My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 3: Request to Cancel the Morning Court

Is this over?

Seeing the system prompt, Su Ze was stunned for a long time.

According to the system, as long as he submits the "Petition to Cancel the Early Morning Court Session" in reality, the contents of the memorial will definitely come true.

is it possible?

The more likely result is a simulation, and I will be fined three months' salary!
Is your system reliable or not?

Su Ze was already poor. If his salary was deducted for another three months, wouldn’t he be starving?
Just when Su Ze was struggling, a colleague came over.

The man was probably in his thirties, thin, and had the aura of a good old man.

But Su Ze would not judge a person by his appearance. Although this person looked honest, he was a famous figure in history books.

Shen Yikuan, whose courtesy name was Jianwu, was the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli period. He controlled the government for many years and was the leader of the Zhejiang Party, an important force in the court of the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Shen Yikuan is 36 years old this year. He ranks 136th among the third-class Jinshi in this year's imperial examination. You should know that sometimes even the second-class Jinshi cannot be awarded the title of Shujishi. The fact that Shen Yikuan, who ranks 136th, was able to be awarded the title of Shujishi is entirely because of his extreme luck.

This was the first imperial examination after Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, so the number of Shujishi admitted was the largest.

The Shujishi were future prime ministers, so there were age requirements for them, generally they had to be under 40 years old.

Shen Yikuan is thirty-six years old this year, and among all the scholars, he is ranked last.

But in the end, Shen Yikuan was able to come from behind and become the first among his peers to serve as the Prime Minister. This shows that he really wanted to make progress!
After entering the Hanlin Academy, Shen Yikuan has been making friends with colleagues and accumulating personal connections.

In Shen Yi'an's eyes, Su Ze, a 25-year-old second-class Jinshi, naturally had a promising future. Shen Yi'an often talked to Su Ze on weekdays.

Shen Yi Guan asked in a Zhejiang accent:
"Brother Zilin, have you finished your homework?"

After a group of Shujishi entered the Hanlin Academy, the first task assigned to them by the Hanlin Bachelor was to write a memorial.

Memorials to the emperor and the court can be collectively referred to as memorials, but they are also divided into two categories.

Simply put, memorials are used for official matters and memorials are used for private matters.

The memorial had to go through the Tongzhengsi, be copied to the Cabinet, and then be sent to the emperor for review after being drafted by the Cabinet, while the memorial was sent directly to the palace.

Naturally, the Shujishi could only submit memorials. Of course, the Hanlin scholars did not expect them to be able to save the country and submit a earth-shaking memorial. This task was a tradition for newcomers in the Hanlin Academy. The main task was to familiarize themselves with the format of official documents of the court and understand the flow of official documents between the inner court and the cabinet.

Of course, as the future pillars of the country, the emperor still attached great importance to the new Shujishi. The emperor would usually review the memorial personally. If he met a diligent emperor, he would personally comment on it and write a few words of encouragement to these new officials, encouraging them to make more contributions to the Ming Dynasty.

Many officials would never have the opportunity to have the emperor read their memorials in person, even if they worked hard all their lives. Therefore, the Shujishi, including Shen Yikuan, were all eager to write a good memorial. If they could make the emperor remember their names at the beginning of their careers, their future careers would definitely be smoother, as the saying goes, "the emperor will remember their names."

These days, Shen Yikuan has been asking around in the Hanlin Academy, asking about the contents of other people's memorials.

Su Ze didn't care about this matter at first.

Colleagues were busy showing off, but they didn't know that Emperor Longqing died after only six years on the throne.

It is now the second year of the Longqing reign, which means that Emperor Longqing only has four years left to reign.

It is worse to flatter Zhang Juzheng than to flatter him now.

By the way, although Zhang Juzheng had entered the cabinet, he still held a position in the Hanlin Academy and would come to the Hanlin Academy several times a month. Su Ze had only seen him from a distance once. Even if he didn't flatter Zhang Juzheng, there were several future prime ministers lurking in the Hanlin Academy, such as Su Ze's fellow villager, Shen Shixing from Songjiang Prefecture, who was currently the Hanlin Academy editor and in charge of compiling national history and would one day succeed Zhang Juzheng as prime minister.

Even you, my brother Shen Yikuan, served as the Prime Minister during the Wanli Dynasty.

Originally, Su Ze had only written an official document and did not expect to make a splash.

But now, should I submit the "Petition to Cancel the Early Morning Court Session"?
Shen Yi Guan saw Su Ze was distracted and sighed:

"Brother Zilin, this year's crop of Hanlin scholars is filled with talent. The top three were all personally selected by His Majesty. Their essays must have deeply touched His Majesty's heart. I'm afraid they'll be in the spotlight again this time."

Su Ze heard the tone of sowing discord in Shen Yi Guan's voice.

Normally, the difference between the ranking in the palace examination and the ranking in the metropolitan examination will not be too big.

However, the palace examination in the second year of Longqing was an exception.

The newly enthroned Emperor Longqing, for some unknown reason, chose Luo Wanhua as the top scholar, but he ranked 351st in the imperial examination.

The second place winner, Huang Fengxiang, ranked 226th in the imperial examination; the third place winner, Zhao Zhigao, ranked 77th.

The top three in the palace examination did not even include any of the top candidates in the provincial examination!

A first-class Jinshi can be directly appointed as a Hanlin official, without having to wait for the selection of other Shujishi before becoming a regular official.

Therefore, the scholars of this session all had complaints about the top three.

Su Ze thought about it and said perfunctorily: "Brother Jian, I am not very knowledgeable and my handwriting is ugly. I am afraid that this question will pollute your majesty's eyes."

Shen Yiguan quickly said:
"Brother Zilin, you're joking. How many people in our dynasty can pass the imperial examination at the age of 25, and even rank second in the imperial examination? If you claim to be incompetent and unlearned, then aren't we all just rotten wood?"

But when he thought of Su Ze's handwriting, Shen Yikuan couldn't say anything to comfort him.

As a scholar, calligraphy is one of the basic skills.

Su Ze's calligraphy skills are indeed worrying, and I don't know how he passed the palace examination.

Su Ze also had a lot of grievances. The original owner's handwriting was not good to begin with. After traveling through time, it took him a long time to adapt to writing with a brush. He practiced hard until today and his handwriting was barely acceptable.

Even with Shen Yiguan's high emotional intelligence, he couldn't say anything more at this time. He could only let Su Ze go, clasped his hands and said:

"Brother Zilin, the officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs will be arriving soon. If you wish to submit a memorial, please place it in the box in the courtyard before lunch."

After saying this, Shen Yikuan went to talk to another scholar.

Su Ze looked at the two memorials on the table. One was the "Petition to Cancel the Morning Court" from the "Portable Ming Dynasty Court", and the other was an official flattering article he had written.

He made up his mind. His prestige had already been deducted! He could only choose to trust the system!
If it works, I won’t have to brave the cold wind to attend the morning court anymore!

Even if I failed, the most I would get would be a three-month salary deduction! I was just a scholar, could the imperial court really let me starve to death?

Su Ze stood up and put the "Petition to Cancel the Early Morning Court Session" into the box in the courtyard of the Hanlin Academy.

After submitting the question book, Su Ze seemed to have overdrawn all his strength. Now it all depended on the system!

(End of this chapter)