My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 54: Thousands of pounds on the scale

Su Ze was kicked out of the Ministry of Rites.

Shen Yikuan and Luo Wanhua were blasted out with him.

Shen Yiguan said speechlessly:

"Brother Zilin, the Imperial College students have all agreed to serve as your envoys for collecting folk songs. Why are you still bringing up the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination and causing trouble for Lord Zhao?"

It turned out that just after Zhao Zhenji agreed to subscribe to the newspaper and pay the newspaper 500 taels of silver a year, Su Ze took advantage of the situation and proposed to solve the problem of the provincial examination for the tribute students of the Imperial College so that they could take part in the provincial examination nearby in Shuntian Prefecture.

Such an aggressive behavior naturally broke Zhao Zhenji's defense, and he directly kicked the three people out.

Xu Wei, who was waiting at the door, caught up with the team, and Su Ze said to Shen Yi Guan:
"Shen Siye's request was also for the benefit of the students from poor families. If we can save them from the hardship of taking the exam, it will also be a meritorious deed."

Shen Yiquan didn't understand Su Ze's behavior, but Xu Wei, who was following the team, was the most moved.

Among all the people present, only Xu Wei had suffered enough in the imperial examinations and understood best the difficulties faced by these children from poor families in taking the exams.

When he was young, he borrowed money from relatives to raise money for the travel expenses when he took the imperial examinations several times.

After failing the imperial examinations many times, Xu Wei gave up his dream of taking the imperial examination because his family's financial conditions did not allow it.

Su Zeneng really cares about these children from poor families, which is rare among young Jinshi candidates.

Shen Yiguan said:
"Brother Zilin, where are we going next?"

"Go to the Six Science Gallery!"

"what?"

Shen Yichuan was completely dumbfounded.

The officials in the Ministry of Justice hated Su Ze so much that going to the Sixth Ministry Corridor was obviously asking for trouble.

I'm afraid you're just asking for a scolding, not getting beaten is the least of your worries!

"go!"

Seeing Su Ze's high fighting spirit, Shen Yikuan could only grit his teeth and keep up.
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Six-science corridor.

"Su Ze is here!"

When the officials in the Six Departments Corridor heard the news, they all stood up!

Section 6 is a very special department.

The Six Departments are supervisory agencies responsible for supervising the six ministries. There is no chief in the Six Departments, and each Censor is responsible for his own supervisory work.

Each ministry had two left and right secretaries who were responsible for serving the emperor, giving advice and suggestions, making up for deficiencies, correcting mistakes, and inspecting the affairs of the six ministries and all officials.

In addition, the six departments also have an important right, which is to participate in the imperial examination.

According to the Ming Dynasty regulations, officials below the third rank were to be examined by the Ministry of Personnel, and the imperial examination was led by the Ministry of Personnel. However, the final examination results needed to be stamped by the Six Departments’ Censors, as this was a major event that determined the official’s future.

In addition, if important positions in the six ministries become vacant and the cabinet recommends candidates, the six-department censors also have supervisory powers.

Therefore, although the Six Departments Censor was only of the seventh rank, it was a position that all Ming Dynasty officials aspired to, and many famous ministers started their careers here.

This also best reflects Emperor Taizu's idea of ​​governing the country by using the small to control the big and restraining important officials.

A few days ago, Chen Zan, the Censor of the Criminal Department, was exiled to Xuwen because of Su Ze. Although the six departments were in the wrong because of Xu Jie's incident and temporarily gave in, they were still excited when they heard that Su Ze was coming.

Finally, it was Zhang Xianchen, the Imperial Household Department official, who stood up and said:

"Everyone, don't be impulsive. Let Su Ze come in and listen to what he wants to say first!"

Everyone finally calmed down, and Su Ze brought Shen Yi Guan and Luo Wan Hua to the Sixth Department Corridor, but his eyes were fixed on the office space of the Sixth Department. It must be said that the office environment of the Sixth Department is quite good.

Although the Liuke Corridor is called a corridor, it actually covers a large area.

There are not many officials in the six departments, and each person’s office space is much larger than the cubicles in the Hanlin Academy.

The six departments of the Imperial Censorate all have independent case handling powers and are usually assisted by several clerks. Moreover, their work has no performance or KPI.

I'm so envious.

But the six officials glared at Su Ze, and Su Ze said with a bow:
"Speak frankly, Your Majesty has ordered me, Su, to organize the Yuefu New Newspaper. I have already gone to the Ministry of Rites, and Grand Master Zhao has agreed to pay the annual allowance of 500 taels of silver to subscribe to the Yuefu New Newspaper."

"The Sixth Department is the voice of our Great Ming, and they need to understand the hardships of people's lives. So, could you please order a few dozen copies as well?"

Hearing Su Ze say this, the six censors present were furious!
The Kedao was punished by the emperor because they tried to stop Su Ze from publishing a newspaper. Now Su Ze actually came to the door and asked the six departments to buy newspapers!

If this isn't murder and destruction of one's heart, what is?
This is the output of riding six subjects!
Even Zhang Xianchen, who had just spoken up for Su Ze, clenched his fists.

Shen Yikuan and Luo Wanhua made a gesture to escape. It was a tradition for officials in the Ming Dynasty to beat people, and they didn't want to accompany Su Ze to get beaten!

Seeing that the six department officials were all in a tense state, Su Ze said lightly:
"If you don't want to subscribe to the newspaper, then don't. Su came here for another matter."

Su Ze said slowly:
"According to the old rules of this dynasty, candidates for the provincial examinations need to return to their hometowns to take the exam. However, I have heard that many children of officials in Beijing now directly participate in the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examinations. I wonder if the Imperial Examination Bureau has heard of this?"

After Su Ze finished speaking, the Sixth Department Corridor was in an uproar.

It was an unwritten rule in the officialdom that the children of Beijing officials participated in the provincial examinations in Shuntian Prefecture, and this had been going on since the Hongzhi period.

Su Ze suddenly brought up this matter, but the officials didn't know why he was keeping it a secret.

But the emperor had just reprimanded the Censors, saying that they only knew how to attack the court's major policies but did not assume the real supervisory function. The children of Xu Jie's family were rampant in the village and no censors reported to them.

What Su Ze said was true. It was indeed illegal for the children of officials in Beijing to participate in the Shuntian Prefecture's provincial examination.

Some things are fine if you don’t weigh them, but they feel like a thousand pounds if you do.

The difficulty of the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination in the capital area is much lower than that in many southern provinces such as Nanzhili, Fujian, Jiangxi, etc., and the admission rate is also much higher than those in these regions.

Officials in Beijing allowed their children to take the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination in the capital, which was quite similar to the college entrance examinations in Beijing and Shanghai in later generations. It was also a case of people in power taking advantage of educational imbalances to profit for their descendants.

In fact, college entrance examination immigration already existed in the Ming Dynasty. Imperial examination immigration and falsification of local origin to participate in county and provincial examinations were not uncommon.

But there are so many officials in Beijing, and everyone has descendants, so this has become an unspoken rule.

Su Ze laid out this difficult problem, and the six secretaries could no longer pretend that this matter did not exist. If Su Ze submitted another memorial, it would not only be a case of negligence, but he would have completely lost the emperor's trust.

Zhang Xianchen, the Imperial Household Department official, stepped forward and said:
"Our six departments will investigate and submit a memorial to the imperial court!"

Su Ze smiled and said:

"Please ask the Sixth Department to quickly investigate. Su will submit a memorial to report this matter in three days!"

After saying this, Su Ze left lightly, but none of the officials from the six departments said anything more.

After Su Ze left, the six censors surrounded Zhang Xianchen, the Minister of Revenue, and asked:

"Zhang Zhengyan, what should we do?"

Zhang Xianchen said in despair:

"What else can we do? Submit a petition!"

(End of this chapter)