination questions, and handed over the test questions to Xu Qiong, Minister of Rites.

When Zhu Youtang saw the test questions handed over to Xu Qiong, the corners of Zhu Youtang's mouth could not help but rise slightly.

There is only one current affairs policy in the palace examination, and the number of questions is usually drafted by cabinet ministers and other important officials for the emperor to choose a question.

Zhu Youtang is a person who dares to make up his mind. Whether it is rectifying the salt administration, sending troops to the Li Dynasty, or promoting cotton to the sea, he can overcome all opinions and make a final decision.

Although Wan An and other important ministers sent many current affairs strategies for him to choose from, they were different from what he wanted to test, so he decided to concoct it himself for this palace exam.

Although it is not appropriate to eliminate people in the palace examination, it is also necessary to examine their true standards and select good seedlings who can practice professionally.

Wearing a first-rank official uniform, Xu Qiong, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, took the test questions, held the test questions out of the Fengtian Hall, and then placed the test questions on the table in the center in front of the hall.

"Students, thank Your Majesty for giving the title, long live my emperor, long live, long live!" Seeing this, the officials of Honglu Temple led [-] tributes to perform five prostrations and three kowtows to the test title.

After the ceremony, the firecrackers sounded again.

Amidst the sound of firecrackers, Emperor Hongzhi took the lead to retreat from the palace.

All civil and military officials withdrew from the hall one by one after shouting long live.

Since the palace examination is nominally the emperor's "personal policy at the court", the emperor himself is the chief examiner, and important ministers like Wan'an are only the examiners and deacons, so all the tributes are the emperor's disciples.

Under the auspices of the elderly Chief Assistant Wan An, the palace examination was announced to begin.

A group of military academies placed the prepared test tables in the open space on the east and west sides of Danchi, facing north.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites are responsible for distributing the test papers, and the tributes need to kneel in line to receive them, take their seats after kowtowing, and answer the papers in the open air.

Eight years after Chenghua, the date of the palace examination is fixed on March [-]th. If it is raining, you can only go to the corridors on both sides of Fengtian Palace for the examination.

The Enke Palace Examination was inspected by Qin Tianjian, and it will not rain today.

At this time, the sky was as clear as blue, with only a few gauze-like light clouds dotted on the blue sky, among which there were a few spring swallows and sparrows flying.

The six hundred and one desks were neatly arranged, and a group of important officials stood aside to invigilate and whisper, while officials from Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites kept watching the candidates.

In fact, when it comes to the palace examination, it is unlikely that there will be fraud.

Not to mention that it is impossible to cheat under the watchful eyes of the public, in fact, there is no motivation to cheat.If you take the exam honestly, you can get the title of Jinshi. If you cheat here, you may be beheaded. The risks and benefits are obviously asymmetric.

"Here are the questions for the imperial examination!"

As an official of Honglu Temple showed the question board, all the candidates suddenly felt like they were dreaming of the county exam. In the first county exam, the question papers were not issued, but a county government official held the question board Walk back and forth in the exam room.

Of course, the question board of the palace examination is not the same as that of the county examination, and the questions of the palace examination are usually longer, and some questions of the palace examination can reach more than 300 characters.

In addition to the original questions, several officials of the Ministry of Rites copied four sub-boards and placed them in the four major areas, so that candidates can see the questions more accurately.

In fact, it is impossible for the candidates who can reach this step to be Ma Daha. They usually take a look at the questions and know what the palace exam is about.

Under the eyes of everyone, the topic of the palace examination appeared: "Since I came to the imperial court, I have been diligently trying to govern, and I have never hesitated... In the past, I talked about Laozhuang and Zhuang, and now I talk about Confucius and Mencius. Seeing the empty words of nature with a clear heart, and practicing self-government People's practical learning, the stock and arm are lazy and everything is barren, the minions are dead and the four countries are in chaos, the state of China is overthrown, and the sects and societies are hills. Talking about waste affairs, superficial words are in the way... to the Huaihe and Huanghe Rivers, the people's livelihood is tied, but the river affairs It is difficult for ministers and ministers to build embankments, and they will collapse every time there is a big flood. If you lived under the embankment for a long time, and the embankment collapsed this summer, and the houses and farmland were gone, what should you do for a living? How do you expect the court to arrange it?... Erduoshi has a long-term memory of Kang Ji Well, the reckless man is detailed in the article, and I will personally read it."

When the examinees saw the front of the test questions, they only felt that the question about river management was easy to come by, but they were all dumbfounded after reading the questions.

Talking about the principles of how to control the river, or how to resettle the victims, they are more powerful than anyone else, and they even have countless good water control methods of the sages and sages in their minds.

Just asking them to put themselves in the shoes of the victims and put themselves in the shoes of the victims, what the hell is this?
Historically, river harnessing was nothing more than appropriating funds from the imperial court, and local officials reached out to take some, and then used some to work for the common people to repair dikes.As for after the disaster, the imperial court can open warehouses for disaster relief.

Unfortunately, the current focus is on the people who have lived under the embankment for generations, and let them look at this kind of disaster that will always recur from the perspective of the people under the embankment.

When Xu Hong finished reading the questions, he couldn't help swallowing hard, but he remembered the question about Huichanghou in the second round of the test.

Since it has been pointed out earlier that "empty talk is useless, superficial words are worthless", so we can't talk about it, but need to come up with specific methods, but there is actually a dilemma here.

For a bankrupt, it would appear greedy to demand too much from the court, but starving to death if not demanded from the court, so this is actually a matter of position.

For a while, the candidates in the entire examination room did not start writing. This palace examination with no elimination rate brought them a huge problem.

After Li Yu and Li Si saw the questions of the palace examination, they couldn't help but exchanged glances silently. Today, the Holy One really has the low-level people in his heart.

The people in the lower reaches of the embankment are the vulnerable groups among the vulnerable groups, but they still fall into the eyes of today's holy majesty.

It's just that this is undoubtedly a difficult problem, and now the emperor is posing an unprecedented problem, but it is necessary for these new scholars to express their positions and offer suggestions.

Forbidden City, Gonghou Garden.

After presiding over the court meeting, Zhu Youtang came to Qin'an Hall to worship Emperor Zhenwu and pray for the Forbidden City to be saved from fire.

The move proved to be effective.Even though what he is doing now violates the interests of many people, since he became the throne, there has never been a fire in the Forbidden City.

Zhu Youtang walked out of the gate of Qin'an Hall after a simple worship.

It is already March in Yangchun. Although the palace garden of the Ming court does not like to plant flowers and plants, the tall locust trees on both sides have spit out green leaves, presenting a scene full of spring.

"I have seen Your Majesty!" A middle-aged woman in a costume walked up to her and saluted immediately.

"Huanggu, how are you doing lately?" Zhu Youtang smiled slightly when he saw the person coming.

The fertility of Ming emperors in this period was actually quite strong.Not to mention that he has a small group of younger brothers and sisters, Emperor Yingzong is also flourishing, with as many as eight daughters alone.

It's just that they are both princesses. Due to the different statuses of their mothers and concubines, there are naturally favored and unfavored points. The most prominent one is the Chongqing princess Zhu Shuyuan in front of me.

Zhu Shuyuan ranked second among the eight daughters of Yingzong. Because she was the elder sister of Ming Xianzong, and she was quite liked by her mother and concubine, the Empress Dowager Zhou, her status was detached.

In the Ming Dynasty, the son-in-law's mansion was usually built in the man's hometown, but the princess's son-in-law's mansion in Chongqing was in the east of Beijing, and she often visited the empress dowager in the palace, so she was a frequent visitor to the palace.

The princess of Chongqing has been in contact with Zhu Youtang several times, and she responded quite politely: "Your Majesty is sincerely concerned, and everything is well!"

Zhu Youtang had finished his routine work here, and was about to go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to handle official business.

Princess Chongqing saw that Zhu Youtang was about to leave, but she knew that this nephew was no longer the submissive prince, so she hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please stay!"

"What's the matter?" Zhu Youtang had guessed that Princess Chongqing deliberately created this coincidence, so he asked calmly.

Seeing that Zhu Youtang stopped walking, Princess Chongqing smiled and said, "I heard that Zhu Ji is going to retire and return home, so I want to discuss something with His Majesty!"

Huh?
Liu Jin couldn't help being stunned for a moment, looking at the Chongqing princess in confusion.

Not to mention that the resignation of the commanding envoy of Jinyiwei is of great importance, but the emperor has not yet learned about it, so why did the princess of Chongqing know in advance?
Of course, it could also be a rumor from outside the palace, but the princess believed it to be true.

"Huanggu, who did you listen to this matter? I haven't received Zhu Ji's resignation so far!" Zhu Youtang was also slightly surprised in his heart, and asked calmly.

Although he only needs to move his lips to remove Zhu Ji, but he needs to clean up Jinyiwei, especially because he can find a reason to clean up all the related households occupying the position, so he adopts the strategy of using static braking.

Originally, through Jin Yiwei's acquaintance Yang Han, Zhu Ji could be traced, thus forming a super big case inside Jin Yiwei, but Wang Yue has not found Yang Han yet.

If the source of Princess Chongqing's news is reliable, then Zhu Ji should have been aware of the crisis, but he is ready to take the initiative to let go of the power of Jin Yiwei's commander and run away.

But before the official resignation, the reason for this kind of thing is very secret. Why would the princess of Chongqing, who is out of power, know about it?
Princess Chongqing was also taken aback for a moment, and then she smiled and said: "I heard other people talking about it, and I don't know if it's true or not! It's just that Zhou Xian was smart since he was a child, and the emperor often praised him when he was alive. Share your worries for His Majesty!"

Entering the Jinyiwei system is not the monopoly of military officials, civil servants, and foreign relatives. The son-in-law's son usually also works in the Jinyiwei, and Zhou Xian, the son of the Princess of Chongqing, is now serving as the Jinyiwei Qianhu.

Originally, she had always thought that her son was too young, but after seeing the Queen Mother's natal family Wang Xiang being reused, her mind became active.

She knows how much her son is. Although it is unlikely that she will be the commander of Jinyiwei, being the third in command of Jinyiwei is also a good result.

Just like that, she knew that the emperor would come here to pay homage to Emperor Zhenwu on the first day of every month, so she made this coincidence here to find a position for her son to work as a guard in Jinyi.

"Since I ascended the throne, I have been using talents and abilities. If Zhu Jizhen resigns, I will consider Zhou Xian!" Zhu Youtang knew that Zhou Xian was a typical playboy, and earlier intelligence saw that he was jealous of Sun Gao. But when he fought hard, he said in a perfunctory way.

Princess Chongqing's eyes lit up slightly, and she continued: "Your Majesty, there is one more thing! Yin Songcheng of Shuntian Mansion disregarded the iron certificate of Danshu given to Huichang Marquis Mansion by the former emperor, and now he is still holding on to the case of Qian Mansion , To actually sentence Sun Ming, Marquis of Huichang, to beheaded. Such an act of disregarding the iron certificate of Dan Shu is simply an act of treason, so please His Majesty deal with Song Cheng and issue an order to release Sun Ming!"

This……

Liu Jin's eyes looked complicatedly at the beautiful and sharp-toothed Princess Chongqing, and her eyes looked very complicated.

On the surface, Song Cheng, Yin of Shuntian Mansion, was the one who advocated beheading Sun Ming, so he guessed that the Huichang Marquis Mansion would definitely use their connections, and eventually they would find the emperor to intercede.

It's just that he even considered Dingguo's mansion, but he didn't expect that the first one to intercede for Sun Ming would be Princess Chongqing.

"Princess Chongqing, Song Cheng is an official of the third grade of Ming Dynasty. If he made a mistake, I have my own discretion on how to deal with him! If you think his sentence this time is inappropriate, you can impeach him, but... the princess is not allowed to interfere in politics. , please remember this ancestral teaching!" Zhu Youtang naturally defended Song Cheng, so he expressed his position with a straight face.

what?
Princess Chongqing originally thought that she had caught Tangtang Shuntian Fu Yin's handle, but only then did she realize that things were totally different from what she thought.

(End of this chapter)