Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 335 Public opinion fermentation
"You can only leave the Imperial Examination Hall now, but you can't enter." Since the soldier on duty at the gate stopped him, he would not let him in.

Tang Ruowang was furious, his blood boiling, and his face flushed red from the long jog. He panted heavily, almost stammering, "I told you, I have an urgent matter to discuss with the Chief Examiner, Xu Guangqi!"

"Don't even mention the urgent matter. Even if the sky falls, we won't let you in." The soldier stood in front of him, not retreating a single step. "The results will be announced in ten days. The Grand Master will come out then. You should just wait patiently."

There is no way Johann Adam Schall von Bell could rest in peace. Ten days later, the ashes of the Jesuits would probably be scattered.

Tang Ruowang grinned, forcing out an extremely ugly smile. "How about this, I won't go in, and you can help me pass on a message to Lord Xu?" He was still fantasizing that after delivering the message, Xu Guangqi would come out to see him.

The soldier still shook his head. "No. Nothing can be delivered. For your own good, you'd better leave quickly. This place is blocked."

At this time, a middle-aged man in the uniform of a fourth-rank military officer, accompanied by several lower-ranking military officers, arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall. The fourth-rank military officer asked, "Which government office are you from?"

"Sir." The soldiers guarding the gate saluted in unison.

The fourth-rank military officer waved to the soldiers, but still kept his eyes on the source of the commotion.

"Imperial Observatory." Johann Adam Schall von Bell looked in the direction of the voice.

"What kind of official is in the Imperial Observatory? What's his name?" the fourth-rank military officer asked again.

"Tang Ruowang, the Imperial Observatory's Spring Official." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Who are you?"

"Jinyiwei Street Commander Fang, Zhang Maozhong. Currently serving as the Special Examination Inspector." As soon as Zhang Maozhong announced his identity, the candidates who were watching the excitement around him immediately retreated. Many of them even left directly.

"It's the Jinyiwei again! Why are there Jinyiwei everywhere?" When he heard that the person coming was the Jinyiwei, Tang Ruowang's emotions, which had calmed down a little, immediately became excited.

"It seems you have a lot of resentment towards us." Zhang Maozhong's eyes curved dangerously. "Get lost. You can't get in, and neither can the information."

"Why?!" Johann Adam Schall von Bell yelled.

"Is this your first day as an official?" the military officer asked.

"What does this have to do with it!" Tang Ruowang's emotions were on the verge of collapse. Looking at him, Zhang Maozhong would not be surprised even if he burst into tears the next moment.

"This is the Imperial Examination Hall. The examination papers are about to be transcribed and graded. You're sending a message inside now. Ha!" Zhang Maozhong stood on the steps, looking down coldly at the people below. "If this isn't your first day as an official, then you're just too proud of your life. Get out of here! If you don't, I'll have you arrested."

Despair surged into Tang Ruowang's heart, then, carried by his pounding heart, into his eyes and throat. Finally, the feeling of powerlessness turned into tears and wails. He actually sat on the ground and cried.

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"Let's go, let's go. We just left the Imperial Examination Hall, so we'd better not get into any bad luck here."

Everything was done for good fortune, and this was especially true for the imperial examinations. Before the exam, candidates would burn incense and pray for blessings at the various palaces and temples in the capital. But seeing the official from the Imperial Observatory sitting on the ground weeping bitterly, they immediately dispersed as if they were avoiding a plague god.

But someone went against the flow of people and came to Tang Ruowang. "Tang Guanzheng," the person called softly.

Tang Ruowang raised his head, tears streaming down his face. "Are you Sun Chuyang?"

Sun Yuanhua, courtesy name Chuyang, was a native of Jiading County, Suzhou Prefecture, South Zhili. In the 25th year of the Wanli reign, Xu Guangqi achieved first place in the provincial examination, but failed to pass the imperial examination the following year. He returned to his hometown to open a school. During this time, Sun Yuanhua traveled from Jiading County to Shanghai County to study, becoming Xu Guangqi's student. Under Xu Guangqi's influence, Sun Yuanhua came into contact with Western missionaries and Western learning.

Sun Yuanhua passed the imperial examination in the 40th year of the Wanli reign and came to Beijing the previous December. He briefly stayed at Xu Guangqi's house, where he came into contact with the Jesuits who visited him. This was how he met Johann Adam Schall von Bell. Later, Sun Yuanhua found a place to live and moved out of Xu Guangqi's house. The two men continued to visit each other and became very close friends.

"It's a student." Sun Yuanhua helped Tang Ruowang up from the ground and asked, "Tang Guanzheng, what happened?"

When Tang Ruowang saw Sun Yuanhua, he felt like a drowning man grabbing a lifeline. "Something terrible has happened! Can you go in and tell Lord Xu a message?"

"Just like what Admiral Zhang said just now, the Imperial Examination Hall can only be entered but not left, and nothing can be handed in. Even the candidates who have not left the Imperial Examination Hall cannot see their teacher now. The back hall office is full of Jinyiwei. In addition to them, there are also censors sent by the Censorate. Before the results are announced, my teacher will not see any outsiders." Sun Yuanhua took out a handkerchief from his arms and wanted to hand it to Tang Ruowang to wipe his face. But suddenly he remembered that this handkerchief had not been washed for a long time, so he put it away and used his sleeve to wipe Tang Ruowang's face instead. "Tang Guanzheng, what happened? Can you tell me?"

"The Jesuits are in great trouble! Our headquarters has been raided by the Imperial Guards! An officer named Yang Huan claims that our colleagues sent to Liaodong incited rebellion before the army and have been beheaded." Johann Adam Schall von Bell sniffed. "Not only have the Imperial Guards sealed our headquarters, they're also preventing me from seeing anyone. I have no choice but to come here to see Master Xu."

Sun Yuanhua was stunned for a moment, then he sighed: "Oh! You shouldn't have come! You shouldn't have come!"

"Why?" As a Jesuit missionary from aristocratic family, Johann Adam Schall von Bell didn't truly understand the significance of the imperial examination system. He had been deeply shocked when he heard that thousands or even tens of thousands of people took the exam, but only three or four hundred passed.

Sun Yuanhua stamped his foot, grabbed Tang Ruowang's arm, and walked away. "Your coming to the Imperial Examination Hall to look for your mentor at this time is like dragging two completely unrelated things, the imperial examination and the rebellion case, together."

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The fact that an official from the Imperial Observatory was causing a disturbance in the Imperial Examination Hall, crying and cursing at the Imperial Guards, was already a rare and bizarre story. Furthermore, it seemed to implicate one of the chief examiners of this year's special examination, Xu Guangqi, the Minister of Rites and holder of the seal. Therefore, word of the incident quickly spread among the extremely expressive candidates.

For a time, there was endless discussion and rumors, and people were discussing this matter in all the major inns and restaurants near the Imperial Examination Hall.

"Everyone!" In the center of the Sanyuan Building lobby, a relatively young scholar looked around with a mysterious expression. When everyone's attention was drawn to him, he slowly spoke, "The man shouting at the entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall is actually a high-ranking official."

"A high-ranking official? No wonder he looks like that." A scholar who was at the scene and watched the excitement from afar immediately responded.

The original form of "Daguan" (大官) was "Tartar official," referring to Mongol or Semu people serving as officials in the Ming Dynasty, and could be used to refer to non-Han officials in general. Because "Tartar" carried a certain derogatory connotation, the "ge" radical was later removed and replaced with the homophonic "da" (达). The current Marquis of Zhongshun, Wu Weiying, is a descendant of a Mongol Daguan.

"And he's not an official from the north, but an official from overseas!" The scholar who brought up the topic was still talking halfway.

"What do you mean by 'overseas'? Are there more people from Southeast Asia coming to Beijing?" someone asked. A scholar with a Cantonese accent chimed in, "You must be referring to the people from the Atlantic Ocean who came to Beijing from Xiangshan County last year. Are there any of them serving as officials in the imperial court?"

The scholar who first raised the topic was about to respond, but he was so pretentious and mysterious that he was beaten to the punch by another insider who suddenly realized the truth: "There is one! I remember there is one, in the Imperial Observatory."

The appointment of Johann Adam Schall von Bell to an official position wasn't a major event worthy of an imperial edict. Specifically, Zhu Changluo had Wang An write a note to the cabinet, which then sent letters to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, instructing them to follow the instructions. The Ministry of Personnel then compiled the list, which in turn sent a letter to the Imperial Observatory. The appointment was then reviewed by the Imperial Censors of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, and the process was complete. In the end, Johann Adam Schall von Bell didn't even receive a single imperial edict.

Because the attention of the government and the public was attracted by the "Zou and Zhao Rebellion Case" at that time, this matter was only spread on a small scale within a small range.

"Aren't the officials in the Imperial Observatory hereditary? How can they let high-ranking officials do it?" The discussion went off topic.

"Yes!" an elderly scholar seized the opportunity to join the discussion. "Sha Yihei, the great black bird of the early Ming Dynasty, was a Huihui." In the early Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory was not yet called the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. Instead, it was called the Huihui Sitianjian, following the Yuan system. Its primary responsibility was to translate astronomical books brought to Nanjing from the Yuan capital into Chinese.

"At that time, the former Yuan Dynasty court was driven back to the grassland by the army of Emperor Taizu. However, because the calendar and astronomy were recorded in the Hui people's language, Emperor Taizu recruited the former Yuan officials to translate them into Chinese. The ancestors of those hereditary officials of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory were actually Semites." The old scholar began to show off his knowledge like a storyteller.

"Alas!" sighed the scholar who had first brought up the subject. All the limelight he had sought had been snatched away by someone else.

"Then why did he come to the Imperial Examination Hall to cause such a scene?" A candidate who had no interest in the history of the early years of the country loudly asked the candidate who had watched the excitement, trying to bring the topic back to where it had strayed. This caused the older candidate who was talking excitedly to be very dissatisfied.

"How would I know? He said he wanted to see President Xu, but the Jinyiwei wouldn't let him in, so he sat on the ground and cried." The scholar only told the facts.

"Could it be that there is an abnormal change in the celestial phenomena and the Imperial Astronomical Observatory has sent an urgent report?" someone speculated.

"What strange celestial phenomena? It's auspicious!" Hearing this, the man moved his butt away from the man and pretended to be disgusted. "Don't talk nonsense."

"Then you talk!" The two men obviously knew each other. The obedient one moved away, but the one who was talking insisted on getting closer.

"Go away!" The candidate, who had moved his butt, said seriously, "Xunzi said, 'A flying ball stops at Ouyou.' I'm not going to guess blindly."

"What else could it be? He's probably trying to take advantage of the chaos to break into the Imperial Examination Hall and slip some 'smuggled' stuff in." He didn't guess, but there were plenty of people who did.

But someone immediately objected. "How could you just barge in like that? You're just wearing official uniform. If you wanted to sneak in during the chaos, you should at least be less conspicuous. The Jiedaofang is not the Zhenfusi, but it is also the Jinyiwei!"

The candidates kept discussing it one after another, but they couldn't come up with anything serious. The topic went off the rails, and finally someone started talking about the story of Emperor Ai and Dong Xian.

But before the candidates had finished their lunch, the bombshell news broke that the Atlantic Kingdom's interpreter had been beheaded in Liaodong and the Jesuit headquarters had been sealed by the Northern Pacification Office. All the baseless rumors immediately lost their color. Instead, new rumors based on facts and an even more turbulent wave of public opinion emerged.

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After a short lunch break, Zhu Changluo left the Qianqing Palace and prepared to return to the Southern Study to continue his afternoon work. As soon as he left the house, he saw several eunuchs carrying wooden trays passing through the Qianqing Gate from a distance.

The eunuchs also saw him, and immediately put the wooden trays in their hands on the ground and knelt down.

Zhu Changluo whispered something to Shi Fuming beside him and continued walking towards the South Study. Shi Fuming immediately ran up and ordered, "Don't kneel down, bring it in."

"Yes." Several eunuchs kowtowed in the direction of the emperor, then picked up the plates containing the memorials and followed.

"Your Majesty!" It was not possible to pay respect to the emperor in person at noon. The eunuchs who arrived a little earlier only needed to simply kneel down and kowtow, and then shout "Your Majesty!" and that was considered a meeting.

Zhu Changluo ignored them and went straight to sit behind the imperial desk. As soon as he sat down, he cast his eyes towards Wei Chao who was slowly getting up. "Is there anything urgent?"

It was Wei Chao's turn to be on duty today, and he couldn't leave for the entire day. Even when he got tired, he could only sit and doze off at his desk. "My Lord, there's nothing urgent, but there are two minor matters." As Wei Chao replied, the eunuchs who followed him placed the pile of memorials on the tray on Liu Ruoyu's desk.

"explain."

Wei Chao immediately said, "The Northern Division reported that they have sealed off the Jesuit residence in Zhengxifang. Master, please advise us on what to do next."

"Have them send all the letters they found to the Censorate, and let's leave the rest as they are for now. Just detain them for a few days, and don't let anyone die."

"Yes."

"What's one more thing?"

"It's still about the Jesuits." Wei Chao swallowed and threw out the explanation he had prepared long ago: "There's a man named Johann Adam Schall von Bell in the Jesuits. He ran back to his den of thieves, but the people from the Northern Pacification Office didn't arrest him. They even let him go to the Imperial Examination Hall and cause a big disturbance."

The stance of his words was so obvious that Wang An couldn't help but look at him a second time.

"Why is he making such a fuss?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"He was yelling and shouting, wanting to see Minister Xu Li. But Admiral Zhang from the Street Office stopped him, so he just sat down on the street and cried. Master, do you want to arrest this guy?"

"What do you think?" Zhu Changluo asked back.

"I think he should be arrested." Wei Chao replied.

"Then catch it."

(End of this chapter)