My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 6 Painting Cake
Inside the Hanlin Academy.

Su Ze was still sitting in his seat in a daze.

His letter "Please Cancel the Early Morning Court" had been sent to the cabinet a day ago, but there was no movement from the [Handheld Ming Dynasty Court].

Is your golden finger really useful?

The situation in the first simulation is the normal situation, right?
It would be a miracle if a Hanlin scholar asked the court to cancel the morning court session without being fined, right?
Thinking of this, Su Ze scratched his hair again.

At this moment, the public housing became lively again. The scholars all stood up. Without waiting for the clerk outside the door to announce the official, Su Ze knew that it was Hanlin scholar Yin Shidan who came to the Hanlin Academy.

Yin Shidan was the president of the Hanlin Academy, which meant he was the head of the Hanlin Academy. However, the main job of a Hanlin academician was to help the emperor draft imperial edicts and give lectures to the emperor and the crown prince, so his main office was not the Hanlin Academy.

However, Hanlin Bachelor is different from ordinary Hanlin. Yin Shidan also supervises the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and is in charge of imperial examinations and etiquette.

According to rumors, the emperor is preparing to appoint a crown prince this year, and by then Yin Shidan will also serve as the Chancellor of the Chancellery, which means he has one foot in the cabinet.

When the young scholars saw the head of the department coming back to work, they naturally stood up to greet him.

Sure enough, when Yin Shidan stepped into the public housing, Su Ze caught a glimpse of a young man standing behind him.

Although he is called a young man, he is actually not young anymore. Those who can pass the imperial examination must be at least in their twenties or thirties. Su Ze recognized him at a glance. This was Luo Wanhua, the top scorer in his subject.

Seeing Luo Wanhua standing behind Yin Shidan, the president of the Hanlin Academy, the scholars around Su Ze showed jealous expressions.

Su Ze couldn't help but think of the ministry he had worked for in his previous life. Those newcomers always wanted to be appreciated by the big boss and rise to the top overnight.

But when Su Ze saw the official robe on Luo Wanhua, he felt a little jealous.

Unlike Shujishi like himself who had no rank, the top scholar was directly appointed as a sixth-rank Hanlin Academy editor. This starting point was much higher than Shujishi like himself who had to wait for the academy selection to stay in office!

Not only the top scorer, but also the second and third place scorers were granted the title of "Editor of the Hanlin Academy", a seventh-rank official position.

In the officialdom, one step at a time is always faster than the next. While the people of the same year were still accumulating experience to become full-time officials, the top three had already become officials. It's no wonder that people like Shen Yiquan were jealous.

Moreover, the top three in this exam were not normal in themselves. They were all selected by Emperor Longqing from candidates with lower rankings in the imperial examination. People were discussing whether there was any shady deal involved.

Of course, Su Ze was also jealous. What he was jealous of was not that Luo Wanhua had a high starting point, but that the other party was a genuine official of the sixth rank, and his salary was several times higher than his own!
Luo Wanhua was also new to officialdom. Although he pretended to be calm, he still raised his head slightly when standing behind Yin Shidan.

Even more annoying.

Of course, Su Ze would not be like other newcomers in the workplace who show their thoughts on their face. It's a pity that even after traveling through time and living two lives, he still couldn't avoid these office politics.

Yin Shidan was a typical Confucian official, but the old gentleman was from Shandong, tall and full of vigor, which always reminded Su Ze of the later "Lun Yu" story. He was afraid that the president of the academy would swing a book and hit someone.

Wait, it seems that this Yin Shidan really had a fight. Su Ze remembered that in history he had a fierce argument with Gao Gong in a cabinet meeting, and they even fought with fists in the end, which was known in history as the "Cabinet Fight."

Su Ze sighed, what kind of insects are governing the Ming Dynasty!
Yin Shidan cleared his throat and said:

"Wang Jiaping."

A round-faced scholar stepped forward with his hands clasped.

"Yu Shenxing."

A scholar younger than Su Ze also stepped out with a bow.

"Zhu Geng."

Another honest scholar came out.

Yin Shidan said with satisfaction: "The elders have read your memorials and praised you in the cabinet. I came to see the young talents of the Hanlin Academy." Hearing this, the three of them showed joy on their faces, and the surrounding scholars looked at them with jealous eyes.

Su Ze was speechless. This scene reminded him of when he first started working and several of his colleagues were praised by their superiors for their good writing skills.

It’s a pity that oxen and horses will always be oxen and horses. Those “oxen and horses” were transferred to the secretariat department, where they spent all day working hard to write materials for the leaders. They didn’t get promoted, lost a lot of hair, and looked ten years older than their peers.

However, the three people Yin Shidan selected today were indeed talented. All three of them would enter the cabinet during the Wanli Dynasty in the future and would reach the pinnacle of their official careers.

Sure enough, anyone who can reach the pinnacle of their career must be one step ahead of others at every step.

Yin Shidan looked around and said:
"Our Hanlin Academy is a place to cultivate talents for the country. You should continue to study the classics in the Hanlin Academy. There will be such opportunities in the future."

This is a typical example of leadership empty promises.

Su Ze had eaten a lot of such pancakes in his previous life, and now he is almost immune to them.

Yin Shidan said a few more words and then left the Hanlin Academy.

But although Su Ze didn't eat the "big pancake", many people still ate it. Just when it was almost time for lunch, Shen Yikuan came over again.

"Brother Zilin, have you heard?"

Su Ze looked at Shen Yikuan. These days, he had become the gossip-monger in the Hanlin Academy. Not only the news within the Hanlin Academy, but even some cabinet rumors could be heard from him.

Su Ze originally just wanted to eat, but Shen Yi Guan's interest was aroused, and he said, "Brother Jianwu, don't keep me in suspense."

Shen Yi Guan chuckled and said:
"This time, not only us Shujishi, but also Luo Dazhuangyuan has been included in the examination book."

Su Ze pretended to listen, which made Shen Yiquan very satisfied. This was also the reason why he always shared information with Su Ze.

"I heard that both Lord Xu and Lord Zhang admired Luo's essay very much, and Lord Zhang, in particular, even wanted to summon Luo to question him. Guess what happened?"

Su Ze said without hesitation:
"Luo Xiuzhuan must have refused."

"Ah? Brother Zilin has also heard the news?"

"No, Su believes that Luo Xiuzhuan's character is such that he would not visit the Prime Minister privately."

Su Ze thought to himself, I didn’t hear the news, I saw it in Ming history.

Although Luo Wanhua was the top scholar in the second year of Longqing, he never entered the cabinet and finally presided over the work of the Ministry of Rites.

The list of the second year of Longqing was extremely valuable. There were many prime ministers on it. Luo Wanhua's unsatisfactory performance was naturally related to his personality.

The History of Ming Dynasty said that he was "upright and upright, and did not accept private visits." Private visits mean interacting with officials privately. How could such a person accept Zhang Juzheng's recruitment?

As expected, Shen Yiguan said:
"Brother Zilin is right! Luo Dazhuangyuan publicly rejected the invitation of Lord Zhang, saying that he was a 'Hanlin poet with no connections to the inner court, and should not visit the Lord privately.'"

Su Ze sighed, this top scholar was also a strange man. Others were eager to show themselves in front of the minister, but he refused to see Zhang Juzheng.

However, it may be that Luo Wanhua could not stand the faction of Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng, a group of upright officials, and did not want to get involved in the struggle among the upper class.

I think so too. I am a 25-year-old scholar-official, and my stage should be in the Wanli Dynasty. Why should I get involved in the political struggle between Xu, Gao and Zhang now?
But just as Su Ze was thinking this, he heard the doorman singing again:

"Master Zhang is here!"

(End of this chapter)