Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 54 Zhu Houcong Appoints the Number One Scholar

The next day was May 15th, the sixteenth year of the Zhengde reign.

The imperial examination is the day when the palace examination is held.

More than 300 tribute scholars entered the palace and came to the Fengtian Hall according to the regulations.

For these more than 300 tribute scholars, this means that they are about to take the examination presided over by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty himself, and it also means that they are one step closer to their goal of becoming a Jinshi.

These more than 300 tribute scholars were naturally excited.

What makes them even more excited is that, in their view, the current political situation is one in which a wise ruler is in power and the court is full of righteous people.

The people are at peace.

The scholar was treated with courtesy.

It can be said that the era of revival is really about to appear.

Therefore, they all looked forward to serving as officials in such a prosperous era.

Not long after the tribute scholars stood in two groups, east and west, facing north in the Danchi in front of the Fengtian Hall, the rumbling sound of cannons and the cracking sound of whips were heard.

At this time, Zhu Houcong went up to the palace at the request of the officials of the Honglu Temple and sat down on the throne in the Fengtian Hall.

All officials also kowtowed and saluted at this time.

This was the second time that Zhu Houcong met with officials in a formal ceremony since he met with them at Xijiaomen on April 27.

What was special for Zhu Houcong this time was that he was not only going to meet the officials, but also more than 300 tribute scholars outside the palace.

Zhu Houcong glanced at the tribute scholars outside the hall.

Although they are of different ages, they are all full of vigor and energy.

After all, these people had all passed the exams from the prefectures and counties, and they already felt that they were the chosen ones of heaven.

In this era, they have also begun to be highly respected among the people.

However, Zhu Houcong was not very familiar with the candidates in this subject, and the one he was most familiar with was Zhang Cong.

However, Zhang Cong could see from afar through the palace gate the young emperor with whom he had had a spiritual friendship for a long time.

Although Zhang Cong, like all the other candidates present, was a proud man, he had already been impressed by the young emperor before him.

Therefore, Zhang Cong had already pursed his lips at this time, his eyes were burning, and his chest was straight.

The palace examination only tests current affairs policies.

The topic was prepared in advance by the cabinet and then approved by Emperor Zhu Houcong.

The topic that Zhu Houcong decided on this time was how to maintain the status quo and keep the people of the world safe.

Although the palace examination was presided over by the emperor himself, not all test papers had to be evaluated by the emperor himself. Instead, the rankings were decided by the examiners.

The examiners were composed of the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, the Nine Ministers except the Minister of Rites, and officials from the Hanlin Academy.

The emperor only needed to listen to the examiner reading the papers to him in order of name in the Wenhua Hall on the third day of the palace examination.

Generally, only the top three papers would be read, and then the emperor would decide the rankings of the top three.

of course.

The emperor could also request that the reading continue and overturn the ranking of the top three, but this would be seen as a lack of trust in the cabinet and other important officials, and would cause misunderstandings among the crows in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice, leading to more frequent attacks on cabinet ministers.

This would not only please the emperor, but also earn them the reputation of being able to impeach the powerful. For the censors, it would naturally be a good opportunity to enhance their reputation with no harm and only benefits.

As a result, in history, eight or nine out of ten times the top three candidates were decided by the examiners.

Therefore, in order to prevent the censors from making random accusations, Zhu Houcong did not intend to overturn the top three candidates agreed upon by the cabinet.

But this does not mean that Zhu Houcong could not decide anything.

Zhu Houcong could still decide who would be the top scholar, the second scholar, and the third scholar among the top three.

This time, the top three candidates chosen by the cabinet were Yang Weicong, Jiang Rubi and Zhang Cong.

The chief minister of the cabinet is Liang Chu now. He has expressed his willingness to obey the emperor's will as much as possible and remain impartial no matter what the opinions of these tribute scholars are. He has also persuaded the other two cabinet ministers to do the same.

Therefore, this time the examiners did not care whether the candidates belonged to the reform party or the conservative party, and only evaluated them according to the level of their essays.

Of course, it is not entirely fair to say that Zhang Cong was impartial. The main reason why he was among the top three was that Zhu Houcong had already known his name during the court discussion, which meant that he was in the emperor's favor.

Liang Chu, the chief minister of the cabinet, always liked to take other people's feelings into consideration, so he did not want the emperor to think that they were jealous of talented people. So he persuaded all the examiners to rank Zhang Cong among the top three, rather than letting someone who was not favored by the emperor be ranked too low.

Although the names on the palace examination papers were covered, they were not transcribed. The quality was determined directly on the original papers. The examiners were already familiar with the essay styles and handwriting of the more outstanding candidates, so it was easy for them to guess the test papers of those already famous candidates, and naturally they could manipulate them to become the top Jinshi.

In fact, Zhang Cong's own level is worthy of the first place, because he is a famous scholar who has been lecturing for many years. He has outstanding talents and is widely known by the literati of that era.

Historically, he also ranked second in the class.

What’s more impressive is that he, who had just passed the imperial examination, convinced many civil officials to stand on his side with a logically rigorous and powerful essay on rituals, and made it difficult for many civil officials such as Yang Tinghe who asked Jiajing to recognize Emperor Xiaozong as his father to refute. Even Emperor Jiajing himself praised it and said: “With this argument, my father and I have been saved!”

It can be seen that Zhang Cong's writing level is not low.

It was precisely because of this that Liang Chu and others dared to give face to the emperor and rank Zhang Cong among the top three. After all, they could not really ignore public opinion.

You must know that if the successful scholars feel that it is unfair, they will cause trouble in an exaggerated way.

"Dingjiang Rubi was the top scholar, Zhang Cong was the second, and Yang Weicong was the third."

Zhu Houcong did not let Zhang Cong be the top scorer, but only the second.

The main reason was that he had just ascended the throne and it was not appropriate for him to make his opinions too obvious.

After all, the title of No. 1 scholar was too conspicuous, so he let Zhang Cong be the second.

After all, while the first place is easily known to the world, the second place is often easily overlooked.

Of course, the third place is not as easy to be known as the first place.

However, Zhu Houcong just wanted to be a little willful and let Zhang Cong be second, above Yang Weicong.

There is no other reason.

He had an impression of Yang Weicong.

This person was the top scholar in this subject in history. Later, he was still a staunch opponent of Zhang Cong. Together with Hanlin Shu Tong, he bluntly said that Zhang Cong was a traitor and expressed his shame to be in the Hanlin Academy with him.

Zhang Cong was different. During the great debate on rituals, when the power of the upright civil servants who opposed Jiajing was so strong that Jiajing himself was ready to compromise, he still dared to risk his life to fight for the father-son relationship for him.

After all, historical records show that Zhang Cong made Yang Tinghe and his gang so angry that they wanted to kill them as soon as they entered Beijing.

What's more, Zhang Cong was so caring and devoted to him that when he was seriously ill, he still forced himself to pray for him, hoping that he would have a child soon.

Therefore, in fact, in Zhu Houcong's mind, giving Zhang Cong the second place was already an injustice.

After all, as a superior, what he likes most is the loyalty of his subordinates, and ability comes second.

But in this way, after Zhu Houcong eliminated the candidates, the top scholar fell to Jiang Rubi, making him the first top scholar admitted by Zhu Houcong after he ascended the throne.

The first disciple of the emperor Zhu Houcong.

"Your Majesty actually likes my article more!"

After the results were announced and he was appointed directly to the Hanlin Academy, Jiang Ruobi could not help but tell Zhang Cong with tears in his eyes about the surprise that he had kept in his heart for a long time.

Zhang Cong smiled and said, "It's you. I'm not surprised. It won't be me anyway."

"How could it not be you? Your essay is worthy of the title of No. 1."

Jiang Rubi replied.

Zhang Cong smiled and said, "Because the emperor is a wise and extraordinary person, he will not let me become the top scholar."

Jiang Ruobi asked hurriedly: "What do you mean?"

"If the rich and powerful knew that this year's number one scholar was the first to propose clearing the fields and pacifying the people, how would they view the emperor?"

"But if I'm ranked second, it will be different. If I'm ranked second, people will think that the emperor loves balance and compromise, and doesn't like fighting. So he didn't promote me to the top spot just because he helped more than 200,000 refugees to live in peace. He just put me second to take care of the reform faction in the court."

After Zhang Cong returned, he said: "The emperor's grace is great. This is to protect me, Zhang Cong!"

Jiang Ruobi nodded after hearing this: "Yes, Your Majesty has been very kind to me."

"Since this is the case, I should present a congratulatory letter to congratulate Your Majesty on your accession to the throne and the peace of mind of more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians."

Zhang Cong replied.

Jiang Rubi couldn't help but look at Zhang Cong: "Submit a congratulatory letter?"

"Now that we have become officials, the first thing we should submit should be a congratulatory letter."

"Are you the runner-up in this year's exam?"

At this time.

Yang Shen actually came to Zhang Cong and Jiang Rubi's place, and took the initiative to ask about Zhang Cong.

Zhang Cong stood up and bowed: "It is me."

"I am the editor Yang Shen, and I have heard of your great name for a long time."

Yang Shen also bowed and introduced himself.

Jiang Ruobi stood up in shock and whispered to Zhang Cong:
"So this is the famous and talented Yang Sheng'an. He is indeed very charming!"

(End of this chapter)